What are some of yall's favorite horror stories that aren't by King? I really enjoyed In The House of the Worm by George R R Martin sadly it's out of publication and been pulled from all digital store fronts that I've checked it's a real shame too because most of George R R Martins stuff is out there to be bought but House of the Worm is gone you can't even buy a used copy of the book anymore.
Damn as a horror person that's like asking a grandparent with extended family to name their favorite grandchild. So many titles, so many authors, such little space.
So I will do as always when faced with these sort of questions and just pick one and roll with it.
Bentley Little, so good, crosses deftly through all the sub genres while also adding more than a little bizzaro to the mix, sometimes all within one short story.
I suggest for starters his short story collection, aptly titled The Collection, which features "The Washingtonians" which was adapted into an episode of Masters of Horror and is a story featuring secret society's, government conspiracies and cover-ups, and last but not least canabalism, and most fucked up is it's one of the most straightforward least creepy stories in the collection.
For novels would start off with obscure and underrated "The Ignored" though Trigger Warning-intense sick violence including rape- but it's definitley a gem if you can stomach it.
I also have high regard for "The Revelation" which is a reinterpretation of the Vampire myth that mixes it up by adding inspiration from vampire myths from non-western sources.
That's just the beginning, and I'm not going to get to into it but most of his novels have generic sounding names (the mailman, the store, the university, the association) but it's because he takes everyday mundane items and people and takes them one step to the side into an alternative reality where they become the most horrific shit imaginable.
While I like most his work the earlier the better, it does get to the point of "what thing will he make creepy this time". He has a pretty good and respected reputation among other authors and the horror community both as an author and a person, and I only say that because searching will mostly only find his work or the opinion of others because he is intensely private and has and has kept to a no social media, hardly an internet presence.
I first found him in the Borderlands collection ( a series based on new horror and avoiding tropes) where he has the interesting distinction of being the only author to have a story published in each volume, don't know about now, stopped following after the fifth volume, and can only recommend the first three in good faith, though it's very good faith because the first three are amazing.
But that's my rec for this time, Bentley Little. Next time this question comes up I will talk of a different one out of the many I love.