u/Galvatrix

Looking for recommendations of collections of extra short weird stories, maybe 5 pages at the longest. The only thing I know of in the realm of the weird to give an example is the back end of Thomas Ligotti's Noctuary. Borges' The Maker and Frederic Brown's Nightmares and Geezenstacks are some non-weird examples.

I recently read Machen's story and found the central conceit very fascinating, even if I was less than blown away by the detective-ish narrative built up around it. Afterwards, I went back and revisited a story with the same name by M. John Harrison in the anthology Prime Evil (1988, ed. Douglas E. Winter) which I had read previously without the context of the original, and I liked the somewhat nebulously different direction it took the idea in. So now I'm wondering, are there any other notable stories from other authors that are similarly inspired?

Let me preface this by saying that while my initial impressions were mixed, I'm going into this posting with the intention to be open-minded and with the notion that I may be pleasantly surprised in the long run, so bear with me.

I read the original novella version of "Marrow" in the anthology The Hard SF Renaissance, ed. David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, and was less than impressed by it. While the construction of the setting was interesting, I found the hard sci fi aspect to be very shallow despite the broader anthology context, with stuff like characters being incredibly grievously injured and their genetically engineered mechanisms for subsequent rapid recovery being heavily glossed over to an egregious degree from what I remember, among other things. I also thought the high captain summarily dismissing the dregs of the belated returning expedition as useless mutineers without even a hint of a second thought towards the end was unrealistic and highly contrived given the circumstances even despite the long interval, and that the antagonist's scheme nearly succeeded through virtue of a poorly written final act more than anything. However, I understand that the novel version of Marrow is generally fairly well received.

I also read a story in issue 231 of Clarkesworld a few months ago called "Between Here and Everywhere" from Reed which I thought was noticeably more skillfully written than the novella "Marrow" (understandably perhaps given the almost 30 year gap), and while I gather there were some things here and there that I probably didn't fully appreciate without knowledge of the broader context, I thought it was a solid story, and it made me reconsider my initial dismissal of the Great Ship Universe as something I'd enjoy in the long run.

So, my actual question is multifaceted. For one, is the novel Marrow measurably more detailed and better thought-out than the original novella for those who have read both, since I get the impression that it's to date still one of the more popular pieces from the broad future history? Two, is the larger continuity consistently interesting, and if so, what pieces should I seek out and in what order to fully appreciate things like the story I read in Clarkesworld in December? Thanks in advance.