Short horror stories?

[Professor Danger!]

Stephen King's novels tend to be a bit long winded but his short stories are usually quite good. The older collections tend to be better- Night Shift, Skeleton Crew. Plus they work for a rather popular audience.

I agree. I don't think anyone would be impressed with a recital of "The Stand" on the OPs little date thing.

 

[Ali Legend]

''The very hungry caterpillar''- A thrilling novel with equal parts action and evil. It depicts the horror that is starvation, and uses many deep adjectives to show this.

 

[Grin]

A man stood in an alley. Boo. The end.

EDIT:

Sorry guys/gals, saw the topic and couldn't resist.

 

[OakTable]

In the 1980's there was a book of scary short stories that was all the rage among 8-11 year olds - Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collected from Folklore and retold by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Steve Gammell.

There are three of these books. Some of the stories are the typical ones that young kids and teenagers tell on sleepovers, others you probably haven't heard. I don't know how well it would hold up to the more discerning tastes of an older audience, but it had Christian groups up in arms so that has to count for something. As a kid, these were some of the most frightening and disturbing stories that I could wrap my head around.

THOSE FUCKING DRAWINGS. I FUCKING HATE YOU. NOW I REMEMBER THEM ALL.