History ParanoiaFuel / Literature

* ''The Watertower'' by Gary Crew. It's a Australian childrens picture book about a kid who dares his friend to go into an old creepy water tower. The layout, the imagery and the atmosphere makes it far more unsettling than any childrens book has a right to be. By the end, we never find out what happened in the tower, only that something was in there. Something that can possibly infect people.

* Kurt Vonnegut's ''HarrisonBergeron''. The premise is that it takes place in a CrapsackWorld where TheGovernment creates total equality - by preventing anyone from being better at anything than anyone else. And the agency dealing with this is [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans fully permitted to use]] '''[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans lethal force]]''' [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans if anyone tries to remove their handicapping measures]]. TheMovie is even worse: intelligent people have to pay "mind whores" to play chess and have intelligent conversation, and it turns out the smart people are all really running the world. The short story, however, was intended as a parody of the world that many anti-civil-rights and anti-politically-correct folks claimed would be created if some measure of equality was required by the government, not as a ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''-esque piece against the stifling of individuality. [[WordOfGod Word Of Author]] on record suggests that this is the more reasonable interpretation. [[http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/may/05/vonnegut_lawyers_could Mr Vonnegut has weighed on on this one]].

----> 1. They are rare.
----> 2. They are real.
----> 3. They begin with innocuous, everyday symptoms...

** And then there's Quitters Inc. It delivers the deliciously warped aesop of "Be healthy or we'll kill you."
*** An elaboration on this short story: Richard Morrison signs up for the titular organization, which prides itself on its pragmatism. Their method of getting people to quit smoking is very simple: they put all of their clients under twenty-four hour surveillance, with an agent constantly with them. No, ''constantly.'' Over time, the time is eventually lessened, and after the first year or so, the surveillance becomes completely random--but it could happen at any moment. And if company catches you smoking, they will trap your loved ones in a room wired to deliver powerful electric shocks to whoever is in it, and ''make you watch as they electrocute them.'' And that's just what happens on the first slip-up--if you continue to smoke, the company's agents will keep up the electrocutions while also adding vicious beatings to the punishments. Morrison is understandably terrified, but on the first night of his treatment, his desire for a cigarette grows so strong that he moves into his private study, a room with no windows and one door, to try to sneak a smoke. He's all alone, it's the middle of the night, and he's about to light up--when he ''hears something moving in the closet.'' Sweet dreams.

* Creator/ChinaMieville's anthology ''Looking for Jake'' is a whole series of paranoia fueling ideas, which deal with the world being off only slightly.

** Although fortunately, they only live in tropical regions. So if you live up north, you're probably fine.

* TheLaundrySeries. Case Nightmare Green. In just a few years a host of [[EldritchAbomination eldritch abominations]] are going to break into our reality and eat our brains. The government knows very well what's coming, and ''they can't do anything about it.'' And neither can ''you.''

* ''The Plant People'', a short story featured in ''[[Creator/BruceCoville Bruce Coville's Book of Aliens]]'', detailed a mysterious fog filled with dancing lights that slowly turned people into cacti. It seems silly until you read about them first changed into brainless, green-veined shells of their former selves, wandering listlessly around trying to photosynthesize, and see the illustration of one confused victim clutching a cactus, not seeming to mind the pain. Worse still is the end: [[spoiler: A news report says they finally found a cure, but just as they're about to reveal it, the fog descends...]]

** If it helps, WWZ took a level of stupidity and denial that is impossible in real life. In fact, it's precisely opposite the way people would act if they found out zombies were real; post it all over the Internet.

* Various stories in David Lubar's ''[[Literature/LandOfTheLawnWeenies In The Land of the Lawn Weenies]]'', but in particular, The Slide. You know those tube slides on playgrounds? Well, what if one of the support tubes holding it up actually leads down to a giant, insect-queen-like ''thing'' that spews out [[CreepyChild quasi-children]] thrown straight out of the UncannyValley, and if you go down that slide, you'll fall into the tube and become the food source for the 'mother'? And said children are going to actively try to force you to go down said slide?

* ChinaMieville's anthology ''Looking for Jake'' is a whole series of paranoia fueling ideas, which deal with the world being off only slightly.

* ''Literature/FlowersInTheAttic'' by VCAndrews could cause children to worry that their own (seemingly affectionate and caring) parents would turn against them, and try to kill them.
** The part where the Grandmother drugs and pours tar into the protagonist's hair while she's asleep is somewhat paranoia inducing.

* In TheBartimaeusTrilogy, spirits are summoned from an alternate plane of reality and used by magicians to perform their magic. The titular djinn helpfully informs the reader that these spirits are generally invisible to commoners, and...

* The later books in ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' present a massive AncientConspiracy which "recruits" "volunteers" by kidnapping them in infancy (although sometimes they ask the parents). This conspiracy is divided into two warring factions, which are indistinguishable in practice not only due to BlackAndGrayMorality, but because they use the same disguises and codes. The LemonyNarrator (himself involved in the conspiracy to some degree) strongly implies that the reader's own teachers, librarians, and family members could be part of it.

*** Same goes for TheGirlWhoLovedTomGordon.

** That's like saying that TheCareBears can see you when you're sad and come down from that fluffy place in the clouds that is Care-A-Lot to cheer you up tho... On the other hand, don't.

** ''TheBFG'' - there are giants that can run anywhere in the world in a single night. They reach through your window, snatch you from your bed as you sleep and ''eat you''. Mummy, can I have bars on my window?

* In ''Literature/TheWeeFreeMen'', Tiffany frequently has to contend with dromes: doughy creatures that spin dreams the way spiders spin webs, trapping people inside and watching them dream and eat dream food until they starve. Tiffany thinks how dangerous it would be if they got out of Fairyland to the real world, turning life into a nightmare and warping your perspective until you wanted to die. Then she immediately changes the thought to ''I wonder how many have got in already and we don't know?''

** King is pretty well known for this; there's a reason the WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy parody of him said he just takes household objects and makes them creepy. You know that world-ending virus that causes coughing, phlegm buildup, delusions and eventually death in ''TheStand''? It's ''specifically'' described as indistinguishable, in the early stages, from the common cold or flu. 99.4% of people exposed to it catch it and die. Yes, that's right, you have slightly better than a ''one in two hundred'' chance you'll be one of the survivors on a lifeless, forsaken planet. Oh, and it can be transmitted just by walking past someone with it.

** Literature/{{Dreamcatcher}} will keep you from ever going into the woods again.**

* ''{{Lullaby}}'' by Creator/ChuckPalahniuk. There's a [[BrownNote lullaby]] that's an ancient killing curse and it kills anyone who has it read to them. It was printed as a nursery rhyme in a popular children's nursery rhyme book. You could kill your kids accidentally by reading it to them. Easily.

** Worse still is the notion that the people in charge of the world don't really give a damn about those they're supposed to be sheltering and protecting, only about holding onto their own power and finding the flimsiest excuses to keep the weak and powerless in that state forever.

* The skin-spies in ''SecondApocalypse''. They can physically mimic anybody, almost perfectly. They're inhumanly fast and strong, and can kill you with one hand. They might be your friend, your king, your lover, but it's impossible for a normal human to tell.

* NeilGaiman's short novel ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'' was specifically written for this purpose (the idea of coming home to people who look like your parents, but aren't). And now Henry Selick, director of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', has turned it into a movie. Expect future generations to spend their whole lives going into morbid shudders at the sight of black buttons. The cover has a creepy eye-less living puppet being grabbed by a bunch of hands, one of which has a freaking huge sewing needle.

* This is the point of all of ThomasPynchon's books.
* ''{{Neuropath}}''. People are working on ways to control ''your'' brain, and there's nothing you can do about it.

* ''PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' has a whole slew of mundane situations that could kill you. Is your teacher treating you like dirt? She's a servant of Hades. Do those [[WaxMuseumMorgue "garden statues"]] look [[UncannyValley eerily lifelike]]? They're victims of Medusa who were TakenForGranite. Did you... oh no, is that a CHAIN RESTAURANT you're going into? (Cue hydra heads breaking through the windows.) OhCrap.

* One doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the situation in ''[[Literature/TheBooksOfEmber The Prophet of Yonwood]]'' (the U.S. battling a terrorist nation that threatens total war) is a natural progression from what the world is going through today.

* ''Literature/TheZombieSurvivalGuide''. Brrr... you ''will'' believe that a zombie apocalypse can happen at any moment. ''WorldWarZ'' takes this threat and runs with it for a novel.

* In ''Literature/TheLostWorld'', the ''Carnotaurs'' are pretty terrifying. They're dinosaurs with nearly perfect camouflage who live in the area of [[spoiler: the gas station]] waiting to ambush prey. The human characters pass by their territory several times without realizing the predators are there, and it takes a lucky switching on of the lights for [[spoiler: Thorne to realize that they are right in front of him.]] Not even the ''Velociraptors'' or the ''T. rex'' will enter their territory unless absolutely necessary.