favorite short horror stories

[Steffen]

The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs. This one leaped to my mind immediately, which may come as no surprise to some of you, since my favorite King novel is Pet Sematary which riffs off of this famous gem.

Aw man, can't believe I forgot this one. When I was about 12 I bought this huge book called The Best Ghost Stories that had classic stories like the ones I mentioned and Monkey's Paw. I was blown away by that story. Definitely a classic. Good call, Doc.

 

[Rrty]

In terms of King, "The Jaunt" has to be one of his best.

In terms of other authors, let me go a different route and bring up something by John Carpenter. I think around the time of the release of his film Prince of Darkness he had a short story published in The New York Times called "The Ghost Maker." I remember liking that one, although I would have to read it again to fully remember it (had to do with quantum physics I believe, like his film). I believe I got all this right about the Carpenter tale, but I may be remembering a thing or two incorrectly.

 

[doowopgirl]

I love his ghost stories. Many that are really good.

I don't know if you get BBC stuff, but some of their adaptations are really good. Still. nothing beats a book and your own imagination.

 

[Steven M. Vance]

A quick ten before I get up to go can my cherry plum and apple chutney:
"The Statement of Randolph Carter" - HPL, the first horror story I remember reading. It opened my eyes to a whole new world of reading. Found it at the school library in about 3rd or 4th grade.
"The Cats of Ulthar" - HPL, I'm a cat lover, what can I say.
"The Boogeyman" - Stephen King's story from Nightshift has stayed with me for over 35 years now. Great stuff!
"I am the Doorway" - Another Stephen King from Nightshift.
"Canavan's Backyard" - Joseph Payne Brennan, one of the quintessential 'they killed a witch and she cursed 'em with her dying breath' stories.
"Ishigbi" - Charles R. Saunders, an African variant on the 'were-wife' story, if I remember correctly. Could also be considered fantasy. Found it in an anthology called Hecate's Cauldron. Saunders did quite a few stories based in a fantasy Africa over a period of a few years.
"Sing a Last Song of Valdese", by the late Karl Edward Wagner, one of the Kane stories from Night Winds that is also a ghost story.
"Reflections for the Winter of My Soul" is another Wagner piece, longer, and a great werewolf / whodunit story, from Death Angel's Shadow. Many of the stories in these two books, while sword & sorcery, are also great horror pieces.
"The Cold Girl", Rachel Caine's story in the anthology Carniepunk. An awesome story!
"Painted Love", Rob Thurman's piece in Carniepunk, a wonderfully off-the-wall piece.

Enjoy!
Steven

 

[J. Dean]

In addition to Lovecraft and Bradbury, I would add Harlan Ellison and Richard Matheson to the list. Ellison's "I have no mouth and I must scream" is particularly worthy of note.

 

[The Nameless]

I haven't really read short stories by anyone else, I do have the October country by Ray Bradbury on my e-reader and would like to try some of them.

In terms of King my experiences with his short stories have been a bit hit and miss. A lot of people sing the praises of Crouch End but it mostly just bored me, morality was just utter sh#t, here there be tygers was just a waste of my reading time. Autopsy room 4 was somewhere in the middle. What I do like about king shorts stories are the more twilight zone types, like the jaunt, or the xfiles types like I am the doorway.

A lot of them a like a blue giant star - go fast and hard and end early. I seem to remember getting through Road virus heads north and room 1408 quite quickly.

 

[muskrat]

RED NAILS

PEOPLE OF THE BLACK CIRCLE

QUEEN OF THE BLACK COAST

BLACK COLOSSUS

PIGEONS FROM HELL

Now shut up and start reading.