“The contemporary world all too often looks like nothing but a series of breathlessly converging existential crises: far-right autocracies, genocides and wars, intensifying climate disasters, the sweeping threats of generative AI, and the online erosion of collective truth. Two new books use literary horror both to explore our world’s widespread evils and to imagine other ways of being. Connections do not immediately announce themselves between Stephen King and Peter Straub’s Other Worlds Than These and Dr. Raymond Thoss’s Rebellion Against the Conspiracy Against the Human Race; the first is a sprawling dark fantasy epic whereas the latter is an intensely confessional work of pessimistic autotheory. However, these books share a set of core concerns about morality, narrative, and speculative ‘worlding.’ Both titles offer not so much competing positions on the existence of evil as differing perspectives on its limits.”
Hawksmoor, by Peter Ackroyd (1989) Dark Entries, by Robert Aickman (1964) We Are Here to Hurt Each Other, by Paula D. Ashe (2022) This Mortal Coil, by Cynthia Asquith (1947) The Damnation Game, by Clive Barker (1985) Tender is the Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica (2017; 2020 translation by Sarah Moses) The Listener and Other Stories, by Algernon Blackwood (1907) The Scarf, by Robert Bloch (1947/1966) Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury (1962) Wieland; or, The Transformation: An American Tale, by Charles Brockden Brown (1798) Ancient Images, by Ramsey Campbell (1989) The King in Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers (1895) The Ghost Stories of Wilkie Collins, by Wilkie Collins (2024, edited by Xavier Aldana Reyes) The Juniper Tree, by Barbara Comyns (1985) The Breaking Point, by Daphne Du Maurier (1959) Don’t Look Now, by Daphne Du Maurier (1971) The Between, by Tananarive Due (1995) The Pines, by Robert Dunbar (1989) American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis (1991) I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream, by Harlan Ellison (1967) The Collector, by John Fowles (1963) Aura, by Carlos Fuentes (1962; 1986 translation by Lysander Kemp) Something Stirs, by Charles L. Grant (1991) Red Dragon, by Thomas Harris (1981) Twice-Told Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1837) The House of the Seven Gables, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1851) Children of the Black Sabbath, by Anne Hébert (1975; 1977 translation by Carol Dunlop-Hébert) The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill (1983) The House on the Borderland, by William Hope Hodgson (1908) The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, by James Hogg (1824) The Damned, by Joris-Karl Huysmans (1891) Uzumaki, by Junji Ito (2000; 2013 translation by Yuji Oniki) Hangsaman, by Shirley Jackson (1951) The Sundial, by Shirley Jackson (1958) The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson (1959) We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson (1962) Ghost Stories of Henry James, by Henry James (2008, edited by Martin Schofield) Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, by M. R. James (1904) The Red Tree, by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2009) Carrie, by Stephen King (1974) Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King (1975) The Shining, by Stephen King (1977) Cujo, by Stephen King (1981) Pet Sematary, by Stephen King (1983) It, by Stephen King (1986) And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, by Gwendolyn Kiste (2017) The Ceremonies, by T. E. D. Klein (1984) The Cipher, by Kathe Koja (1991) Bad Brains, by Kathe Koja (1992) Skin, by Kathe Koja (1993) Strange Angels, by Kathe Koja (1994) Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber (1943) The Fifth Child, by Doris Lessing (1988) Rosemary’s Baby, by Ira Levin (1967) The Stepford Wives, by Ira Levin (1972) The Monk: A Romance, by Matthew Gregory Lewis (1796) Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe, by Thomas Ligotti (2015) The Hounds of Tindalos, by Frank Belknap Long (1946) Tales of H. P. Lovecraft, by H. P. Lovecraft (2007, edited by Joyce Carol Oates) The House of Souls, by Arthur Machen (1906) Burnt Offerings, by Robert Marasco (1973) I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson (1954) Shock!, by Richard Matheson (1961) Melmoth the Wanderer, by Charles Robert Maturin (1820) Child of God, by Cormac McCarthy (1973) Toplin, by Michael McDowell, (1985) Heartbreaker, by Maryse Meijer (2016) The Seventh Mansion, by Maryse Meijer (2020) Strange is the Night, by S. P. Miskowski (2017) Beloved, by Toni Morrison (1987) Zombie, by Joyce Carol Oates (1995) The Accursed, by Joyce Carol Oates (2013) Jack of Spades, by Joyce Carol Oates (2015) Widdershins, by Oliver Onions (1911) Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, by Edgar Allan Poe (1956, edited by Edward H. Davidson) The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe (1794) Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice (1976) Traplines, by Eden Robinson (1996) Helpmeet, by Naben Ruthnum (2022) The Subjugated Beast, by R. R. Ryan (1938) Fever Dream, by Samanta Schweblin (2014; 2017 translation by Megan McDowell) The Demon, by Hubert Selby Jr. (1976) New Stories from the Twilight Zone, by Rod Serling (1965) Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley (1818) The House Next Door, by Anne Rivers Siddons (1978) The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies, by Clark Ashton Smith (2014, edited by S. T. Joshi) Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886) Dracula, by Bram Stoker (1897) Julia, by Peter Straub (1975) Ghost Story, by Peter Straub (1979) Floating Dragon, by Peter Straub (1982) Koko, by Peter Straub (1988) Houses without Doors, by Peter Straub (1990) Fog Heart, by Thomas Tessier (1997) The Other, by Thomas Tryon (1971) Ghosts, by Edith Wharton (1937) The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde (1890) The Island of Doctor Moreau, by H. G. Wells (1896) The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells (1897) The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, by Yukio Mishima (1963)
Uncertainties is an anthology series—featuring authors from Canada, England, and the United States—each exploring the concept of increasingly fragmented senses of reality. These types of short stories were termed “strange tales” by Robert Aickman, called “tales of the unexpected” by Roald Dahl, and known to Shakespeare’s ill-fated Prince Mamillius as “winter’s tales”. But these are no mere ghost stories. These tales of the uncanny grapple with existential epiphanies of the modern day, when otherwise familiar landscapes become sinister and something decidedly less than certain . . .
Contents
“Foreword” – Naben Ruthnum
“A Curio” – R. Ostermeier
“Îkwatin // Freeze Up” – Jessica Johns
“Next of Kin” – Miriam Richer
“Taking Possession” – Rebecca Campbell
“All the Little Machines” – Rebecca Kuder
“Vanquisher” – Andrew F. Sullivan
“Soirée” – Mike Thorn
“Caretakers” – Michael Kelly
“Goodnight, Grandma Maggie” – Erica McKeen
“The Poet and the Jaguar and the Poet” – Quentin S. Crisp
“Monumental Horror Image” – Michael Wehunt
“The Theatre of Higher Judgements” – Matthew Holness
In this interview, we chat with Dania Idriss about representing human cruelty, finding creative nourishment in academic conferences, spending time in “writing jail”, and so much more.
Dania Idriss (she/her) is a Lebanese-Canadian author and a doctoral candidate in the Department of English at the University of Calgary. She (currently) gratefully lives and works on the traditional territory of Treaty 7, with her writing focusing on global literatures, particularly Arabic speculative fiction. Her first book, a collection of horror stories titled Tales of the Mountains and the Sea, was released by Freehand Books in May 2026. Dania teaches speculative fiction and global literatures at the Alberta University of the Arts and the University of Calgary. She enjoys all things spooky, warm sweaters, and spending time with her bunny, Arlo.
Books and stories mentioned in this episode:
Human Sacrifices — María Fernanda Ampuero
American War; One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This — Omar El Akkad
The Woman in White — Wilkie Collins
David Copperfield; Great Expectations; The Old Curiosity Shop — Charles Dickens
The Haunting of Hill House; The Sundial; We Have Always Lived in the Castle — Shirley Jackson
The Monk — Matthew Gregory Lewis
Forgotten Journey; Thus Were Their Faces — Silvina Ocampo
In this interview, we chat with Caroline Bicks about combatting AI in the classroom, words clanging on readers’ ears, the uniquely portable magic of fiction, and so much more.
Caroline Bicks is the author of several academic books, including Cognition and Girlhood in Shakespeare’s World and Midwiving Subjects in Shakespeare’s England. After she was named the University of Maine’s inaugural Stephen E. King Chair in Literature, she became the first scholar to be granted extended access by Stephen King to his private archive. In her most recent book, Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King, Bicks documents her exploration of King’s early drafts and hand-written revisions, and her conversations with King about those changes. Her popular writing has appeared in the Modern Love column of the New York Times and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. She is the co-host of the Everyday Shakespeare podcast.
Books, plays, stories, and poems mentioned in this episode:
The Wizard of Oz — L. Frank Baum
I Know a Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours — Nat Cassidy
“Cherrylog Road” — James Dickey
“The Boogeyman”; Carrie; Cell; “Children of the Corn”; Christine; Cujo; Danse Macabre; “The Dark Man”; The Dead Zone; Insomnia; It; “Jerusalem’s Lot”; Lisey’s Story; The Long Walk; Misery; Night Shift; “Night Surf”; On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft; Pet Sematary; Rage; ‘Salem’s Lot; The Shining; The Stand; “Strawberry Spring” — Stephen King
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life — Anne Lamott
Edward II — Christopher Marlowe
North Woods — Daniel Mason
A Swim in the Pond in the Rain — George Saunders
Hamlet; Henry IV, Part I; Henry IV; Part II; Henry V; Henry VI, Part I; Henry VI, Part II; Henry VI, Part III; Macbeth; Richard II; Richard III; Romeo and Juliet — William Shakespeare
In this interview, we chat with Luke Francis Beirne about literature versus entertainment, Atlantic Canadian textures, a literary marriage proposal, and so much more.
Luke Francis Beirne was born in Ireland in 1995 and now lives on Wolastoqey land in Saint John, New Brunswick. Beirne has published three novels with Baraka Books: Foxhunt, Blacklion, and Saints Rest. His stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in outlets such as Counterpunch, NB Media Co-op, Hamilton Arts & Letters, Honest Ulsterman, and CrimeReads.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King — Caroline Bicks
The Last Thing He Wanted — Joan Didion
The Quiet American — Graham Greene
The Maltese Falcon — Dashiell Hammett
The Outsiders — S. E. Hinton
The Bamboo Blonde; In a Lonely Place — Dorothy B. Hughes
In this interview, we chat with Michael Wehunt about the administrative side of professional writing, the unanticipated weirdness of public selfhood, the “moment before the moment”, and so much more.
Michael Wehunt has been a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award, multiple Shirley Jackson Awards, and the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts’ Crawford Award. In Spain, his translated works have garnered nominations for the Premio Ignotus and Premio Amaltea, winning the latter. He haunts the woods of Decatur, Georgia, with his partner and their dog. Together, they hold the horrors at bay. Most recently, he is the author of the novels The October Film Haunt and Nightjars.
Books and poems mentioned in this episode:
Ancient Images; The Grin of the Dark; Incarnate — Ramsey Campbell
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture — Douglas Coupland
Poems 1962-2020 — Louise Glück
Carrie — Stephen King
Beings — Ilana Masad
The God of the Woods; Long Bright River — Liz Moore
“I propose that horror literature, by definition, hinges on this vexed dialectic, between the affective destruction of thought and the creative process of thought (specifically, of cognizing the incognizable: the supernatural, the numinous, the unseen, the illegible). Within this dialectic, the horror writer oscillates between helpless prey to horror and the creative agent of horror.”
In this interview, we chat with Daniel Braum about exploring the ecology of the supernatural, finding inspiration in liminal spaces, cultivating a sense of awe, and so much more.
Daniel Braum writes short stories that explore the tension between the psychological and the supernatural. He intentionally adopts the term “strange tales” for his “Twilight Zone-like stories in homage to author Robert Aickman and the intentional ambiguities of his work. His latest collection is Phantom Constellations: Strange Tales and Ghost Stories from Cemetery Dance Publications (2025). His stories appear in places ranging from The Best Horror of the Year Volume 12, edited by Ellen Datlow, and Shivers 8, edited by Richard Chizmar.
Books and stories mentioned in this episode:
Cold Hand in Mine — Robert Aickman
The Artist’s Way — Julia Cameron
Ancient Images; The Hungry Moon — Ramsey Campbell
“Plunged in the Years” — Jeffrey Ford
“Children of the Corn” — Stephen King
The Ceremonies — T. E. D. Klein
Beginnings, Middles & Ends — Nancy Kress
Dreams of Dark and Light — Tanith Lee
Rosemary’s Baby; The Stepford Wives — Ira Levin
Story — Robert McKee
Conjunctions 83: The Ghost Issue — Joyce Carol Oates and Bradford Morrow, eds.
The Jaguar Hunter — Lucius Shepard
Shadowland — Peter Straub
Conjunctions 39: The New Wave Fabulists — Peter Straub, ed.
Harvest Home — Thomas Tryon
The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers — Chris Vogler
