Horror Jag?
- Thread starter Matt H.
- Start date
Not sure how many people are viewing this thread, but what the heck ...
There's a fun website, List Challenges, where people post all sorts of lists. Not surprisingly, I guess, the ones I find most enjoyable to look through are the movie and book lists. So, I've posted a list of short stories I think are enjoyable reading for October/Halloween and if you're curious the link below will take you there.
Halloween short story list: How many have you read?
There's a fun website, List Challenges, where people post all sorts of lists. Not surprisingly, I guess, the ones I find most enjoyable to look through are the movie and book lists. So, I've posted a list of short stories I think are enjoyable reading for October/Halloween and if you're curious the link below will take you there.
Halloween short story list: How many have you read?
Trollheart
Nothing Wicked This Way Comes...
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Always glad to be of service...Nope, unfortunately it's not in there! :-( I know that's one of his most famous. Too bad.
Finding some enjoyment though in these writers' continual attempt to create a jewel using a small repetitive toolkit of themes and images. Machen's "Novel of the White Powder" was good along those lines, and a few others not bad. I guess it has its fun - "here comes the inevitable X,Y and Z... wonder how this story will flavor them?"
Should be getting E.F. Benson and HPL books tomorrow night (hope it's dark and stormy). Can't wait to read Cthulu, and see what all the hub-bub is about it (no opinions yet, please!)
Considering writers are a little egotistical and as a rule, would far rather create their own mythos, instead of adding to someone else's, the massive spin-offs (some doubtless by HPL himself), and the quality of the authors that partook, makes this story a "biggie" indeed!
Mark, others, theories (sans spoilers or evaluations) on what it was about this story that so impelled and compelled other writers to continue its themes?
On second thought, lol, let me read it first!!!
Considering writers are a little egotistical and as a rule, would far rather create their own mythos, instead of adding to someone else's, the massive spin-offs (some doubtless by HPL himself), and the quality of the authors that partook, makes this story a "biggie" indeed!
On second thought, lol, let me read it first!!!
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Cool, Randy, neat list! But is there any way you can format tthe view so it's more compact on the website? Also feel free to paste your list here using simple, text-only formatting. How many are there?
I see one I have read just in the last two days - Ancient Soceries. Again a list worth a second and third look. Tons I've never heard of too. Bookmarked.
Short Stories for October and Halloween
https://www.listchallenges.com/short-stories-for-october-and-halloween
1. The Adder (Fred Chappell)
2. The Adventure of the Speckled Band (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
3. "Afterward" (Edith Wharton)
4. Amerikanski Dead at the Moscow Morgue (Kim Newman)
5. Amour Dure (Vernon Lee)
6. Ancient Sorceries (Algernon Blackwood)
7. Angels in Love (Kathe Koja)
8. "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (Ambrose Bierce)
9. The Apple Tree (Daphne Du Maurier)
10. Asylum (A. E. Van Vogt)
11. At the Mountains of Madness (H. P. Lovecraft)
12. August Heat (William Fryer Harvey)
13. Aura (Carlos Fuentes)
14. The Autopsy (Michael Shea)
15. Bartleby, the Scrivener (Herman Melville)
16. The Beast With Five Fingers (W. S. Harvey)
17. Belson Express (Fritz Leiber)
18. "The Beckoning Fair One" (Oliver Onions)
19. Beyond Any Measure (Karl Edward Wagner)
20. The Big Fish (Kim Newman)
21. Bird of Prey (John Collier)
22. Black Cocktail (Jonathan Carroll)
23. Black Country (Charles Beaumont)
24. Black Destroyer (A. E. Van Vogt)
25. Black God's Kiss (C. L. Moore)
26. "Black Man With a Horn" by T. E. D. Klein
27. Bloodchild (Octavia Butler)
28. Body Snatcher (Robert Louis Stevenson)
29. Boobs (Suzy McKee Charnas)
30. Born of Man and Woman (Richard Matheson)
31. Bottle Party (John Collier)
32. The Box (Jack Ketchum)
33. The Brains of Rats (Michael Blumlein)
34. Bringing Helena Back (Sarah Monette)
35. Bubbba Ho-Tep (Joe R. Lansdale)
36. The Bureau D'echange De Maux (Lord Dunsany)
37. Calcutta, Lord of Nerves (Poppy Z. Brite)
38. The Call of Cthulhu (H. P. Lovecraft)
39. Cargo (E. Michael Lewis)
40. Carmilla (Sheridan Le Fanu)
41. Carnaby's Fish (Carl Jacobi)
42. Carrion Comfort (Dan Simmons)
43. The Cask of Amontillado (Edgar Allan Poe)
44. Casting the Runes by MR James
45. The Cat Jumps (Elizabeth Bowen)
46. "Caterpillars" (E.F. Benson)
47. A Child's Problem (Reggie Oliver)
48. Civilwarland in Bad Decline (George Saunders)
49. The Coffin-Maker's Daughter (Angela Slatter)
50. Cold Print (Ramsey Campbell)
51. A Colder War (Charles Stross)
52. The Color Out of Space (H. P. Lovecraft)
53. Come, Lady Death (Peter Beagle)
54. Conversations in a Dead Language (Thomas Ligotti)
55. Crouch End (Stephen King)
56. The Crowd (Ray Bradbury)
57. The Damned Thing (Ambrose Bierce)
58. Cleopatra Brimstone (Elizabeth Hand)
59. The Dark Eidolon (Clark Ashton Smith)
60. The Dead Valley (Ralph Adams Cram)
61. Dear Emily (Joanna Russ)
62. Delta Sly Honey (Lucius Shepard)
63. The Demon Lover (Elizabeth Bowen)
64. Descending (Thomas Disch)
65. The Devil's Rose (Tanith Lee)
66. The Devotee of Evil (Clark Ashton Smith)
67. Displaced Person (Eric Frank Russell)
68. The Distributor (Richard Matheson)
69. Disturb Not My Slumbering Fair (Chelsea Quinn Yarbro)
70. Dracula's Guest
71. The Dreams of Albert Moreland (Fritz Leiber)
72. The Dressmaker's Doll (Agatha Christie)
73. Drive-In Date (Joe R. Lansdale)
74. The Empire of the Necromancers (Clark Ashton Smith)
75. The End of the Story (Clark Ashton Smith)
76. The End of the Whole Mess (Stephen King)
77. Enoch Soames (Max Beerbohm)
78. The Estuary (Margaret St. Clair)
79. Evening Primrose (John Collier)
80. The Events at Poroth Farm (T. E. D. Klein)
81. The Face in the Wind (Carl Jacobi)
82. The Fall of the House of Usher (Edgar Allan Poe)
83. The Fall River Axe Murders (Angela Carter)
84. Far Below (Robert Barbour Johnson)
85. Feesters in the Lake (Bob Leman)
86. Fengriffen (David Case)
87. Fishhead (Irvin S. Cobb)
88. The Foghorn (Ray Bradbury)
89. Fondly Fahrenheit (Alfred Bester)
90. For the Blood Is the Life (F. Marion Crawford)
91. Four Ghosts in Hamlet (Fritz Leiber)
92. Fritzchen (Charles Beaumont)
93. The Frolic (Thomas Ligotti)
94. The Furnished Room (O. Henry)
95. Ghost Hunt (H. R. Wakefield)
96. Ghost Summer (Due)
97. "The Girl With the Hungry Eyes" (Fritz Leiber)
98. The Ghost Village (Peter Straub)
99. The Gingerbread Man (D. M. Recktenwalt)
100. The Glass Coffin (Howard Wandrei)
101. Goblin Market (Christina Rossetti)
102. The Golems of Detroit (Alexander Irvine)
103. Gone (Jack Kethem)
104. Graves (Joe Haldeman)
105. The Graveyard Rats (Henry Kuttner)
106. The Great God Pan (Arthur Machen)
107. Green Tea by Sheridan Le Fanu
108. The Guy (Ramsey Campbell)
109. The Hands of Mr. Ottermole (Thomas Burke)
110. Hare's House (Ruth Rendell)
111. Haunted by the Horror King (William Browning Spencer)
112. Heavy Set (Ray Bradbury)
113. He Was Asking After You (Margery Allingham)
114. His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood (Poppy Z. Brite)
115. His Unconquerable Enemy (W. C. Morrow)
116. Homecoming (Ray Bradbury)
117. "The Horla" (Guy De Maupassant)
118. The Hospice (Robert Aickman)
119. "The Hounds of Tindalos" (Frank Belknap Long)
120. The House the Blakeneys Built (Avram Davidson)
121. How Love Came to Professor Guildea (Robert Hichens)
122. The Howling Man (Charles Beaumont)
123. The Hungry House (Robert Bloch)
124. The Hunting Ground (David Drake)
125. Illimitable Domain (Kim Newman)
126. I'm Dangerous Tonight (Cornell Woolrich)
127. In the Penal Colony (Franz Kafka)
128. In the Pines (Karl Edward Wagner)
129. An Inhabitant of Carcosa (Ambrose Bierce)
130. The Inner Room (Robert Aickman)
131. The Inscription (A. N. L. Munby)
132. The Interloper (Ramsey Campbell)
133. The Invisible Eye (Emil Erckmann)
134. It Only Comes Out at Night (Dennis Etchison)
135. It's a Good Life (Jerome Bixby)
136. The Judge's House (Bram Stoker)
137. The Lady on the Gray (John Collier)
138. The Last Feast of Harlequin (Thomas Ligotti)
139. The Last Flight of Dr. Ain (James Tiptree, Jr.)
140. Lazarus (Leonid Andreyev)
141. Le Peau Verte (Caitlin R. Kiernan)
142. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Washington Irving)
143. Leningrad Nights (Graham Joyce)
144. Les Fleurs (Thomas Ligotti)
145. Lila the Werewolf (Peter S. Beagle)
146. The Little Black Bag (C. M. Kornbluth)
147. A Little Place off the Edgware Road (Graham Greene)
148. Long Distance Call (Richard Matheson)
149. Longtooth (Edgar Pangborn)
150. Lot No. 249 (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
151. The Lottery (Shirley Jackson)
152. Lulu (Thomas Tessier)
153. La Vénus D'ille (Prosper Merimee)
154. The Man Upstairs (Ray Bradbury)
155. The Man Who Collected Machen (Mark Samuels)
156. Mapping the Interior (Stephen Graham Jones)
157. "The Mark of the Beast" (Rudyard Kipling)
158. Men Without Bones (Gerald Kersh)
159. Mephisto in Onyx (Harlan Ellison)
160. Mimic (Donald Wollheim)
161. Mimsy Were the Borogoves (C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner)
162. The Mindworm (C. M. Kornbluth)
163. Miss Emily Gray (Theodora Goss)
164. Miss Gentilbell (Charles Beaumont)
165. The Mist (Stephen King)
166. Mive (Carl Jacobi)
167. The Monkey's Paw (W. W. Jacobs)
168. The Monster Maker (W. C. Morrow)
169. Morthylla (Clark Ashton Smith)
170. The Most Dangerous Game (Richard Connell)
171. Mr. Dark's Carnival (Glen Hirshberg)
172. Mr. Kempe (Walter De La Mare)
173. Mr.Gaunt (John Langan)
174. "Mr. Justice Harbottle" (J. Sheridan Le Fanu)
175. Mrs. Midnight (Reggie Oliver)
176. The Music of Bengt Karlsson, Murderer (John Ajvide Lindqvist)
177. The Music Teacher (John Cheever)
178. My Zoondel (Jonathan Carroll)
179. Nadelman's God (T. E. D. Klein)
180. Near Zennor (Elizabeth Hand)
181. A Night in Malneant (Clark Ashton Smith)
182. The Night of White Bhairab (Lucius Shepard)
183. Night They Missed the Horror Show (Joe R. Lansdale)
184. The Nightcharmer (Claude Seignolle)
185. Nightflyers (George R. R. Martin)
186. No. 17 (E. Nesbit)
187. No. 252 Rue M. Le Prince (Ralph Adams Cram)
188. Northwest Passage (Barbara Roden)
189. Notes in a Deserted House (Robert Bloch)
190. The Novel of the Black Seal (Arthur Machen)
191. Now Let Us Sleep (Avram Davidson)
192. Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad (M.R. James)
193. Oil of Dog (Ambrose Bierce)
194. "The Old Nurse's Story" (Elizabeth Gaskell)
195. Old Virginia (Laird Barron)
196. Olida (Bob Leman)
197. On the Brighton Road (Richard Middleton)
198. On Skua Island (John Langan)
199. One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts (Shirley Jackson)
200. Onion (Caitlin R. Kiernan)
201. Only the End of the World Again (Neil Gaiman)
202. The Open Window by Saki
203. The Panic Hand (Jonathan Carroll)
204. Papa Benjamin (Cornell Woolrich)
205. The Paperhanger (William Gay)
206. Passengers (Robert Silverberg)
207. The People Across the Canyon (Margaret Millar)
208. Podolo (L. P. Hartley)
209. Pomegranate Seed (Edith Wharton)
210. Pork Pie Hat (Peter Straub)
211. The Portobello Road (Murial Spark)
212. The Power of Darkness (E. Nesbit)
213. Private Grave 9 (Karen Joy Fowler)
214. Procession of the Black Sloth (Laird Barron)
215. The Professor's Teddy Bear (Theodore Sturgeon)
216. The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World (Harlan Ellison)
217. The Quest for Blank Claveringi (Patricia Highsmith)
218. The Question (Stanley Ellin)
219. The Rats in the Walls (H. P. Lovecraft)
220. The Red Lodge (H. R. Wakefield)
221. The Repairer of Reputations (Robert W. Chambers)
222. Return to the Sabbath (Robert Bloch)
223. Revelations in Black (Carl Jacobi)
224. The Ring of Thoth (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
225. Ringing the Changes (Robert Aickman)
226. The River of Night's Darkness (Karl Edward Wagner)
227. "The Roaches" (Thomas M. Disch)
228. The Rocking-Horse Winner (D.H. Lawrence)
229. The Room in the Tower (E. F. Benson)
230. A Rose for Emily (William Faulkner)
231. The Sadness of Detail (Jonathan Carroll)
232. Sagittarius (Ray Russell)
233. The Sandman (E. T. A. Hoffmann)
234. Sardonicus (Ray Russell)
235. The Scar (Ramsey Campbell)
236. "Schalken the Painter" (J. Sheridan Le Fanu)
237. The Screaming Skull (F. Marion Crawford)
238. The Screwfly Solution (James Tiptree Jr.)
239. Sea Lovers (Valerie Martin)
240. The Sea Raiders (H. G. Wells)
241. Seaton's Aunt (Walter De La Mare)
242. Secret Worship (Algernon Blackwood)
243. The Sexton's Wife (Margery Allingham)
244. The Shadow at the Bottom of the World (Thomas Ligotti)
245. The Shadows on the Wall (Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman)
246. The Shadowy Street (Jean Ray)
247. Shambleu (C. L. Moore)
248. Shoggoth's Old Peculiar (Neil Gaiman)
249. The Signal-Man by Charles Dickens
250. The Sign-Painter and the Crystal Fishes (Marjorie Bowen)
251. "Silent Snow, Secret Snow" (Conrad Aiken)
252. The Singular Habits of Wasps (Geoffrey Landis)
253. "Sir Edmund Orme" (Henry James)
254. Sister Maddelena (Ralph Adams Cram)
255. Smoke Ghost (Fritz Leiber)
256. The Snail-Watcher (Patricia Highsmith)
257. Snow, Glass, Apples
258. Soft Voices at Passenham (T. H. White)
259. Something Had to Be Done (David Drake)
260. The Specialty of the House (Stanley Ellin)
261. The Spider (Hans Heinz Ewers)
262. Squire Toby's Will (Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu)
263. Sredni Vashtar (Saki)
264. "Sticks" by Karl Edward Wagner
265. Strewwellpeter (Glen Hirshberg)
266. A Study in Emerald (Neil Gaiman)
267. Taboo (Geoffrey Household)
268. Talent (Robert Bloch)
269. Teatro Grottesco (Thomas Ligotti)
270. The Tehama (Bob Leman)
271. The Tell-Tale Heart (Edgar Allan Poe)
272. There Shall Be No Darkness (James Blish)
273. There Will Come Soft Rains (Ray Bradbury)
274. They Bite (Anthony Boucher)
275. They're Coming for You (Les Daniels)
276. Thirteen at Table (Lord Dunsany)
277. Thou Need Not Fear My Kisses, Love (Charles L. Grant)
278. Three Miles Up (Elizabeth Jane Howard)
279. Three, or Four, for Dinner (L. P. Hartley)
280. The Throne of Bones (Brian McNaughton)
281. Thus I Refute Beelzy (John Collier)
282. Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back (Joe R. Lansdale)
283. Torch Song (John Cheever)
284. A Touch of Nutmeg Makes It (John Collier)
285. The Tugging (Ramsey Campbell)
286. Two Bottles of Relish (Lord Dunsany)
287. The Two Sams (Glen Hirshberg)
288. Undertow (Karl Edward Wagner)
289. Unicorn Variations (Suzy McKee Charnas)
290. The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (Robert A. Heinlein)
291. Valentia (Caitlin R. Kiernan)
292. "The Upper Berth" (F. Marion Crawford)
293. The Villa Desiree (May Sinclair)
294. The Vine (Kit Reed)
295. Vintage Season (C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner)
296. The Visiting Star (Robert Aickman)
297. A Visitor From Down Under (L. P. Hartley)
298. The Viy (Nikolai Gogol)
299. The Voice in the Night (William Hope Hodgson)
300. The Voice of the Beach (Ramsey Campbell)
301. The Wall of Clouds (Sarah Monette)
302. Was She Wicked? Was She Good? (M. Rickert)
303. The Wendigo (Algernon Blackwood)
304. What Was It? (Fritz-James O'Brien)
305. Where the Woodbine Twineth (Davis Grubb)
306. The Whimper of Whipped Dogs (Harlan Ellison)
307. The White Hands (Mark Samuels)
308. Whitstable (Stephen Volk)
309. Who Goes There? (John W. Campbell Jr.)
310. The Wide, Carnivorous Sky (John Langan)
311. The Wife's Story (Ursula K. Le Guin)
312. William Wilson (Edgar Allan Poe)
313. The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
314. Window (Bob Leman)
315. The Year's Class Picture (Dan Simmons)
316. The Yellow Sign (Robert W. Chambers)
317. The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman)
318. Yesterday's Witch (Gahan Wilson)
319. You're All Alone (Fritz Leiber)
320. Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (Robert Bloch)
https://www.listchallenges.com/short-stories-for-october-and-halloween
1. The Adder (Fred Chappell)
2. The Adventure of the Speckled Band (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
3. "Afterward" (Edith Wharton)
4. Amerikanski Dead at the Moscow Morgue (Kim Newman)
5. Amour Dure (Vernon Lee)
6. Ancient Sorceries (Algernon Blackwood)
7. Angels in Love (Kathe Koja)
8. "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (Ambrose Bierce)
9. The Apple Tree (Daphne Du Maurier)
10. Asylum (A. E. Van Vogt)
11. At the Mountains of Madness (H. P. Lovecraft)
12. August Heat (William Fryer Harvey)
13. Aura (Carlos Fuentes)
14. The Autopsy (Michael Shea)
15. Bartleby, the Scrivener (Herman Melville)
16. The Beast With Five Fingers (W. S. Harvey)
17. Belson Express (Fritz Leiber)
18. "The Beckoning Fair One" (Oliver Onions)
19. Beyond Any Measure (Karl Edward Wagner)
20. The Big Fish (Kim Newman)
21. Bird of Prey (John Collier)
22. Black Cocktail (Jonathan Carroll)
23. Black Country (Charles Beaumont)
24. Black Destroyer (A. E. Van Vogt)
25. Black God's Kiss (C. L. Moore)
26. "Black Man With a Horn" by T. E. D. Klein
27. Bloodchild (Octavia Butler)
28. Body Snatcher (Robert Louis Stevenson)
29. Boobs (Suzy McKee Charnas)
30. Born of Man and Woman (Richard Matheson)
31. Bottle Party (John Collier)
32. The Box (Jack Ketchum)
33. The Brains of Rats (Michael Blumlein)
34. Bringing Helena Back (Sarah Monette)
35. Bubbba Ho-Tep (Joe R. Lansdale)
36. The Bureau D'echange De Maux (Lord Dunsany)
37. Calcutta, Lord of Nerves (Poppy Z. Brite)
38. The Call of Cthulhu (H. P. Lovecraft)
39. Cargo (E. Michael Lewis)
40. Carmilla (Sheridan Le Fanu)
41. Carnaby's Fish (Carl Jacobi)
42. Carrion Comfort (Dan Simmons)
43. The Cask of Amontillado (Edgar Allan Poe)
44. Casting the Runes by MR James
45. The Cat Jumps (Elizabeth Bowen)
46. "Caterpillars" (E.F. Benson)
47. A Child's Problem (Reggie Oliver)
48. Civilwarland in Bad Decline (George Saunders)
49. The Coffin-Maker's Daughter (Angela Slatter)
50. Cold Print (Ramsey Campbell)
51. A Colder War (Charles Stross)
52. The Color Out of Space (H. P. Lovecraft)
53. Come, Lady Death (Peter Beagle)
54. Conversations in a Dead Language (Thomas Ligotti)
55. Crouch End (Stephen King)
56. The Crowd (Ray Bradbury)
57. The Damned Thing (Ambrose Bierce)
58. Cleopatra Brimstone (Elizabeth Hand)
59. The Dark Eidolon (Clark Ashton Smith)
60. The Dead Valley (Ralph Adams Cram)
61. Dear Emily (Joanna Russ)
62. Delta Sly Honey (Lucius Shepard)
63. The Demon Lover (Elizabeth Bowen)
64. Descending (Thomas Disch)
65. The Devil's Rose (Tanith Lee)
66. The Devotee of Evil (Clark Ashton Smith)
67. Displaced Person (Eric Frank Russell)
68. The Distributor (Richard Matheson)
69. Disturb Not My Slumbering Fair (Chelsea Quinn Yarbro)
70. Dracula's Guest
71. The Dreams of Albert Moreland (Fritz Leiber)
72. The Dressmaker's Doll (Agatha Christie)
73. Drive-In Date (Joe R. Lansdale)
74. The Empire of the Necromancers (Clark Ashton Smith)
75. The End of the Story (Clark Ashton Smith)
76. The End of the Whole Mess (Stephen King)
77. Enoch Soames (Max Beerbohm)
78. The Estuary (Margaret St. Clair)
79. Evening Primrose (John Collier)
80. The Events at Poroth Farm (T. E. D. Klein)
81. The Face in the Wind (Carl Jacobi)
82. The Fall of the House of Usher (Edgar Allan Poe)
83. The Fall River Axe Murders (Angela Carter)
84. Far Below (Robert Barbour Johnson)
85. Feesters in the Lake (Bob Leman)
86. Fengriffen (David Case)
87. Fishhead (Irvin S. Cobb)
88. The Foghorn (Ray Bradbury)
89. Fondly Fahrenheit (Alfred Bester)
90. For the Blood Is the Life (F. Marion Crawford)
91. Four Ghosts in Hamlet (Fritz Leiber)
92. Fritzchen (Charles Beaumont)
93. The Frolic (Thomas Ligotti)
94. The Furnished Room (O. Henry)
95. Ghost Hunt (H. R. Wakefield)
96. Ghost Summer (Due)
97. "The Girl With the Hungry Eyes" (Fritz Leiber)
98. The Ghost Village (Peter Straub)
99. The Gingerbread Man (D. M. Recktenwalt)
100. The Glass Coffin (Howard Wandrei)
101. Goblin Market (Christina Rossetti)
102. The Golems of Detroit (Alexander Irvine)
103. Gone (Jack Kethem)
104. Graves (Joe Haldeman)
105. The Graveyard Rats (Henry Kuttner)
106. The Great God Pan (Arthur Machen)
107. Green Tea by Sheridan Le Fanu
108. The Guy (Ramsey Campbell)
109. The Hands of Mr. Ottermole (Thomas Burke)
110. Hare's House (Ruth Rendell)
111. Haunted by the Horror King (William Browning Spencer)
112. Heavy Set (Ray Bradbury)
113. He Was Asking After You (Margery Allingham)
114. His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood (Poppy Z. Brite)
115. His Unconquerable Enemy (W. C. Morrow)
116. Homecoming (Ray Bradbury)
117. "The Horla" (Guy De Maupassant)
118. The Hospice (Robert Aickman)
119. "The Hounds of Tindalos" (Frank Belknap Long)
120. The House the Blakeneys Built (Avram Davidson)
121. How Love Came to Professor Guildea (Robert Hichens)
122. The Howling Man (Charles Beaumont)
123. The Hungry House (Robert Bloch)
124. The Hunting Ground (David Drake)
125. Illimitable Domain (Kim Newman)
126. I'm Dangerous Tonight (Cornell Woolrich)
127. In the Penal Colony (Franz Kafka)
128. In the Pines (Karl Edward Wagner)
129. An Inhabitant of Carcosa (Ambrose Bierce)
130. The Inner Room (Robert Aickman)
131. The Inscription (A. N. L. Munby)
132. The Interloper (Ramsey Campbell)
133. The Invisible Eye (Emil Erckmann)
134. It Only Comes Out at Night (Dennis Etchison)
135. It's a Good Life (Jerome Bixby)
136. The Judge's House (Bram Stoker)
137. The Lady on the Gray (John Collier)
138. The Last Feast of Harlequin (Thomas Ligotti)
139. The Last Flight of Dr. Ain (James Tiptree, Jr.)
140. Lazarus (Leonid Andreyev)
141. Le Peau Verte (Caitlin R. Kiernan)
142. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Washington Irving)
143. Leningrad Nights (Graham Joyce)
144. Les Fleurs (Thomas Ligotti)
145. Lila the Werewolf (Peter S. Beagle)
146. The Little Black Bag (C. M. Kornbluth)
147. A Little Place off the Edgware Road (Graham Greene)
148. Long Distance Call (Richard Matheson)
149. Longtooth (Edgar Pangborn)
150. Lot No. 249 (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
151. The Lottery (Shirley Jackson)
152. Lulu (Thomas Tessier)
153. La Vénus D'ille (Prosper Merimee)
154. The Man Upstairs (Ray Bradbury)
155. The Man Who Collected Machen (Mark Samuels)
156. Mapping the Interior (Stephen Graham Jones)
157. "The Mark of the Beast" (Rudyard Kipling)
158. Men Without Bones (Gerald Kersh)
159. Mephisto in Onyx (Harlan Ellison)
160. Mimic (Donald Wollheim)
161. Mimsy Were the Borogoves (C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner)
162. The Mindworm (C. M. Kornbluth)
163. Miss Emily Gray (Theodora Goss)
164. Miss Gentilbell (Charles Beaumont)
165. The Mist (Stephen King)
166. Mive (Carl Jacobi)
167. The Monkey's Paw (W. W. Jacobs)
168. The Monster Maker (W. C. Morrow)
169. Morthylla (Clark Ashton Smith)
170. The Most Dangerous Game (Richard Connell)
171. Mr. Dark's Carnival (Glen Hirshberg)
172. Mr. Kempe (Walter De La Mare)
173. Mr.Gaunt (John Langan)
174. "Mr. Justice Harbottle" (J. Sheridan Le Fanu)
175. Mrs. Midnight (Reggie Oliver)
176. The Music of Bengt Karlsson, Murderer (John Ajvide Lindqvist)
177. The Music Teacher (John Cheever)
178. My Zoondel (Jonathan Carroll)
179. Nadelman's God (T. E. D. Klein)
180. Near Zennor (Elizabeth Hand)
181. A Night in Malneant (Clark Ashton Smith)
182. The Night of White Bhairab (Lucius Shepard)
183. Night They Missed the Horror Show (Joe R. Lansdale)
184. The Nightcharmer (Claude Seignolle)
185. Nightflyers (George R. R. Martin)
186. No. 17 (E. Nesbit)
187. No. 252 Rue M. Le Prince (Ralph Adams Cram)
188. Northwest Passage (Barbara Roden)
189. Notes in a Deserted House (Robert Bloch)
190. The Novel of the Black Seal (Arthur Machen)
191. Now Let Us Sleep (Avram Davidson)
192. Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad (M.R. James)
193. Oil of Dog (Ambrose Bierce)
194. "The Old Nurse's Story" (Elizabeth Gaskell)
195. Old Virginia (Laird Barron)
196. Olida (Bob Leman)
197. On the Brighton Road (Richard Middleton)
198. On Skua Island (John Langan)
199. One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts (Shirley Jackson)
200. Onion (Caitlin R. Kiernan)
201. Only the End of the World Again (Neil Gaiman)
202. The Open Window by Saki
203. The Panic Hand (Jonathan Carroll)
204. Papa Benjamin (Cornell Woolrich)
205. The Paperhanger (William Gay)
206. Passengers (Robert Silverberg)
207. The People Across the Canyon (Margaret Millar)
208. Podolo (L. P. Hartley)
209. Pomegranate Seed (Edith Wharton)
210. Pork Pie Hat (Peter Straub)
211. The Portobello Road (Murial Spark)
212. The Power of Darkness (E. Nesbit)
213. Private Grave 9 (Karen Joy Fowler)
214. Procession of the Black Sloth (Laird Barron)
215. The Professor's Teddy Bear (Theodore Sturgeon)
216. The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World (Harlan Ellison)
217. The Quest for Blank Claveringi (Patricia Highsmith)
218. The Question (Stanley Ellin)
219. The Rats in the Walls (H. P. Lovecraft)
220. The Red Lodge (H. R. Wakefield)
221. The Repairer of Reputations (Robert W. Chambers)
222. Return to the Sabbath (Robert Bloch)
223. Revelations in Black (Carl Jacobi)
224. The Ring of Thoth (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
225. Ringing the Changes (Robert Aickman)
226. The River of Night's Darkness (Karl Edward Wagner)
227. "The Roaches" (Thomas M. Disch)
228. The Rocking-Horse Winner (D.H. Lawrence)
229. The Room in the Tower (E. F. Benson)
230. A Rose for Emily (William Faulkner)
231. The Sadness of Detail (Jonathan Carroll)
232. Sagittarius (Ray Russell)
233. The Sandman (E. T. A. Hoffmann)
234. Sardonicus (Ray Russell)
235. The Scar (Ramsey Campbell)
236. "Schalken the Painter" (J. Sheridan Le Fanu)
237. The Screaming Skull (F. Marion Crawford)
238. The Screwfly Solution (James Tiptree Jr.)
239. Sea Lovers (Valerie Martin)
240. The Sea Raiders (H. G. Wells)
241. Seaton's Aunt (Walter De La Mare)
242. Secret Worship (Algernon Blackwood)
243. The Sexton's Wife (Margery Allingham)
244. The Shadow at the Bottom of the World (Thomas Ligotti)
245. The Shadows on the Wall (Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman)
246. The Shadowy Street (Jean Ray)
247. Shambleu (C. L. Moore)
248. Shoggoth's Old Peculiar (Neil Gaiman)
249. The Signal-Man by Charles Dickens
250. The Sign-Painter and the Crystal Fishes (Marjorie Bowen)
251. "Silent Snow, Secret Snow" (Conrad Aiken)
252. The Singular Habits of Wasps (Geoffrey Landis)
253. "Sir Edmund Orme" (Henry James)
254. Sister Maddelena (Ralph Adams Cram)
255. Smoke Ghost (Fritz Leiber)
256. The Snail-Watcher (Patricia Highsmith)
257. Snow, Glass, Apples
258. Soft Voices at Passenham (T. H. White)
259. Something Had to Be Done (David Drake)
260. The Specialty of the House (Stanley Ellin)
261. The Spider (Hans Heinz Ewers)
262. Squire Toby's Will (Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu)
263. Sredni Vashtar (Saki)
264. "Sticks" by Karl Edward Wagner
265. Strewwellpeter (Glen Hirshberg)
266. A Study in Emerald (Neil Gaiman)
267. Taboo (Geoffrey Household)
268. Talent (Robert Bloch)
269. Teatro Grottesco (Thomas Ligotti)
270. The Tehama (Bob Leman)
271. The Tell-Tale Heart (Edgar Allan Poe)
272. There Shall Be No Darkness (James Blish)
273. There Will Come Soft Rains (Ray Bradbury)
274. They Bite (Anthony Boucher)
275. They're Coming for You (Les Daniels)
276. Thirteen at Table (Lord Dunsany)
277. Thou Need Not Fear My Kisses, Love (Charles L. Grant)
278. Three Miles Up (Elizabeth Jane Howard)
279. Three, or Four, for Dinner (L. P. Hartley)
280. The Throne of Bones (Brian McNaughton)
281. Thus I Refute Beelzy (John Collier)
282. Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back (Joe R. Lansdale)
283. Torch Song (John Cheever)
284. A Touch of Nutmeg Makes It (John Collier)
285. The Tugging (Ramsey Campbell)
286. Two Bottles of Relish (Lord Dunsany)
287. The Two Sams (Glen Hirshberg)
288. Undertow (Karl Edward Wagner)
289. Unicorn Variations (Suzy McKee Charnas)
290. The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (Robert A. Heinlein)
291. Valentia (Caitlin R. Kiernan)
292. "The Upper Berth" (F. Marion Crawford)
293. The Villa Desiree (May Sinclair)
294. The Vine (Kit Reed)
295. Vintage Season (C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner)
296. The Visiting Star (Robert Aickman)
297. A Visitor From Down Under (L. P. Hartley)
298. The Viy (Nikolai Gogol)
299. The Voice in the Night (William Hope Hodgson)
300. The Voice of the Beach (Ramsey Campbell)
301. The Wall of Clouds (Sarah Monette)
302. Was She Wicked? Was She Good? (M. Rickert)
303. The Wendigo (Algernon Blackwood)
304. What Was It? (Fritz-James O'Brien)
305. Where the Woodbine Twineth (Davis Grubb)
306. The Whimper of Whipped Dogs (Harlan Ellison)
307. The White Hands (Mark Samuels)
308. Whitstable (Stephen Volk)
309. Who Goes There? (John W. Campbell Jr.)
310. The Wide, Carnivorous Sky (John Langan)
311. The Wife's Story (Ursula K. Le Guin)
312. William Wilson (Edgar Allan Poe)
313. The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
314. Window (Bob Leman)
315. The Year's Class Picture (Dan Simmons)
316. The Yellow Sign (Robert W. Chambers)
317. The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman)
318. Yesterday's Witch (Gahan Wilson)
319. You're All Alone (Fritz Leiber)
320. Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (Robert Bloch)
Thanks for sharing it here!
Will add to this post, as soon as I go through to determine which I've read. The site is great too, but whew, it's a lot of work going through those in pages! Now the problem is remembering where this list is and remembering to refer to it.
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Wheew, that's a lot even in text form, hahaha
Randy, by what criteria were they selected?
Just for fun, can you give us a percent formula? (e.g. personal free-to-be quirky subjective liking (25%), artistic merit (50%), popularity and influence (25%), etc.)
Will add to this post, as soon as I go through to determine which I've read. The site is great too, but whew, it's a lot of work going through those in pages! Now the problem is remembering where this list is and remembering to refer to it.
(added)
Wheew, that's a lot even in text form, hahaha
Randy, by what criteria were they selected?
Just for fun, can you give us a percent formula? (e.g. personal free-to-be quirky subjective liking (25%), artistic merit (50%), popularity and influence (25%), etc.)
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Evidence of good taste, Randy and exciting to think even that a tiny portion of them could be on a level with The Willows. Noticed for Poe, you chose Usher (an obvious and good choice!), but also William Wilson and Man in the Crowd, two of my favs. Also noticed, you got Devotee of Evil. Of the 9-10 C.A. Smith's, I read so far, it's among the very best. Wonder what other riches\horrors might await. I do have a limit of squeamishness. What an antho that would make, eh? Please give us so insight again on how you selected them.
Hoo, boy. That's a task.
You forgot 10% - nostalgia.
These are stories I read over a 30+ span, many of which I've forgotten details about, but which I recall enjoying and would probably reread when the opportunity arose.
I think you'd find they vary greatly in effect, some rather tame, some sharper. Some are supernatural, some not; some include vampires or werewolves, or ghosts, some critters without a name (or with consonant-heavy names [looking at you Lovecraft]), and some just humans, though usually not the cream of the crop. Some are s.f., some fantasy, some horror, some overlapping with crime/mystery.
I'll go through and pull out the ones I think measure up to "The Willows" in some way and pass that along in the next day or two.
Should note, a lot of the older ones can be found on-line. Project Gutenberg has a fair number of ghost/horror stories and/or collections and anthologies, for instance, and UNZ archives includes all of the run of Unknown magazine, I believe, and some of Weird Tales, among others.
Randy M.
You forgot 10% - nostalgia.
These are stories I read over a 30+ span, many of which I've forgotten details about, but which I recall enjoying and would probably reread when the opportunity arose.
I think you'd find they vary greatly in effect, some rather tame, some sharper. Some are supernatural, some not; some include vampires or werewolves, or ghosts, some critters without a name (or with consonant-heavy names [looking at you Lovecraft]), and some just humans, though usually not the cream of the crop. Some are s.f., some fantasy, some horror, some overlapping with crime/mystery.
I'll go through and pull out the ones I think measure up to "The Willows" in some way and pass that along in the next day or two.
Should note, a lot of the older ones can be found on-line. Project Gutenberg has a fair number of ghost/horror stories and/or collections and anthologies, for instance, and UNZ archives includes all of the run of Unknown magazine, I believe, and some of Weird Tales, among others.
Randy M.
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I checked and had read 106 out of 320 that I remember.
I wonder how much of our reading preferences are set by what we read in our early reading days. I love all that early pulp stuff like Howard & Lovecraft but that & comic books is all I read when I started reading way back in the 1960s.
If you are just getting exposed to them now it probably seems they are full of tropes that have been used over & over. You have to remember some of those stories were trailblazers & it is because of them & others like them that the tropes came about.
A perfect example is 'Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper' by Robert Bloch (author of Psycho). I wasn't that impressed with the execution of the story but the idea behind it was flat out brilliant. It has been reused in one form or another so many times since it first came out that if I read it for the first time today my reaction would be "man, that's been done to death" forgetting that this was one of if not the first time it was ever used.
Anyway I think you will see the early building blocks of modern horror pretty clearly in a lot of these old stories.
I wonder how much of our reading preferences are set by what we read in our early reading days. I love all that early pulp stuff like Howard & Lovecraft but that & comic books is all I read when I started reading way back in the 1960s.
If you are just getting exposed to them now it probably seems they are full of tropes that have been used over & over. You have to remember some of those stories were trailblazers & it is because of them & others like them that the tropes came about.
A perfect example is 'Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper' by Robert Bloch (author of Psycho). I wasn't that impressed with the execution of the story but the idea behind it was flat out brilliant. It has been reused in one form or another so many times since it first came out that if I read it for the first time today my reaction would be "man, that's been done to death" forgetting that this was one of if not the first time it was ever used.
Anyway I think you will see the early building blocks of modern horror pretty clearly in a lot of these old stories.
These stories, in my estimation, are in some way comparable in effect to Blackwood’s “The Willows.” Which is to say, someone somewhere will hold their nose and pooh-pooh my choices. And probably rightly so. Even if you can find a group that considers "The Willows" the finest example of a supernatural story -- and you certainly can; I just noted an article by Michael Dirda extolling Blackwood's work -- tastes can vary radically from that starting point.
Anyway, I’ve split 36 stories into two groups, the first stories I’ve only read once or that I read long enough ago I’m going on fading memory:
Afterward (Edith Wharton) – subtle ghost story elegantly written
Beyond Any Measure (Karl Edward Wagner) – one of the strongest stories I’ve read concerning vampirism, but also a ghost story (as I recall)
Black Cocktail (Jonathan Carroll) – needs a reread, but Carroll is very good at turning the screw; someone described his work as a “secular search for God,” which fits
A Colder War (Charles Stross) – Lovecraftian, plays with reality in chilling ways; Stross isn’t a great stylist, I think, but this is very effective
Cleopatra Brimstone (Elizabeth Hand) – Hand is a stylist, and very good at peeling away the layers of a personality and creating a weird atmosphere
The Ghost Village (Peter Straub) – one I really need to reread, a part of his Blue Rose stories and incorporated into one of the novels, I think Koko
Fondly Fahrenheit (Alfred Bester) – science fiction, gradual build to what was, when I was younger, a breath-taking denouement; I should reread; tonally 1950s Beat in places
In the Penal Colony (Franz Kafka) – I’ve only read this once, but it’s Kafka so “weird” seems a given; tonally, satire
The Inner Room (Robert Aickman) – master of ambiguity
Lazarus (Leonid Andreyev) – one of the most depressing stories I’ve ever read
Le Peau Verte (Caitlin R. Kiernan) – phantasmagoria mixed with personality reveal
Mr. Dark's Carnival (Glen Hirshberg) – a different sort of phantasmagoria, beautifully rendered
Near Zennor (Elizabeth Hand) – Machen-esque
On Skua Island (John Langan) – brutally direct, even when it’s playing with reality; creates that claustrophobic feeling you can get from setting a story in a remote location
The Sadness of Detail (Jonathan Carroll) – see “Black Cocktail” above
Three Miles Up (Elizabeth Jane Howard) – best Robert Aickman story I’ve read not written by Aickman
This group I feel on firmer ground with either because they remain so strong in memory or because I reread them in the recent past.
Amour Dure (Vernon Lee) – gradual build to a chilling ending, one of the three or four ghost stories that come to my mind when someone asks for titles of great ghost stories
Bartleby, the Scrivener (Herman Melville) – Gothic in ways I could describe, but I prefer not to (*ahem*)
The Beckoning Fair One (Oliver Onions) - see comment about “Amour Dure”
Black Man With a Horn by T. E. D. Klein – from the 1980s, one of the first Lovecraftian stories showing you don’t have to skimp on characterization to write weird/horror
Bloodchild (Octavia Butler) – s.f.; Butler called it her male pregnancy story; beautifully rendered depiction of coercion
The Call of Cthulhu (H. P. Lovecraft) – Not necessarily on a par with “The Willows” but important for how Lovecraft’s craft started to develop and the direction it would take
Carmilla (Sheridan Le Fanu) – Le Fanu was a master at psychological story telling within the Gothic tradition
The Color Out of Space (H. P. Lovecraft) – see “The Call of Cthulhu” above; one of his most effective stories
Enoch Soames (Max Beerbohm) – humor, but the main character experiences it as something else
The Fall of the House of Usher (Edgar Allan Poe) – Poe, need I say more?
Goblin Market (Christina Rossetti) – only poem added to this list (could have added “Cristobel” or “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Coleridge, or “The Listeners” by Walter de la Mare; or “Ozymandias” by Shelley); creates an other-worldly atmosphere
The Great God Pan (Arthur Machen) – I’d put this on a par with “The Willows”; some otherwise reasonable people would disagree; they're wrong
Green Tea by Sheridan Le Fanu – see “Carmilla” above
The Repairer of Reputations (Robert W. Chambers) – weird in unsettling ways; is it the future? Is it delusion?
The River of Night's Darkness (Karl Edward Wagner) – maybe the best prose I’ve come across from Wagner, in service to a nightmare in prose
Seaton's Aunt (Walter De La Mare) – another master of innuendo and implication
Smoke Ghost (Fritz Leiber) – dragging the Gothic and the ghost/horror stories into the time of noir
A Visitor From Down Under (L. P. Hartley) - see comment about “Amour Dure”
The Wendigo (Algernon Blackwood) – usually paired with “The Willows” as in Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, not for me as effective but still a great story; consider also two stories other Blackwood stories I added to the list, “Secret Worship” and “Ancient Sorceries”; the latter has a nostalgic appeal for me, since I believe it’s the first Blackwood story I read
Anyway, I’ve split 36 stories into two groups, the first stories I’ve only read once or that I read long enough ago I’m going on fading memory:
Afterward (Edith Wharton) – subtle ghost story elegantly written
Beyond Any Measure (Karl Edward Wagner) – one of the strongest stories I’ve read concerning vampirism, but also a ghost story (as I recall)
Black Cocktail (Jonathan Carroll) – needs a reread, but Carroll is very good at turning the screw; someone described his work as a “secular search for God,” which fits
A Colder War (Charles Stross) – Lovecraftian, plays with reality in chilling ways; Stross isn’t a great stylist, I think, but this is very effective
Cleopatra Brimstone (Elizabeth Hand) – Hand is a stylist, and very good at peeling away the layers of a personality and creating a weird atmosphere
The Ghost Village (Peter Straub) – one I really need to reread, a part of his Blue Rose stories and incorporated into one of the novels, I think Koko
Fondly Fahrenheit (Alfred Bester) – science fiction, gradual build to what was, when I was younger, a breath-taking denouement; I should reread; tonally 1950s Beat in places
In the Penal Colony (Franz Kafka) – I’ve only read this once, but it’s Kafka so “weird” seems a given; tonally, satire
The Inner Room (Robert Aickman) – master of ambiguity
Lazarus (Leonid Andreyev) – one of the most depressing stories I’ve ever read
Le Peau Verte (Caitlin R. Kiernan) – phantasmagoria mixed with personality reveal
Mr. Dark's Carnival (Glen Hirshberg) – a different sort of phantasmagoria, beautifully rendered
Near Zennor (Elizabeth Hand) – Machen-esque
On Skua Island (John Langan) – brutally direct, even when it’s playing with reality; creates that claustrophobic feeling you can get from setting a story in a remote location
The Sadness of Detail (Jonathan Carroll) – see “Black Cocktail” above
Three Miles Up (Elizabeth Jane Howard) – best Robert Aickman story I’ve read not written by Aickman
This group I feel on firmer ground with either because they remain so strong in memory or because I reread them in the recent past.
Amour Dure (Vernon Lee) – gradual build to a chilling ending, one of the three or four ghost stories that come to my mind when someone asks for titles of great ghost stories
Bartleby, the Scrivener (Herman Melville) – Gothic in ways I could describe, but I prefer not to (*ahem*)
The Beckoning Fair One (Oliver Onions) - see comment about “Amour Dure”
Black Man With a Horn by T. E. D. Klein – from the 1980s, one of the first Lovecraftian stories showing you don’t have to skimp on characterization to write weird/horror
Bloodchild (Octavia Butler) – s.f.; Butler called it her male pregnancy story; beautifully rendered depiction of coercion
The Call of Cthulhu (H. P. Lovecraft) – Not necessarily on a par with “The Willows” but important for how Lovecraft’s craft started to develop and the direction it would take
Carmilla (Sheridan Le Fanu) – Le Fanu was a master at psychological story telling within the Gothic tradition
The Color Out of Space (H. P. Lovecraft) – see “The Call of Cthulhu” above; one of his most effective stories
Enoch Soames (Max Beerbohm) – humor, but the main character experiences it as something else
The Fall of the House of Usher (Edgar Allan Poe) – Poe, need I say more?
Goblin Market (Christina Rossetti) – only poem added to this list (could have added “Cristobel” or “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Coleridge, or “The Listeners” by Walter de la Mare; or “Ozymandias” by Shelley); creates an other-worldly atmosphere
The Great God Pan (Arthur Machen) – I’d put this on a par with “The Willows”; some otherwise reasonable people would disagree; they're wrong
Green Tea by Sheridan Le Fanu – see “Carmilla” above
The Repairer of Reputations (Robert W. Chambers) – weird in unsettling ways; is it the future? Is it delusion?
The River of Night's Darkness (Karl Edward Wagner) – maybe the best prose I’ve come across from Wagner, in service to a nightmare in prose
Seaton's Aunt (Walter De La Mare) – another master of innuendo and implication
Smoke Ghost (Fritz Leiber) – dragging the Gothic and the ghost/horror stories into the time of noir
A Visitor From Down Under (L. P. Hartley) - see comment about “Amour Dure”
The Wendigo (Algernon Blackwood) – usually paired with “The Willows” as in Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, not for me as effective but still a great story; consider also two stories other Blackwood stories I added to the list, “Secret Worship” and “Ancient Sorceries”; the latter has a nostalgic appeal for me, since I believe it’s the first Blackwood story I read
Thanks a million, Randy! I will do my best to check out as many as possible. I'm sure others will be interested too. I did read Wendigo and agree with your assessment, I guess I would say it's my *second* favorite of Blackwood so far. Also read Ancient Sorceries . Again, thanks for paring down the list a bit. Smoke Ghost sould be arriving soon, look forward to dipping into Leiber, as well as HPL. Will keep my eyes peeled for anthos. containing some of these others. No M.R. James or E.F. Benson? I know, such a list could go on forever... (actually I do see 3-4 of them in the main list)
(actually I do see 3-4 of them in the main list)
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My favorite M. R. James story is "Casting the Runes" (1911). It was made into a movie 'Night of the Demon' (aka 'Curse of the Demon') in 1957. Both story & movie are well worth checking out in this the spookiest of months.
For American writers I would recommend two anthologies edited by Peter Straub. They have a wide range of stories & authors.
"American Fantastic Tales: Anthology From Poe to the Pulps"
"American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from the 1940s to Now"
M. R. James is a master ghost story writer, though I'm not sure any one story rises to the level of "The Willows." My favorites are "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" and "Count Magnus".
Benson wrote a lot of good ghost stories. My favorite is "Caterpillars" which is one of the -- um -- ickiest stories I've read (which is not meant as a criticism). Strong imagery at the end of the story. He wrote many others I find entertaining but which all tend to blur together, except "The Room at the Top" and "How Fear Departed From the Long Gallery."
One I probably should have highlighted was "The Horla" by Guy de Mauppassant. It's another story where ghosts intermingle with the psychology of the protagonist. A slow burn story that got under my skin when I first read it in my teens.
Benson wrote a lot of good ghost stories. My favorite is "Caterpillars" which is one of the -- um -- ickiest stories I've read (which is not meant as a criticism). Strong imagery at the end of the story. He wrote many others I find entertaining but which all tend to blur together, except "The Room at the Top" and "How Fear Departed From the Long Gallery."
One I probably should have highlighted was "The Horla" by Guy de Mauppassant. It's another story where ghosts intermingle with the psychology of the protagonist. A slow burn story that got under my skin when I first read it in my teens.
The more genres and time-periods your enjoyment can encompass, the better, no? About the tropes versus trope roots, so to speak, that certainly is a puzzler. Not everyone wants to become a detective\scholar tracing origins... so it's a bit of a crap shoot at times.
It's ok to admit a classic story has aged and just honestly lost its freshness; if you don't like broccoli, you just don't like it. Takes a special reader to read through that... But I personally believe, that vague and subjective as they are, there do seem to be "rules of good fiction" that apply to all time periods. You also can't just give something a pass because it's old and canonized, assuming every obvious flaw is due to your own lack of "historical perspective." Some of this "great old stuff" (referring to my current reading), comes up short in a lot of ways, and along some dimensions seems lesser even than some previous work.
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There are also sizable merits to add to the other side of the scale of course. For example, Blackwood's work is a refinement, evolution and expansion of Poe. But for all his, great, great, deep psychological and atmospheric prose, I would argue in the end there is often a blunted impact that you won't find in Poe. In my opinion it can't all be excused away using historical context, historical reader expectations, etc.
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I saw 'Diary of a Madman' with Vincent Price at the drive-in when I was 6 or 7 years old. It scared the hell out of me.
Years later when I read "The Horla" I kept thinking that I had read it before. Finally I realized the movie was a cross between Maupassant's two short stories "The Horla" & "Diary of a Madman" (those kind of things were a lot harder to figure out pre internet).
You know what traumatized me about the same time - The Man with the X-Ray Eyes - a shocking ending even by today's standards. At the time struck lasting horror deep into my kiddie soul! Also remember "Bucket of Blood", hahah... what an awesome title, eh? And of course "The Fly"
Will check out The Horla. Read some of that writer's stories, but not that one, I don't think.
What a great movie. I grew up on those cheap Roger Corman movies.
Here's a bit of trivia. It may or may not be true. Supposedly in the first cut of the movie after he did what he did to his eyes he screamed "I can still see!". The test audience was so unsettled by that last line it was cut from the movie.
If true it changes the whole ending.
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