Grittiest short stories you've ever read/published

Coop720 · May 22, 2013

Hi folks,

For my dissertation I am writing a collection of 'gritty' short stories, hoping to tie them together with a kind of gritty style. I was just wondering, what - in your opinion - are some of the grittiest stories you've ever read?

By 'gritty' I mean the kind of story that sets you on edge, makes you uncomfortable, go that little bit too far in subject (i.e. not just a man being punched and splitting his lip, but a man being punched and losing a tooth while the gum splits etc.). And, I don't just mean gritty content, I also mean in style.

Thanks

P.S. In the title where I put 'published' I meant in case you've published one yourself that you find gritty as fuck!

A few I've found particularly gritty:
- The Pear-shaped Man - George R.R. Martin
- Guts - Chuck Palaniuk
- Meg Tuite - Thirteen
- John L. Shepherd - Milk Carton Girl Turns 40
- Angela Carter - Wolf-Alice

Triplec224 · May 22, 2013

The Night They Missed the Horror Show by Joe R. Lansdale is a good one.

http://www.revolutionsf.com/fiction/horrorshow/01.html

FOTSGreg · May 23, 2013

Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler - you just can't get much grittier - plus their use of language in many places is absolutely top notch.

Chris P · May 23, 2013

It was actually a graphic novel serialized in the magazine Heavy Metal: "Requiem: Chevalier Vampire" by Pat Mills and Oliver Ledroit.

The artwork was stunning, and the story gripping, but it . . . bothered me more than I was expecting.

Rufus Leeking · May 23, 2013

or anything else by Charles Bukowski

The Stupid Christs by Charles Bukowski is a great intro to his work, a fun story and gritty on several levels.

Coop720 · May 23, 2013

Cheers, guys, amazing suggestions! Checking out all of these soon! The Lansdale was amazing.

janfinson · May 23, 2013

Also check out Stephen King's "Survivor Type". It's in his short story collection Skeleton Crew. Pretty nasty, but I loved it.

Lost World · May 29, 2013

Coop720 said:
Cheers, guys, amazing suggestions! Checking out all of these soon! The Lansdale was amazing.

You might want to check out Duck Hunt by Lansdale as well.

J. Tanner · May 29, 2013

Night They Missed the Horror Show is Lansdale's classic, but a lot of his very grim stuff is contained in By Bizarre Hands. The Pit in particular, and Steel Valentine to some extent are pretty rough too.

Meathouse Man from George RR Martin has been collected a lot and is relentlessly grim. It also has an absolute showstopper last line.

Clive Barker got a lot of grittiness press with Midnight Meat Train being a common touchstone, but his work didn't affect me to the extent others reacted to it. In Books Of Blood if I recall.

You nailed Poluhniuk's (self-promoted) bite of pure grit. I'm not familiar with his shorter work, but his short novels contain some serious nihlism--in many cases you could just take a chapter and treat it almost like a short story given the episodic nature of stuff like Choke or Fight Club.

Grittiest short stories you've ever read/published

Coop720

Triplec224

FOTSGreg

Today is your last day.

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred

Rufus Leeking

Coop720

janfinson

Playing with Matches

Lost World

He'll NEVER fit in!

J. Tanner