Where to Start with Ally Wilkes
Ally Wilkes has quickly established herself as a leading voice in modern historical horror, earning a Bram Stoker Award nomination for her very first novel. Because her novels are standalone works, there is no strict narrative continuity or overarching timeline that you need to follow. You can read them in any order you choose.
However, the best place to start is with her sensational debut, All the White Spaces (2022). Starting here allows you to experience the hallmark themes that define her writing style: intense claustrophobia, historical survival conditions, psychological disintegration, and the inclusion of marginalized identities in settings that have traditionally excluded them. After experiencing the sub-zero dread of her debut, you should move on to her second polar expedition novel, Where the Dead Wait (2023), before transitioning to her upcoming botanical horror novel, Maneater (scheduled for early 2027).
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
While each of these books is a self-contained story set in a different time and place, reading them in order of release shows the evolution of Wilkes's narrative focus and thematic complexity.
- All the White Spaces (2022) – Set in 1920, shortly after the devastating losses of the First World War. The story follows Jonathan Morgan, a young trans man who stows away on a legendary explorer's Antarctic vessel. As the ship becomes trapped in the ice and the long polar night sets in, the crew faces not only the brutal elements and psychological strain of isolation, but also a malevolent supernatural presence lurking in the shadows of the white wastes.
- Where the Dead Wait (2023) – Moving from the Antarctic to the Arctic, this novel focuses on the dark aftermath of an expedition. Years after a failed search party resulted in survival cannibalism, disgraced explorer William Day is forced to return to the icy north to find his former commander. Haunted by ghosts, guilt, and the media's morbid obsession with his past actions, Day must confront the horrors of what he did to survive.
- Maneater (Scheduled for 2027) – Wilkes's upcoming novel shifts focus from polar ice to the dense, humid Amazonian jungle in 1901. It follows Minerva Sandford, a botanist who joins a search party looking for a legendary orchid known as the "Man Eater." As the expedition ventures deeper into the forest, they must survive shape-shifting environments and ancient horrors, exploring themes of bodily autonomy and feminist Gothic dread.
Publication Order of Anthologies and Short Stories
Before and alongside her novel career, Ally Wilkes has published several atmospheric short stories in prominent horror magazines and themed anthologies. These stories are excellent bite-sized reads that showcase her range in cosmic, weird, and found-footage horror.
- "Where Things Fall from the Sky" (Published in Nightmare Magazine, Issue 107, August 2021) – A chilling short story exploring eerie encounters and cosmic dread.
- "Who’s That Trip Trappin’" (Published in the anthology It Calls from the Doors, 2021) – A short work utilizing folklore and dark fairy-tale elements to build suspense.
- "Summons" (Published in Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories, 2022) – A creative venture into the found-footage subgenre of literary horror.
- "The Service" (Published in the anthology Darkness Beckons, edited by Mark Morris, 2023) – A short story focusing on isolated communities and psychological tension.
- "Billy Blue" (Published in Nightmare Magazine, Issue 141, June 2024) – A weird-fiction tale featuring maritime folklore and psychological horror.
What to Know Before You Start
Before diving into the frozen worlds of Ally Wilkes, readers should be prepared for intense, atmospheric historical fiction that does not shy away from the grittiest realities of survival. Her work features strong elements of survival horror—including severe starvation, frostbite, psychological breakdowns, and in the case of Where the Dead Wait, cannibalism. Her backgrounds as a criminal barrister and a researcher of historical expeditions shine through in her detailed, realistic portrayals of human behavior under extreme pressure.
Additionally, Wilkes makes a conscious effort to challenge the traditionally male-dominated, colonial tropes of exploration narratives. By centering protagonists with marginalized identities, such as a trans man stowing away in All the White Spaces, or focusing on guilt, trauma, and moral compromise in Where the Dead Wait, she brings modern psychological nuance to classic Gothic frameworks. If you enjoy the chilling isolation of Michelle Paver’s Dark Matter, the historical dread of Dan Simmons’s The Terror, or the grim survival struggles in Alma Katsu's The Hunger, Ally Wilkes will be a perfect addition to your reading list.