SOLVED. Short story collection opening with two sisters pretending to be horses while a stranger knocks at the door. [s]

[Natalie]

Hello, I read this collection of short fiction about three years ago, by a male author. The stories were mysterious and unsettling. Here are a few I remember:

1 - two young sisters pretend to be horses while a stranger knocks at the door of their house. The girls are under strict orders not to answer the door to anyone while their parents aren't home, so they keep playing horses. Years later, the memory still bothers the younger sister.

2 - A man drives all night, cross-country, while paranoid that his ex wives are chasing him and trying to kill him. We're aware of "something" in his trunk all the while.

3 - One of the last stories is a post-apocalyptic tale about a man who is good with an axe.

4 - There's another one where a writer travels a long way to stay with an eccentric man who lives off-grid, eats only food that he's grown himself and that his personal chef prepares, and seems to stay up all night writing in a greenhouse without ever sleeping.

I'd be so happy to find this book again! Thank you.

[Mai]

Maybe Fugue State by Brian Evenson? Found searching online but the reader reviews seem to fit your descriptions!

[Natalie]

Mai wrote: "Maybe Fugue State by Brian Evenson? Found searching online but the reader reviews seem to fit your descriptions!"

YES!! You rock. Thanks :D