Gothic Short Stories (Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural)

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The narrator tells the story of Mrs. Grimes based on what he’s heard and his imaginings. She married her husband, a known thief, to escape a bad situation as a servant. One day she goes to town to trade eggs for some supplies.

Poe is a master of the “unreliable narrator” – a voice that speaks with devastating spontaneity and is utterly convincing – that has come to be a staple of much suspense and horror fiction in the 20th and 21st centuries. Unhampered by the literary pretensions of certain of Poe’s other, longer stories, totally committed to its unrepentant pathology, and its visceral celebration of this pathology, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is the very essence of Poe, as Poe is himself the very essence of the American gothic tradition. Joyce Carol Oates “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce (1890) Thought-provoking … Margaret Atwood. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood (1983) Howl’s Moving Castle. Howl and Sophie manage to kill the Witch of the Waste — only to discover that the Witch’s fire demon, Miss Angorian, was the real villain all along.The narrator lives on Pest street across from a creepy looking house. She doesn’t see any activity there until one day when a woman comes out on the balcony and empties a dish of bones for a raven. The woman tells the narrator she would appreciate her bringing over any bad meat she has.

Mavis Gallant shows a profound grasp of the psychology of love affairs. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The Guardian “In the Tunnel” by Mavis Gallant (1971) A man is touring a house. He is confused about the location of the doors, and compares his situation to rats that are experimented on.

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The Wordsworth collection of Gothic Short Stories has tales that run from the onset of the genre up to the early days of the twentieth century. The set commences with a titillating entrée: ‘Sir Bertrand: A Fragrance’ (1773) by Anna Letitia Aiken. This brief entry is redolent with atmosphere and pure Gothic elements: ‘a large antique mansion’, isolated and derelict, the tolling of the bell in the deserted tower and the strange coffin that contains a living corpse. Often, there are supernatural works at play, such as ghosts, monsters, or curses – but not always. Gothic stories are also known to play with themes such as isolation and power. CHARACTER A is informed that the previous events were actually part of an alternate reality simulation. In ‘Berenice‘, the great American horror writer, Edgar Allan Poe provides a suitably weird tale of a man who becomes obsessed with his dead wife’s teeth. This bizarre concept and the gruesome elements within the story caused contemporary readers to be horrified by its graphic violence and complained to the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, which had first published the tale in 1835.

This story can be read in the preview of Among the Dead and Other Events Leading to the Apocalypse. (24% into preview) “Rise, My Love, Rise” by Heinrich Böll

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Part poetic incantation, part eccentric kaleidoscopic vision, this is a story which contorts each time you read it. Born in Antigua, Kincaid invents aesthetics which are wholly unique, transfiguring human form and surroundings, in particular, the Caribbean landscapes. Here, she conveys the multiple textures of smaller islands, creating a literary geography which remains experimental, new and indefinable. Irenosen Okojie “Music at Annahullion” by Eugene McCabe (2004) Inger Stevens as Nan Adams in episode sixteen of Twilight Zone, "The Hitch-hiker" (1960). Image: CBS Productions Not Too Dead To Ruin Everyone’s Day The Truman Show. As the unsuspecting star of a decades-long reality show, Truman Burbank does not realize that he has lived in a massive and elaborate television stage since birth.

The narrator recounts the story of an unusual wedding between a man and woman in their sixties. Rather than being introduced by uplifting music, the wedding was introduced with a funeral knell instead. A wife tells the story of her husband. He was a good husband and father, well liked and respected. Something happened that she can’t believe. Everyone says it was because of the moon and the blood. A subgenre of gothic fiction, American gothic often features monsters, alienation, guilt, and things that are familiar yet strange. Here are some gothic short stories of this type. “Popular Mechanics” by Raymond Carver Joly, a visitor in Venice, is reading when he is approached by an older man, Sanborn, who admires the book. He invites Joly for a drink where he is introduced to another man, Zuichini, a skilled bookbinder. Joly is leery of his companions but accepts their hospitality. “The Desire to Be a Man” by Auguste Villiers de I’Isle-Adam The moment of crisis had come, and I must face it. My old fears, my diffidence, my shyness, my hopeless sense of inferiority, must be conquered now and thrust aside. If I failed now I should fail forever.”

50+ Must-Read Gothic Novels and Stories

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Harry battles through three perilous stages of the Triwizard Tournament to find that the real villain has been under his nose throughout the entire novel: Barty Crouch, Jr. in disguise as Harry’s mentor, Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody. Some of this novella can be read in the preview of The Ballad of the Sad Café: And Other Stories. (18% into preview) “Daughter” by Erskine Caldwell James Whithencroft records the events of the most remarkable day of his life while it’s still fresh in his mind. He works all thru a hot August day on a sketch of an enormous man who was just sentenced by a judge for some crime. He then takes a walk, happy with his artistic output, conscious only of the oppressive heat.