Some of this novella can be read in the preview of The Ballad of the Sad Café: And Other Stories. (18% into preview) “Daughter” by Erskine Caldwell Death and elements of horror feature prominently in gothic short stories. They often contain decayed settings, human psychology, and strong evocations of nature. They are scary but usually not as graphic as horror stories, although there is definite overlap between the two. Some of the other mainstays of gothicism include young maidens, clergy and other religious figures, castles, monasteries, night-time journeys, insanity, and violence. Mum’s the word when it comes to family secrets, right? Not so fast. This is the plot twist that concerns a revelation about the key character’s family. It could be that there is a surprising reveal regarding parentage — or perhaps it’s uncovered that the protagonist was an orphan all along. The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy is befuddled to discover that the Wizard of Oz is a middle-aged man using a microphone.

The doctor’s wife is home with her four-year-old daughter, Zeneib, while workers are renovating the place. She has a hostile exchange with the paperhanger before leaving the room. She goes to her car in the driveway and calls Zeneib. Here’s our guide to the gloomiest and most brooding of genres. Read on as we trace the history of Gothic literature and introduce ten essential reads that have haunted us for centuries. While the term “Gothic” instantly conjures plenty of ghosts and images of dark despair, the genre isn’t all about terror. Let’s look at what makes it so compelling by tracing its history through ten of the most haunting and heart-wrenching works that shaped the genre. In a delightful twist within the realm of plot twists, the human being isn’t the one causing trouble this time around. Instead, the setting of the story take center stage. Found particularly in science fiction and alternate reality stories, its hallmark is an unanticipated moment in which the protagonist (and the audience) has to wonder: “Where are we, really?”This story can be read in the preview of A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories. (Kindle preview) Key to a great short story is the tension and torsion created within each sentence. “Paradise” combines remarkable disquiet, poetry and narrative drive. O’Brien is a phenomenal architect of landscape, both physical and human, imbuing her setting with exact detail, lush discomfort, intrigue and counterintuitive fate. The main character, a nurse, has been taken to the overseas villa of her rich lover. Not only must she learn to swim and entertain his companions, she’s interviewing – without any real prospect – for the position of wife. The story is lit with sexual chemistry, but travels a horribly misaligned path. Its true test lies in finding an exit from the female dream. Sarah Hall “Hands” by Sherwood Anderson (1916) The Usual Suspects. Roger “Verbal” Kint, a small-time con man, is interrogated by the police who hope to hunt down the mob boss Keyser Söze. A fax later confirms too late that Kint is Söze himself. Adrian Prokhoroff attends an anniversary party where there is a lot of drinking. The men poke some fun at his profession of coffin making. His agitated state leads to an unusual incident. “Mister Taylor” by Augusto Monterroso Southern gothic is a subset of American gothic set in the south and often includes grotesque incidents sparked by poverty and other social ills, characters with notable physical and mental flaws or eccentricities, and decay. Here are some gothic short stories of this type. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor

If you seek inspiration for crafting your own twists, there’s no better place to start than with some of the most popular unexpected plot-turns in film and literature. But be warned: there be spoilers ahead. With that in mind, here are over 50 examples of plot twists in film and literature. This links to the characters of the aristocrat and the innocent victim and can be shown through characters being physically or metaphorically trapped. But alas! my Lord, what is blood! What is nobility! We are all reptiles, miserable, sinful creatures. It is piety alone that can distinguish us from the dust whence we sprung, and whither we must return.” A man tells a story from his childhood when he and his friend Nils found the Dead Valley. At the market they found a little dog for sale. They got the money together to buy it but didn’t want to wait until the next week. They walked to Hallsberg to get it. The next day, after staying over night with Nils’s aunt, they set out for home. They left a bit later than planned and ended up still out after dark.There are also stories here in the regular horror genre. There are separate sections for American and Southern gothic. See also: Reasons to Be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe will be published by Viking on 28 March. “The Distance of the Moon” by Italo Calvino (1963) The moment of crisis had come, and I must face it. My old fears, my diffidence, my shyness, my hopeless sense of inferiority, must be conquered now and thrust aside. If I failed now I should fail forever.” Edgar Allan Poe: master of mystery, poet of the macabre, and brooding Gothic icon. In his stories, Poe places his primary focus on psychological torment, turning inward from ominous Gothic atmospheres to explore the horrors of the mind.

CHARACTER A is set up with CHARACTER B, a rich politician, and finds herself falling in love with CHARACTER B’S GIRLFRIEND. The narrator recounts the story of an unusual wedding between a man and woman in their sixties. Rather than being introduced by uplifting music, the wedding was introduced with a funeral knell instead. The story of Frankenstein has haunted our collective imagination since its conception by Mary Shelley on one dark night. It’s a classic tale of man’s folly in the pursuit of dangerous knowledge: scientist Victor Frankenstein tries to play God by bringing life to reanimated corpses, but he is unable to confront the sight of the terrible thing he has created. He stepped as close to the edge as he dared. The hand doubled as if in imprecation, shaking savagely in the face of that force which leaves its creatures to immutable law; then spread wide again, clutching, expanding, crying for help as audibly as the human voice.The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Aslan, the King of Beasts, is seemingly killed by the White Witch on the Stone Table — until dawn breaks and he is resurrected, thanks to the workings of a Deeper Magic.