Short Story Surreal

The Dragon Street Press Grab Bag Anthology series delivers bold, genre-spanning short fiction designed to grab you by the imagination. Grab Bag #3 features nineteen original stories across science fiction, epic fantasy, dystopian fiction, magical realism, dark fantasy, speculative horror, and surreal fiction. From the bottom of the ocean to the edge of the universe, these tales explore transformation, identity, loss, rebellion, and the uncanny—with plenty of strange stops along the way. Whether you're drawn to monsters and magicians, haunted futures, sentient insects, mythic quests, or ...

The Bachman Files, Book 2 The second volume of The Bachman Files delivers seven haunting and provocative short stories that blur the line between humanity and horror. From the surreal, dream-like mystery of a gun’s violent legacy (Chekhov’s Gun), to a town’s descent into madness as it becomes a feeding ground for unspeakable horrors (The Journal of John Doe), to a tech worker’s terrifying fusion of flesh and machine (Flesh and Silicon), and a factory consumed by an insatiable, otherworldly hunger (The Factory), this collection pushes the boundaries of fear and imagination. Also ...

Behind locked doors and flickering lights, Ward Nine is where routine swallows reality and the line between patient and staff dissolves. A young man hears his name whispered in the night. A woman refuses her medication and finds herself replaced by a calmer version of herself. A nurse on endless night rounds discovers his name written in a book decades old. Meals never satisfy, visitors never arrive, and the quiet room is never truly quiet. In this chilling collection of interconnected stories, each voice pulls you deeper into a psychiatric ward where time loops, hunger grows, and identity ...

Step into the eerie and the unexpected with The Bachman Files, Book 1—a spine-tingling collection of short fiction that blends classic horror, speculative twists, and dark satire. From a cursed forest that devours its victims (The Hungry Forest), to a dystopian AI controlling life and death (The Algorithm), and a old Television that unlocks unspeakable terror (Dead Air), these tales will keep you on edge. With five gripping stories, including The Signal and The Gospel According to Dave, this anthology delivers bite-sized doses of fear and intrigue, perfect for fans who enjoy thought-...

A finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Story Prize, the first ever collection of “dazzlingly told” (The New York Times) literary short stories from Don DeLillo, the National Book Award-winning author of Underworld and Falling Man. Set in Greece, the Caribbean, Manhattan, a...

A man awakens suspended in a cage—thirty meters above an alien landscape beneath unfamiliar moons. Trapped inside a living prison of flesh and bone, he quickly realizes he is not alone. Hundreds of grotesque beings surround him, each confined to their own biological cells, each screaming in voices no human could comprehend. What follows is a descent—literal and psychological—into a terrifying display of cruelty, science, and something far more disturbing: recognition. As he tries to piece together how he arrived in this nightmare, memories surface, reality bends, and a horrifying ...

A Weird Girl Story Lena has always loved the magic of old films. But when the projector flickers to life in her dimly lit room, the movies start watching back. She and her brother Theo used to watch their grandfather’s strange, silent reels together in his dusty old theater — films full of faces no one could name, stories that never seemed to end. Grandpa always warned them: “Never watch them alone.” Now Theo’s gone to college, and Lena breaks the rule. The films begin to change. Shadows move on their own. People in the frames turn their heads. And shadowy figures start to step ...

At World’s Edge: Seven Liminal Stories from the Edge of Reality Beyond the borders of maps and memory lie worlds that obey no known rules. In this haunting anthology of speculative fiction and dark fantasy, seven stories explore what happens when reality thins—where time unravels, identity dissolves, and the familiar becomes unrecognizable. From a girl who returns from a doorless frame altered by the realm she crossed, to a lighthouse powered by memory guarding against something older than night, these tales are eerie, poetic, and charged with slow-blooming dread. Each story is a ...

This is a work of erotica and contains graphic descriptions of sex acts. This eBook is not suitable for individuals under 18 years of age. Dastardly little invaders, humes run amuck on an alien planet. Their giant natra rulers long regarded them as mere animals. At least Amalie could earn that name by her ferocity, bravery, and utter lack of grace. Yet far from treating them like pests, the giantess on the horizon may be a sizable boon to her tribe. She shows respect and appears to possess all things in abundance, and Amalie is determined to dip her cup. Showing up on Seyel’s doorstep ...

Learn the truth behind the mask of Hollywood in these 10 bizarre tales of dreams and dream weavers, movies and movie-makers, by some of the most respected fantasy writers of our time.

Rooms You Don’t Deserve by G.J. Fene is a chilling anthology of modern horror where guilt becomes architecture, and each room knows what you did. In twelve unnerving tales, scientists, priests, doctors, and frauds are lured into surreal punishment chambers that mirror their sins, and refuse to let them go. From a fertility clinic island where all the guests look alike… to a recursive memory trail in a fire-scorched forest… to a nursery where every infant cries with your voice, these are rooms built not for shelter, but for reckoning. Each story is a closed system. A confession box. A ...

An assortment of twelve stories that begin in the gritty depths of rural noir and slide down the literary spectrum into the tragedy and triumph that is contemporary realism; then shuffle through small-town America where carnivals and psychedelic awakenings are experienced, and finally, the last three stories take a detour into the strange and surreal. In DOWN ON THE FARM, Army veteran Lyle Mullins loses his farm to the bank and is now being forced to leave. But for Lyle, cowering to the bank’s orders will not be an option. In MY BROTHER’S FLAG, Jake McGee carries an abundance of grief ...

God and His Fishing Rod Ever wondered what it would be like to sit in the clouds and have a chat with God? That’s exactly what happens in God and His Fishing Rod. Between fishing, football scores, and cryptic metaphors involving jumpers, vegetables, and monkeys, a human gets answers to the big questions — in a way only God could deliver. A whimsical, witty exploration of life, existence, and absurd humour that’s part philosophical, part ridiculous, and entirely entertaining. Arthur’s Funeral Arthur never imagined the best day of his life would be his own funeral — but here it is. ...

A short drive outside of the real world Private Investigator Matt Cramer follows an art thief’s RV south from Santa Fe. He’s sure the man has the paintings he stole with him, but Matt’s boss thinks the man is headed to meet a buyer, and the big money is in catching both of them as well as retrieving the art. Matt needs to be there when they meet. A stakeout is never comfortable, but the weather is dreadful… rainy and dismal and Matt is unprepared. He never expected the man would head for a remote campground on a northern bank of the Pecos River. That leaves him sitting in his car, ...

When the ordinary world falls away, the boundaries between reality and illusion blur. In The Bird of Happiness, everyday lives are touched by mystery and transformation. A man walks the same path through a dense jungle, never knowing where it leads. A housebound observer glimpses fleeting signs of a world they can never reach. A collector becomes consumed by the silent power of his possessions. In crowded city streets, a single, haunting moment changes everything. These tales explore what lies beneath the surface of our perceptions — the unseen forces of memory, desire, and fear. Some ...

If you’ve ever felt a vague longing for a home you can’t quite remember, you’re not alone. A surreal sense of mystery and a quest for memory and meaning are the common elements of these three stories (~9,400 words total) which all address the voyage home: Going Home — A late-night visitor changes everything. Last Latte — A trip home from the grocery store becomes a surreal quest for memory. The Affair — A dreamlike evening where nothing is quite as it seems.

When Paula shows up for the annual BFF weekend and everyone’s mysteriously gone, she thinks she died and went to heaven, and in unhinged acts of liberation, acts accordingly - with a twist. Funny and surreal, "Paula Thinks She's Dead" is a story of life, the afterlife, social norms, and what it's like to no longer give a care. From the author of the award-winning short story, "The Whisper," which was published in her 2024 collection, "A Sign of Life: Poetry and Short Stories."

You’re invited into a world where the boundary between the real and the unreal blurs with quiet wonder and haunting truth. Familiar Shadows of the Strange is a collection of psychologically surreal, numinous, but still deeply human short stories that reveal the uncanny undercurrents of ordinary life. Each tale explores the thresholds between the visible and the unseen, between who we are, who we’ve been, and who we are becoming, and where the everyday becomes extraordinary. This collection is perfect for readers who love The Twilight Zone and other strange, thought-provoking tales, ...

You wake up in your apartment. But it’s not your apartment. Your name is on the mail. Your favorite snacks are in the fridge. There’s even a note in your handwriting taped to the mirror: “Don’t trust the man in the static.” Every time you fall asleep, you wake up somewhere new — a childhood bedroom, an abandoned hospital, a diner stuck in a loop. And one doorless, buzzing white room keeps showing up. Inside the static… something is watching. And it’s learning how to follow you back. From the author of The 17th Door, this surreal psychological horror will trap you in a ...

When the most ruthless interrogator is your own guilt Graham wakes up in a room with no doors, no windows, and only one demand whispered on repeat: Confess. He doesn't know why he's there. He doesn't know what he's supposed to admit. All he knows is that the cube is shrinking—and it won’t stop until he confesses. What begins as a surreal puzzle becomes a claustrophobic descent into memory, denial, and accountability. As the walls close in, Graham is forced to confront every lie he’s ever told, every shortcut he's ever taken, and the one decision he swore he’d never think about again.