The best unsettling story collections that will gnaw at your subconscious

Tamel Wino Author Of Ékleipsis: the Abyss
By Tamel Wino

Who am I?

Tamel Wino is a Canadian fiction writer from resplendent British Columbia whose works focus largely on the degeneration of sanity and morality. He studied Health Sciences and Psychology, which only furthered his interest in human nature. With inspirations including Shirley Jackson, Cormac McCarthy, Clive Barker, Margaret Atwood, and Edgar Allan Poe; Tamel’s expositions are strongly grounded in traditions of dark fiction. Yet, with his bold narrative voice and incisive plot construction, Wino is paving a new movement within the space.

I wrote...

Ékleipsis: the Abyss

By Tamel Wino

Book cover of Ékleipsis: the Abyss

What is my book about?

Ékleipsis: The Abyss is a collection of macabre tales that expose human frailty and depravity. We all eventually find ourselves facing the chasm, but who among us plunges into its depths kicking and screaming, and who embraces the abyss? Once we hit the bottom, does it even matter how we got there?

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The Books I Picked & Why

Teatro Grottesco

By Thomas Ligotti

Book cover of Teatro Grottesco

Why this book?

These intensely dark, well-written stories are more on the side of psychological/existential horror. These tales crept up on me and led to an intense fear of losing my own sanity. Often dubbed as the modern Poe/Lovecraft, Ligotti adapts their exquisite style to portray the horrid banality of the modern age. Ligotti's prose slowly enshrouds you and pulls you down into this abyss occupied by familiar, plausible places and characters.

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Kiss Kiss

By Roald Dahl

Book cover of Kiss Kiss

Why this book?

Roald Dahl, who's mostly known for his writings of children’s literature, also wrote a plethora of brilliant adult short works of fiction. The author is relentlessly masterful in conjuring up bizzare, macabre stories. Subtle yet profound, these tales will be burrowed deep inside the reader's subconscious, lurking and writhing...

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The October Country

By Ray Bradbury

Book cover of The October Country

Why this book?

A true masterpiece of short stories. The October Country was flawless. Once again, Bradbury has proven that he is a wizard of the craft. His stories are thought-provoking and chillingly beautiful.  I've read this book a few times and each time as breathtaking as the first time. There's just something exceptionally delectable about Bradbury.

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Occultation and Other Stories

By Laird Barron

Book cover of Occultation and Other Stories

Why this book?

Barron is undeniably a genius and proficient. Pick whichever book of his and it’ll blow you away. With a superior command of language and an impressive understanding of what frightens us, the author pulls no punches and peels back the layers to reveal the vileness that prowls in the dark.

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The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies

By John Langan

Book cover of The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies

Why this book?

A powerhouse collection, familiar and innovative, at times agonizingly devastating and horribly entertaining. After reading John Langan's novel The Fisherman, I just had to pick up this one. A profoundly, gratifying dark read. With such a sublime and unwavering collection, Langan rises in my book as one of the most fascinating in the contemporary, horror writer circle.

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