My Top 22 Horror Short Stories: October 2024

My Top 22 Horror Short Stories
October 2024

Every October, I post a listing of my Top 22 horror stories. 

 

I've altered one entry from last year. Otherwise, the list remains unchanged.

 

I've been reading horror stories since 1970, when I was 9 years old and I saw a copy of Alfred Hitchcock's Monster Museum (Random House, 1965) on the shelf of my grammar school library. 

While most of the stories in the book were rather tame - it was aimed at an audience of juvenile Baby Boomers, after all - Joseph Payne Brennan's story 'Slime' immediately gripped my attention, and from then on, my interest in the genre began, and has lasted since.

After some contemplation, I've decided to stand forth with a list of 22 short stories that in my humble opinion are the better ones I've encountered in 50 years of reading all manner of horror fiction. Since it's the interval covered by this blog, I've concentrated on stories that first saw print from the early 1960s into the mid-1990s. 

I've posted a brief, one-sentence synopsis for each story, to jog memories or to give the reader a sense of what to expect.

One problem with focusing on such stories is that in many instances the books where they first appeared long are out of print, and copies in good condition have steep asking prices. Accordingly, where available, I've tried to provide alternate sources for obtaining these stories.

My Top 22, in chronological order:

The First Days of May, by Claude Veillot, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1961; Tales of Terror from Outer Space, 1975

‘Alien invasion’ theme, well done. A pdf copy is available here.

***

One of the Dead, by William Wood, The Saturday Evening Post, October 31, 1964; Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Scream Along with Me; A Walk with the Beast, 1969; Great American Ghost Stories, 1991

Although a bit over-written, this is a well-crafted melding of the haunted house theme with the anomie of mid-1960s life in suburban Los Angeles.  

***

The Road to Mictlantecutli, by Adobe James, Adam Bedside Reader, 1965; The Sixth Pan Book of Horror Stories,1965; The Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural, 1981

Morgan, a ruthless criminal, is travelling on a mysterious road in Mexico. The strange sights and passions he encounters will lead him to change his life........for good, or for ill.

'Adobe James' was the pseudonym of American writer James Moss Cardwell (1926 – 1990), who had his short stories published in a variety of magazines and anthologies during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. 

***

Longtooth, by Edgar Pangborn, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 1970; The Best of Modern Horror, 1989

A resident of rural Maine discovers something disturbing in the deep, dark woods. A pdf copy is available here.

***

Goat, by David Campton, New Writings in Horror and the Supernatural #1, 1971; Whispers: An Anthology of Fantasy and Horror, 1977

Creepy goings-on in an English village.

***

Satanesque, by Alan Weiss, The Literary Magazine of Fantasy and Terror, #6, 1974; The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series III, 1975

Starts off on a thoroughly conventional note, then unexpectedly transitions into something entirely imaginative and offbeat.

***

The Shortest Way, by David Drake, Whispers #3, March 1974; From the Heart of Darkness, 1983; Vettius and His Friends, 1989;  Night & Demons, 2012

A 'Vettius' story set in the days of the Roman empire. Our hero elects to travel on a road that the locals take care to avoid. An atmospheric, memorable tale.

***

The Taste of Your Love, by Eddy C. Bertin, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series III, 1975; The Whispering Horror, 2013

One of the better Serial Killer tales I’ve read.

***

The Changer of Names, by Ramsey Campbell, Swords Against Darkness II, 1977; The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories: 4, 1978; Far Away and Never, 2021.

I've never been a fan of Campbell’s horror stories and novels, but his sword-and-sorcery stories featuring the ‘Ryre’ character are entertaining exercises in creepiness. There are metaphors and similes abounding in the Ryre tales, to be sure, but as compared to Campbell's horror stories the purple prose is reduced in scope, and plotting receives due consideration. 

While the Swords Against Darkness paperbacks have exorbitant asking prices, a new (October 2021) reprint of Far Away and Never from DMR Press collects all four of the Ryre stories, along with other fantasy tales from Campbell's early career.  

***

Long Hollow Swamp, by Joseph Payne Brennan, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, January 1976; The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series V, 1977

Another great 'monsters-on-the-loose' tale from Brennan.

***

Sing A last Song of Valdese, by Karl Edward Wagner, Chacal #1, Winter 1976; The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series V, 1977; Night Winds, 1978, 1983

One of two entries by Wagner, who wrote a lot of duds, but when he was On, he was On. In a remote forest, a lone traveler comes upon an inn filled with sinister characters. A pdf copy is available here.

***

Window, by Bob Leman, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1980; The 1981 Annual World’s Best SF, 1981; The Best of Modern Horror, 1989

A neat mix of sci-fi and horror, revolving around a portal to another dimension. A pdf copy is available here.

***

Where the Summer Ends, by Karl Edward Wagner, Dark Forces, August 1980; In A Lonely Place, 1983; The American Fantasy Tradition, 2002

 

A second entry from Wagner. It’s hot, humid, and dangerous in 1970s Knoxville. Stay away from the kudzu !

***

The New Rays, by M. John Harrison, Interzone #1, Spring 1982, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series XI, 1983; The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories, 2012

A disturbing tale with proto-steampunk leanings. 

***

After-Images, by Malcolm John Edwards, Interzone #4, Spring 1983, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series XII, 1984; Interzone: The First Anthology, 1986

Another fine melding of sci-fi and horror, this time set in an English suburb. It’s too bad that Edwards, a playwright and editor, didn’t write more short stories. A pdf copy is available here.

***

The Man with Legs, by Al Sarrantonio, Shadows No. 6, October 1983, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series XII, 1984

Two kids learn some disturbing secrets about their family history.

***

High Tide, by Leanne Frahm, Fears, 1983

Frahm, an Australian writer, sets this novelette in the vicinity of the Newry Islands in coastal Queensland. A family camping trip to Mud Island discovers something strange is going on amidst the mangrove swamps: Eco-horror at its creepiest !  

***

Mengele, by Lucius Shepard, Universe 15, 1985, The Jaguar Hunter, 1988

Troubling things are going on at an estate located in a remote region of Paraguay.

***

Red Christmas, by David Garnett, The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XIV, 1986

What seems like a conventional Mad Slasher story has a neat little twist at the end.

***

The Picknickers, by Brian Lumley, Final Shadows, 1991, The Year's Best Horror Stories: XX, 1992.

Unsettling events are happening in the graveyard of a Welsh coal-mining village.

***

Aftertaste, by John Shirley, Bones of the Children, 1996, Black Butterflies, 2001.

 

The Zombie Apocalypse comes to the ghetto. A great tale from Shirley, mixing splatterpunk with irreverent humor.

***

Shining On, by Billie Sue Mosiman, Future Net, 1996

A mutant suffering from severe handicaps finds a friend online. But you know what they say about online friends: just who are they in person ?

Book Review: The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XIII

Book Review: 'The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XIII' edited by Karl Edward Wagner

4 / 5 Stars

'The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XIII' (251 pp.) is DAW Book No. UE 2086, and Book Collector's No. 608. It was published in October, 1985, and has fine cover art by Michael Whelan.

This is the 12th 'Year's Best Horror Stories' volume I've reviewed here at the PorPor Books Blog, so I pretty much know what to expect with volume XIII. Editor Wagner has entries from his usual list of favored contributors, as well as some newer authors. Most of the entries in this anthology first saw print in 1984, in magazines such as The Twilight Zone Magazine or in other anthologies, like Shadows. Others saw print in literary journals, or even convention booklets (?!).

My capsule summaries of the contents:

Mrs. Todd's Shortcut, by Stephen King: Mrs. Todd likes to save time in her errands in rural Maine by driving her sports car down obscure, backwoods roads. Some of the places she transits aren't on any map. A good story from King, and one of the best here in Series XIII.

Are You Afraid of the Dark ?, by Charles L. Grant: on a dark and stormy night, three obstreperous boys confront their babysitter. According to Wagner, this story was an inclusion in the program book for Fantasycon IX. I think it's intended to be a satire due to the purple prose (at one point, shrubs cringe under a window), but I can't be sure. Which doesn't say much for 'Are You Afraid'....

Catch Your Death, by John Gordon: two kids in a misty, drizzly English seacoast town encounter the notorious 'Black Shuck.' I had heard of this entity before, as it's the title of one of the tracks on the celebrated Darkness album, Permission to Land (2003). Now I know who Black Shuck is. Who says reading horror fiction isn't educative ?!

Gordon also contributes 'Never Grow Up,' about a boy troubled by his parent's marital discord

Dinner Party, by Gardner Dozois: in an alternate, dystopian USA, on a bleak Winter's day, private first class Hassmann goes on a fateful excursion. It's a powerful story, although strictly speaking, it's science fiction, not horror. 

Tiger in the Snow, by Daniel Wynn Barber: little Justin walks home from a friend's house. There is menace in the quiet, Winter-time streets and yards of his hometown. This story is a refiguring of the Conrad Aiken short story 'Silent Snow, Secret Snow.'

Watch the Birdie, by Ramsey Campbell: editor Wagner introduces this tale by claiming that Campbell is "the best writer working in this field (i.e., horror) today."

'Watch' is a 'true' ghost story, about the haunting of the Baltic Fleet, a pub in Liverpool. Perhaps because of its brevity (it's only 5 1/2 pages long) it's one of Campbell's more accessible stories.

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You, by David J. Schow: a splatterpunk sneaks into a Year's Best Horror Stories anthology ???!!!! This novelette is about Jonathan Stoner, a handicapped Vietnam Vet who finds his favorite theater in downtown L.A. has some.......peculiarities. A story that takes the 'sleazoid' cinema affection of Bill Landis's 42nd Street, and drops it into the City of Angels, to good effect.

Hands with Long Fingers, by Leslie Halliwell: a deceased man's library of Eldritch Tomes is coveted by a sinister character. A competent, British-style horror tale.

Weird Tales, by Fred Chappell: Sterling Croydon, an acquaintance of H. P. Lovecraft, is doing some worrisome activities in a Cleveland apartment. This is a good Mythos tale, if more than a little highbrow (I encountered the noun 'poetaster').

The Wardrobe, by Jovan Panich: yet another story about a little boy convinced that there are monsters hiding in the wardrobe / closet / under the bed / attic / basement, etc. Other authors have done better, with this trope.

Angst for the Memories, by Vincent McHardy: this story consists entirely of dialogue, involving disembodied voices inhabiting a dark space. There is a 'shock' ending, with splatterpunk tones, that would have worked much better had the preceding paragraphs not been so unintelligible.

The Thing in the Bedroom, by David Langford: genuinely funny treatment of the theme of the 'occult detective.'

Borderland, by John Brizzolara: the borderland is the U.S. - Mexico border, where CBP agents discover something very strange is going on in Dead Man's Canyon.

The Scarecrow, by Roger Johnson: a very readable English ghost story, in the classical mode. This should have been included in 'The Mammoth Book of Folk Horror' (2021), but that's just my opinion.

The End of the World, by James B. Hemesath: a family of New Yorkers transiting the plains of South Dakota discover the empty landscape can be unsettling. One of the best stories in this anthology.

Deadlights, by Charles Wagner: another story set in the Midwest, this time in rural Kansas. It's 1975 and on U.S. route 24, something spooky is looming up in the darkness of the roadway. 'Deadlights' takes its mid-70s setting, and does something Stephen King-ish with it. I liked this story. 

Talking in the Dark, by Dennis Etchison: the obligatory Etchison entry. Victor Ripon is a damaged loner who finds some purpose to life via a correspondence with the bestselling horror author Rex Christian. Maybe Rex can come visit Victor, and instruct him in how to write horror fiction ? This tale has an interesting premise, but a Quiet Horror diet of figurative language, metaphors, and similes leads to a conclusion that I found contrived.

The verdict ? Somewhat surprisingly, I found myself willing to give 'Series XIII' a Four Star Rating (I usually give two or three Stars to these 'Year's Best' volumes). The contributions from King, Schow, Dozois, and the less well-known authors more than compensate for the duds from Grant, Campbell, and Etchison. The 'Year's Best Horror Stories' volumes have high asking prices in the used book markets, but this volume is worth spending a little extra money to obtain.

Penthouse October 1974

Penthouse

October 1974

It's October, 1974, and if we take a look at the top albums on the Billboard Hot 200 chart, If You Love Me Let Me Know by Olivia Newton-John stands at Number One, a clear indicator that she would be one of the best-selling female artists of the decade.

 

 

The latest issue of Penthouse magazine is on the stands, with Laura Doone, a stunning Linda Carter look-alike, as our cover girl.

 

Looking at the Penthouse Forum, alas, 'monopede mania' still endures, having emerged as a Forum obsession about two years previously (where and when K. W. Jeter decided to immortalize it in his 1972 cyberpunk novel 'Dr. Adder'). 

 

In the 'Music' column, coverage is given to some up-and-coming acts that embrace the 'glitter' sensibility. There is Dana Gillespie, a backing vocalist on some of David Bowie's records. Dana is (gasp) a lesbian ! Despite this provocative marketing angle, Dana's LP, Weren't Born A Man, never got much traction among the public. 

There's also an eccentric crossdresser named Wayne Country, who doesn't have an album out yet, but, we are assured, is the Next Big Thing. 

 

Then there is another glitter act, some guys calling themselves 'Kiss,' who are '...having an incredible amount of money pumped into them by Casablanca Records.' 

Kiss, we are informed, '....all wear bats wings and black leather boots, with red spots and stars painted across their faces, and the group's bassist is a dead ringer for Divine, the three-hundred pound drag queen of the film Pink Flamingos.' 

 

What a gimmick ! This band will be dropping out of sight very soon, now.........

 

 

In the magazine's text pieces, we have an article by Robert Sherrill titled 'The Old Shell Game,' which asserts that the oil companies are leveraging the Oil Crisis to extort money from the public. This was a common theme throughout the 1970s.

 

 

Thanks to the success of the movie The Godfather, the 1970s were preoccupied with gangsters and the Mafia, and so we have an excerpt from the book 'The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano' by Martin Gosch and Richard Hammer. Even before the book was published in January 1975, it was being criticized for having fictitious content.

 

 

There's also an excerpt from the novel 'Emmanuelle,' as by Emmanuelle Arsan (it later would be revealed that it was her husband, Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane, who in fact wrote the book). 

 

While it chronicles all sorts of sexual escapades on the part of the heroine, 'Emmanuelle' is perhaps a bit too highbrow for the readership of Penthouse. But Bob Gucccione got, what Bob Guccione wanted. The story does have a striking illustration by surrealist artist Paul Birkbeck.

 

Now, on to the nudies. The portfolio for Laura Doone is, in my opinion, one the best that Guccione ever did. Lots of soft-focus, lots of accessories: pearls, scarves, stockings, floppy-brimmed hats. Purely Seventies !

 

Let's not quit while we're ahead, and proceed to another portfolio: this one, 'The Cincinnati Kid,' features the lissome brunette Karen Dermer !

And that's how it was, fifty years ago, in the pages of Penthouse magazine..................

Book Review: Junkyard

Book Review: 'Junkyard' by Barry Porter

3 / 5 Stars

'Junkyard' (284 pp.) was published by Zebra Books in November, 1989. The cover illustration is one of the best of any entry in the Paperbacks from Hell era; sadly, the artist is uncredited (I can't make out their signature).

Author Barry Porter published one other horror paperback for Zebra Books; 'Dark Souls' (1989).

'Junkyard' is set in the small Midwestern (?) town of Winsome. In the opening chapter we are introduced to a common plot device in Paperbacks from Hell: a wino / vagrant / bum / Unhoused Person has the misfortune to wander into someplace they shouldn't; in this case, it's the town junkyard. Where the monsters depicted on the book's cover lurk in the darkness.

It's no spoiler to reveal that the junkyard monsters are mutant rats the size of a German shepherd dog. These mutants are ravenous and will unite to take down prey larger than themselves.

In due course we are introduced to a foursome of teens, who have been friends since childhood and who just happen to have erected a makeshift club house, called the 'Pit,' deep inside the passageways of the junkyard.....! 

(these sorts of contrivances are a major driver of the storyline in 'Junkyard').

For the teens, their childhood refuge has morphed into a hangout for drinking beer and watching porno VHS tapes. It's also a place to take chicks when it's time for a hot n' heavy makeout session. But of course, what Nick, Larry, Ray, and Mark don't realize is that not only are there man-eating rodents loose among the trash and debris, but that the rats are getting hungrier and more aggressive. And the junkyard is the last place anyone should be when night falls, and the rats come out of their warrens, seeking warm flesh to devour........

I had to struggle through 'Junkyard.' Like so many Paperbacks from Hell, the author laboriously devotes the first three-fourths of the novel to frame the plot and set things up for the climatic confrontation. We get all sorts of adumbrations and foreshadowings and intimations of EVIL !!!!!!!!!!!  And there is a lot of padding in the form of telling, not showing, the mental and emotional states of the characters, presumably to get the reader to care about who survives and what will be left of them (the characters, not the readers). I kept wondering when, finally, the narrative would gain some kind of momentum. 

At page 222, 'Junkyard' does kick into higher gear, and there is enough gore and action (including the liberal use of flamethrowers) to impart some degree of redemption to the novel for trying my patience in plodding through the first 221 pages. 

The verdict ? Like so many Paperbacks from Hell, 'Junkyard' now is selling for exorbitant sums at the hands of bookjackers and speculators. I've seen starting prices of $19, all the way up to $188 (!). If you are a Paperback Fanatic, spending about $20 for this title may be justified, but the novel doesn't have enough impact to justify paying more than that.

Fall 2024 is spooky stories season

FALL 2024 IS SPOOKY STORIES SEASON AT THE PORPOR BOOKS BLOG !

That's right, friends ! Every October, we here at the PorPor Books Blog dedicate our reviews and overviews to all manner of spooky tales, be they fiction or nonfiction. For 2024, we have an inventory of reviews sufficient to devote the season, rather than just a single month, to horror content. 

 

So stand by for reviews of novels and anthologies, all during these next two months, here at the PorPor Books Blog !

On the shelf in the back of the store

On the Shelf in the Back of the Store

The other day I stopped in at a rather disheveled comic book shop in upstate New York and walking into the lesser-trafficked back portion of the store, I saw they had shelving set aside for paperback and hardcover books. Most of the titles were Star Trek and Star Wars franchise stuff, but they had a surprisingly large collection of vintage sci-fi paperbacks from the 1960s and 1970s. I purchased the five books, pictured above, for $2 each. 

I doubt any of them are memorable works, but still, it's always worth poking around those neglected little corners of the store where the owners stash the more obscure items in their inventory......