Bite-Sized Nightmares: Quick Scary Reads for the Halloween Season!

During the spooktacular month of October, I’ve set out on a mission to devour as many spine-chilling horror short stories as I can get my hands on. Not only is it the perfect way to embrace the eerie vibes of the season, but I’m also hoping it will reignite my passion for reading again, which took a nosedive near the end of May. 

Below is a list of some haunting titles I plan to tackle (some might be re-readers). If you have any favorite spooky short stories of your own, I’d love to hear your recommendations—feel free to drop them below in the comments!

• Nightmare magazine
• The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
• Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe
• The October Country by Ray Bradbury
• Zombies by Donald Barthelme
• The Summer People by Shirley Jackson
• The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman
• Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror (Edited by Jordan Peele)
• The Yattering and Jack by Clive Barker (Books of Blood Collection)
• midnight Meat Train by Clive Barker (online)
• In the Hills, the cities by Clive Barker (online)
• Pig Blood Blues by Clive Barker
• How to Get Back to the Forest by Sofia Samatar (Lightspeed Magazine)
• The weird : a compendium of strange and dark stories (2012) 
• Contemporary Women's Ghost Stories : Spectres, Revenants, Ghostly Returns.
• Supernatural noir edited by Ellen Datlow
• Fearful symmetries : an anthology of horror edited by Ellen datlow
• The Dark Descent edited by David G. Hartwell
• Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come To You, My Lad by MR James

• Survivor Type by Stephen King
• The Tower by Marghanita Laski

• Selfies by Lavie Tidhar
• Patient Zero by Tananarive Due
• Hello, Moto by Nnedi Okorafor
• The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne Du Maurier 
• The Lady of the House of Love by Angela Carter (Bloody chamber)
• All the Fabulous Beasts by Priya Sharma
• In the Bag by Ramsey Campbell
• The White People by Arthur Machen (online
• The Willow by Algernon Blackwood
• Thomas Ligotti (Anthology)
• The Thing on the Doorstep by H.P. Lovecraft
• Death and Suffrage by Dale Bailey (online)
• Whisper by Ray Vukcevich (online)
• In a Cavern, in a Canyon by Laird Barron (online)
• Do you love me by Peter Carey
• The Screwfly Solution by Racoona Sheldon 
• Raphael by Stephen Graham Jones
• Sanctified and Chicken-Fried by Joe Lansdale (available online through UTL)
• Monkeys Paw by W.W. Jacobs
• Lacrimosa by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (online)