Karl Edward Wagner’s 13 Best Supernatural Horror Novels Ranked
By Will Oliver
Karl Edward Wagner published his famous list of 13 Best Supernatural Horror Novels in Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone Magazine in the May-June 1983 issue. There is no indication that he rank ordered these stories. I decided to read all 13 for myself, rank order them, and provide both Wagner’s short review along with my own. Continue reading
C. L. Moore
Today, January 24, is the birthday of C. L. Moore (1911-1987). She was one of the best practitioners of the weird tale, and later, mostly with her husband Henry Kuttner, of science fiction.
Today for her birthday, I’m going to look at “Quest of the Starstone”, in which Northwest Smith and Jirel meet. This story was a collaboration with her future husband, Henry Kutner. This story was originally published in the November 1937 issue of Weird Tales. Catherine and Hank didn’t marry until 1940.
His his introduction to the story in Echoes of Valor II, Karl Edward Wagner says it was a collaboration by mail. I’m going to rely heavily on that volume and a couple of others when I look at the two remaining stories in the Northwest Smith series. “Quest of the Starstone” is the final Jirel story. Continue reading
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.)
Henry Kuttner
Today, April 7, is the birthday of one of my favorite writers, Henry Kuttner (1915-1958). For today’s post, I’ve inadvertently broken my informal rule about only reviewing works that are easily available.Today’s post is a review of “Wet Magic”. It had been a number of years since I read the story, and most of the details had faded from my memory.
I knew I had at least three copies of it. The original issue of Unknown Worlds (February 1943), an electronic copy of that same issue, and a copy in Echoes of Valor, edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It was in the latter where I had originally read it, and that was where I reread it. Then I went to find where else the story had been reprinted.
It hasn’t been. I was a little surprised, because “Wet Magic” is an excellent story. Kuttner had a dry sense of humor, and it shows here. John W. Campbell, Jr. wanted much of the fantasy he published in Unknown Worlds to be set in the modern world and not take itself too seriously. “Wet Magic” was a perfect fit. Continue reading
Echo of a Curse
R. R. Ryan
R. R. Ryan’s birthday was a few days ago, and I said in that post that I would read Echo of a Curse and review it. So here goes. I read the Midnight House edition, which I’ve had for a number of years.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. I ended up liking it very much.
Terry and Mary have grown up next door to each other in a small English town and are best friends. Terry wants things to be more than friends. He’s about to head off to fight in WWI. Just as he’s about to leave, he decides to ask Mary to marry him but changes his mind. He knows he might not be coming back and doesn’t feel it is fair to her to make such a commitment under those circumstances.
This is a decision he will regret. Continue reading
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.
Karl Edward Wagner Continue reading
Today, September 25, is the birthday of Charles Maturin (1782-1824). Maturin was the author of Melmoth the Wanderer. Karl Edward Wagner was influenced by the book when creating his character of Kane.
Published in 1820, Melmoth isn’t light reading but can be rewarding if the reader is diligent. The structure of the book is one of nested stories, or flashbacks within flashbacks. The book opens with John Melmoth being summoned to his dying uncle’s bedside. There he learns of a mysterious figure named Melmoth the Wanderer. The Melmoth of the title sold his soul to the devil for an extra 150 years of life. His time is about up.
There are several spooky passages, such as early in the book when John Melmoth is waiting for his uncle to die and the Wanderer opens the door, looks into the room, and then shuts the door. No one but John sees him. Or the wedding officiated by an undead priest towards the end.
The flashback within flashback structure can be a bit hard to follow at times. Another feature that might make this challenging to modern readers is that in a modern novel a new paragraph starts if the character speaking changes. Not so in Melmoth. The paragraphs run long and can contain several changes of speaker without any breaks or indentations
All of which is to say, don’t read this book at bedtime or when you’re not alert. Not that it isn’t worth reading. It is. It’s just not going to be a quick, light read that you can daydream your way through. Melmoth the Wanderer is one of the important novels in the development of the Gothic. I enjoyed it. It won’t be for everyone, but if you like Gothics, give it a try.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of Karl Edward Wagner’s death. He was born on December 12, 1945 and passed away on October 14, 1994. The ISFDB has both dates wrong. Deuce Richardson posted a photo of KEW’s grave marker on his tribute.
There have been several tributes posted today. They include posts by Charles R. Rutledge, Brian Murphy, Scott Oden, and David J. West. All are erudite and substantial, and you should read them.
Wagner considered himself more of a horror writer than a writer of fantasy or sword-and-sorcery (a term he hated). As a fiction writer, he was all of that and more. His work, if you can find it, and if you can afford it, is worth reading. He’s out of print and getting harder to find (and more expensive) all the time. Continue reading
Today has been…a day. I’ll go into detail later when I have actual information. Because of some personal things, I almost missed two birthdays today.
Karl Edward Wagner was born on December 4, 1945. He’s no stranger around these here parts. Creator of the legendary Kane, a first tier horror author, and an editor who strove to make Robert E. Howard’s Conan available in affordable editions rather than the bowdlerized stories that were available in the late 70s, editor of the Year’s Best Horror anthologies for DAW, and cofounder of Carcosa Press, Karl Edward Wagner casts a long shadow over the field.
I need to read more Wagner. There’s still quite a bit out there that I haven’t read, including some Kane.
The other author, Cornell Woolrich, didn’t write much in the way of the fantastic, but he’s still a writer you’re going to want to read. Born in 1903, Woolrich wrote mysteries and suspense, a number with macabre overtones. The first Woolrich novel I ever read, Night Has a Thousand Eyes, is about a millionaire who is told by a gypsy fortune teller that he will die at the mouth of a lion. And then a lion escapes from a circus…
Both of these men should be in your libraries. Check them out.