Horror is a fantastic genre of film, podcasts, literature and much more. The definition, as of most genres, is subjective, but I like to define horror as something created with the intention to scare, unsettle, disturb and/or gross-out the audience. There are thousands of creative works that can be considered horror, with some of my favorite mediums being short fiction and long fiction (typically novels and novellas), with select pieces from each category being some of what I consider the best-written works I have read. While I love a good horror novel, it does not give me the same satisfaction and terror that short-fiction horror can.
I have read a good amount of horror literature, with the bulk of it being by famed authors Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson and Ray Bradbury. King and Poe are considered to write in gothic styles, while Jackson and Bradbury are primarily considered science fiction over horror. However, their short stories most certainly fall into my definition of horror; they are successful in absolutely terrifying the reader. I’ve read a handful of horror novels and novellas, too, mostly written by King and his son, Joe Hill. While they maintain qualities of horror, it’s in a very different way. Also, I want to give a warning: spoilers ahead!
Stephen King has many famous novels, the most known being 1977’s “The Shining.” Adapted into a film by director Stanley Kubrick in 1980, the general population is familiar with the motifs of the Grady Twins, “Here’s Johnny!” and the final frozen shot of Jack Torrance left to die in a snowstorm. However, none of these things are in the book, and King notably dislikes the movie. In order to watch it, I need to force myself to separate it from the novel, which not only has a different ending, but an entirely different villain. The book places the Overlook Hotel itself as the primary antagonist, as Jack is possessed by the pure evil of the building rather than going insane from isolation. He comes to his senses and sacrifices his life for his wife and son, causing the hotel to explode after he ensured they made it out safely. It has a happy ending for Wendy and Danny Torrance, just like in King’s other novel, “Misery.”
Throughout “Misery,” author Paul Sheldon is tortured by Annie, who calls herself his biggest fan. She brutalizes him in order to cause him to write another sequel in his bestselling series, but ultimately, he escapes and lives to see another day. He, like Danny and Wendy, not only gets out alive but has a new path in life. Ultimately, these two novels end on a bright note. There are definitely horror novels that have dark resolutions, like my favorite by King, “Revival,” but the short story almost never bends to satisfy the audience without a horrifying end.
Short stories feature what I like to call “The Punch.” The ending of short stories, at least in the horror genre, is always in terror. The best short stories reveal something in their final moments that completely horrifies the reader. The best stories end when the narrator’s therapist is revealed to be the thing he’s most afraid of (Stephen King’s “The Boogeyman”), when children use technology to have lions kill their parents (Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt”) and when one is kept alive against their own will, mutated beyond imagination (Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream”). These moments carry not only shock value but genuine terror. The way short stories make your mind linger is why I love them so much. Novels that have an unhappy ending still tend to wrap themselves up in a nice little bow, and while short stories maintain proper plot structure, I find them more likely to leave you speechless as you sit with what just happened.
Even horror short stories that technically have happy endings maintain “The Punch,” and that’s part of what makes them so excellent. For example, take Stephen King’s “The Ledge”: the main character, Mr. Norris, gets revenge on the story’s antagonist, but there is still “The Punch” at the end where Norris reveals he has the full intention of killing the antagonist. There are some short stories that I feel simply have too great an ending to spoil: I recommend “The Jaunt” and “Strawberry Spring” by Stephen King. I must give a warning for “The Jaunt,” though, as it is honestly the most terrifying thing I’ve ever read.
Being able to write a literary moment of pure horror is a very difficult skill, and it comes across better in short fiction than it does in long-form. While horror novels can be fully scary, I’ve never read one that made me close a book and be afraid to go to sleep at night. Short stories (looking at you, “The Jaunt”) have caused me to stay awake for hours, and to be afraid to open a book because I did not want to see a story’s final lines again. That’s what I love so much about literary horror, extending into short science fiction. Whatever revelation is made in “The Punch” creates an ending that may leave you thinking, but will certainly keep you, as a reader, satisfied. This is not to say long-form horror literature isn’t incredible, because that would be anything but true; horror novels, ranging from “Carrie” to “The Haunting of Hill House,” are fantastic. I simply prefer short stories, but the two have different priorities: novels and novellas focus on plot first, horror second, while short stories focus primarily on how the plot is going to evoke elements of horror.
As I type, I am staring at my copy of “Skeleton Crew,” and dreading opening it again. As much as I want to finish one of King’s most well-known short story collections, I have to be outside in daylight in order to read it, all thanks to “The Jaunt,” of course. No novel could do that!
