A woman who works in an office tower and feels past her prime has a chance encounter in an elevator that leads her to the botanical garden on the top flower and…
Author: Michael Hartford
“Tiptoe” by Laird Barron
After an unsettling experience, a man reflects on some strange events from his childhood and suspects that there was something much darker about his father than he realized at the time. This…
“Sooner or Later, Your Wife Will Drive Home” by Genevieve Valentine
A collection of vignettes tell the stories of women traveling, often alone, who appear to be on the verge of catastrophe. The scenes here have subtle echoes back and forth, with little…
“Special Meal” by Josh Malerman
A girl has to prove that she doesn’t know math. This is a weird one indeed. In some sort of dystopian world, people aren’t supposed to know math – not just more…
“Pear of Anguish” by Gemma Files
Two girls, outcasts from middle school society, dabble in witchcraft and opening portals whose keys are pain and blood. This is a terrible, beautiful, horrifying story about puberty, bullying, despair, and a…
“The Door in the Fence” by Jeffrey Ford
A widow’s strange transformation is recounted by a neighbor boy whose path crosses hers again many years later. This was a fun, strange story, that gets progressively stranger and more outlandish but…
“Refinery Road” by Stephen Graham Jones
Three friends on a desolate road at night have an encounter with mortality and consequences. This is a very Stephen Graham Jones story – well-drawn characters, strange and disorienting situation, bleak conclusion.
“A Trip to Paris” by Richard Kendrey
A year after poisoning her family, a woman finds that a wall covered with mold and a suspicious repairman stand between her and an escape to Paris. Another from “When Things Get…
“The Hag” by Benjamin Percy
A reporter and her stowaway daughter go to a remote Maine island at the winter solstice to investigate mysterious body parts that wash up on the mainland from time to time, and…
“The Party” by Paul Tremblay
At a party with an end-of-the-world theme, a guest find something disturbing in the bedroom where the coats are piled. This had a little bit of the same feel as “The Invitation,”…