Best Ghost and Horror Stories

by Bram Stoker, Richard Dalby (introduction)

This a previously-published edition of ISBN 9780486297163.

While best known for literature's greatest, most popular, and most famous vampire novel, Dracula, Bram Stoker also wrote superlative short stories. Indeed, he was a genius at creating horror within the confines of a short tale.
Now readers can sample Stoker's mastery in this treasury of fourteen spine-tingling stories. Not all the selections deal with the ghostly and supernatural, but they are always bizarre, and some—like "The Squaw" and "The Burial of the Rats"—are equal to Poe at his best. In addition to these two masterly tales, the collection includes "The Crystal Cup," "The Chain of Destiny," "The Castle of the King," "The Dualists" (probably Stoker's most horrifying story), "The Judge's House," "The Secret of the Growing Gold," "A Dream of Red Hands," "Crooken Sands," "Dracula's Guest," and three more.
Lovers of occult and supernatural fiction will delight in this inexpensive collection of ghost and horror stories, called by Stephen King "absolutely champion short stories."

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Literature, Fiction, Classic Literature

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 18, 1997

About the author

Irish-born Abraham Stoker, known as Bram, of Britain wrote the gothic horror novel Dracula (1897).

The feminist Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornely Stoker at 15 Marino crescent, then as now called "the crescent," in Fairview, a coastal suburb of Dublin, Ireland, bore this third of seven children. The parents, members of church of Ireland, attended the parish church of Saint John the Baptist, located on Seafield road west in Clontarf with their baptized children.

Stoker, an invalid, started school at the age of seven years in 1854, when he made a complete and astounding recovery. Of this time, Stoker wrote, "I was naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years."

After his recovery, he, a normal young man, even excelled as a university athlete at Trinity college, Dublin form 1864 to 1870 and graduated with honors in mathematics. He served as auditor of the college historical society and as president of the university philosophical society with his first paper on "Sensationalism in Fiction and Society."

In 1876, while employed as a civil servant in Dublin, Stoker wrote a non-fiction book (The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, published 1879) and theatre reviews for The Dublin Mail, a newspaper partly owned by fellow horror writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu. His interest in theatre led to a lifelong friendship with the English actor Henry Irving. He also wrote stories, and in 1872 "The Crystal Cup" was published by the London Society, followed by "The Chain of Destiny" in four parts in The Shamrock.

In 1878 Stoker married Florence Balcombe, a celebrated beauty whose former suitor was Oscar Wilde. The couple moved to London, where Stoker became business manager (at first as acting-manager) of Irving's Lyceum Theatre, a post he held for 27 years. The collaboration with Irving was very important for Stoker and through him he became involved in London's high society, where he met, among other notables, James McNeil Whistler, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the course of Irving's tours, Stoker got the chance to travel around the world.

The Stokers had one son, Irving Noel, who was born on December 31, 1879.

People cremated the body of Bram Stoker and placed his ashes placed in a display urn at Golders green crematorium. After death of Irving Noel Stoker in 1961, people added his ashes to that urn. Despite the original plan to keep ashes of his parents together, after death, people scattered ashes of Florence Stoker at the gardens of rest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker

Reviews

[Shawn]

Placeholder review: Read the below for work

"Death in the Wings" (aka "A Star Trap") - is a little revenge murder story played out in the milieu of the theater, as one man plots the "accidental" death of another. Not bad, with some nice details of theater/stage gadgets and gimmicks of the time,

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4 Stars.

Introduction - contains a good recap of Stoker's life.
The Crystal Cup - 3.5 Stars
The Chain of Destiny - 3.5 Stars
The Castle of the King - 2 Stars
The Dualitists - 5 Stars
The Burial of the Rats - 2.5 Stars
The Judge's House - 4 Stars
The Secret of the Growing Gold - 3 Stars
The Coming of Abel Behenna - 2 Stars
The Squaw - 5 Stars
A Dream of Red Hands - 3 Stars
Crooken Sands - 4 Stars
Dacula's Guest - 4 Stars
A Star Trap - 3.5 Stars
A Gipsy Prophesy - 3 Stars

[R.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

English review below the Greek one...

Ενδιαφέρουσα συλλογή ιστοριών με τα θετικά και τα αρνητικά των συγγραφέων της Βικτωριανής εποχής.

The Crystal Cup Μεγαλύτερο απ΄όσο χρειαζότανε, μελοδραματικό αλλά χωρίς πολλές εντάσεις, λιγάκι βαρετό για τον σύγχρονο αναγνώστη.
The Chain of Destiny Αρχικά πιο κοντά σε ότι θα περίμενε κανείς για μία ιστορία φαντασμάτων, μια αρχαία κατάρα, οράματα την νύχτα κτλ. Μένει στην μέση όμως και το τέλος απλά μακρηγορεί μέχρι να έρθει το happy end.
The Castle of the King Αλληγορική ιστορία, λιγάκι αντίστοιχη των Ορφέα και Ευρυδίκης, με καλύτερο(;) τέλος
The Dualitists Αρκετά υπερβολική ιστορία όπου δυστυχώς κάθε κατεργάρης δεν πάει στον πάγκο του.
The Burial of Rats Αρκετά ενδιαφέρουσα ιστορία, όπου φυσικά ο ήρωας κάνει ότι δεν πρέπει να κάνει, αλλά στο τέλος την σκαπουλάρει
The Judge's House Από τις καλύτερες ιστορίες του βιβλίου, όπου ο ήρωας πάει να ζήσει σε ένα στοιχειωμένο σπίτι αγνοώντας τις προειδοποιήσεις και κάνοντας ότι δεν πρέπει να κάνει. Και φυσικά τρώει το κεφάλι του
The Secret of the Growing Gold Ιστορία προδομένου έρωτα και μεταφυσικής εκδίκησης, με πολύ ανάλυση σε άσχετα γεγονότα όπως συχνά συμβαίνει με συγγραφείς εκείνης της εποχής
The Coming of Abel Behenna Ιστορία προδοσίας μεταξύ φίλων για τα μάτια μιας γυναίκας, τήρησης των συμφωνημένων ακόμα και μετά θάνατον, όχι όμως και δικαίωσης του αδικημένου
The Squaw Ιστορία όπου μια γάτα εκδικείται την αδικία που της έγινε, έστω και με τίμημα την ζωή της και όπου φυσικά ο αφελής ήρωας τρώει το κεφάλι του
A Dream of Red Hands Κάποιος κάνει ένα έγκλημα από ευγενή κίνητρα, βασανίζεται μια ζωή μέχρι που μάλλον βρίσκει την συγχώρηση με τον δικό του ευγενή θάνατο
Crooken Sands Μάθημα ζωής για τον ματαιόδοξο ήρωα, ευτυχώς με καλό τέλος για τον ίδιο
Dracula's Guest Προοίμιο του Δράκουλα, από τις καλύτερες ιστορίες της συλλογής. Πολλά κενά ως συνήθως, αλλά απολαυστικό
A Star Trap Ουσιαστικά μια ιστορία εγκλήματος λόγω ερωτικής αντιζηλίας
A Gipsy Prophecy Αρκετά καλή και λίγο αφελής ιστορία αυτοεκπληρούμενης (;) προφητείας

Κάποιες ιστορίες θα μου μείνουν για καιρό, οι περισσότερες μάλλον αδιάφορες, ωστόσο χάρηκα που τις διάβασα (ή τις ξαναδιάβασα σε κάποιες περιπτώσεις).


This is an interesting collection of Bram Stoker's stories. Some I've read before, some not.

The Crystal Cup A rather too long-wordedstory, a bit boring for a modern reader
The Chain of Destiny It starts as what most people have on mind for a ghost story, featuring an ancient curse, phantoms etc but then it expires out till the happy end
The Castle of the King A "Classic" allegory where the hero braves the Hades to meet his loced one
The Dualitists A far fetched story where the heroes who are on the wrong escape and live a happy life while the victims are wronged
The Burial of Rats A horror story where the hero roams on the rough parts of the city and does anything he shouldn't, but finally escapes after a terrible chase
The Judge's House One of the best stories in this collection and one closer to what modern reader envisions about a ghost story. The hero of course ignores all warnings and goes to live in a haunting house, meeting his own death at the end
The Secret of the Growing Gold Story of love betrayal, murder and after death revenge
The Coming of Abel Behenna A frendship's great betrayal for a woman, keeping of a prommise even after death and the wronged one never righted
The Squaw A naive hero finds his death when a cat takes her revenge before meeting her own death
A Dream of Red Hands A kind guy with good intensions commits a murder and suffers ever since. Finally his suffering will come in an end when he meets his own noble death
Crooken Sands A life lesson to a person full of vanity, luckily with good end for him
Dracula's Guest One of the best stories of this book, short of a prelud to Dracula
A Star Trap Classic love passion crime story
A Gipsy Prophecy An interesting and a bit naive story of self-fullfilling prophecy

The usual characteristics of this era's literature are all present in those stories, sometimes charming, sometimes irking, but in general I enjoyed this book.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading a collection of short stories by the author of the archetypal horror novel Dracula, you might expect a few decent scares. But they're thin on the ground in this rather disappointing book. The only story that did the job for me happened to be the only one I'd already read - The Judge's House.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a bad little collection. Sure, it's dated, contains too many moments of verbal verbosity, and often the story takes its sweet little time getting to the point. Get past all that, though, and you've got some solid stories in here, with one absolute gem.

First, the duds. "The Crystal Cup" has a neat idea but falls flat because it's too obscure. Labeling "The Chain of Destiny" a dud is probably too harsh, since it is interesting and engaging, but ultimately falls flat because of its anti-climactic ending. Same with "The Castle of the King." A shrug of indifference is the most suitable reaction to "A Star Trap."

Now on to the better stuff.

"The Burial of the Rats" reads more like a modern thriller than a horror story, and is the better for it; a fun read. "The Judge's House" is an understandable classic, and I'm prety sure I've read it before in another anthology. "The Secret of the Growing Gold" is a nice little revenge tale; those never get old (at least for me). "The Coming of Abel Behenna," though a bit implausible, shows what can happen when passion is allowed to run amok unrestrained. That kind of lesson isn't communicated often enough. Despite its stilted dialog, "The Squaw" is another nice revenge tale; cat-lovers will enjoy it. The quest for redemption is a solid theme in "A Dream of Red Hands." "Crooken Sands" warns against the trappings of stubborness and vanity, though it does so at much too leisurely a pace. "Dracula's Guest" is a creepy prequel to Stoker's best work. "A Gipsy Prophecy" is funny, and in a good way.

Saving my favorite for last, "The Dualitists" is a whole can full of awesome. Yes, like many others, Stoker takes his time getting to the point, the payoff is more than worth it. Such a delightful and clever dark tale is, by far, the most modern of these stories, so modern in fact that many publishers today probably wouldn't print it. This story alone is worth the price I paid for the book.

[Squeaky Skull · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm reading this for Spooky Book Club. As you know, the first rule of Book Club is Don't talk about Book Club.

I'll review this in a few months.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Burial of the Rats, The Judge's House, The Dualitists and The Squaw are well written horror classics, but the rest of the stories in this collection are fairly mediocre.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started one and was bored. I read another one and just as it was getting really creepy, it was all explained away and then they lived happily ever after. Yawn!

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very poetic and terrifying tales. My favorites were The dualists, the judge's house, burial of the rats, crooken sands and the squaw. Did not know if I would like his other tales but some are truly terrifying.