The power of good fiction is that it stays with you. It becomes part of you. Occupying a place in your memory that never lets you forget the impact the words made upon you.

So for today on Threads that Bind, I thought I’d share 10 stories that have become part of me. Ten tales of terror, the macabre, and the disturbing that have not let me go.

The list is arranged in roughly the order that I first read the stories. All are superb examples of where the dark things are. And are well worth your time to make their acquaintance, if you haven’t done so already.

“Silent Snow, Secret Snow” by Conrad Aiken

A young boy named Paul begins seeing snow falling, when it’s not supposed to. Falling very lightly at first, it gradually increases. Paul likes the snow: it muffles the noisy, intrusive world around him. The story culminates in a chilling psychological descent where the boundary between comforting illusion and total detachment from reality blurs irreversibly.

I read this story when I was in elementary school. And it has never let me go. There is something comforting as well as terrifying in the snowfall. I can tell you this, once you’ve read this story you will never look at snow the same way again.

“Sredni Vashtar” by Saki  

Ten-year-old Conradin, a sickly boy under the strict and oppressive care of his cousin Mrs. De Ropp, secretly keeps, with the help of the gardener, a chicken and a fierce polecat-ferret he names Sredni Vashtar. When Mrs. De Ropp discovers the chicken and gets rid of the bird, Conradin begins worshiping Sredni Vashtar and prays to the animal, asking that he “do one thing for him.” The tale builds to a darkly ironic climax where childish imagination and suppressed rage manifest in an unexpected, macabre fulfillment of his wishes.

I also discovered this story in elementary school. It is one of my all time favorite stories. Perhaps that tells you a bit about my childhood. The story is on the short side, but Saki masterfully tells his tale with an economy of words so that everything is told that needs to be told without any padding. If you only read one story from this list — this is the story to read.

“The Colour Out of Space” by H.P. Lovecraft  

An unnamed surveyor hears tales of a “blasted heath” in rural New England where a once prosperous farm was struck by a meteorite that embedded a strange, indescribable color in the soil. Over time, the alien presence poisons crops, livestock, and the family living there — causing grotesque mutations, madness, and a creeping decay that defies natural laws. In writing this story, Lovecraft wanted to create an alien so alien that it was indescribable. I think he succeeded.

This is another tale I first read in elementary school. It was my introduction to the master, and I can think of no finer introduction. “The Colour Out of Space” is my favorite HPL story and I think it is the finest story he ever wrote. It is atmospheric, filled with creeping dread, and the ending is hauntingly disturbing.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson  

On a clear summer morning in a small American village, the residents gather cheerfully for their annual lottery, a longstanding tradition that involves children collecting stones and adults drawing slips of paper from a battered black box. The proceedings unfold with mundane small talk and procedural efficiency, masking an undercurrent of tension. The story reveals the lottery’s true, shocking purpose in a sudden, brutal twist that exposes the dark side of blind adherence to custom.

A magnificent tale. The mundane narrative sets the reader up for the superb ending. It is shocking. I first encountered this story in high school drama class. Several classmates performed a reading of the tale. Dynamite.

“The Man Whom the Trees Loved” by Algernon Blackwood  

This is a disturbing story. One that is in my opinion dark, but not necessarily horror. It’s the story of a husband and wife who slowly grow apart. The husband becoming enthralled with the trees in the forest where they live and the wife’s resentment of the trees who she feels are destroying their marriage. The narrative builds a slow, eerie sense of nature reclaiming its own, with the forest’s ancient, sentient power subtly overwhelming human boundaries.

An unsettling tale that will leave you thinking. And wondering whether or not you should hug that tree.

“The Transition of Juan Romero” by H.P. Lovecraft  

An English narrator, now a miner in the American West after fleeing his past, works alongside a Mexican laborer named Juan Romero in a mine. During a blasting operation, they uncover a vast, bottomless abyss that emits strange, otherworldly sounds and influences. In a nightmarish sequence, Romero becomes drawn toward the chasm’s edge, undergoing a terrifying transformation as ancient, cosmic forces awaken and claim him.

One of HPL’s early tales, it is one of the first I read after learning who Lovecraft was. I won’t say its one of his better tales, but I’m very fond of it. It has atmosphere galore and cosmic terror in spades.

“Pigeons from Hell” by Robert E. Howard  

Two young men from the North, traveling through the rural South, seek shelter in an abandoned, decaying plantation house. And the house is home in part to a strange flock of pigeons. But that isn’t all. One companion vanishes after hearing strange noises upstairs, leaving the survivor to uncover a horrific legacy of voodoo curses, zombified victims, and supernatural revenge tied to the house’s tragic past. The atmosphere of Southern Gothic decay and relentless, creeping terror builds to a gruesome confrontation with the undead.

This story was my introduction to Robert E Howard. It is one of his finest tales. Terrifyingly atmospheric, it embodies Southern Gothic.

“The Man on the Ground” by Robert E. Howard  

Lifelong enemies Cal Reynolds and Esau Brill, two Texas cowboys locked in a bitter, decades-old feud of unknown origin, finally face off in a remote showdown. As they exchange shots in the harsh landscape, one falls dead—but the tale twists into the supernatural as the victor realizes the feud’s hatred transcends even death. The story delivers a fatalistic, eerie punch about inescapable vengeance from beyond the grave.

One of REH’s lesser known stories, it nevertheless is a fine tale that slowly builds and delivers its power at the very end. 

“Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” by M.R. James  

A skeptical, rational young professor on a seaside golfing holiday discovers an ancient bronze whistle buried in Templar ruins and casually blows it, half in jest. Strange events follow: haunting dreams, an empty bed that appears occupied, and a terrifying, sheet-like apparition that pursues him. The classic Jamesian buildup of scholarly curiosity leading to inexorable supernatural dread ends in a chilling encounter with an summoned, incomprehensible entity.

This story was my introduction to James. And a fine introduction it was. The slow buildup that you know is not going to go well for the protagonist. Yet when the climax hits it bowls you over. 

“Bleak Mathematics” by Brian Fatah Steele  

Aaron Kirchner, a music journalist, learns of a mysterious band from a fellow journalist. Kirchner begins researching the band and its followers. He discovers the band is tied into themes found in the fiction of a dead writer named HP Lovecraft. As his research deepens, Kirchner begins to be plagued by terrible nightmares. His work begins to suffer because finding out about the mysterious band has become an obsession. Eventually he discovers where they will be playing next and shows up at the concert. The ending of subtle horror is worthy of the master himself.

I met Brian on Twitter. He reviewed one of my books. I returned the favor, reading and reviewing Your Arms Around Entropy and other stories. Brian, in my opinion, is the worthy successor of HPL. His fiction is imaginative and filled with soft, subtle terror. Modern cosmic horror at its finest. You can find Your Arms Around Entropy on Amazon. I highly recommend you get and read a copy. You won’t regret it.

There you have it. Ten stories that have never left me. Give them a read. You may find them in your head until death do you part.