Horror Recommendations for the Unenlightened

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by pyan

Unless the dog is ten feet tall, has six legs,glowing red eyes, is as black as night, and has huge, slavering, blood-flecked jaws, of course...

Adding anything to that comment would be gilding the lily... so I concede the kudos to you, sir....

[nomadman]

Anyone interested in acquainting themselves with the classics should check out Wordsworth's new series "Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural". Their full list of titles can be found here:

Wordsworth Editions Ltd

[j. d. worthington]

Thanks for that; reminded me of that series, which I'd been meaning to look into again (I've got a few, but hadn't kept up with, especially as several of the things they've put out I already had). Several in there now that I don't have in any form (or only a few scattered stories, such as those by A.C. and R.H. Benson -- E.F. is another matter.....) But why "The Loved Dead" as a title piece? Hardly among the best of Lovecraft's revisions (though quite enjoyable... very tongue-in-cheek....)

[nomadman]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

Thanks for that; reminded me of that series, which I'd been meaning to look into again (I've got a few, but hadn't kept up with, especially as several of the things they've put out I already had). Several in there now that I don't have in any form (or only a few scattered stories, such as those by A.C. and R.H. Benson -- E.F. is another matter.....) But why "The Loved Dead" as a title piece? Hardly among the best of Lovecraft's revisions (though quite enjoyable... very tongue-in-cheek....)

The Temple of Death isn't a bad collection, though I find the moralistic tone of some of the stories a little irritating. Surprising scenes of brutality though, in all three brothers' works, and some wonderfully dark and tortured characters. Some others I've enjoyed: The Beetle by Richard Marsh, a novel at one time as popular as Dracula, an odd and anachronistic tale involving a threat from Ancient Egypt that is never quite known or perhaps unknowable, and a cast of characters as grotesque in their own way as the thing they seek to combat. Sweeney Todd (the original penny dreadful) is a helluva fun book, much better written than one might assume, though a little uneven in places--unsurprising given its multiple authors. Kwaidan and In Ghostly Japan by Lafcadio Hearn: Hearn's style is subtle and without pomp; he delivers his horrors plainly and naturally. An unsettling experience. Then there are the names everyone knows: James, Stoker, Lovecraft, Le Fanu, etc, and some writers I've never read, namely Caldecott.

[j. d. worthington]

I've occasionally come across Caldecott; I'm wondering if the James has his complete ghostly tales... there was a volume simply titled The Ghostly Tales of Henry James put out some years ago (took me the devil of a time tracking that one down, oddly enough). Very glad to see The String of Pearls back in print, as I've been wanting to read the original tale for some time now; either I've just completely missed its presence, or it's not been available here for a long time. And yes, my few encounters with the Benson brothers matches what you say here... still, they are interesting tales, and certainly don't deserve the neglect they've long suffered -- even if they're not quite on the level with their better-known brother (who indeed wrote some of the classics of the field)....

I have a copy of The Beetle in a book titled Victorian Villainies... wonderful book, containing The Great Tontine, by Hawley Smart, The Rome Express, by Major Arthur Griffiths, "In the Fog", by Richard Harding Davis, and The Beetle, by Richard Marsh. It still has something of a reputation even today, being mentioned by such as Ramsey Campbell (and included in HPL's essay....)

Nice to know someone else out there reads (and enjoys) these things.....

[nomadman]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

I've occasionally come across Caldecott; I'm wondering if the James has his complete ghostly tales... there was a volume simply titled The Ghostly Tales of Henry James put out some years ago (took me the devil of a time tracking that one down, oddly enough).

The James is simply a reprint of the older Wordsworth Classics edition, I think.

I have a copy of The Beetle in a book titled Victorian Villainies... wonderful book, containing The Great Tontine, by Hawley Smart, The Rome Express, by Major Arthur Griffiths, "In the Fog", by Richard Harding Davis, and The Beetle, by Richard Marsh. It still has something of a reputation even today, being mentioned by such as Ramsey Campbell (and included in HPL's essay....)

Nice to know someone else out there reads (and enjoys) these things.....

Funny, I first picked up The Beetle on little more than a whim; I must have totally overlooked its mention in Lovecraft's essay (Supernatural Horror in Literature?). Strange how books like this call out to people through the ages.

[AE35Unit]

Someone mentioned Chthulu,just how many of these works of Lovecraft are there? I need to find some of his stuff,but i know nothing about him. Is he a contempary of Edgar Allan Poe?

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by nomadman

Funny, I first picked up The Beetle on little more than a whim; I must have totally overlooked its mention in Lovecraft's essay (Supernatural Horror in Literature?). Strange how books like this call out to people through the ages.

Yes, SHiL it is (though your overlooking it is not surprising, given the brevity of the mention):

Dracula evoked many similar novels of supernatural horor, among which the best are perhaps The Beetle, by Richard Marsh, Brood of the Witch-Queen, by "Sax Rohmer" (Arthur Sarsfield Ward), and The Door of the Unreal, by Gerald Biss. The latter handles quite dexterously the standard werewolf superstition.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by AE35Unit

Someone mentioned Chthulu,just how many of these works of Lovecraft are there? I need to find some of his stuff,but i know nothing about him. Is he a contempary of Edgar Allan Poe?

Lovecraft's entire fictional oeuvre (save for a few scattered oddities such as "Some Reminiscences of Dr. Samuel Johnson") are available in three trade pb collections: The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories, The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories (all available from Penguin), and The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions (available from Del Rey).

No, he wasn't a contemporary of Poe, though he was quite influenced by him. Poe died in 1849, whereas Lovecraft was born in 1890 and died in 1937....

[AE35Unit]

Thanks j.d,i think I'll have a look on bookmooch :d
I love Poe,a lot scarier on paper than on silver screen!

[nomadman]

Originally Posted by AE35Unit

Someone mentioned Chthulu,just how many of these works of Lovecraft are there? I need to find some of his stuff,but i know nothing about him. Is he a contempary of Edgar Allan Poe?

Try this site for Lovecraft's works.

The H. P. Lovecraft Library (in HTML and TXT)

[AE35Unit]

Thanks nomad but i don't have a palm OS,just a bog standard cell phone.(sony ericsson W850i) Hope to get a nokia N95 as a replacement tho soon.

[nomadman]

Hideshi Hino's "The Bug Boy"



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[Hedrigall]

For horror short stories I would definitely recommend:

Looking for Jake by China Mieville for a short-but-sweet compilation of urban horror/fantasy (some of the stories being very, very creepy)

and

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King, which I think is his best collection of short stories, especially as it includes The Mist and The Raft, two of the scariest things he's ever written, and The Jaunt and Beachworld, two of his best sci-fi stories (which also verge into horror territory).

[Lioness]

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned The Shining, by Stephen King.

That really scared me. I havn't read IT yet though, so it may pale in comparison.