Every October readers are tempted to pick up scarier stories than they usually read. It can be tempting to gravitate towards well known contemporary authors like Stephen King or Anne Rice, but there are some great (short) classics to satisfy the desire to celebrate the Halloween season.
The following list includes a number of short classics that you've probably heard of, and likely have seen screen adaptations of, but haven't yet read. Plus, being quick reads you can get through a number of them giving variety and the ability to pickup/put down easily.
Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole, the OG English Gothic novel!
"In a Glass Darkly" (1872) by Irish author Joseph Le Fanu—a collection of short stories, including the lesbian vampire story Carmilla.
"The Fall of the House of Usher and Others" (1839)—another short story collection, this time by famed American Gothic writer Edgar Allen Poe
The Vampyre (1819) by Dr. John Polidori—the precursor to Stoker's gentleman vampire (plus it was written during the same contest in Switzerland that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein!).
Many forget that "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson is actually a novella.
Pick your poison!
Love Gothic reads? Check out these posts:
