I love the fact that Summerween is gaining popularity. I love summer and Halloween separately so this combination is absolutely my jam. Usually by the time Halloween rolls around my mood starts to dip along with the earlier setting sun, and I'm not in the mood to be spooky. I'll take any excuse to celebrate horror in the best season (yes, summer is the best season, no I'm not taking critique on this fact at the moment).

The first time I learned of Summerween was in Gravity Falls, and I'm not sure when it caught on to the wider populace but I think it's an excellent excuse to be a little cozy and chill right in the middle of summer. A little spookiness as that perfect summer twilight takes over is perfect, when the heat feels never-ending and things are slow.

Because Summerween has been on my mind, I thought I'd collect some of my favorite short fiction stories that can be finished in a (hot) evening or a couple hours.

Short Stories

• The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - When I tell you this story stuck with me and radicalized me in high school, this isn't an understatement. Excellent themes of madness and uncertainty, all with a subtext of feminist theory.
• The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe - I had a weird obsession with Edgar Allan Poe in the fifth grade (I think I learned how he died and that made a big impression on a little empath) and read many of his short stories as a kid. My favorite then was probably the Telltale Heart but I thought I'd share one that I didn't read until I was an adult. I think as an adult we've all been at a party or gathering that starts to go wrong, but hopefully not in the way this one does.
• The Man in the Black Suit by Stephen King - Okay, I know we all have feelings about Stephen King, but I can't deny the man shines with short horror fiction. This story is one I don't see mentioned too often, but it's one I still think about. This story was originally published in The New Yorker, but I later read it in his short story collection Everything's Eventual. Honorable mentions to Lunch at the Gotham Cafe and The End of the Whole Mess.
• All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury - I don't think this one is horror in the traditional sense, but from a psychological and sociological view it definitely counts. How devastating to think about what children are capable of. Many of us read this as children and it understandably traumatized us.
• Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates - I read this in sophomore year of college, I believe, and it was one of the first stories I read where the danger felt real and possible. The main character is in a time of transition that mirrored my new college life and that made things that much scarier. This story is the definition of "you in danger, girl"!

Novellas

• The Woods All Black - I do love the way Lee Mondelo writes southern horror; Summer Sons was a delight as a Nashville (ish) Native. The Woods All Black is an atmospheric novella you could probably finish in an afternoon or so. Summertime plus Appalachia, a lotta bit of queerness (and some good old monster canoodling) makes for a great summer read.
• The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - On the surface, this novella comes across as a ghost story, which is already creepy enough. However, start pulling back the layers a bit and it leaves you to wonder how reliable our narrator is, and if maybe these ghosts are something else. Or nothing at all. Another quick read with some feminist subtext.

As a bonus, I thought I'd include some of my other favorite media that you could finish in a night!

Other Media

• Night of the Living Dummy by R.L. Stine - I couldn't write a list that didn't include where my love of horror started, with R.L. Stine. This is easily one of the scariest sagas in the Goosebumps series. I was always so terrified Slappy the Dummy would show up in my dreams (seriously, ask my mom about Slappy now and she'll be so annoyed by how afraid I was). I mean, even now I'm a little skittish about the thought of ventriloquist dummies.... Seeing as this is a children's book, it should be a quick read, but maybe not before bed....
• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz, illustrated by Stephen Gammell - Who doesn't remember the covers of these books! Looking back at it now, I'm wondering how these were just left on the shelf for an 8-year-old me to just snag at the school library. Regardless, these are a fun read as an adult still, and the illustrations make it that much creepier.
• Cabinet of Curiosities, a podcast by Aaron Mahnke - Mahnke is maybe known more for his longer podcasts, especially Lore, but for the purpose of sticking with the bite-size theme of this list, I'm including Lore's younger sibling, Cabinet of Curiosities. Not nearly as scary as lore can be, but still, well, curious.
• The Tale of the Dead Man's Float, Are You Afraid of the Dark episode - I saw a glimpse of this episode as kindergartener and it haunted me for literal years after. When I rewatched it as a teenager, it was still as scary as it was when I was five! Then, as it goes in life, I showed it to my nieces and nephews one Halloween to continue the cycle of trauma. Auntie privileges.
• Haunted Train, Hey Arnold! episode - There are a couple Hey Arnold! episodes I could include in this list, but this is the one that stuck with me the most after the episode ended. That last scene gave me chills as a kid! I suggest a rewatch for some cozy creepy 90s nostalgia.
• And Then There Was Shawn, Boy Meets World episode - Turns out this actually wasn't a Halloween episode, but the concept is perfect for Summerween. The gang gets stuck with an unknown killer in the school, and it's a wonderful blend of a little scary, a lot funny and silly. It's a parody of the horror genre and relies on the "people gradually disappearing" a la And Then There Were None trope which is always one of my favorites.

So there's a few of my favorite creepy, silly, scary short stories and other media! Take some time to maybe make yourself a cozy drink and settle in for a quick read or watch in the middle of summer!