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Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural
Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. Spine shows no sign of creasing. Dust jacket shows signs of some rubbing or chipping.
623 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1985
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About the author
Marvin Kaye
144 books83 followersMarvin Nathan Kaye was an American mystery, fantasy, science fiction, horror author, anthologist, and editor. He was also a magician and theater actor. Kaye was a World Fantasy Award winner and served as co-publisher and editor of Weird Tales Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
September 3, 2016
After owning this for several years, I decided to finally read the entirety of this doorstop, instead of just reading whatever story catches my eye at the moment. Dig that Edward Gorey cover art. Wish it would let me make it bigger, but oh well.
Full review to come.
November 22, 2020
Note, Nov. 21, 2020: When I read short story collections intermittently over a long period of time, my reactions are similarly written piecemeal, while they're fresh in my mind. That gives the reviews a choppy, and often repetitive, quality. Recently, I had to condense and rearrange one of these into a unified whole because of Goodreads' length limit; and I was so pleased with the result that I decided to give every one of these a similar edit! Accordingly, I've now edited this one. (This revision also incorporates a couple of factual corrections on the date and authorship of "Wake Not the Dead.")
The scope of this collection is much like that of Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural (which was probably one of editor Kaye's influences) --both supernatural works and tales of natural terrors. Here, though, the latter aren't separated out as sharply as they are in the earlier classic anthology, with its two distinct sections. Kaye has divided this volume into five sections: Fiends and Creatures, Lovers and Other Monsters, Acts of God and Other Horrors, The Beast Within, and Ghosts and Miscellaneous Nightmares. Both types of works are represented in most of the five, and the organizing principles are murky rather than clear-cut. Where supernatural material is concerned, Kaye admitted to ratcheting the selections mainly (but not wholly) towards the dark and horrific.
Dates aren't given for all the works collected here, but they range from the 18th century, in one case, all the way down to 1985. 47 of the 53 selections are prose fiction; the rest are poems. The authors are mostly (but not all) British or American; none are represented more than once, and Kaye made an effort to include works that aren't already often anthologized. A number of the prose works are quite short, some of them essentially flash fiction. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu is represented by the full-length novella Carmilla, which I've reviewed elsewhere, and J. R. R. Tolkien by a selection from The Hobbit, the only excerpt here; the other fiction writers each contribute a story.
Counting the Le Fanu and Tolkien selections, I've read nine of the 47 prose works before, and most are in collections I've reviewed already. These include Stoker's Dracula out-take "Dracula's Guest," Poe's "Hop-Frog," Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann," Jack London's "Moon-Face," and A. M. Burrage's "The Waxwork." As usual, I didn't read the other selections in order; but I did read most of them, although I admittedly only skimmed Leonid Andreyev's "Lazarus" --which, IMO, was all the attention it deserved.
I chose to read all the six poems first to consider them as a group. All of the poems are of the type that tell stories (which tends to be my favorite form), and most are short, "Lenore" by Gottfried August Burger (1747-1794) being the longest at eight pages. That one and Goethe's "The Erl-King" were originally written in German; the former is given here in the little-known 1844 translation by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and the latter was translated by Kaye himself. Poetry (especially rhymed poetry) is very problematic to translate into another language accurately; but considered in their own right, the translations are haunting and atmospheric. Fitz-James O'Brien's "The Demon of the Gibbet" is thematically similar to the Goethe poem. Tennyson's "Rizpah" is powerful as well, and all of these selections well illustrate the Romantic style and ethos. Ogden Nash's "A Tale of the Thirteenth Floor," is stylistically very different; it borrows the conventions of the noir of the author's day to blend them with a supernatural conceit that creates a serious morality tale quite different from the author's usual humorous verse. "The Dragon Over Hackensack" by Richard L. Wexelblat (1985) is a masterpiece of dry humor in its juxtaposition of the mundane and the fantastic --though the reference to the Twin Towers gives it a resonance today that it didn't have originally.
Theodore Sturgeon and Isaac Bashevis Singer are two of the writers here whose work I've read before, and both encountered previously only in short stories --and in the latter's case, just one story, "Gimpel the Fool," which I didn't like. His "The Black Wedding," steeped in Jewish folk superstition, is even worse. The few Sturgeon stories I've read or started before are a more mixed bag (his "Thunder and Roses" is a serious, quality work of fiction); but the selection here, "The Professor's Teddy Bear," tends to the low-worth end of the spectrum. Both of these stories (especially Singer's) are just wallows into the depths of human suffering and misery for its own sake. They're not cautionary or morality tales, they have no message beyond "Life can be blindly horrible for no reason, and I want to rub your nose in it," and while they make the reader feel pain and suffering for the characters, they aren't plausible or realistic enough to actually train the readers in human empathy. Personally, I didn't really care for Edward D. Hoch's "The Faceless Thing" either, though it's well written. It struck me (though this guess might be unfair to the author) as the self-expression of a writer himself aging with enormous regrets, and without the resources of transcendent personal values or satisfying human relationships. (Vicariously confessional writing like this serves a therapeutic purpose, but not usually much of a literary one.) Some of the other naturalistic tales of human tragedy and misery are similarly devoid of uplift. They're well-written and achieve their purpose, but most often that's to wallow in depravity, psychosis and anguish and make the readers miserable. Not all dark stories are without merit because they're dark, though (including others of those here). It depends on the quality of the darkness, what the writer is trying to do with it, and the degree to which it's permeable by light. (All of this is often difficult to analyze without spoilers!)
The horror in Stephen Crane's "The Upturned Face" is the insanity of war. Other stories here that depend on naturalistic horror include Saki's "The Easter Egg," which is one of the darkest stories here (and definitely displays the very pessimistic and cynical streak that underlies much of his work, even where the tone appears to be light) and Damon Runyon's "The Informal Execution of Soupbone Pew." IMO, Orson Scott Card's "Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory" is to be seen as a vivid exploration of guilt-induced insanity, and it's as unsparing a dissection of the genuinely evil deeds that self-centered humans are perfectly capable of as any ever written. Richard Matheson's "Graveyard Shift" is an exploration of the darkest realms of the perversion and cruelty that the self-centeredness of the human heart can lead us to, a refutation of the naive liberal idealist view that evil practically doesn't exist and that everybody's basically good. (it's also a masterful, and rare, modern example of a story told entirely in epistolary style, and one that I don't believe could have been told in any other style with anywhere near the same effect. Some readers and critics might interpret mystery writer Stanley Ellin's "The Question" as a polemic against capital punishment, but I think that would be a misreading; I saw the author's intention as simply to use the narrator's profession as a device for exploring the dark side of human nature, without any definitive statements one way or the other about the death penalty itself. John Dickson Carr contributes an ingenious gem of a mystery in "The House in Goblin Wood," set in England between the World Wars and featuring his series detective Sir Henry Merrivale.
It's worth noting that three of the naturalistic pieces are written by authors who are almost entirely known for work in other literary forms: drama in the case of Tennessee Williams, and poetry in the case of Dylan Thomas and Walt Whitman. Whitman's "Death in the School-Room" has a poignancy and moral point that lifts it above many of the other efforts here (though Whitman's verbal tic of always omitting the letter e whenever he uses a word with an "-ed" ending is distracting; "raised," for instance, would become "rais'd".) Williams' "The Vengeance of Nitocris" (also from Weird Tales), set in ancient Egypt, is undeniably both powerful and memorable. It retells events that actually are, as the author notes, cited as history by Herodotus (and Manetho; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitocris ), but the historicity is actually dubious; Herodotus in particular wrote down a lot of tales told to him by people who enjoyed pulling his leg.
Both "The Night Wire" by H. F. Arnold (drawn from the old pulp magazine Weird Tales, as were several of these selections) and Robert Aickman's "The Hospice" are stories that deliberately base their effect on the fact that the reader can't get any grasp on what's really happening, or on how it's to be explained. (Particularly with the Aickman selection, this can come across as an exploitation of the reader, in which the author plays with his/her feelings to create a feeling of unresolved unease and disquietitude for its own sake.)
Though it was published in 1923, well before "The Call of Cthulhu," A. Merritt's "The Pool of the Stone God" has a profoundly Cthulhu Mythos vibe to it, and probably influenced Lovecraft. Though Patricia Highsmith is best known for her writing in the crime fiction genre, her "The Quest for Blank Claveringi" is very much in the tradition of horrific pulp science fiction, a warning about the pitfalls of blindly seeking scientific fame and recognition. Parke Godwin is a writer I previously knew only from his historical novel Sherwood. His story here, "Stroke of Mercy," is actually thematically similar to Michael Swanwick's novel Jack Faust; both works aim for a horrific juxtaposition of modern atrocities with the supposedly more staid and morally ordered world of earlier times, when Christian faith was more prevalent, and both are written from an atheist perspective that's appalled by the moral results of prevalent atheism. "A Malady of Magicks" by Craig Shaw Gardiner, a modern writer I hadn't heard of previously, is the first tale in a humorous fantasy story cycle featuring magic-allergic wizard Ebenezum and his inept apprentice Wunt; it's mostly a passable story of its type, ruined, IMO, by a unnecessarily salacious ending.)
Several of the straightforwardly supernatural selections draw on actual folklore; these include Ivan Turgenev's tongue-in-cheek "Bubnoff and the Devil." Lafcadio Hearn's very short "Oshidori" is one of this writer's many re-tellings of Japanese folktales; on the basis of this example, I'd be glad to read more of his work. Chinese-American writer M. Lucie Chin's "Lan Lung" (1980) is set in an ostensibly old-time China that's actually a fantasy world where dragons are real, and makes good use of Chinese folklore. "The Owl" by 19th-century Breton writer Anatole Le Braz characteristically draws on folklore --in this case, the belief that animals can speak on Christmas Eve-- has the flavor of a folktale, and is one of my favorites here.
"Wake Not the Dead" (1823) by German writer Ernst Raupach is incorrectly ascribed here to Johann Ludvig Tieck, a mistaken attribution apparently first made by anthologist Peter Haining in 1973, and subsequently followed by a number of other English-language critics and editors (see https://librivox.org/short-ghost-and-... ). It also has a folkloric flavor, and a typically Romantic use of Gothic atmosphere and evocation of horror and pity; but I felt that the ending, strictly speaking, didn't logically grow out the story as a consistently understandable development. Guy de Maupassant's "The Flayed Hand" and "No. 252 Rue M. La Prince" by Ralph Adams Cram, are both excellent yarns of the supernatural type. The Cram story was one of my favorites here; I'd never read any of his work before, but this one made me glad that Black Spirits and White - A Book of Ghost Stories (from which this tale is taken) is on my to-read shelf. Robert Bloch's "The Hungry House" was ultimately less satisfying for me personally, though it would undoubtedly appeal more to readers who like their ghost stories very pessimistic and dark. Finally, Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Bottle Imp" and Mary Shelley's "The Transformation" (set, respectively, in the South Pacific and in 15th-century Italy) are outstanding pieces of supernatural fiction.
Overall, this is a solid collection of macabre literature (mostly fiction), which ought to appeal to readers of this sort of thing. Kaye was also the editor of a companion volume, Masterpieces of Terror and the Unknown.
The scope of this collection is much like that of Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural (which was probably one of editor Kaye's influences) --both supernatural works and tales of natural terrors. Here, though, the latter aren't separated out as sharply as they are in the earlier classic anthology, with its two distinct sections. Kaye has divided this volume into five sections: Fiends and Creatures, Lovers and Other Monsters, Acts of God and Other Horrors, The Beast Within, and Ghosts and Miscellaneous Nightmares. Both types of works are represented in most of the five, and the organizing principles are murky rather than clear-cut. Where supernatural material is concerned, Kaye admitted to ratcheting the selections mainly (but not wholly) towards the dark and horrific.
Dates aren't given for all the works collected here, but they range from the 18th century, in one case, all the way down to 1985. 47 of the 53 selections are prose fiction; the rest are poems. The authors are mostly (but not all) British or American; none are represented more than once, and Kaye made an effort to include works that aren't already often anthologized. A number of the prose works are quite short, some of them essentially flash fiction. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu is represented by the full-length novella Carmilla, which I've reviewed elsewhere, and J. R. R. Tolkien by a selection from The Hobbit, the only excerpt here; the other fiction writers each contribute a story.
Counting the Le Fanu and Tolkien selections, I've read nine of the 47 prose works before, and most are in collections I've reviewed already. These include Stoker's Dracula out-take "Dracula's Guest," Poe's "Hop-Frog," Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann," Jack London's "Moon-Face," and A. M. Burrage's "The Waxwork." As usual, I didn't read the other selections in order; but I did read most of them, although I admittedly only skimmed Leonid Andreyev's "Lazarus" --which, IMO, was all the attention it deserved.
I chose to read all the six poems first to consider them as a group. All of the poems are of the type that tell stories (which tends to be my favorite form), and most are short, "Lenore" by Gottfried August Burger (1747-1794) being the longest at eight pages. That one and Goethe's "The Erl-King" were originally written in German; the former is given here in the little-known 1844 translation by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and the latter was translated by Kaye himself. Poetry (especially rhymed poetry) is very problematic to translate into another language accurately; but considered in their own right, the translations are haunting and atmospheric. Fitz-James O'Brien's "The Demon of the Gibbet" is thematically similar to the Goethe poem. Tennyson's "Rizpah" is powerful as well, and all of these selections well illustrate the Romantic style and ethos. Ogden Nash's "A Tale of the Thirteenth Floor," is stylistically very different; it borrows the conventions of the noir of the author's day to blend them with a supernatural conceit that creates a serious morality tale quite different from the author's usual humorous verse. "The Dragon Over Hackensack" by Richard L. Wexelblat (1985) is a masterpiece of dry humor in its juxtaposition of the mundane and the fantastic --though the reference to the Twin Towers gives it a resonance today that it didn't have originally.
Theodore Sturgeon and Isaac Bashevis Singer are two of the writers here whose work I've read before, and both encountered previously only in short stories --and in the latter's case, just one story, "Gimpel the Fool," which I didn't like. His "The Black Wedding," steeped in Jewish folk superstition, is even worse. The few Sturgeon stories I've read or started before are a more mixed bag (his "Thunder and Roses" is a serious, quality work of fiction); but the selection here, "The Professor's Teddy Bear," tends to the low-worth end of the spectrum. Both of these stories (especially Singer's) are just wallows into the depths of human suffering and misery for its own sake. They're not cautionary or morality tales, they have no message beyond "Life can be blindly horrible for no reason, and I want to rub your nose in it," and while they make the reader feel pain and suffering for the characters, they aren't plausible or realistic enough to actually train the readers in human empathy. Personally, I didn't really care for Edward D. Hoch's "The Faceless Thing" either, though it's well written. It struck me (though this guess might be unfair to the author) as the self-expression of a writer himself aging with enormous regrets, and without the resources of transcendent personal values or satisfying human relationships. (Vicariously confessional writing like this serves a therapeutic purpose, but not usually much of a literary one.) Some of the other naturalistic tales of human tragedy and misery are similarly devoid of uplift. They're well-written and achieve their purpose, but most often that's to wallow in depravity, psychosis and anguish and make the readers miserable. Not all dark stories are without merit because they're dark, though (including others of those here). It depends on the quality of the darkness, what the writer is trying to do with it, and the degree to which it's permeable by light. (All of this is often difficult to analyze without spoilers!)
The horror in Stephen Crane's "The Upturned Face" is the insanity of war. Other stories here that depend on naturalistic horror include Saki's "The Easter Egg," which is one of the darkest stories here (and definitely displays the very pessimistic and cynical streak that underlies much of his work, even where the tone appears to be light) and Damon Runyon's "The Informal Execution of Soupbone Pew." IMO, Orson Scott Card's "Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory" is to be seen as a vivid exploration of guilt-induced insanity, and it's as unsparing a dissection of the genuinely evil deeds that self-centered humans are perfectly capable of as any ever written. Richard Matheson's "Graveyard Shift" is an exploration of the darkest realms of the perversion and cruelty that the self-centeredness of the human heart can lead us to, a refutation of the naive liberal idealist view that evil practically doesn't exist and that everybody's basically good. (it's also a masterful, and rare, modern example of a story told entirely in epistolary style, and one that I don't believe could have been told in any other style with anywhere near the same effect. Some readers and critics might interpret mystery writer Stanley Ellin's "The Question" as a polemic against capital punishment, but I think that would be a misreading; I saw the author's intention as simply to use the narrator's profession as a device for exploring the dark side of human nature, without any definitive statements one way or the other about the death penalty itself. John Dickson Carr contributes an ingenious gem of a mystery in "The House in Goblin Wood," set in England between the World Wars and featuring his series detective Sir Henry Merrivale.
It's worth noting that three of the naturalistic pieces are written by authors who are almost entirely known for work in other literary forms: drama in the case of Tennessee Williams, and poetry in the case of Dylan Thomas and Walt Whitman. Whitman's "Death in the School-Room" has a poignancy and moral point that lifts it above many of the other efforts here (though Whitman's verbal tic of always omitting the letter e whenever he uses a word with an "-ed" ending is distracting; "raised," for instance, would become "rais'd".) Williams' "The Vengeance of Nitocris" (also from Weird Tales), set in ancient Egypt, is undeniably both powerful and memorable. It retells events that actually are, as the author notes, cited as history by Herodotus (and Manetho; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitocris ), but the historicity is actually dubious; Herodotus in particular wrote down a lot of tales told to him by people who enjoyed pulling his leg.
Both "The Night Wire" by H. F. Arnold (drawn from the old pulp magazine Weird Tales, as were several of these selections) and Robert Aickman's "The Hospice" are stories that deliberately base their effect on the fact that the reader can't get any grasp on what's really happening, or on how it's to be explained. (Particularly with the Aickman selection, this can come across as an exploitation of the reader, in which the author plays with his/her feelings to create a feeling of unresolved unease and disquietitude for its own sake.)
Though it was published in 1923, well before "The Call of Cthulhu," A. Merritt's "The Pool of the Stone God" has a profoundly Cthulhu Mythos vibe to it, and probably influenced Lovecraft. Though Patricia Highsmith is best known for her writing in the crime fiction genre, her "The Quest for Blank Claveringi" is very much in the tradition of horrific pulp science fiction, a warning about the pitfalls of blindly seeking scientific fame and recognition. Parke Godwin is a writer I previously knew only from his historical novel Sherwood. His story here, "Stroke of Mercy," is actually thematically similar to Michael Swanwick's novel Jack Faust; both works aim for a horrific juxtaposition of modern atrocities with the supposedly more staid and morally ordered world of earlier times, when Christian faith was more prevalent, and both are written from an atheist perspective that's appalled by the moral results of prevalent atheism. "A Malady of Magicks" by Craig Shaw Gardiner, a modern writer I hadn't heard of previously, is the first tale in a humorous fantasy story cycle featuring magic-allergic wizard Ebenezum and his inept apprentice Wunt; it's mostly a passable story of its type, ruined, IMO, by a unnecessarily salacious ending.)
Several of the straightforwardly supernatural selections draw on actual folklore; these include Ivan Turgenev's tongue-in-cheek "Bubnoff and the Devil." Lafcadio Hearn's very short "Oshidori" is one of this writer's many re-tellings of Japanese folktales; on the basis of this example, I'd be glad to read more of his work. Chinese-American writer M. Lucie Chin's "Lan Lung" (1980) is set in an ostensibly old-time China that's actually a fantasy world where dragons are real, and makes good use of Chinese folklore. "The Owl" by 19th-century Breton writer Anatole Le Braz characteristically draws on folklore --in this case, the belief that animals can speak on Christmas Eve-- has the flavor of a folktale, and is one of my favorites here.
"Wake Not the Dead" (1823) by German writer Ernst Raupach is incorrectly ascribed here to Johann Ludvig Tieck, a mistaken attribution apparently first made by anthologist Peter Haining in 1973, and subsequently followed by a number of other English-language critics and editors (see https://librivox.org/short-ghost-and-... ). It also has a folkloric flavor, and a typically Romantic use of Gothic atmosphere and evocation of horror and pity; but I felt that the ending, strictly speaking, didn't logically grow out the story as a consistently understandable development. Guy de Maupassant's "The Flayed Hand" and "No. 252 Rue M. La Prince" by Ralph Adams Cram, are both excellent yarns of the supernatural type. The Cram story was one of my favorites here; I'd never read any of his work before, but this one made me glad that Black Spirits and White - A Book of Ghost Stories (from which this tale is taken) is on my to-read shelf. Robert Bloch's "The Hungry House" was ultimately less satisfying for me personally, though it would undoubtedly appeal more to readers who like their ghost stories very pessimistic and dark. Finally, Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Bottle Imp" and Mary Shelley's "The Transformation" (set, respectively, in the South Pacific and in 15th-century Italy) are outstanding pieces of supernatural fiction.
Overall, this is a solid collection of macabre literature (mostly fiction), which ought to appeal to readers of this sort of thing. Kaye was also the editor of a companion volume, Masterpieces of Terror and the Unknown.
December 12, 2015
I savored these stories and poems, reading them over the course of several years, whenever it was late at night, and I was in the mood for some good horror.
The Professor's Teddy Bear, by Theodore Sturgeon, is possibly my favorite short story ever, and I have read it many times. The other stories are a sampling of masters of the genre and are a great way to discover these authors and their styles. Some are classics, but others are lesser known. They are not gory or edge-of-your-seat scary, but they make you think, and are dark, literary, and beautiful. I often recall the final scenes of The Professor's Teddy Bear, and I smile and shudder.
The Professor's Teddy Bear, by Theodore Sturgeon, is possibly my favorite short story ever, and I have read it many times. The other stories are a sampling of masters of the genre and are a great way to discover these authors and their styles. Some are classics, but others are lesser known. They are not gory or edge-of-your-seat scary, but they make you think, and are dark, literary, and beautiful. I often recall the final scenes of The Professor's Teddy Bear, and I smile and shudder.
September 4, 2009
Wonderful collection of short stories and novellas, both classic and modern. Some authors well known and others lesser known but deserving of a wider audience. It was quite by accident that I found this little gem in the library. It was just a quick glance of the title that attracted me, and although I didn't hold high expectations, it didn't disappoint. I was actually highly impressed with the selections.
Some of the best pieces include the Gothic novella, Carmilla, written by Dublin author Sheridan Lefanu and published in 1872. This deliciously erotic tale of vampirism predates Stoker's Dracula by 25 years.
Another, The Hospice, by Robert Aickman, is a mysterious tale that will leave you scratching your head in wonderment at what has just passed. It will take at least a second reading for me to figure out what I have just read. Regardless it has left a lasting impression.
And then there is Johann Ludwig Tiek's tale which reminds us why it is best to, Wake Not the Dead.
There is very little blood and gore here. The terror being mostly psychological. Marvin Kaye does an excellent job introducing each entry and provides a thoughtful afterward in closing the book.
Some of the best pieces include the Gothic novella, Carmilla, written by Dublin author Sheridan Lefanu and published in 1872. This deliciously erotic tale of vampirism predates Stoker's Dracula by 25 years.
Another, The Hospice, by Robert Aickman, is a mysterious tale that will leave you scratching your head in wonderment at what has just passed. It will take at least a second reading for me to figure out what I have just read. Regardless it has left a lasting impression.
And then there is Johann Ludwig Tiek's tale which reminds us why it is best to, Wake Not the Dead.
There is very little blood and gore here. The terror being mostly psychological. Marvin Kaye does an excellent job introducing each entry and provides a thoughtful afterward in closing the book.
September 25, 2012
The kind of stories which would best be read in a nightgown sipping brandy by a roaring fire. These stories avoid the gore and surprise aspect of fear, and dig at the core of your soul. These are the kinds of stories that plant little seeds of fear, where days later you'll still be ruminating about some line or image. An all-star cast of authors, but many not the ones you'd expect given the subject matter. Orson Scott Card, a 16 year old Tennessee Williams, Walt Whitman, Isaac Asimov, Robert Louis Stevenson to name just a few. I would recommend not reading the little blurbs before the stories until after finishing them, because although Kaye is careful to not give anything away, he loves giving little hints which, if you are like me, will eat at you while reading. A little over 50 stories in here ranging from half a page to 60 pages. I could not recommend this collection more highly, and intend on treasuring it for the rest of my days. Also has a beautiful eerie cover.
July 24, 2014
Because I am a reader and writer of horror fiction, when I found this anthology, I fell in love. Some stories are traditional supernatural but most are offbeat and by lesser known authors in this genre. "Bubnoff and the Devil" by Ivan Turgenev is a perfect read for a lonely night at home. Walt Whitman's first short story, "Death in the School Room" is a surprise since we don't know him to write this kind of horror. "Graveyard Shift" by Richard Matheson (about the Dark Mother) has the most chilling characters. I especially like Mary Shelley's The Transformation. This is a Romeo and Juliet story but with an ugly twist. From creatures to ghosts to obscure beasts, there's plenty of variety.
February 11, 2019
Amazing. One of the best collections of supernatural literature I've read. Lots of obscure stories from famous authors.
July 1, 2017
Estas "Obras Maestras de Terror...", es una selección de Marvin Kaye de 19 extraordinarios cuentos divididos en varios temas: "Demonios y Criaturas"; "Amantes y otros Monstruos"; "Actos de Dios y otros Horrores"; "La Bestia Interior" y "Fantasmas y diversas Pesadillas."
En el primer apartado "Demonios y...", Bram Stoker escribió un capítulo, el primero, pero que fue suprimido, para su novela "Conde Drácula", y que luego de su muerte fue publicado como un cuento: "EL Huésped de Drácula". El narrador Jonathan Harker, en su ruta a Transilvania, cuenta que estando en Munich decide dar un paseo y visitar una población abandonada en la cercanía el día conocido como "Walpurgis Nacht" o "noche de brujas", que no es otro que el 30 de abril, también conocido como el "día de los tontos" en USA, o, el "día del niño", entre nosotros. Las sensaciones del personaje están tan bien descritas que el frío, la lluvia que se convierte en nieve. la soledad, la oscuridad y el miedo, aumentan en muchos grados el terror del lector en aquella tarde-noche.
En la sección de "Amantes &...", hay dos cuentos excepcionales que, obviamente, involucran a el amor: "El Ancla", de Jack Snow y el tan bien conocido cuento de Sheridan LeFanu: "Carmilla." Si alguien quiere leer mi versión en español de "El Ancla", la puede encontrar en SCRIBD. "When the Clock Strikes" de Tanith Lee, encontramos la más maligna versión del cuento de la "Cenicienta" original, (no la de Disney).
En el apartado "Actos de Dios y otros horrores" está "Flies", del famoso Isaac Asimov conocido por su "Yo Robot"; así mismo, en esta parte aparece "Lazarus", de Leonid Andreyev, con una inquietante visión de la vida de Lázaro después de su resurrección.
En el capítulo de "La Bestia Interior", aparece el cuento de Walt Whitman, La Muerte en el Salón de Clase", y "Una Noche de Verano" de Ambrose Bierce, famosos ambos, el primero por sus poemas y el segundo por haber desaparecido en México, en el año de 1914 luego de cruzar la frontera con USA.
Por último, en "Fantasmas y variadas Pesadillas", los nombres de Guy de Maupassant, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Anatole Le Braz y H.P. Lovecraft, garantizan el terror y la diversión.
Como dice el autor de esta colección, son obras maestras que el tiempo no ha enterrado en el olvido, puesto que muchos de estos autores escribieron en el siglo XIX y la primera mitad del siglo XX, mismas que siguen provocando el terror clásico de los cuentos de este género.
En el primer apartado "Demonios y...", Bram Stoker escribió un capítulo, el primero, pero que fue suprimido, para su novela "Conde Drácula", y que luego de su muerte fue publicado como un cuento: "EL Huésped de Drácula". El narrador Jonathan Harker, en su ruta a Transilvania, cuenta que estando en Munich decide dar un paseo y visitar una población abandonada en la cercanía el día conocido como "Walpurgis Nacht" o "noche de brujas", que no es otro que el 30 de abril, también conocido como el "día de los tontos" en USA, o, el "día del niño", entre nosotros. Las sensaciones del personaje están tan bien descritas que el frío, la lluvia que se convierte en nieve. la soledad, la oscuridad y el miedo, aumentan en muchos grados el terror del lector en aquella tarde-noche.
En la sección de "Amantes &...", hay dos cuentos excepcionales que, obviamente, involucran a el amor: "El Ancla", de Jack Snow y el tan bien conocido cuento de Sheridan LeFanu: "Carmilla." Si alguien quiere leer mi versión en español de "El Ancla", la puede encontrar en SCRIBD. "When the Clock Strikes" de Tanith Lee, encontramos la más maligna versión del cuento de la "Cenicienta" original, (no la de Disney).
En el apartado "Actos de Dios y otros horrores" está "Flies", del famoso Isaac Asimov conocido por su "Yo Robot"; así mismo, en esta parte aparece "Lazarus", de Leonid Andreyev, con una inquietante visión de la vida de Lázaro después de su resurrección.
En el capítulo de "La Bestia Interior", aparece el cuento de Walt Whitman, La Muerte en el Salón de Clase", y "Una Noche de Verano" de Ambrose Bierce, famosos ambos, el primero por sus poemas y el segundo por haber desaparecido en México, en el año de 1914 luego de cruzar la frontera con USA.
Por último, en "Fantasmas y variadas Pesadillas", los nombres de Guy de Maupassant, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Anatole Le Braz y H.P. Lovecraft, garantizan el terror y la diversión.
Como dice el autor de esta colección, son obras maestras que el tiempo no ha enterrado en el olvido, puesto que muchos de estos autores escribieron en el siglo XIX y la primera mitad del siglo XX, mismas que siguen provocando el terror clásico de los cuentos de este género.
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January 13, 2025PLACEHOLDER REVIEWS
In "The Easter Egg" by Saki, a symbolic presentation to a European Prince, reveals itself to be anything but a thoughtful surprise. Nicely bitter and ironic miniature from the master of that kind of thing.
In "The Easter Egg" by Saki, a symbolic presentation to a European Prince, reveals itself to be anything but a thoughtful surprise. Nicely bitter and ironic miniature from the master of that kind of thing.
January 2, 2021
Lots of oldies with verbose but memorable stories. Among many others, “Carmilla,” a tale that undoubtedly inspired Dracula, and “Oshidori,” a tale of a nightmare duck, will stick with me for a long time to come.
April 21, 2021
A great collection of stories, some terrifying and some mindboggling (not without a couple of duds but what anthology is perfect?). Marvin Kaye cares for the genre a whole lot and it shows in the notes accompanying every selected piece. I highly recommend it to anyone who has a taste for mystery and wonder.
April 11, 2022
My local used book store did me proud! Walked in with a bag of books (as you do), hoping to find some historical romances (as my shelf for them says, "don't judge"), and a short single author penned horror anthology, and was just about to walk out, when this little beauty caught my eye. I mean, how could it not? I only wish I could show off that spine, though. Now, this is one of the books I'd deleted from my shelves way back when because it remained too rich for my blood/wallet. But to find it for ten dollars? It was meant to be. I'm a bit wary of buying short scary story collections without first glancing through Goodreads, hoping some kind patron will offer up at least a story list; don't want to risk wasting money on duplicates. But good God, was this a treat! Only a few of the usual suspects ("Carmilla", "Dracula's Guest", and "Sardonicus") along with so many subjects: two versions of the Erl King ("Erlkönig or the Elf King), ghosts/other creatures of the night, haunted residences, plus Peter Pan/fae motifs, dragons in the city, and.... hold the applause, the OG version of "Riddles in the Dark" by Tolkien from 1938! As always, here are the ones I found interesting:
-Fiends and Creatures
*"Bubnoff and the Devil"- Ivan Turgenev/Translated by Marvin Kaye
*"The Erl-King"-Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe/Translated by Marvin Kaye
*"The Dragon Over Hackensack"-Richard L. Wexelblat
*"The Faceless Thing"-Edward D. Hoch
-Love and Other Monsters
*"The Anchor"-Jack Snow
*"Lenore"-Gottfried August Burger/Translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
*"The Black Wedding"-Isaac Bashevis Singer/Translated by Martha Glicklich
*"Graveyard Shift"-Richard Matheson
*"Wake Not the Dead"-Johan Ludwig Tieck
-Acts of God and Other Horrors
*"The Night Wire"-H.F. Arnold
-The Beast Within
*"The Waxwork"-A.M. Burrage
*"The Silent Couple Pierre Courtois/Translated by Faith Lancereau and Marvin Kaye
*"One Summer Night"-Ambrose Bierce
*"The House in Goblin Wood (the one with the Peter Pan ref.)-John Dickson Carr
-Ghosts and Miscellaneous Nightmares
*"The Flayed Hand"-Guy de Maupassant
*"The Hungry House"-Robert Bloch
*"Riddles in the Dark (Original Version, 1938)-J.R.R. Tolkien
The violence/bloodiness of some stories is what kept this from getting the five star treatment. But for what I read/enjoyed, I had a time.
-Fiends and Creatures
*"Bubnoff and the Devil"- Ivan Turgenev/Translated by Marvin Kaye
*"The Erl-King"-Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe/Translated by Marvin Kaye
*"The Dragon Over Hackensack"-Richard L. Wexelblat
*"The Faceless Thing"-Edward D. Hoch
-Love and Other Monsters
*"The Anchor"-Jack Snow
*"Lenore"-Gottfried August Burger/Translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
*"The Black Wedding"-Isaac Bashevis Singer/Translated by Martha Glicklich
*"Graveyard Shift"-Richard Matheson
*"Wake Not the Dead"-Johan Ludwig Tieck
-Acts of God and Other Horrors
*"The Night Wire"-H.F. Arnold
-The Beast Within
*"The Waxwork"-A.M. Burrage
*"The Silent Couple Pierre Courtois/Translated by Faith Lancereau and Marvin Kaye
*"One Summer Night"-Ambrose Bierce
*"The House in Goblin Wood (the one with the Peter Pan ref.)-John Dickson Carr
-Ghosts and Miscellaneous Nightmares
*"The Flayed Hand"-Guy de Maupassant
*"The Hungry House"-Robert Bloch
*"Riddles in the Dark (Original Version, 1938)-J.R.R. Tolkien
The violence/bloodiness of some stories is what kept this from getting the five star treatment. But for what I read/enjoyed, I had a time.
March 21, 2014
OK I can finally say I have finished it - and what a monster of a book it was. It was both challenging and fascinating - first of all, though I think I need to explain the book a bit more beyond the "blurb" on the website. The book really deals with terror - as the editor/author explains in his afterwards, horror is linked to revulsion either experienced up or witnessed by, where as terror has no such links (though it can be) and as such is "cleaner" and as a result more elemental and primal. To reflect this the stories he has selected reflect a more primal set of fears - in fact the book is separated in to sections which reflect this such as fiends and creatures, acts of Gods and other horrors and the beast within. The stories range in age and subject (needing only to b vaguely linked to the title section) and as such you can jump decades, even centuries in date of being written, across the globe and move wildly around subjects in a matter of a few pages.
And this brings me to my personal experience of the book. There were stories I found fascinating and in some cases even surprising since they had been penned by authors I thought I knew, but obviously I didn't. There were stories I had heard of but never read before, which was a whole new experience, since some were truly amazing while others were an exercise in motivation. And then there was the fact that the book had been aimed to explore terror rather than horror - and as such there were some very subtle stories which, only after a while pondering them did you realise their true meaning.
So as a whole the book was a good read - though hard going in places. It was one of those books I may not have sought out directly but having read it now I am glad I did.
And this brings me to my personal experience of the book. There were stories I found fascinating and in some cases even surprising since they had been penned by authors I thought I knew, but obviously I didn't. There were stories I had heard of but never read before, which was a whole new experience, since some were truly amazing while others were an exercise in motivation. And then there was the fact that the book had been aimed to explore terror rather than horror - and as such there were some very subtle stories which, only after a while pondering them did you realise their true meaning.
So as a whole the book was a good read - though hard going in places. It was one of those books I may not have sought out directly but having read it now I am glad I did.
June 18, 2012
A great collection of short stories that spans the time between classic horror literature and the almost modern day. Many of these come for well known authors, but most are from writers I've never heard of or read before -- although I think I should. Some of the stories are quick and barely enter into the realm of horror, some are witty in a very dark way, while others are deep and macabre. You will advance with an adventurous spirit in one story wanting to know what happens next, yet have to be dragged down the halls fighting and screaming in another because you know what is coming and it is terrible! I loved the varying nature of all of the stories in this collection, from spine tingling dread, whimsical fright, and deeply disturbing dread. Reading this and some of the stores that go back nearly 200 years you can't help but reflect just how full of shock and perversity modern horror has become, and that these classics, or masterpieces, far outshine most anything being written today. It's too bad that I have to return this to the library, because I want this one for my own.
July 26, 2010
What a great surprise.
This book was a terrific surprise. It got fairly mediocre reviews and was readily available on PBSwap.com. I was a little worried. But the collection was intriguing to say the least.
It savored it slowly over 2 months. Some stories were really dense and took several days to digest. Others were quick and witty.
Marvin Kaye makes interesting comments about all of the pieces. I found them valuable. More than the comments is the afterward. Here he talks about the pieces and what else one should read if one can find it.
If you like classics as well as pulp, this book will be a rare treat. No one gets to put together anthologies like this anymore! Some of the books have always been hard to find and stolen from libraries... but here they are in one beat up volume.
Enjoy.
This book was a terrific surprise. It got fairly mediocre reviews and was readily available on PBSwap.com. I was a little worried. But the collection was intriguing to say the least.
It savored it slowly over 2 months. Some stories were really dense and took several days to digest. Others were quick and witty.
Marvin Kaye makes interesting comments about all of the pieces. I found them valuable. More than the comments is the afterward. Here he talks about the pieces and what else one should read if one can find it.
If you like classics as well as pulp, this book will be a rare treat. No one gets to put together anthologies like this anymore! Some of the books have always been hard to find and stolen from libraries... but here they are in one beat up volume.
Enjoy.
October 7, 2016
This collection starts off with classic tales by Bram Stoker, Ivan Turgenev, Robert Louis Stevenson, M. Lucie Chin, Mary Shelley and Edward Hoch. these tales while not scary are seminal classics. There are also great tales from Tanith Lee, Sheridan LeFanu, Orson Scott Card, Ray Russell, Richard Matheson, and Leonid Andreyev and then the collection begins to drag. Despite the talents of Dylan Thomas, Leonid Andreyev, Pierre Courtois, Jack London, Stephen Crane, Damon Runyan, and Tennessee Williams, the latter part of the collection is quite boring and mundane. It does pick up in the end with tales from Guy de Maupassant, Robert Aickman, Fitz james O'Brien and H.P. Lovecraft. This is a very good but not great colection. Because this features more classic literature readers of modern horror may not appreciate or relate to them.
September 6, 2020
This superb collection of tales of terror (which the editor, Marvin Kaye, takes pains to point out is distinct from "horror") includes classic and modern tales ranging from the 18th Century right up through its publication in 1985. Of the 53 short stories (and a few poems) in this volume, most were quite good, 15 were great, and a half-dozen were simply exceptional--far better than par for most short story collections.
Highly recommended reading for those chill October nights when the moon is full, the wind is howling, the leaves are rustling, and you need to sit in front of a roaring fire with a good drink to keep not only your body, but your very soul, warm.
Highly recommended reading for those chill October nights when the moon is full, the wind is howling, the leaves are rustling, and you need to sit in front of a roaring fire with a good drink to keep not only your body, but your very soul, warm.
July 28, 2011
After I dropped the book I was reading in the bathtub, I needed a replacement to read while it dried. I came upon this used book at my mom's library, not expecting much from it.
I was pleasantly surprised at the true old-fashioned nature of these stories, many of them written by classic authors. They remind me of the old black and white scary movies I used to watch as a kid.
Some of the best: "Sardonicus," "The Professor's Teddy Bear," The Hospice Moon Face," "Dracula's Guest," "The Bottle Imp," and "The Waxwork." What a find!
I was pleasantly surprised at the true old-fashioned nature of these stories, many of them written by classic authors. They remind me of the old black and white scary movies I used to watch as a kid.
Some of the best: "Sardonicus," "The Professor's Teddy Bear," The Hospice Moon Face," "Dracula's Guest," "The Bottle Imp," and "The Waxwork." What a find!
October 6, 2012
This is the best anthology of "horror" stories that I know of, although a few of them are arguably fantasy; i.e., "Riddles in the Dark" which is Tolkien's original expression of the contest of whits between Gollum and Bilbo.
There really are no "bad stories." That said, a few of my favorites are the Bottle Imp by Stevenson, the Transformation by Shelley, Carmilla, by LeFanu, and the Christmas Banquet by Hawthorne. This is the book I pickup every year in October (which is when I tend to actually read horror stories), and it never disappoints.
There really are no "bad stories." That said, a few of my favorites are the Bottle Imp by Stevenson, the Transformation by Shelley, Carmilla, by LeFanu, and the Christmas Banquet by Hawthorne. This is the book I pickup every year in October (which is when I tend to actually read horror stories), and it never disappoints.
August 1, 2018
A large volume with multiple authors. Some clever and creepy tales. I mostly read stories by authors I already admire. So I included Theodore Sturgeon, Tanith Lee, Orson Scott Card, Isaac Asimov, A. Merritt, Ogden Nash, Ambrose Bierce, Robert Bloch, H. P. Lovecraft and J.R.R. Tolkien. They're all there and many more besides.
September 1, 2011
This is a very good collection of horror stories spanning over two centuries, many of them by famous authors not usually identified with the genre.
October 21, 2013
Picked this book up from a display at my local library. It is a collection of short stories, some by famous authors, some lesser known.
July 30, 2018
My favorite collection of short horror stories! This has something for everyone! Vampires, evil teddy bears, gothic horror, fantasy! I also love it included the rewritten chapter in the hobbit!
November 5, 2025
Originally reviewed on StoryGraph: 4.25 ⭐️ rounded down
I had zero expectations going into this book. I honestly don't remember where or when I got it and I thought it was going to be all pretty mid stories that wouldn't be relevant or scary today. I was so pleasantly surprised though. I didn't realize that there was such diverse selection of stories throughout the years and a lot of them from authors I recognized and have read before. I'm generally not a fan of anthologies, but I think this one is my favorite. I didn't love every story, but I liked just about all of them and some of them will stay with me for a long time.
The biggest standout for me was Graveyard Shift by Richard Matheson. This story was 4 pages long and was told in 3 letters. I don't even know how it's possible to write a story like that and the fact that it was so short but made a lasting impact on me. I've told multiple people about this story and it's a day ruiner in the best way. I will absolutely be reading Hell House by him to see how a full length novel will hit.
Some other stories that I enjoyed/were memorable in this collection are The Professor's Teddy Bear, The Quest for Blank Claveringi, When the Clock Strikes, Carmilla, Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory, Sardonicus, His Unconquerable Enemy, and The Hungry House. I could definitely see myself rereading these stories. I also liked the introductions before each story to get me into the frame of mind for what I'm about to read, but I wish that they had the publication year. I also didn't think the groupings of stories worked too well. It wasn't clear cut that a story belonged only in a certain category, so I didn't see the point in separating them.
I really enjoyed this anthology and would recommend it to any lover of horror (or terror as the compiler of these stories would say). I will definitely check out other works by some of these authors and Marvin Kaye also has a ghost anthology book where he selected stories, so I might check that one out because I think we share a lot of the same tastes.
I had zero expectations going into this book. I honestly don't remember where or when I got it and I thought it was going to be all pretty mid stories that wouldn't be relevant or scary today. I was so pleasantly surprised though. I didn't realize that there was such diverse selection of stories throughout the years and a lot of them from authors I recognized and have read before. I'm generally not a fan of anthologies, but I think this one is my favorite. I didn't love every story, but I liked just about all of them and some of them will stay with me for a long time.
The biggest standout for me was Graveyard Shift by Richard Matheson. This story was 4 pages long and was told in 3 letters. I don't even know how it's possible to write a story like that and the fact that it was so short but made a lasting impact on me. I've told multiple people about this story and it's a day ruiner in the best way. I will absolutely be reading Hell House by him to see how a full length novel will hit.
Some other stories that I enjoyed/were memorable in this collection are The Professor's Teddy Bear, The Quest for Blank Claveringi, When the Clock Strikes, Carmilla, Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory, Sardonicus, His Unconquerable Enemy, and The Hungry House. I could definitely see myself rereading these stories. I also liked the introductions before each story to get me into the frame of mind for what I'm about to read, but I wish that they had the publication year. I also didn't think the groupings of stories worked too well. It wasn't clear cut that a story belonged only in a certain category, so I didn't see the point in separating them.
I really enjoyed this anthology and would recommend it to any lover of horror (or terror as the compiler of these stories would say). I will definitely check out other works by some of these authors and Marvin Kaye also has a ghost anthology book where he selected stories, so I might check that one out because I think we share a lot of the same tastes.
May 19, 2019
An extensive collection of classic stories with diabolical creatures, ghostly presences, madness, evil deeds, tales of revenge and weird experiences.
The stories I preferred are the following ones:
The Bottle Imp - Robert Louis Stevenson - 1891
A bottle, containing an evil spirit that grant wishes, passes from hand to hand, bringing loads of miseries to its owners.
The Transformation - Mary Shelley - 1831
A proud and vain man who has squandered his fortune refuses to come to his senses and loses both his house and the woman he loves. While walking on a beach, he meets a repulsive creature who offers him an unusual deal.
The Anchor - Jack Snow - 1947
A man who enjoys spending his time in the middle of a lake receives a charming but disturbing visitor on his boat.
Eumenides in the 4th Floor Lavatory - Orson Scott Card - 1979
An extremely manipulative man is plagued with a deadly vision that follows him everywhere.
Stroke of Mercy - Parke Goodwin - 1981
In 1806, a man who’s facing a duel is persecuted with vivid dreams of future events.
Death in the School Room - Walt Whitman - 1841
A cruel teacher accuses a child of a theft, with dire consequences...
The Informal Execution of Soupbone Pew - Damon Runyon
The fate of a vicious criminal called Soupbone Pew, who is hated by the whole of the underworld..
The Owl - Anatole Le Braz
In Brittany, a man who found a missal near the ruins of an old church is made to see the error of his ways.
The Music of Erich Zann - H. P. Lovecraft - 1922
A young student tries to befriend a musician who plays the most unusual violin music.
Riddles in the Dark - J. R. R. Tolkien - Original Version, 1938
In the tunnels that the Goblins built, Bilbo’s encounter with Gollum and the game of riddles that they play.
The stories I preferred are the following ones:
The Bottle Imp - Robert Louis Stevenson - 1891
A bottle, containing an evil spirit that grant wishes, passes from hand to hand, bringing loads of miseries to its owners.
The Transformation - Mary Shelley - 1831
A proud and vain man who has squandered his fortune refuses to come to his senses and loses both his house and the woman he loves. While walking on a beach, he meets a repulsive creature who offers him an unusual deal.
The Anchor - Jack Snow - 1947
A man who enjoys spending his time in the middle of a lake receives a charming but disturbing visitor on his boat.
Eumenides in the 4th Floor Lavatory - Orson Scott Card - 1979
An extremely manipulative man is plagued with a deadly vision that follows him everywhere.
Stroke of Mercy - Parke Goodwin - 1981
In 1806, a man who’s facing a duel is persecuted with vivid dreams of future events.
Death in the School Room - Walt Whitman - 1841
A cruel teacher accuses a child of a theft, with dire consequences...
The Informal Execution of Soupbone Pew - Damon Runyon
The fate of a vicious criminal called Soupbone Pew, who is hated by the whole of the underworld..
The Owl - Anatole Le Braz
In Brittany, a man who found a missal near the ruins of an old church is made to see the error of his ways.
The Music of Erich Zann - H. P. Lovecraft - 1922
A young student tries to befriend a musician who plays the most unusual violin music.
Riddles in the Dark - J. R. R. Tolkien - Original Version, 1938
In the tunnels that the Goblins built, Bilbo’s encounter with Gollum and the game of riddles that they play.
June 8, 2017
I am always fascinated and interested in reading the not well known tale and this volume contains plenty. Read when first published back in the eighties - so time has further made many of the works more quaint than terror still most of the short stories are great reads. And since he managed to find an amazing amount of really short stories - you pass by an average one quickly. Though titled as Masterpieces they exist to a certain amount in Mr. Kayes head. Some have been selected not so much for terror or supernatural feeling but rather as an historical interest, time period or an author known for other works (his brief introduction to each story is quite invaluable as well!). As a criticism he is clearly avoiding any story that may move to far into horror and reduce his forced equation separating terror from horror. However even given that allowance to exclude Joyce Carol Oates or Shirley Jackson from this pantheon is quite the grievous mistake and simply points to a real discrepancy of his part. It is a weakness of Mr. Kaye that is exemplified in his afterword where he heaps prodigious scorn on modern works (basically lacking character and all too bloody and predictable) - which may explain some missing writers. He specifically avoids anything that may be too awful and puerile. Nonetheless, as mentioned earlier, the book contains a strong collection of very valuable and historically important works and is still quite enjoyable if not exactly terrifying.
July 23, 2018
You may choose this from print book at a thrift store for around some 500/- and think about later whether it is the best buy you've ever constructed. This is one book you read yearly and still don't get exhausted. Altered by Marvin Kaye, "Showstoppers of Terror and the Supernatural" is a gathering of forty six short stories, one novella, and six poems. The supervisor has secured more than two hundred long stretches of loathsomeness writing. Something worth being thankful for about this compilation is that you get the opportunity to peruse non-English journalists too since Kaye has included creators from nations like Russia, Germany, and France. Try not to expect bloody stuff since Kaye has a tendency for unobtrusive ghastliness. Be that as it may, he introduces you some exceptional spooky works.
January 2, 2021
First published in 1985, 'Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural' is a truly superb anthology. It comprises 47 short stories by some very good authors, together with 5 items of poetry and an excerpt from 'The Hobbit'. Several of the stories are English translations, to add to a rich mix of stories, most of which have rarely appeared in print for a long time. Original publication dates range from early 19th to late 20th century. My particular favourites were Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla', Edgar Allan Poe's 'Hop-Frog' and Tennessee Williams 'The Vengeance of Nitocris', but the quality throughout left me awe-struck. The excerpt from 'The Hobbit' incidentally, is from the 1938 edition before it was substantially re-worded so as to integrate the details with LOTR. Tremendous.
August 12, 2024
It was interesting that many of these stories were written by famous authors not known for writing in the horror or supernatural genre. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ogden Nash, Jack London and Tennessee Williams were some that I was surprised to see.
A lot of these stories were a little too far out for my taste. I like a story with a good plot and maybe a little terror or supernatural-not the other way around.
My taste seems to differ from Mr Kaye's. He says he is unimpressed with Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, The Shining, The Omen and other well known stories that I enjoyed. Some of the stories
he promoted, I did not enjoy like Lazarus, a story of Lazarus leading a horrible life as an outcast after
being raised from the dead.
A lot of these stories were a little too far out for my taste. I like a story with a good plot and maybe a little terror or supernatural-not the other way around.
My taste seems to differ from Mr Kaye's. He says he is unimpressed with Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, The Shining, The Omen and other well known stories that I enjoyed. Some of the stories
he promoted, I did not enjoy like Lazarus, a story of Lazarus leading a horrible life as an outcast after
being raised from the dead.
August 6, 2021
I got this book from the library because I wanted to read "Carmilla" - a vampire tale that was written 20 years before Stoker's "Dracula". It was fairly good.
Since I had the book, I thought I'd read the other tales. The ones prior to Carmilla hadn't been too bad, although not quite the masterpieces the title promised. After a bit, it was like a slog through the last century and not enjoyable. I started just reading the ones written by authors I knew of.
The original version of Bilbo's riddles with Gollum is the last tale in the book, and it's good. I don't recall the later one well enough to say how much this one differs.
Since I had the book, I thought I'd read the other tales. The ones prior to Carmilla hadn't been too bad, although not quite the masterpieces the title promised. After a bit, it was like a slog through the last century and not enjoyable. I started just reading the ones written by authors I knew of.
The original version of Bilbo's riddles with Gollum is the last tale in the book, and it's good. I don't recall the later one well enough to say how much this one differs.
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