Books like 'Rag: Stories'
Readers who enjoyed Rag: Stories by Maryse Meijer also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary horror dark literary-fiction
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The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTHE PURLOINED LETTER THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHERAZADE A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM. VON KEMPELEN AND HIS DISCOVERY MESMERIC REVELATION THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR THE BLACK CAT. THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER SILENCE—A FABLE THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO... -
![Of Foster Homes and Flies by Chad Lutzke, Alberto Plumed]()
Of Foster Homes and Flies by Chad Lutzke, Alberto Plumed
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA neglected 12-year-old boy does nothing to report the death of his mother in order to compete in a spelling bee. A tragic coming-of-age tale of horror and drama in the setting of a hot New Orleans summer. "Original, touching coming of age." ~Jack Ketchum, author of THE GIRL NEXT DOOR "With OF FOSTER HOMES & FLIES, Lutzke is firing on all cylinders. It's a lean mean emotional machine... -
![Arising Son: Part One: The Guardians Of The Temple Saga by Marie Montine]()
Arising Son: Part One: The Guardians Of The Temple Saga by Marie Montine
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsRyan is successful working independently as a doctor's assistant until his world comes crashing down on him: protecting the woman he's falling for, he discovers he has strength unlike a normal human and a great thirst...for blood.He confronts his mother, Cassandra, on who he really is... -
![I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down: Collected Stories by William Gay]()
I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down: Collected Stories by William Gay
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWilliam Gay established himself as "the big new name to include in the storied annals of Southern Lit" (Esquire) with his debut novel, The Long Home, and his highly acclaimed follow-up, Provinces of Night. Like Faulkner's Mississippi and Cormac McCarthy's American West, Gay's Tennessee is redolent of broken souls... -
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![Ramonst by A.F. Knott]()
Ramonst by A.F. Knott
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHidden in the mountains of East Tennessee, an eleven-year old goes about the business of being a boy during the summer of 1970. Within a balance of terror and innocence, he bears silent witness to ghosts of the dead and the cruelties of a teenage killer while local justice plays out in a community carved from legacies of coal mining and religion... -
![The Pretty Dead Girls by Skylar Finn]()
The Pretty Dead Girls by Skylar Finn
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen two young girls go missing from a small Georgia town, the crime remains unsolved for nearly thirty years.When Savannah moves home to the small town of Humble, Georgia, she has no intention of getting involved in a kidnapping investigation. But when her older brother Mac becomes the main suspect, Savannah launches a secret investigation in order to clear her brother’s name...Categorized as:
literary-fiction dark mystery romance psychological suspense law-enforcement police-procedural -
![Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas]()
Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJames Frankie Thomas’s Idlewild is a darkly funny story of two adults looking back on their intense teenage friendship, in a queer, trans, and early-Internet twist on the Manhattan prep school novel.Idlewild is a tiny, artsy Quaker high school in lower Manhattan... -
![Maldoror and the Complete Works by Comte de Lautréamont]()
Maldoror and the Complete Works by Comte de Lautréamont
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAndre Breton described Maldoror as -the expression of a revelation so complete it seems to exceed human potential.- Little is known about its pseudonymous author, aside from his real name (Isidore Ducasse), birth in Uruguay (1846) and early death in Paris (1870)... -
![Mourning Grey: Part Two by Marie Montine]()
Mourning Grey: Part Two by Marie Montine
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHaving joined Lharkin's family of Kins and becoming a vampire, Cassandra believed she was getting closer to Lharkin. When they both learn the startling truth behind both of their pasts, Lharkin becomes more distant... -
![Mourning Grey: Part Three The Guardians Of The Temple Saga by Marie Montine]()
Mourning Grey: Part Three The Guardians Of The Temple Saga by Marie Montine
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHaving reached the land belonging to the ancient Empians, Cassandra's visions become stronger just as does her powers. Being the prophised woman to end the last Empian, she is conflicted as she has also grown close Lharkin's family... -
![Arising Son: Part Two: Guardians Of The Temple Saga by Marie Montine]()
Arising Son: Part Two: Guardians Of The Temple Saga by Marie Montine
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRyan arrives in Empia to further investigate his bloodline. But while searching the temple and exercising his uniques powers, he meets an ancient entity: one of the Guardians, and it challenges all that he is by asking him to do a task.When the person closest to him commits the worst betrayal, the Dark becomes even more enticing... -
![Wallflower by Chad Lutzke]()
Wallflower by Chad Lutzke
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAfter an encounter with a homeless man, a high school graduate becomes obsessed with the idea of doing heroin, challenging himself to try it just once. A bleak tale of addiction, delusion, and flowers."Bleak as hell and honestly horrific."~John Boden, author of JEDI SUMMER"Using his strong narrative, he (Lutzke) conveys the everyday realistic horror and pulls the reader right into the ugliness...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction horror fiction coming-of-age psychological substance-abuse mental-illness -
![Hurt Others by Sam Pink]()
Hurt Others by Sam Pink
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOh man, it just had to happen. Someone had to be a bagger at a grocery store and fantasize about hitting children in the head with wine bottles. Someone had to fear a puddle floating at him from across the street. Someone had to celebrate beating up a pregnant woman. Someone just HAD to be a nanny, and stare at giant motorized spiders...Categorized as:
literary-fiction 21st-century adult anthologies contemporary fiction horror realistic -
![The Silver Dark Sea by Susan Fletcher]()
The Silver Dark Sea by Susan Fletcher
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsOn the island of Parla some believe in the ancient tale of the Fishman, others believe in nothing. All carry with them the mourning and sadness for what the sea has taken away. But when a man with no name is washed up on the stones of Sye, it appears the mythical figure has returned... -
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![Fruiting Bodies: Stories by Kathryn Harlan]()
Fruiting Bodies: Stories by Kathryn Harlan
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn stories that beckon and haunt, Fruiting Bodies ranges confidently from the fantastical to the gothic to the uncanny as it follows characters—mostly queer, mostly women—on the precipice of change. Echoes of timeless myth and folklore reverberate through urgent narratives of discovery, appetite, and coming-of-age in a time of crisis... -
![Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates]()
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe sixties and seventies witnessed the emergence of Joyce Carol Oates as one of America's foremost writers of the short story. In 1962, 'The Fine White Mist of Winter, ' composed when the author was 19 years old, appeared in The Literary Review and was selected for both the O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories of that year...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies classics coming-of-age contemporary -
![Redwood by Mark Z. Danielewski]()
Redwood by Mark Z. Danielewski
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Season One finale of this riveting multisensory masterpiece from the visionary author of House of Leaves... -
![Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung]()
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCursed Bunny is a genre-defying collection of short stories by Korean author Bora Chung. Blurring the lines between magical realism, horror, and science-fiction, Chung uses elements of the fantastic and surreal to address the very real horrors and cruelties of patriarchy and capitalism in modern society...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction 21st-century adult anthologies contemporary female-author feminism -
![The Essential Clive Barker: Selected Fiction by Clive Barker, Armistead Maupin]()
The Essential Clive Barker: Selected Fiction by Clive Barker, Armistead Maupin
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"I wonder if the reverse is not also in some way true. That the artist is constantly working on anelaborate and fantasticated self-portrait, but at the end has drawn, unbeknownst, a picture of the world... -
![The Art of Murder by José Carlos Somoza]()
The Art of Murder by José Carlos Somoza
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn 2006, the art world has moved far beyond sheep in formaldehyde and the most avant-garde movement is to use living people as artwork. Undergoing weeks of preparation to become 'canvases', the models are required to stay in their pose for ten to twelve hours a day and, as art pieces, they are also for sale... -
![Where I End by Sophie White]()
Where I End by Sophie White
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMy mother.At night, my mother creaks. The house creaks along with her.Through our thin shared wall, I can hear the makings of my mother gurgle through her body just like the water in the walls of the house...Teenage Aoileann has never left the island. Her silent, bed-bound mother is a wreckage, the survivor of a private disaster no one will speak about... -
![Either Side of Midnight by Tori de Clare]()
Either Side of Midnight by Tori de Clare
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWHAT IF THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE TURNED INTO YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE? When nineteen-year-old Naomi Stone is snatched from her husband at knifepoint on the night of their wedding and taken to a deserted cemetery, she knows her life is finished. Drugged and disorientated, she loses consciousness as she lies in an open grave with a gun to her head... -
![Angry Candy by Harlan Ellison]()
Angry Candy by Harlan Ellison
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Seattle Times said of Angry Candy: "Ellison's stories rattle the bars of complacency that people put around their souls . . . Razor sharp . . . piercingly profound." Once again, Ellison's writing defies all labels. These seventeen stories by a modern master are an "assembled artifact" of anger and faith - as bittersweet as a"jalapeno-laced cinnamon bear... -
![La mano que cura by Lina María Parra Ochoa]()
La mano que cura by Lina María Parra Ochoa
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHay encuentros que dejan una huella indeleble en nuestra memoria y nuestro cuerpo, encuentros que nos cambian profundamente o, tal vez, solo nos desvelan quiénes somos en realidad. Eso es lo que le ocurre a la niña Soledad cuando conoce a Ana Gregoria, su maestra de escuela, de quien aprenderá a hacer trabajos, amarres, bebedizos. A llamar al silencio sobre sí misma para no ser vista ni escuchada... -
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![Zombie by Chuck Palahniuk]()
Zombie by Chuck Palahniuk
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn 'Zombies', the absurdity of both life and death are on full display as the best and brightest of a high school prep school become tragically addicted to the latest drug craze - electronic shocks from cardiac defibrillators.Funny, caustic, bizarre, poignant - this story represents everything listeners have come to love and expect from Chuck Palahniuk.©2015 Chuck Palahniuk (P)2016 W.F. Howes Ltd... -
![Guide by Dennis Cooper]()
Guide by Dennis Cooper
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsChris is a young porn star who wants to experience death at someone else's hand; Mason has lurid fantasies about members of British pop bands; Sniffles is a teenage runaway whose need for love outweighs his attachment to life... -
![Love and Hydrogen: New and Selected Stories by Jim Shepard]()
Love and Hydrogen: New and Selected Stories by Jim Shepard
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsI’ve been a problem baby, a lousy son, a distant brother, an off-putting neighbor, a piss-poor student, a worrisome seatmate, an unreliable employee, a bewildering lover, a frustrating confidante and a crappy husband. Among the things I do pretty well at this point I’d have to list darts, re-closing Stay-Fresh boxes, and staying out of the way...Categorized as:
literary-fiction adult anthologies contemporary fiction historical-fiction horror humor -
![Quicksilver & Shadow, Volume 2: Collected Early Stories: Contemporary, Dark Fantasy, and Science Fiction Stories by Charles de Lint]()
Quicksilver & Shadow, Volume 2: Collected Early Stories: Contemporary, Dark Fantasy, and Science Fiction Stories by Charles de Lint
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsQuicksilver & Shadow is the second volume (of a projected three) of Charles de Lint's Collected Early Stories. At nearly 150,000 words it's even larger than volume one, A Handful of Coppers, and includes the very obscure 20,000 word novella, "Berlin," and its over 30,000 word counterpart "Death Leaves an Echo... -
![Weathercock by Glen Duncan]()
Weathercock by Glen Duncan
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe confession of Dominic Francis Hood - Roman Catholic, sadist, conspirator to murder, witness to a miracle. His childhood had the usual benefits, but after watching a miracle performed by Father Malone, Dominic realises a part of him is skewed, and that mere fantasy will never be enough... -
![Sticky Fingers 2 by J.T. Lawrence]()
Sticky Fingers 2 by J.T. Lawrence
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDiverse, dark-humoured, and deliciously bite-sized, this compelling collection of 12 short stories by JT Lawrence include:GATSBY'S DOUBLEAn artist's Pomeranian has been replaced by an imposter.COURT, MARRY, KILLWhose body ends up being unzipped by fish on the ocean floor?ROCKABYE BABYA female-only cult has a very dark side...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction 21st-century adult anthologies audiobook contemporary female-mc -
![DARK PRAYER by Natasha Mostert]()
DARK PRAYER by Natasha Mostert
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEloise Blake is on the run from a life she can no longer remember. And from a killer who will stop at nothing to protect a secret as old as time. From the award-winning author of SEASON OF THE WITCH comes a thriller about memory, identity and the murderous consequences of a quest gone wrong... -
![Rage by Kimberly A. Bettes]()
Rage by Kimberly A. Bettes
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBrian Boozer is a good kid in a bad situation. At thirteen, he's already endured the pain of losing his father and the agony of living with a step-father who hates and abuses him. At school, Brian suffers even more torment, delivered by bullies who seem to enjoy making his life miserable. The only bright spot in Brian's life is Carly, the girl on whom he's had a crush for years... -
![Stag Dance by Torrey Peters]()
Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn this collection of one novel and three novellas, the bestselling author of Detransition, Baby pushes trans-genre to its limits to explore who gets included—and excluded—from the possibilities of gender...Categorized as:
literary-fiction fiction lgbtq contemporary trans-mc horror anthologies 21st-century -
![On Sun Swallowing by Dakota Warren]()
On Sun Swallowing by Dakota Warren
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“On Sun Swallowing is a sweet and bloody collection of poetry, dancing in the spaces between skinned knees and red wine, satin and switchblades, rosaries and Dionysian ecstasy. Her writings are haunted by the ghosts of girlhood, god/s, lovers and the landscape of childhood, but Warren is unflinching - she haunts her ghosts in return, with sharp lyricism and cutthroat vulnerability...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction feminism fiction contemporary horror dark-academia mental-illness -
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![Problem Child by Victoria Helen Stone]()
Problem Child by Victoria Helen Stone
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsShe’s cold, calculating, and can deceive with a smile. Jane Doe is back in the Amazon Charts bestselling series - and this time she's met her match.After a brutal childhood, Jane Doe has been permanently wired to look after herself and only herself. Now, looking next to normal, Jane has a lover and a job. But she hasn't lost her edge. It sharpens when she hears from her estranged family... -
![Man V. Nature by Diane Cook]()
Man V. Nature by Diane Cook
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA refreshingly imaginative, daring debut collection of stories which illuminates with audacious wit the complexity of human behavior, as seen through the lens of the natural worldTold with perfect rhythm and unyielding brutality, these stories expose unsuspecting men and women to the realities of nature, the primal instincts of man, and the dark humor and heartbreak of our struggle to not only...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction 21st-century adult anthologies contemporary dystopia female-author -
![Wake in Fright by Kenneth Cook]()
Wake in Fright by Kenneth Cook
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWake In Fright was first published in 1961 and the film version, The Outback, starring Donald Pleasance was released in 1971. Both the book and the film have achieved a cult status as the Australian answer to US and UK novels and films of 1960s youthful alienation... -
![And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott]()
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA mind-bending, razor-sharp look at motherhood and mental health that follows a young Indigenous woman who discovers the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequencesOn the surface, Alice is exactly where she thinks she should She’s just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Dawn; her charming husband, Steve—a white academic whose area of study is conveniently her...Categorized as:
literary-fiction dark horror fiction mystery magical-realism mental-illness contemporary -
![Smoking Poppy by Graham Joyce]()
Smoking Poppy by Graham Joyce
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsGraham Joyce travels to an enthralling, suspense-charged landscape in this hallucinatory novel of a father's quest to save his daughter -- without destroying himself. Dan Innes has received shattering news from the British Embassy in Bangkok: his daughter, Charlie, whom he hasn't seen or spoken to in two years, has been imprisoned in a Thai jail for drug smuggling... -
![Toddler-Hunting & Other Stories by Taeko Kōno]()
Toddler-Hunting & Other Stories by Taeko Kōno
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"A sense of unease permeates this disturbing and exceptional collection of stories centered on unhappy women in postwar Japan...," wrote Publishers Weekly. World Literature Today proclaimed: "Reminiscent of Flannery O’Connor’s works, Kono’s stories explore the dark, terrifying side of human nature that manifests itself in antisocial behavior...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies contemporary female-author female-mc -
![Sticky Fingers by J.T. Lawrence]()
Sticky Fingers by J.T. Lawrence
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDiverse, dark-humoured, and deliciously bite-sized, this compelling collection of 12 short stories by JT Lawrence include:'Escape' -- a story about about a suicidal baby who knows he was born into the wrong life, and has to get creative to take measures correct the mistake, much to his mother¹s horror... -
![Beside the Sea by Véronique Olmi]()
Beside the Sea by Véronique Olmi
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA single mother takes her two sons on a trip to the seaside. They stay in a hotel, drink hot chocolate, and go to the funfair. She wants to protect them from an uncaring and uncomprehending world. She knows that it will be the last trip for her boys... -
![On Quiet Nights by Till Lindemann]()
On Quiet Nights by Till Lindemann
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThere’s a place inside us that is cloaked in darkness, rubbed raw with silence. It’s a shadow wrapped in a shadow and it screams, but it screams in harsh whispers. This collection explores the blackness within, the gritty underground that hides inside memories and cowers just outside fear... -
![Hush Little Baby by Ashley Michele]()
Hush Little Baby by Ashley Michele
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratings♡ Kinky♡ Home Invasion Horror♡ Plus-sized FMC♡ Quick Read♡ M/FAll I wanted was one fantasy fulfilled, played out perfectly: home invasion sexy times. Mask. Gloves. The whole nine.When my dick boyfriend finally agreed, I was willing to put in the work to keep him around a little bit longer for it... -
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![Dead Relatives by Lucie McKnight Hardy]()
Dead Relatives by Lucie McKnight Hardy
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIris has never left the big house in the country she shares with Mammy and the servants. When The Ladies arrive, she finds that she must appease her dead relatives.Other stories in this collection explore themes of motherhood and the fragile body, family dynamics and small town tensions, unusual traditions and metamorphosis... -
![Last Summer at Mars Hill by Elizabeth Hand]()
Last Summer at Mars Hill by Elizabeth Hand
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis is Elizabeth Hand's long-awaited collection of short stories, centered around her Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning novella The Last Summer at Mars Hill. There are 12 pieces in all here, ranging from those first published in places like Interzone and Pulphouse to a two-page poem taken from the pages of Asimov's...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction action-adventure adult anthologies colonization contemporary dark-fantasy -
![The Torturer's Apprentice: Stories by John Biguenet]()
The Torturer's Apprentice: Stories by John Biguenet
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis brilliant debut collection of stories by O. Henry Award winner John Biguenet is as notable for the rigor of its intellect as for the sweep of its imagination... -
![My Only Wife by Jac Jemc]()
My Only Wife by Jac Jemc
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTen years ago the narrator unlocked the door of a wrecked apartment, empty of any trace of his wife. As stunning as her disappearance is his response. He freezes on the facts of her, haunting his recollections. This is the story of a man unable to free himself enough from the idea of a woman to try to find her... -
![Midnight Is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead]()
Midnight Is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsFrom the critically acclaimed author of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife and The Last Housewife comes a gothic Southern thriller about a killer haunting a small Louisiana town, where two outcasts—the preacher's daughter and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks—hold the key to uncovering the truth... -
![Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll]()
Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsCullen James is a young woman whose life dictates her dreams-and whose dreams control her life.In her first dream, she found the perfect man-and the same thing promptly happened in life. Now, she has begun to dream dreams set in Rondua, a fantasy world of high adventure, full of tests of her courage and strength...
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