100 Wild Little Weird Tales

by Robert Weinberg (Editor), Stefan R. Dziemianowicz (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor)

Here are the wildest & wooliest stories from Weird Tales, the leader of pulp magazine fantasy from 1923 to 1954. Includes selected stories from H.P. Lovecraft, Florence Crow, Henry S. Whitehead, Seabury Quinn, Jules de Grandin, E. Hoffman Price, & others.

Full story listing:
Across the Gulf - Henry S. Whitehead
Alice and the Allergy - Fritz Leiber
Anton’s Last Dream - Edwin Baird
The Archfiend’s Fingers - Kirk Mashburn
Berenice - Edgar Allan Poe
The Black Madonna - A. W. Wyville
The Black Monk - G. G. Pendarves
The Boat on the Beach - Kadra Maysi
Burnt Things - Robert C. Sandison
Cat’s Cradle - E. W. Tomlinson
The Cavern - Manly Wade Wellman
The Chain - H. Warner Munn
The Church Stove at Raebrudafisk - G. Appleby Terrill
The Closed Door - Harold Ward
Country House - Ewen Whyte
The Cracks of Time - Dorothy Quick
The Cripple - Maurice Level
Cross of Fire - Lester del Rey
Dark Rosaleen - Seabury Quinn
The Death Mist - Captain George H. Daugherty, Jr.
The Disinterment of Venus - Clark Ashton Smith
The Doom That Came to Sarnath - H. P. Lovecraft
Dream Justice - E. W. Mayo
A Dream of Death - Andrew Daw
The Dream of Death - Elwood F. Pierce
Eric Martin’s Nemesis - Jay Wilmer Benjamin
Escape - Paul Ernst
The Extra Passenger - Stephen Grendon
The Feast in the Abbey - Robert Bloch
Fidel Bassin - W. J. Stamper
The Fifth Candle - Cyril Mand
The Finishing Touches - Renier Wyers
A Gipsy Prophecy - Bram Stoker
The Girdle - Joseph McCord
The Gloves - Garnett Radcliffe
The Harbor of Ghosts - M. J. Bardine
The Hate - Wilford Allen
The Haunted Wood of Adoure - Elliot O’Donnell
The Hidden Talent of Artist Bates - Snowden T. Herrick
The High Places - Frances Garfield
His Brother’s Keeper - Captain George Fielding Eliot
The Hunch - Gene Lyle, III
Hypnos - H. P. Lovecraft
I Can’t Wear White - Suzanne Pickett
In the Dark - Ronal Kayser
The Iron Hands of Katzaveere - David Eynon
The Japanese Tea Set - Francis J. O’Neil
The Justice of the Czar - Captain George Fielding Eliot
The Last Drive - Carl Jacobi
The Last Incantation - Clark Ashton Smith
The Last Man - Seabury Quinn
The Last of Mrs. Debrugh - H. Sivia
The Late Mourner - Julius Long
The Man in the Taxi - Leslie Gordon Barnard
The Man Who Was Saved - B. W. Sliney
Masquerade - Mearle Prout
Mr. Bauer and the Atoms - Fritz Leiber
Muggridge’s Aunt - August W. Derleth
Murder Man - Ewen Whyte
Murder Mask - Edgar Daniel Kramer
The Murderer - Murray Leinster
Night and Silence - Maurice Level
The Nightmare Road - Florence Crow
No Eye-Witnesses - Henry S. Whitehead
Nude with a Dagger - John Flanders
The Ocean Ogre - Dana Carroll
Off the Map - Rex Dolphin
On Top - Ralph Allen Lang
One Chance - Ethel Helene Coen
The Other Santa - Thorp McClusky
A Pair of Swords - Carl Jacobi
The Pale Man - Julius Long
Parthenope - Manly Wade Wellman
The Phantom Bus - W. Elwyn Backus
Rendezvous - Richard H. Hart
The Ring - J. M. Fry
The Sealed Casket - Richard F. Searight
The Seeds from Outside - Edmond Hamilton
The Sixth Gargoyle - David Eynon
Soul-Catcher - Robert S. Carr
The Statue - James Causey
The Stranger from Kurdistan - E. Hoffmann Price
Swamp Horror - Will Smith & R. J. Robbins
Take the Z Train - Allison V. Harding
The Teakwood Box - Johns Harrington
These Doth The Lord Hate - Manly Wade Wellman
Thinker - Malcolm Kenneth Murchie
Threshold of Endurance - Betsy Emmons
Top of the World - Tarleton Collier
The Tree of Life - Paul Ernst
The Tryst in the Tomb - M. J. Cain
Under the Eaves - Helen M. Reid
The Unveiling - Alfred I. Tooke
The Violet Death - Gustav Meyrink
A Visitor from Far Away - Loretta Burrough
Warning Wings - Arlton Eadie
What Waits in Darkness - Loretta Burrough
When the Sea Gives Up Its Dead - Robert Peery
The Witch-Baiter - R. Anthony
The Witch-Ball - E. F. Benson

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Weird Fiction

581 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Also published as Harrison Denmark.
Robert Weinberg (also credited as Bob Weinberg) was an American author. His work spans several genres including non-fiction, science fiction, horror, and comic books.

Weinberg sold his first story in 1967. Most of his writing career was conducted part-time while also owning a bookstore; he became a full time writer after 1997.

Weinberg was also an editor, and edited books in the fields of horror, science fiction and western. In comics, Weinberg wrote for Marvel Comics; his first job was on the series Cable, and he later created the series Nightside.

Wikipedia entry: Robert Weinberg

Reviews

[Shawn]

PLACEHOLDER REVIEW

Going over some things that have just moved into the public domain:

In "The Last Incantation" by Clark Ashton Smith, aged master sorcerer of Poseidonis, Malygris, decides in a fit of melancholy to summon forth the spirit of his first love, long before he dedicated his life to magic and necromancy. But even aged sorcerers have lessons to learn.... Eh, not really my thing.

Mr. Strite is peculiarly fascinated by an old bus that precedes the morning arrival of his own, a clattering, sinister old rattletrap that passes by, in "The Phantom Bus" by W. Elwyn Backus. And soon, Mr. Strite finds he can not drive thoughts of the strange bus, or of boarding it, from his mind... while this TWILIGHT ZONE stylized tale is familiar, I quite liked its eerie tone. It may be obvious but it still works.

"The Tree Of Life" by Paul Ernst is about young man in a cabin keeping vigil with a corpse, as his father and the dead woman's husband go for the undertaker. But after a mouse is revived from the dead by a specific action, he begins to wonder if the same might be possible for the dead woman... eh, this is one of those yarns that's too short to do the conceit justice, but any longer and it would be belaboring its point. Eh

Murray Leinster's "The Murderer" is of one of those "all in a moment"/lesser E.A. Poe pastiches - guy has killed his rich uncle, but left his cigarette case behind. So he momentarily returns to the scene of the crime to retrieve it and finds it gone, and noises in the room... eh, a trifle.

In "The Boat on the Beach" by Kadra Maysi, lifeguards, after a notorious ship sinking, see a beautiful woman who repeatedly comes down to the beach and sits in one of the rescue boats. It's a sentimental ghost story but quite well written.

Elliot O'Donnell's "The Haunted Wood Of Adoure" is another of O'Donnell's story versions of supposedly "true" hauntings - here, an executioner spends a night in a remote farmhouse when his bicycle is damaged on a cross-country trip. But he suffers a hideous vision of murder that occurs in the bedroom—and the very bed—he occupies. In the end, it's one of those "not a ghost, a vision of the future" things. Tame and pedestrian.

Robert C. Sandison's "Burnt Things" has a man on a trip plan on arriving to a small Southern town late at night to take a room, before journeying to his intended location nearby the next day. But then he's told that the town is almost deserted, after the big fire at the sugar factory last year killed almost everyone. And yet he goes.... So, the simple version is - this is a gruesome, pulpy yarn with a great setting and almost a proto-TALES FROM THE CRYPT structure (blunt, gruesome scare-tale, although no ironic ending/comeuppance). But let's address the elephant in the train car - the story's effectiveness is somewhat undone by having a guest appearance of Steppin' Fetchit in the set-up, which can't help but distract with it's egregious insult (casual, passive racism of the time is one thing, but dialogue like this seems to be inherently calculated - whether consciously or unconsciously - to further a racist worldview). Still, stripped of that, a fun spook yarn.

In “The Feast In The Abbey” by Robert Bloch a traveler is waylaid by a storm while in a deep forest and takes refuge at a strange monastery, where the brothers are celebrating with a large feast, to which he is invited. But the dinner gets stranger and more decadent... Another story that, were I younger (back when I needed “important horror”) I would have looked on with disdain, but older now I realize this story is great fun – Bloch working in “European fable” mode, with some ripe language and ability to be more directly gruesome to inform the punchline. Great stuff.

"The Girdle" by Joseph McCord has a wounded veteran of WWI meeting with the father of a fellow soldier who died, to explain the manner of his son's death - which are odd circumstances involving a seemingly innocuous belt found in an abandoned farmhouse.... this is a fairly brief tale that is interesting for illustrating how some WEIRD TALES writers were attempting to update old forms and supernatural threats. Here, we're given a WWI setting, a sudden change of personality, the proof that such a change can be repeated, and a "classic," if a bit fortuitous, "explanation." While all a bit too pat to be considered a "great story," it is interesting.

"The Man Who Was Saved" by B.W. Sliney has a ship traveling across the Pacific pick up a dinghy with a man onboard, only survivor of what he claims was an attack, on he and his friend's schooner, by a monstrous blob from the ocean as they were stuck in doldrums. Not bad - a short, punchy little monster yarn. We presented a free reading on PSEUDOPOD here.

"The Witch-Ball" by E.F. Benson - After discovering an intriguing bauble in an antiques shop, two friends discover that it supplies them with disturbing visions of death... Well, this is one of your typical "well-written, nothing to write home about" British Ghost Stories, engaging, fleet and somewhat obvious - although extra points for the description of the rotting ghost.

Sadly, "Swamp Horror" by Will Smith (not the actor) & R.J. Robbins is not as strong - the writing is a frustrating mix of atmospheric and overwrought (with the over-writing being peppered throughout) in this monster story (it's giant leeches, btw) and then... the end. I did kind of like the really abrupt ending ("fuck rural life, I'm going back to the city!"), but just more example of magazine filler.

"The Hate" by Wilford Allen - a long time ago a minor nobleman impulsively slays two youths for no reason other than sadism. And this act brings into existence a supernatural thirst for revenge that eventually manifests during WWI. - well, this is not bad, but because of the short length, it just kind of lays its point out instead of being an actual story.

A strange yarn is "The Chain" by H. Warner Munn - in which a man cuckolding his cousin, awakens from his sleep at the relative's castle to find himself trapped in the dungeon, and on the deadly end of his rival's fiendish ministrations involving a pit and a seemingly endless super-heated chain. At about 30 years on from the invention of the conte cruel, this seems simply a more sadistic variation of Poe ("Pit & The Pendulum") with a touch of H.G. Wells ("The Cone"), with little to note beyond its fiendish invention - the "comeuppance" ending is so perfunctory that it seems an afterthought.

"The Justice Of The Czar" by Captain George Fielding Eliot - The Czar's official torturer/executioner is commanded to beat a prisoner into a confession - a prisoner in a mask - but this will not be the only surprise he has coming... Another piece of conte cruel, with some truly gruesome descriptions of whipping/torture, and a bit of historical detail and a twist to justify itself. Eh.

"The Tryst In The Tomb" by M.J. Cain - A wealthy, jealous husband is convinced that his wife's premature death is due to her pining for her earlier love, Don Orlino, against whom he plans revenge. Essentially, a weaker, condensed "Cask Of Amontillado".

Another example of filler is "The Black Madonna" by A.W. Wyville - Two brothers work as chemists in an ill-storied, remote house - and they are jealous that each will make the discovery they aim for, before the other. They come into possession of a deadly hairy spider from the tropics, by accident. Eh, murder and coincidental death, not much of a story.

Another filler - "His Brother's Keeper" by George Fielding Eliot - is essentially a flash piece. Two brothers are in love with the same woman, but one has just come into possession of an original Iron Maiden... cliffhanging morbidity follows. Not bad, per se, but not really a STORY.

Renier Wyers' "The Finishing Touches" has two men, Blake & Tandriv, classmates years ago, find their mutual interest in painting reconnect them - but Tandriv prefers Decadent subjects and styles. And he wants to show Blake his most recent masterpiece... This is, in many way, a thoroughly predictable story, of interest only (perhaps only to me) as it tries to illustrate the popular opinion of the presumed outcome of the Decadent artists movement.

In "The Ring" by J.M. Fry a well to do gentleman is approached with an offer to by the odd antique ring he just purchased himself, and is warned that if he refuses and wears it, he'll be dead in 24 hours, as it's an ancient Egyptian cursed artifact. While in a way this is very familiar, I appreciated the whimsical tone, including an atypical ending.

George H. Daugherty's "The Death Mist" has a WWI soldier attempting to return to his troop, worried that he will be blamed for failing to stop an assault that left a man dead... obvious, familiar story but the WWI No Man's Land setting is an interesting setting.

[GoldGato · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like to read at night. Cup of hot milk by my side, I reach for whatever book has managed to nudge itself past the others during the day. Occasionally, a scary book will delight in keeping me up all night, as I listen for weird noises while promising myself to never again read horror stories when every other god-fearing soul is sound asleep.

These are a compilation of short stories from the old Weird Tales magazine. I never knew about them until a fellow employee at a bookstore influenced me to read more weird stuff. Damn him. The majority of the tales are old-school, with the baddie getting their comeuppance, but some of these are just plain weird.

The Feast In The Abbey by Robert Bloch - a rain-soaked traveller stumbles upon a company of the Undead.

Muggridge's Aunt by August W. Derleth - a greedy nephew too focused upon his money forgets that his Auntie owned the house before he came along.

What Waits In Darkness by Loretta Burrough - a wife keeps dreaming the same dream about her husband (and it ain't good).

The Chain by H. Warner Munn - a very Poe-ish story of the Iron Maiden and a cuckolded husband.

Again, the stories are weird and not always scary. Some have unexpected twists, some have twists you see coming from the start. But there were enough frighty-frights for me to keep an extra light on after midnight (which infuriated my resident felines to no end). In the 1930s, when the magazine was at its peak and the world hadn't gone completely mad yet, these stories must have kept many a youngster in thrall.

Talk turned to ghosts and enchantments; old tales were told and infused with newer horror; legends recounted in broken whispers; hints of eldritch potency passed from wine-smeared lips in tones sepulchrally muted.

Book Season = Autumn (black wings beating at your door)

[Denise Spicer · Rating 5 out of 5]

581 pages. 100 stories. 3 page introduction by one of the editors. These stories are from the famous magazine “Weird Tales” which was published from 1923 to 1954. Most of the authors in this collection are lesser known and now mostly forgotten, but still interesting and the book does include some famous writers – Poe, Lovecraft, Stoker, del Rey, Bloch, and Derleth for instance. These short stories (some of them super short, from the short-short category of the genre) range from bloodcurdlingly, chillingly terrifying to those which are even mildly amusing. All are definitely weird and all are fun to read. This huge book is great for casual browsing as the stories are not categorized in any particular order. So if all you have is time for a quick cuppa on you afternoon break, nibble on a few of these savory tidbits and ENJOY !!

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

100 Wild Weird Little Tales is a compilation of short stories from the Weird Tales pulp fiction magazine, best known as the primary publisher of H.P. Lovecraft’s work. I think of this format as the precursor to amateur horror sites like the Nosleep subreddit. Unlike modern creepypastas, however, these were professional writers, which means a more consistent quality. On the other hand, they also had less creative freedom and I found most of the stories fairly predictable. Still, they filled their purpose of entertainment and escapism.

Though often lumped under the horror umbrella, most of the tales are more properly part of the weird fiction genre, which blends fantasy and the paranormal with maybe some science fiction thrown in. Others deal more with the uncanny or unexplained. Twist endings are common.

The collection runs from 1924 to 1953. As others have already mentioned, they really should have been arranged chronologically for better context, especially since most of them aren’t even dated. Alphabetical order by title was an odd decision.

My favorites:

"The Chain" by H. Warner Munn – Vivid, reeling portrayal of physical and psychological disintegration under a bizarre form of torture reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe’s "The Pit and the Pendulum."

"Dark Rosaleen" by Seabury Quinn – Wonderfully suspenseful tale of a Fae Queen with elements of Arthur Machen’s malignant Little People.

"The Disinterment of Venus" by Clark Ashton Smith – Sexist by today’s standard (a statue of a beautiful woman drives celibate men to carnal madness, really?) but well-written nevertheless. Smith, of course, being one of the most celebrated writers of the genre.

"The Feast in the Abbey" by Robert Bloch – A rich Gothic tale from another one of the masters.

"The Finishing Touches" by Renier Wyers – A Mad Artist story but I like those.

"The Hate" by Wilford Allen – A WWI-inspired piece exploring the enduring power of violence and rage.

"Murder Man" Ewen Whyte – Impressive portrayal of the mental state of an Everyman who wants to commit murder just for the hell of it.

"The Sealed Casket" by Richard Seawright – Somewhat clichéd premise yet managed to evoke a strong sense of the unknown beyond the conventional ghost or curse and more reminiscent of H.P. Lovecraft.

"The Stranger from Kurdistan" by E. Hoffman Price – An atmospheric twist on the clichéd "devil worshipers" Gothic trope.

"Swamp Horror" by Will Smith and R.J. Robbins – Goddamn viscerally horrifying depiction of a rotted, bloated swamp and the things you find there.

"Take the Z Train" by Allison V. Harding – One of the collection’s most original and artistic pieces
.
A few notable duds:

"Across the Gulf" by Henry S. Whitehead is a poor start to collection. Weak premise that reminded me of that "pennies from heaven" tripe, although it’s possible the author was trying to depict something that could conceivably happen in real life.

"A Gypsy Prophecy" by Bram Stoker had one of the worst, most pathetic female characters I've ever read. Stop fainting already! And also, creepy Roma, how original.

"Nude with a Dagger" by John Flanders and "The Statue" by James Causey are practically the same story, except one has a painting and one has a statue. Starving artist gives unfinished masterwork to a stingy, greedy money lender and then dies, only for their work to come to life and avenge them. How exactly a work by an unknown artist is supposed to have any financial value is never explained.

"Threshold of Endurance" by Betsy Emmons is one of the few stories in the collection by a woman yet ironically is also one of the most misogynistic. We’re expected to sympathize with a man who murdered his nagging wife. (Not a spoiler – it’s pretty obvious what happened from the beginning. Like I said, these stories tend to be predictable.)

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never heard of the weird tale genre until a couple of years ago. But I knew I have always liked the kind of stories that fit in that genre. My fiction likes are firmly entrenched in genre fiction, whether it be romance, fantasy, horror, adventure, you name it. And I really like unusual stories that take you out of everyday life and into a reality where the impossible does happen. In a word, that is a weird tale. These stories are all vintage, from the early 20th century, and one must keep in mind that racism was more prevalent (it still is but not as overt) so some of these stories do show how those who expoused racist ideals and actions did not face admonishment and how casually apparent it was in the behavior of a lot of people. Considering that this teaches a lesson on what has been wrong with our society to those who read such fare nowadays, I was able to get past this and enjoy the stories as a snapshot of that time in history. You also can see the way that women were viewed has changed signficantly, and observe a more simplistic presentation of good and evil in these stories than what is prevalent in modern horror fiction. Having said that, I found the description of violence, sadism, borderline perverted behavior, and overt sexual themes in some of the stories very surprising. I would think, wow I didn't know a writer could get something published like this back then. There were some pretty interesting stories in this large volume, showing a creativity that I found very enjoyable. One of my favorite stories is of a Bean Nighe, a dark fairy who steals the souls of newlyweds on their wedding nights so that they exist in a halflife for the rest of their existence. It was very chilling. There are also stories of adventure that have a decidely cruel edge. Crime stories are present as well, not my favorite genre, but well-written nevertheless. One should keep in mind that these stories are by and large pulp fiction, and go for the scare, the shock, and the adrenaline rush. They typically are not subtle. But I enjoyed this about the stories. There is something to be said for telling a story with relish and enjoying the telling of it. I do recommend this for a reader who wants a taste of days gone by, and the opportunity to read stories like one might have read in a pulp magazine in the 30s and 40s. This collection is guaranteed to fill your hours and satisfy your taste for stories that pushed the envelope and the imagination back in the early 20th century. In fact, I hope to read more weird stories from this time period in the future.

[Luca Cuvo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not expecting to pick up a 581-page book full of 100 stories from the early-to-mid 20th century when I went to the library at the beginning of January. I most definitely wasn’t aware what I was in for reading 100 stories. I really really really had no idea what reading 581 pages would feel like. And I REALLY really really didn’t know what holding a 581-page book would do to my already not-great hand strength and health. With aching hands, I present my humble review.

A lot of people complained about this book in the reviews. Some people didn’t finish it. I think that was what encouraged me to get to the end, by any means necessary. It took me THREE renews at the library to get there, but I’m glad I did it! There really was such an interesting mix of authors I recognized and authors I couldn’t find a whisper about on Google. There were a lot of stories where I knew exactly the direction they were going right from the jump, but there were also a lot that I was not expecting. And for the folks that couldn’t finish it—I regret to inform you that the stories just get better and better the longer you hang in there! Across the Gulf by Henry S. Whitehead feels unbearably slow and stale to me now that I’ve had the pleasure of reading When the Sea Gives Up Its Dead by Robert Peery.

I have a love-hate relationship with the works of this time period. These dudes (and like three or four women) hated nazis, but they also hated fat and disabled people, Black and brown people, and women. They were inventive and ingenious with the issues and technologies they had available to them. Some stories were amazing slices of life from forgotten eras and some I would rather just forget altogether! Glad I read it. I discovered writers that didn’t really make it into the mainstream—Clark Ashton Smith! Paul Ernst! Carl Jacobi, Julius Long! All in all, a great book if you have the time.

Here’s my review of each story but to save words on the count I’ll only be talking about the ones that stood out to me either for good or for bad.

Across the Gulf, Whitehead (*)

Alice and the Allergy, Lieber (***)

Anton’s Last Dream, Baird (***)

The Archfiend’s Fingers, Mashburn (***)

Bernice, Poe (*****) — An Edgar Allen Poe tale I’ve never heard of before but loved all the same. All the drama and insanity you would expect with an ending that hits in an almost humorous unexpectedness.

The Black Madonna, Wyville (***)

The Black Monk, Pendarves (****)

The Boat on the Beach, Maysi (*****) — The nautical and ocean-related stories ended up being my favorite pretty frequently. Really excellent, complex, and intriguing.

Burnt Things, Sandison (*****) — Really really cool. I grew up in Bethlehem, PA so the idea of a haunted factory was really cool to read about.

Cat’s Cradle, Tomlinson (*****) — Sooooo weird! A remote location in the mountains, a language barrier, a cramped cabin, and a weird middle-of-the-night ritual, along with a relatively unreliable narrator that was as confused as I was!

The Cavern, Wellman (***)

The Chain, Munn (***) — Very Cask of Amontillado, very Pit and the Pendulum.

The Church Stove at Raebrudafisk, Terrill (****)

The Closed Door, Ward (*****) — Southern Gothic vibes in the best way.

Country House, White (***)

The Cracks of Time, Quick (*****) — I think the best thing about the pulp fiction genre is that these writers will really take you on a ride that starts with something so minuscule, like a floor tile.

The Cripple, Level (*) — Maurice Level’s obsession with the disabled is unsettling and not even in a cool way.

Cross of Fire, Del Rey (****)

Dark Rosaleen, Quinn (***)

The Death Mist, Daughtry (**)

The Disinterment of Venus, Smith (*****) — Clark Ashton Smith is such an incredible writer. I enjoyed a lot of what he contributed to this book! He should be so much better known in this genre, especially considering he was a friend of H. P. Lovecraft!

The Doom That Came to Sarnath, Lovecraft (***) — My first Lovecraft story and I was sort of bored by it. The plot line was cool but the pacing was so goddamn slow and stale.

Dream Justice, Mayo (**)

A Dream of Death, Daw (****) — When the pulp fiction writers do revenge schemes, they are almost always incredible.

Eric Martin’s Nemesis, Benjamin (****)

Escape, Ernst (*****) — Fantastically off-putting and delightfully mysterious to the very end.

The Extra Passenger, Grendon (***)

The Feast in the Abbey, Bloch (*****) — Incredible to see the other magic concocted by the writer of Psycho. I love this man!!!!

Fidel Bassin, Stamper (*****) — LOVE seeing the oppressed get the jump on the colonizers. Will always be a 10 out of 10 for me.

The Fifth Candle, Mand (****)

The Finishing Touches, Wyers (***)

A G**** Prophecy, Stoker (****) — That’s right, Bram Stoker! So exciting to read something else of his. Took away one star for the racial slur in the title, but really liked the story.

The Girdle, McCord (***)

The Gloves, Radcliffe (*****) — Another story where something menial and everyday becomes terrifying in such a successful way.

The Harbor of Ghosts, Bardine (***)

The Hate, Allen (**)

The Haunted Wood of Adoure, O’Donnell (****)

The Hidden Talent of Artist Bates, Herrick (*****) — Loved the frequency at which these men thought to themselves, ‘what if an artist had evil, supernatural powers?’ As an artist, it gave me great joy.

The High Places, Garfield (****)

His Brother’s Keeper, Eliot (***)

The Hunch, Lyle (*****) — Another thing I really love is when the supernatural aspect of the story is actually what saves the characters from their doom.

Hypnos, Lovecraft (****)

I Can’t Wear White, Pickett (****)

In the Dark, Kayser (***)

The Iron Hands of Katzaveere, Eynon (****) — A little confusing to follow but love this time period in literature for the insatiable hatred for nazis.

The Japanese Tea Set, O’Neil (***)

The Justice of the Czar, Eliot (***)

The Last Drive, Jacobi (****)

The Last Incantation, Smith (***)

The Last Man, Quinn (****) — BIG fan of stories that feature Papa Legba and voodoo.

The Last of Mrs. Debrugh, Sivia (****)

The Late Mourner, Long (****)

The Man in the Taxi, Barnard (***)

The Man Who Was Saved, Sliney (**)

Masquerade, Prout (****)

Mr. Bauer and the Atoms, Lieber (**) — I fail to understand why this story needed to involve the main character cheating on his wife. There was literally no reason for it.

Muggridge’s Aunt, Derleth (****)

Murder Man, Whyte (****)

Murder Mask, Kramer (***)

The Murderer, Leinster (*****) — Hilarious!!!

Night and Silence, Level (*) — Again, what is it with Maurice Level and disabled people? What was even the point of this story?

The Nightmare Road, Crow (*****) — Fantastic!!! Felt so classic and well-paced with lots of funky characters.

No Eye-Witnesses, Whitehead (*****)

Nude with a Dagger, Flanders (****)

The Ocean Ogre, Carroll (***)

Off the Map, Dolphin (*****) — Love a good ghost town story, and this one was a doozy!

On Top, Lang (*)

One Chance, Coen (***)

The Other Santa (**)

A Pair of Swords, Jacobi (*****) — Night at the Museum vibes! Loved this!!

The Pale Man, Long (****)

Parthenope, Wellman (*****) — The one story by Manly Wade Wellman that I deeply enjoyed.

The Phantom Bus, Backus (***)

Rendezvous, Hart (***)

The Ring, Fry (****) — I really love an idiot narrator!

The Sealed Casket, Searight (***)

The Seeds from Outside, Hamilton (****) Absolutely insane and hilarious premise.

The Sixth Gargoyle, Eynon (****) — Great premise and storytelling but the ending bored me to tears.

Soul-Catcher, Carr (***)

The Statue, Causey (***) — Almost like a sister story to Nude with a Dagger, funny enough.

The Stranger from Kurdistan (**) — Cool premise and background but disappointing ending.

Swamp Horror, Smith & Robbins (***)

Take the Z Train, Harding (***)

The Teakwood Box, Harrington (***)

These Doth the Lord Hate, Wellman (*)

Thinker, Murchie (*)

Threshold of Endurance, Emmons (**)

Top of the World, Collier (**)

The Tree of Life, Ernst (****)

Under the Eaves, Reid (**)

The Unveiling, Tooke (**)

The Violet Death, Meyrink (***)

A Visitor from Far Away, Burrough (**)

Warning Wings, Eadie (*****) — Love, love, love. A little long and slow, but the ending made up for it.

What Waits in Darkness, Burrough (****)

When the Sea Gives Up Its Dead, Peery (****)

The Witch-Baiter, Anthony (***)

The Witch-Ball, Benson (****)

[Erin O'Riordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

100 Wild Little Weird Tales, edited by Robert Weinberg, Stefan Dziemianowicz, and Martin H. Greenberg, published by Barnes and Noble, 1994.

An excellent A to Z (well, A to W) miscellany of strange tales including some very masterful work. Edgar Allan Poe's "Berenice" appears here, along with Bram Stoker's "A Gypsy Prophecy," "Hypnos" by H.P Lovecraft, and "These Doth the Lord Hate" by Manly Wade Wellman. Among the many other enjoyable, if lesser known, oddities here is "The Cracks of Time," by Dorothy Quick, in which the god Pan tempts a housewife. From giant, killer slugs to vampires to ghosts to devil worshipers, this creepy anthology would be an ideal Halloween treat for anyone like me who loves stories more than candy.

[Bill Borre]

Causey, James "The Statue" - wc
Ernst, Paul "Escape" - wc
Garfield, Frances "The High Places" - wc
Quinn, Seabury "Dark Rosaleen" - wc
Searight, Richard F. "The Sealed Casket" - wc
Smith, Clark Ashton "The Disinterment of Venus" - wc
Whitehead, Henry S. "Across the Gulf" - wc

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my god, this was terrible. I got about half way through and just gave up. I thought these stories would be interesting, they sucked! Im glad I didnt pay for this, but instead got it from my grandmother's house. If I had paid, I think I wouldve tried to return it because every time I picked it up, I died a little on the inside.

[R. David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Frankly this book was 90% disappointment. 90 to 95% of the stories were wordy, and anti-climatic. I kept reading in the hopes that the stories would improve, but they did not. Do the editors even read what they include?

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Copyright 1996, this was a Barnes & Noble special. 100 strange stories from the magazine Weird Tales. The stories date from 1924 to 1954. Some are pretty dated, but most are timeless. One from Edgar Allen Poe, a couple from H.P. Lovecraft. One from Bram Stoker. All the others I haven't heard of before.

Stories that stuck out for me : The Other Santa. The most lighthearted of all of them.
The Hidden Talent Of Artist Bates, In the Dark, The Seeds From The Outside.

[Jeff McIntosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published by Barnes and Noble, a continuation of their series of short horror stories, culled from the pages of "Weird Tales".

E.A. Poe, Seabury Quinn, Manly Wade Wellman are represented - many of the remaining authors are unknown to me. None of the stories really stand out, but a pleasant enough way to kill several hours.

Jeff McIntosh

[[on hiatus, probably forever] The rockabilly werewolf from Mars · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stories, mostly by the people you would
expect (Bloch, Benson, Ashton Smith, etc.), but also a lot of forgettable stories. Generally, I'd advise against reading it all at once, because the stories tend to blur together after a while. Notes on the stories to come.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like any collection of short stories, this was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Some were fantastic and others not so much.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really interesting! I love all of the short stories that I have read so far! :]

[petra ♡♡♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some were good but not most

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

✔️ The Murder Men, Ewen Whyte 01/03/2026

[Malachi]

My entry for The Midnight El
He walked by Day. Julius Long
Goodreads does not allow for adding books easily
As found in Otto Prenzler's The Big Book of Ghost Stories

[Brett]

Anthology,Horror

[Jameson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read every single tale, but this is a great little book to have on hand when you want to read something weird that you probably haven’t read before.