What is Existential Horror? – Some free-to-read short stories online
I describe my fiction as ‘Existential Horror’, a loose term to attempt to provide some insight into the type of stories I write. So what is it? ‘Horror’ or ‘Literary Fiction’ alone are too broad and unspecific as useful description. I find that ‘Existential’ may fit as a modifier as I can consistently apply Sartre’s aphorism, “Hell is other people”, as a major theme. Of course, this theme is but one facet of existentialism, but it does provide an important distinction.
Existentialism centers around the self and its meaning, a fervid attempt to define exactly what makes a person. In metaphoric places of isolation and alienation (like Sartre’s hellish ‘No Exit’ waiting room), we can best imagine what is the true core of existence. In liminal spaces away from other people’s expectations, we can confront the deepest fears and anxieties of existence itself.
Horror, of course, thrives in these absurd spaces of madness and dread. Monsters are the representations of that which threatens our reality and the sanctity of who we perceive we are. Stripping away the banal safety of civilization brings a terrible epiphany that the foundation of our identity may not be as solid as we have always believed. Much like the culture shift that occurred with the realization the Earth is not the center of the universe, the conventions of horror can force us to see the parts of our individual essence that are but a mechanical function of our surroundings. Perhaps we have always been strangers to ourselves, our family, our children; long ago inhabited by the Thing or Body-Snatcher. In fact, these two aforementioned horror movies are specifically what I would call Existential Horror as they deal directly with the question of exactly what makes us human. Clearly the ‘I’ is more than a just a body and a brain. What would have to be taken away before we are no longer human, but just a Thing.
The horror in my stories don’t deal with the knife or demon, but rather with passing moments of madness, fear, loneliness—celebrations of the sublime forces that wish to wrench the humanity from us. As philosophy is married to this concept of self essence, so do my stories take place where a small wavering of reality or a chink in our temporal cage throws a character into a downward spiral of identity dissolution. Whether or not the described phenomena is real or perceived is irrelevant; the fact is, in the end, everything’s importance is to the impact on the self. Hell is other people.
The frustration with Existentialism as a philosophy is that there is no easy or agreed upon definition of what exactly it is. The most honest appraisals direct us to read the works of those who have been labeled as such (Camus, Sartre, Heidegger, Kafka) and take their themes as a proxy definition despite the many contradictions that exist (sometimes even with the same author). So in that spirit, here is a listing of some of my short (and free) existential horror stories that can be read online (click titles for links).
[image error]
BLACK STAINED GLASS – published by the Molotov Cocktail, a flash fiction story which won second place in the yearly Halloween #FlashFear contest. This is to date my biggest writing accomplishment as the Molotov Cocktail run periodic short story contests (awarding a total of $350 in prizes) that get many quality submissions. The story works equally as a coming of age tale and a bloodbath.
[image error]
DOWNWARD GOD – published by the Deadman’s Tome. This also won a weekly flash fiction contest the online magazine hosts during October. This story invokes Lovecraft concerning the (sometimes) strange practice of yoga. In special advanced contortions, can the yogi transcend the laws of the universe? Inhuman poses open a door to an absurd world where indifference blooms and hell is indeed other people that are us. Namaste.
[image error]A BROKEN OATH – published by Spelk fiction. This is one of the first stories I wrote that examines the essence of the self. A fastidious cosmetic surgeon is forced to contemplate his being and his value. Used to working on injuries and abnormalities, the good doctor finds a existential threatening not in extreme deformity, but rather in the exaggerations of the banal and plain.
LAST MEAL OF ADONIS – published by the Deadman’s Tome. Along with A Broken Oath, this is an examination of beauty and the blind reckoning in its chase and consumption. But who eats who? If indeed we are what we eat, doesn’t it also work the other way?
BEAUTY OF AN OUTGOING TIDE– published by Flash Fiction Magazine. This is the first of my flash fiction stories concerning beauty that in its very form can’t help but to deceive. What traps do we foolishly race into?
If you are interested in more stories please see the full published list here: S.E. Casey published stories.
