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The Second Algernon Blackwood Megapack: 28 Classic Tales of the Supernatural
The Second Algernon Blackwood Megapack collects 28 more classic tales of the supernatural by one of the greatest ghost story writers of all time. Included in this volume are:
SKELETON LAKE
SMITH: AN EPISODE IN A LODGING-HOUSE
A SUSPICIOUS GIFT
THE EMPTY HOUSE
THE LISTENER
MAY DAY EVE
CARLTON'S DRIVE
IF THE CAP FITS—
THE MAN WHO PLAYED UPON THE LEAF
OLD CLOTHES
THE ECCENTRICITY OF SIMON PARNACUTE
THE GOLDEN FLY
THE TRANSFER
THE ATTIC
THE GLAMOUR OF THE SNOW
SAND
H.S.H.
A DESERT EPISODE
BY WATER
THE GOBLIN'S COLLECTION
A BIT OF WOOD
AN EGYPTIAN HORNET
CAIN'S ATONEMENT
THE OTHER WING
THE DANCE OF DEATH
THE GARDEN OF SURVIVAL
A CASE OF EAVESDROPPING
CLAIRVOYANCE
And don't forget to search this ebook store for "Wildside Megapack" to see more entries in this series, covering classic authors and subjects like mysteries, science fiction, westerns, ghost stories -- and much, much more!
457 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 13, 2013
20 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
Algernon Blackwood
1,341 books1,175 followersAlgernon Henry Blackwood (1869–1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary critic S. T. Joshi stated, "His work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's" and that his short story collection Incredible Adventures (1914) "may be the premier weird collection of this or any other century".
Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill (today part of south-east London, but then part of northwest Kent) and educated at Wellington College. His father was a Post Office administrator who, according to Peter Penzoldt, "though not devoid of genuine good-heartedness, had appallingly narrow religious ideas." Blackwood had a varied career, farming in Canada, operating a hotel, as a newspaper reporter in New York City, and, throughout his adult life, an occasional essayist for various periodicals. In his late thirties, he moved back to England and started to write stories of the supernatural. He was very successful, writing at least ten original collections of short stories and eventually appearing on both radio and television to tell them. He also wrote fourteen novels, several children's books, and a number of plays, most of which were produced but not published. He was an avid lover of nature and the outdoors, and many of his stories reflect this.
H.P. Lovecraft wrote of Blackwood: "He is the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere." His powerful story "The Willows," which effectively describes another dimension impinging upon our own, was reckoned by Lovecraft to be not only "foremost of all" Blackwood's tales but the best "weird tale" of all time.
Among his thirty-odd books, Blackwood wrote a series of stories and short novels published as John Silence, Physician Extraordinary (1908), which featured a "psychic detective" who combined the skills of a Sherlock Holmes and a psychic medium. Blackwood also wrote light fantasy and juvenile books.
Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill (today part of south-east London, but then part of northwest Kent) and educated at Wellington College. His father was a Post Office administrator who, according to Peter Penzoldt, "though not devoid of genuine good-heartedness, had appallingly narrow religious ideas." Blackwood had a varied career, farming in Canada, operating a hotel, as a newspaper reporter in New York City, and, throughout his adult life, an occasional essayist for various periodicals. In his late thirties, he moved back to England and started to write stories of the supernatural. He was very successful, writing at least ten original collections of short stories and eventually appearing on both radio and television to tell them. He also wrote fourteen novels, several children's books, and a number of plays, most of which were produced but not published. He was an avid lover of nature and the outdoors, and many of his stories reflect this.
H.P. Lovecraft wrote of Blackwood: "He is the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere." His powerful story "The Willows," which effectively describes another dimension impinging upon our own, was reckoned by Lovecraft to be not only "foremost of all" Blackwood's tales but the best "weird tale" of all time.
Among his thirty-odd books, Blackwood wrote a series of stories and short novels published as John Silence, Physician Extraordinary (1908), which featured a "psychic detective" who combined the skills of a Sherlock Holmes and a psychic medium. Blackwood also wrote light fantasy and juvenile books.
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November 28, 2023**I have only read one story**
If the Cap Fits is a short story written by Algernon Blackwood about psychometry (viz., the idea that objects present in the world can portray events that have happened to them to special people who have the ability to channel it).
This story is book-ended by skepticism about the whole subject, with the central tension of the tale drawing tightest at the very end, when the reason for is hinted at. Yet, this hint is only a hint, and Field Martin himself doesn't seem to think it all that important.
That image--in which the supernatural occurs, or supposedly occurs, without the main participant knowing it--is really a strong one. It is ironic.
If the Cap Fits is a short story written by Algernon Blackwood about psychometry (viz., the idea that objects present in the world can portray events that have happened to them to special people who have the ability to channel it).
This story is book-ended by skepticism about the whole subject, with the central tension of the tale drawing tightest at the very end, when the reason for is hinted at. Yet, this hint is only a hint, and Field Martin himself doesn't seem to think it all that important.
That image--in which the supernatural occurs, or supposedly occurs, without the main participant knowing it--is really a strong one. It is ironic.
October 1, 2017
This megapack includes my two favorite stories by Blackwood, 'The Empty House' and 'A Haunted Island'. The first six stories are excellent in my opinion, but I've previously read all of them before purchasing this megapack. Excluding those first six, I found this group of stories lackluster compared to the first megapack. None really stuck out at me. My favorites of the bunch in no particular order:
By Water
The Goblin's Collection
The Dance of Death
By Water
The Goblin's Collection
The Dance of Death
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews