Randy M's Horror Reads for October 2010

[HeclaBull]

I just tried reading "Koko" about a month ago and gave up on it. I like your taste in other books,though, so I'm going to give it another chance.

Do you like Clive Barker? He's one of my favorite horror/ supernatural/ fantasy novelists and I think he has some short stories and novels that you'd like.

 

[vangel]

I haven't read much horror but a couple years ago I accidentally came across a collection of horror short stories named "Demonized" by Christopher Fowler and they were quite entertaining. I also strongly recommend Clark Ashton Smith.

Do you like Clive Barker? He's one of my favorite horror/ supernatural/ fantasy novelists and I think he has some short stories and novels that you'd like.

I recently started reading Weaveworld, it's the first book that I read from this author and it's great. I'll probably read some of Clive Barker's books later on.

 

[Randy M.]

I just tried reading "Koko" about a month ago and gave up on it. I like your taste in other books,though, so I'm going to give it another chance.

I think some readers may find Straub slow going because he likes creating layers of story, giving his characters reason to believe one thing, then having them learn something that changes their views. That happens a few times in Koko and if you like that sort of thing, you'll enjoy the book if you stick with it, but if you don't enjoy that, then Koko may not be for you.

Do you like Clive Barker? He's one of my favorite horror/ supernatural/ fantasy novelists and I think he has some short stories and novels that you'd like.

Barker was just becoming big when I stepped away from reading genre for almost ten years and I've never gotten around to him. I have Damnation Game and the first three Books of Blood, so I hope to eventually start reading him.

I also second Vangel's recommendation of Clark Ashton Smith. I haven't read a lot by him, but what I've read has been quite good.

Randy M.

 

[HeclaBull]

I hope you get to read some Barker soon. His horror has a great Lovecraftian feel to it. Damnation Game is one of his best horror novels, and the Books of Blood have some great short stories.

 

[Hobbit]

I've got the Night Shade Clark Ashton Smith volumes (4 to date, I think.)

But I'd recommend the 1 volume Fantasy Masterworks collection, Emperor of Dreams, if you want a taster: Link to picture and review HERE.

He is, as you might expect, weird. Like Lovecraft, lots of weird names made up of letters all jumbled up... and never was a fan of his poetry. But there's a lot to like, in the right mood.

Mark

 

[Randy M.]

Flickers in the Dark!

I was going to split this into two lists, but since I wasn't able to finish either up in the last couple of days -- it just kept expanding -- I'll see if I can get all of it into one, long post.


From Edison’s silent, 15-minute version of Frankenstein to Paranormal Activity for nearly a century our ideas of horror have been informed and influenced by flickering images on the movie screen. While the number of horror movies based on novels and short stories seem to have diminished with the advent of horror series – Friday the 13th; A Nightmare on Elm Street; Saw; etc. – some of the older ones are very good and, if you pick carefully, fun for the family.

For the most part, I’ve avoided mentioning bloody, violent movies. Several of the following – notably Halloween – leave the impression of extreme violence, but a close viewing shows that much of the violence is implied rather than shown. There are two exceptions under the list for adults: Phantasm, which was considered quite violent and gory when released, and Re-animator, in which the violence are often presented in comic situations.

Some horror movies based on novels:

• The Leopard Man (1943; based on Black Alibi by Cornell Woolrich)

A faithful adaptation of the novel, it contains one of the most suspenseful scenes I’ve ever watched in a movie in which a young girl going to the store to get dinner for her father. That’s all it’s about, but the sense of menace and impending disaster are almost palpable. Final quarter of the movie tails off, which is also true of the novel, but to that point both are an excellent thrillers.​

• I Walked With a Zombie (1943; very loosely based on Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte)
• The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956; based on The Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney; remade in 1978, 1993 and 2007; first two are held to be the best, even classics of the genre)
• Psycho (1960; based on Psycho by Robert Bloch)
• The Curse of the Werewolf (1961; based on The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore)
• The Day of the Triffids (1962; based on The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham; two later British mini-series were made based on it, one in 1981, another in 2009; I haven’t seen either.)
• The Haunting (1963 – I strongly advise avoiding the 1999 version; based on The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson)

At least forty years since I first watched this, and it is still one of the most suspenseful, chilling movies I’ve ever seen. An excellent cast.​

• The Haunted Palace (1963; based on The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H. P. Lovecraft, as was the later film: Resurrected [1992] – the latter is better, though probably best for adults)
• The Last Man on Earth (1964; based on I am Legend by Richard Matheson, as were later movies, The Omega Man [1971] and I am Legend [2007], also strongly influenced Night of the Living Dead [1968])
• The Night Stalker (1972; based on The Night Stalker by Jeff Rice)
Introduction of the Carl Kolchak, script written by Richard Matheson. The novel is okay, but everything comes to life on the TV screen with this one.
• The Legend of Hell House (1973’ based on Hell House by Richard Matheson)
• The Shining (1980; based on The Shining by Stephen King; TV miniseries produced by King in 1997)
• Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983; based on Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury)​

Some horror movies based on shorter works:

• The Beast with Five Fingers (1946; based on “The Beast with Five Fingers” by W. F. Harvey)
• The Body Snatcher (1945; based on“The Body Snatcher” by Robert Louis Stevenson)
• The Thing (From Another World) (1951; based on “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell, Jr.)
• The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953; based on ”The Foghorn” by Ray Bradbury)
• Curse [sometimes, Night] of the Demon (1957; based on “Casting the Runes” by M. R. James}
• Die, Monster, Die! (1965; based on “The Colour Out of Space” by H. P. Lovecraft -- better to read the story)
• Bubba-Ho-Tep (2002; based on “Bubba-Ho-Tep” by Joe R. Lansdale)​

Note: The Ghouls edited by Peter Haining, was one of the first horror anthologies I read as a kid. From the Locus website, the contents are,
The Devil in a Convent [“The Devil in a Nunnery”] • Francis Oscar Mann • ss The Devil in a Nunnery, London: Constable, 1914
The Lunatics [“The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether”] • Edgar Allan Poe • ss Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine Nov, 1845
Puritan Passions [“Feathertop: A Moralized Legend”] • Nathaniel Hawthorne • ss Mosses from an Old Manse, Wiley & Putnam, 1846
The Phantom of the Opera • Gaston Leroux • ex Mills, 1911 [condensed version]
The Magician • W. Somerset Maugham • ex London: Heinemann, 1908
Freaks [“Spurs”] • Tod Robbins • nv Munsey’s Feb ’23
The Most Dangerous Game • Richard Connell • nv Colliers Jan 19 ’24
Dracula’s Daughter [“Dracula’s Guest”; Dracula] • Bram Stoker • ss Dracula’s Guest, London: Routledge, 1914; written in 1897 as part of Dracula, this chapter was omitted from the published book for reasons of length.
All That Money Can Buy [“The Devil and Daniel Webster”] • Stephen Vincent Benét • ss The Saturday Evening Post Oct 24 ’36
The Body Snatcher • Robert Louis Stevenson • ss Pall Mall Christmas Extra, 1884
The Beast with Five Fingers [revised version] • William F. Harvey • nv The Beast With Five Fingers, J.M. Dent, 1928
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms • Ray Bradbury • ss The Saturday Evening Post Jun 23 ’51
The Fly • George Langelaan • nv Playboy Jun ’57
Black Sunday [“The Viy”, 1835] • Nikolai Gogol • nv Mirgorod: Stories, Knopf, 1929
Incident at Owl Creek [“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”] • Ambrose Bierce • ss San Francisco Examiner Jul 13, 1890
Monster of Terror [“The Colour Out of Space”] • H. P. Lovecraft • nv Amazing Sep ’27
The Skull [“The Skull of the Marquis de Sade”] • Robert Bloch • ss Weird Tales Sep ’45
The Oblong Box • Edgar Allan Poe • ss Godey’s Lady’s Book Sep, 1844

There have been other anthologies with a similar premise since and they do make for interesting reading if you compare the source to the eventual movie.

Some Halloween movies for the whole family:

• Mad Monster Party (1967)
A forerunner of A Nightmare Before Christmas, with stop-action puppetry; distinguished by the voice work of Boris Karloff
• A Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Wonderful musical with a terrific cast of voices, including Christopher Sarandon and Shelley Duval.
• Hocus Pocus (1993)
Young children will enjoy this more than adults, I’m afraid, but I don’t think it’s quite as bad as the reviewers at the time made it out to be.​

Some movies that might appeal to somewhat older children:

• The Cat People (1942)
The remake from 1982 would be singularly inappropriate for children. Though you could add it to the adult list below. This, like The Body Snatcher, I Walk With a Zombie and The Leopard Man were the products of the RKO Studio, under the production of Val Lewton. They retain an uncommon intelligence for movie horror, and rely on atmosphere over special effects.
• The Thing (From Another World) (1951)
The later version of this by John Carpenter (1982) would likely be very disturbing to most children. I’m one of the odd horror fans who prefers this version to Carpenter’s. While the special effects of the early 1980s allowed Carpenter to return to John W. Campbell Jr.’s source novella and film it with greater integrity, Carpenter’s film loses some power by losing the comraderie of his soldiers. There is a “pre-quel” to Carpenter’s movie currently in the movie pipe-line.
• Them (1954)
The first twenty to thirty minutes of this, especially the finding of a young girl in a destroyed home, are still effective. After that, it becomes campy, though still fun in a different way.
• The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Really, can a ‘50s creature feature be any more fun than this? Some terrific underwater photography for the time, this features a choreographed swimming scene that still works.
• Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
These might disturb very young children, but most tweens and near-tweens shouldn’t have any problem with them. The film of
• Fright Night (1985)
If you have an aversion to nudity, there are a couple of topless scenes in this and some suggestion of sexuality. Good performances all around, especially by Roddy McDowell. Quite a bit of humor to go with the horror.​

For adults and older teens:

• Halloween (1978)
It might be going too far to say this movie is to Halloween what It’s aWonderful Life is to Christmas, but it is the only movie I’ve seen that takes place on Halloween and is truly, memorably scary. Terrific performances by a largely unknown (at the time) cast.
• Phantasm (1978)
• The Thing (1982)
My earlier stated reservations aside, this is still a well-made and frequently strong movie.
• Re-animator (1985) (based, very loosely, on “Herbert West, Reanimator” by H. P. Lovecraft)
Gross and gory, this movie revels in its over-the-top effects, and still, somehow, manages to be extremely funny at times. Not for all audiences, though.
• Sixth Sense (1999)
• The Blair Witch Project (1999)
• Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
This is the one mom and dad might like if they want a movie with a bit more intellectual … er … bite than the average run of horror movies. It recreates the filming of Nosferatu (1922) with the premise that the man playing Graf Orlock, the vampire character, was in truth a vampire. Fine acting by John Malkovich and, especially, Willem Dafoe.
• Bubba-Ho-Tep (2002; based on “Bubba-Ho-Tep” by Joe R. Lansdale)
You can see the lack of budget, but the chemistry between Bruce Campbell, as a delusional inmate of an old folks home who thinks he’s Elvis Presley, and Ossie Davis as an inmate who thinks he’s John Fitzgerald Kennedy, overcomes a lot of the failings of money and, occasionally, of direction.​

Very old, very odd, and silent movies for adventurous viewers:

• Nosferatu (1922)
Excellent and unauthorized adaptation of Dracula. While there are special effects might elicit laughter in a contemporary audience, what’s more surprising is how effective many of those effects still are.
• The Phantom of the Opera (1925; with Lon Chaney)
THE great unmasking scene in the history of horror movies.
• Metropolis (1927)
Bizarre s.f. movie. The robot in this probably stems from E. T. A. Hoffman’s “The Sandman.”
• M (1931)
Perhaps the first movie about a serial killer. Peter Lorre is terrific in an early role.
• Vampyr (1932; also known as Not Against the Flesh)
Supposedly based on Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla.” I’ve only seen this once, was fairly baffled about what was going on, but the atmosphere and mood of this movie is so surreal, eerie and compelling that I’d recommend it to anyone wanting something outside the norm.
• The Black Cat (1934)
One of the oddest movies to come from Universal Studios in its horror heyday of the 1930s. Karloff and Lugosi were rarely more effective together, the cinematography is appropriately odd and startling. Grand Guignol fun.
• Carnival of Souls (1962)
Odd little movie about a woman who has a car accident and the odd things that keep happening to her afterward. Increasingly surreal, and very effective for such a low-budget movie.
• Wendigo (2001)
Allusive, ellusive, maybe not entirely successful as a thoughtful horror movie, but still quite good. Anchored by good performances by Jake Weber and Patricia Clarkson as a married couple.​

 

[Rob B]

Partidge’s Dark Harvest posits a mid-west town with an unbroken streak of fine weather, good crops and great yield at harvest. And the secret for this success is revealed as the novel follows a young man transformed into … well, that would be telling; Partridge’s depiction of young people in their late teens trying to break away from the conventions and expectations of their particular town is convincing. While the setting and some of the description is Bradbury’s mid-west, Partridge’s view of small town life is closer to that of Thomas Tryon in Harvest Home, and his narrative voice is drawn from noir, less akin to Bradbury than to Dashiell Hammett or Fred Brown. This is the only one of the novels listed above that I would call an outright horror novel, and a well-constructed, entertaining one.

My mother read Harvest Home years ago and it terrified her. She said it was one of the scariest books she ever read and this is the woman who introduced me to Stephen King (in the 1980s when he was doing lots of Horror) anyway, I just posted this review on my blog (Dark Harvest):

Norman Partridge's Dark Harvest has been on my radar for a couple of years now having won the Bram Stoker award and receiving mentions by SFFWorld's resident Horror Expert Randy. M. The book was published first in limited edition by specialty horror press Cemetery Dance then by Tor with that terrific Jon Foster cover.

Small towns are often the settings for some of the best horror stories. Dark secrets add to the mix, and the sense of everybody knowing everybody, is the tip of the iceberg. In Norman Partridge’s Dark Harvest, these elements set the tension for the annual Hallowe’en night event where young boys try to catch the October Boy. Penned up and unfed by their families in the days leading up to Hallowe’en, these boys are released into the town to chase and take down the October Boy. In a sense, this is reminiscent of the mythical Wild Hunt. The boy who takes down the Pumpkin-headed monstrosity gets to leave the dead end town and his family is showered with prizes.

See, nobody ever leaves this unnamed town. Ever. Taking down the October Boy is the only chance anybody has of leaving and Hallowe'en and the hunt for the Boy is the focal point for this small town which has had wonderful crops as long as anybody can remember. Just like young men have been chasing the October Boy for as long as anybody can remember.

Our point-character is Pete McCormick. He’s got father issues, and is determined to win and leave the past and the down behind. We know Pete, or so the narrator tells us, and we do get to know Pete. Pete gets to know more about the October Boy than most other boys who hunt ol’ Hacksaw face.

With a flaming pumpkin-head, the October Boy evokes that iconic Hallowe’en image personified. That coupled with the evocative fall nights having turned from summer and the bristling cornfields adds to the ghostly, iconic resonance in which Partridge steeps his novel.

Partridge does something interesting with the voice used in the novel, switching from third person omniscient to second person conversational. It works very well on a number of levels, not the least of which is to put the reader into the heart of the story, to feel almost a participant who knows the players. This is an extremely effective way to make the novel all the more intimate.

What turns this novel from something of a typical and straightforward story to a more layered narrative is a little trick Partridge plays about halfway through the novel. The narrative lead me to believe the story was about one character, but Partridge very skillfully, and quickly, turns the story on its rear, and makes it more than just one boy’s wish to escape.

Partridge depicts the teens very well here, they aren’t whiney and are on par (wait for it) with Stephen King’s depictions of the Losers from IT and the kids from his short novel The Body. Sorry, but it is pretty tough not to compare a horror novel centered on young people/teens without a Stephen King comparison.

In the end, the imagery is powerful, the themes of youth awakening and small town dark secrets familiar, and the narrative pull thrillingly addictive. The fact that the town is never named and little background is given about the events leading up to those tevents hat take place in the novel, gives the novel a greater sense of mythic resonance. I think it’s pretty fair to say that Norman Partridge has crafted one of those novels readers will return to in future Hallowe’en readings – in other words an iconic novel.

Highly recommended

 

[jamieem]

Some great stuff in this thread, Randy - Thanks for taking the time to post it.

 

[Randy M.]

Thanks, Jamieem.

Good review, Rob. Thanks for adding it here.


Randy M.

 

[Randy M.]

A Dozen Stories I Should Have Shoe-horned in Somewhere

Naturally, there are more than a dozen stories that I should have found a place for, but here are a dozen I enjoyed, haven’t mentioned, and think I ought to.


1. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: “ Schalken the Painter”

One of the creepier stories I’ve read from the 19th century, this describes a painting by a famous painter and then tells the story behind it. It seems Schalken was not always famous and at that time there was a young woman …​

2. Nikolai Gogol: “The Viy”

Gogol’s often called the father of Russian realism. I can’t really say why since stories like “The Nose” and “The Overcoat” aren’t exactly realism at work, and neither is this story. While this title was mentioned in the posting I made yesterday as part of the contents of The Ghouls, I didn’t say anything about it. It concerns a young man’s encounter with a … well, Mario Bava turned it into a vampire story, but maybe you should decide for yourself. The story has a horrific and bizarre ending.​

3. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: “The Yellow Wallpaper”

One of the great conflations of psychology and ghost story, this story was rediscovered by feminists in the 1960s or 1970s and has become an anthology favorite, both mainstream and horror, ever since. I don’t know what I was thinking to not include it in the list of ghost stories.​

4. Hans Heinz Ewers, “The Spider”

I reread this recently, having forgotten how strong it is. A certain room in a boarding house has been the site of three deaths by suicide. A young man, down on his luck, takes the room to try to solve the mystery. And he does.​

5. Carl Jacobi: “Revelations in Black”

From the heyday of Weird Tales, this is a core vampire story that shows up in most retrospective vampire anthologies. Jacobi isn’t a great writer – the collection Revelations in Black is good, but not exceptional – but in this story he transcends himself. Strongly atmospheric.​

6. Claude Seignolle: “The Healer”

What if you were able to absorb illnesses and diseases from other people? What if someone came from you with an illness you didn’t recognize until …? I’ve only read three stories by Seignolle, but the translations from French indicate a delicate, thoughtful touch. This story is especially unsettling.​

7. Anthony Boucher: “They Bite”

From the heyday of Unknown, the fantasy magazine started and edited by John W. Campbell, Jr. Boucher is better known for urbane mysteries, the occasional s.f. story, and a fair amount of light fantasy like “The Compleat Werewolf.” In this story he shows a harder edge.​

8. John Cheever: “Torch Song”

Another writer not known for horror, but whose short work – notably “The Enormous Radio” – occasionally shaded over into genre material. This is a story about someone who cares for the sick. Quiet and effective.​

9. Ramsey Campbell: “The Interloper”

I am woefully behind in my reading of Campbell’s short work, which might explain why I’m mentioning a story most comments I’ve read about his work do not. This story of a schoolboy who learns something and doesn’t know who to turn to, and isn’t quite sure of import of what he’s found, gave me that frisson the horror readers talk about, that creeping, crawling sensation along the spine.​

10. Suzy McKee Charnas: “Boobs”

Who knew puberty was so very … transformative? This is one of the stories Charnas is known for, and it’s a powerful statement about a young girl coming into the power of youth.​

11. Neil Gaiman: “Snow, Glass, Apples”

Gaiman retells “Sleeping Beauty.” Do I really need to say more?​

12. Steve Duffy: “The Clay Party”

A relatively new story about a wagon train to the America’s western territories in the early part of the 19th century and what they need to do to survive.​

And, to make it a baker’s dozen,
13. Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn

This is one of the most delicate, exquisitely written collections of short stories I’ve ever read. Hearn does with words what Japanese painters do with brush strokes, a couple of simple lines suggesting more than than they state. A collection of Japanese ghost stories, beautifully evoking that sense of the otherworldly one gets from the best works of fantasy.​

 

[DurzoBlint]

Do any of the Scott Nicholson short stories count? I just finished up a short story collection of his called The First and some where really gripping stories. Most if not all of his novels are available for the Kindle for under $1.

 

[Banger]

I just posted a review for the recently reprinted Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber.

This thread is awesome, though the title is a bit misleading. There is literally years of great literature here, way more than anyone can read in just one month (a month that is sadly coming to an end soon).

 

[Hobbit]

Lady of Darkness is one of my favourite Leiber, as is Conjure, Wife!

If I remember right, Lady of Darkness was a World Fantasy Award Winner.

Nice review, Art.

Mark

 

[Randy M.]

Do any of the Scott Nicholson short stories count? I just finished up a short story collection of his called The First and some where really gripping stories. Most if not all of his novels are available for the Kindle for under $1.

Sure. Nicholson, I believe, has been writing horror for around a decade. I haven't gotten to any of his work yet, but he seems a likely writer to include here.

Randy M.

 

[Randy M.]

I just posted a review for the recently reprinted Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber.

That is a fine review, Banger, you're pushing me to reread Our Lady of Darkness, since it's been about 30 years. (And it was a World Fantasy Award winner, one of the first.)

This thread is awesome, though the title is a bit misleading. There is literally years of great literature here, way more than anyone can read in just one month (a month that is sadly coming to an end soon).

Thanks. In a sense, this thread has been years in the making.


Randy M.

 

[Randy M.]

Bound stories: Source Collections and Anthologies for these lists

I'd be lying if I said I had read all of these books cover-to-cover. I have not, but these are the collections and anthologies I drew from, and which I go back to time and again for new stories to read or old stories to revisit. Collections or anthologies I particularly recommend have an asterisk beside the title.

[I have a sense of having some of the titles slightly wrong. I'll be checking titles and correcting any errors in the near future.]


Single-author collections:

i. Charles Beaumont: The Howling Man and Other Stories*
ii. The Collected Ghost Stories of E. F. Benson
iii. The Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce
iv. Robert Bloch: The Early Fears *
v. Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood*
vi. The Best of James Blish
vii. Michael Blumlein: The Brains of Rats
viii. Anthony Boucher: The Complete Boucher
ix. The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen
x. Ray Bradbury: The October Country*; The Illustrated Man; The Stories of Ray Bradbury
xi. Poppy Z. Brite: Wormwood*
xii. Thomas Burke: The Best Stories of Thomas Burke; The Golden Gong and Other Night Pieces
xiii. Octavia Butler: Bloodchild and Other Stories*
xiv. Ramsey Campbell: Alone With the Horrors; Cold Print
xv. Jonathan Carroll: The Panic Hand*
xvi. Angela Carter: Burning Your Bridges
xvii. Robert W. Chambers: The King in Yellow and Other Stories
xviii. Fred Chappell: More Shapes than One*
xix. Suzy McKee Charnas: Stagestruck Vampires
xx. The Stories of John Cheever
xxi. John Collier: Fancies & Goodnights*; The John Collier Reader
xxii. Avram Davidson: The Avram Davidson Treasury
xxiii. Best Stories of Walter de la Mare*
xxiv. Best Ghost Stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
xxv. Lord Dunsany: Wonder Tales
xxvi. Neil Gaiman: Smoke & Mirrors*; Fragile Things
xxvii. William Gay: I Hate to See that Evening Sun Go Down*
xxviii. Davis Grubb: 12 Tales of Terror and the Supernatural
xxix. The Collected Stories of L. P. Hartley
xxx. Lafcadio Hearn: Kwaidan *
xxxi. Glen Hirshberg: The Two Sams*
xxxii. William Hope Hodgson: Adrift on the Haunted Seas
xxxiii. Shirley Jackson: Come Along With Me; The Lottery; One Ordinary Day
xxxiv. M. R. James: Collected Ghost Stories
xxxv. Carl Jacobi: Revelations in Black
xxxvi. Jack Ketcham: Peaceable Kingdom
xxxvii. T. E. D. Klein: Dark Gods
xxxviii. Kathe Koja: Extremities*
xxxix. C. M. Kornbluth: His Share of Glory
xl. Joe R. Lansdale: Writer of the Purple Rage
xli. Vernon Lee: Hauntings*
xlii. Fritz Leiber: Heroes and Horrors; Night’s Black Agents*; Smoke Ghost and Other Apparitions; The Black Gondolier and Other Stories
xliii. Bob Leman: The Feesters in the Lake and Other Stories*
xliv. Thomas Ligotti: Grimscribe; Songs of a Dead Dreamer; My Work is Not Yet Done
xlv. H. P. Lovecraft: At the Mountains of Madness and Other Stories; The Dunwich Horror and Others; Tales of H. P. Lovecraft
xlvi. The Collected Stories of William Faulkner
xlvii. Richard Matheson: Third From the Sun
xlviii. Arthur Machen: Tales of Horror and the Supernatural *; The Three Imposters*
xlix. Brian MacNaughton: The Throne of Bones *
l. Sarah Monette: The Bone Key
li. C. L. Moore: Northwest Smith; Two-Handed Engine* (w/Henry Kuttner)
lii. Jean Ray: My Own Private Spectres (“The Tenebrous Alley” a.k.a. “The Shadowy Street”)
liii. Al Sarrantonio: Toybox
liv. George Saunders: CivilWarLand in Bad Decline
lv. Clark Ashton Smith: Zothique*
lvi. The Ghost Stories of Murial Spark
lvii. Peter Straub: Magic Terror
lviii. James Tiptree, Jr. (a.k.a. Alice Sheldon): Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
lix. Karl Edward Wagner: In a Lonely Place
lx. Best Science Fiction of H. G. Wells
lxi. The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton
lxii. Connie Willis: Fire Watch; Impossible Things
lxiii. Cornell Woolrich: Darkness at Dawn; The Fantastic Stories of Cornell Woolrich​

Anthologies

i. The Dark Descent ed. by David Hartwell *
ii. Foundations of Fear ed. by David Hartwell *

On browsing through these last weekend I felt amazed by and vaguely guilty for how many of the stories I added to these lists were in these volumes. In spite of being about 20 years old, they remain for now the definitive anthologies of the horror story.​

iii. Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural ed. by Herbert Wise and Phyllis Wagner (Cerf) *

Before Hartwell, this was the definitive anthology. Many fans of the weird tale prefer another anthology published within a year of this one and ostensibly edited by Boris Karloff, but this one has remained in print since its first edition in the 1940s. It is flawed -- a few weak stories, only a handful of women writers represented -- but it is still filled with good reading.​

iv. Blackwater* & Blackwater 2 ed. by Alberto Manguel
v. The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories ed. by Alan Ryan
vi. The Vampire Archives ed. by Otto Penzler
vii. American Gothic Tales ed. by Joyce Carol Oates
viii. The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories ed. by Michael Cox
ix. The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories ed. by Michael Cox
x. Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural ed. by Marvin Kaye
xi. My Favorite Horror Story ed. Martin Greenburg
xii. The Norton Book of Science Fiction ed by Ursula K. Le Guin
xiii. The Best New Horror: Volume Six ed. by Stephen Jones
xiv. Werewolves! ed. by Bill Pronzini
xv. The Ghouls ed. by Peter Haining
xvi. The Literary Werewolf ed. by Catherine Otten
xvii. Dangerous Visions ed. by Harlan Ellison
xviii. Poe ed. by Ellen Datlow
xix. The Arbor House Treasure of Horror and the Supernatural ed. by Bill Pronzini (recently reissued, I believe, under a different title)
xx. The Best New Horror of the Year, vol 1 ed. by Ellen Datlow
xxi. The S. F. Hall of Fame, vols. 1-3, ed. Ben Bova; Robert Silverberg​

The next and last list: Readings for Halloween night

 

[Randy M.]

Stories To Read Halloween Night

Most of these are set on Halloween, but a couple are just October/autumn stories, all of them fresh with the smell of apples, the crunch of leaves, the brisk autumn wind, the symptoms of a quieter, fallow time approaching, and the intimation of mortality that comes with autumn.


Washington Irving, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

Currently rereading this. Irving’s material may foreshadow Poe and Hawthorne a bit, but his wry humor dominates this tale. This story possesses a charm that doesn’t really come through the Tim Burton movie, though it is apparent in the Disney animated version that has a voice over by Bing Crosby. Good reading for a windy dark Halloween evening.​

Robert Bloch, “The Cloak”

Going to a Halloween party and need a costume? Be careful where you buy it! This young man wasn’t careful enough and got something a bit too … authentic!​

Ray Bradbury, “The October Game”

It’s easy to forget. It’s so often hidden behind the joyousness, the exuberance, the glee in vagaries of life. But it’s there, that sharp edge of understanding, the acknowledgement of the evil in some people. This one feels like Bradbury channeling Poe, acknowledging the potential for disaffection in a family. One of Bradbury’s non-supernatural, non-fantastic stories.​

Al Sarrantonio, “Pumpkin Head”

Halloween has become a holiday for children, after all, so what’s more natural than a children’s party and story-telling. Sometimes, though, stories may go too far …​

Neil Gaiman, “October in the Chair”

And, again, story-telling, this time October telling his fellow months a story about a little boy, lonely as a child can get, and what he’s willing to do to make a friend.​

Glen Hirshberg, “Struwellpeter”

Two young friends, one rambunctious, one less so, and the adventure they share one Halloween. This one is a bit grueling. Another writer showing his hard, sharp edge.​

Richard Chizmar, ed., October Dreams:

I admit I haven’t finished this book. I’ve read the essays on movies, and books and stories set on Halloween, the essay on the origins of the holiday; I’ve read all the personal reminiscences of Halloweens past, and I’ve enjoyed them quite a bit – some are charming, some funny, some a bit sad or wistful. But I read or reread a story or two and save the rest for next year or the year after. I still have a few to go. These are quite good:

Ray Bradbury, “Heavy Set”

Again the hard, sharp edge. Bradbury implies more than he states, but the implication isn’t pretty. Another non-supernatural horror story.​

Gahan Wilson, “Yesterday’s Witch”
Simon Clark, “The Whitby Experience”
Jack Ketcham, “Gone”

These all deal with the “trick” in trick-or-treat; Wilson’s is the slyest, the other two more horror stories. And quite effective at that.​

Caitlin Kiernan, “A Redress for Andromeda”

Into the void left by Poppy Z. Brite moving on to other literary pastures stepped Caitlin Kiernan. She’s becoming one of my favorite fantasists, and this story that mixes Halloween with something vaguely Lovecraftian, is a good demonstration of why. Mood dominates, as it should on Halloween.​

Peter Straub, “Pork Pie Hat”

This is a tale about jazz, and about a jazz musician’s memory of a past Halloween. It’s poignant, and the effect that Halloween had on him, perhaps even as the source of his inspiration, is compelling. This is a terrific novella, touching and sad.
​

Well, it's been enjoyable, but October is nearly over and this is the last of my lists. I hope I've pointed out some reading that you haven't come across before, some of which will interest and entertain you.

Have a Happy, safe Halloween.


Randy M.

 

[The Lord of all Things Inane]

Wow! You are a rock star, Randy M. Thank you very much for posting this, this represents a lot of work and research. Reading through your material took me back. Thank you again.
CDN

 

[Hobbit]

Absolutely: thank you again, Randy. LOTS to go at here.

Can see myself dipping into this at regular intervals (or is that irregular?) not just in October, but afterwards as well.

Think we need to keep this thread to be resurrected next year....

Mark

 

[Shayna]

thanx

I too would like to say a big Thank-you Randy! So much research of yours has gone into this thread and all your blood, sweat and horror!!

To Hobbit....definitely love to see this next year!


I have so much to look up now!