A Scare A Day Reading Challenge
Romancing the Gothic founder and organiser, Dr Sam Hirst, is back for another month of A Scare A Day. Dr Hirst curates a daily reading list, and the challenge is to read the story or poem for that day and post your thoughts on social media using the tag #AScareADay (not #ScareADay – don’t forget the ‘A’ at the start like I always do!)
Last year, I posted a creative response to each story or poem featured in the challenge, and turned them into Season 05 of Eldritch Girl, where I talked about the stories and poems, and read my fiction/non-fiction piece inspired by the daily read.
This year, I’m pairing the challenge with #100HorrorMoviesIn92Days so I’m going to be suggesting a film pairing to go with the story/poem, the way I do for my book reviews over on Divination Hollow.
The challenge list is posted on RomancingTheGothic.com, and below. To thank Sam for this service, you can leave them a tip on Ko-Fi!
The “A Scare A Day” Daily Reading List 2026
October 1st – Joanna Baillie – Night Tales of Other Times – 1790 – Read it here
October 2nd – Nikolai Karamzin – The Island of Bornholm – 1794 – Read it here
October 3rd – Anne Bannerman – The Black Knight of the Water – 1802 – Read it here
October 4th – William Harrison Ainsworth – The Spectre Bride – 1821 – Read it here
October 5th – Charles Pigault-Lebrun – ‘The Unholy Compact Abjured’ – 1825 – Read it here
October 6th – Mary Elizabeth Braddon – ‘The Cold Embrace’ (1860) – Read it here
October 7th – Amelia Edwards – ‘In the Confessional’ (1871) – Read it here
October 8th – Elizabeth Stuart Phelps – ‘Since I Died’ (1873) – Read it here
October 9th – Mary Elizabeth Coleridge – ‘The Witch’ (1893) – Read it here
October 10th – Arthur Machen – ‘The Novel of the White Powder’ (1895) – Read it here
October 11th – Gertrude Atherton – ‘The Striding Place’ (1896) – Read it here
October 12th – Elia W. Peattie – ‘From the Loom of the Dead’ (1898) – Read it here
October 13th – Mrs Wilson Woodrow – ‘Secret Chambers’ (1909) – Read it here
October 14th – W W Jacobs – The Well (1911) – Read it here
October 15th – Violet Hunt – ‘The Prayer’ (1911) – Read it here
October 16th – Rabindranath Tagore – ‘The Lost Jewels’ or Monihara (trans. 1917) – Read it here
October 17th – Ellen Glasgow – ‘The Past’ (1920) – Read it here
October 18th – Mikhail Bulgakov – ‘The Red Crown’ (1922) – Read it here
October 19th – John Masefield – ‘The Haunted’ (1923) – Read it here
October 20th – Elsa Morante – The Secret Game (1941) – Read it here
October 21st – Dorothy Quick – ‘After an Air Raid’ (1943) – Read it here
October 22nd – Mayra Montero – ‘Corinne, Amiable Girl’ (1994) – Read it here
October 23rd – Ahmed Khaled Tawfik – ‘The Wall’ – Read it here
October 24th – Mariana Enríquez – ‘The Little Angel’s Exhumation’ (2014) – Read it here
October 25th – A. C. Wise – ‘The Stories We Tell About Ghosts’ (2017) – Read it here
October 26th – Brandon O’Brien – ‘The Lagahoo Speaks For Itself’ (2017) – Read it here
October 27th – Darcie Little Badger – ‘Those Hitch-hiking Kids’ (2023) – Read it here
October 28th – Tyler Sookralli – ‘The Devil Wears Skin’ (2024) – Read it here
October 29th – Eleanna Castroianni – ‘They Return’ (2025) – Read it here
October 30th – Ash Vale – ‘consumed’ (2026) – Read it here
October 31st – Quincy Lee – ‘The Dark Follows Me’ (2026) – Read it here
A Scare A Day: Day 31
Day 31: “The Dark Follows Me” by Quincy Lee (2026). Read it here.
This is creepy story that has some parallels with my story The Sound of Darkness – I do love the something in the dark trope. I did like the DeafBlind character, Hana, and the different ways of navigating the world. The author has the same job as the protagonist, a co-navigator or CN, and that was an interesting perspective that I haven’t really read much from before.
Quincy Lee lives and works in the Twin Cities. By day, they’re a certified ASL interpreter and a co-navigator with the DeafBlind. After dark, they conjure spine-tingling tales that have been thrilling readers and listeners since 2023, when their spooky stories first appeared on NoSleep. Their work is frequently featured on The NoSleep Podcast, The Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings Podcast, The Creepy Podcast, and other popular horror programs. When not writing, Quincy enjoys origami, kung fu, gardening, and catering to the whims of their cats.
A Scare A Day: Plot Summary
The narrator is a CN – co-navigator – working with DeafBlind clients. They are afraid of the dark, due to something they believe is waiting there for them; what their grandmother calls, the long-armed hag.
They learn to navigate in darkness from their client Hana, who helps calm their anxiety during a blackout, while making origami shapes in total darkness.
When the narrator ends up in the dark of their relatives’ old house, and they are chased by the long-armed hag, they think they feel Hana psychically navigating with them in the dark, writing directions on their arm, and getting them to safety.
The narrator doesn’t know if that was the case, but since then, the house has been sold, and the narrator can make paper cranes perfectly in the dark.
A Scare A Day: Film Pairing
Here is a Bloody Disgusting list of 7 Horror Movies with monsters that manifest in the dark. I could have picked any one of those! One that’s not on there is a fab indie Irish vampire film, From The Dark (2014), which was also a strong contender.
However, what I chose is a short film that I think deserves more love. It’s a cracker. I really liked it, and it also has a long-armed creature that chases you in the darkness! I also personally really liked the reveal, as it tied in the imagery and the very real danger that the man’s subconscious was warning him of.
Thingamajig (2024) dir. Andrew Alan K., written by Andrew Alan K. is a 28min short where a man (played by Lace Williamson) wakes up in the night beneath a lone streetlight. Soon, he realizes that this light is the only visible illumination in the endless darkness. One by one, strange and cryptic chalk markings reveal themselves on the pavement and prove to be his only hope for safety in the increasingly dangerous environment.
The button will take you to YouTube.
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