Providence After Dark and Other Writings

by T.E.D. Klein

Best known as a writer of supernatural horror, T.E.D. Klein, author of The Ceremonies and Dark Gods, has also written essays, articles, op-ed pieces, and reviews that are provocative, erudite, occasionally splenetic, and always highly opinionated. This book, compiled by S. T. Joshi, presents a wide selection of Klein’s nonfiction, • A lively account of the first World Fantasy Convention, where the field’s most colorful personalities gathered in Providence to honor its native son, H. P. Lovecraft. • Klein’s introduction to the Arkham House edition of Lovecraft’s shorter tales... His lists of the 13 most terrifying horror stories and the 25 most familiar horror plots. • Memoirs of his college days in Providence, under Lovecraft’s spell... His triumphs and blunders as a Paramount script reader... His influential tenure as editor of Twilight Zone magazine... What it was like to work with eccentric (and notorious) director Dario Argento on his first full-length American film. • A pair of groundbreaking New York Times features on cruelty to animals in the movies... A skeptical take on Woody Allen at the turning point in his career... The hitherto unremarked secret of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001. • Personal encounters with legendary weird-tale writers Robert Aickman and Donald Wandrei... Appreciations of Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsany, Rod Serling, Ramsey Campbell, and Mark Twain... Reviews of Ruth Rendell, Christopher Priest, William Peter Blatty, and a quartet of Gene Roddenberry biographies. • Plus candid interviews, impassioned editorials for CrimeBeat magazine, and even a couple of poems.

Genres: Nonfiction

694 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 10, 2019

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting ruminations

There are some fairly good pieces, op-eds, and opinionated reviews. You don't necessarily have to agree with him. One or two interesting interviews, but other two were repetitive in my humble opinion. Still, want to read more Klein, go ahead.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed quite a few of the entries in this collection, especially those related to Twilight Zone Magazine, to HPL himself, and to pieces on other legendary authors. There were other pieces that just lost my interest, so I will admit that I skimmed several chunks of this book. It's definitely something I'll return to in the future to more fully absorb those sections I skimmed. All in all, I enjoyed it.

[Max Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Ronald Wise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book rose to the top of my reading list after my enjoyment of Klein’s short stories “The Events at Poroth Farm”, “Children of the Kingdom” and “Ladder”. I purchased it on Kindle, and on first opening it found that instead of a collection of crime and horror stories taking place in Providence, it is a collection of sixty pieces of writings from throughout his career.

Organized into six sections which roughly follow the progression of his career, most of the pieces are enjoyable and interesting. There is a stretch in Section V where I feared he was becoming an irascible old man. Perhaps he was overly focused on crime while editing CrimeBeat. The next and final section contain almost entirely book reviews, culminating in a lengthy, but very enjoyable, sampling of “Bookshelf”, the column he wrote for ten years at Si-Fi Entertainment, the magazine printed as a companion to television’s Sci-Fi Channel.

Overall, these writings and their important explanatory footnotes provide a unique insider view of the literary and cinematic horror genre as an art form and business in the 20th-century.

[robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

SUPER wordy. But you just have to relax into it and let it happen. The writer is in no hurry, and neither can you be.

I appreciate Lovecraft more having read these essays. I've added some writers to my mental stable based on his reviews. I also highly enjoyed a few pieces on 'cons of the 70s, which it appears EVERYbody who was anybody in the fantasy and horror field attended, including Manly Wade Wellman and Gahan Wilson. I imagine it's how a modern-day hippy feels, reading about Woodstock, and knowing those days will never come again.

[Nick Chianese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming from someone who thinks T.E.D. Klein is the best writer of weird fiction since H.P. Lovecraft, Providence After Dark only raised my opinion of him.

Did the book need to be this long? No. Was the "Sci-Fi Entertainment" section absurdly lengthy and pointless? Yes. But as a non-fiction book on everything ranging from writing advice to crime, politics, a love of movies, and a passion for his horror predecessors, it's great.

[steven duane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of his writ and various interviews

If you are into finding out a little more about an author's views then this book may be for you. Not bad.

[Elizabeth Byrd · Rating 1 out of 5]

Providence after dark

Did not appreciate this book expected short stories not. Authors opinions. Not interesting to me felt misled and did notlike

[Miktam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for a Klein completionist.