Alfred Tennyson’s “The Kraken” is not only a great poem, but it is believed by some to have influenced H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu.” Tennyson also wrote moody works like “All Things Will Die” and “Song (A spirit haunts the year’s last hours).” Let’s return to the high seas with George Guyon’s marvelous untitled …
Category: Stories
Oct 01 2018
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (& Other Loathsome Locales)
There’s a special village tucked away in New York. It’s so quiet and pleasant that one could even describe it as being “sleepy.” If not for one infamous resident, most people would think it would be an ideal place to visit. But we’re not “most people,” now are we? So let’s read the Halloween classic …
Feb 25 2018
Luella Miller (& Other Women’s Weird Fiction)
Last year I had shared a piece of weird fiction called “The Hall Bedroom” by Mary E. Wilkins (who is also known as Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman). I later learned she had written several highly regarded horror stories and it just felt wrong for me to have only shared one of her “weird” stories rather …
- A.F. Stewart, Adan Ramie, Brigitte Winter, Edith Nesbit, Edith Wharton, Ellen Denton, Janett L. Grady, Kerri-Leigh Grady, Marcy Italiano, Mary E. Wilkins, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, Mary Shelley, Nancy Springer, Nina D'Arcangela, Pat Cadigan, Rachel F. Williams, Regina Gonzalez, Rene Denfeld, Rhiannon Rasmussen-Silverstein, Roberta Lannes, Stories, Tricia Drammeh, Veronica Magenta Nero, Virginia Woolf, Women In Horror Month, Women In Horror Recognition Month
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Oct 10 2017
Vile Verses VI
“The Procession” by Harriet Prescott Spofford is not only a poem about a Halloween parade, but it also shows there was a time when trick or treating was not always guaranteed for youngsters on Halloween. Google Books has plenty of other vintage poems as well. Pauline More Wetzel penned “October,” “The Yellow Leaves” and “Their …
Oct 05 2017
Revolting Reads (But in a Good Way)
If you guessed this image has something to do with H.P. Lovecraft, you’re absolutely correct. It’s an illustration for “They Wait” by Jason Virgadamo (who also goes by the name Renfield Rasputin), a Lovecraftian tale which was chosen by readers of The Providence Journal as the winner of the H.P. Lovecraft Writing Contest! Speaking of …
- A.F. Stewart, Al Edwards, Austin Sirkin, Chris Lambert, Daniel G. Keohane, David John Wing, David Liss, Drac Von Stoller, Gary Morton, Graham Masterton, J.C. Bartholomew Galzo, Jason Virgadamo, John Campbell Haywood, Karpov Kinrade, L.R. Slater, literature, Maria Leach, Nina D'Arcangela, Paul F. Wilson, Paul G. Ellis, Randall Holmberg, Renfield Rasputin, Robert Jackson Bennett, S.E. Casey, Stories, Tyr Kieran, William Meikle
- 2 comments
Oct 17 2016
Bedtime Scaries
An illustration of the classic children’s poem “The Spider and the Fly” made quite an impression on Reggie Oliver when he was younger. But it wasn’t a good one, seeing as how his mother had to destroy it after it gave him so many nightmares. He confronted this bit of childhood trauma years later by …
- Adolphe Danziger De Castro, Adolphe de Castro, Al Hewetson, Clarence Aaron Robbins, Dale Bailey, Eddie Jose Morales, Edward Lucas White, Eric D. Cota, Gouverneur Morris, Hector Hugh Munro, Jeannie Novak, JM Cozzoli, literature, Mark McLaughlin, Michael Chabon, Michael Marshall Smith, Michael Minnis, R.L. Stine, Reggie Oliver, Saki, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Stephen Volk, Stories, The Brothers Grimm, Tod Robbins
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Oct 13 2016
Yet More Vile Verses
Like the illustration? It’s linked to “A Halloween Thought” by the mysterious “H.M.Y.” Google Books also brings us poems like Charles Frederick White’s “Hallowe’en,” Blanche Elizabeth Wade’s “Jack-O’-Lantern’s Prank,” Stanley Schell’s “The Ghost of a Flower,” Carl J. Segerhammer’s “Halloween Party,” R. Chetwynd-Hayes’ “The Shadmock,” Ina A. Bickford’s “Falling Leaves,” Lulu G. Parker’s “Halloween,” Jack …
Apr 04 2016
Horror Garage
Taken from website: Horrorgarage.com “HORROR GARAGE combines the best in original dark fiction with the finest in horrific rock n’ roll. Think HORROR OF PARTY BEACH, PSYCHOMANIA, and DEATH RACE 2000: B-movie babes, screamin’ skulls, bug-eyed creeps, and gallons of blood. HORROR GARAGE began as a print magazine, of which twelve issues were published. These issues …
Feb 18 2016
The Yellow Wallpaper (& Other Women’s Weird Fiction)
When asked to name horror fiction authors, many people will immediately rattle off a list of men. Today I hope to change things up by sharing a collection of such work by women. I used the term “weird fiction” in this article’s title because some of the stories use elements of horror without being overtly …
- Amelia B. Edwards, Angela Slatter, bean, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Christine Filipak, Darla Hogan, Gemma Files, Genevieve Valentine, Gina Moray, Jeannie Novak, Kathryn Ptacek, Leonora Carrington, Lucy Clifford, Mary E. Wilkins, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, Mary Roberts Rinehart, May Sinclair, Nancy Kilpatrick, Olivia Howard Dunbar, Patricia Highsmith, S.E. Schlosser, Sally Bosco, Sarah Pinborough, Stories, Sumiko Saulson, Tananarive Due, Willa Sibert Cather, Women In Horror Month, Women In Horror Recognition Month
- 3 comments
Oct 22 2015
Still More Vile Verses
Google Books is home to many a public domain poem. The image illustrating this article is from a poem called “Jack-o’-Lantern’s Story” and it is followed by another simply called “Halloween.” Please don’t confuse them with “Jack-O’-Lantern” by John Banister Tabb or “Halloween” by A.T. Frost. I’m also found of “Hallowe’en Happenings,” “A Halloween Memory” …
Oct 08 2015
Tales From The Dark Tower (& Other Disturbing Destinations)
This year saw the release of Return To The Dark Tower, the final installment of the series of books inspired by Nox Arcana’s The Dark Tower. So how will I celebrate the end of the trilogy? By sending you to its start. Not only is James Pipik and Joseph Vargo’s “The Dark Tower” from the …
Oct 13 2014
Terrifying Tales
The image illustrating this article doesn’t tie into any particular story. But there’s something about it which just screams “creepypasta” to me. I bring this up because it turns out the link to “Creepypasta Cookoff 2012” in last year’s installment will now include stories from 2013 (along with those from future cookoffs). Since I’m discussing …
Apr 26 2014
Beyond Innsmouth
When the subject of Lovecraftian films is discussed, it’s only a matter of time before someone suggests that any film containing a “Gill Man” of sorts fits the bill. The argument is that since Creature from the Black Lagoon came out in 1954 and The Shadow Over Innsmouth was published in 1936, H.P. Lovecraft deserves …
Oct 06 2013
It’s Storytime!
Although best known for works of science fiction like Journey to the Center of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne has dipped his toes into the world of horror too. “Frritt-Flacc” (whose title is apparently onomatopoeia for the sounds of a violent storm) is the story of a greedy physician …
Oct 05 2012
It was a dark and stormy night…
Longtime readers may recall that, in our last installment, I noted how the phrase “It was a dark and stormy night” was coined by the author of The Haunters and the Haunted. The phrase has turned up in countless horror stories, like “The Monkey’s Paw,” and I have decided to pay tribute to that fact …
- Alvin Schwartz, Ambrose Bierce, Arkham Tales, Charles de Lint, Clark Aston Smith, Cleveland Moffett, Dwight McPherson, Fred Chappell, Greg Chapman, Herbert J. Mangham, Jeremy C. Shipp, Jeremy Russel, Kurt Newton, Laura Brennan, Lin Carter, literature, Mike Minnis, Ralph Adams Cram, Stories
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Apr 30 2012
Almost Horror, Not Quite
Have you ever read a story that, although it had the right elements to be a horror story, didn’t feel as though it fully fit into the horror category? I’ve had that experience many times while searching for content for this website and what convinced me to do this article was Maurice Leblanc’s The Secret …
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