My Fav 5 Short Stories

Simply put, these are my favorite five short stories. For me, these are my favorite because they've stayed with me, moved me, inspired me. Some I read early on, some more recently. What are yours?

#1. "The Ruins of Contracoeur" by Joyce Carol Oates (originally read in 999) I haven't read all that much by Oates, but this story has deeply haunted me for almost 20 years. No story has ever had this much lasting power on my psyche, has ever disturbed me so much - and I'm not even sure what this story is about. I invite anyone with the opportunity to read it and let it invade your nightmares, too.

#2. "The Midnight Meat Train" by Clive Barker (originally read in The Books of Blood, vol.1) I found the original three volume paperbacks when I was probably around 12 years old and far too young to read them. This was the story that stuck, that helped to mold my take on horror. Barker remains my earliest and greatest influence.

#3. "The Colour Out of Space" by H.P. Lovecraft (originally read in Tales: Library of America, Ed.) I arrived to Lovecraft later than some people, my cosmic horror coming from Brian Lumley. Still, I found his prose beautiful and his mythos engaging. For me, TCOoS will always remain his masterpiece, and that's a difficult statement with so many amazing works.

#4. "Old Virginia" by Laird Barron (originally read in The Imago Sequence) When I first read Barron, he was the first author whose work unnerved me in years. This story has a little bit of everything I love in horror fiction and manages to be one of the creepiest tales I've consumed in a very long time. It's a contemporary classic and needs to be made into a movie.

#5. "Furnace" by Livia Llewellyn (originally read in Year's Best Weird Fiction, Vol. One) Rarely am I so stunned by a work in an anthology that I write down a name and check out that author when their collection comes out. Llewellyn's surreal tale was so captivating I couldn't get it out of my head for weeks. Her collection was equally as mesmerizing. I can't recommend it enough.