MetaFilter posts tagged with fiction and horror

The children had stones already. And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles.

taz — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:58:11 -0800

How to raise money for the Shirley Jackson Awards? Why, a Lottery, natch. The Shirley Jackson Awards, established in 2007 to reward "outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and the dark fantastic" is holding an online lottery beginning today and continuing through February 23 to raise funds for the program. Participants can buy $1 digital lottery tickets for any of 51 donated prizes from authors, editors, artists, and agents. Which prize will draw the most interest? Perhaps an autographed computer keyboard from Neil Gaiman? Or the chance to be Tuckerized in an upcoming work? [Tuckerization explained] Or ... star in a porn role? The lottery will be held on February 23rd at midnight. Items are being raffled off individually, and you may purchase as many tickets per item as you would like. For each item, one winner will be chosen using a computerized random number generator, and winning names and prizes will be announced on the website. By the way, the list of Shirley Jackson literary award winners from 2008 is here. A review of the top award winner for best novel, Elizabeth Hand's "Generation Loss" is here. If you've never read Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" (gasp!), you can read it here, hear it here, or even watch it on youtube.

Pseudopod

Wolfdog — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:14:22 -0800

Pseudopod - a podcast of short horror stories.

Darker Projects

Wolfdog — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 06:27:01 -0800

Darker Projects has a bunch of original audio dramas in the sci-fi, horror, and suspense vein. Think of it as your local community audio-only theatre, or not-actually-old-timey old-time radio. Also think of it as an opportunity to get some friends together and practice your audio MSTing skills.

Short Stories. Endless Nightmares.

hermitosis — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:43:28 -0800

MicroHorror: Terrifying tales, related in 666 words or fewer. Brought to you by MetaFilter's own Faint of Butt, via Projects.

Invisible and Redoubtable Beings

Iridic — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:26:12 -0800

"The Great God Pan," by Arthur Machen. "The Beckoning Fair One," by Oliver Onions. "Green Tea," by J. Sheridan LeFanu. "The Boarded Window," by Ambrose Bierce. "The Horla," by Guy de Maupassant.

FLA FUR BIS FLE

Iridic — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 18:23:52 -0800

"Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come to You, My Lad," "Casting the Runes," and other stories by M.R. James, the master of the ghost story.

"I’m very sure that medical science will want to examine his brain."

Sticherbeast — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:16:30 -0800

D. F. Lewis: Weirdmonger. "Lewis is either a genius graced with madness, a madman cursed with genius, both, or neither ... But there is more to Lewis than that. Believe you me, my pretties. Oh yes, much more. Because every so often you catch sight of something stirring beneath the frosted surfaces of his dreamy prose, something brilliant yet dark and brooding, something revelatory, something true, something that were you to see it all in a single glance would burn you to a cinder; but you still want to see; it speaks to you. In sibilant whispers. It tells you something you've been waiting to hear."—SAMHAIN review of BEST OF DF LEWIS. "I have a paranoid sensation that I'm always being followed by DF Lewis ... he's always there to torment me ... I can't get away from him even if I switch genres... Is he for real or did somebody invent him purely to annoy me?"—Problem page of OVERSPACE #13. "Then I turned over the page and AAARGH! DF f**king Lewis again!"—from THE SCANNER #11. "DF Lewis? When he's bad, he's awful, but when he's good there's no-one can touch him."—Rhys Hughes.

H.P. Lovecraft

Tlogmer — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 05:11:53 -0800

"It is here, however -- perhaps 50 pages into this 800-plus page anthology -- that something begins to shift, and what was supposed to be sublime (but is actually ridiculous) becomes something that was supposed to be ridiculous, but is actually sublime."
Why H.P. Lovecraft is scary after all.

Joe R Lansdale's Mojo storytelling

matteo — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 12:17:19 -0800

Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back
The tattoo is of a great, blue mushroom cloud, and in the cloud, etched ghost-like, is the face of our daughter, Rae. Her lips are drawn tight, eyes are closed and there are stitches deeply pulled to simulate the lashes. When I move fast and hard they rip slightly and Rae cries bloody tears. That’s one reason for the martial arts. The hard practice of them helps me to tear the stitches so my daughter can cry. Tears are the only thing I can give her.
East Texas writer Joe R Lansdale has written horror, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, suspense, westerns, "men's adventure," and just about every other kind of writing you can think of. On his website (see main link) Lansdale makes a story available for free every week to his readers.
Lansdale also wrote a novella featuring an aging Elvis Presley who teams up with a delusional, African American John F. Kennedy to battle an ancient Egyptian mummy with a predilection for anal soul-rape. It made it to the big screen, too: Bubba Ho-Tep. With Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. More inside.

crog — Wed, 30 Jan 2002 22:04:06 -0800

"That's it. I'm done. Done writing books." After Stephen King publishes his next five new books, he's ending his career in publishing. Viewing his latest work as mere recycles of older novels that he has written, he's choosing to stop while he's at the top of his game rather than meet a grim end to his career. Are any fans of his work disappointed or do you feel satisfied with the body of work that he has created over his career?