Tales from Beyond the Grave

by R. Chetwynd-Hayes (Editor), M.R. James, Oliver Onio

This collection of brilliant, chilling and challenging stories from the realm of the supernatural, each individually illustrated in black and white, ranges from the sinister and macabre to the humorous and fanciful. Some of the tales are by well-known writers of the genre, such as Edgar Allan Poe and M.R. James. Others, like Robert Graves' nightmarish mystery, The Shout or E.M. Forster's haunting Story of the Siren, though by world-famous authors, have been undeservedly neglected and remain virtually unknown.

The story settings extend form the heyday of nineteenth century mystery writing - represented by such writers as Ambrose Bierce, Guy de Maupassant and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - to the frightening immediacy of contemporary stories like Ray Bradbury's Fever Dream and Robert Bloch's Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper. In tone and subject matter the stories range from irresistible cumulative horror, as in Mrs. Amworth by E.F. Benson, to the clipped ironic style of Gogol's masterpiece, The Overcoat, including also a flavour of Gothic melodrama in Matthew Lewis' The Monk, the subtle sexuality of The Gray Wolf by George Macdonald and J.R.R. Tolkien's celebrated world of wizardry and magic.

Every variety of supernatural phenomenon is contained within these pages, making this anthology both an ideal introduction for new readers of the genre and a valuable addition to the library of the established connoisseur.

Cover Illustration: Mick Brownfield

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Ronald Henry Glynn Chetwynd-Hayes aka Angus Campbell.

Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes was an author, best known for his ghost stories. His first published work was the science fiction novel The Man From The Bomb in 1959. He went on to publish many collections and ten other novels including The Grange, The Haunted Grange, And Love Survived and The Curse of the Snake God. He also edited over 20 anthologies. Several of his short works were adapted into anthology style movies in the United Kingdom, including The Monster Club and From Beyond the Grave. Chetwynd-Hayes' book The Monster Club contains references to a film-maker called Vinke Rocnnor, an anagram of Kevin Connor, the director of From Beyond the Grave.

He won the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement for 1988, and the British Fantasy Society Special Award in 1989.

Reviews

[Steve Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky back in the early 1980s that this was the very first horror collection that I bought and read, because it's one of the best. Starting with the production; it has a striking cover, is well bound with thick paper, and the atmospheric line illustrations by Lawrence Mynott on every title page (there are 27 stories!) raises it to the top ranks of the many horror collections that were being issued in the 70s and 80s.

It has many of my favourite stories of the genre. The best are LeFanu's 'Green Tea' in which the Rev Jennings is haunted by a little monkey; Robert Bloch's atmospheric 'Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper' which sees two men go in search of the killer; Poe's 'The Black Cat,' E.F.Benson's 'Mrs Amworth,' Hume Nisbet's 'The Haunted Station,' Chetwynd-Hayes's atmospheric 'She Walks On Dry Land,' Algernon Blackwood's 'The Doll,' de Maupassant's 'The Horla,' Robert Graves's 'The Shout,' Bulwer-Lytton's 'The House And The Brain,' M.R.James's 'Lost Hearts,' Gogol's 'The Overcoat,' and an excerpt from Wilde's 'The Picture Of Dorian Gray.'

Of the 27 here, I'd say only 3 are duds (Doyle's 'The Brown Hand', E.M.Forster's 'The Story Of The Siren' and the Tolkien excerpt - roaming dwarves and elves just don't do it for me!), 13 of the stories are amongst my favourites, and the other 11 are fine enough fillers.

Worth getting a hold of.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This very edition, a present from my mother when I was young. I still own it. Quite a good collection.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wouldn't recommend.

[Pallavi Kulkarni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really scary! Had goosebumps when I read it.