1. | Sightwitch / Susan Dennard - I rarely read the novellas that go with series (even my favorites!), but I'll always make an exception for Susan. SIGHTWITCH is a found footage tale set in the world of TRUTHWITCH, and it actually enrichens the plot so much that I would almost say you have to read it. Unless you want to miss out on all the cool secrets, of course.
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2. | "Guts" / Chuck Palahniuk -
There are better stories in HAUNTED (which happens to be my favorite Palahniuk book), but "Guts" is so iconic that it has to get its due. It's so sick and twisted that literally every time Chuck has done a public reading of it, someone has fainted. I'd expect nothing less from the master of transgressive horror.
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3. | CivilWarLand in Bad Decline / George Saunders -
This is actually a book of short stories, but it's been too long since I've read it to pick one. Besides, they all flow together so well. The title track centers around a defunct and strangely-themed amusement park and its pitiful employees. Saunders is a master of dark, quirky humor, and CIVILWARLAND really gives him room to stretch his imagination.
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4. | "A Real Doll" / A.M. Homes -
I discovered this in college when my friend was assigned it for her lit class. It's a twisted, transgressive gem of a story about a nameless teenage boy who develops a perverse emotional, and finally sexual, relationship with his sister's Barbie. Shades of violence and Margot Atwood. It's disturbing in the best way.
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5. | "The Tell-Tale Heart" / Edgar Allen Poe - It will always have a special place in my heart for being one of the first short stories I'd ever read, and my introduction to Gothic horror--and to Poe, incidentally. Who can forget that creepy eye and dramatic ending? It is the beating of his hideous heart!
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