August 30, 2010
This solid collection of classic gothic horror stories from the 19th and early 20th centuries relies heavily on highly anthologized workhorses such as Edgar Allan Poe's "The Facts of M. Valdemar's Case," an excerpt from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and H.P. Lovecraft's "Herbert West: Reanimator." Stevens also includes a few lesser-known pieces from authors famous for more than horror, such as Jack London's "A Thousand Deaths" and Mark Twain's "A Curious Dream," along with obscurities such as an 1888 newspaper article about a hanged man dancing by reflex after the body was cut down, and imagist poet Amy Lowell's polyphonic "The Cross-Roads." More retrospective than groundbreaking, this anthology is tailor-made for academia and will also interest horror fans curious about the ancestors of modern-day supernatural tales.
October 15, 2010
Stephens, an editor whose credentials mostly include thematic collections of previously published material for Barnes & Noble (e.g., Mysterious Cat Stories), does the same here. All of the contents are from the past, between 1818 and 1940, with a concentration on the Romantics and the pulps. Poe, Twain, and Goethe rub shoulders with unknowns, hacks, and one newspaper story from 1888. There are some gems, especially Poe's "The Facts of M. Valdemar's Case," H.P. Lovecraft's "Herbert West: Reanimator," and W.W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw," but all of these are available elsewhere, and in much better company. BZG Who knew Jack London wrote a zombie story?
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