Top 5 Creepy Stories

[baudown.livejournal.com]

For Halloween!

It was difficult to narrow it down to five.  Also, it made me realize that Willow is very often the star player when it comes to scary tales.  Hope there are some on this list that you haven't read.

1. Here Comes a Candle , by wiseacress.  Spike asks for a favor...on Halloween.  The ultimate in creepy.


2. Always/Now, by amerella. Magic has consequences. Willow marks her forehead with the lifeblood of the fawn, and both cheeks. Tara will always remember her that way, later. Always and later and now and it will fill her with dread.

3. Red Apple Falls, by dellamore.  Scary Spander.  Break-ups are hard.  Some are really, really hard.

4. Good Man, by huzzlewhat.  Again, magic has consequences -- and someone has to deal with them.  I found this story only recently, and it has been haunting me.

5. Perfect World, by sparrow2000.  I debated including this, only because there's a deliberate ambiguity to it, and some readers may not find it creepy.  But I do, so here it is.

Comments

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Not only seasonally appropriate but you've chosen authors rarely recommended so extra kudos for that.

[baudown.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I hope people enjoy them.

[yourlibrarian]

Re #5, creepiness can definitely vary by person. To me one of the creepiest moments in Buffy comes in S5's Forever, when we see the shadow of Joyce moving to the door as Buffy and Dawn argue. It was very Monkey's Paw -- which was one of the creepiest things I've ever seen!

[baudown.livejournal.com]

It's a very disturbing scene.

Re: #5: I remember getting to the end of this story and thinking, Ooh, chilling. And then I looked at the comments and saw that many people read it very differently.

[shapinglight]

Great recs. I'm not good with creepy stories, but I remember the Amerella one very well.

[baudown.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that story really has a way of getting under your skin.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, first comment is right. I only recognize one of these authors. Thanks for introducing me to the others!

Nice and creepy. I particularly liked Red Apple Falls and Perfect World.

[baudown.livejournal.com]

So glad you liked them!

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Including a Sparrow fic is always appropriate! Oh what a superb writer she is!


Gabrielle

[baudown.livejournal.com]

She really, really is.

[sparrow2000.livejournal.com]

Now I'm really blushing. Thank you.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

You happen to be one of the finest writers in fandom. You never cease to impress me and enthrall me with your wonderful stories.


Gabrielle

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

An excellent category!

[baudown.livejournal.com]

Enjoy!

[sparrow2000.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm thrilled to see Perfect World in such august company, thank you!

[baudown.livejournal.com]

Perfect World was the first work of yours I read, and I remember getting to the end and thinking Yikes! I don't know if you even intended for the story to be disturbing, but it really was for me -- in a satisfying way, of course.

[sparrow2000.livejournal.com]

Yikes is an immensely satisfying reaction.

It was always meant to be ambiguous. I remember thinking before I wrote it that I wondered what would happen if Willow decided magic could help her get Xander so that she could have the perfect white picket fence life she'd envisaged growing up. Then when I started writing it, I realised that it could actually be interpreted a pile of different ways and that made me really happy! *g*

So whatever interpretation a reader wants to get out of it, is just fine by me! :)