The Horror Hall of Fame

by Robert Silverberg (editor), Martin H. Greenberg (editor)

This collection of eighteen stories represents a full range of the best horror fiction of the last two centuries, including a novella by Stephen King, Poe, Bradbury, Campbell, and others

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

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Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.

Reviews

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the 18 authors in this book, how many are women? None. Not a single one. And how many are not white? Again, the bias in this selection is clear. I am going to take an educated guess that the editors, both male, are also white. I don't like how the "horror hall of fame" is a showcase of only white male authors. The implication behind its claim (as written on the book jacket) to be "the premier collection of the finest horror stories of the modern era" is that no women or non-white authors were good enough to make the top 20. Absolutely not true and very insulting to imply.

The specific stories in this collection are solid. Mostly, they are great. The fact that this selection is prejudiced against diversity does not diminish the fact that Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows" remains my favorite horror story, and Arthur Machen, Edgar Allen Poe, and Ambrose Bierce, etc. are still great authors. My rating is based on the overall quality of the stories themselves. This book gets five stars for what is in it, but it should not be marketed as what it is, the title ought to be "The White Male Writers' Horror Hall of Fame."

As a final note, Stephen King's "The Reach" was the weakest story of them all. No sense of horror whatsoever, nothing remotely creepy, and the end was given away at the start: no point in even reading it.

[Velvetink · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good selection!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some gems in this collection (The Willows, Graveyard Rats, IT and The Yellow Sign).

However there are several others that are simply a product of their time and too long, too drawn out for their own good (I'm looking at you Arthur Machen and your 7 pages without a single paragraph break).

[Jeff McIntosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

oft anthologized tales, from "Yours truly jack the Ripper" to "Smoke Ghost", "The Willows", and
"Monkey's Paw" among others. Nothing more recent than 1981....

A good introduction to classic horror...


Jeff McIntosh

[Anthony Messina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Not as good as I thought it would be

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of classic short horror fiction that takes the reader on a journey from Edgar Allan Poe to Stephen King.

[Norman Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Yours Truly -- Jack the Ripper," by Robert Bloch (Weird Tales, July 1943) - 18-page short story.

This is an oft reprinted tale of suspense. I'm sure it was much more impactful when it was first published in 1943. I saw the "twist" ending from miles away. The story belongs on the Retro Hugo ballot, but it is not a winner.

I didn't read the other stories in this anthology (a couple of them I've read elsewhere), but looking at the contents, there are some terrific writers represented here. For a book published in 1991, however, it's unfortunate that there are only white men included as contributors.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

An anthology of classics, so this is a good introduction to horror -- the newest story in the book is one of Stephen King's best (and my favorite), The Reach, from 1981.

Really -- you can't read The Monkey's Paw too often. Is it the origin of "Be careful what you wish for"?

[bluetyson]

The Horror Hall of Fame by Robert Silverberg (1991)

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standard collection of short stories in the gothic horror mode. Has "The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood, which is one of my favorites.

[Sadie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid collection of stories, with something for just about anyone. Particularly good is Robert E. Howard's 'Pigeons from Hell'.

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1992. Horror anthology.