Guest Post: All Hallow's Read: Creepy Stories You (Probably) Haven't Read Yet

Frequent guest contributor Matthew Jackson is back with a special post for the season on lesser-known horror stories. He wrote a series for us last year on Horror Lit 101. Matt is an entertainment writer for Blastr.com, film critic for the Huntsville Item, and frequent contributor to nerdbastards.com. Visit him at his personal blog at www.awalrusdarkly.blogspot.com.

Last year rock star author Neil Gaiman suggested via his blog that we should begin a tradition of giving each other scary books for Hallowe’en (British spelling; it’s cooler). Bookish nerds (like myself) rallied around him, and All Hallow’s Read was born. If you weren’t aware of this development last fall, you can read all about it (really not much more than “Hey, give each other books.”) right here (http://www.allhallowsread.com/). 

I gave an All Hallow’s Read book last year – a collection of short fiction edited by the wonderful horror writer Peter Straub – to a friend with a fortuitous October birthday, and I also spent some time talking here on this very blog about some essential horror writing from the last two centuries. When I was asked by the lovely ladies of STACKED to reprise my role as horror geek this October, I started thinking about the books people might give (and get) to celebrate Hallowe’en (again, cooler), and I realized that quite a few of them would be the same book. 

There are essential horror texts, of course. A good portion of the Stephen King canon, the complete works of Poe (particularly if you get one of the cool black leather, gilded editions like I have), Gaiman’s own creepy all ages story Coraline and a host of others that lovers of scary stories have already devoured. But what about the others? What about those books that you thought about picking up, but didn’t, or those books written by the bestselling author that didn’t quite go the distance? What about those stories that have been forgotten by all but the enthusiasts? 

With this in mind, here are a few of those stories that I’ve discovered during my life as a horror reader. If you’re a lover of creepy tales, you might’ve read a few of these, but if you’re a casual reader who just gets the urge for such a story around this time of year, you’re very likely in for some new experiences.

The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen

H.P. Lovecraft praised it in his critical writing on supernatural literature, and no less than Stephen King labeled it the finest horror story in the English language. The Great God Pan is the story of a scientist who performs a horrific surgery in the hope that his patient can see a god and the terrifying results of the experiment that emerge years later. Published in 1894, it remains an essential precursor to the classic weird fiction of the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s, and even more than a century later is still among the more disturbing horror tales I’ve ever read.

Cabal by Clive Barker

Lately Clive Barker has been noted more for his fantasy fiction, but he began as a horror writer, perhaps the most effective of the 1980s, and it’s those early tales of his that I still read with the most affection. Cabal is a novella from the sixth volume of Barker’s Books of Blood anthologies. It was made into a critically panned but still interesting film, Nightbreed, by Barker himself, but it’s the story that sticks in my head. It’s the tale of a man whose life just feels wrong until he stumbles upon a group of otherworldly creatures living in a sprawling necropolis. Cabal is one of the great modern monster stories, endlessly weird and ambitious, filled with the imaginative power of all of Barker’s more famous stories, and the same visceral punch of each of his other horror writing.

Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates has won loads of awards for her fiction, but she probably never expected to get one from the Horror Writers Association. Zombie won the HWA’s Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel in 1995, and even though it’s hard to find these days, it remains worthy of the distinction. Oates is no stranger to dark writing, but this is easily her greatest confrontation with literal horror. Based on the life of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, it’s a first person account of one man’s desire to create a human slave for himself, and the victims he dispatches in the process.

Song of Kali by Dan Simmons

The great Harlan Ellison (who is known as much for his temper as his brilliant writing) profusely praised this debut by Dan Simmons, who won the World Fantasy Award for this novel and went on to win a host of other awards for later novels like Hyperion, Carrion Comfort and Drood. Song of Kali is the story of an American who travels to Calcutta and finds himself embroiled in the horrific deeds of a cult worshipping the Hindu goddess Kali, but in many ways the real star is Simmons’ layered and gorgeous writing.

The Wine-Dark Sea by Robert Aickman

Aickman didn’t consider himself a writer of horror. He called his work “strange stories,” short fiction that was deeply evocative, dark and often unclassifiable. There are Aickman stories that I have finished without even really knowing what just happened, but I’m left with a feeling of glorious doom, the kind of feeling that only a really good and creepy story can leave. Most people don’t remember Aickman, but he’s experiencing a resurgence lately (thanks in part to Neil Gaiman’s praise of his work). If you absolutely can’t find any of his collections, do what I did and ask your local library for an interlibrary loan.

Ghost Story by Peter Straub

Ghost Story was one of the most popular horror novels of the 1970s, and Peter Straub has written a ton of really wonderful work since, but I’m always surprised how many people either don’t know about it or just haven’t taken the time for it. It’s the classic New England hamlet plagued by evil setup, but rarely has that tale been told so elegantly or eerily. Straub is one of the greatest living horror writers, and Ghost Story is one of the most effective and haunting horror stories of the 20^th century.

Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola

Me being me, I can’t get through this without recommending at least one comic book, and Mike Mignola’s Hellboy was the first that came to mind. Seed of Destruction is the first story starring Hellboy, the working class demon birthed by dark magic in World War II who’s now working for the U.S. government, just trying to make the world a better place. It’s not exactly nightmare-inducing, but it’s a dark, often funny and infinitely ambitious take on a classic horror subgenre: the monster story. I started reading Seed of Destruction about a year ago and have since read every Hellboy story Mignola and company have produced. They’re that addictive.

It’s time for spooky stories. Read your favorites, discover some new ones, and give a few to friends. Happy All Hallow’s Read.