“Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.” – Charles Addams
Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer. Even now the amount of daylight is noticeably shorter and the mornings and evenings are a little bit cooler – soon the leaves on the trees will turn vibrant shades of red, yellow and orange. As we head into September, and eventually October and Halloween, for many of us our thoughts turn towards the spooky. As much as we might want to gorge on creepy movies and eerie tales we might not have the time to sit down with a three-hundred or four-hundred page novel. Luckily for us, many horror writers publish short stories, which are the perfect length to read without much of a time commitment. If a spine-tingling, but shorter, read is what you are looking for then let me provide a few recommendations.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and other stories by Washington Irving
Collection of four stories of strange and unexplainable circumstances. A headless horseman haunts Sleep Hollow. At least that’s the legend in the tiny village of Tarrytown. But scary stories won’t stop the town’s new schoolmaster, Ichabod Crane, from crossing through the Hollow, especially when the beautiful Katrina lives on the other side. Will Ichabod win over his beloved or discover that the legend of Sleepy Hollow is actually true? Also, Rip Van Winkle is surprised by what he sees and doesn’t see after waking up from a long slumber; a young bride in The Specter Bridegroom might become a widow before the night is over; and the miser of The Devil and Tom Walker makes a deal he’ll regret.
Colonial horrors: Sleepy Hollow and beyond by Various Authors
Gathers together sixteen tales of horror and the supernatural from the American Colonial-era.
The essential tales and poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe
Revel in the sumptuous language of Edgar Allan Poe’s best works.The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe features key works, spanning from 1827 to his death in 1849, from the famous Gothic American writer, especially Poe’s spine-chilling short stories and melodious poems.Included in this indispensable edition, with an introduction by renowned author Daniel Stashower, are 21 short stories, including “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” as well as 10 classic poems, including “The Raven,” “Annabel Lee,” and “The Bells”.
Poe: 19 new tales of suspense, dark fantasy, and horror inspired by Edgar Allan Poe edited by Ellen Datlow
To coincide with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, this anthology celebrates the depth and diversity of one of the most important figures in literature. Compiled by multi-award winning editor, Ellen Datlow, it presents some of the foremost talents of the genre, who have come together to reimagine tales inspired by Poe. Sharyn McCrumb, Lucius Shepard, Pat Cadigan, M. Rickert, and more, have lent their craft to this anthology, retelling such classics as “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Masque of the Red Death,” exploring the very fringes of the genre.
Tiny nightmares: very short tales of horror
In this playful, inventive collection, leading literary and horror writers spin chilling tales in only a few pages. Each slim, fast-moving story brings to life the kind of monsters readers love to fear, from brokenhearted vampires to Uber-taking serial killers and mind-reading witches.
But what also makes Tiny Nightmares so bloodcurdling-and unforgettable-are the real-world horrors that writers such as Samantha Hunt, Brian Evenson, Jac Jemc, Stephen Graham Jones, Lilliam Rivera, Kevin Brockmeier, and Rion Amilcar Scott weave into their fictions, exploring how global warming, racism, social media addiction, and homelessness are just as frightening as, say, a vampire’s fangs sinking into your neck.
Our advice? Read with the hall light on and the bedroom door open just a crack.
Only if you dare: 13 stories of darkness and doom by Josh Allen
You never know what’s out to get you. Though you might think you’re safe from monsters and menaces, everyday objects can turn against you, too. A mysterious microwave. A threatening board game. A snowman that refuses to melt. Even your own heartbeat has its secrets. Thu-thump. Thu-thump. When you stop to listen, each beat sounds more menacing than the last.
Master storyteller Josh Allen brings thirteen nightmare scenarios to life in this page-turning collection that’s perfect for budding horror junkies. In his wondrous world, danger waits behind every doorway . . . even in the most ordinary places. Kids eager for age-appropriate horror will relish every thrill and chill.
Don’t miss the author and illustrator’s other creepy collections: Out to Get You and Once They See You.
Ghostwritten by Ronald Malfi
BOOKS CAN BE DEADLY
From the bestselling author of Come with Me, four standalone horror novellas set in a shared universe!
In The Skin of Her Teeth, a cursed novel drives people to their deaths.
A delivery job turns deadly in The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride.
In This Book Belongs to Olo, a lonely child has dangerous control over an usual pop-up book.
A choose-your-own adventure game spirals into an uncanny reality in The Story.
Full of creepy, page-turning suspense, these collected novellas are perfect for fans of Paul Tremblay, Stephen King and Joe Hill.
The puppet’s payback and other chilling tales by Mary Downing Hahn
The author of wildly popular ghost stories, Mary Downing Hahn has created a group of tales for fans of her “scary but not too scary” books. Even the stories without actual ghosts are spooky. Each tale turns something ordinary–a pigeon, a white dress, a stranger on the bus, a puppet–into a sinister link to the supernatural. For the human characters, secrets from the past or careless behavior in the present can lead to serious trouble. All the stories have a young person as the central character, so all will resonate with young readers who enjoy the eerie, the creepy, and the otherworldly. In a concluding note, the author talks about how she came to write ghost stories.
Through the night like a snake : Latin American horror stories
In ten chilling stories from an ensemble cast of contemporary Latin American writers, including Mariana Enriquez (tr. Megan McDowell), Camila Sosa Villlada (tr. Kit Maude), Claudia Hernández (tr. by Julia Sanches and Johanna Warren ) and Mónica Ojeda (tr. Sarah Booker and Noelle de la Paz), horror infiltrates the unexpected, taboo regions of the present-day psyche.
Sinophagia : a celebration of Chinese horror edited by Xueting Ni
“An anthology of unsettling tales from contemporary China, translated into English for the very first time. Fourteen horror stories delve deep into the psyche of modern China in this new anthology curated by acclaimed writer and essayist Xueting C. Ni. From the menacing vision of a red umbrella, to the ominous atmosphere of the Laughing Mountain; from the waking dream of virtual working to the sinister games of the locked room… this is a fascinating insight into the spine-chilling voices working within China today – a long way from the traditional expectations of hopping vampires and hanging ghosts. This collection features both well-known names and bold upcoming writers, including: Hong Niangzi, Fan Zhou, Chu Xidao, She Cong Ge, Chuan Ge, Goodnight, Xiaoqing, Zhou Dedong, Nanpai Sanshu, Yimei Tangguo, Chi Hui, Zhou Haohui, Su Min, Cai Jun, and Gu Shi.”-
Midwestern Gothic by Scott Thomas
“Close your eyes. Picture open plains, wheat stalks swaying gently in the wind. Picture the quaint Main Street of a one-stoplight town. Picture endless summers on sunny, tranquil lakes. With three provocative novellas, Kill Creek author and Kansas native Scott Thomas takes a hatchet to the idyllic tropes of the American heartland. In The Door in the Field, Thomas follows a quarrelsome construction worker named Rayland Allen whose bad day becomes a far worse night when drinks at an off-the-books establishment deep in the woods set Ray down an unforeseeably bloody path. In The Boy in the Woods, Thomas follows young Eddie Reicher, who lingers a day too long at summer camp as unholy terror creeps in. Something evil has infected the counselors. And Eddie will have to do everything he can, even kill, if he hopes to survive the night. In One Half of a Child’s Face, Thomas follows the recently divorced Sienna Franklin. Spying on her son and ex-husband, she notices an odd painting hanging on the wall of an adjacent apartment. Over the course of the next few days, Sienna will watch with growing horror as the children in the apartment building begin to gather before the painting as if called to it.”
