It’s spooky season, and I thought the only proper way to do Short Tuesday this week would be to give a whole bunch of suggestions for short stories that will scare you senseless! No need to crack open a thousand-page Stephen King novel when you can get your scares done in less than ten thousand words. 😀 Some of these short stories are tamer than others, but all of them pack a wallop; each story is a five-star read for me, and every single one of them you can read for free! So pick your candy, and have a great Halloween.

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Snickers: the crowd-pleaser

I had a couple different contenders for this category, but “Some Kind of Blood-Soaked Future” by Carlie St. George, which I just read for the first time last week, had to be the winner. “Future” features a teen MC who just can’t stop encountering eighties slasher-type killers. It’s great for anyone who wants a more YA feel, it’s bloody, it has a start-to-finish arc (sometimes hard to come by in short fiction!), and it’s brilliant.

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Popcorn: the classic

For this category I suggest H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls.” I think that Lovecraft can sometimes seem a bit unapproachable to people who haven’t read him, because there have been so many other works inspired by him. I mean, he sparked an entire horror sub-genre, for crying out loud. “The Rats in the Walls” is an easy gateway into Lovecraft, and for a story from 1924, it features some truly terrifying imagery and an awesome ending.

By the way, I just want to give a small warning that the name of the cat in this story infamously features a racial slur, and the name of the cat has featured a lot in discussion about Lovecraft’s racial views. This isn’t the place to go into that, but I just wanted to give anyone reading a heads up.

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Candy Corn: the love-it-or-hate-it

I’m putting “The Enigma of Amigara Fault” by Junji Ito in this category for a couple reasons. First off, it’s a short horror manga, so if manga is not your thing then… this won’t be your thing. 😛 Secondly, this story is basically a claustrophobe’s worst nightmare. “The Enigma of Amigara Fault” has made all the rounds on the Internet, and it totally deserves its infamy; it will stick with you.

All right, you’ve been warned! ❤

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King-Size Candy Bar: just keeps on giving

For this category I suggest the sprawling “Interface Series,” which was a series of bizarre, non sequitur Reddit posts by username _9MOTHER9HORSE9EYES9. You can start reading here. The posts swiftly attracted interest, garnering media attention and questions about whether the project would be turned into a book. There was also some speculation about whether the posts had any link to Stranger Things, as there were similar elements between the two works and the first season of the TV show was released just a few months after _9MOTHER9HORSE9EYES9 started posting. Anyway, “The Interface Series” isn’t a short story per se, but each post is pretty short and will keep you hungering for more, so I think it’s a great fit for anyone who’s craving a king-size candy bar. 😀

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Tootsie Caramel Apple Lollipop: the dark horse

If you love SCP, r/nosleep, and creepypasta, then I suggest the classic “Ted the Caver” as a seriously creepy Halloween read. (And if that’s a bunch of gobbledygook to you, well, you’re missing out!) You want to know what I love about this? It’s a website from literally 2001, that is still on Angelfire, that gets the spook done in a magnificent way. This one story has stuck with me for years. Definitely a good one for anyone who has claustrophobia as a horror trigger. 😀

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Reese’s: perfection

We’re still a few months away from the end of the year, but if I had to make a prediction, “In a Canyon, In a Cavern” by Laird Barron will remain my favorite short story of 2019. Everything in this story works in perfect harmony: the characterization, the back story, the setting, the description, and the classic folk song “Oh My Darling Clementine” that forms a creepy musical background to the piece. Enough of me waffling–just go read it already!

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What are some of your favorite horror bits and bobs–any suggestions? And how are you getting in the Halloween spirit this year?