By Lincoln Michel, editor
Catapult, 2020. 289 pages. Fiction.
In this playful, spine-tingling collection, leading literary and horror writers spin unforgettably chilling tales in only a few pages. Tiny Nightmares brings to life broken-hearted vampires, Uber-taking serial killers, mind-reading witches, and monsters of all imaging, as well as stories that tackle the horrors of our modern world from global warming and racism to social media addiction and online radicalization. Writers such as Samantha Hunt, Brian Evenson, Jac Jemc, Stephen Graham Jones, Kevin Brockmeier, and Rion Amilcar Scott expand our understanding of horror fiction with inventive and blood-curdling new tales. We suggest reading with the hall light on and the bedroom door open just a crack.
This collection of stories is perfect for Halloween, each story short enough that they can be read aloud perhaps at a party or around a campfire. I appreciated how fully realized each story was and how they perfectly encapsulated that author's voice in horror especially in so few pages. In this way, it’s great for the horror beginner because it provides not only an introduction to the genre but allows the reader to get a feel for some of the most popular horror authors writing today. I particularly enjoyed Stephen Graham Jones’ “Pincer and Tongue” which was equal parts hilarious and terrifying.
If you liked Tiny Nightmares, you might also like:
By Carmen Maria Machado
Graywolf Press, 2017. 245 pages. Fiction.
In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies. A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store's prom dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella 'Especially Heinous, ' Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.
By Kelly Link
Random House, 2015. 336 pages. Fiction.
A collection of short stories features tales of a young girl who plays caretaker to mysterious guests at the cottage behind her house and a former teen idol who becomes involved in a bizarre reality show.
BW
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