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Book Review: Ghost Stories: Classic Tales of Horror and Suspense edited by Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger

Ghost Stories: Classic Tales of Horror and Suspense edited by Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger

Pegasus Books, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1643130200

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition

 

‘Tis the season for ghost stories, and with so many out there, Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger had some difficult choices about what to include in this anthology. They have chosen eighteen tales of the supernatural with varying tone, from comic to terrifying, by authors well-known for their ability with supernatural fiction, authors from both Europe and America, authors well-known for their other works who also wrote supernatural fiction, and some authors barely known to the reading public at all.  There is a brief introduction, and each story is preceded with a short paragraph about the author and his works. When necessary, the editors included annotations, but the annotations do not impede the flow of the story; rather, they enrich it.

The anthology begins with a ballad, “Sweet William’s Ghost”,  which is followed by a gothic tale by Johann August Apel, whose work may have inspired the beginnings of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Sir Walter Scott’s “The Tapestried Chamber”, which Morton and Klinger identify as the first modern ghost story, is next.  They then cross the ocean to America for the next two stories, “The Gray Champion” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “Ligieia” by Edgar Allan Poe. Certainly no one can argue with either Poe’s brilliance or madness in his writing, and both are depicted in full force here.

Three lesser-known  women writers of supernatural fiction all write powerfully of ghosts driven by their emotions towards the ones they left behind. “Since I Died” by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps is a compelling vision of what follows death, narrated by a just-deceased woman observing her lover’s grief, and is one of the outstanding stories in the book. “The Shell of Sense” by the little-known Olivia Howard Dunbar, details the vengeance, and eventually forgiveness, of a recently-deceased wife on her husband and sister when she discovers they have fallen in love.  In Georgia Wood Pangborn’s “The Substitute”, a lonely woman is visited by a friend who is desperately in need of her help.

Charles Dickens, M.R. James, Edith Wharton, Henry James, and Charlotte  (Mrs. J.H.) Riddell all tell stories of mysterious and terrifying ghosts.  Ambrose Bierce creats a nightmarish, fantastical world in “An Inhabitant of Carcosa”, and Frank Stockton’s “The Philosophy of Relative Existences” is almost science-fictional in nature, a thoughtful puzzle of a story.  Arthur Machen’s “The Bowmen” , based on actual news reports, described a battle during World War I where one of the British servicemen summoned St. George and his bowmen to defeat the Germans. The brief descriptions of the war, and the detail in which Machen is able to vividly portray the men and their despair in very few words, are very powerful. One of my favorites, a surprise to me, was Mark Twain’s “A Ghost Story”, which had me laughing out loud.

The variety in this collection of ghost stories is impressive, and I really appreciated the inclusion of both lesser-known women writers of supernatural fiction, and supernatural stories by writers better known for other work. Over the past several years I have done a lot of reading on my own on early women writers of supernatural fiction and until very recently it’s been difficult to find any work by some of them at all– and for those who are better known for their other writing, their supernatural tales have often been disregarded or kept under wraps. It would be easy to lean back on just a few authors already known for their ghost stories, but the effort that went into making sure this carefully curated anthology was varied in its authors and contents is something I really appreciate. Ghost Stories: Classic Tales of Horror and Suspense is a perfect read for this Halloween season.

Posted on October 26, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: The Third Corona Book of Horror Stories edited by Lewis Williams

The Third Corona Book of Horror Stories edited by Lewis Williams

Corona Books, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-9996579-4-9

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

It seems that every horror collection published always has an introduction detailing how the publisher worked very hard to put only the greatest stories into print.  Sometimes it’s true, and sometimes it’s just lip service.  Corona Books boasts that they selected only the “best of the best” from over 800 submissions.   Thankfully, in this case it’s not an idle boast.  The stories tend towards the short side, but the quality is extremely high.  All the stories are good: there isn’t a bad, or even just fair, story in the lot.  If this collection isn’t nominated for a Stoker award in the “Anthologies” category this year, then the whole nominating process should be called into question.

 

Many of these stories clock in at only fifteen pages, and some at ten or less.  However, there’s a lot of good, concise writing packed in to that short space.  There are a few with some blood and gore, but it’s minimal.  The publishers realized that mental torture and anguish is just as effective, if not more so, then the standard hack and splatter model that is in vogue right now.  Physical pain is only temporary, but mental agony can go on for a long, long time.  In some of these stories, it lasts forever.  Seeing the fate that some of the characters in these stories are condemned to makes for a truly unsettling read.  Sue Bentley’s “Old Gods”  is a prime example.  Treasure hunter/thief Edward Cranby gets way more then he bargained for when hunting for riches in the jungles, and the true torture is that his punishment will NEVER be lightened, or end… ever.  John Haas’s “The Debt” has a less prolonged fate, and a bit more physical punishment, but it’s just as effective.  Drawing on Shylock’s  “a pound of flesh”  in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice”, the interactions between a mad doctor and the man who caused his family untold misery are truly horrifying: this  may be the best story in the book.

 

The two above stories are the best in the anthology, but the others are also extremely effective. There is no one unifying thread in this collection, other than the high quality.  The lack of a common theme makes the book that much stronger, as the ideas are quite diverse.  Molly Thynes’s  “Worse Things” takes aim at a favorite target—politicians– and shows the wretched lengths that some will go to in order to remain in power. It’s a lot more frightening than anything a real politician has been responsible for.  “The Barber”, by A.P. Sessler, is the only story written in the rarely used second person point of view.  It’s difficult to write in the second person, but Sessler uses it well in this cross between Sweeney Todd and Face/Off.  Viktoria Faust’s “Roxy” and Richard A. Shury’s “Gamer” both take a look at the warped future that may await humankind when it comes to organ donations and virtual reality, respectively. Jeremy Megargee’s “Scythe” details the fear of being old and waiting to die…when you can literally see the end coming for you.  The story ideas come from everywhere, and every one is extremely well written and effective.  This review only covers a few of the stories: there are plenty more in the book for the reader to devour.

 

This is the finest short story collection to come out in a long time, and it’s worth the price ten times over.  If short horror stories that make you squirm and keep you awake at night are your thing, you need this book on your shelf.  Highly recommended.

 

Contains: mild violence.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on October 23, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Ladies of Gothic Horror: A Collection of Classic Stories edited by Mitzi Szereto

Ladies of Gothic Horror: A Collection of Classic Stories edited by Mitzi Szereto

Midnight Rain Publishing, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1794556317

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Next time someone says that women can’t write horror fiction, point them to this book. In Ladies of Gothic Horror,  Mitzi Szereto has collected 17 stories by women writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries that will creep you out, chill your bones, and check the locks on your doors.  While some names may be more familiar to readers of supernatural fiction, such as Mary Shelley, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, many of the stories are by women writers better known for other works: Edith Nesbit is chiefly known for her children’s books, Elizabeth Gaskell for her social realist novels, Edith Wharton for her novels about the American upper class, Virginia Woolf for her modernist and feminist writings, Helena Blavatsky for her theosophical and occult work. Szereto follows each of the stories with a detailed biographical note about the author, when that information is available (very little is available on Eleanor F. Lewis, who evidently wrote only two stories– it’s too bad she didn’t write more).

Many of these women were supporting their families by writing for magazines, and their writing can be dramatic, depending on stereotypical characters, but they also skillfully build suspense and atmosphere, administer retribution, and illuminate tragedy.  Standout stories include Gertrude Atherton’s “Death and the Woman”, which manages to create dread and suspense without ever having the main character leave her husband’s bedside;  Edith Nesbit’s “Man-Size in Marble”, in which a newlywed husband discovers why you should pay attention to your housekeeper; Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s “The Cold Embrace”, in which a young man learns that having your fiancee return from the grave is not actually romantic; Edith Wharton’s “Afterward”, in which an American couple discover that an English haunting is no joking matter; and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s famous “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Elia W. Peattie’s “The Room of the Evil Thought” and Eleanor F. Lewis’ “The Vengeance of a Tree” are brief, terrifying stories of strange hauntings. Helena Blavatsky’s “The Ensouled Violin” is positively gruesome. The collection ends with Virginia Woolf’s “A Haunted House”, a much lighter piece than the rest, that provides a satisfying conclusion.

Ladies of Gothic Horror does a valuable service by spotlighting supernatural and gothic works by women writers better known for other work and by introducing some of the 19th and early 20th centry women writers of supernatural fiction that can still be found in print (some, like Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s The Wind in the Rose-bush, are even available free on Kindle).  While there are a few writers, like Eleanor F. Lewis, who may have been previously unknown, this book makes a good starting place for further investigating works by women writers of supernatural and gothic horror from the time period. There are few other anthologies similar to it that are still in print, although I expect we will see more now that people are discovering women writers of horror through the just-released Monster, She Wrote by Lisa Kroger and Melanie Anderson, which we recently reviewed.  Ladies of Gothic Horror is a great opportunity for widening your horizons and experiencing the chills, suspense, and terrors, that can be found in these women’s works. Highly recommended.

 

 

Posted on September 18, 2019 by , Reply
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