Brief Encounters: “Four Stations in His Circle” by Austin Clarke
Clarke’s story – nominally a comic work – is a piercing examination of the way Canadian capitalism disfavours those who are not white.
Brief Encounters: “Where the Door Is Always Open and the Welcome Mat Is Out” by Patricia Highsmith
The American author’s fiction is too frequently placed in a generic box; her output was much more wide ranging, including pieces like this atypical story.
The Horror Show: Victor LaValle rewrites H.P. Lovecraft
The Ballad of Black Tom asks who the real monsters are.
The Horror Show: “The Scar” by Ramsey Campbell
This story of a man and his malevolent doppelgänger recalls Poe and includes a critique of apparent social respectability.
The Horror Show: “The Fly” by George Langelaan
The story, which originally appeared in 1957, includes a framing structure that distances the reader from the main action.
The Horror Show: “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” by Richard Matheson
Of all the genre master’s classic novels and stories, none comes close to the sheer paranoid terror of this ruthless chiller.
The Horror Show: “Wolverton Station” by Joe Hill
Hill’s Gothic tale is an exuberant mashup of Warren Zevon, Little Red Riding Hood, and “An American Werewolf in London.”
The Horror Show: “Event Horizon” by Sunny Moraine
The house in the story – a living thing that demands to be fed – is a metaphor for difference and the other.
The Horror Show: “Paranoia” by Shirley Jackson
Jackson’s story of the commute from hell is one of her most nerve-shattering, Kafkaesque tales.
The Horror Show: “The Sandman” by E.T.A. Hoffmann; Ritchie Robertson, trans.
The Prussian author’s 1816 tale is an early 19th century progenitor of the modern horror story.