I’m looking preferably for short stories/novellas (or novels too, I guess) that have a sense of creeping dread; weird and eerie.
The benchmark for me is a novella called “*The Willows*” by Algernon Blackwood.
“*The House on the Borderland*” by William Hope Hodgson is another example of the sort of thing.
I’ve already read a lot of Lovecraft and Poe, but if there’s a more obscure work of theirs that’s a real banger then I’m all ears.
Are there any arcane treats in this sphere I’m missing out on?
by SnooBooks007
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I love Blackwood! And Lovecraft— “The Color Out of Space” is so disturbing.
The Bone Key by Sarah Monette is a Blackwood/MR James-inspired set of stories linked by the main character, a museum curator. They’re wonderfully creepy.
Caitlin Kiernan’s earlier short stories really hit that mark for me. “Houses Under the Sea” and “Andromeda Among the Stones” are both great.
Jeff Vandermeer mostly writes scifi and fantasy, but he’s always right on the edge of horror. “The Third Bear” by him as one of the most frightening/eerie short stories I’ve ever read.