Horror Section Tour
Here at Dog-Eared we are always rearranging the store to best serve you. We check trends, reading preferences, and more to keep the store fresh and inviting. Recently, we revamped and added a horror section to gather in one place all of our creepiest readers.
Let’s take a tour and see what’s there!
When Things Get Dark: Stories inspired by Shirley Jackson, edited by Ellen Datlow
If you’re new to the genre, a short story collection is always a great place to start to sample a ton of authors and their writing styles. When Things Get Dark is a collection of new and exclusive short stories inspired by, and in tribute to, Shirley Jackson, a seminal writer of horror fiction (Peep The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle for a romp through the classics).
Some of the biggest names in the genre contributed works including Paul Tremblay, Cassandra Khaw, Carmen Maria Machado, and Seanan McGuire.
The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike, Translated by Deborah Boliver Boehm
Great cadence and pace, if you like jumpscares in horror, this is your read.
This slow-burner ghost story is about a young family that believes they have found their forever home, only to realize the fresh new apartment complex houses a lot more than just the neighbors. As strange and terrifying occurrences start to pile up, people with the means start to flee the building, leaving behind only a few who are left to face whoever…or whatever…is lurking.
And for your own safety, sanity, and sleep schedule please don’t read after dark!
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, Translated by Anton Hur
This is a phenomenal read, but not for the faint of heart. On first pass this Korean short story collection is nasty and visceral. But keep going and it blossoms into something magnificent. I loved it. The first story is gross and uncomfortable (it's about a baby that is formed in a woman's toilet from everything she shits out...) and either you'll bail or you'll stick around and unearth all sorts of wonderful gems. “Snare” is fable-like, with a hunter, a fox that bleeds gold, and a set of twins. In “Reunion,” a young academic retraces her travels in Poland, and the foundational relationship she had there. Beautifully written, I sobbed at the ending.
Some of the toughest horror is the kind that feels close to our every day. The brutality and underlying evil pulse of many of these stories will leave you unmoored.
I will say don't pick this one up unless you're ready. It's raw, unnerving art. I found the entire experience delightfully unsettling and deeply cathartic but it is not for everyone. This book is every way you can break a heart; each story is its own mosaic of pain, ache, and heartbreak.
If you’re looking for another creepy short story collection, grab Yoko Ogawa’s Revenge. Eleven short stories, each a standalone gem, are loosely threaded together by tiny occurrences. The stories aren’t rooted in a particular time of place; instead they seem precariously suspended between wires. It left me unsettled and afloat—a marvelous achievement for a book.
The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlyn Starling
If you like a haunted atmosphere and creepy vibes, then gothic horror is right up your alley.
Jane Lawrence has struck a sublime bargain. Augstine Lawrence has agreed to a marriage of convenience that will allow them both the independence to pursue their occupations without society breathing down their necks. The only condition is that she never visits his crumbling family manor, Lindridge Hall. Easy.
Except on their wedding night, an accident strands her in a severe thunderstorm on his doorstep. The poised surgeon she married just a couple hours ago is nowhere to be found; instead a paranoid, terrified man stands in front of her. Even though daylight brings relief, Jane quickly realizes something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall—and with the man she married. Will she be able to save herself, and her husband, or will the truth swallow her whole?
Want more gothic vibes? Check out What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher, a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic The Fall of the House of Usher.
Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan
This one is in another vein of psychological horror. The dread that creeps in is unshakeable.
It’s summer on a single street in an uppity neighborhood, and a new family has moved in that doesn’t quite…how would you say it… ‘have the right pedigree.’ At the neighborhood BBQ disaster strikes, and sets off a chain of events that end in true horror.
This one’ll creep up on you. Right from the beginning you can feel in your bones that something is just a bit off but if someone forced you, you’d be at a loss to pinpoint exactly what the problem is. Something about the juxtaposition between charming suburbia and more sinister motives always intrigues.
This is that type of horror that hits too close to home. While there are some surreal moments, the real horror is the people that you once thought you knew doing the unfathomable. Like when the neighbors on the 9 pm news always say “but he was such a nice man....”
Shudder.
The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun, Translated by Sora Kim-Russell
I read this exquisite piece of horror years ago and I still think about it…Horror requires a lot of craft to create that sense of tension, dread, and terror. Award-winning author Hye-young Pyun delivers all that and more in this psychological horror.
Ogi has woken up from a coma to find out he survived the car crash- and his wife did not. Now his only caretaker and family left is his mother-in-law, a widow grieving the loss of her only child. Taut and unnerving, the meandering narrative lines up and comes to a shocking denouement. Trust me, it will leave you breathless.
Leech by Hiron Ennes
This bold scifi-esque horror with gothic dystopian vibes is stuffed with great characters and fascinating ideas.
For centuries the Institute has worked to become top of the medical hierarchy, replacing all human practitioners with its own brand of Doctor. The parasite has worked to help humanity- keeping humans alive after the horrors their ancestors wrought.
The long icy winter is coming in the dystopian frozen North. The new Doctor has arrived to investigate the death of one of their own, a most puzzling matter. Never has The Institute lost a body before... Now, cooped up in the Baron's decrepit chateau, the Doctor uncovers a competitor that wants to knock the Institute off the evolutionary ladder.
Pair this with Bazterrica's Tender is the Flesh for a fascinating conversation around bodily autonomy, sanctioned violence, the power and purpose of naming, and what it means to be human.
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, Translated by Sarah Moses
In a dystopian future, a virus has made all animal meat poisonous. To make up for the shortage, humans are now bred and farmed to be ‘special meat.’
Marcos works for a special meat processor, using his skills from the 'old meat' plants. He was around when they were still shaping the new rules and regulations around special meat. He's seen a lot. And now, he's reeling from a personal loss, his wife has left him, and his aging father is in the home. He has a lot to juggle - bills to pay, shipments to process, mouths to feed…
What does it mean when people are no longer people? Or at least not ALL people are people? The book goes into excruciatingly grotesque detail of what "special meat" means for the entire supply chain - suppliers, farmers, transporters, processors, butchers, consumers. On full display here is the power of language to obscure, to distance, to dehumanize, to justify - to make all manner of horrors more palatable. Even when writing the synopsis I deliberately chose 'human' over 'people.' That says something.
Let me tell you, Tender is the Flesh really really tested me. I have never read a book that has churned my stomach quite like this one. It’s interesting to sit with things that are disturbing. It will change you.
This one had a moment on Tik-Tok, most likely because of the outright gore (be prepared). But it really is so much more than that. Get ready to plunge into layers of political horror, language and power, meat and the consumerist food chain, and the meaning of family. This was one of our Found in Translation Book Club reads and it gave us all a lot of… food … for thought.
Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth
This is one unsettling, unraveling of a read.
Abby and Ralph move in with his mother, Laura. When she kills herself in the basement, leaving the kids to clean up after her (just like always). Yet, even in the afterlife she continues to be a manipulating, spiteful intrusion, haunting them from beyond. Now Abby must take drastic (horrifying) measures to save her husband from his mother's imposing, drowning presence and finally rid herself of her mother-in-law for good. Great cadence and good characters, this is domestic horror at its best.
The throwback recipes in here (molded canned salmon in gelatin, chicken a la king), set this one in the 70s/80s for me. Whether that is what the author intended or not, I'm not sure. But I liked the book more when I imagined it through that lens. If you love an unstable narrator, and a serious dash of trauma then this is your read. Just make sure to pass on the à la king.
Hide by Kiersten White
This is funhouse horror at its finest. 14 strangers sign up for a week-long game of hide and seek hosted in an abandoned amusement park. Amidst the rusted theme park rides, old midway stands, and decrepit attractions, the contestants hide from dawn to dusk in hopes of being the last one standing and bagging $50,000. But, who (or what) are they really hiding from? This one is for fans of Squid Game and Jordan Peele horror. The pacing is solid and it's a fun read with great twists.
I will say having the horror take place in the daytime is interesting and every time I watched a scene in my head I had to remind myself to put some sunshine in there. At first I thought it detracted from the atmosphere but then I thought back to when I was a kid playing the game.. you're braced straining to hear anything...usually your only sightline is through a tiny crack or hole (if you have one at all). That tension against the backdrop of bright skies is clever.
The first time I listened to it was through our Libro.fm account. I learned that if I listen to horror stories I panic clean my house. See how much books can teach you about yourself? Many of the books here are also available on audiobook. There is even Stephen Graham Jones’ The Babysitter Lives, a surreal funhouse horror of a book, only available on audio!
Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda
If you want a bit more ‘monster’ in your reading, check out this refreshing take on the vampire trope. Lydia, born to a Japanese human father who she never met and a Malaysian vampire mother, was turned by her mother when she was just days old. She was raised entirely on a diet of pig's blood, the only thing she can readily digest. Unfortunately, her mother was too choked with self-hatred to prepare her only daughter for the real world. So Lydia, now a young adult, is left to forge her own way, learning to make friends, and grow up, and eat.
Her 'affliction' drives her obsessions around eating and seeing food as enlightenment and identity. You don't need to have fangs to find familiar her mom issues, shitty internship experiences, young adulthood struggles, and food obsessions (she spends endless hours scrolling through socials watching what people eat).
I will say few book covers really encapsulate a book as well as this one. The cover is an edited Baroque master Caravaggio titled Boy with a Basket of Fruit. Baroque painting is characterized by rich colors, stark shadow play, and high drama subjects. This book is like reading a Baroque painting; a lot of shadow play and dramatic imagery.
Overall this is a somber, dark book that richly blooms at the end.
Want more fresh monster takes? Both Stephen Graham Jones’ Mongrels and Rachel Harrison’s Such Sharp Teeth put their own spin on the werewolf trope.
