I've been bouncing around the germ of a short story idea that seems like it would be classified as a supernatural horror story. I've read a lot of horror-type novels, but relatively little short horror fiction so I bought a couple paperback collections and read through them.
My question is concerning endings. I noticed that many of the short stories ended badly for the protagonist, and many ended with a certain amount of mystery or ambiguity. I guess the idea is to leave the reader with the possibility that the evil is still lurking out there somewhere.
Are these types of endings typical/acceptable for the genre, or did I just happen to catch a couple collections that reflect the offbeat tastes of quirky editors?
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
Um...yeah.
On both counts, even. Real horror afictionados are in it for the moment when the protagonist (or reader) stares terror in the eye and finally realizes that there is no escape. Most of us think of horror as being a rather offbeat taste. That's why the genre is called "Horror".
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
I agree that they are both typical and acceptable. You were probably left with a real sense of, well, horror that all was still not right with the world. The horror genre is not for the faint of heart -- properly done, it taps into our deepest, darkest fears. Stories with happy endings may have scared you in the interim, but did they LEAVE you with that sense of gripping horror and fear?
Posted by Corky (Member # 2714) on :
If you'd like to read about "horror," I'd recommend Stephen King's Danse Macabre.
Posted by JamieFord (Member # 3112) on :
Another collection worth reading is Harlan Ellison's Deathbird Stories. Some very ambiguous endings.
Posted by rcorporon (Member # 2879) on :
Barker's Books of Blood are great examples of horror short stories, IMHO.
Posted by thexmedic (Member # 2844) on :
Whenever there's been a horror element in a story I've read, it's always been that moment when the MC sees what he's facing and realizes he is TOTALLY f---ed. That's one of things that made Mieville's "Perdido Street Station" really stand out for me. There was just no way you could see to beat the antagonist.
Now, in the end, the antagonist is sometimes beaten (I'm not going to say whether this happens in Perdido Street Station or not). But you don't see it coming. It's got to be an incredible long shot, and really put the characters in a near-death moment.
But yeah, horror, for me, is in the antagonists, and the monsters. The knowledge that you can't win. That it will just get worse, and worse.
Bloody marvellous stuff.
Posted by Garp (Member # 2919) on :
If the anthologies you've read are any good, then you've been exposed to every sub-genre within the horror genre: supernatural, psychological, splatter-punk, etc.
Just keep in mind there's a vast difference between a Clive Barker story and a Robert Aickman story.