The Ape,the idiot and other people-W.C.Morrow 1897

[Lobolover]

(repost)

Has anyone ever read this?


As far as I can tell," An Original Revenge" is by far the worst story,having litle merritt of any kind,but thats just a small smudge.Things like " His Unconquerable Enemy" , " Over an Absinthe Bottle" , " A Story Told by the Sea" and of course the wonderfull " The Monster-Maker" are stories surely worth a read.Note,I have yet to read those not yet mentioned here.

The text is here,online if you will-http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21616/21616-h/21616-h.htm

 

[brsrkrkomdy]

I'm reading it right now. The first tale is very off beat about a gorilla on the loose with his human pal, a mental patient. I'm onto the second one.

 

[dask]

I haven't read the book but did read "His Unconquerable Enemy" in another collection. Good stuff and wouldn't mind reading more.

 

[j d worthington]

Aside from the online version of this particular book, Midnight House put out a substantial collection of Morrow's best weird fiction (some of which, iirc, had never been collected together before), in 2000, titled The Monster Maker and Other Stories, edited by S. T. Joshi and Stefan Dziemianowicz, two of the most knowledgeable people in the field. It's OP now, but if you can find it, should still be fairly close to the original publication price....

 

[brsrkrkomdy]

Finally read them all. It's a mixed bag of sorts, some parts weird, some parts satirical, some parts conte cruel, and one or two stories were supernatural. Even Ambrose Bierce liked his stuff. His only complaint of him was that Morrow should've written more instead of wasting his time teaching bad writers. (His words, not mine. )

 

[Lobolover]

Well, two at least should have been left out, but I realy liked all the rest, though I did find the title story to be slightly uneven when compared with the others .

It's basicly a very amusing conte cruel colection, which if you read steadily, you will just find youself waiting what horrible cruelty is awating somebody . The story may not say as much in the begining, but you know it and keep looking for that first hint and then.....there's no going back! Though the cumulative efect is best preserved in a continous reading as far as I can judge . Still prety sweet (for lack of a better word right now) of you to follow my sugestion !

But aside from this colection, I realy don't know what stuff of his to read . I heard "the unfaithfull clock" is reprinted more then not, though it's simple inclusion on horrormasters can't convince me, as they upload even things that have nothing to do with horror .

 

[j d worthington]

Well, Joshi and Dziemianowicz included it in The Monster Maker and Other Stories as well, which "gathers all of Morrow's best supernatural and suspense tales in one volume" (according to the dj copy)... so I'd say it's probably worth a look....

 

[Lobolover]

The Monster Maker and other stories

Has around four more stories that were not in the original colection . "The haunted automaton" is not a very Morrow-esque story at all . It could end up as one, but instead, Morrow made a very obvious story about tricking an old geezer which has litle to no surprises .

"A haunted Burglar" is better, especialy the ending, a litle bellow the best of his works, but stil enjoyable . Hav yet to read the others .

 

[Lobolover]

"The Gloomy Shadow" is also a nice piece, now that I've read it, much bter then the previous one to . I can't give away much more, but it is Morrow after all .