A Fabulous, Formless Darkness

by David G. Hartwell (Editor), Fritz Leiber (Contributor), Fitz-James O'Brien (Contributor)

Third of these fabulous collections published by Tor during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The contents of this one range from classical writers of the 19th century, to a 1980 Stephen King novella (set in Lovecraft's universe, yet!).
. . Introduction to the series, by the Editor
. . Introductio to Volume III, by the editor
. . Smoke Ghost [Fritz Leiber]
. . Seven American Nights [Gene Wolfe]
. . The Signal-Man [Charles Dickens]
. . Crouch End [ Stephen King]
. . Night-Side [Joyce Carol Oates]
. . Seaton's Aunt [Walter de la Mare]
. . Clara Militch [Ivan Turgenev]
. . The Repairer of Reputations [Robert W. Chambers]
. . The Beckoning Fair One [Oliver Onions]
. . What Was It? [Fitz-James O'Brien]
. . The Beautiful Stranger [Shirley Jackson]
. . The Damned Thing [Ambrose Bierce]
. . Afterward [Edith Wharton]
. . The Willows [ Algernon Blackwood]
. . The Asian Shore [Thomas M. Disch]
. . The Hospice [Robert Aickman]
. . A Little Something For Us Tempunauts [Philip K. Dick]

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fiction, Historical Fiction

608 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

David Geddes Hartwell was an American editor of science fiction and fantasy. He worked for Signet (1971-1973), Berkley Putnam (1973-1978), Pocket (where he founded the Timescape imprint, 1978-1983, and created the Pocket Books Star Trek publishing line), and Tor (where he spearheaded Tor's Canadian publishing initiative, and was also influential in bringing many Australian writers to the US market, 1984-date), and has published numerous anthologies. He chaired the board of directors of the World Fantasy Convention and, with Gordon Van Gelder, was the administrator of the Philip K. Dick Award. He held a Ph.D. in comparative medieval literature.

He lived in Pleasantville, New York with his wife Kathryn Cramer and their two children.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very mixed collection of short stories ranging from the 19th century to the modern era. Hartwell gives an erudite introduction here, in the third of three anthologies of horror, each themed to represent various aspects of the horror genre. These all fit somewhat into the phycological category, where the horror is subtle. I thought the standouts included Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows," Charles Dickens' "The Signal-Man," Shirley Jackson's "The Beautiful Stranger." This also contained some major duds, like Gene Wolfe's "Seven American Nights." I have been reading this off and on for a few months. Given the high ratings of the first two installments of Dark Descent, I may pick those up. 3 dark stars!!

[Alexis Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

A largely lackluster collection of stories--by far, the weakest entry in the series. This time around, Hartwell has selected stories where the perceived threat is never fully defined. There is no readily idenitifiable 'bad guy', and often the victims themselves have no idea what they are facing--or even if they are facing anything at all. Hence the title: A Fabulous, Formless Darkness. However, vaguely-creepy-for-undefinable-reasons is a tough genre to pull off. If you do it wrong, you end up with a story where nothing happens at all and the end result is just kind of pointless. If you do it right, the reader will be creeped out but unable to pinpoint the source of his or her unease--an unease which is prolonged by the seeming lack of resolution to the story.

Sadly, many of the stories here fall into the first category. The attempt to sustain an eerie tone devolved into a meandering story that dragged on much longer than it needed to, and more than once I found myself thinking at the close of a story, 'Nothing happened!' Still, the stories (though long) were decent enough, and some--'The Hospice' and 'Afterward' in particular--were quite good indeed. 'The Hospice' was an especially effective example of a story where nothing much really happened, but it was pretty much terrifying from start to finish. 'Afterward' had the tidy feel that goes with so much early twentieth century literature, but it managed to still hold my attention from start to finish.

Stephen King's contribution--'Crouch End,' an extension of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos--was interesting (though it made me wonder why Lovecraft was not directly represented in this collection, as he is the master of the 'indescribable'), and the almost empirical tone of 'What Was It?' provided a nice contrast to the 'spooky' interminability of stories like Algernon Blackwood's 'The Willows' or Disch's 'The Asian Shore.' 'Clara Militch' and 'The Beckoning Fair One' are effective reminders that love (or some twisted shadow of love) can be just as scary as hate. Dickens shows his horror chops with the mercifully short 'The Signalman', and Shirley Jackson's equally brief 'The Beautiful Stranger' was somehow both warm and creepy.

I find that the most effective short stories are, well, short--they plant an unsettling idea in the mind and just as it sinks in, the story ends. Unfortunately, most of these stories clock in at upwards of 30 pages, and 4 are longer than 50 pages. It's tough to really sell a short story that long, especially if it's full of vague weirdness and no real resolution or explanation. Most of these stories would have benefited by more active editing--had each of the longer stories been about 20% shorter, the collection would have packed a much bigger punch.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember this, along with its companion volume 'The Dark Descent: The Colour of Evil'', as a very good anthology but like all collections of 'historic' horror fiction you are bound to encounter, depending on taste, longeurs with some of content but I doubt anyone would regret reading any of the stories. But I cannot claim that it is imperative to read, never mind acquire, this anthology. You will find all its content elsewhere and in more recent anthologies you may avoid some of the duds.

[Hugo · Rating 2 out of 5]

A limp end to the series (though first published as one volume, for what it's worth), but in terms of negligible entries, this volume packs them in, with barely supernatural efforts from the 'literary', too many tales of obscurity, non-horror, and some just plain dull (and this from Gene Wolfe, of all people!). Barely manages half-a-dozen decent (actual) horror stories in the entire book.

[Narzack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for a few stories in particular: Crouch End by Stephen King, The Beautiful Stranger by Shirley Jackson, The Hospice by Robert Aikman, and A Little Something for us Tempunauts by Philip K. Dick. The other stories are good, these just stood out to me as the best of the lot.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best story is Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows." CREEPY! And you won't believe it was written in 1925.

[bluetyson]

The Dark Descent by David G. Hartwell (1987)