Short Stories 366:293 — “The Box,” by Stephen Gallagher

Hammer Chillers, an audio collection from Bafflegab, of six short audio horror performances, was recommended to me by a friend who knows my scaredy-cat level of enjoyment of horror, and it's off to a really strong start with "The Box." We meet a former military man who teaches safety courses to future workers on offshore …

Short Stories 366:292 — “The Kevlar Canoe,” by Marie Bilodeau

By now, if you've been paying attention, you know to expect something coming at you sideways from any Marie Bilodeau story. This expectation is honestly a joy, so when I saw her name on a story in Masked Mosaic: Canadian Super Stories, I was so ready to enjoy whatever she threw my way. And boy …

Short Stories 366:291 — “The Treasure of Abbot-Thomas,” in the style of M.R. James

Having listened to the first two stories in this quartet of horror story productions, I found the first to be the kind of horror story I enjoy the most: the sort where the protagonist(s) may be damaged, but they're not completely defeated, and as such, there's a sense of survival or hope—or an outright turning …

Short Stories 366:290 — “The Last Drag Show on Earth,” by Matthew Bright

I'm cheating just a little tucking this story into October, but in fairness, I'm not a fan of horror but I do love a good ghost story and this story has ghosts in a few senses of the word. It's from Matthew Bright's wonderful Stories to Sing in the Dark, and it's the last story …

Short Stories 366:289 — “each thing i show you is a piece of my death,” by Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer

Okay, then. Recently, I was chatting with some friends about a book, House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski, and the two of us who'd read it were trying to explain it to the three who hadn't, and it was kind of amusing because we were more animate than coherent. This brings me to "each …

Short Stories 366:288 — “Search and Seizure,” by Shannon Barnsley

Despite not always loving horror, I do love a good ghost story, and this one, from Nothing Without Us, puts a medical system spin on the "haunted by someone you failed" trope in a way I really, really enjoyed, as it put me 100% on the side of the ghost. Barnsley gives us Cassie, a …