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The Dracula Book of Great Horror Stories
A collection of classic horror stories includes Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum," W.W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw," and a rarely reprinted tale by Charles Dickens, "Captain Murderer"
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 24, 2021
All great except the very last story, "Wendigo." That bored me to tears. All the others, however-- especially H.P. Lovecraft's piece "Festival" and " The Voice in the Night" by William Hope Hodgson-- were, to me, inspired.
May 9, 2019
"Great Horror Stories"? I suppose it depends largely on your definition of the word great...
"Dracula" is a collection of 14 stories, all by authors experienced in the field of the macabre...
Some of the stories, as with all anthologies - were less than horrifying. De Maupassant was represented by "The Inn" - a welcome change from "The Horla", which is over-anthologized. I must confess I've never cared much for Poe - whose story "Pit and the Pendulum" is contained therein. Blackwood is another author who I never liked - I find his work on the horrors of Nature to be dull and lifeless.
So much for the stories I didn't care for.....
Many of the remaining stories are well-known to most readers - "Monkey's Paw", "Count Magnus", "Caterpillars", etc. Hartley is represented by "The Traveling Grave", which I haven't read before, but am a fan of his ghost story "Visitor from Down Under". Hartley released one volume of ghost and horror stories - "The Traveling Grave"....
All in all...not a bad collection, but certainly not a must have volume....
Jeff McIntosh
"Dracula" is a collection of 14 stories, all by authors experienced in the field of the macabre...
Some of the stories, as with all anthologies - were less than horrifying. De Maupassant was represented by "The Inn" - a welcome change from "The Horla", which is over-anthologized. I must confess I've never cared much for Poe - whose story "Pit and the Pendulum" is contained therein. Blackwood is another author who I never liked - I find his work on the horrors of Nature to be dull and lifeless.
So much for the stories I didn't care for.....
Many of the remaining stories are well-known to most readers - "Monkey's Paw", "Count Magnus", "Caterpillars", etc. Hartley is represented by "The Traveling Grave", which I haven't read before, but am a fan of his ghost story "Visitor from Down Under". Hartley released one volume of ghost and horror stories - "The Traveling Grave"....
All in all...not a bad collection, but certainly not a must have volume....
Jeff McIntosh
June 18, 2023
4.34⭐
Introduction by Leslie Shepard ✔
Captain Murderer • (1860) by Charles Dickens 4⭐
The Pit and the Pendulum • (1842) by Edgar Allan Poe 5⭐
The Haunted and the Haunters; or, The House and the Brain • (1859) • novelette by Edward Bulwer-Lytton 5⭐
The Inn • (1903) by Guy de Maupassant (trans. of L'auberge 1886) 4⭐
The Dancing Partner • (1928) by Jerome K. Jerome 4⭐
The Cone • non-genre • (1895) by H. G. Wells 4⭐
The Monkey's Paw • (1902) by W. W. Jacobs 5⭐
Caterpillars • (1912) by E. F. Benson 5⭐
The Judge's House • (1891) by Bram Stoker 4⭐
The Voice in the Night • (1907) by William Hope Hodgson 5⭐
Count Magnus • (1904) by M. R. James 4⭐
The Festival • [Cthulhu Mythos] • (1925) by H. P. Lovecraft 3.5⭐
The Travelling Grave • (1929) by L. P. Hartley 4⭐
The Wendigo • (1910) by Algernon Blackwood 4.25⭐
Introduction by Leslie Shepard ✔
Captain Murderer • (1860) by Charles Dickens 4⭐
The Pit and the Pendulum • (1842) by Edgar Allan Poe 5⭐
The Haunted and the Haunters; or, The House and the Brain • (1859) • novelette by Edward Bulwer-Lytton 5⭐
The Inn • (1903) by Guy de Maupassant (trans. of L'auberge 1886) 4⭐
The Dancing Partner • (1928) by Jerome K. Jerome 4⭐
The Cone • non-genre • (1895) by H. G. Wells 4⭐
The Monkey's Paw • (1902) by W. W. Jacobs 5⭐
Caterpillars • (1912) by E. F. Benson 5⭐
The Judge's House • (1891) by Bram Stoker 4⭐
The Voice in the Night • (1907) by William Hope Hodgson 5⭐
Count Magnus • (1904) by M. R. James 4⭐
The Festival • [Cthulhu Mythos] • (1925) by H. P. Lovecraft 3.5⭐
The Travelling Grave • (1929) by L. P. Hartley 4⭐
The Wendigo • (1910) by Algernon Blackwood 4.25⭐
January 13, 2025
Typical middling anthology of early-20th-century ghost stories. Nothing special.
September 5, 2009
A cheap anthology that I discovered in a discount store, this is a collection of some of the most widely-distributed horror stories, so it's perfect for newcomers if a little familiar to long-standing fans of the genre.
The good news is that there are no clunkers here - and rarely can I say that about an anthology! Even the lesser stories are still good - THE CONE by H. G. Wells is an unusually visceral piece for the author and Lord Lytton's THE HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS is the archetypal 'haunted house' yarn.
Better still are Dickens' CAPTAIN MURDERER, a surprisingly graphic Sweeney Todd-style effort; THE MONKEY'S PAW by W. W. Jacobs which must be THE most classic short work of horror that there is; E. F. Benson's CATERPILLARS, which is another Jamesian effort about crawling nasties; Stoker's THE JUDGE'S HOUSE, a ghost story incorporating killer rats; COUNT MAGNUS by M. R. James, in which the classic ghost story author turns his hand to vampires with suitably atmospheric results and finally Lovecraft's THE FESTIVAL, another sinister story of ritual and the Cthulhu Myhtos.
Then we have my favourites, the ones which I think excel over all the rest. Poe's THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM is one of his most enduring efforts, an exercise in psychological torment and truly gripping suspense. Guy De Maupassant comes up trumps with THE INN, a story of sinister solitude high up in the snow-capped mountains, and Jerome K. Jerome puts the sci-fi genre to good use with THE DANCING PARTNER. William Hope Hodgson wrote a lot of seafaring horrors, and THE VOICE IN THE NIGHT, a story of mouldy madness, is one of his most sickening and disturbing. Finally, L. P. Hartley delivers THE TRAVELLING GRAVE, a fine example of black comedy and strong writing, and Algernon Blackwood's lengthy THE WENDIGO, concerning a legend of the Canadian wilderness, is arguably his finest piece of writing - an utterly compelling, frightening story that's the written equivalent of something like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.
The good news is that there are no clunkers here - and rarely can I say that about an anthology! Even the lesser stories are still good - THE CONE by H. G. Wells is an unusually visceral piece for the author and Lord Lytton's THE HAUNTED AND THE HAUNTERS is the archetypal 'haunted house' yarn.
Better still are Dickens' CAPTAIN MURDERER, a surprisingly graphic Sweeney Todd-style effort; THE MONKEY'S PAW by W. W. Jacobs which must be THE most classic short work of horror that there is; E. F. Benson's CATERPILLARS, which is another Jamesian effort about crawling nasties; Stoker's THE JUDGE'S HOUSE, a ghost story incorporating killer rats; COUNT MAGNUS by M. R. James, in which the classic ghost story author turns his hand to vampires with suitably atmospheric results and finally Lovecraft's THE FESTIVAL, another sinister story of ritual and the Cthulhu Myhtos.
Then we have my favourites, the ones which I think excel over all the rest. Poe's THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM is one of his most enduring efforts, an exercise in psychological torment and truly gripping suspense. Guy De Maupassant comes up trumps with THE INN, a story of sinister solitude high up in the snow-capped mountains, and Jerome K. Jerome puts the sci-fi genre to good use with THE DANCING PARTNER. William Hope Hodgson wrote a lot of seafaring horrors, and THE VOICE IN THE NIGHT, a story of mouldy madness, is one of his most sickening and disturbing. Finally, L. P. Hartley delivers THE TRAVELLING GRAVE, a fine example of black comedy and strong writing, and Algernon Blackwood's lengthy THE WENDIGO, concerning a legend of the Canadian wilderness, is arguably his finest piece of writing - an utterly compelling, frightening story that's the written equivalent of something like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews