Can Such Things Be? [24 stories]

Queer

William S. Burroughs1985

An American expatriate in 1950s Mexico City wanders bars while obsessively pursuing an indifferent younger man.

Same sardonic register

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Ghost Stories

Henry James2001

A collection of Victorian tales where the existence of ghosts is often left to the reader's interpretation.

sardonic → meditative, still gothic horror

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Edgar Allen Poe (Black Cat / Cask of Amontillado / Fall of the House of Usher / Gold Bug / Metzengerstein / Murders in the Rue Morgue / Narrative of Arthur Gordn Pym / Never Bet the Devil Your Head / Pit and the Pendulum / Purloined Letter / Tell-Tale Heart)

Edgar Allan Poe2005

A collection of gothic stories and a novel. Narrators deal with psychological collapse, premature burial, and macabre crimes.

sardonic → bleak, still gothic horror

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Gormenghast

Mervyn Peake1950

A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

sardonic → dark

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Wielding a Red Sword

Piers Anthony1986

An Indian prince avoids an arranged marriage by accepting the supernatural office of War. He wields a sword that draws him into a conflict in Hell.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Craven Manor

Darcy Coates2018

A man takes a job as a groundskeeper at a decaying estate. He finds a crypt, a strange employer, and evidence that the house is not empty.

sardonic → tense, still gothic horror

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Redshirts

John Scalzi2012

Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

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The Rising

Brian Keene2003

A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

sardonic → bleak

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Shattered

Dean Koontz1973

A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

sardonic → tense

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The Executioner

Chris Carter2010

A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer who murders victims using their specific phobias. Each crime scene features a blood-scrawled number.

sardonic → tense

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Ulysses

James Joyce1914

Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

sardonic → playful

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Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner1936

The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

sardonic → elegiac

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Either/Or

Søren Kierkegaard1992

A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

sardonic → meditative

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Song for the Unraveling of the World

Brian Evenson2019

A collection of short stories where characters experience physical and psychological distortions. The reality of each narrator is unreliable.

sardonic → cold, still weird fiction

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Fever Dream

Samanta Schweblin2014

A dying woman talks to a boy in a clinic. They reconstruct her memories to find the exact moment a toxin entered her life.

sardonic → dreamlike, still weird fiction

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

The Dark Eidolon

Clark Ashton Smith2009

A sorcerer seeks revenge against a king in a dying world under a dim sun. The story uses dense, archaic prose to describe necromancy and demons.

sardonic → cold, still weird fiction

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