I'm not sure specifically who the author of the 'book of weird short stories' is. It could be an anthology with multiple authors contributing their unique and strange short stories.
They often have a sense of the uncanny. For example, they might have strange settings like an otherworldly city or a forest that defies the laws of nature.
Well, there might be a story where a girl discovers a door in her attic that leads to a parallel world filled with talking animals and plants. This world has its own set of rules and she has to figure out how to get back home. In the 'book of weird short stories', such unexpected and fascinating scenarios are often explored.
One of the best is 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It's a disturbing tale of a woman's descent into madness, with the strange yellow wallpaper in her room playing a central and eerie role. The story uses the setting and the woman's psychological state to create a sense of the uncanny.
H.P. Lovecraft's 'The Call of Cthulhu' is also great. It has this Lovecraftian horror with the ancient, otherworldly entity Cthulhu. The way he builds the atmosphere of a world filled with cosmic horror that is beyond human understanding is what makes it stand out.
The unexpectedness. In 'weird short stories', things don't follow the normal rules. For example, in 'The Metamorphosis', a man becoming an insect is so out of the ordinary. It makes you think and question the norms. Also, they often explore the darker side of human nature or society in a unique way.
Sure. 'The Yellow Wallpaper' is a very weird short story. It's about a woman who slowly descends into madness while being confined in a room with yellow wallpaper. Another one is 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson. In this story, a small town has an annual lottery which has a very dark and unexpected outcome. And 'The Metamorphosis' by Franz Kafka is also quite strange. A man wakes up one day to find himself transformed into a giant insect.
One common theme is the distortion of the traditional Christmas elements. For example, making Santa Claus or the elves act in very uncharacteristic ways. Another theme could be the mixing of the magical and the ordinary. Like a normal family having a completely out - of - the - blue magical encounter during Christmas. Also, there is often the theme of Christmas spirit being tested in strange situations, such as when a town loses all its Christmas decorations and has to find a new way to celebrate.
One common theme is the unknown. For example, in many Lovecraftian stories, there are unknowable cosmic entities that drive the horror. Another theme is madness. Characters often descend into insanity, like in 'The Yellow Wallpaper'. Death is also a common theme, whether it's a violent death or the fear of impending death as in 'The Masque of the Red Death'.