Top 5 Up-and-Coming Horror Writers to Watch Out For and Where You Can Find Their Stories
Debi Moore
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Looking for an extra dose of horror leading up to October 31st? Or any time?
You may recall that back in September we told you about Great Jones Street joining forces with Medium to make premium short fiction, including horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, available daily to readers. Now, with Halloween fast approaching, Kelly Abbott, co-founder and CEO of GJS (pictured right), has provided us with a list of five up-and-coming horror authors to be on the lookout for along with links to their spookiest stories for the season!
You know Stephen King, Anne Rice, Clive Barker – but did you also know there are some talented up-and-comers that can have you double-checking the door locks, sleeping with one eye open, and getting chills while reading their short stories? You don’t need to read a full novel to be in complete suspense; and if you have a smartphone, you already have access to some of their best works.
Here are five writers to check out the next time you are looking for some heart-stopping horror or suspense-filled short fiction. Click the links to read their stories.
1. “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” by Alyssa Wong
Jen dates guys she meets on Tindr, but she is after only one thing: their depraved thoughts. She gorges on the men when she needs to eat, taking their bodily forms before saving the thoughts in jam jars marked as health drinks. But once she’s tasted the thoughts of a real killer, nothing else will satisfy her hunger.
Why it’s screamer-worthy: Alyssa Wong is the anti-christ. Everything she writes drips with honey. I swear it’s a trap. And, of course, it is. All of her stories – and I mean all of them – are subversive and delectable treats. I cannot get enough. They will be the death of me. Beyond that, she’s got a stellar reputation in the biz, having pulled just about every nom/award a writer can in horror and speculative fiction.
2. “Descent” by Carmen Machado (also available here)
As friends get together for a book club over a seemingly innocent potluck dinner and wine, the evening evolves and descends into something unexpected. One of the hosts, who works at a local school, opens up about a recent shooting at a school in Brandywine, and a series of horrifying events that happened as the students are transferred to other high schools. Find out why even though Death is all around us, it is only arrogance that makes us think we can’t see it.
Why you need to check out this unnerving tale: Carmen’s collection “Her Body and Other Parties” is one of the most highly reviewed this year. While it feels like Machado has been around for a while, she’s really just getting started. She can’t do anything half-assed. She’s red hot and uncompromising, with “Descent” just one example.
3. “What to Expect When You Are Not Expecting” by Allen Woodman
He does a favor for his down-on-her-luck neighbor by watching her toddler. But the angelic child with golden curls, clutching a toy airplane as he sleeps, may be anything but. Little Oscar has an uncanny connection to world disasters. How can he stop things getting out of control?
Why Allen Woodman will leave you second-guessing: Allen Woodman is a master. He has published several books, including Saved by Mr. F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Cows Are Going to Paris, and scores of flash fiction in magazines. His stories have been heard on NPR’s “Selected Shorts” and at Symphony Space (NYC), and he has appeared on “Books & Co.” (PBS). He is Professor Emeritus of English and Creative Writing at Northern Arizona University.
4. “School Spirit Is for Suckers” by Timmy Reed (also available here)
Wave the banner, and play the part; school isn’t forever, or is it? Among the teachers and students of this elementary school are the ghosts that roam the halls. No one knows they’re there. But everyone is present, in one way or another…
Why this is a must-read if you are looking for a haunting: Timmy Reed has a way with words that is chilling; he is the author of the books Tell God I Don’t Exist, The Ghosts That Surrounded Them, Miraculous Fauna, and others. He has been a Wigleaf Top 50 winner on multiple occasions, won 3rd place in the City Paper Fiction Contest twice, and is a 2015 Baker Artist Awards B-Grant. He is a professor at Community College of Baltimore County, Stevenson University, and Morgan State University.
5. “Fairy Werewolf vs. Vampire Zombie” by Charlie Jane Anders (also available here)
Every bar has its regular patrons, and Rachel’s Bar & Grill is no different… except, most of her clients are mythical creatures. When Rachel hires the runaway fairy princess Livinia (know as Antonia) to sing in her bar, the beautiful fairy drags her dark secret behind her. Things get complicated when two men begin a friendly competition to gain Antonia’s affection. The men aren’t exactly men, and one of them is carrying an even darker secret than the woman whose attention he is vying for.
Be prepared for a fright: Charlie Jane Anders’ novel All the Birds in the Sky is starting to take home the awards, and my money’s on it being adapted for a movie soon. It has all the stuff. It’s a love story, an epic adventure, and a world that can be filled in episodically if she so desires. Beyond that, Anders has a yen for melodrama. I use that term purposefully. Her stories feel like performances. They are very conscious of the audience, and for that I love them too. I feel like I’m a part of the show, and lyrically, I’m satisfied.
Find these and other frightening short stories in a bundled selection of horror stories just in time for Halloween and on Great Jones Street.
Kelly Abbott is founder and CEO of Great Jones Street, a short fiction app for the mobile lifestyle. It curates thousands of award-winning, original stories in science fiction, street lit, crime, mystery, erotica, fantasy, horror, and more by fiction’s best contemporary writers. Abbott is also a writer and son to Lee K. Abbott, a “not-so-famous-but-critically-acclaimed story writer.”
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