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The Macabre Megapack: 25 Lost Tales from the Golden Age
Editor Duane Parsons has assembled a treasure-trove of rare macabre stories for lovers of classic fantasy and horror. From ghosts of mind and spirit to exotic paranormal tales, each story in this volume has never before appeared in an anthology. Included are:
The Silent Man, by Henry Fothergill Chorley
The Strange Ormonds, by Leitch Ritchie
The Mysterious Wedding: A Danish Story, by Heinrich Steffans
The Burial by Fire, by Louisa Medina Hamblin
The Vampyre, by Elizabeth Ellet
The Sleepless Woman, by William Jerdan
A Peep At Death, by Peter Von Geist
Killcrop the Changeling, by Richard Thompson
Carl Bluven and the Strange Mariner, by Henry David Inglis
The Prediction, by George Henry Borrow
The Story of the Unfinished Picture, by Charles Hooten
Eule: The Emperor’s Dwarf, by John Rutter Chorley
The Green Huntsman, by Joseph Holt Ingraham
A Revelation of a Previous Life, by Nathaniel Parker Willis
Moods of the Mind: The Old Portrait, by Emma Embury
A Night on the Enchanted Mountain, by Charles Fenno Hoffman
The Living Apparition, by G.P.R. James
The Three Souls, by Alexander Chatrian and Emile Erckmann
The Death Watch, by Luise Muhlback
An Evening of Lucy Ashton’s, by Letitia Elizabeth Landon
The Haunted Homestead, by Henry William Herbert
The Withered Man, by William Leete Stone
La Malroche, by Louisa Stuart Costello
The Three Visits, by Auguste Vitu
Lieutenant Castenac, by Erckman-Chatrian
Torture by Hope, by Villiers de L’isle-Adams
The Black Cupid, by Lafcadio Hearn
The Bundle of Letters, by Moritz Jokai
Nissa, by Albert Delpit
The Dream, by John Galt
And don't forget to search for "Megapack" in this ebook store for other volumes in the series, covering such subjects as ghost stories, vampire stories, science fiction, horror, adventure, and much, much more!
286 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 14, 2012
116 people are currently reading
136 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 24, 2020
There are actually 30 tales in this collection, some by writers who were well-known in their day (1820s to 1920s) and inspired better known gothic and horror writers as diverse as M.R. James and Lovecraft, but I almost guarrantee you won't know any of them. The style is dated but so,e if the tales, such as Burial by Fire, are creative and original. The overall review reflects the uneneveness, but some of these tales are really goog, old school creepers -- just more in the vain of James and Stoker than Lovecraft, King, Barker, etc.
A confession: I had meant to download a Noir Megapack and bought this by mistake, then figured it was $ 0.99, what the heck. It was definitely worth it.
A confession: I had meant to download a Noir Megapack and bought this by mistake, then figured it was $ 0.99, what the heck. It was definitely worth it.
November 1, 2017
Although it is always good to save forgotten works of literature from obscurity this pack as a whole is disappointing. There are a few involving and creepy short stories in the collection and none of them are particularly bad, but too many of them have a similar plot so that they gradually merge into one. A poorly chosen collection rather than a badly written one!
January 15, 2019
A decent collection of horror and akin stories with only one real clunker (adjective pudding). At the price, it pays well when you have nothing else to do but scratch or pick your nose.
August 14, 2016
The Legend
I.
Mother—behold
The pale man there—
With haughty air,
And look so cold!
“—Child—child beware
The pale man there!
Turn thee away
Or thou’rt his prey!
Ah! Many a maiden, young and fair,
Hath fallen his victim, in the snare!
Hath drunken death
From his poisonous breath:
List—list, my child! A Vampyre he!
Heaven keep his demon glance from thee!”
II.
What, mother, doth the pale man there?
With look so full of dark despair?
“Child, child! Those fearful glances shun:
Foul deeds of evil hath he done!
Such is his doom!
Though long since dead,
He cannot rest within the tomb!
Forth he has fled,
to wander round—
A living corpse o’er hallowed ground!
From house to house he takes his way,
A fair bride seeking for his prey:
His chosen bride was lost for aye!”
III.
He smiles on me—
The pale man—see!
And kind his look, those sad and wild! —
“Still look’st there!—alas, my child!
Haste—haste—the danger fly—
The mother’s warning is in vain;
The pale man’s spells the maid enchain;
At midnight, fast she flies
By the light of those fierce eyes—
Now she herself—so runs the tale—
Wanders o’er earth, a Vampyre pale.
* * * *
the lines i highlighted while reading, from the story "The Vampyre" by Elizabeth Ellet.
i also quite liked "The mysterious wedding" by Heinrich Steffans, "The burial by fire" by Louisa Medina Hamblin and "A peep at death" by Peter von Geist.
I.
Mother—behold
The pale man there—
With haughty air,
And look so cold!
“—Child—child beware
The pale man there!
Turn thee away
Or thou’rt his prey!
Ah! Many a maiden, young and fair,
Hath fallen his victim, in the snare!
Hath drunken death
From his poisonous breath:
List—list, my child! A Vampyre he!
Heaven keep his demon glance from thee!”
II.
What, mother, doth the pale man there?
With look so full of dark despair?
“Child, child! Those fearful glances shun:
Foul deeds of evil hath he done!
Such is his doom!
Though long since dead,
He cannot rest within the tomb!
Forth he has fled,
to wander round—
A living corpse o’er hallowed ground!
From house to house he takes his way,
A fair bride seeking for his prey:
His chosen bride was lost for aye!”
III.
He smiles on me—
The pale man—see!
And kind his look, those sad and wild! —
“Still look’st there!—alas, my child!
Haste—haste—the danger fly—
The mother’s warning is in vain;
The pale man’s spells the maid enchain;
At midnight, fast she flies
By the light of those fierce eyes—
Now she herself—so runs the tale—
Wanders o’er earth, a Vampyre pale.
* * * *
the lines i highlighted while reading, from the story "The Vampyre" by Elizabeth Ellet.
i also quite liked "The mysterious wedding" by Heinrich Steffans, "The burial by fire" by Louisa Medina Hamblin and "A peep at death" by Peter von Geist.
December 13, 2016
Une collection de récits très inégaux. Certains sont franchement réussis (voir mes précédentes notes de lecture) tandis que d'autres m'ont laissé plus que perplexe. Il n'est pas rare finalement de jouer aux montagnes russes au fil de la lecture passant du plaisir de frissonner à la lecture laborieuse.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews