Looking for something good and scary to read? Short on time? With Halloween approaching, the best late evening stories are those dusty volumes sitting patiently on your library shelf. When you want that feeling, that deep down chill in your bones, it's time to turn to the masters.
Here are a few of my favourite October short stories.
The October Game by Ray Bradbury. While The Emissary will always be my favourite Bradbury tale, The October Game is the perfect read for this time of year. Unsettling from the start, this story will have you looking at the innocent fun of Halloween in a new light.
The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson. It's an image that is burned into your mind once you've read this story - two men, standing over a grave, shovels and lanterns in hand. But this classic tale has so much more to offer.
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe. Being buried alive is a popular theme in horror, but Poe's Cask of Amontillado takes the idea to a new level.
The Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs. Imagine what you could do with three wishes. Now imagine each of those wishes came at a terrible cost. This is the set up of W. W. Jacob's classic short story, and the ending is so wrought with suspense it will keep you up late at night, thinking about what might be knocking at the door.
The Hand by Guy De Maupassant. A story within a story, told from the safety of a warm room with pleasant company, this tale of the supernatural will have you questioning the safety of your own warm room on a cold October evening. A perfect example of the effectiveness of an uncertain ending.
What's your favourite classic horror story?
The Cask of Amontillado is one of my all time faves. I saw a dramatization of it in Manhattan that had Montresor and Fortunato going into a poorly lit stairwell. Us audience members had to follow them and the echoey dark of that stairwell *really* added a kick to the whole feel of the tale. Brilliant.
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"Something Wicked this Way Comes"--was that Ray Bradbury also? It made me shiver, since it involved children.
ReplyDeleteA story within a story, told from the safety of a warm room with pleasant company, this tale of the supernatural will have you questioning the safety of your own warm room on a cold October evening.
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