Chilling Horror Short Stories

by Dale Townshend (Foreword), Rebecca J. Allred, Ambrose Bierce

A deluxe edition of original and classic short stories, packed with monsters, vampires and a host of weird creatures. Tales of shadows and voices in the dark from the likes of H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Nathaniel Hawthorne and William Hope Hodgson are cast with previously unpublished stories by some of the best writers of horror today.

A dazzling collection of the most gripping tales of horror, vividly told.

Contents:
• Foreword by Dr. Dale Townshend
• Ecdysis by Rebecca J. Alfred
• The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce
• Beyond the Wall by Ambrose Bierce
• Mirror's Keeper by Michael Bondies
• The Watcher by the Threshold by John Buchan
• The Dying Art by Glen Damien Campbell
• The Yellow Sign by Robert W. Chambers
• Breach by Justin Coates
• The Dead Smile by F. Marion Crawford
• The Screaming Skull by F. Marion Crawford
• The Child's Story by Charles Dickens
• The Leather Funnel by Arthur Conan Doyle
• In Search of a New Wilhelm by John H. Dromey
• Leonora by Elise Forier Edie
• A Game of Conquest by David A. Elsensohn
• Thing in the Bucket by Eric Esser
• The Murdered Cousin by Sheridan Le Fanu
• The Grey Woman by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Worth the Having by Michael Paul Gonzalez
• Extraneus Invokat by Ed Grabianowski
• The Three Strangers by Thomas Hardy
• Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Gateway of the Monster by William Hope Hodgson
• The Challenge From Beyond by Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long, H. P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt, and C. L. Moore
• The Man in the Ambry by Gwendolyn Kiste
• Start With Color by Bill Kte'pi
• The Rocking-Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence
• The Magnificat of Devils by James Lecky
• The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft
• The Call of Cthulu by H. P. Lovecraft
• The Horia by Guy de Maupassant
• The Woman of the Wood by A. Merritt
• The Vampire Jan Neruda
• The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Premature Burial by Edgar Allan Poe
• Trial and Error by Frank Roger
• The Mortal Immortal by Mary Shelley
• The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker
• Blessed Be the Bound by Lucy Taylor
• Dead End by Kristopher Triana
• Justified by DJ Tyrer
• Afterward by Edith Wharton
• Deep-sixed Without a Depth Gauge by Andrew J. Wilson
• The Dew of Heaven, Like Ashes by William R. D. Wood
• Biographies & Sources

Flame Tree Gothic & Fantasy, as well as Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections, bring together the entire range of myth, folklore, epic literature and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Fantasy, Anthologies, Paranormal

479 pages, Hardcover

First published September 24, 2015

About the author

Dale Townshend is Senior Lecturer in Gothic and Romantic Literature at the University of Stirling, Scotland. His most recent publications include The Gothic World (with Glennis Byron; Routledge, 2014) and Ann Radcliffe, Romanticism and the Gothic (with Angela Wright; Cambridge University Press, 2014).

Reviews

[Jeff McIntosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thoughts on this book are much the same for the same publisher's "Gothic Ghost Stories"...

While a beautiful book overall.....the contents don't seem to share the same sensibilities.....I'd guess that as much of a third of the book isn't horror at all, but perhaps fantasy or science fiction. Quite a few of the stories, as noted by other reviewers, are classics in the field - how many times do I need to read "Screaming Skull, Dead Smile, or The Yellow Sign??

An entertaining read, but buy it at discount - I got my copy from a bookseller for $10. And this copy will likely go to the library....

[Michelle Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite the rating, there are a few good stories in this collection, but this just doesn't work as a collection; you'd be better off to seek these (rare) good stories elsewhere, where they aren't tarnished by stories that seek to scare from shock value and make you feel like you need to shower afterwards.

Beyond the Wall by Ambrose Bierce was quite truly the best. Many of the classics were at least all right, if not entirely the best examples of classic creepiness, but better than the modern trash presented here.

This is the worst collection of any short stories I've ever read. No exaggeration. Read at your own peril.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average rating: 3,4

This collection has it all, 1-star and 5-star stories alike. That rarely happens for me.

5-star reads:
The Dying Art
Leonora
Start With Colour
Blessed be the Bound
Dead End
The Dew of Heaven, Like Ashes

4,5-star reads:
Ecdysis
Mirror's Keeper
Thing in the Bucket
Worth the Having
The Dunwich Horror (re-read)
The Call of Cthulhu (re-read)
Trial and Error

Everything below 2,5 stars:
Beyond the Wall
The Watcher by the Threshold
Breach
The Dead Smile
The Three Strangers
Young Goodman Brown
The Magnificat of Devils
The Vampire
The Masque of the Red Death
The Mortal Immortal
The Body Snatcher
Afterward

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

So...similar to "American Gothic Short Stories," which is in this same series of books, I had mixed feelings about this book. There are quite a few great classic horror short stories in this collection from authors like Edger Allen Poe, HP Lovecraft, etc. The Grey Woman by Elizabeth Gaskell was my personal favorite. However, there were also quite a few modern horror short stories which were published for the first time in this book, and out of those I think only one or two I enjoyed. I would have liked if all the stories contained had been classics.

[Nik · Rating 2 out of 5]

really hit and miss. Some of these "classic" authors are just verbose and exhausting. Mary Shelley and Lovecraft were great though. The modern stories were even more mixed, mostly ranging from reddit trash to shock value sadism. One might say the real horror was trying to read this whole book!

[C.R. Fahey · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection, I will say, but split a bit too even between stories I legitimately enjoyed and ones I wouldn’t have picked up on their own. The book itself is lovely, but it gives the impression of something put together and sent to press quickly. There were copy and formatting mistakes in just about every story, from paragraphs split in strange places, spelling or spacing errors, and at one instance, a number in place of the word that belonged there. It wasn’t entirely unworthy the time, though.
General thoughts on each story:

Ecdysis – Rebecca J. Allred (2015)
(****) This was an interesting twist of a real medical phenomenon with something altogether horrific and disturbing. I enjoyed it. Good creepy fun.
The Damned Thing – Ambrose Bierce (1893)
(***) A very Lovecraftian sort of concept, here, with the feeling of something more alien than monstrous. Solidly Okay.Very Lovecraftian sort of concept, here, with a feeling almost more alien than monstrous. Post-mortem mystery horror story vibes. Solidly Okay.
Beyond The Wall – Ambrose Bierce (1907)
(***) The concept wasn’t as unusual as the previous work, but somehow it was more engaging to read. I like a good haunting.
Mirror’s Keeper – Michael Bondies (2011)
(***) I don’t know that I’d consider it out and out horror, but it had a folktale feeling to it I enjoyed.
The Watcher by the Threshold – John Buchan (1900)
(*) I simply couldn’t get engaged in this one. The premise eluded me. It felt primarily like a creepy encounter with a sick old man and I couldn’t much feel interested in that. At least not the day I read it. Perhaps a re-read in the future may yield a better opinion.
The Dying Art – Glen Damien Campbell (2014)
(**) It ended on an interesting Question, I’ll give it that, but I was honestly bored.
The Yellow Sign – Robert W. Chambers (1895)
(****) Solidly engaging, even if a bit confusing in places. I felt like I was missing part of the plot in relation to the POV character’s connection to the book in question toward the end, but I was compelled to keep reading nonetheless.
Breach – Justin Coates (2015)
(**) Plenty of decent descriptive language and imagery, but leaned more on gore than fear and was more than a bit cliched.
The Dead Smile – F. Marion Crawford (1899)
(*****) I don’t know what all to say besides I just really enjoyed this one.
The Screaming Smile – F. Marion Crawford (1908)
(****) Honestly, the same. I enjoyed the concept and the way the author chose to present it. The only reason I don’t count it as five stars is I found the narrator grating by the end of it and I struggled for the first couple of pages to make sense of the delivery.
The Child’s Story – Charles Dickens (1852)
(***** (but * in this collection)) In general, I’d give this one five stars. It’s a nice and pleasant journey through a largely symbolic story. However, I fail to understand why it was included in a horror collection at all. Dickens penned more than enough legitimate horror to have taken from that it shouldn’t have made much sense to pick a short that didn’t read at all as if it were meant to thrill or unsettle. It was… sweet, honestly.
The Leather Funnel – Arthur Conan Doyle (1922)
(***) I enjoyed Doyle’s style and the concept was fascinating, but I wasn’t really engaged in the story itself.
In Search of a New Wilhelm – John h. Dromey (2015)
(**) This one felt a little silly by the end, but it did make me laugh. That’s not, however, something I’d want from a collection I picked up for its horror.
Leonora – Elise Forier Edie (2013)
(****) I’ll admit to enjoying this one because it hit at a couple of things I tend to enjoy from my pulp fiction. Not to say the author didn’t show skill in her work, it was legitimately good, but that is what came to mind while I was reading it.
A Game of Conquest – David A. Elsensohn (2011)
(***) This one was well written, but I wasn’t too engaged with it.
Thing in the Bucket – Eric Esser (2013)
(**) I’ll admit to personal hang-ups being part of the reason my rating is this low. I just couldn’t sign on for the premise through its catalyst of the POV character taking advantage of the young woman that came to see him in the beginning for the rest. However, it was mesmerizing from beginning to end, so… two stars instead of one.
The Murdered Cousin – Sheridan Le Fanu (1851)
(****) I really enjoyed this one, even if it took me a few pages to truly get engaged. The uncle and cousin were loathsome and I was legitimately concerned for the main character’s safety for a few points there.
The Grey Woman – Elizabeth Gaskell (1865)
(****) Four stars rather than five because this was yet another example of one that I wouldn’t necessarily consider a horror tale, but that’s entirely my opinion. It was an interesting story, though, and I really quite enjoyed it.
Worth the Having – Michael Paul Gonzalez (2014)
(*) I just didn’t find this one enjoyable to read. It was mostly gross and unsettling, which was the point, but it simply wasn’t for me.
Extraneus Invokat – Ed Grabianowski (2011)
(*****) Five star stories are hard to speak on for some reason. I liked this one. It was engaging from the opening and still had me by the end.
The Three Strangers – Thomas Hardy (1883)
(*** (* for this collection)) Yet another story that just didn’t feel right in a horror anthology. This one was more of a dinner mystery sort of setup than horrific. I really fail to see why some stories were chosen for this anthology. This one was a decent enough scenario, though, and I was admittedly entertained at points. The only aspect, though, that could be considered even horror adjacent was that one of the characters was an executioner. There was no real element of tension or fear. It was comedic, even, at points.
Young Goodman Brown – Nathaniel Hawthorne (1835)
(*) I enjoyed the Scarlet Letter when I read it, so I don’t dislike Hawthorne’s work, but I didn’t care for this piece. It was feverish in places and there were points where I had trouble not seeing the young mister Brown as anything but foolish and silly, which made it difficult to remain engaged.
The Gateway of the Monster – William Hope Hodgson (1910)
(*****) Legitimately exciting, this one. I liked it.
The Challenge from Beyond – Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long, H.P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt, and C.L. Moore (1935)
(***) It was certain intriguing and the way the different parts of the story knit together was well done, but otherworldly horror has never really been my favorite.
The Man in the Ambry – Gwendolyn Kiste (2015)
(****) This definitely had a lot of that modern horror flair to it. Legitimately creepy and a good time.
Start with Color – Bill Kte’pi (2003)
(****) I really liked this one. I really did. But, again… why is this one in a horror anthology? This is tragic, sure, and certainly fantastical, but it felt out of place in this sort of selection. Granted, with the amount of stories in this book that feel that way, perhaps it’s right at home.
The Rocking-Horse Winner – D.H. Lawrence (1926)
(***) It was an interesting concept.
The Magnificat of Devils – James Lecky (1997)
(***) I wish I could have connected more with this one.
The Dunwich Horror – H.P. Lovecraft (1929)
(***) Three stars because I did enjoy it. Not more because, as I’ve said, this sort of horror just isn’t my cup of tea most of the time. I’m not that affected by the Strange and Unknown element.
The Call of Cthulhu – H.P. Lovecraft (1928)
(***) See above. I’m confused, though, why the Lovecraft entries were arranged out of publication order.
The Horla – Guy de Maupassant (1886)
(**)
The Woman of the Wood – A. Merritt (1926)
(***) Definitely strange. This one felt more like a fairy tale.
The Vampire – Jan Neruda (1920)
(****) Short, to the point, and left an impression.
The Masque of the Red Death – Edgar Allan Poe (1842)
(****) It’s always enjoyable to find Poe in a collection. The Red Death is a feverishly detailed classic.
The Premature Burial – Edgar Allan Poe (1844)
(***) This one definitely pulls at the psychological aspect of horror and personal fears. This is an anxiety I’ve had myself and this piece only brought it back in force. It’s one of Poe’s more meandering works, though, and I had to re-read passages more than a few times when my mind would wander. Yet another example of a piece being placed after one published before it.
Trial and Error – Frank Roger (2013)
(***)
The Mortal Immortal – Mary Shelley (1833)
(****) This was definitely something I’d associate with the psychologically horrific in thinking about the ramifications of immortality, but I wasn’t finding it as ‘horror’ feeling as some of Shelley’s other work. It was meditative, almost, and oddly soothing to read. I think a lot of horror from this era, though, is just what we consider more dark fantasy these days. Still, it was a pleasant read.
The Body Snatcher – Robert Louis Stevenson (1884)
(****) I liked this one. I might be a bit partial to it because of my interest in true crime, and I did struggle to get the Horrible Histories skit on Burke and Hare out of my head while reading it, but it was engaging.
Dracula’s Guest – Bram Stoker (1914)
(*****) I’m sucker for Stoker, I think. I’ve read this story before this anthology and I loved it even more the second time through.
Blessed Be the Bound – Lucy Taylor (1991)
(*) I simply didn’t enjoy this one. The handling of the subject matter felt more gratuitous than artful and I was happy to have finished it only so I wouldn’t have unread pages in the book.
Dead End – Kristopher Triana (2015)
(***) This one started out looking like a one star story for me, as it was absolutely loaded with cliché from the POV character, but once the twist at the end picked up I actually kind of enjoyed it. It made me laugh, anyway, though perhaps a bit maliciously. It did read, however, as an episode each of Criminal Minds and the Twilight Zone dropped in a blender.
Justified – DJ Tyrer (2013)
(-*) Can I negative star a story? Because I’d like to negative star this story. At the start of it, I was confused but strangely intrigued by the handling of the aspect of a trans antagonist. The main character wasn’t malicious toward her in the usual way and her trans-ness didn’t SEEM the catalyst for her depravity. But the entire thing carried the bad taste that Trans Woman as Killer stories still very much have. I thought for a moment, when the red herring of her perhaps not actually being who she claimed to be came up, that my opinion of the story would be improved. Instead, it was worsened. Not only was the antagonist Yes Actually Trans, it was her motivation for murder, too.
Her present pronouns were respected, though, so… congratulations for that, I guess.
Afterward – Edith Wharton (1910)
(****) Legitimately engaging. I feel like the higher rating I give, the more Same my comments get… I wouldn’t have been impressed by the moment of shock if this one were written in a more recent decade, but the era of it kept that intact.
Deep-sixed Without a Depth Gauge – Andrew J. Wilson (2009)
(**) I just rolled my eyes. The whole time. The opening was loaded with cliched lines to the point I started underlining them. Good use of parasites, though, as absolutely horrifying.
The Dew of Heaven, Like Ashes – William R.D. Wood (2013)
(****) A nice one to end on. I liked it. The moment in which I believed the main character might actually die there was legitimately heartbreaking.

Overall… Yeah, I’d recommend this collection to anyone wanting a sampler. But I’d probably suggest they just borrow mine rather than buy their own.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is very interesting as it demonstrates the evolution of horror. The pieces from ~1900 were very similar, and the oldest pieces almost all had a framing device. Some definitely don't stand up to modern standards but others do. The new pieces vary greatly both in style, subject, and quality.

Overall, the pieces are quite tame in terms of horror, with perhaps three exceptions ("Worth the Having" being the most gross by a mile). Some didn't feel like horror at all (e.g., "Start with Color" and "The Child's Story") but were enjoyable. My biggest qualm was with "Trial and Error," which was pure silliness; the premise made no sense at all if you know anything at all about ant reproduction.

It's a large tome—larger even than it looks because the font is smaller and more tightly spaced than most modern books. I actually found it a bit hard to read in the beginning; I kept loosing my place, but it does mean you get your money worth.

I will note that there are numerous typos as it appears that the editor elected not to edit any of the reprints, so there are missing quotation marks, missing spaces, odd line breaks, occasional random bolded words, etc. However, none of the typos impede understanding, and I suppose they give the authentic reading experience of the 1900s reader.

I didn't think the order (alphabetical by author last name) was the most effective structure. Organizing it by publishing order would have been particularly interesting and have further elucidated how the genre has evolved.

[Jarrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories, for the most part. But they all written by different people. I take issue with compilations such as this... but I cannot criticize the works that are included in the collection. "I didn't write any of this, but here you go!" Just seems wrong to create these collections. But the stories are solid and deserve to be read.

[Kaitlyn Jurgens · Rating 1 out of 5]

None of these stories are chilling or horrific. They are very plain horror stories. There was only 2 or 3 that piqued my interest, but they still weren’t amazing horror stories like I was hoping for.

[Sparky A · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were definitely some entertaining stories in this collection, not many I'd class as 'horror' let alone 'chilling'.

[Amber Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars 🌟

[Madi · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a few good stories in this collection, but overall I didn't love it.

[Ebony · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 26% – stories were uninteresting and decidedly Not scary.

[Bailey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well... That's kind of the best way to phrase my reading experience. I was hoping for the same sort of eclectic collection I'd found in Flame Tree's Supernatural anthology, due to the vagueness of the word"chilling". Anything can be chilling. You could do so much with that, but this was mostly creatures. I think I said Supernatural Short Stories read like the Twilight Zone... well, this read more like Tales From the Crypt. While I usually adore finding a new age gem among the classics, the modern additions relied a bit too much on blood/gore. I think another reviewer mentioned this already, but there are at least two stories that appear to be homages/re-imaginings of classic scifi/horror ("Thing in the Bucket" had elements of Lynch's Eraser Head and "Justified" was an interesting twist on Lovecraft's "The Thing on the Doorstep"). If you're a hardcore Lovecraft fan, this collection should serve you well. Here are the ones I found... interesting
*"Ecdysis"-Rebecca J. Allred
*"The Damned Thing"- Ambrose Bierce
*"Beyond the Wall"-Ambrose Bierce
*"Mirror's Keeper"- Michael Bondies
*"The Dying Art"- Glen Damien Campbell
*"The Yellow Sign"-Robert W. Chambers
*"The Screaming Skull"-Marion Crawford
*"Lenora"-Elise Forier Edie
*"A Game of Conquest"-David A. Elsensohn
*"Thing in the Bucket"-Eric Esser
*"Worth the Having"-Michael Paul Gonzalez
*"Extraneus Invokat"-Ed Grabianowski
*"The Man in the Ambry"-Gwendolyn Kiste
*"The Vampire"-Jan Neruda
*"The Mortal Immortal"-Mary Shelley
*"Justified"-DJ Tyrer
I know it looks like a lot, but this was very meh. Too many were just too gory and strange for me.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the rare physical editions I have read in awhile. These days I have to bust out reader glasses for most books, and especially those with small type as this one had. The convenient text enlargement feature I enjoy on my Kindle does not work on paper ;-) Yeah, age is beginning to rear its ugly head for me. Yay. Additionally, like other recent short story collections, I took a few breaks along the way to read other things, so this one also took several months to complete. As for the book itself, it was a fine collection, with only a few clunkers (IMHO) in the bunch. There were many more standouts, most notably: The Leather Funnel, In Search of a New Wilhelm, Worth the Having, Extraneus Invokat, The Woman in the Wood, and Trial and Error. Potential readers may look up authors to these if inclined, as I wasn't inclined to write them here. I can't do everything for you! Ya'll need to get to reading anyway, so have at it.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

THEY SAID I’D FORGOTTEN IT, I COULD NEVER FINISH IT. WELL I DID. Just because I’ve been working on this since October 2022 doesn’t mean I wasn’t working on it!

I really enjoyed this compilation, especially the stories further in. It was DENSE. Usually I take 45-60 seconds a page but these took 2-3 minutes. It could be a little jarring reading these back to back as well, since it’s a mix of modern (including brand new in the 2000s) and classic short stories, but the variety kept the stories unique. A lot of the classic horror short stories are about a man who goes to a remote old house and experiences weird horrifying things, but those were spaced well with the most distinctive stories that leave you in varying states of fear, resignation, awe, or wonder. I love that you never quite know what emotion each story plans to evoke.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fantastic addition to the gothic fantasy collection, this anthology is full of short stories blended perfectly with old classic writers and new modern writes as they tell their dark, gothic, macabre, gloomy, haunted, creepy, tragically heartbreakingly sad, thrilling, spine chilling, spooky, stories of terrifying ghosts and their victims. This book was fantastic to read I absolutely adored reading this book, this book is perfect for curling up on a cold rainy winters night by the fire. The book cover captivated me in the story immediately and after a glancing at the book knew immediately I had to read it. I love the variety of stories and authors throughout the book giving you an experience with contemporary writers and classic stories. This gothic fantasy collection is ideal for any lovers of horror and gothic hauntings. Some of my favourite stories in this book are….

[Soren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, the majorty of the stories were subpar, and i found myself asking "wait, it this actually supposed to be horror?" Much too frequently to give this collection an actual good rating. There were some really good scary stories, but they were unfortunately few and far between.

[Virginia Rand · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got about half way through this. Read 22 stories and only really liked 3 of them.
Quite a few didn't really feel like horror, and the amount of old ones makes me wonder if some were selected for being out of copyright.

[Victoria Fuller · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed to say the least

[Christina Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with any anthology, I found that I enjoyed some of the stories more than others, but this is a great company for anyone that can’t commit to getting through a regular-length book

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of stories, good variety it has something for everyone. Flamtree publishing always release great stuff, I would definitely recommend checking out their other collections