Vintage Tales discussion

So have you guys read any classic horror? If so, what have you read? I've read The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales , and have listened to some classic horror stories through an audiobook cd I own called Doug Bradley's Spinechillers, Vol. 6 which featured an occurence at owl creek bridge, pit and the pendulum, the rats in the walls, and a rudyard kipling poem narrated by Doug bradley from Hellraiser and Robert Englund. I've also read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow which was good and Phantom of the opera.

Depends how you define classic horror; would you count these; Frankenstein, Dracula, The Turn of the Screw, The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Castle of Otranto, I Am Legend, or The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Yeah they would count, michael. :-)

Well then, those are the classic horror books I've read :D

minus anything by Poe or Lovecraft

Awesome! :-)

Oh okay. Def read poe michael. He's pretty good. They have a website where you can read his short stories online called http://www.poestories.com

I Have also read the lost ghost by mary wilkins too with the most dangerous game.

Amber wrote: "Oh okay. Def read poe michael. He's pretty good. They have a website where you can read his short stories online called http://www.poestories.com"

I have read a heap of Poe and Lovecraft, that's what I meant. I was listing off all classic horror that weren't by those two authors

Oh okay. Sorry michael.

I really need to read some Poe... We studied part of Tell-Tale Heart in school, and that was really awesome.

Frankenstein will always be one of my favourite novels...

I have to mention M.R.James here. If you don't know him, he's like an English version of Poe. High on the chill and dread factor; everything is suggested rather than made explicit.

I agree about not really rating H.P.Lovecraft, Michael, but what don't you like about Poe?

Holly. I really daren't make the joke I want to about your post, but it does include the word "which?" ;)

Is it going to be a really awful 'which', 'witch' pun? ;)

No no. Just "Which part?" There! Now you've gone and made me say it! I'll go offline now before I say anything else. :D

Jean wrote: "I have to mention M.R.James here. If you don't know him, he's like an English version of Poe. High on the chill and dread factor; everything is suggested rather than made explicit.

I agree about..."

I like both lovecraft and Poe, I didn't mention them because they were obvious choices. I wasn't sure if the other books were considered classic horror or not

Hey Jean! That's cool too. ^_^

I think they all are, Michael, although perhaps some are known more widely in the Gothic genre!

Holly wrote: "I think they all are, Michael, although perhaps some are known more widely in the Gothic genre!"

Some are more gothic or Sci-fi then horror

I have a whole bunch of horror novels that I am hoping to read this year. I'm finally caving in and buying a copy of The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, but I also want to reread Dracula by Bram Stoker this year.
I love Poe. He is one of my favorites. And I love the old movies (the ones with Vincent Price) that they made out of some of Poe's best short stories.

Awesome Lissa. Vincent Price is a great actor! ^_^

I love just about anything that H P Lovecraft has written. I tend to like the psychological build of terror more than the actual gory monster/slasher stories. Let's face it Lovecraft can scare the **** out of me, but his actual monsters are kind of silly!

I've read quite a few. I much prefer Victorian-era horror to modern horror, and I'm kind of going through a phase of reading lots of it right now, which is awesome. I read a collection of Victorian ghost stories recently, I'm currently reading (or re-reading) Poe, and for my birthday this week I got Dracula (which I've already read but love enough to read it again soon) and a collection of M.R. James ghost stories.

Frankenstein and Phantom of the Opera are great, too, and Radcliffe's The Italian. And Dickens' ghost stories, of course! Um... I'm sure I've read more, but my mind has gone blank.

The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis is quite funny and outrageous.

The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell is amusing and rather sordid, and regarded as a classic of the genre. Mind you, the satirical The Monk, is perhaps beyond sordid lol

Elizabeth wrote: "I've been wanting to read The Monk for ages now. It keeps slipping to that "read me next" slot and never makes it to the top.

Would that be suitable for a group read, Malcolm?"

I'm unsure. But the Monk is a very funny and diabolical novel. It piles on the Gothic and satirizes the superstition of the Catholic church. It would make a good group read.

The Confessions and Private Memoir of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg is a very interesting and remarkable exploration of the Gothic and well worth the read. It is a thrice-told tale, so you get three versions of the tale (in varying genre i.e. first person narrative; third person narrative etc) for the price of one.

However, as some use is made of Scottish dialect and reference to a particular religion as practised at the time, I would recommend reading it in book form with explanatory notes rather then an electronic version without explanatory notes.

Frankenstein was one of the first Victorian novels I read. It's a very powerful story. I've read a little bit of Poe and Lovecraft. I'd like to read more classic horror. I have Hill of Dreams by Arthur Machen on my TBR.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Ray Bradbury yet. A lot of his stories are old enough to be classics, right? My favorite of his scary stories are "The Third Expedition" (in the Martian Chronicles) and "The Scythe" (about a man who finds the scythe of Death). "The Veldt" (about children who spend too much time in a virtual reality) is also one of his more memorable stories.

Something wicked this way comes by Ray Bradbury was pretty good. :)

I liked it too . . . but I don't really think of it as horror because it wasn't that scary in my opinion. But it's a wonderful book.

It wasn't scary- but it was disturbing.It was such a great concept, these parasites feeding on human misery.
I thought the mild mannered father was a true great literary character, an individual who has "greatness thrust upon him(them)" as it were.

I read Doctor Sleep a few weeks ago- I'm sure King's True Knot were inspired by Bradbury's circus folk.

Awesome James. I still want to read doctor sleep and I thought something wicked this way comes was disturbing too.

You won't be disappointed Amber - it's amazing. I re-read The Shining before I started it just to get warmed up :-)

cool. :)

I read the shining years ago very creepy might have to get around to Dr Sleep soon :) enjoy