Dark Reads for Winter's Darkest Nights

I’ve always been drawn to weird, dark stories that push me to think critically and speculatively about the idealized versions of life and self we’re all so often presented with. A good story, be it literary fiction, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, or whatever else is universal. It will offer the reader hope and a safe way to engage with consciousness and the ephemeral nature of reality. Here are five examples of great writing that is at once literary and genre, weird and dark. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Shirley Jackson: Novels and stories by Shirley Jackson, Edited by Joyce Carol Oates

Shirley Jackson is a good starting point. She is a master of gothic suspense and wrote what many consider to be the first and greatest contemporary haunted house novel The Haunting of Hill House. Jackson also connected the (largely ladies’) gothic genre to the contemporary fiction market. Her story “The Lottery” is one of the most studied short stories in the English language. It is also the inspiration for The Hunger Games, The Purge, and a handful of those dystopian-society novels and films. Not everything she wrote was horror, some of it is humorous, but it’s all pretty unique (like in a Flannery O’Connor way). You can read both of these stories and get a taste for her humor in “Shirley Jackson: Novels and stories,” a volume of essentials and favorites, edited by the also-amazing, Joyce Carol Oates.

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

Her Body and Other Parties, a collection of short stories by Carmen Maria Machado is another great example of writing that is at once literary and genre. While most reviews describe it as “feminist horror”, these eight stories actually run the genre gamut. The stories are of women’s lives and explore notions of women’s bodies, as though one exists without the other. Machado draws upon popular lore and popular culture to point out the toxic narratives, fear, and violence lived by women and acted on their bodies. The first story “The Husband Stitch” is a retelling of the “The Green Ribbon” in which a husband cannot honor his wife’s one and only request: to never remove the ribbon from her neck. In “Eight Bites,” a woman gets surgery to be thin, but her old self continues to haunt her. My favorite is “Especially Heinous,” a retelling of 12 seasons of everyone’s favorite dead-girl show, Law& Order: Special Victims Unit.

Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq

Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq was one of my favorite books of 2018. Part poetry, part prose, and part illustration, (Brooklyn Public Library has it shelved under “biography”) it is the transcendent yet corporeal story of a young woman growing up in 1970s Nunavut, a place where dark and light pass in 24-hour cycles, where time here is cyclical, not linear. Tagaq successfully uses these day and light cycles to disorient and ground the reader and to convey the sounds, tastes, and textures of the place and time. She creates a world where mythology and reality and the animate and inanimate are indecipherable. This story is not only fun to read, it’s fun to discuss. Read it with a friend for maximum enjoyment.

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah was my other favorite of 2018. It is satirical, dystopic, gruesome, and touching. Some of the stories are fantastical - set in the near future or incorporating magical realism, such as “The Flash,” which offers a unique take on the notion of the eternal present. While others like the “Finklestein 5,” in which a white man murders five black children and is acquitted, could be happening in a neighborhood near you. Other stories like “Friday Black,” where a one-day sale turns shoppers into rabid, incoherent monsters, exaggerates the mundane. What they all have in common is their unflinching examination of big topics like racism, consumerism, and injustice and their ability to shock and move the reader.

The Very Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan by Caitlin R. Kiernan

The Very Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan contains 20 reprints of short stories that had only appeared in limited edition publications. Kiernan’s work combines elements of sci-fi, dark fantasy, and classic horror and few would argue that her work isn’t genre. However it’s so uniquely imaginative and detailed that it could appeal to many, especially anyone who may have dismissed horror as the domain of white males: “Andromeda Among the Stones” features ancient texts, ghosts, curses and is reminiscent of Lovecraft (minus the racism); “Bradbury Weather,” centers around a female-only cult living on Mars. Her body of work is huge and this collection is a solid introduction for those unfamiliar with her work as well as a treat for her fans.