Posted: March 23, 2022

The Classic Horror Collection

This book is an anthology of some of the most famous horror writers focusing on shorter works. There are so many writers featured that this book is a wonderful mammoth at nearly a thousand pages. I was quite taken by the cover, that was one reason I got it. The other reason is that I've always wanted to get into horror and this seemed like a good gateway book.

Edgar Allan Poe

The Tell-Tale Heart, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of the Red Death, The Black Cat

Poe is one of those writers that I've been hearing about forever and have always intended reading. Apart from "The Raven" and a part of a short story whose title I don't remember, I have never read Poe.

Now that I have read this four selections from his ouvre, if you ask me to come up with one word to describe Poe it would be: disturbing.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is about murder and "The Fall of the House of Usher" is about - I don't know what it is about. Somebody seems to have been buried alive and come back; but realy I don't know what it's about. From these two stories there is a quality about Poe that I really like: Poe speaks about the fact that people have - to quote a phrase I heard somewhere - "rich interior lives". And what goes on inside us, the amalgam of thoughts and feelings, has tremendous bearing on how we interact with the outside world and how we are as people. Poe is a writer who writes about the strange intimacy we have with ourselves. It is a great truth and I am happy to have found a writer who speaks of it.

"The Mask of Red Death" is a more straightforward tale than the other two and it strikes me as being allegorical. The lesson seems to be that we cannot escape death or the vicissitudes fo life no matter how we try. Struggle is part of living.

"The Black Cat" is upsetting to me because I hated reading about animals being tortured. And this torture being done by a person who started out being fond of animals. Poe seems to be talking here about a quirk of human nature that results in evil behavior. I can't understand it, I suspect it is true, but I can't understand it. This looks to be one story that I'll never reread again.

If Poe's writing can be compared to an alcoholic beverage it would be very strong, very heady whiskey. Taken neat with no chaser. The writing is very potent and very strong. I'm sure to read more Poe; I'm looking to get Penguin's "The Portable Poe" but this initial experience has prepared me. Before I read Poe I have to take a deep breath and brace my mind and soul, diving into his writing is like plunging into icy water. It's going to be a brisk and memorable experience that's bound to leave me a bit shaken.

H. P. Lovecraft

The Call of Cthulhu, The Color Out of Space, The Hound, The Rats in the Wall, The Outsider

I have heard it insinuated that H. P. Lovecraft is a better writer than Robert E. Howard. Surely this cannot be. Robert E. Howard is a truly gifted practitioner of the craft of writing. I have never been in a position to have my own opinion of the matter simply because I've never read Lovecraft - until now.

Robert E. Howard remains, and always will remain, a great master in my eyes, but I am of the opinion that Lovecraft is a better writer than Howard. Lovecraft's prose has a cohesiveness of thought and an articulation of sentiment that makes it such a smooth satisfying read. It is just wonderful writing.

With "The Call of Cthulhu" I have read my first tale about "the Great Old Ones". I have heard about them forever and now I have at last read a story. Lovecraft evokes the wonder, adventure, and, yes, horror, of discovering strange yet true things about the past. It is the joy of unearthing an amazing past history. It is this feeling of elation and interest and enthusiasm - and dread - that is the magic core of "The Call of Cthulhu". Now I get it. Now I get what the "brouhaha" is all about surrounding the Cthulhu mythos.

On the face of it "The Color Out of Space" is about what happens when a corrupting meteorite hits the earth. Because of the subject matter, this story is in danger of becoming very boring if the writer takes too long telling it. Lovecraft does take a long time telling this story but every time I'm in danger of nodding off, he introduces something that gets my attention. Of the Lovecraft stories in this anthology this is the weakest but it's still pretty engrossing.

I thoroughly enjoyed "The Hound" this is classic graveyard horror that was fun to read from start to finish. It is fast-paced and delightfully ghoulish.

As good as "The Hound" was "The Rats in the Wall" trumps it. The story of a family engaged in dark ancient rituals. This story has a lot of history and atmosphere and takes the reader in a deliciously horrifying journey that is just a wonderful read if you are in the mood for a horror tale.

"The Outsider" is another amazing tale that really takes the point-of-view approach into another level. It's impossible to say anymore without spoiling it. Let me just say that I enjoyed it immensely.

Having read the Lovecraft selection in this anthology I am dead-set on getting more Lovecraft. I don't think I'm ready for "Lovecraft the Complete Fiction" but a am considering a smaller anthology like "The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories".

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Carmilla, Dickon the Devil

What a find "Carmilla" is for me. A vampire novel written many years before "Dracula", which, in my ignorance, I had always thought as the first to tell about vampires. Le Fanu saw publication of his vampire tale in 1872, Stoker's "Dracula" was published in 1897.

"Dracula"is the celebrated vampire classic, no question of that, but "Carmilla" incorporates a lot of vampire lore that I thought originated in "Dracula". That said, Le Fanu's conception of vampires does differ from Stoker's in some minor ways. I particularly like Le Fanu having his vampires, while they are at their coffins, lie in several inches of blood.

I have heard a reference to "Carmilla" as being a lesbian vampire story. And so it is, with it's vampire antagonist being very much fond of young female victims. Carmilla, years before Anne Rice's creation, is the original sexy vampire.

I like the setting of this tale which occurs in a forested area of Styria located somewhere in Austria. In that forest are remote castles and villages, some of them abandoned. The setting creates the perfect backdrop to a vampire tale. At the start of the tale, Carmilla, with a retinue of cohorts has been engaged in a sort of con, going from village to castle to find victims. And this has been the case for the last one hundred and fifty years.

There are scenes in this story that are truly and wonderfully frightening. When reading this scenes, it is as if one is in the castle or schloss, at night and in bed, and then the incidents begin to occur. Le Fanu really brings home the feeling of terror when supernatural things happen when one is alone and all mental defenses are down, and when physical defenses, such as locked rooms, are of no avail.

Going on to "Dickon the Devil". This tale is a smooth read; at times I found "Carmilla" to be a bit "bumpy", with the short sentence construction getting in the way of the flow.

"Dickon the Devil" is about a visit to a haunted location - a remote mansion with its outlying grounds. The mansion has long since been abandoned except for groundskeepers and the local septon in the parish, as well as a madman named Dickon referred to as Dickon the Devil because of his constant verbal references to the Evil One in connection with one Squire Bowes - the former owner of the mansion.

In "Dickon the Devil" the reader is treated to a delightful experience: That of getting close to a supernatural tale but never really diving in. The protagonist - whose journey we share - is only in the mansion for a short period of time. Enough to learn the back history and experience a supernatural event. But after this he leaves and so do we. The sensation for me as a readier is relief at getting away but also satisfaction about learning about, and, for a brief time, being immersed in the affairs of the haunted manse.

Francis Marion Crawford

The Screaming Skull, For the Blood is the Life

"The Screaming Skull" is told from the first person POV and the style is such that the reader feels that the narrator is talking directly to him or her. The reader is actually placed in the position of being a character in the story visiting the old captain. And this particular approach serves the story very well, because otherwise, it would be reasonable to suspect that the guilt-ridden captain was hallucinating and all the supernatural occurrences were only happening in his own head. This can no longer be true if second person is experiencing it as well, which is the case in this story.

It is an interesting enough tale the only complaint I have is, I feel it went a bit longer than it should.

With "For the Blood is the Life" I have no complaints whatsoever. This is yet another welcome vampire tale and it reads as smooth as butter. Set in the Italian countryside, this story is in the form of a tale within a tale that has a very strong rustic flavor; I suppose it is a good example of the folk horror subgenre. I particularly like the treatment of how the vampire manifests upon the grave - if you read this story you will understand what I mean.

Mary Shelley

The Mortal Immortal

The author of "Frankenstein" gives us a tale about a young man who inadvertently drinks a potion of immortality.

My initial question is: Why is this a horror story? I'm wondering about that until this eternally "young man", talking to us in his 323rd year, makes known how weary he is of life. I agree, this is a horror story. I'm some years from my fiftieth year myself and the thought that, in a few decades, barring accident or ill health, my life will be over, is quite comforting to me. Life, by and large is hard. Hard enough for me to understand why an immortal has cause for compliant.

An interesting twist that Shelley has put into this tale is that there is a bit of a doubt about this man's immortality. You see, he only drank half of the potion.

Unsurprisingly the writing is impeccable and it gives me the impression of being written effortlessly. The ending comes in the form of a satisfying cliffhanger.

W. W. Jacobs

The Monkey's Paw

W. W. Jacobs is not a name that I hear when horror writers are spoken of. Being both a fool and a snob, I expected little of "The Monkey's Paw", even though - taking a quick look at Wikipedia - it is mentioned as his most famous work.

This short work, impeccably written, shines brightly in a collection which includes more illustrious names such as Lovecraft and Poe. Jacobs shows himself a master of the craft of writing. The start of the tale is bright and cheery and a bit, only a bit, of eeriness is introduced as the artifact known as the Monkey's Paw is introduced. Then the story begins to take on a grimmer cast, moving the reader from sadness to horror in such expert fashion. The experience of reading it is akin to being caught in a short thunderstorm. The sun is shining then suddenly the wind builds up and the rain pours in sheets. Then just like that, it's over, and one is left, wet and dripping, having experienced something wild and primal. Bravo W. W. Jacobs.

Guy de Maupassant

The Diary of a Madman, He?, The Hand, The Inn

"The Diary of a Madman" is about a respectable person who has been posthumously found out to be a secret killer. The most fascinating part of this short story is the supposed madman's justification for murder, pointing out such examples as war. From his philosophical musings about death and murder his diary takes us to the grisly murders themselves.

"He?" is the story of a man gripped by an irrational fear of his lonely room. It is a great example of the war between the mind and the emotions. His mind tells him sensible things but it is the power of his emotions that overwhelms him.

"The Hand" is the most traditional horror story here. As you may have guessed it is about an animated hand. Quite simple and straightforward but de Maupassant keeps it interesting with his detailed account and brisk pacing.

Of all de Maupassant's stories in this collection "The Inn" is my favorite. Not because of the horror story itself but because of the wonderful description of the Swiss mountains and the remote inn. The silence, the snow, the cold, the breathtaking vistas; I am caught up in the setting of this story. As for the story, it is, much like "He?", a horrific tale of how emotion and fancy can take over to ruin an individual. In this story, one of the caretaker's of the Inn, Ulrich, is left alone because of an accident and begins to lose his sanity.

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Bottle Imp, The Body Snatcher

"The Bottle Imp" is a story I enjoyed so thoroughly that by the end I was exclaiming and doing a fist pump. In the tradition of "The Monkey's Paw" this story is about an object that can grant wishes. Stevenson adds a very interesting twist to the cost of such power; a twist that provides the ever-increasing suspense of the story. It gripped me from first to last, once begun I simply had to finish it. Part of the story happens in Hawaii, a place that I am personally familiar with.

By this time I am several stories into the anthology and I have to admit that this is a very strong collection; lots of good, masterful tales - and I am delighted that I am not even halfway through the book!

"The Body Snatchers" is less creative than "The Bottle Imp" and gives us a horror standard: digging for corpses in a graveyard. And what a delight it is to read. Stevenson even provides a rainy night and he effectively describes a nearly palpable darkness - the graveyard sequence is a must-read. We even get howling dogs into the mix. All good horror fun.

Ambrose Bierce

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, The Haunted Valley, The Death of Halpin Frayser, The Eyes of the Panther, Visions of the Night

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is supposedly Ambrose Bierce's best story, and consequently, the most anthologized. Deservedly so. This story is a gem. It manages to be both tragic and cheerful at the same time. The story is such that even a high-level description of the plot will spoil it.

"The Haunted Valley" hardly has a plot but within the prose is a story that happened in the past. Bierce writes this story in such a way as to challenge the reader to read through layers to find out the tale, including some very opaque dialogue. A very clever and satifying read.

When I read Lovecraft's "The Colour From Outer Space" I felt that it was too long. "The Death of Halpin Frayser" by contrast, seems to0 short; it should have been longer in order to explain the mystery within its pages. In the end, in spite of the zombie motif I did not find it very effective.

The best part of "The Eyes of the Panther" is its celebration of frontier woodsmen. The story itself is too perplexing yet beautifully written.

"Visions of the Night" is an inferior version of Lovecraft's "The Outsider" but still worth the read.

A final word about Ambrose Bierce, he is an excellent writer who should be more famous.

Arthur Machen

The Red Hand, The Terror

At long last I have read Arthur Machen after hearing about him for so long. I originally thought him an obscure, little known author but have since come to realize that he is a writer of substantial fame, particularly in the horror genre.

"The Red Hand" is a story about the mystery and horror that lies beneath the everyday. It points to ancient civilizations and gory rituals, never looking at these straight-on but keeping them slightly obscured and out of view; an approach that maximizes the element of fascination, mystery, and horror. Really reminded me of the kind of stories that Lovecraft writes.

I thought that "The Terror" would be the length of the other stories in this collection, but I was reading and reading and reading and it did not end. I began to realize that this is a longer work, a novelette.

I find that it blends both mystery and horror and the main impetuses for reading it, in my case, are two: First, the vivid descriptions of the English countryside. And second, and more powerfully, the intense need on my part to find out what the heck was happening. As the last chapter loomed I began to realized that, depending on what was in the last chapter, it would make or break the entire story. Happily, Machen nails the ending quite satifyingly.

One last thing about "The Terror". Machen makes a great point about learning: It is difficult, if not impossible, to understand something if one only knows the bits and pieces about it. Even if those bits and pieces are facts. A high level conception or a key is needed in order to fully grasp an idea. In the story, Dr. Lewis, has one such revelation and manages to explain a chain of mysterious occurences. This really explains to me why I'm baffled by certain technology topics - I need the key.

I read most of Machen's story out loud. The man's writing is smooth with each sentence flowing seamlessly into the next. Not really very horrific but always interesting.

Bram Stoker

Dracula's Guest, The Judge's House, The Crystal Cup

For me "Dracula's Guest" immediately read like the famous novel and made me contemplate a rereading of that classic tale. In perhaps a nod to that epistolary work we do find within the pages of this short story exactly one letter from the dread Count himself, something that made me smile. The story is beautifully written and wraps one in the expected atmosphere that a vampire story is expected to have. I know it is just my fancy but I see in this work a sort of rivalry between Le Fanu's Carmilla and Stoker's Dracula.

"The Judge's House" is something I enjoyed very much, specially in its description of the young math student's study habits. The work involves a person choosing to live for a time in a house with a dark reputation so, as a reader, I know what's next. It's just a matter of how Stoker will unfold it. A dark yet satisfying read.

My least favorite of the Stoker trio in this collection is the "The Crystal Cup". It strikes me as allegorical, about how we are consumed by our best work, of how we undertake it in the hope of gaining what to each of us is a version of freedom. Beyond that I found the work sparse and unsatisfying.

E. F. Benson

The Room in the Tower, The Confession of Charles Linkworth, The Face, Caterpillars

The excellent writing in "The Room in the Tower" immediately pulled me in. This story contains one of the most horrific scenes in this collection. E. F. Benson played it out so well, using just the right touches and sequences, it immediately elevated the whole story into a truly excellent read.

I was even more astonished with "The Confession of Charles Linkworth" which proved to be a better tale than the already excellent "The Room in the Tower". The only story that can equal this in the collection is Stevenson's "The Bottle Imp". "The Confession of Charles Linkworth" is a straight-on ghost story that has given me the shivers while delighting me at the same time.

By this time I'm in awe of E. F. Benson, but "The Face", being merely a good story, has given some perspective. For a while there I had thought I had discovered an underappreciated genius of horror. Like "The Room in the Tower", "The Face" incorporates dreams into the storyline.

"Caterpillars" is Benson's weakest offering in this collection. It is a clever enough tale written in Benson's flowing prose.

My opinion of E. F. Benson can be summed up by the fact that I checked if there are any novels or anthologies of his that are available.

M. R. James

The Haunted Doll's House, Lost Hearts, Number 13, The Wailing Well

I found "The Haunted Doll's House" to be well-written and interesting; yet it was missing an ingredient that would make the story interesting. I got it: It is missing the element of danger.

"Lost Hearts" is a ghost story centered around a practitioner of the black arts. I found it a solid read.

M. R. James really steps it up with "Number 13", in my opinion his best story in this collection. I love the clever way James has imagined the supernatural element in this tale. The balance of how much to reveal and how much to keep back is also very well done.

"The Wailing Well" describes the tresspass of a forbidden place and is a bit of a commentary on proper behavior. As always M. R. James writes in a way that draws one into the story. A good story and a close third after "Lost Hearts" and the excellent "Number 13".

William Hope Hodgson

The Voice in the Night, The Derelict, The Thing Invisible, The Gateway of the Monster

"The Voice in the Night" is a sea-based story that grabbed me immediately because, well, there was a voice in the night, in such strange circumstances that I just had to know what would happen next. Forgive the slight spoiler but the horror component of this story is derived from a runaway fungal infection, not merely on someone's body but on a whole island. I found the story more sad than horrific.

By the time I got to reading "The Derelict" I began to realize that William Hope Hodgson considered fungi horrific because here it is again. A runaway fungal situation, this time white fungus instead of the gray one in "The Voice in the Night". I found this story - yet another one based in the sea - very entertaining, because of the thrill it managed to build up as it detailed how the protagonists escaped from the deadly living fungus.

By this time I was half expecting that "The Thing Invisible" was yet another fungus story but no, it is not. This one is a ghost story which has an excellent sequence where Thomas Carnacki, a ghost hunter of sorts, gets to spend the night inside a supposedly haunted ancient chapel. The reader is treated to a nearly minute description of Carnacki's cold, dark, vigil where things really do happen during the night. It's a delightful read if you're in for some horror.

In "The Gateway of the Monster", we once again join paranormal investigator Thomas Carnacki as he investigates a haunted room, . It is the first time I have read a detailed description of the creation of a protective circle incorporating a pentagram - such as is purportedly used by witches and warlocks. The story is quite satisfying as it features not one but two vigils in this haunted room. Makes me wonder if there are more Thomas Carnacki tales out there.

I'm perhaps two thirds into the collection by now, perhaps a bit more, and this is really proving to be a very good anthology.

Vernon Lee

Amour Dure, Dionea, Oke of Okehurst, A Wicked Voice

The meaning of "Amour Dure" was explained in the text but I quite forgot it. What I can't forget is this excellent tale. "Amour Dure" captures the exquisite, near-magical feeling of being obsessed by the idea of woman. It brought me back to my teenage years when I experienced these crushes of certain goddesses of the silver screen. Those were wonderful emotions - alien to me now in older life- that this story managed to call forth.

I'm surprised that Vernon Lee is really a woman because she manages to effectively convey how a lovesick man might feel. The crazy, irrational, wonderfulness of it all. The twist in "Amour Dure" is that the object of affection is a ghost. I must mention the wonderful settting of this tale: a small Italian village during winter. Lee takes us through this quaint place as the tale unfolds. Definitely this one is my favorite of Lee's in this collection but the others are not half bad.

"Dionea" continues to make a play on the theme of the femme fatale. There is a hint of witchery here, but really only a hint. Dionea is introduced to us but always kept in a half light, always mysterious. Here again ia female protagonist portrayed as having an irresistible power to enthrall.

Is "Oke of Okehurst" a ghost story or a story of insanity? The fact that I am unsure makes up the story's charm. We are taken to a secluded country manse whose inhabitants, in the late 19th century, can trace their roots as far back as before the time of William the Conqueror. Quite a boring family except for a murder that happened a long time ago. One of the murderers seems to haver reincarnated as the lady of the current manse.

"A Wicked Voice" is also a story of obsession but this time with music rather then a person. It is told around the context of a haunting. Venice under the moonlight is very attractively described here and so is the Italian countryside.

A final word on Vernon Lee's writing chops. I read her aloud and her prose has excellent flow, effortlessly painting images in the mind. Beyond the plot of her stories she takes time to paint scenery and landscape, something which gave me a lot of pleasure in my reading.

Together with "The Bottle Imp", "The Confession of Charles Linkworth", and "Number 13", I add "Amour Dure" as one of the top stories in this collection.

Charlotte Riddell

The Open Door

"The Open Door" started rather badly for me - I felt the writing was rather stilted. A few pages in though the prose lost any sign of clumsiness and flowed smoothly. This is a ghost story but the part about the protagonist's straightened circumstances and, indeed, the situation of his financially-challenged family interested me a lot. Being hard up for money is the main reason why this young man undertakes to agree to be nothing less than a ghost hunter. The manifestation of the haunting is quite simple, as the title suggests - a door that keeps staying open. The door is in a manse called Ladlow Hall, and it is described in detail, and I want to live there; located as it is in such a verdant rural setting. I like everything about this story, the buildup, the plot twist, and the satisfying ending.

M. P. Shiel

Vaila, Xelucha

"Vaila" as a story has a very different voice, the construction was so different that it was slightly confusing. Then M. P. Shiel throws in a longish snatch of what seems to be Old English to give a backgrounder to this tale of a cursed place. This piece of Old English I found readable only with the most intense concentration on my part. A third of the way in to this tale I had to go back and reread from the beginning. "Vaila" is a story about some kind of sound-based madness connected with a weird keep located in the middle of turbulent waters. This ancestral manse is the best part of the story. It is quite the creation of fantasy. The story itself is so "off" that I wouldn't be surprised if Shiel wrote this under the influence of narcotics.

I read "Xelucha" curious whether Shiel was going to proceed in the same confusing vein as he did in "Vaila". He is. "Xelucha" is even more confusing than "Vaila". Something about encountering an ancient being. The best part of this story is the description of the protagonist's nocturnal wanderings and how things are somehow stranger and more magical at night.

M. P. Shiel is without a doubt my least favorite author in this collection. The stories are quite simply confusing. That said, his profuse use of obscure words does not detract from the tale. I found his worst sentences to be stilted but his best prose possessed a high degree of artistic vitality that is very enjoyable to read. In then end what the heck was "Xelucha" about , blast it. Well, I suppose I should just let it go.

Perl Norton Swet

The Medici Boots

"The Medici Boots" is a straightforward tale about a cursed object from the time of the Medici's in Florence. My primary emotion when reading this was frustration at the characters who, even though they knew of the curse, kept delaying on destroying the object. It was all I could do not ot dive into the tale and shake some sense into them. After the obscurity of M. P. Shiel's writing style, reading Perl Norton Swet's clear prose was like emerging into a nice summer day from the shadows of a cave.

George Allan England

The Thing from - Outside

With "The Thing from - Outside" this collection ends with a whimper, not a bang. The story is about an alien encounter in the woods backed up with some history of how in the distant past older races roamed the earth. I sort of know what effect England was going for: He wants to build a story that depicted the a slow awareness of horror and helplessness; at the same time giving shadowy glimpses of a vague alien threat. Unfortunately, the dialogue - his primary means of building up this horrific tension - wasn't effective enough. Plus I felt that the sexual tension introduced by a trio of characters distracted from rather than enhanced the storyline. This story just didn't come together.

And there we have it "The Classic Horror Collection". It certainly gave me what I came here for: an introduction to the horror genre and a short list of authors whom I want to read more from.