Wordsworth - Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural

[Connavar]

The Wordsworth Book of Horror Stories

I cant stop myself from getting this collection cause of the chance of trying these authors at once :
M.R.James, Le Fanu, Henry James, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Bierce, Balzac, Gaskell.


Children of the Night: Classic Vampire Stories

Looks very interesting too. With John Polidori’s The Vampyre and James Malcolm Rymer’s Varney the Vampyre.

That there are so many choices from so many different publishers and for so cheaply is almost too good.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Polidori's story does him more credit than biographers of Byron and the Shelleys ever seem to do.

 

[Connavar]

Polidori's story does him more credit than biographers of Byron and the Shelleys ever seem to do.

Heh thats not surprising.

I just hope the famous vampire story of his isnt only hype.

 

[j d worthington]

Heh thats not surprising.

I just hope the famous vampire story of his isnt only hype.

No, not only hype; though it has some serious flaws, I have to agree with Lovecraft:

Dr. Polidori developed his competing idea as a long short story, The Vampyre; in which we behold a suave villain of the true Gothic or Byronic type, and encounter some excellent passages of stark fright, including a terrible nocturnal experience in a shunned Grecian wood.

When it's good, it really is quite memorable. It also heavily influenced the major classics of the field for quite some time to come, including Le Fanu's "Carmilla" and Stoker's Dracula....

 

[mortbury]

Has anyone read Not Exactly Ghosts: AND Fires Burn Blue in this series by Sir Andrew Caldecott?

 

[nomadman]

Has anyone read Not Exactly Ghosts: AND Fires Burn Blue in this series by Sir Andrew Caldecott?

Yes, I have. Many of the stories have something of the flavor of MR James, with quaint county parishes and suchlike, though a couple (my favorites) take place in the fictional South East Asian country of Kongea. Here, Caldecott seems to shake loose from his societal trappings and delve into more overtly horrific elements like giant spiders, flesh-eating viruses, etc. He never descends into pulp, though. Like James, most of the supernatural element is subtle and seen from the corner of one eye; Caldecott was obviously a keen student of literary horror. His prose is crisp and polished, and demonstrates fine mastery of the form. Not a bad collection, all in all, though none of the stories really jumped out at me.

 

[mortbury]

Sounds interesting. Thanks, nomadman.

 

[Connavar]

I did finaly order Tales of Mystery and Imagination.

Its feels like dissing Poe for selling it for only 50 kr or £3.5

I can get 10 collections like that for almost as much a new hardcover book cost.

 

[Lobolover]

If it has Gautier,Hodgson,Machen or Blackwood,go right ahead.

 

[BAYLOR]

I have The Dead of Night The Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions the Wordsworth edition.