• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Horror Fiction About Or Involving The Fae Folk?

His Extremely DeLux Self

Devoted Cultist
Joined
Sep 25, 2017
Messages
125
Location
a world of petty crime and sensuality
Is there much of such?

I'm a huge fan of horror fiction, and I have a deep and abiding interest in our Good Neighbor Folk. Thus, I'd be interested to read horror stories, scary fairy tales as it were, concerning the Folk and their interactions with mere humankind; tales with some background in the legends, and modern treatments of the subject -- from a horror perspective, I mean, not urban romance fantasy or Sookie Stackhouse stories and the like. As well, I'm interested in writings of more recent vintage than Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood.

Ringstones, by "Sarban", might be one example; it can surely be interpreted that way. So can Clive Barker's Rawhead Rex, for a certain value of faery!

There was an intense, sad short story called "Black Annie" in an anthology of gay fantasy and horror stories I read several years ago, which I remember well (unfortunately, unlike the author's name!).

Any suggestions? Recommendations? "Don't read this piece of crap!" warnings? Thanks in advance for your attention, energy and time.
 
I can thoroughly recommend the late Graham Joyce's novel The Tooth Fairy, a genuinely strange "fairy tale", so to speak, with a heavy dose of hauntological nostalgia throughout. You can get it for 1p on Amazon!
 
Not exactly horror...but Charles De Lint writes fantasy novels with fairy folk and magic as the central theme of many of his books.....I enjoyed The Little Country, Moonheart , and I have heard that Widdershins is good.
https://www.amazon.com/Charles-de-Lint/e/B000AQ70VQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

I had almost forgotten this one...I need to reread it...been far too long..
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43919.Faerie_Tale

Oh..and one of my favorite series by Jim Butcher....The Dresden Files....many books in the series......horror....magicians....faeries....werewolves...etc...set in our contemporary time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dresden_Files
The lead character in the books , wizard Harry Dresden, ends up working for the Faerie Courts(about half way through the series but has encounters in many books before that...),,,,against his will.
 
Last edited:
Another vote here for Faerie Tale. A friend of mine said it was one of the scariest books she had read.
 
Oh, that's the one with the hideous black thing like a spider crossed with a cat crossed with a monkey, right? I liked that one!

Yep that’s the one, “The bad thing”. Surprised it has never been adapted for the big screen. But would make a much better limited run series.

There is a real sense of danger throughout the book.
 
Not quiet faeries exactly, but Bentley Little's Dominion (also known as Dark Dominion) features a teen who is the final progeny of Dionysus whose power starts to manifest with him creating numerous creatures of magical ancient Greece.
 
St. David's Day: Celebrating Arthur Machen, the forgotten Welsh horror writer admired by Stephen King
Modern genre writers as varied as Clive Barker, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and True Detective's Nic Pizzolatto all owe a debt to this late Victorian pioneer of 'weird fiction'

Today is 1 March, which this year plays host to both World Book Day and St. David's Day, the latter honouring Wales's patron saint and the subject of today's Google Doodle.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-...rnatural-science-fiction-novels-a8234176.html
 
I can thoroughly recommend the late Graham Joyce's novel The Tooth Fairy, a genuinely strange "fairy tale", so to speak, with a heavy dose of hauntological nostalgia throughout. You can get it for 1p on Amazon!

Good call for The Tooth Fairy, although I would say that's straying more towards psychological territory than genuine faerie tales.
May I suggest The Way to Babylon by Paul Kearney? A classic tale of time slips and a contemporary guy thrown into Ulster mythology and the realm of faerie folk, some of them enchanting, some horrific.
 
Back
Top