Book picks similar to
Body Shocks by Ellen DatlowTananarive Due
horror
short-stories
anthology
anthologies
Things We Say in the Dark
Kirsty Logan - 2019
But we can visit our fears at night, in the dark. We can turn them over and weigh them in our hands and maybe that will protect us from them. But maybe not.The characters in this collection find their aspirations for happy homes, happy families and happy memories dissected and imbued with shimmering menace. Alone in a remote house in Iceland a woman is unnerved by her isolation; another can only find respite from the clinging ghost that follows her by submerging herself in an overgrown pool. Couples wrestle with a lack of connection to their children; a schoolgirl becomes obsessed with the female anatomical models in a museum; and a cheery account of child’s day out is undercut by chilling footnotes.These dark tales explore women’s fears with electrifying honesty and invention and speak to one another about female bodies, domestic claustrophobia, desire and violence. From a talented writer who has been compared to Angela Carter, Things We Say in the Dark is a powerful contemporary collection of feminist stories, ranging from vicious fairy tales to disturbing horror and tender ghost stories.KIRSTY LOGAN WAS SELECTED AS ONE OF BRITAIN'S TEN MOST OUTSTANDING LGBTQ WRITERS by Val McDermid for the International Literature Showcase in 2019
Chiral Mad 3
Michael BaileyMeghan Arcuri - 2016
The anthology contains 45 illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne, over 20 stories by the likes of Stephen King, Jack Ketchum, Ramsey Campbell, Gary A. Braunbeck, Mort Castle, Josh Malerman, Scott Edelman, Richard Thomas, Richard Chizmar and Gene O’Neill, and with 20 intertwined poems by the likes of Elizabeth Massie, Marge Simon, Bruce Boston, Erik T. Johnson, Stephanie M. Wytovich, and also includes an introduction by the extraordinary Chuck Palahniuk.
Anoka
Shane Hawk - 2020
Here before you lie several tales involving bone collectors, pagan witches, werewolves, skeletal bison, and cloned children. It is up to you to decipher between fact and fiction as the author has woven historical facts into his narratives. With his debut horror collection, Cheyenne & Arapaho author Shane Hawk explores themes of family, grief, loneliness, and identity through the lens of indigenous life.Early copies of this book were 104 pages.New copies of this book are 140 pages.I increased font and line spacing to give the book enough space for spine text so people can enjoy it on their shelves.Pages aren't important, though, what matters is word count:This work has 21k~ words.
The Secret of Ventriloquism
Jon Padgett - 2016
With themes reminiscent of Shirley Jackson, Thomas Ligotti, and Bruno Schulz, but with a strikingly unique vision, Padgett's work explores the mystery of human suffering, the agony of personal existence, and the ghastly means by which someone might achieve salvation from both. A bullied child seeks vengeance within a bed's hollow box spring. A lucid dreamer is haunted by an impossible house. A dummy reveals its own anatomy in 20 simple steps. A stuttering librarian holds the key to a mill town's unspeakable secrets. A commuter's worldview is shattered by two words printed on a cardboard sign. An aspiring ventriloquist spends a little too much time looking at himself in a mirror. And a presence speaks through them all. Contents: Introduction by Matt Cardin The Mindfulness of Horror Practice Murmurs of a Voice Foreknown The Indoor Swamp Origami Dreams 20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism Infusorium Organ Void The Secret of VentriloquismEscape to Thin Mountain
Blue World
Robert R. McCammon - 1989
From the battlefields of a Vietnam veteran's memory to an old-time movie hero's search for a serial killer, from Halloween in a special town--where the rules of trick-or-treat are written in blood--to a Texas road where a wrong turn leads to a nest of evil, horror master McCammon is at his terrifying best in this collection of stories.
The Toll
Cherie Priest - 2019
Drive that route from east to west, and you’ll cross six bridges. Take it from west to east, and you might find seven.But you’d better hope not.Titus and Melanie Bell leave their hotel in Fargo for a second honeymoon canoeing the Okefenokee Swamp. But shortly before they reach their destination, they draw up to a halt at the edge of a rickety bridge with old stone pilings, with room for only one car . . .When, much later, a tow-truck arrives, the driver finds Titus lying in the middle of the road, but Melanie is nowhere to be found.
The Fiends in the Furrows: An Anthology of Folk Horror
David T. NealLindsay King-Miller - 2018
Fans of Folk Horror, as well as those unfamiliar with it, will find horrors galore in these stories. Themes of rural isolation and insularity, paranoia, mindless and monstrous ritual, as well as arcane ceremonies clashing against modern preoccupations run through these stories. Nosetouch Press is proud to bring The Fiends in the Furrows: An Anthology of Folk Horror to horror enthusiasts everywhere. FEATURING: Coy Hall | “Sire of the Hatchet” Sam Hicks | “Back Along the Old Track” Lindsay King-Miller | “The Fruit” Steve Toase | “The Jaws of Ouroboros” Eric J. Guignard | “The First Order of Whaleyville’s Divine Basilisk Handlers” Romey Petite | “Pumpkin, Dear” Stephanie Ellis | “The Way of the Mother” Zachary Von Houser | “Leave the Night” S.T. Gibson | “Revival”
The Dark Dark
Samantha Hunt - 2017
An FBI agent falls in love with a robot built for a suicide mission. A young woman unintentionally cheats on her husband when she is transformed, nightly, into a deer. Two strangers become lovers and find themselves somehow responsible for the resurrection of a dog. A woman tries to start her life anew after the loss of a child but cannot help riddling that new life with lies. Thirteen pregnant teenagers develop a strange relationship with the Founding Fathers of American history. A lonely woman’s fertility treatments become the stuff of science fiction.Magic intrudes. Technology betrays and disappoints. Infidelities lead us beyond the usual conflict. Our bodies change, reproduce, decay, and surprise. With her characteristic unguarded gaze and offbeat humor, Hunt has conjured stories that urge an understanding of youth and mortality, magnification and loss, and hold out the hope that we can know one another more deeply or at least stand side by side to observe the mystery of the world.
Haunted Nights
Ellen DatlowPat Cadigan - 2017
In addition to stories about scheming jack-o'-lanterns, vengeful ghosts, otherworldly changelings, disturbingly realistic haunted attractions, masks that cover terrifying faces, murderous urban legends, parties gone bad, cult Halloween movies, and trick or treating in the future, Haunted Nights also offers terrifying and mind-bending explorations of related holidays like All Souls' Day, Dia de los Muertos, and Devil's Night. -With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane Seeds- by Seanan McGuire -Dirtmouth- by Stephen Graham Jones--A Small Taste of the Old Countr- by Jonathan Maberry-Wick's End- by Joanna Parypinski -The Seventeen Year Itch- by Garth Nix-A Flicker of Light on Devil's Night- by Kate Jonez-Witch-Hazel- by Jeffrey Ford-Nos Galen Gaeaf- by Kelley Armstrong -We're Never Inviting Amber Again- by S. P. Miskowski-Sisters- by Brian Evenson-All Through the Night- by Elise Forier Edie -A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds- by Eric J. Guignard-The Turn- by Paul Kane-Jack- by Pat Cadigan-Lost in the Dark- by John Langan-The First Lunar Halloween- by John R. Little
The Bachman Books
Richard Bachman - 1985
Omnibus collection of four early Bachman novels (Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man) and the essay "Why I Was Bachman"
The Deep
Nick Cutter - 2015
It causes people to forget—small things at first, like where they left their keys…then the not-so-small things like how to drive, or the letters of the alphabet. Then their bodies forget how to function involuntarily…and there is no cure. But now, far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, deep in the Marianas Trench, an heretofore unknown substance hailed as “ambrosia” has been discovered—a universal healer, from initial reports. It may just be the key to a universal cure. In order to study this phenomenon, a special research lab, the Trieste, has been built eight miles under the sea’s surface. But now the station is incommunicado, and it’s up to a brave few to descend through the lightless fathoms in hopes of unraveling the mysteries lurking at those crushing depths…and perhaps to encounter an evil blacker than anything one could possibly imagine.
Cursed: A Wish is a Terrible Thing
Marie O'ReganChristina Henry - 2020
Twenty curses, old and new. ALL THE BETTER TO READ YOU WITH. It's a prick of blood, the bite of an apple, the evil eye, a wedding ring or a pair of red shoes. Curses come in all shapes and sizes, and they can happen to anyone, not just those of us with unpopular stepparents... Here you'll find unique twists on curses, from fairy tale classics to brand-new hexes of the modern world...expect new monsters and mythologies as well as twists on well-loved fables. Stories to shock and stories of warning, stories of monsters and stories of magic. Some might shock you, some might make you laugh, but they will all impress you with their originality. TWENTY TIMELESS FOLKTALES, NEW AND OLD.Contents: *Introduction (Cursed) • essay by Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan *Castle Cursed (2020) / short fiction by Jane Yolen *As Red As Blood, As White As Snow (2020) / short fiction by Christina Henry *Troll Bridge (1993) / short story by Neil Gaiman (variant of Troll-Bridge) *At That Age / short fiction by Catriona Ward *Listen / short fiction by Jen Williams *Henry and the Snakewood Box / short fiction by M. R. Carey *Skin / short fiction by James Brogden *Faith & Fred / short fiction by Maura Mchugh *The Black Fairy's Curse (1997) / short story by Karen Joy Fowler *Wendy, Darling (2014) / short fiction by Christopher Golden * Fairy Werewolf vs. Vampire Zombie (2011) / short story by Charlie Jane Anders *Look Inside Me (2013) / short fiction by Michael Marshall Smith *Little Red (2009) / short story by Adam Stemple and Jane Yolen *New Wine / short fiction by Angela Slatter *Haza and Ghani / short fiction by Lilith Saintcrow *Hated / short fiction by Christopher Fowler *Merrie Dancers / short fiction by Allison Littlewood *Again / short fiction by Tim Lebbon *The Girl from the Hell / short fiction by Margo Lanagan *Castle Waking / short fiction by Jane Yolen *About the Authors *About the Editors *Acknowledgements.
The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories
Horacio Quiroga - 1909
They span many fiction genres; jungle tale, Gothic horror story, psychological study, and morality tale- and possess a universality that has made him a classic Latin American writer.Horacio Quiroga was a master storyteller and author of over two hundred pieces of Latin American fiction that have been compared to the works of Poe, Kipling, and London. Like his stories, his own life from his birth in Uruguay to his suicide in Argentina was filled with adventure, tragedy, and violence.
Doorbells at Dusk
Evans LightChad Lutzke - 2018
The holiday gives many children their first taste of terror, the discovery and overcoming of fears. For those who find they love a good scare, that first taste can grow into a voracious appetite.That might be why you’re looking at this book right now. If so, you’ve come to the right place. Doorbells at Dusk is a treasury of brand-new Halloween tales from both modern masters and rising stars of dark fiction, horror and suspense.These are the thrills you crave, packed into a collection of stories that's pure Halloween.Carve your pumpkins and turn on the porch light, Halloween frights begin with the sound of…DOORBELLS AT DUSK.Featuring stories by:• Sean Eads• Amber Fallon• Charles Gramlich• Joanna Koch• Curtis M. Lawson• Lisa Lepovetsky• Adam Light• Evans Light• Chad Lutzke• Josh Malerman• Jason Parent• Thomas Vaughn• Joshua Viola• Ian Welke• Gregor Xane
Dark Tales
Shirley Jackson - 2016
This collection of classic and newly reprinted stories provides readers with more of her unsettling, dark tales, including the "The Possibility of Evil" and "The Summer People." In these deliciously dark stories, the daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide and seek, the loving wife hides homicidal thoughts and the concerned citizen might just be an infamous serial killer. In the haunting world of Shirley Jackson, nothing is as it seems and nowhere is safe, from the city streets to the crumbling country pile, and from the small-town apartment to the dark, dark woods. There's something sinister in suburbia.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.