Here are a few of the best (most disturbing) short stories I’ve read, ordered from newest to oldest. They’re squarely science fiction (maybe the Quickening is a slight exception here,) which only adds to the horror. You don’t have to believe in the supernatural – there’s an explanation, however unlikely.
- Lena by qntm: If we can do it, we will do it.
- It Takes Two by Nicola Griffith: Again, don’t think this won’t happen if it’s possible.
- A Colder War by Charles Stross: Super bleak alternative Cold War.
- The Pear-Shaped Man by George R.R. Martin: Extremely creepy weird neighbor turns out to be even weirder than you can imagine.
- Bloodchild by Octavia Butler: Humans forced to host intelligent parasites. It’s actually much worse than that.
- The Quickening by Michael Bishop: Disorienting.
- I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon by Philip K. Dick: Where ever you go, there you are. Forever.
- Sand Kings by George R.R. Martin: He brought home dangerous pets. He should have been nicer to them.
- The Screwfly Solution by Racoona Sheldon (James Tiptree Jr): Alien infection
- Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death by James Tiptree Jr.: Sex and death among alien spider like creatures.
I have thought about another interesting sub-genre: Stories featuring the scientific method as cornerstone to their plots. The story couldn’t exist without going through the process of observation, hypothesis, experiment, theory. The stories may not be great works of literature but the fictional discoveries are compelling.
There’s aprticularly striking example in a story of a psychic and a skeptic but I can’t recall the name of the story.