The Witches of Worm

In the spirit of Halloween, we gathered up a few books that are psychologically eerie in the way some horror movies just aren't.
万圣节即将到来之际,为了渲染节日氛围,我们精选了几本适合此时赏读的恐怖小说,这些小说不同于某些恐怖电影,都以心理上的恐怖感取胜。

1.The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
《虫巫》作者:Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Jessica buys a runt of a kitten -- a tiny creature that her neighbor helps her nurse to health. Adorable, right? NO. WRONG. There is nothing adorable about this story. Jessica names the kitten Worm, which is already a horrible sign. Then, timed perfectly with her acquisition of said kitten, Jessica begins committing increasingly violent acts against her family.
杰西卡买了一只小猫崽——她的邻居也来帮助她饲养这只小东西。听起来很萌萌哒,不是吗——然并卵!这个故事一点也不萌萌哒。杰西卡为小猫取名为“虫子”,这本身就是一个恐怖的征兆了。接着,恰在她将这只小猫带回家之后,杰西卡开始对家人施暴,而且暴力倾向越来越严重……

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Broken Monsters

2.Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes
《半身怪兽》作者:Lauren Beukes

A detective stumbles upon a super-unsettling scene -- a victim's body seems to have been fused together with animal parts, making him part human, part woodland creature. The detective's daughter is busy chatting with the suspected killer online. The book is set in Detroit, and the characters, like the city, bravely try to hold themselves together in the face of danger.
一位侦探恰好撞见了某一案发现场,其间情境触目惊心——一位死者的尸体被人将它和动物的肢体缝在了一起,让尸体成为了一个半人半兽的怪物。而侦探的女儿又倾慕于杀人的嫌疑犯,常常在网上跟他聊天。小说背景设置在底特律,故事中的角色都非常具有城市气质,能在危险面前鼓起勇气,保持淡定。

Diary

3.Diary by Chuck Palahniuk
《日记》作者:Chuck Palahniuk

Aspiring artist Misty Marie Wilmot gives up on her creative dreams to move to a tiny island and raise her child with her husband, Peter. But things get much, much worse when Peter falls into a coma after a suicide attempt. Misty soon learns that her home on Waytansea Island isn't a coincidence, but part of a strange conspiracy theory going back for generations.
米思提·玛丽安·威尔莫特是一位画家,却在事业前景大好之际放弃了自己的艺术梦想,跟自己的丈夫彼得一起移居到了一座小岛上,过起了相夫教子的生活。剧情很快急转直下,彼得尝试自杀并陷入昏迷。米思提也马上了解到,他们选择了这座Waytansea岛上的居所并非偶然,处于某种诡异的阴谋论,事情起因是几代人之前的事……

Threats

4.Threats by Amelia Gray
《威胁信》作者:Amelia Gray

David's wife, Franny, has died, but he isn't sure why, or how. All he knows is he can't exactly think straight, and he keeps finding mysterious pieces of paper scattered around his house, containing threats that are loud and disturbing, if a little surreal.
大卫的妻子去世了,大卫一直弄不清她的死因和死亡方式。不仅如此,他来接连在房子里发现神秘的纸条,它们散布在房子四处,上面写满了态度恶劣,令人心惊的表示威胁的话语,从中似乎有点超自然的味道……

Voices

5.Voices in the Night by Steven Millhauser
《夜半私语》作者:Steven Millhauser

Steven Millhauser's stories examine the way gossip can travel in small towns by telling the story of a mermaid washed up on shore, or an unsettling rash of suicides.
这本书由若干小故事组成,作者通过这些小故事告诉人们,在闭塞的小城镇里流言蜚语是如何传播的。其中有美人鱼搁浅的故事,恐怖的自杀风潮的故事等等。

The Collector

6.The Collector by John Fowles
《收藏者》作者:John Fowles

Miranda was captured by a man who's been following her, and forced to live in a room he's set up to appeal to her wishes. The man, Frederick Clegg, has won a small fortune from football pools and uses his winnings to try to transcend his social standing. The book is narrated from his point of view first, then Miranda's, who keeps a diary logging her plans and hopes for escaping. 
米兰达被一个一直在跟踪她的男人劫持了,他把她关在一个按照她的喜好精心布置的房间里。这个男人名叫弗雷德里克·克莱格,由于买足彩赚了一小笔钱,并希望用这笔钱能改善自己卑微的社会地位。故事首先是从这位挟持者的视角出发叙述的,而不是从米兰达的视角,米兰达在自己的日记中写下了自己逃跑的计划和渴求。

The Illustrated Man

7.The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
《纹身人》作者:Ray Bradbury

The stories are connected only by the fact that each is represented by a tattoo on a man who's fully inked up. In "The Veldt," a pair of kids addicted to their very immersive TV room will move the scenes from the screens to life. In "The Long Rain," a group of men lands on a planet that is plagued by nonstop, suffocating rain.
小说由许多小故事组成,每个故事都能在一个全身布满刺青的男子身上找到对应的图案象征,这也是这些故事唯一的关联点。其中有一个名为《大草原》的故事,一群沉迷于电视里的虚拟世界的孩子决心要将电视世界中的情景移置到现实生活中。在《久雨无晴》中,一群人在一个神秘的星球登陆,这个星球正在爆发涝灾,一直下着连绵的阴雨,气氛令人窒息。

Hemlock Grove

8.Hemlock Grove by Brian McGreevy
《铁杉林》作者:Brian McGreevy

In a small town residents are turning against each other after the tragic closing of a steel mill. The death of a teenage girl leads to a lot of finger-pointing, especially toward Peter, who's suspected to be a werewolf .
在一座小镇里,居民们正在为自己痛失轧钢厂的悲剧相互敌视。一位少年的死亡使人们开始相互怀疑,尤其是针对彼得,人们怀疑他是一只狼人。