Category Archives: horror

Remembering Karl

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It is December 12 as I write this. I’m trying to get final exams graded, but I’m taking a break to observe the birthday of Karl Edward Wagner (1945-1994). I think it’s that important ot acknowledge his achievements.

Karl Edward Wagner probably needs no introduction to anyone who reads this blog. He was one of the greatest writers of sword and sorcery and dark fantasy/horror of the Twentieth Century. We’ve not seen his like since, in my opinion.

Four fourteen years, he also edited The Year’s Best Horror Stories for DAW books. He took over the reins with volume VIII in 1980. The series ended with volume XXII with Karl’s death. Wagner didn’t limit his selections to top genre publications. He read all sorts of obscure publication to find the best horror stories each year.

If you can find copies, which is getting harder and harder to do, grab them. Not onlyl are they an excellent survey of horror in the eighteis and early nineties, but reading them is a great informal course in how to write effective horror. You’ll recognize many of the authors Wagner included, many before they became famous. Others will be new to you. Continue reading →

R. Chetwynd-Hayes

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Horror writer R. Chetwynd-Hayes (1919-2001) was born today, May 30. This is the second birthday post I’ve done today. The other was Hal Clement. Clement wrote hard science fiction. Chetwynd-Hayes wrote horror.

I’ve not read much of his work, but the few short stories I’ve read, I’ve enjoyed. His work tended to focus on monsters and ghosts.

I’m good with that.

While I like other forms of horror, these types of stories are among the ones I prefer.

Chetwynd-Hayes was rather prolific at short lengths. At novel length, not so much. The ISFDB lists eleven novels. It lists twenty-four collections. I’m not going to count the number of individual short stories. There were a lot. Continue reading →

Two by Hautala

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Today, February 3, is the birthday of Rick Hautala (1949-2013). I actually had some time today while sitting in the Husband Holding Area while my wife did some shopping, so I read a couple of his stories. Both of these stories can be found in Glimpses: The Best Short Stories of Rick Hautala.

I’ve read some of Hautala’s work before, but that was years ago. It was good to be reminded of why I like his stuff.  Feel free to consider this post to be another in the informal series I’ve been doing of writers whose work shouldn’t be forgotten.

Before I get to the stories, let me say that Glimpses is a great  collection. I’ve only read a little of it, and the stories I chose are in the middle of the book, but if you want to sample Hautala’s work, especially at shorter lengths, then this is a great place to start. Continue reading →

James McGlothlin Reads Through DAW’s The Year’s Best Horror Stories

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It’s been one of those weeks, so I missed this when it was posted on Tuesday over at Black Gate, but James McGlothlin will be reading through The Year’s Best Horror Stories, the series of annual anthologies published by DAW books from 1972-1994. They were successively edited by Richard Davis, Gerald W. Page, and Karl Edward Wagner. The series ended with Wagner’s death.

I met James McGlothlin at Howard Days a few years ago. He’s very knowledgeable about the fields of the fantastic and always has something interesting to say.

James recently finished up a series at Black Gate looking at Del Rey’s Best of series, one of my personal favorites. He did an outstanding job with those posts, even if he didn’t much like Eric Frank Russell, another one of my personal favorites. *sticks tongue out at James*.

The post linked to above is an introduction, so if you want to read along with him, there’s still plenty of time. Provided, of course, you either already have the first volume or can find a copy of it (that you can afford).

Here’s the picture James posted to <s>make your mouth water</s> encourage you to read along. (No, these aren’t my copies. I wish. I don’t this many although I’ve got over half of them.)

R. R. Ryan and Echo of a Curse

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December 14 is the birthday of R. R. Ryan (1882-1950), whose real name was Evelyn Grosvenor Bradley. Ryan was the author of the novel Echo of a Curse. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.

What’s that? You haven’t?

Well, truthfully I’m not surprised. This is a rather obscure novel. So why am I bringing it up?

Well, if you read the post on Karl Edward Wagner, you’ll recall l mentioned Wagner had three lists of best horror novels. Echo of a Curse was on the list of Supernatural Horror.

It’s currently available in both paperback and hardcover. The image is from the Midnight House edition published in 2002. It’s out of print and expensive if you can find a copy. I’m going to try to work it in over the next few weeks and report back. I might make trying to read through Wagner’s lists a project over the next few years, not like I need anything else to do.

The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard: “Pigeons From Hell”

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“Pigeons From Hell”
The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard
Originally published in Weird Tales, May 1938

And so we come to what is arguably the greatest horror story of Robert E. Howard.  Although it wasn’t published until nearly two years after his death, “Pigeons From Hell” has remained one of Howard’s most popular nonseries stories.

It’s a Southern Gothic that contains some truly chilling scenes. I’ve read it at least twice before, but it’s been probably a decade since the last time. It had lost none of its power when I reread it earlier this evening. Continue reading →

The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard: “The Dwellers Under the Tomb”

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“The Dwellers Under the Tomb”
The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard
Del Rey
Paper $20.00
Ebook $7.99

This is another story that wasn’t published during Howard’s lifetime, but it’s a stronger work than “Dermod’s Bane“.  “The Dwellers Under the Tomb” was first published in 1976 in Lost Fantasies.  It follows a similar pattern to stories such as “The Noseless Thing”, “Dig Me No Grave“, “The Children of the Night”, and “The Haunter of  the Ring”.

The narrator is a man named O’Donnell who is staying with his friend Gordon, who may be the same Gordon as appears in the stories listed above.  They are awakened by a pounding on the door.  It’s Job Kiles, who is in a state of panic, because he saw the face of his dead brother at his window.  The brother had died a few days earlier, but not before swearing he would return from the grave to take vengeance on Job.  The brother had spent his portion of the family fortune, and Job wouldn’t let the brother spend his.  Job has come to Gordon for help.

Mild spoilers below the fold. Continue reading →

The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard: “Dermod’s Bane”

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“Dermod’s Bane”
The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard
Del Rey
Paper $20.00
Ebook $7.99

This is a minor story, apparently written early in Howard’s career, but not published in his lifetime.  It was first published in Magazine of Horror, Fall 1967.

As usual, there will be spoilers.  In this case, it will be hard to avoid them, the story is so short. Continue reading →

The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard: “Rattle of Bones”

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“Rattle of Bones”
The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard
Del Rey
Paper $20.00
Ebook $7.99

This post could just have easily been one of the Solomon Kane posts since Kane is the central character.  It’s not regarded as a major work in either the Solomon Kane series or among Howard’s horror fiction.  Be that as it may, I still like it.  It’s short, creepy, and has a couple of twists, even if you can see the final one coming a mile off.

Spoilers to follow below the “fold”. Continue reading →

Poe’s Shadow

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In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe: Classic Tales of Horror, 1816-1914
Leslie S. Klinger, ed.
Pegasus Books
Hardcover $24.95, Paperback $15.95, Digital $15.95

Here’s a little something for the horror aficionado, although I suspect most horror fans will have read many of the stories in this volume.

While Poe himself has no story in the volume (and why not, I want to know), his influence is seen in most of the selections, if for no other reason than Poe’s reputation has eclipsed most other writers of the supernatural from the Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries in the minds of the general public.  The horror fan will recognize most of the names, if not all.  The tales Mr. Klinger has chosen are not always the best known works by the better known authors such as M. R. James, E. T. A. Hoffman, or Arthur Conan Doyle.  I do wonder why W. W. Jacobs was not included in this volume; probably because his career extended to far past the period the anthology covers. Continue reading →