recommend me some good weird tales please

[mydogsandme]

Can people tell me some books and authors to look for either short stories or not, in the macabre-supernatural-weird genre please? Not science fiction though. I'm always disappointed when I get books of short stories and they end up just as murders or gore (don't like gory) One of my favourites is H P Lovecraft-that type of author-intelligent but scary! Thanks

[yinyang]

I've read this one a few times-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Geek-Love-Katherine-Du nn/dp/0446391301

It is very weird and also touching in it's portrayal of a close but extremely dysfunctional family.

[Louisa 69]

The elves of Cintra by Terry Brooks

The innocent mage, The awakened mage by Karen Miller

The novice, The magicians guild, The high lord (black magicians trilogy) by Trudi Canavan

The Belgariad, The Mallorean, Belgarath the sorcerer, Polgara the sorceress by David Eddings.

Try some of Terry Pratchetts books also.

[Louisa 69]

Sorry mydogsandme, i've just googled H P Lovecraft and realised that the suggestions i've gave you are mainly fantasy novels. I read mostly horror myself but can't think of any that don't have murder or gore. I'll have a rummage through my books and get back to you.

[mydogsandme]

many thanks people and Louisa-yes,it's the horror/supernatural I love but without the gore and murdering beasties! Tend to be slightly older style authors who do this with a few exceptions. Thanks for all your trouble.

[tickledtrout]

I read a book a few years ago - The Vanishment by Jonathan Aycliffe which really spooked me. or how about Henry James

[mydogsandme]

I'll look that one up

[mydogsandme]

actually I just looked at it and I think I've read it! certainly the right sort of thing though

[sherlockian]

If you like older-style stories, try Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories , published and republished under various titles - search on Amazon for "Conan Doyle tales" and there are several different collections available (Tales of Unease, Tales of Terror and Mystery, Supernatural Tales etc). Lot 249 and The Parasite are typical gems in the collection - it's a great shame this author's wide-ranging work is overshadowed by the great detective. Lovecraft's ideas owe a great deal to ACD who was also a great champion of psychic abilities and the paranormal.

You might also like to try John Wyndham's stories (eg. Chocky, Midwich Cuckoos, Kraken Wakes), although they do lean towards Sci-Fi - but in the classic "science" sense - a great writer who works have been distorted in the public domain by terribly cliched films - go back to the original books and see how wide his vision was!

Finally two really quirky collections of stories by Patricia Highsmith - Eleven - short stories of macabre and suspense - and The Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murders, which although all the stories end in murder, the perpetrators are animals getting their revenge on humans, so somewhat unusual! Her writing is of the highest quality, vastly underrated in my opinion!

[novelist]

Although he's primarily known as a children's writer, Roald Dahl's short stories can be quite weird, in a grotesque way rather than horrifying--usually normal life gone askew in some way. Try "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Other Stories". I read that when I was a teenager and it has stuck with me for years.

For something a little different, you could look for the books of Edward Gorey (macabre illustrations), or graphic novels such as the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman.

"The Woman in Black" by Susan Hill is a short ghost novel.

I also read "Geek Love" and enjoyed it.

[buncrana]

I recommend the stories of M R James - for me, he is the master of the macabre. Edith Wharton and Daphne du Maurier have also written some extremely eerie and unsettling tales.

[LeMarchand]

In the "Lovecraft" mould (some of these may be a bit hard to track down, but some are available through Project Gutenburg):

A.E. Merritt (http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100151.txt )

William Hope Hodgson

Brian Lumley (some of his early stuff, though not the more recent works)

T.E.D. Klein (afaik only one short story collection and one novel)

Arthur Machen

Ramsay Cambell (I personally find him tedious, but he has his admirers)

Ambrose Bierce

You may also find some of the short fiction of Neil Gaiman, Michael Marshall, George R R Martin and Kim Newman entertaining, but they don't necessarily fit the brief. (Martin and Smith also write SF and Newman gets a bit bloody at times).

[jocon]

Try Robert Aickman - his short stories have a memorably weird, dreamlike quality.

For classic ghost stories look out for "The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories" - packed with scary delights!

[spudqueen]

Tales Out of Time is a book of short stories but I don't think you'll be disappointed with it - no murders or gore, just thought provoking weirdness/macabreness and supernaturalness!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Out-Time-Barbara -Ireson/dp/0571114105/ref=sr_1_2/203-0956879-7 450368?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192392625&sr=1-2