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This exceptional compilation contains more than fifty short stories, novellas and poems, both classic and modern, by some of the most distinguished writers of all time. Masterful works by Bram Stoker, H.P. Lovecroft, Mary Shelley, Sheridan LeFanu, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Tennessee Williams, Isaac Asimov, J.R.R. Tolkien, in addition to little-known masterpieces of fantasy and terror by such authors as Stanley Ellin, Patricia Highsmith, John Dickson Carr and Damon Runyon, make this one of the most wide-ranging, outstanding collections of its kind. Marvin Kaye provides fascinating prefatory notes to each selection and an annotated bibliography of other recommended reading, as well as an Introduction and Afterword providing further insights into the genres of terror and the supernatural.… (more)
Looking at the Table of Contents makes you think just about everyone and his famous uncle has written a story that fits the genre. This is a great collection for staying up late by yourself with and then trying to go to sleep... ( )
One selection, Andreyev's "Lazarus" clearly lives up to the "masterpiece" accolade, seemingly distilling into a medium-length tale all of Lovecraft's cosmic horror, somewhat disconcertingly presented in lovely prose. The effect is of detachment, similar to that of his protagonist. The bleak abyss described as Platonic Form.
Orson Scott Card's "Eumenidies in the Fourth Floor Lavatory" is horrific and weird, bringing to mind the premise of Geek Love.
There are many other contributions worth reading, but as yet I've not read the book cover-to-cover. Rescued from a friend's discard bin on the strength of a pre-revision version of Tolkien's "Riddles in the Dark", it's evident there's much more here recommending this collection. ( )
The kind of book you just love to break out around Halloween or any other time you desire spooky thrills. With a little something for everyone this book provides great variety for the reader who loves any and all kinds of horror. ( )
This exceptional compilation contains more than fifty short stories, novellas and poems, both classic and modern, by some of the most distinguished writers of all time. Masterful works by Bram Stoker, H.P. Lovecroft, Mary Shelley, Sheridan LeFanu, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Tennessee Williams, Isaac Asimov, J.R.R. Tolkien, in addition to little-known masterpieces of fantasy and terror by such authors as Stanley Ellin, Patricia Highsmith, John Dickson Carr and Damon Runyon, make this one of the most wide-ranging, outstanding collections of its kind. Marvin Kaye provides fascinating prefatory notes to each selection and an annotated bibliography of other recommended reading, as well as an Introduction and Afterword providing further insights into the genres of terror and the supernatural.
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Contents:
Introduction - Marvin Kaye
Fiends and Creatures Dracula's Guest - Bram Stoker The Professor's Teddy Bear - Theodore Sturgeon Bubnoff and the Devil - Ivan Turgenev, English adaptation - Marvin Kaye The Quest for Blank Calveringi - Patricia Highsmith The Erl-King - Johann Wolfgang Von Goëthe, English adaptation - Marvin Kaye The Bottle Imp - Robert Louis Stevenson A Malady of Magicks - Craig Shaw Gardner Lan Lung - M. Lucie Chin The Dragon Over Hackensack - Richard L. Wexelblat The Transformation - Mary W. Shelley The Faceless Thing - Edward D. Hoch
Lovers and Other Monsters The Anchor - Jack Snow When the Clock Strikes - Tanith Lee Oshidori - Lafcadio Hearn Carmilla - Sheriden LeFanu Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory - Orson Scott Card Lenore - Gottfried August Bürger, English adaptation - Dante Gabriel Rossetti The Black Wedding - Isaac Bashevis Singer, translated - Martha Glicklich Hop-Frog - Edgar Allan Poe Sardonicus - Ray Russell Graveyard Shift - Richard Matheson Wake Not the Dead - Johann Ludwig Tieck Night and Silence - Maurice Level
Acts of God and Other Horrors Flies - Isaac Asimov The Night Wire - H.F. Arnold Last Respects - Dick Baldwin The Pool of the Stone God - A. Merritt A Tale of the Thirteenth Floor - Ogden Nash The Tree - Dylan Thomas Stroke of Mercy - Parke Godwin Lazarus - Leonid Andreyev
The Beast Within The Waxwork - A.M. Burrage The Silent Couple - Pierre Courtois, translated and adapted - Faith Lancereau and Marvin Kaye Moon-Face - Jack London Death in the School-Room - Walt Whitman The Upturned Face - Stephen Crane One Summer Night - Ambrose Bierce The Easter Egg - H.H. Munro ("Saki") The House in Goblin Wood - John Dickson Carr The Vengence of Nitocris - Tennessee Williams The Informal Execution of Soupbone Pew - Damon Runyon His Unconquerable Enemy - W.C. Morrow Rizpah - Alfred, Lord Tennyson The Question - Stanley Ellin
Ghosts and Miscellaneous Nightmares The Flayed Hand - Guy de Maupassant The Hospice - Robert Aickman The Christmas Banquet - Nathaniel Hawthorne The Hungry House - Robert Bloch The Demon of the Gibbet - Fitz-James O'Brien The Owl - Anatole Le Braz, translated - Faith lancereau No. 252 Rue M. Le Prince - Ralph Adams Cram The Music of Erich Zann - H.P. Lovecraft Riddles in the Dark (Original Version, 1938) - J.R.R. Tolkien