Speaking as the lamest and tamest of the lame and tame, most horror fiction is just too frightening for little me. But I do have a few core horror selections that I like to trot out to prove I’m hep. October is an ideal time for such displays of machisma, I think. The rest of the year may be spent chick-litting it up, languishing in locked rooms with a bunch of murder suspects, or wondering how I’d handle personal hygiene if I had to run from the law. But October demands a little more: here are six of my favorite chilling tales: