Dancing with the Dark: True Encounters with the Paranormal by Masters of the Macabre

by Stephen Jones (Editor), Jackie Travison (Cover Artist), Stephen King

Fiction pales beside fact in this anthology of such phenomena as spectral visions, phantom footsteps, and astral projections related by the masters of the genre.

Contents:
• Introduction: Dancing With the Dark • (1997) • essay by Stephen Jones
• My Feelings About Ghosts • (1997) • essay by Joan Aiken
• Timeswitch • (1997) • essay by Sarah Ash
• The Rustle in the Grass • (1997) • essay by Mike Ashley
• Take Care of Grandma • (1997) • essay by Peter Atkins
• Life After Death • (1985) • essay by Clive Barker
• The Cartographer • (1997) • essay by Stephen Baxter
• Not Quite So Pragmatic • (1985) • essay by Robert Bloch
• The Nearest to a Ghost • (1997) • essay by Ramsey Campbell
• Haitian Mystères • (1997) • essay by Hugh B. Cave
• One-Way Trip • (1997) • essay by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
• The Shock of the Macabre • (1946) • essay by A. E. Coppard
• The Haunted Hotel • (1997) • essay by Basil Copper
• Safe Arrival • (1997) • essay by Peter Crowther
• A Gift of Eagles • (1997) • essay by Jack Dann
• The House on Spadina • (1997) • essay by Charles de Lint
• Sharing With Strangers • (1997) • essay by Terry Dowling
• Hands on the Wheel •(1997) •by R.L. Fanthorpe (as by Lionel Fanthorpe)
• The Old School Spirit • (1997) • essay by Esther M. Friesner
• Twice Encountered • (1997) • essay by Gregory Frost
• The Flints of Memory Lane • (1997) • short story by Neil Gaiman
• In There • (1997) • essay by Stephen Gallagher
• Haunted in the Head • (1997) • essay by Ray Garton
• The House on the Brink • (1997) • essay by John Gordon
• Riding the Nightwinds • (1997) • essay by Ed Gorman
• ESP • (1974) • essay by Elizabeth Goudge
• Death Is a Lady • (1997) • short fiction by Simon R. Green
• The Smoke Ghost • (1997) • essay by Peter Haining
• Never Say Die • (1997) • essay by Joe Haldeman
• Not Very Psychic • (1992) • essay by James Herbert
• Confessions of a Born-Again Heathen • (1997) • essay by Brian Hodge
• To Pine With Fear and Sorrow • (1997) • essay by Nancy Holder
• A Ghostly Cry • (1931) • essay by M.R. James
• One Extra for Dinner • (1997) • essay by Peter James
• A Face in the Crowd • (1997) • essay by Mike Jefferies
• Raggedy Ann • (1997) • essay by Nancy Kilpatrick
• Uncle Clayton • (1983) • essay by Stephen King
• Go On, Open Your Eyes... • (1997) • essay by Hugh Lamb
• Moving Houses • (1997) • essay by Terry Lamsley
• Inspiration • (1997) • essay by John Landis
• Norfolk Nightmare • (1997) • essay by Stephen Laws
• Not Funny • (1997) • essay by Samantha Lee
• The Gray Ghost • (1997) • essay by Barry B. Longyear
• Witch House • (1965) • essay by H.P. Lovecraft
• The Challenge • (1997) • essay by Brian Lumley
• The World of the Senses • (1923) • essay by Arthur Machen
• My Grandfather's House • (1997) • essay by Graham Masterton
• More Than We Appear to Be • (1985) • essay by Richard Matheson
• Visit to a Psychic Surgeon • (1994) • by Richard Christian Matheson
• The Fall of the Wires • (1997) • essay by Paul J. McAuley
• Unto the Third Generation • (1997) • essay by Anne McCaffrey
• Talkin' Them Marble Orchard Blues • (1997) • by Thomas F. Monteleone
• A Shadow of Tomorrow • (1997) • essay by Mark Morris
• The House on Chadwell Drive • (1997) • essay by Yvonne Navarro
• The Floating Table and the Jumping Violet • (1997) •by William F. Nolan
• Mesmeric Revelation • (1844) • short story by Edgar Allan Poe
• In the Clouds • (1996) • essay by Vincent Price
• Clinic-Modern • (1997) • essay by Alan Rodgers
• Magical Thinking • (1997) • essay by Nicholas Royle
• De Cold, Cold Décolletage • (1997) • essay by Jay Russell
• The Darkness Between the Frames • (1997) • essay by Adam Simon
• The Mist People • (1997) • essay by Guy N. Smith
• Mr. Cat • (1997) • essay by Michael Marshall Smith
• In the Realm of the Spirits • (1997) • essay by S.P. Somtow
• Chacun sa Goule • (1997) • essay by Brian Stableford
• The Spirit of M. R. James • (1997) • essay by Laurence Staig
• The Family Curse • (1997) • essay by Peter Tremayne
• The Red Lodge • (1928) • by H. Russell Wakefield (as by H.R. Wakefield)
• My Haunted Home • (1997) • essay by Lawrence Watt-Evans
• The Ghost Hunters • (1997) • essay by Cherry Wilder
• A Place Where a Head Would Rest • (1997) • essay by Chet Williamson
• The Glowing Hand • (1997) • essay by [au...

Genres: Horror, Nonfiction, Paranormal, Anthologies, Short Stories

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Stephen Jones is an eighteen-time winner of the British Fantasy Award.

Reviews

[Sabrina Rutter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dancing With the Dark is a compilation from different authors who write horror, and scifi fiction of accounts with the supernatural that they believe to be true. None of the stories were too scary, but they were enjoyable enough that I read this book pretty quickly.
You would think with the authors being writers of horror, and scifi fiction that they would have some pretty scary real life stories to share, but that wasn't so. Some authors did share some spooky tales, but others seemed afraid to admit to any such accounts.
I expected Stephen Kings story to be one of the best, but was actually let down. His was actually the shortest story in this book. I think maybe that's why they spelled his name wrong on the cover. besides this little dissapointment it was still a good read.

[Andi Plouffe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short, not really scary, and not entertaining either.

[Feistymonkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The basic idea is that horror writers share their real life heeby jeeby inducing experiences. Sometimes the writers actually ignored the prompt entirely and simply went into what they thought about the possibility of paranormal phenomena. Those were some of the most interesting essays. Other authors just rambled about writing horror in general. That was pretty interesting too.

[Helen Robare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about personal encounters with the supernatural as told by masters of the macabre. This book includes such authors as Simon R. Green, Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, THE Vincent Price, and other masters of horror.

My only complaint with this book is that many stories were too short. So short in fact that some were barely a page long.

The stories themselves were very intriguing and some were downright scary! It was a great book when I didn't want to get involved with a full-blown story that I would have to continue reading all night and that I couldn't put down until I finished it. :)

[Cortez_jk · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a bust for me. I just did not find it interesting. I read 16 of the 77-ish essays and was unmoved. I don't care to read any more so this is going in the DNF category. I don't want to give it a one star because it might be good for someone else to read. It is possible that the 16 I read were just the boring ones - lol.

[Wes S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent, but not enthralling. Okay and worth reading.

[P. Es · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many pieces are not what you'd expect from popular horror authors (I come to expect materialist skepticism and teenage-antagonism for such things from those who write on such things), very revealing at times. I would never have pegged Clive Barker for religiousness (he's in there, as well as Neil Gaiman and a ton of other populars) - having assumed him to be of the Lovecraftian disposition (fervent atheism), but he turns out to be quite the Modern Condition-ambiguous believer;

http://www.clivebarker.info/religion....

[Susan]

The House on Spadina • (1997) • essay by Charles de Lint
♦The Flints of Memory Lane by Neil Gaiman re-read 8/5/2015
Death is a Lady • (1997) • essay by Simon R. Green
Uncle Clayton • (1983) • essay by Stephen King
Unto the Third Generation • (1997) • essay by Anne McCaffrey

[Jennifer Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horror writers write about their own experiences with the paranormal. Are they believers, or not?

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. My favorite is "Mr Cat"