Disturbing novels and short stories

Frisk, by Dennis Cooper

Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z Brite

A Dog's Tale, by Mark Twain. Haunts me to this day.

Chuck Palahniuk “Guts”

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Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Loaded by Joe Hill

We Were Liars The Road Prince of Tides

"A Good Man Is Hard To Find" by Flannery O'Connor, duh.

Raven, in depth book about Jim Jones

We need to talk about Kevin

A Little Life

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

Not a novel, but THE INTERFACE SERIES by Mother Horse Eyes is easily the most engrossing serial fiction in a century, and told in a uniquely 2016 way: as a series of comments hidden like Easter eggs among Reddit threads. Goodread's description:

[Quote]On April 21, 2016, Reddit users noticed a strange phenomenon unfolding in the comments. A user named /u/_9MOTHER9HORSE9EYES9 was posting elaborate, often disturbing vignettes, mostly about something called "flesh interfaces," on unrelated discussion threads.

[Quote]When read in order, they began to form a cohesive and surreal story. As time went on, comments began to expand in length, discussing many different plotlines, from a World War II concentration camp to a future Atlanta, each spanning space and time.

[Quote]It has many elements of the works of Lovecraft and Cronenberg, with a compelling horror/sci-fi flair.

I don't want to say anything else for fear of spoiling it, but it's the kind of beguiling, unnerving fiction that needs to be experienced to be believed, and thankfully all of it is public domain and free. This Reddit link amasses all the known Mother Horse Eyes comments in one spot, in chronological order, with links to the original threads in which they appeared--because sometimes it's fun to witness the uninitiated's response to the comments as they were posted.

My idea of fun (Will Self)

The Lottery, Shirley Jackson.

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Last Exit to Brooklyn and Katie. I also really loved all the books by Carolyn Chute. I wouldn't say they were good literature but I couldn't put them down.

"Everything that Rises Must Converge" by Flannery O'Connor

"The Inner Room" by Robert Aickman

It was either an older James Patterson or Richard North Patterson. A middle aged mob accountant was put in prison so he would squeal on his bosses. Instead he gets his teeth battered out on the metal bed by his roommate who wants oral sex on a regular basis. When the cops came to talk to him all he said was “”I got no teet” and started crying. I had to stop reading all those procedural s after that. Too graphic. I couldn’t get it out of my head for weeks.

The October Game- Ray Bradbury

Bloodchild by Octavia Butler

"Bloodchild" describes the unusual bond between a race of insect-like alien lifeforms called the Tlic and a colony of humans who have escaped Earth and settled on the Tlic planet.

The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks

Under the Skin, Michael Faber

"A Perfect Day for Banana Fish" by J.D. Salinger. He was the Woody Allen of his day.

For non-fiction crime I suggest the Rites of Burial about Robert Berdella and The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer by Brian Masters. The Berdella book is still available - I have the Kindle version but the Dahmer one is out of print and I had to pay a lot for a used copy. Masters is an excellent writer.

I'm not a fan of science fiction but I do recommend A Feast Unknown by Philip Jose Farmer - extreme sexual violence between two characters modeled on Tarzan and Doc Savage.

Among literary classics I suggest The Confessions of Young Torless by Robert Musil although some sections are a bit of a slog.

Additional votes for:

Michael Faber's "Under the Skin"

Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" (the only novel of his I couldn't finish... too violent)

And I'll add:

Harry Crews' "Body"

Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"

Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood"

R24 Whoops - meant to type The Confusions (not Confessions) of Young Torless

The Suspicions of Mister Wicher by Kate Summerscale.

Creepy and fascinating true tale of a child's murder.

Dennis Cooper's garbage. Makes us look bad.

Everyone always cites "Blood Meridian," which admittedly is disturbing, but also a profound and beautiful masterpiece. But for my money, McCarthy's "Child of God," about a backwoods necrophiliac, is much more disturbing because it lacks the grandeur of "Meridian." It's just straight-up fuckery.

But if you're reading McCarthy just for thrills and chills, you're doing it wrong anyway.

House of Stairs (Sleator) Read it when I was 12 years old and screwed me up for a loooong time.

Strange one as when picked it up I thought it would be pretty innocuous. But I got a bad karma vibe while reading one of the James Bond books.

The sadistic strains running through Dr No, made it disturbing to me, so I had to stop reading about half way through

R14 You beat me to it. Also The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

All Summer In a Day by Ray Bradbury

William Sleator was my favorite author in middle school, R30. Several of his books had some disturbing elements to them, all geared quite well for young adult audiences (before "YA" was a thing).

I reread a bunch of his novels in my 30s and they hold up pretty well. I'm genuinely shocked none of them have been optioned for film adaptations yet. Perhaps it has something to do with his estate.

He was also gay, something I only found out upon reading his obit in the New York Times.

"Postcards", Annie Proulx. A guy with an abusive father accidentally kills his girlfriend and runs away in a panic. He keeps moving around but writes an annual postcard to his mother. Dear god, after reading this, you will be depressed for a long time.

Read any of Shackletons’ epic journeys. Got me very upset today to read about the 80 puppies they took, played with, made them work and then shot and ate the dogs when the bastards got hungry and realized, “oh no! There’s no stores here and we suck at fishing and almost everything else”. Also shot the ship carpenters’ cat! To “save rations”, along with four “weak” puppies. The poor carpenter never got over it and hated Shackleton till he died old and destitute and mourned his cat even in his old age. Fucking idiots and their Northwest Passage.

“Music for Torching” by A.M. Homes. “The Road” by Cornac McCarthy

Both of these books sent me into a minor depression for a few days. Nightmares.

Petty much everything by Shirley Jackson but Hangsaman was especially disturbing for me. I don't remember if I was still in high school or in college when I read it but it was probably the most disturbing of all the Shirley Jackson short stories and novels I read which was most of them. I still have most of the books, in fact, but that one I tossed like a hot potato. So creepy.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Very creepy and interesting. Modern gothic novel that reads like a mystery.

R3- I just read A Dogs’ Tale because I thought it was an easy to read short story. My heart is completely broken.

R4 I came by to say “Guts”. The visuals have stayed with me for longer than I’ve wanted. It’s not even a good story, which makes matters worse. Just pure gross horror for the shit (hah) of it.

If you hang out on ao3 long enough, you read some wild content. Vore, tentacles, mpreg....it’s all there.

My favourite so far was the lesbian cannibal fanfic about two sisters in a famous kpop band. I can’t remember the name and lost the link but it was actually strangely poignant & quite well-written.

The Man Who Liked Dickens

by Evelyn Waugh

Last Summer (Evan Hunter) The Bible — especially after it was read by certain fanatics

The Informers by Bret Easton Ellis is a disturbing collection of short stories.

It was made into a film starring DL fave Winona Ryder a while back.

r45 and Kim Basinger as the afflicted wife.