horror short story collections worth owning

for when a full novel feels like too much commitment. every story here actually earns its place, not just the one that gets anthologized

The October Country - Ray Bradbury

the crowd and the jar are the ones people quote, but skeleton is the one that actually got under my skin

Her Body and Other Parties - Carmen Maria Machado

husband stitch alone justifies owning this one. won the shirley jackson award for a reason

North American Lake Monsters - Nathan Ballingrud

monsters as metaphor for the actual people in these stories, mostly parents. won a shirley jackson award, this guy just keeps winning those

Full Throttle - Joe Hill

Get in Trouble - Kelly Link

not pure horror, more uncanny, but two eyes and the summer people will unsettle you the same way

When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (ed. Ellen Datlow)

my go-to when i can't decide what i'm in the mood for. tremblay and machado both contribute, wildly different tones side by side

The Grownup - Gillian Flynn

technically a single long story not a collection but it's short enough to read in one sitting and mean enough to count

Skin Folk - Nalo Hopkinson

caribbean folklore horror, this is the non obvious one that took me longest to track down a copy of

Bliss Montage - Ling Ma

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