Book picks similar to
Bastards of the Absolute by Adam S. Cantwell


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Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls


Alissa Nutting - 2010
    One is the main course of dinner, another the porn star contracted to copulate in space for a reality TV show. They become futuristic ant farms, get knocked up by the star high school quarterback and have secret abortions, use parakeets to reverse amputations, make love to garden gnomes, go into air conditioning ducts to confront their mother’s ghost, and do so in settings that range from Hell to the local white-supremacist bowling alley.

The Doll's Alphabet


Camilla Grudova - 2017
    Dolls, sewing machines, tinned foods, mirrors, malfunctioning bodies - many images recur in stories that are in turn child-like and naive, grotesque and very dark.In Unstitching, a feminist revolution takes place. In Waxy, a factory worker fights to keep hold of her Man in a society where it is frowned upon to be Manless. In Agata's Machine, two schoolgirls conjure a Pierrot and an angel in a dank attic room. In Notes from a Spider, a half-man, half-spider finds love in a great European city.By constantly reinventing ways to engage with her obsessions and motifs, Camilla Grudova has come up with a method for storytelling that is highly imaginative, incredibly original, and absolutely discomfiting.Content:- Unstitching (2017)- The Mouse Queen (2017)- The Gothic Society (2017)- Waxy (2016)- The Doll's Alphabet (2017)- The Mermaid (2017)- Agata's Machine (2015)- Rhinoceros (2017)- The Sad Tale of the Sconce (2017)- Edward, Do Not Pamper the Dead (2017)- Hungarian Sprats (2017)- The Moth Emporium (2017)- Notes from a Spider (2017)

Black Star Black Sun


Rich Hawkins - 2015
    This should be a time of rest, of contemplation and reconnection with his elderly father, a chance to recharge in the fresh air of the remote village. However, grim nightmares and daytime visions of hellish environments populated by insidious creatures serve only to fray his already ragged nerves. A chance encounter with a fellow sufferer leads to an unlikely alliance as imaginary threats suddenly become manifest, and the entire village falls under the sway of the Black Star. As neighbours become enemies and the world around him crumbles, Ben must search for the truth but, more importantly, he must be prepared to accept it. Black Star, Black Sun – an unsettling new novella from Rich Hawkins, the author of the critically acclaimed novel, The Last Plague.

Shadows over Innsmouth


Stephen JonesNeil Gaiman - 1994
    Lovecraft. Although "Shadows Over Innsmouth" includes the said novella, the book is a collection of Innsmouth-related stories by a number of later authors and not a single story or novel. You might also consider moving your personal rating and/or review to the appropriate page if you have read only the novella. SEVENTEEN CHILLING STORIES, INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL MASTERPIECE OF HORROR: “THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH” by H. P. LovecraftInspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s classic, today’s masters of horror take up their pens and turn once more to that decayed, forsaken New England fishing village with its sparkling treasure, loathsome denizens, and unspeakable evil. “ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD AGAIN” by Neil Gaiman: The community of Innsmouth performs a blood sacrifice–with shocking, terrifying results.“THE CHURCH IN HIGH STREET” by Ramsey Campbell: In the crypt of a derelict church, a sensible young man meets a bestial, unthinkable fate. “INNSMOUTH GOLD” by David Sutton: An adventurer searches for buried treasure–and discovers a slithering hell on earth.“THE BIG FISH” by Jack Yeovil: A few months after Pearl Harbor, a mobster and his floating casino lie under water, teeming with the stuff of nightmares.AND THIRTEEN MORE TERRIFYING TALES!

The Willows


Algernon Blackwood - 1907
    Throughout the story Blackwood personifies the surrounding environment—river, sun, wind—and imbues them with a powerful and ultimately threatening character. Most ominous are the masses of dense, desultory, menacing willows, which "moved of their own will as though alive, and they touched, by some incalculable method, my own keen sense of the horrible.""The Willows" is one of Algernon Blackwood's best known short stories. American horror author H.P. Lovecraft considered it to be the finest supernatural tale in English literature. "The Willows" is an example of early modern horror and is connected within the literary tradition of weird fiction.

The Girl in the Woods (Off-Kilter Tales #1)


Michael Robertson - 2019
    You think you see a child wondering through the woods. Do you stop? Andy must make that choice. Either option will change his life forever. But with a life like his, maybe change is a good thing.The Girl in the Woods - A Ghost’s Story is the first in a collection of Off-Kilter Tales. It’s a short story about a man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or the right place at the right time. You decide.

Grotesquerie


Richard Gavin - 2020
    The highly anticipated new collection of macabre delights, that explores dark realms of the fevered, fecund mind, and visits strange landscapes and vistas. These are grim and grotesque tales of terror -- modern Mysterium Tremendums -- that open new doors of perception and reality.“Gavin’s writing serves as a testament that great masters once crafted great stories .. .and as evidence that they shall do so again.”— Thomas Ligotti

Shivers


Richard ChizmarDouglas Clegg - 2002
    Silva, Graham Masterton, Jay Bonansinga, and many others! Featuring both original dark fiction and rare reprints, SHIVERS is available only as a beautiful perfect-bound trade paperback!Table of Contents:Fodder - Brian Keene & Tim LebbonIce Box - Jay BonansingaThe Hand of Glory - Simon ClarkHermanoes De El Noche - Bentley LittleWalking With the Ghosts of Pier 13 - Brian Freeman265 and Heaven - Douglas CleggThe Sailor Home from the Sea - John PelanThis Is the End; My Only Friend, The End - David B. SilvaWhite-Out - Peter Crowther & Simon ConwayThe Holding Cell - Jack KetchumThe Wager - Thomas F. MonteleoneAlways Traveling, Never Arriving - Robert MorrishThat Extra Mile - David Niall Wilson & Brian A. HopkinsBleed With Me: A Brackard's Point Story - Geoff CooperThe Green Face - Al SarrantonioTender Tigers - Nancy A. CollinsSpin Cycle - David G. BarnettThrowing Caution to the Wind... - Kelly LaymonPortrait of a Sociopath - Edward LeeThe Sympathy Society - Graham Masterton

Deathbird Stories


Harlan Ellison - 1975
    The collection contains some of Ellison's best stories from earlier collections and is judged by some to be his most consistently high quality collection of short fiction. The theme of the collection can be loosely defined as God, or Gods. Sometimes they're dead or dying, some of them are as brand-new as today's technology. Unlike some of Ellison's collections, the introductory notes to each story can be as short as a phrase and rarely run more than a sentence or two. One story took a Locus Poll Award, the two final ones both garnered Hugo Awards and Locus Poll awards, and the final one also received a Jupiter Award from the Instructors of Science Fiction in Higher Education (discontinued in 1979). When the collection was published in Britain, it won the 1979 British Science Fiction Award for Short Fiction.His stories will rivet you to the floor and change your heartbeat...as unforgettable a chamber of horror, fantasy and reality as you'll ever experience.-Gallery "Brutally and flamboyantly shocking, frequently brilliant, and always irresistibly mesmerizing."-Richmond Times-Dispatch

This Dreaming Isle


Dan CoxonAlison Littlewood - 2018
    Every few generations this strangeness crawls out from the dark places of the British imagination, seeping into our art and culture. We are living through such a time.This Dreaming Isle is an anthology of new horror stories and weird fiction with a distinctly British flavour. It collects together fifteen brand new horrifying or unsettling stories that draw upon the landscape and history of the British Isles for their inspiration. Some explore the realms of myth and legend, others are firmly rooted in the present, engaging with the country’s forgotten spaces.Featuring new and exclusive stories from:Ramsey Campbell, multi-award winning author of over 40 novels.Andrew Michael Hurley, author of The Loney and Devil’s Day.Catriona Ward, author of Rawblood and Little Eve.Robert Shearman, World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award and Shirley Jackson Award winning author of four collections.Jenn Ashworth, author of Fell, Cold Light and more.Gareth E. Rees, author of Marshland and The Stone Tide.Tim Lebbon, screenwriter and author of over 35 books including Dusk, The Silence and Relics.Alison Littlewood, author of The Crow Garden, The Hidden People and more.Aliya Whiteley, author of The Beauty, The Arrival of Missives and The Loosening Skin (forthcoming from Unsung Stories).Stephen Volk, screenwriter and author of Whitstable, Monsters in the Heart and more.Kirsty Logan, author of The Gloaming, The Gracekeepers, A Portable Shelter and The Rental Heart.James Miller, author of UnAmerican Activities, Lost Boys and Sunshine State.Jeannette Ng, author of Under the Pendulum Sun.Richard V. Hirst, co-author of The Night Visitors.Alison Moore, author of The Lighthouse, Missing and more.Gary Budden, author of Hollow Shores.Angela Readman, author of Don’t Try This at Home and The Book of Tides.

Edgar Allan Poe: The Strange Man Standing Deep in the Shadows


Charlotte Montague - 2015
    Poe is viewed as the ultimate doomed romantic whose last days are shrouded in sordid mystery. His life was a disaster, but his achievements in writing are amazing. He is widely recognized as father of the modern short story, inventor of the detective story and the master of horror. A Boston born writer, editor, and literary critic, he's best known for his creepy and macabre tales as well as being one of the central figures in the Romanticism movement in the United States.  Accurately being dubbed as the ultimate doomed romantic, Poe was a drunk, his last days are shrouded in mystery akin to that of his short stories.  During his lifetime, Edgar Allan Poe didn't make a dime out of writing, but his legacy to the world is one of never-ending riches.  He left behind seventy-three wonderfully gruesome stories and a novel filled with suspense and brilliantly twisted plots.  Hist stories and poems are now read and revered globally.  As another master of horror, Stephen King, has said, we are all "the children of Poe." Abraham Lincoln, Josef Stalin, Michael Jackson, and Bart Simpson all have one thing in common; they are fans of the nineteenth century American writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe.  The writer of "The Raven" has legions of such devotees across the globe.  The list of authors inspired by Poe is long and varied, but his profound influence reaches much further-into music, film, and art just as much as modern day literature.  There have been more than a dozen film adaptations of his story "The Fall of the House of Usher," and his works have inspired composers ranging from Claude Debussy to Lou Reed.  More than 160 years after his death, Charlotte Montague has written a fascinating account of Poe's life and times, in which she uncovers a strange man, standing deep in the shadows, who's unique imagination and macabre writing have changed popular culture forevermore.  n the process, she uncovers a strange man, standing deep in the shadows, whose macabre stories and twisted plots changed literature forever. The Oxford People series offers deep dives into the most influential people, subjects, and cultures from history. From horror-fiction legends like H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe, to historical heavyweights like Houdini and JFK, to the supernatural world of vampires, werewolves, and ghosts—Oxford People encompasses it all. Other titles in this series include: Angels, Che, Creating Sherlock Holmes, Extreme Science, Gettysburg, Ghosts, Gunfighters, Houdini, HP Lovecraft, John F. Kennedy, Myths and Legends, Privates and Privateers, Roosevelt and Churchill, Royal Weddings, Skies of WWII, Tesla, Tesla vs. Edison, Vampires, Vikings, Werewolves, Women of Invention, Zombies.

Walking Wounded


William McIlvanney - 1989
    The walking wounded. These are the stories of ordinary people.

New Fears 2: More New Horror Stories by Masters of the Macabre


Mark MorrisBenjamin Percy - 2018
    In ‘The Dead Thing’ Paul Tremblay draws us into the world of a neglected teenage girl and her younger brother and the evil that lurks at the heart of their family. In Gemma Files’ ‘Bulb’ a woman calls in to a podcast to tell the terrifying story of why she has escaped off-grid. And Rio Youers’ ‘The Typewriter’ tells in diary form of the havoc wreaked by a malevolent machine. Infinitely varied and beautifully told, New Fears 2 is an unmissable collection of horror fiction.

Nancy Culpepper: Stories


Bobbie Ann Mason - 2006
    “One day I was feeding chickens and listening to Hank Williams and the next day I was expected to know what wines went with what,” she tells her husband, Jack. Yet no matter where she travels, her rural southern heritage is never far from her thoughts, her habits, and her heart.Nancy is on a lifelong quest to understand her place in the world. Returning home to the family farm, she searches for photographic evidence of an ancestor bearing her own name. Still in her jeans, she brings home strange ideas and an assertiveness she learned up north. Always adventurous, Nancy travels far and wide–searching, seeking. The narrative sweep of her life traverses the turbulent sixties, the Vietnam War, the eighties and the foreboding death of John Lennon, and finally the new millennium–when a self-assured Nancy finally emerges. These humorous and often touching stories recount her courtship and marriage to Jack, her relationship with her precocious son, and the deep, loving bond between her parents, Spence and Lila Culpepper. Eventually Nancy’s marriage is threatened by a cultural divide that plagued her and Jack from the start. But when she inherits the Culpepper family farm and discovers more pieces of her ancestral puzzle, she realizes that her life is assuming its proper shape. Later, standing on a lonely mountain in England, she sees the world from a surprising perspective. Bestselling author Bobbie Ann Mason’s prizewinning Nancy Culpepper chronicles have appeared in The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, The Southern Review, and other distinguished literary anthologies. She has compiled these stories into one definitive collection, which includes the novella Spence + Lila, two new, never-before-published stories, and one Pushcart Prize winner. Heartfelt and thought-provoking, Nancy Culpepper is a poignant depiction of change and growth in a modern-day heroine.From the Hardcover edition.

The God of the Razor


Joe R. Lansdale - 2007
    It has had a passionate following for years. On its twentieth anniversary, Subterranean Press will release this novel as part of its Signature Series, in a volume that also contains stories that were inspired by, or drawn from, the novel while Lansdale waited for it to sell. The novel and stories have influenced numerous writers over the years, and are now gathered for the first time (with a new, never-before-published tale) in this unique tribute volume celebrating one of the most influential and award-winning writers of the last two decades. The God of the Razor will be designed as a companion volume to the Lansdale tribute anthology, Lords of the Razor, featuring a full color cover by TimothyTruman, and twenty full page black-and-white illustrations for the short stories and novel by Glenn Chadborne.