M. R. James’s ghost stories are among the most effective ever written, modernizing an old concept for contemporary tastes without sacrificing the terror, sometimes reinventing it altogether. This is one of his darkest and most famous. On a side note, this and the other stories were written to be entertainments at Christmas, which has traditionally long been the proper occasion for such tales, as it has been believed that the boundary between this world and […]
Machen’s decadent fiction is among the most effective of fin de siècle literature, achieving a tenuous balance between fantastic wonder and repellent horror – a sort of “holy terror.” This novella, arguably his most famous piece of work, is one of the finest examples of such efforts, momentarily piercing the veil that separates mortal perceptions from a greater spiritual reality – and reaping the consequences. THE GREAT GOD PAN (1894) by Arthur Machen […]
E. T. A. Hoffmann was one of the greatest figures of the German Romantic movement and a key influence on such great authors as Poe, Baudelaire, Dickens, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Kafka, and even Alfred Hitchcock; he was also well known as a music critic and composer. The story that follows is one of his most famous and often reprinted, a truly alluring chiller. THE SANDMAN (1816) by E. T. A. Hoffmann NATHANAEL TO LOTHAIR. I know you […]
Hailed by Lovecraft as one of the greatest practitioners of the weird tale, Blackwood may also have been read by Tolkien at some point. The novella that follows is one of his most famous stories – perhaps his signature – and rightly so, for it takes a remarkable talent to turn Nature into something horrific half through suggestion. It’s an excellent example of what is not seen being more effective. THE WILLOWS (1907) […]
Here’s something a little new. Unless/until I get a new separate section for something like this set up, this blog will occasionally dip into displaying examples of some of the authors that I talk about in my Masters of Fantasy section, though it may not always be the case as you’ll see here today. Nothing posted will be for profit – most stories will be in the public domain or reprinted from a collection if […]
As an extra bonus, I’ll put up the next part right now. Sorry if it’s a bit overwhelming. Just make sure you read Part VI as well! (In moderation, of course.) I consider myself as much a fan of horror as I am of fantasy, and some of my favorites of both blend each genre’s elements in a subtle and efective way. Subsequently, these next authors are cited many times by many critics as contributors to […]