Etchison's first short story collection, The Dark Country, was published in 1982 and received both the World Fantasy Award and the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection of that year. Several more collections have been published since then, including a career retrospective, Talking in the Dark (2001), which consisted of stories personally selected by the author. He has twice won the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story, for "The Olympic Runner" (1986) and "The Dog Park" (1994).

Writing under the pseudonym of "Jack Martin", he has published popular novelizations of the films Halloween II (1981), Season of the Witch (1982), and Videodrome (1983). Under his own name, Etchison's novels include Darkside (1986), Shadowman (1994), and California Gothic (1995), as well as the novelization of John Carpenter's The Fog (1980).

As editor, Etchison has received two World Fantasy Awards for Best Anthology, for Metahorror (1993) and The Museum of Horrors (2002). His other anthologies include the critically acclaimed Cutting Edge (1986), Gathering The Bones (2003) (edited with Ramsey Campbell and Jack Dann), and the Masters of Darkness series (three volumes).

While his books have not obtained the best seller status of Stephen King or Peter Straub, Etchison is generally regarded as one of the finest writers currently working in the horror genre, especially by his peers. The late Karl Edward Wagner proclaimed him "the finest writer of psychological horror this genre has ever produced." Charles L. Grant called Etchison "the best short story writer in the field today, bar none."

A critical analysis of his work can be found in S. T. Joshi's book The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004).

Novels

• Stud Row (1969) (written as "H.L. Mensch" by Etchison & Eric Cohen)
• Loves & Intrigues of Damon D-J" (1969)(written as "Ben Dover")
• The Fog (1980)
• Halloween II (1981) (written as "Jack Martin")
• Halloween III (1982) (written as "Jack Martin")
• Videodrome (1983) (written as "Jack Martin")
• Darkside (1986)
• Shadowman (1994)
• California Gothic (1995)
• Double Edge (1997)

Short story collections

• The Dark Country (1982)
• Red Dreams (1984)
• The Blood Kiss (1987)
• The Death Artist (2000)

Retrospective collections

• Talking in the Dark (2001) (plus one new story, "Red Dog Down")
• Fine Cuts (2006) (Hollywood-themed volume plus one previously uncollected story, "Got To Kill Them All")
• Got To Kill Them All and other stories (2008) (plus three previously uncollected stories, "One Of Us", "In a Silent Way" and "My Present Wife", together with "Red Dog Down" and "Got To Kill Them All" previously included in prior reprospectives)

As Editor

• Cutting Edge (1986)
• Masters of Darkness (1986)
• Masters of Darkness II (1988)
• Lord John Ten (1988)
• The Complete Masters of Darkness (1991)
• Masters of Darkness III (1991)
• MetaHorror (1992)
• The Museum of Horrors (2001)
• Gathering The Bones (2003) (Edited with Ramsey Campbell and Jack Dann)