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Doorway to Dilemma: Bewildering Tales of Dark Fantasy
Welcome to the realm of Dark Fantasy, where the weird prevails and accounts of unanswerable dilemma find their home. Gathered within these pages are twisted yarns, encounters with logic-defying creatures and nightmarish fables certain to perplex and beguile.
So join us as we journey across the threshold, deep into the Library’s vaults where nineteen deliciously dark and totally dumbfounding stories await. These tales, plucked from long-lost literary magazines and anthologies spring to life again to embody this most mesmerising of genres.
So join us as we journey across the threshold, deep into the Library’s vaults where nineteen deliciously dark and totally dumbfounding stories await. These tales, plucked from long-lost literary magazines and anthologies spring to life again to embody this most mesmerising of genres.
296 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 2019
22 people are currently reading
872 people want to read
About the author
Mike Ashley
279 books130 followersMichael Raymond Donald Ashley is the author and editor of over sixty books that in total have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Chatham, Kent.
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August 29, 2019A good collection of weird stories. Includes the only Lord Dunsany I have ever found readable, which ended up being very funny (the last two paragraphs are straight up hilarious). The most horrifying is definitely the horrific, grotesque 'The New Mother', which is pure childhood nightmare. Inexplicable inclusion of an incredibly long and dull Arthur Machen story aside, this is a cracking selection with mostly new to me tales.
January 16, 2022
Recensione originale: https://sonnenbarke.wordpress.com/202...
La British Library pubblica anche dei libri e, tra questi, ha una bellissima serie chiamata Tales of the Weird, che io bramo ardentemente e che collezionerei tutta se fosse possibile. Per ora ne ho tre volumi e il primo che ho comprato è questo. Tales of the Weird, come dice il nome stesso, è una serie di libri del genere weird fiction, di cui più volte mi è capitato di parlare. Si tratta perlopiù di raccolte di racconti (è in questo formato che la weird fiction “old school” ha dato il meglio), molto spesso racconti “dimenticati” o comunque meno noti.
Mike Ashley, il curatore di questa raccolta, chiama la weird fiction “dark fantasy”. Infatti, la weird fiction è un genere fantastico con forti caratteristiche “nere” e spesso soprannaturali, bizzarre e quasi sempre “dark”, per l’appunto. Tuttavia, sebbene sia un bellissimo termine, lo ritengo fuorviante perché molto spesso viene usato per riferirsi ad altro, com’è spiegato qui. La weird fiction non ha niente o quasi niente a che vedere con il fantasy così come lo intendiamo comunemente, ma si avvicina piuttosto all’horror, sebbene non possa del tutto identificarsi con esso.
Come in tutte le raccolte di racconti, anche in questo caso la qualità delle singole storie è altalenante, ma il giudizio finale dell’intera antologia è positivissimo.
Ci sono due racconti che da soli meriterebbero l’intero prezzo del libro. Il primo è The Mysterious Card, con il suo seguito The Mysterious Card Unveiled, di Cleveland Moffett. Se volete potete leggere qui la prima storia e qui il sequel. Nel primo racconto, un uomo americano si rammarica di non conoscere il francese: un giorno, in vacanza a Parigi, una donna gli consegna un biglietto scritto in questa lingua e dunque per lui indecifrabile. Seguono vari tentativi di farsi tradurre il biglietto da varie persone, . Nel secondo racconto il mistero viene svelato e non lo immaginereste mai.
L’altro racconto che ho adorato è The New Mother di Lucy Clifford, che può essere letto per intero in questo sito dedicato al weird. Si tratta di una favola che somiglia molto a quelle dei fratelli Grimm. Due bambine sono mandate dalla mamma in paese per vedere se ci sono lettere del padre marinaio. Nonostante le raccomandazioni di non parlare con nessuno sconosciuto, si fermano a parlare con una ragazza e da lì seguiranno terribili vicissitudini. Una fiaba veramente molto nera.
Mi sono piaciuti moltissimo anche The Little Room e The Sequel to the Little Room, di Madeline Yale Wynne. Leggeteli, se volete, qui e qui. Nella casa dove è vissuta la madre della protagonista c’è una piccola stanza… o no? . Il mistero sarà svelato, appunto, nel sequel.
Altri racconti molto belli: The Prism di Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (della quale ho già recensito The Wind in the Rosebush and Other Stories of the Supernatural): una ragazza porta al collo un prisma, che ha rubato da una lampada appartenuta a sua madre. Lei sembra vederci qualcosa di strano, gli altri no. Come finirà? The Thing in the Cellar di David H. Keller: un bambino, fin da quando è un poppante, ha una paura smisurata della cantina. I genitori non ci capiscono niente e chiedono aiuto a un medico. Finirà, ovviamente, molto male. In The Three Marked Pennies di Mary E. Counselman, un giorno una cittadina viene tappezzata di innumerevoli cartelli con lo stesso annuncio: l’indomani verranno messi in circolo in città tre penny contrassegnati da tre simboli diversi, ognuno con un significato diverso. Di lì a una settimana, i tre proprietari saranno ricompensati con un’ingente somma di denaro, con un viaggio intorno al mondo, con la morte.
Altri racconti sono discreti, mentre invece non ho particolarmente apprezzato solo un paio delle storie qui contenute, fra cui (sto per dire un’eresia!) The White People di Arthur Machen. Questo autore è uno dei grandissimi della weird fiction e mi rendo conto che non apprezzarlo potrebbe significare non capire niente di questo genere; eppure è il suo secondo racconto che leggo e li ho trovati entrambi soporiferi. Leggetelo voi stessi e mi direte.
Come vedete, ho messo il link a tutti i racconti di cui vi ho parlato, perché sono tutti di pubblico dominio e quindi fruibili gratuitamente, ovviamente in inglese. Tuttavia, consiglio comunque l’acquisto del libro se vi piace il genere, perché è bello averli raccolti tutti assieme in un’antologia splendidamente ricercata da uno studioso del soprannaturale in letteratura.
La British Library pubblica anche dei libri e, tra questi, ha una bellissima serie chiamata Tales of the Weird, che io bramo ardentemente e che collezionerei tutta se fosse possibile. Per ora ne ho tre volumi e il primo che ho comprato è questo. Tales of the Weird, come dice il nome stesso, è una serie di libri del genere weird fiction, di cui più volte mi è capitato di parlare. Si tratta perlopiù di raccolte di racconti (è in questo formato che la weird fiction “old school” ha dato il meglio), molto spesso racconti “dimenticati” o comunque meno noti.
Mike Ashley, il curatore di questa raccolta, chiama la weird fiction “dark fantasy”. Infatti, la weird fiction è un genere fantastico con forti caratteristiche “nere” e spesso soprannaturali, bizzarre e quasi sempre “dark”, per l’appunto. Tuttavia, sebbene sia un bellissimo termine, lo ritengo fuorviante perché molto spesso viene usato per riferirsi ad altro, com’è spiegato qui. La weird fiction non ha niente o quasi niente a che vedere con il fantasy così come lo intendiamo comunemente, ma si avvicina piuttosto all’horror, sebbene non possa del tutto identificarsi con esso.
Come in tutte le raccolte di racconti, anche in questo caso la qualità delle singole storie è altalenante, ma il giudizio finale dell’intera antologia è positivissimo.
Ci sono due racconti che da soli meriterebbero l’intero prezzo del libro. Il primo è The Mysterious Card, con il suo seguito The Mysterious Card Unveiled, di Cleveland Moffett. Se volete potete leggere qui la prima storia e qui il sequel. Nel primo racconto, un uomo americano si rammarica di non conoscere il francese: un giorno, in vacanza a Parigi, una donna gli consegna un biglietto scritto in questa lingua e dunque per lui indecifrabile. Seguono vari tentativi di farsi tradurre il biglietto da varie persone, . Nel secondo racconto il mistero viene svelato e non lo immaginereste mai.
L’altro racconto che ho adorato è The New Mother di Lucy Clifford, che può essere letto per intero in questo sito dedicato al weird. Si tratta di una favola che somiglia molto a quelle dei fratelli Grimm. Due bambine sono mandate dalla mamma in paese per vedere se ci sono lettere del padre marinaio. Nonostante le raccomandazioni di non parlare con nessuno sconosciuto, si fermano a parlare con una ragazza e da lì seguiranno terribili vicissitudini. Una fiaba veramente molto nera.
Mi sono piaciuti moltissimo anche The Little Room e The Sequel to the Little Room, di Madeline Yale Wynne. Leggeteli, se volete, qui e qui. Nella casa dove è vissuta la madre della protagonista c’è una piccola stanza… o no? . Il mistero sarà svelato, appunto, nel sequel.
Altri racconti molto belli: The Prism di Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (della quale ho già recensito The Wind in the Rosebush and Other Stories of the Supernatural): una ragazza porta al collo un prisma, che ha rubato da una lampada appartenuta a sua madre. Lei sembra vederci qualcosa di strano, gli altri no. Come finirà? The Thing in the Cellar di David H. Keller: un bambino, fin da quando è un poppante, ha una paura smisurata della cantina. I genitori non ci capiscono niente e chiedono aiuto a un medico. Finirà, ovviamente, molto male. In The Three Marked Pennies di Mary E. Counselman, un giorno una cittadina viene tappezzata di innumerevoli cartelli con lo stesso annuncio: l’indomani verranno messi in circolo in città tre penny contrassegnati da tre simboli diversi, ognuno con un significato diverso. Di lì a una settimana, i tre proprietari saranno ricompensati con un’ingente somma di denaro, con un viaggio intorno al mondo, con la morte.
Altri racconti sono discreti, mentre invece non ho particolarmente apprezzato solo un paio delle storie qui contenute, fra cui (sto per dire un’eresia!) The White People di Arthur Machen. Questo autore è uno dei grandissimi della weird fiction e mi rendo conto che non apprezzarlo potrebbe significare non capire niente di questo genere; eppure è il suo secondo racconto che leggo e li ho trovati entrambi soporiferi. Leggetelo voi stessi e mi direte.
Come vedete, ho messo il link a tutti i racconti di cui vi ho parlato, perché sono tutti di pubblico dominio e quindi fruibili gratuitamente, ovviamente in inglese. Tuttavia, consiglio comunque l’acquisto del libro se vi piace il genere, perché è bello averli raccolti tutti assieme in un’antologia splendidamente ricercata da uno studioso del soprannaturale in letteratura.
January 10, 2021
My favourite of the British Library Tales of the Weird so far.
What Was It? - ****
The Anticipator - **
The Lady, or the Tiger - *****
The Discourager of Hesitancy - ****
The White People - *****
The Prism - ****
The Mysterious Card - *****
The Mysterious Card Unveiled - ****
A Moonlight Fable - **
Fear - **
The Little Room - ****
The Sequel to the Little Room - *
The Thing in the Cellar - *****
Johnson Looked Back - ***
The Woman in Red - ****
Unmasked - ***
The New Mother - ****
The Hoard of the Gibbelins - ****
The Three Marked Pennies - *****
What Was It? - ****
The Anticipator - **
The Lady, or the Tiger - *****
The Discourager of Hesitancy - ****
The White People - *****
The Prism - ****
The Mysterious Card - *****
The Mysterious Card Unveiled - ****
A Moonlight Fable - **
Fear - **
The Little Room - ****
The Sequel to the Little Room - *
The Thing in the Cellar - *****
Johnson Looked Back - ***
The Woman in Red - ****
Unmasked - ***
The New Mother - ****
The Hoard of the Gibbelins - ****
The Three Marked Pennies - *****
November 20, 2024
What a revelation. This book series has the potential to be one of the most coveted and, ultimately cherished additions to my collection. The resolve to come into possession of each and every volume has already taken over every fiber of my being.
Is it surprising? The greatest of the greatest married to the half-forgotten authors of a time period that was as horrific as it was prolific. A series that goes beneath the surface of what I, and many, consider to be the golden age of Horror. A prose so refined that greatly surpassed the gothic period which preceded it, and that was forever lost soon after it. Give. Me. More.
How to describe my reading experience? Enraptured by the maelstrom of inventiveness, eloquence and skillfully crafted horror that imbued every page, I devoured this book and savored every moment. Looking forward to devouring every installment forthwith.
Today I am reminded: this is what reading should feel like.
---------------------------------------------------
My favorite stories, in alphabetical order of author (to rank them based on preference would feel like an ignominious crime): "Johnson looked back" by Thomas Burke (1933), "The New Mother" by Lucy Clifford (1882), "The Three Marked Pennies" by Mary E. Counselman (1934), "The Hoard of the Gibbelins" by Lord Dunsany (1911), "The Thing in the Cellar" by David H. Keller (1932), "The White People" by Arthur Machen (1904), "The Mysterious Card" and "The Mysterious Card Unveiled" by Cleveland Moffett (1896), "What Is it?" by Fitz-James O'Brien (1859), "The Anticipator" by Morley Roberts (1896), "The Lady, or the Tiger?" and "The Discourager of Hesitancy" by Frank R. Stockton (1882 and 1885), "A Moonlight Fable" by H.G. Wells (1909).
P.S. Yes, I just listed more than 3/4 of the book.
Is it surprising? The greatest of the greatest married to the half-forgotten authors of a time period that was as horrific as it was prolific. A series that goes beneath the surface of what I, and many, consider to be the golden age of Horror. A prose so refined that greatly surpassed the gothic period which preceded it, and that was forever lost soon after it. Give. Me. More.
How to describe my reading experience? Enraptured by the maelstrom of inventiveness, eloquence and skillfully crafted horror that imbued every page, I devoured this book and savored every moment. Looking forward to devouring every installment forthwith.
Today I am reminded: this is what reading should feel like.
---------------------------------------------------
My favorite stories, in alphabetical order of author (to rank them based on preference would feel like an ignominious crime): "Johnson looked back" by Thomas Burke (1933), "The New Mother" by Lucy Clifford (1882), "The Three Marked Pennies" by Mary E. Counselman (1934), "The Hoard of the Gibbelins" by Lord Dunsany (1911), "The Thing in the Cellar" by David H. Keller (1932), "The White People" by Arthur Machen (1904), "The Mysterious Card" and "The Mysterious Card Unveiled" by Cleveland Moffett (1896), "What Is it?" by Fitz-James O'Brien (1859), "The Anticipator" by Morley Roberts (1896), "The Lady, or the Tiger?" and "The Discourager of Hesitancy" by Frank R. Stockton (1882 and 1885), "A Moonlight Fable" by H.G. Wells (1909).
P.S. Yes, I just listed more than 3/4 of the book.
January 21, 2025
Wow. An anthology of dark fantasy stories published between 1840 and 1980 or so either in short story collections or in magazines. It contains stories from many different authors and does a great job of curating a selection of stories within the genre which all had character and a lot to like about them.
I have managed to rate or review all of the stories that are on goodreads under the #doorways-to-dilemma tag.
What I think of the ones that I couldn't find on this platform:
The Prism by Mary E. Wilkins - 4/5: A story in which a woman loses some joy and innoncence in life.
Fear - Catherine Wells - 3/5: An account of extreme fear in a bizarre situation.
The sequel to the little room - Madeline Yale Wynn - 2/5: I liked the first one but the sequel felt like it got stale.
The thing in the cellar - David H. Keller - 4/5: What happens when a child is scared of the thing in the cellar.
Johnson looked back - Thomas Burke -5/5: It feels like a gaslighting simulator the whole time, what incredible prose. It's a short, bizzare and shocking experience.
The woman in red - Murial Campbell Dyar - 3/5: It's a mystery about a woman in red and people connected to her. Was written decently but not too astounded by this one.
The woman in red unmasked - Murial Campbell Dyar - 2/5: I didn't enjoy the reveal too much, felt lackluster
The three marked pennies - Mary E. Counselman - 5/5: A fun twist on a psychological experiment about marked pennies. Marked by a circle, cross or square, 3 pemmies promise 3 different things about the fate of who posesses them. This was awesome start to finish.
I had a great time reading these overall. I'd be interested in picking up more of these compilations by the British library. There are loads of other themed compilations in the Tales of the Weird category.
5/5
I have managed to rate or review all of the stories that are on goodreads under the #doorways-to-dilemma tag.
What I think of the ones that I couldn't find on this platform:
The Prism by Mary E. Wilkins - 4/5: A story in which a woman loses some joy and innoncence in life.
Fear - Catherine Wells - 3/5: An account of extreme fear in a bizarre situation.
The sequel to the little room - Madeline Yale Wynn - 2/5: I liked the first one but the sequel felt like it got stale.
The thing in the cellar - David H. Keller - 4/5: What happens when a child is scared of the thing in the cellar.
Johnson looked back - Thomas Burke -5/5: It feels like a gaslighting simulator the whole time, what incredible prose. It's a short, bizzare and shocking experience.
The woman in red - Murial Campbell Dyar - 3/5: It's a mystery about a woman in red and people connected to her. Was written decently but not too astounded by this one.
The woman in red unmasked - Murial Campbell Dyar - 2/5: I didn't enjoy the reveal too much, felt lackluster
The three marked pennies - Mary E. Counselman - 5/5: A fun twist on a psychological experiment about marked pennies. Marked by a circle, cross or square, 3 pemmies promise 3 different things about the fate of who posesses them. This was awesome start to finish.
I had a great time reading these overall. I'd be interested in picking up more of these compilations by the British library. There are loads of other themed compilations in the Tales of the Weird category.
5/5
January 22, 2023
This is another superb collection of lesser known tales and authors with similarly dark and mysterious fantasy vibes. Each one is superb in it's own right but I particularly enjoyed / was chilled to the bone by The Lady or the Tiger and it's follow up The Discourager of Hesitancy both of which are fascinating tales of how justices and decisions were made in this one particular kingdom while leaving it to the reader to figure out the outcome. I also really enjoyed The Prism which was a haunting tale of one woman's magic and imagination being dimmed by those around her that is very reflective for how society was and is when it comes to women. The Mysterious Card and the Mysterious Card Unveiled are also a pair of tales that are utterly engrossing and chilling to the core, especially when the mystery is revealed in the second story. And finally Johnson Looked Back was a masterpiece in psychological horror as it had the hairs on my neck standing on end and a chill run down my spine even though there was a wall behind me, the ending was so unexpected and superb and posed a significant lesson for us all.
November 5, 2021
Has lots of Americans writters. Some interesting writters such as Fitz-James, Stockton, C Moffett, Catherine Wells, Yale Wynne and many others. Most stories are bewildering indeed and defy classification
December 6, 2019
Less satisfying than the first such anthology. The better stories are the so-called 'puzzle stories'. The best is the chilling 'Three Pennies' right at the end.
September 30, 2024
This collection ranges from dark fairy tales with unhappy endings to macabre
horror .
The first story What was it? describes an encounter with something that has slipped and been lost between worlds. Never identified because it is invisible although you can touch it, it slowly dies because its captors don’t know how to feed it. Melancholy rather than frightening, it ends up as an unexplained oddity in a museum. Perhaps deliberately, O’Brien mirrors the common practice of bringing of people and animals from far flung places to Britain where they struggle to adapt and to thrive, some ending up after death as curiosities in a anthropological museums having been unable to get back where they were taken from.
The second, The Anticipator, has a curious premise at the centre which comes as something of a surprise, after several pages recounting the actions of a man resolving to do something about an enemy in almost Dostoyevskian mental turmoil.
The Stockton stories are clever pseudo-fairy tales.
Mary E Wilkins’ heart-wrenching little tale about the loss of childhood imagination and wonder is evocative; the heat and endless time of a childhood outside giving way to the demands of the world to put away childish things, to suppress the magical in favour of acceptance and an indoor life of a wife and mother (which going by the number of dead mothers in this story was still a risky undertaking) although as she gazes out at the beauty of the setting sun you sense that she hasn’t entirely lost her wild soul.
Cleveland Moffett’s tales have an unusual,for the time, pair of occult detectives in that they are Indian and use the wisdom of the sub-continent to deal with the problem. Perhaps shades of Victorian orientalism but also an intriguing brother and sister combination.
HG Wells tells a strange story of a man who loves his suit so much he has to go out in it on a weird moonlit night while Well’s wife Catherine’s story is a tense story of a young woman determined to end her life who finds herself stalked.
Madeline Yale Wynne writes a curious pair of tales about the appearance and disappearance of a little room and the conflict it causes between people.
The Thing In The Cellar is a very scary horror tale about a child’s fear.
The pair of tales based around the Scarlet Woman is a satisfying ghost horror tale while Burke’s Johnson looked back is a horrific morality tale.
The New Mother is a modern fairy tale with a spine- chilling ending. I liked this one, it feels very up-to-date with modern folk horror.
The Hoard of The Gibbelins by Lord Dunsany is a mock medieval tale about strange creatures that live on the edge of the world and eat people. They are fabulously wealthy but use it only to lure the people of the world to be their meat.
Mary E. Counselman’s The Three Marked Pennies is another sort of modern fairy tale with a nasty twist.
These tales were popular in their time but have somewhat fallen out of the public eye. They feel so modern that at times you have to remind yourself that they are tales from what now in other ways seems like a distant past. Some things like terror, fear, and the fantastical don’t change all that much.
horror .
The first story What was it? describes an encounter with something that has slipped and been lost between worlds. Never identified because it is invisible although you can touch it, it slowly dies because its captors don’t know how to feed it. Melancholy rather than frightening, it ends up as an unexplained oddity in a museum. Perhaps deliberately, O’Brien mirrors the common practice of bringing of people and animals from far flung places to Britain where they struggle to adapt and to thrive, some ending up after death as curiosities in a anthropological museums having been unable to get back where they were taken from.
The second, The Anticipator, has a curious premise at the centre which comes as something of a surprise, after several pages recounting the actions of a man resolving to do something about an enemy in almost Dostoyevskian mental turmoil.
The Stockton stories are clever pseudo-fairy tales.
Mary E Wilkins’ heart-wrenching little tale about the loss of childhood imagination and wonder is evocative; the heat and endless time of a childhood outside giving way to the demands of the world to put away childish things, to suppress the magical in favour of acceptance and an indoor life of a wife and mother (which going by the number of dead mothers in this story was still a risky undertaking) although as she gazes out at the beauty of the setting sun you sense that she hasn’t entirely lost her wild soul.
Cleveland Moffett’s tales have an unusual,for the time, pair of occult detectives in that they are Indian and use the wisdom of the sub-continent to deal with the problem. Perhaps shades of Victorian orientalism but also an intriguing brother and sister combination.
HG Wells tells a strange story of a man who loves his suit so much he has to go out in it on a weird moonlit night while Well’s wife Catherine’s story is a tense story of a young woman determined to end her life who finds herself stalked.
Madeline Yale Wynne writes a curious pair of tales about the appearance and disappearance of a little room and the conflict it causes between people.
The Thing In The Cellar is a very scary horror tale about a child’s fear.
The pair of tales based around the Scarlet Woman is a satisfying ghost horror tale while Burke’s Johnson looked back is a horrific morality tale.
The New Mother is a modern fairy tale with a spine- chilling ending. I liked this one, it feels very up-to-date with modern folk horror.
The Hoard of The Gibbelins by Lord Dunsany is a mock medieval tale about strange creatures that live on the edge of the world and eat people. They are fabulously wealthy but use it only to lure the people of the world to be their meat.
Mary E. Counselman’s The Three Marked Pennies is another sort of modern fairy tale with a nasty twist.
These tales were popular in their time but have somewhat fallen out of the public eye. They feel so modern that at times you have to remind yourself that they are tales from what now in other ways seems like a distant past. Some things like terror, fear, and the fantastical don’t change all that much.
June 26, 2024
Fantastic anthology. While, I don’t think it sticks to the title and I also wouldn’t qualify most of the tales as dark fantasy it was certainly a good collection.
There are many gems here, “What was it?” offer a interesting twist to the supernatural story, linking it with science. “The anticipator” was a fun and beautiful written story.
—-
A brief comment in the stories:
The stories from Frank R. Stockton are the one I feel are not related, they read as a piece of The Arabian Nights and were entertaining.
“The White People” is my favorite Machen story. Yes, it might feel strange and might feel as a ramble without a specific point. But the potency of this story is not on the plot. This story is sets to create a mood. A queer universe where the writer ask us to see with grown up eyes the things a little girl describes. The horror is there in what she can’t see, in her decorated words and the fantasy of her visions. If you are able to read it all AT ONCE, it’s power and uncanniness is stronger.
The prism by Mary E. Wilkins is powerful, filled with a gorgeous prose. I look forward to read more of her.
The mysterious card is a fun story, which probably didn’t need a sequel (as it’s true for all the two-fold stories here). In trying to explain the mystery the writer seems to try to hard to achieve the impact of the original story without getting even close. The exception perhaps is Stockton story, as is not really a sequel.
The H.G. Wells story could be called a dark fantasy, it’s a poetic vignette. On the other hand, his wife’s story Fear, have some haunting setting and mood, but is also a vignette.
The Little Room was a very successful story. It’s gripping, funny and uncanny. The sequel unfortunately could be skipped.
The thing in the cellar by David Keller is the only story that didn’t work for me. Even worse than the sequel of The Little Room. The idea was great and had everything to be quite unsettling, but for me, something in the way it was written made it weak.
Johnson Looked Back, has a great prose, dynamic, a story that you can imagine as a movie in your head. But the explanation at the end ruined a bit for me.
The woman in red, was quite interesting. But the sequel was unnecessary.
The New Mother is a Dark Fantasy fairy tale, highly enjoyable. It’s predictable and there lies the beauty of it, as one can recognize the pace and build and expectation until we are remembered this is a Dark Fantasy after all. One of my favorites. Lord Dunsany’s story is a wonderful world creation by sentences. Just in a few paragraph you could easy picture books made of this world. The ending, hilarious. A superb story.
The three marked pennies is not a Dark Fantasy, is something is the realm of urban weird. Lives in an universe close to Shirley Jackson stories. It was very good.
There are many gems here, “What was it?” offer a interesting twist to the supernatural story, linking it with science. “The anticipator” was a fun and beautiful written story.
—-
A brief comment in the stories:
The stories from Frank R. Stockton are the one I feel are not related, they read as a piece of The Arabian Nights and were entertaining.
“The White People” is my favorite Machen story. Yes, it might feel strange and might feel as a ramble without a specific point. But the potency of this story is not on the plot. This story is sets to create a mood. A queer universe where the writer ask us to see with grown up eyes the things a little girl describes. The horror is there in what she can’t see, in her decorated words and the fantasy of her visions. If you are able to read it all AT ONCE, it’s power and uncanniness is stronger.
The prism by Mary E. Wilkins is powerful, filled with a gorgeous prose. I look forward to read more of her.
The mysterious card is a fun story, which probably didn’t need a sequel (as it’s true for all the two-fold stories here). In trying to explain the mystery the writer seems to try to hard to achieve the impact of the original story without getting even close. The exception perhaps is Stockton story, as is not really a sequel.
The H.G. Wells story could be called a dark fantasy, it’s a poetic vignette. On the other hand, his wife’s story Fear, have some haunting setting and mood, but is also a vignette.
The Little Room was a very successful story. It’s gripping, funny and uncanny. The sequel unfortunately could be skipped.
The thing in the cellar by David Keller is the only story that didn’t work for me. Even worse than the sequel of The Little Room. The idea was great and had everything to be quite unsettling, but for me, something in the way it was written made it weak.
Johnson Looked Back, has a great prose, dynamic, a story that you can imagine as a movie in your head. But the explanation at the end ruined a bit for me.
The woman in red, was quite interesting. But the sequel was unnecessary.
The New Mother is a Dark Fantasy fairy tale, highly enjoyable. It’s predictable and there lies the beauty of it, as one can recognize the pace and build and expectation until we are remembered this is a Dark Fantasy after all. One of my favorites. Lord Dunsany’s story is a wonderful world creation by sentences. Just in a few paragraph you could easy picture books made of this world. The ending, hilarious. A superb story.
The three marked pennies is not a Dark Fantasy, is something is the realm of urban weird. Lives in an universe close to Shirley Jackson stories. It was very good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 16, 2023
3.5 stars!
Bewildering is correct. The majority of the stories in this collection aren't here to provide you a clear answer as to what has happened. You as the reader are meant to ponder on the fantastical details given and to determine an explanation for yourself, which is something I greatly appreciated. There are exceptions to this. Apparently some puzzle stories were so popular that readers clamored for the author to write a sequel explaining what happened. I was less of a fan of these as I preferred the open ended, ambiguous originals. Therefore, I like The Mysterious Card over the Mysterious Card Unveiled and The Little Room over The Sequel to the Little Room. I just like my imagination to run rampant, which this collection allows you to generously do. The fantasy elements were quite diverse, ranging from folkloric fae to the psychological and while not as spine chilling as I hoped and leaning more to being a mixed bag there were still moments of excellent uncanniness to enjoy in this book.
Favorite Stories
The White People by Arthur Machen
The Prism by Mary E. Wilkins
The New Mother by Lucy Clifford
The Three Marked Pennies by Mary E. Counselman
"Suddenly, while they were sitting by the fire, they heard a sound as of something heavy being dragged along the ground outside, and then there was a loud and terrible knocking at the door."
Bewildering is correct. The majority of the stories in this collection aren't here to provide you a clear answer as to what has happened. You as the reader are meant to ponder on the fantastical details given and to determine an explanation for yourself, which is something I greatly appreciated. There are exceptions to this. Apparently some puzzle stories were so popular that readers clamored for the author to write a sequel explaining what happened. I was less of a fan of these as I preferred the open ended, ambiguous originals. Therefore, I like The Mysterious Card over the Mysterious Card Unveiled and The Little Room over The Sequel to the Little Room. I just like my imagination to run rampant, which this collection allows you to generously do. The fantasy elements were quite diverse, ranging from folkloric fae to the psychological and while not as spine chilling as I hoped and leaning more to being a mixed bag there were still moments of excellent uncanniness to enjoy in this book.
Favorite Stories
The White People by Arthur Machen
The Prism by Mary E. Wilkins
The New Mother by Lucy Clifford
The Three Marked Pennies by Mary E. Counselman
"Suddenly, while they were sitting by the fire, they heard a sound as of something heavy being dragged along the ground outside, and then there was a loud and terrible knocking at the door."
December 8, 2023
Another excellent collection of weird tales from the British Library. Stories included in this collection are:
What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien
The Anticipator by Morley Roberts
The Lady, or the Tiger? and
The Discourager of Hesitancy by Frank R. Stockton
The White People by Arthur Machen
The Prism by Mary E. Wilkins
The Mysterious Card and
The Mysterious Card Unveiled by Cleveland Moffett
A Moonlight Fable by H. G. Wells
Fear by Catherine Wells
The Little Room and
The Sequel to the Little Room by Madeline Yale Wynne
The Thing in the Cellar by David H. Keller
Johnson Looked Back by Thomas Burke
The Woman in Red and
Unmasked by Muriel Campbell Dyar
The New Mother by Lucy Clifford
The Hoard of the Gibbelins by Lord Dunsany
The Three Marked Pennies by Mary E. Counselman
What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien
The Anticipator by Morley Roberts
The Lady, or the Tiger? and
The Discourager of Hesitancy by Frank R. Stockton
The White People by Arthur Machen
The Prism by Mary E. Wilkins
The Mysterious Card and
The Mysterious Card Unveiled by Cleveland Moffett
A Moonlight Fable by H. G. Wells
Fear by Catherine Wells
The Little Room and
The Sequel to the Little Room by Madeline Yale Wynne
The Thing in the Cellar by David H. Keller
Johnson Looked Back by Thomas Burke
The Woman in Red and
Unmasked by Muriel Campbell Dyar
The New Mother by Lucy Clifford
The Hoard of the Gibbelins by Lord Dunsany
The Three Marked Pennies by Mary E. Counselman
July 3, 2023
I found this collection very entertaining! It’s a bit difficult to review, as the stories come from many different authors, but in general, I’d say the selection was good. There were only one or two that did not feel up to par with the rest of them, but overall it felt pretty cool and mysterious while reading. My only note is that just because something was written a long time ago doesn’t make it a classic—some of these stories really didn’t live up to the definition of dark fantasy as described in the foreword.
November 1, 2020
Really great collection of unsettling tales, plus some popular "puzzle" stories, from the British Library. I remember "The New Mother" being referenced in Grant Morrison's "Doom Patrol" comics, and how unnerving it was; reading the full story is even more so. My favorite, though, was probably "The Little Room." It has a simple premise, and in many ways takes place in the very ordinary world, which makes all the creepier.
March 31, 2020
A very strange set of stories, some of them very good, some of them just a bit too strange. The Mysterious Card and its sequel were very good, as was The Woman in Red and its sequel. The Thing in the Cellar and The Little Room were very good as well. An enjoyable read if you like your stories on the odd side.
December 17, 2021
definitely one of the better ones in the series. list of the short stories i enjoyed when i get back home.
edit: i actually liked quite a few of these and would urge you to seek them out. favourites were:
"the lady, or the tiger" and "the discourager of hesitancy", "the mysterious card" and "the mysterious card unveiled", "the new mother", "the three marked pennies". "the white people" was good in concept and in terms of content but goodness, i have no idea why the author thought a diary format means no paragraph breaks and many, MANY run-on sentences starting with "and".
edit: i actually liked quite a few of these and would urge you to seek them out. favourites were:
"the lady, or the tiger" and "the discourager of hesitancy", "the mysterious card" and "the mysterious card unveiled", "the new mother", "the three marked pennies". "the white people" was good in concept and in terms of content but goodness, i have no idea why the author thought a diary format means no paragraph breaks and many, MANY run-on sentences starting with "and".
December 21, 2024
3,5 stars.
I especially enjoyed the following tales:
A Moonlight Fable - H.G. Wells
Fear - Catherine Wells
The Thing in the Cellar - David H. Keller (maybe don’t read at night if you have a cellar in your home?)
Johnson looked back - Thomas Burke
The Woman in Red & Unmasked - Muriel Campbell Dyar
I especially enjoyed the following tales:
A Moonlight Fable - H.G. Wells
Fear - Catherine Wells
The Thing in the Cellar - David H. Keller (maybe don’t read at night if you have a cellar in your home?)
Johnson looked back - Thomas Burke
The Woman in Red & Unmasked - Muriel Campbell Dyar
September 26, 2020
A fine collection of tales ranging anywhere from 'ok' to absolute classics. I've gotten to know several new authors through this collection, but most of the stories are still greatly outshined by Arthur Machen's brilliant 'The White People'.
September 20, 2021
fuck. these were weird.
really weird.
i think i liked them, but i definitely ended up with odd dreams.
really weird.
i think i liked them, but i definitely ended up with odd dreams.
April 22, 2024
The title is a bold statement but this really does contain a plethora of noodle-bakers.
Read
December 1, 2024'Dark fantasy' can mean a lot of different things, and this collection encompasses several of them, albeit not the ones I'd consider maybe the most obvious. There's nothing really fitting the Sandman version of the definition, the sort which uses components and settings that could almost be horror, except that it isn't primarily going for scares. Nor do we get anything from the Joe Abercrombie neck of the woods, though now I think about it, you could definitely trace a lineage to him from Dunsany's Hoard Of The Gibbelins, which in its own very different way delights in a sardonic tone and a nasty reversal of narrative expectations. But you can't fault the application of the term to the cover story, Lucy Clifford's The New Mother, which wraps the most obvious and potentially wearisome of messages for a parable (children! Naughtiness is not as rewarding as goodness, so behave!) in a deep weirdness somewhere between Hoffmann and Coraline. Machen's brilliant The White People, too; I suppose you could object that it's never quite confirmed the strange other world exists outside the minds of the young girl and her nurse, but come on, it clearly does. Although HG Wells' A Moonlight Fable, and his wife Catherine's none-more-simply-titled Fear, operate in similar rapturous territory without quite so much assurance of any extranormal elements. And with stories like Morley Roberts' The Anticipator, David H Keller's The Thing In The Cellar, or Johnson Looked Back by Thomas Burke – they're good, especially the Burke, but I couldn't really tell you why they belong under the 'dark fantasy' umbrella (and there's an image) except that the series doesn't really do grab-bag collections for miscellaneous weird yarns without a particular linking theme, so sometimes it has to force one.
But linking themes bring us to another key ingredient of the collection, and one where I think Ashley, usually one of the series' better-behaved editors, is guilty of a little sleight of hand. There's a whole subgenre of dilemma stories, you see, most famous through Morley Roberts' The Lady, Or The Tiger? – which I've read umpteen references to and riffs on, but never the tale itself. And that's here, and very good, and yeah, I guess its savage kingdom counts as dark fantasy. But, having introduced that, Ashley then smuggles in stories ending on a similar unresolved note, such as Madeline Yale Wynne's genteel The Little Room, which don't especially. It then further transpires that many of these stories did in fact have sequels or companion pieces, so those are here too. And Wynne's is inoffensive, though unsurprising to the modern reader, while Roberts wisely deepens and complicates the riddle rather than solving it. But another pair, by Cleveland Moffett, comprises The Mysterious Card and The Mysterious Card Unveiled. In the first, a man is given a card by a sexy lady, but it's in French, which he can't read, and whenever he shows it to anyone to ask what it says, they instantly develop an implacable loathing for him. What can it possibly say? I already knew in my bones that the answer would be bullshit, but the leaps of logic, and crucial details unmentioned in the first story, make The Mysterious Card Unveiled possibly the most infuriating story I've read in any Tales Of The Weird. Still, skip those two and, whatever quibbles can be raised about the concept, it's a pretty good read.
But linking themes bring us to another key ingredient of the collection, and one where I think Ashley, usually one of the series' better-behaved editors, is guilty of a little sleight of hand. There's a whole subgenre of dilemma stories, you see, most famous through Morley Roberts' The Lady, Or The Tiger? – which I've read umpteen references to and riffs on, but never the tale itself. And that's here, and very good, and yeah, I guess its savage kingdom counts as dark fantasy. But, having introduced that, Ashley then smuggles in stories ending on a similar unresolved note, such as Madeline Yale Wynne's genteel The Little Room, which don't especially. It then further transpires that many of these stories did in fact have sequels or companion pieces, so those are here too. And Wynne's is inoffensive, though unsurprising to the modern reader, while Roberts wisely deepens and complicates the riddle rather than solving it. But another pair, by Cleveland Moffett, comprises The Mysterious Card and The Mysterious Card Unveiled. In the first, a man is given a card by a sexy lady, but it's in French, which he can't read, and whenever he shows it to anyone to ask what it says, they instantly develop an implacable loathing for him. What can it possibly say? I already knew in my bones that the answer would be bullshit, but the leaps of logic, and crucial details unmentioned in the first story, make The Mysterious Card Unveiled possibly the most infuriating story I've read in any Tales Of The Weird. Still, skip those two and, whatever quibbles can be raised about the concept, it's a pretty good read.
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