I’ve always had a soft spot for short stories. Maybe it is my limited attention span or perhaps wanting to feel I’ve accomplished something quickly, but there is always a short story collection or two on my reading list. In addition to brevity, I’m also drawn to fiction that is odd, introspective, and, might as well admit it, a tad dark at times.

So be warned, if you want to invest in characters for 800 pagers or more and need a happy ending, the titles I’m about to recommend are probably not for you. If you don’t mind visiting the dark side now and again, however, here are three collections that are well worth your limited reading time. I will be brief. Promise.

…and Other Disasters by Malka Older is a surprisingly unified work for a collection of stories, a poem or two and a few written fragments. All are brought together by their subject: a speculative future that seems both plausible and frightening. You will learn about a child implanted with a recording device, a Lifebrarian, from birth, receive advice from voting ‘counselors’ who scientifically measure who you should vote for and why, and get inside the head of an artificial intelligence that is taught to feel in order to make better decisions. While the ideas are big, all the stories are told from an individual and personal perspective. This makes them all the more affecting, and chilling.

Quirky, at times surreal and always a bit odd, the stories making up Raised in Captivity: Fictional Nonfiction by Chuck Klosterman are many things, but never dull. How odd you ask? Well there is the story of a man who finds a puma in an airplane lavatory, a couple considering a medical procedure that transfers the pain of childbirth to the man, and a high school football team that only executes one play repeatedly every game. All the stories are told in a plain and matter of fact style, with the characters accepting the weirdness as perfectly natural. If you give this unique collection a try, you might come to accept the altered reality as well and will definitely have a good chuckle or two in the bargain.

The darkest of the three titles, Rag: Stories by Maryse Meijer is a powerful, intimate and deeply unsettling collection. The writing is sparse and direct, but the author has an uncanny ability to convey her characters’ inner thoughts and struggles. Whether you want to be in that headspace is another matter. I won’t give away any of the plots, but each story deals with ideas of gender, violence and the roles we are assigned and what we do with them. While there are elements of horror, or perhaps dark fairy tales, in these stories, they come off as all too real. This adds to their impact and is a credit to Meijer’s unique and affecting style. This is an unforgettable collection, just remember: you have been warned.