Supernatural Short Stories

by Joshua Perry (Editor)

Legends of vampires, werewolves, and unruly spirits have been a feature of European folklore for centuries. The authors whose work is collected together in this volume range from early Gothic writers to modern pulp enthusiasts.

English writers like John William Polidori (1795-1821), the physician who wrote The Vampyre, and William H. G. Kingston (1814-1880), were pioneers of supernatural fiction, while others chose to master the ghost story. E. F. Benson was a part time archaeologist and M. R. James, a medieval historian at King's College, Cambridge. James would read his ghost stories aloud to his friends and students at Christmas-time. With good reason, he has been described as 'the best ghost-story writer England has ever produced.'

Classic literary writers such as Ambrose Bierce and Guy de Maupassant found an outlet for their imagination in their terrifying tales, and later writers like Clifford Ball and M. P. Shiel established supernatural fiction in the pulp magazines of the early 20th century.

Together, these stories demonstrate a stunning mastery of atmosphere and show an unmatched ability to terrify readers to this day.

This collection features several of the leading purveyors of supernatural horror. Authors include:
Clifford Ball
E. F. Benson
Ambrose Bierce
Francis Marion Crawford
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
M. R. James
William H. G. Kingston
Arthur Machen
Guy de Maupassant
John William Polidori
M. P. Shiel
Bram Stoker

Genres: Horror

379 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2017

Reviews

[James Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Theres some great stories in here but I really can't recommend this volume, the paper feels more like printer paper than book paper, theres minor typographical errors in some of the stories and theres no actual lead in or annotations to any of the stories, just a dump of a story which is a shame because some of these could have really benefitted from a brief blurb saying why they were so influential.

[Phoebe Spahn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m so glad I finished this book. I started it last October thinking it would be a good read for Halloween. These stories are such a weird conglomeration. Mostly they’re super boring. I think this would have benefitted from having introductions to the authors and the time period before each short story. Also would have benefitted from being better edited so it wasn’t so hard to muddle through.

[krystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple okay stories,the rest were hard to get through

[Jessica Worthington · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a few good stories, the rest kind of fell flat.