Ghost Stories


Book Description

A masterful collection of ghost stories that have been overlooked by contemporary readers—including tales by celebrated authors such as Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, Mark Twain, and Edith Wharton—presented with insightful annotations by acclaimed horror anthologists Leslie S. Klinger and Lisa Morton. The ghost story has long been a staple of world literature, but many of the genre's greatest tales have been forgotten, overshadowed in many cases by their authors' bestselling work in other genres. In this spine-tingling anthology, little known stories from literary titans like Charles Dickens and Edith Wharton are collected alongside overlooked works from masters of horror fiction like Edgar Allan Poe and M. R. James. Acclaimed anthologists Leslie S. Klinger (The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes) and Lisa Morton (Ghosts: A Haunted History) set these stories in historical context and trace the literary significance of ghosts in fiction over almost two hundred years—from a traditional English ballad first printed in 1724 up to the science fiction–tinged tales of the early twentieth century. In bringing these masterful tales back from the dead, Ghost Stories will enlighten and frighten both longtime fans as well as new readers of the genre. Including stories by: Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, M. R. James, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Walter Scott, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, and more.




Three Ghost Stories (Annotated and Illustrated)


Book Description

*This Book is annotated (it contains a detailed biography of the author). *An active Table of Contents has been added by the publisher for a better customer experience. *This book has been checked and corrected for spelling errors. ContentsThe haunted house -- The trial for murder -- The signal-man.




The Damned Thing and Other Horrors: The Best Weird Fiction and Ghost Stories of Ambrose Bierce: Annotated and Illustrated


Book Description

He was the successor of Edgar Allan Poe and a harbinger of H. P. Lovecraft, penning some of the most shocking, savage horror stories in the English language. His dark, literary universe was haunted by shadowy monsters who never quite revealed themselves, only stalking in the dim background like woodland predators around a campfire. And what better stories for any campfire's company: he wrote twilight tales of seductive werewolves, zombie resurrections, nights spent with corpses in empty houses, haunted cabins, killer robots, wartime ghost stories, invisible predators, reincarnated spirits, family curses, ghoul-haunted graveyards, jilted ghosts' violent revenges, mysterious disappearances, spectral visions, guilt-maddened murderers, and battlefield carnage. There was never a better author to read around the snapping flare of a lonely campsite than the rustic, existential horror stories of Ambrose Bierce. In death, as in life, Bierce is defined by contradictions. He was a mystical materialist, a cynical idealist, and a compassionate curmudgeon. His stories - especially those which we can classify as horror or fantasy - illustrate a world which fails to live up to its promises. As he wrote in "The Devil's Dictionary," a ghost is the outward sign of an inward fear - a visual signifier of a spiritual sickness. His stories are loaded with spooks of this sort. These are the ghosts of what should be. They are the ghosts of a murdered potential: the potential to do life well - properly, as it should be. His stories are haunted by monsters of automated technology ("Moxon's Master"), intellectual insecurity ("The Damned Thing"), sexual anxiety ("Eyes of the Panther"), and hereditary corruption. Failure is the chief of all these phantoms, however. Failure to do what one ought, and become what one should. This was a deeply personal boogeyman for Bierce. One which cast its shadow over his life and stamped its footprints into his fiction. What he left behind him, after vanishing into the dusty Mexican air, was a universe bedeviled by disappointment - in mankind, in the universe, and in himself. It is a raw and savage universe, but one dimly illuminated by Bierce's frustrated idealism. We can see the shadows for that light, but in those shadows, what monsters lurk.




The Willows, the Wendigo, and Other Horrors


Book Description

This illustrated and annotated edition of Blackwood's most influential and mesmerizing weird fiction, ghost stories, and strange tales is the only one of its kind available on the market. Richly annotated, bolstered with introductory essays for each story, and complete with chilling chiaroscuro illustrations, it presents a treasure trove to the ardent Blackwoodian. Welcomed by many as the most skillful practitioner of the British weird tale, Algernon Blackwood was capable of simultaneously creating a misanthropic, Lovecraftian cosmos devoid of compassion for petty, materialistic mankind, and a transcendental, Emersonian universe, pregnant with spirituality and wonder. At once horrifying and fantastical, chilling and euphoric, Blackwood's poetic prose and undisputed mastery of psychological terror make him an unavoidable giant in the realms of weird fiction, fantasy, and horror.




Edgar Allan Poe Annotated and Illustrated Entire Stories and Poems


Book Description

This annotated and illustrated edition of the entire stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe brings the author to life as never before. Photographs of Poe's many loves and the literary figures he satired in his stories are included.




The Damned Thing


Book Description

»The Damned Thing« is a short story by Ambrose Bierce, originally published in 1893. AMBROSE BIERCE [1842-1914] was an American author, journalist, and war veteran. He was one of the most influential journalists in the United States in the late 19th century and alongside his success as a horror writer he was hailed as a pioneer of realism. Among his most famous works are The Devil's Dictionary and the short story »An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.«




Japanese Ghost Stories


Book Description

The dead wreak revenge on the living, paintings come alive, spectral brides possess mortal men and a priest devours human flesh in these chilling Japanese ghost stories retold by a master of the supernatural. Lafcadio Hearn drew on the phantoms and ghouls of traditional Japanese folklore - including the headless 'rokuro-kubi', the monstrous goblins 'jikininki' or the faceless 'mujina' who stalk lonely neighbourhoods - and infused them with his own memories of his haunted childhood in nineteenth-century Ireland to create these terrifying tales of striking and eerie power. Today they are regarded in Japan as classics in their own right. Edited with an introduction by Paul Murray




Creepy Carrots!


Book Description

In this Caldecott Honor–winning picture book, The Twilight Zone comes to the carrot patch as a rabbit fears his favorite treats are out to get him. Includes audio! Jasper Rabbit loves carrots—especially Crackenhopper Field carrots. He eats them on the way to school. He eats them going to Little League. He eats them walking home. Until the day the carrots start following him...or are they? Celebrated artist Peter Brown’s stylish illustrations pair perfectly with Aaron Reynold’s text in this hilarious picture book that shows it’s all fun and games…until you get too greedy.




Best Horror Short Stories 1850-1899


Book Description

The best horror short stories from the last half of the 19th century are combined for the first time by Andrew Barger, award-winning author and editor of 6a66le: Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849. Andrew has meticulously researched the finest Victorian horror short stories and combined them into one undeniable collection. He has added his familiar scholarly touch by annotating the stories, providing story background information, author photos and a list of horror stories considered. Historic Horror. The best horror short stories from the last half of the 19th century include nightmare tales by Bram Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle, Joseph Le Fanu, W. C. Morrow, H. G. Wells, Arthur Machen, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and other early founders of the horror tale. A Terror Tour Guide (2016) by Andrew Barger (A leading voice in the gothic literature space, Andrew sets the stage for this anthology of nightmares.)The Pioneers of Pike’s Peak (1897) by Basil Tozer (Hoards of giant spiders on a Colorado mountain. What could go wrong?)Lot No. 249 (1892) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Perhaps the premier mummy horror story ever recorded from the master that is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is measured out to its climatic ending.)The Yellow Wallpaper (1892) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Explore the depths of insanity.)Green Tea (1871) by Joseph Le Fanu (One of the most haunting horror stories by the Irish master.)What Was It? (1859) by Fitz James O’Brien (Sometimes the worst horror is one you can't see.)Pollock and the Porroh Man (1897) by H. G. Wells (Wells takes us deep into the jungle and its wrought supernatural horror.)The Spider of Guyana (1857) by Erckmann-Chatrian (The first giant spider horror story is one of its best.)The Squaw (1893) by Bram Stoker (The author of Dracula never disappoints.)The Great God Pan (1894) by Arthur Machen (Mythic horror that gained much praise from H. P. Lovecraft.)His Unconquerable Enemy (1889) by W. C. Morrow (A fiendish tale of torture sees Morrow at his best.)Horror Short Stories Considered (Andrew concludes the horror anthology by listing every horror short story he read to pick the very best.) Read the premier horror anthology for the last half of the nineteenth century tonight! “But it now struck me for the first time that there must be one great and ruling embodiment of fear, a King of Terrors to which all others must succumb.” 1859 “What Was It?” Fitz James O’Brien




Collected Ghost Stories


Book Description

Considered by many to be the most terrifying writer in English, M.R. James was an eminent scholar who spent his entire adult life in the academic surroundings of Eton and Cambridge. His classic supernatural tales draw on the terrors of the everyday, in which documents and objects unleash terrible forces, often in closed rooms and night-time settings where imagination runs riot. Lonely country houses, remote inns, ancient churches or the manuscript collections of great libraries provide settings for unbearable menace, from creatures seeking retribution and harm. These stories have lost none of their power to unsettle and disturb. This edition presents all of James's published ghost stories, including the unforgettable 'Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad' and 'Casting the Runes', and an appendix of James's writings on the ghost story. Darryl Jones's introduction and notes provide a fascinating insight into James's background and his mastery of the genre he made his own. --! From publisher's description.