Three Steps Off The Beaten Path

Author: Asandra al'Terra

All houses wherein men have lived and died
Are haunted houses. Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Haunted Houses”

Dear Tar Valon,

I love October. I love ghosts, and goblins, and things that go bump in the night (although I’m not a huge fan of vampires or zombies, to be perfectly honest). I can’t wait for the leaves to start turning red, and to have yet another excuse (not that I ever need one) to curl up with a book that will make me sleep with the lights on.

I love books in the genre, and I find myself choosing them over short stories fairly often. However, I think this is a huge mistake. Ghost stories – or any other spooky stories – are a perfect medium for fear. These are the tales that belong around a campfire. Their short length makes them pack a quick one-two punch of terror. Often, short stories are the home of the “classics” – and, while I love The Shining as much as the next person (nota bene: if you’ve only seen the movie, do yourself a favour and read the book as well. It’s much better!), learning the history of horror is especially fascinating.

For this reason, I’ve chosen to focus this month’s Three Steps on short stories that will make your blood run cold and make you look over your shoulder while you’re reading. I hope you enjoy them.

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Three Steps off the Path: October 2015

“Horror Kidney Punch” edition

The Lottery – Shirley Jackson

(Female | White | USA | ? | 5*)

Shirley Jackson may be familiar to many because of her short story, The Lottery, which is read in high school classrooms across North America. Published in 1948, is a contentious and dark enough little tale that readers of The New Yorker, where it was originally published, canceled subscriptions and sent hate mail over it.

You can read it here.

If you’re ready for more Ms. Jackson, then I highly recommend The Haunting of Hill House – a classic ghost story and one of the scariest I’ve read in recent memory.

The Monkey’s Paw – W.W. Jacobs

(Male | White | England | ? | 5*)

We all know the saying, be careful what you get for: it might come true. Actually, many of you know it particularly well, given the long-running “Corrupt-a-wish” thread in the forums.

Where did the phrase originate? I’m not entirely sure, but I’m never able to use it without thinking of Jacobs’ story The Monkey’s Paw. Another high school favourite, it has a simple premise: what will a family do when it receives three wishes?

You can read the story here.

The Horla – Guy de Maupassant

(Male | White | France | ? | TBR)

The Horla was written in 1887, and has been cited as an inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft’s famous “The Call of Cthulu.” I haven’t read this story yet, but it’s described as “a chilling tale of one man’s descent into madness.” It’s thought to be informed by the author’s own mental illness: he died in an asylum in the late 19th century.

You can read the story here.

Want more stories? A simple search of “Horror short stories public domain” will give you a great list of classic, free stories. While most of them tend to be Americo- and Eurocentric, you can also find great collections of international tales – like ghost stories from Japan.

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What books would you include in this list? What books or themes would you like to see featured? Post in the comments, or send an email to 3.steps.each@gmail.com!

As always, the criteria for this column involve books that meet at least one of the following: the author is not male, not white, not American, or not straight. Key: (Sex [M/F/GQ/…] | Race [White/POC] | Country of Origin | Sexual orientation [L/G/B/Q/…] | Rating [X stars / TBR] )

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