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Midnight Tales
Opening this collection, now in a new paperback edition, is a terrifying encounter with a werewolf, a scene from an early draft of Dracula. Here, too, is The Squaw,"" Bram Stoker's most blood-curdling story, set in a medieval torture chamber. The theatrical world features in ""Death in the Wings,"" a tale of brutal revenge. Also included is the dramatic finale from the 1903 novel The Jewel of the Seven Seas, with its raising of a mummy from the dead, which so shocked Edwardian readers that it was later expurgated. These twelve stories all display the fascination with the strange and the gruesome that made Bram Stoker (1847-1912) a master of the macabre. ""Dracula author goes with the proven in this collection of horror stories.""-Library Journal.
184 pages, Paperback
First published April 17, 1992
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117 people want to read
About the author
Bram Stoker
2,742 books5,939 followersIrish-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
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
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 23, 2023
Do not bother to read this book until you have read both of Bram Stoker's horror masterpieces, 'Dracula' and 'The Jewel of the Seven Stars'. To an extent, it is the literary equivalent to the 'special features and deleted scenes' disc that burdens purchases of favourite films but which are only ever watched by true nerds, film students or people who have far too much time on their hands. Count me as one of the first two (for 'film' read 'genre literature') since I certainly do not fall into the last category.
Having said that, the book remains in the library for two reasons. It is a good reference collection of Stoker ephemera including 'alternate cuts' from the 'Jewel' and 'Dracula' and it tells, in stages, a worthwhile story of the relationship between Stoker and the great actor Henry Irving, one in which there is a clear dialectic between Stoker's literary imagination and his role as general manager for the highly talented narcissist and his coterie of friends and acqaintances.
However, the small-scale works are rarely great and, perhaps excepting the atmospheric 'The Dream in the Dead House' (which is the Dracula episode), they are of limited interest except as curiosities of their time and place. 'The Dream' might have been written for a Terence Fisher Hammer movie ....
One story stands out as something quite unique - 'The Dualitists', written in a pastiche of that verbose Victorian style that so puts off modern readers (or at least we hope it is a pastiche). This is probably one of the sickest stories about psychopathic children that I have ever read, one with no redemption at the end. It is particularly disturbing to read in the week when the British Press is filled with the history of the Bulger case and other horrors perpetrated by sociopathic and feral kids. It shows how no imaginative horror might not come true in some form.
If one thing comes out of this book, it is that Stoker certainly had a very violent and morbid imagination which if publishers had had more of a free hand in their day might have made him the literary Sam Raimi of the turn of the last century. In fact, his more brutal work (such as the extremely violent and racist 'The Red Stockade') did get an outlet but in America which was less inclined to self censor. If anyone ever wants direct evidence, far beyond Kipling's high purpose, that the British Empire was an utterly bloody affair then this vicious sadistic story of imperial conquest might stand as evidence for the prosecution.
This bloody racist imperialism might be seen as particularly odd insofar as Stoker was an Irishman with a keen sense of the oppression of his own peasantry (if 'The Gombeen Man' is anything to go by) but you get the impression that he was not a political man. He wanted to write and to be appreciated for his writing and if the audience wanted blood, horror and thrills then, by gad, that's what he would give them.
If not great, there is still some good stuff in here - the three preceding stories show great skill and have distinctive elements but a life might profitably be lived without having read them. Some stories are dreadful - the hackneyed 'A Deed of Vengeance' and the twee 'The Spectre of Doom' might happily have been left as manuscripts to light the fire. Some are just extended black humour ('The Man from Shorrox') or perhaps not so extended, mere anecdotes for a book that never got written - 'The Midnight Tales' of the title.
Putting aside the deleted scenes and the macabre oddities, three stories stand out. The much anthologised horror, 'The Squaw', which sees a cat revenge itself on a callous man in a most brutal manner during a tourist trip to see the Iron Maiden in Nuremburg. 'Death in the Wings' is a tale of revenge that makes great use of the theatrical milieu in which Stoker spent the most productive period of his life.
Then there is the 'Criminal Star' which should be placed with those stories which are just extended black jokes but which rises above that level with a rather cruel portrayal of a great actor, Wolseley Gartside, and provides one of the earliest representations of a cynical Press agent that I have come across. That the 'great actor' was Irving writ more fantastic is scarcely to be doubted and it is testament to their friendship and either Irving's sense of humour or thick skin that Stoker, as his General Manager, got away with it. This was, however, after some 26 years of close association when liberties might be taken.
This brings us back to the relationship between Stoker and Irving. In his main Introduction and in the short but informative introduction to each story, Peter Haining, the Editor, shows us how this relationship and the stories and anecdotes shared in the after performance Beefsteak Room informed Stoker's literary imagination at every stage. Without Irving and his table, we are unlikely to have been given Dracula.
Touring also played its role with strong dollops of Irish and American local culture derived from Stoker's patrimony in the first case and theatrical tours to the East Coast cities and the hinterland in the second. Stoker enjoys writing for an American popular audience even if his portrayal of cowboys discussing Shakespeare in one of the 'Midnight Tales' seems distinctly fantastic.
A word should be put in for the scholarship of the late Haining who was a one person literary industry, producing popular and cheap anthologies about the highways and byways of English horror and fantasy for many years that probably did more to keep these literary traditions alive for later generations than any number of tenured academics.
Perhaps only S.T.Joshi's sustained work on Lovecraft and on 'high literary' horror and fantasy and arguably Glen Cavaliero's 'The Supernatural & English Fiction' have done so much for its survival in the back lists of paperback publishers today.
Haining met his usual high standards of editorship for the specialist publishers Peter Owen in 1990 when this collection appeared. He died in 2007 at the age of 67, having produced or edited a prodigious 170 books in his lifetime. Of course, he could be controversial and was not always 'right' by any means - he was a journalist rather than an academic - but his achievement was formidable.
April 20, 2020
"Drácula" continua a ser a minha obra preferida de Stoker. Estes contos, embora com ideias incríveis e assustadoras, não me cativaram tanto. A linguagem usada (inglês antigo e alguns dialectos específicos) dificultou a leitura.
April 20, 2013
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Tales from the mind behind Dracula, Bram Stoker.
Tales from the mind behind Dracula, Bram Stoker.
February 23, 2019
Bram Stoker was the manager / theatrical agent for actor Henry Irving. He was also, in passing, the author of DRACULA. The editor of MIDNIGHT TALES makes more of the former than the latter. The book purports to be a collection of tales that have not been reprinted since their original publication. This is not so as it contains 'The Dream in the Dead House' which is actually 'Dracula's Guest' under a different name, 'The Squaw', and excerpts from JEWEL OF THE SEVEN STARS. The other stories have not been reprinted till now and for good reason since there is little of interest to them. The reviewer on the back cover who called this 'A head-on collision between horror and sexuality' obvious never read the book. But Stoker did know Henry Irving and that seems to be all that mattered to the editor.
April 13, 2023
3.7⭐
Foreword 'The Midnight Side' (1990) by Christopher Lee ✔️
Introduction (1990) by Peter Haining 4⭐
The Dream in the Dead House 4⭐
Also published as Dracula's Guest, Dracula's Curse, Dracula's Daughter, and Walpurgis Night
The Spectre of Doom • (1880) 3.25⭐
The Dualitists • (1986) • (variant of The Death Doom of the Double Born 1887) 5⭐
Death in the Wings • (1888) 3.5⭐
The Gombeen Man • (1889) 4⭐
The Squaw • (1893) 5⭐
A Deed of Vengeance? • (1892) 3⭐
The Man from Shorrox' • (1894) 2⭐
The Red Stockade • (1894) 4⭐
Midnight Tales (The Funeral Party) • (1990) 3⭐
A Criminal Star • (1904) 3⭐
The Bridal of Death • (1903) 4.5⭐
Foreword 'The Midnight Side' (1990) by Christopher Lee ✔️
Introduction (1990) by Peter Haining 4⭐
The Dream in the Dead House 4⭐
Also published as Dracula's Guest, Dracula's Curse, Dracula's Daughter, and Walpurgis Night
The Spectre of Doom • (1880) 3.25⭐
The Dualitists • (1986) • (variant of The Death Doom of the Double Born 1887) 5⭐
Death in the Wings • (1888) 3.5⭐
The Gombeen Man • (1889) 4⭐
The Squaw • (1893) 5⭐
A Deed of Vengeance? • (1892) 3⭐
The Man from Shorrox' • (1894) 2⭐
The Red Stockade • (1894) 4⭐
Midnight Tales (The Funeral Party) • (1990) 3⭐
A Criminal Star • (1904) 3⭐
The Bridal of Death • (1903) 4.5⭐
February 28, 2014
I really enjoyed most of these tales. There were a few that were too sentimental for me or that did not have much of a plot, but for the most part, the stories were entertaining, suspenseful, and gruesome: exactly what one would expect from the author of Dracula!
What stood out to me the most in the stories, especially in the ones using the Irish dialect ("The Gombeen Man" and "the Man from Shorrox'"), is Stoker's gift for voice. The characters are distinct from each other, and the dialogue is distinct from the narrative. Stoker tells a good story and keeps the plot moving along. He also has a great sense of humor, which reveals itself in stories like "The Man from Shorrox'" and in the shorter "Midnight Tales."
My favorite stories, the ones that remind me most of Dracula in tone and in quality, are "The Dream in the Dead House" (a deleted chapter from the novel itself), "The Dualists"(just plain sick!), "Death in the Wings," "The Squaw" (whose ending made me shudder), "A Deed of Vengeance" (I wish I had the whole thing: it was a serial novel written by various authors; this is just Stoker's chapter), and "The Bridal of Death" (a deleted chapter and the original ending of his novel, The Jewel of the Seven Stars).
Overall, I was really pleased with these secondary works by Stoker. They don't really compare with Dracula, but they're fun reads and prove that Stoker wasn't a one-hit wonder. I also like the introductions to each tale by the editor, Peter Haining. He did a nice job of explaining the significance of each tale, and I like that Stoker's relationship with the actor Henry Irving was the thread that connected all the tales that Haining chose to include in this volume.
I recommend this book to people who enjoy short stories, to 19th-century/early 20th-century literature fans, and to fans of Stoker himself.
What stood out to me the most in the stories, especially in the ones using the Irish dialect ("The Gombeen Man" and "the Man from Shorrox'"), is Stoker's gift for voice. The characters are distinct from each other, and the dialogue is distinct from the narrative. Stoker tells a good story and keeps the plot moving along. He also has a great sense of humor, which reveals itself in stories like "The Man from Shorrox'" and in the shorter "Midnight Tales."
My favorite stories, the ones that remind me most of Dracula in tone and in quality, are "The Dream in the Dead House" (a deleted chapter from the novel itself), "The Dualists"(just plain sick!), "Death in the Wings," "The Squaw" (whose ending made me shudder), "A Deed of Vengeance" (I wish I had the whole thing: it was a serial novel written by various authors; this is just Stoker's chapter), and "The Bridal of Death" (a deleted chapter and the original ending of his novel, The Jewel of the Seven Stars).
Overall, I was really pleased with these secondary works by Stoker. They don't really compare with Dracula, but they're fun reads and prove that Stoker wasn't a one-hit wonder. I also like the introductions to each tale by the editor, Peter Haining. He did a nice job of explaining the significance of each tale, and I like that Stoker's relationship with the actor Henry Irving was the thread that connected all the tales that Haining chose to include in this volume.
I recommend this book to people who enjoy short stories, to 19th-century/early 20th-century literature fans, and to fans of Stoker himself.
January 22, 2022
To me it is 'of its time', a time when we saw less horror and maybe had lower expectations of thrill. However, interesting and definitely not unpleasant to read.
March 6, 2012
The stories were for the most part pretty good but the annotation by Peter Haining was rubbish. Some of what Haining says is true but when he runs out of facts he just starts making things up.
Contents:
The Dream in the Dead House (aka Dracula's Guest)
The Spectre of Doom (1880) (aka The Invisible Giant) (from Under the Sunset)
The Dualitists (1887)
Death in the Wings (1888) (aka A Star Trap) (from Snowbound)
The Gombeen Man (1890) (from The Snake's Pass)
The Squaw (1893)
A Deed of Vengeance? (1892) (aka Lord Castleton Explains)
The Man from Shorrox' (1894)
The Red Stockade (1894)
Midnight Tales (1990) (from Personal Reminiscence)
A Criminal Star (1904) (from Snowbound)
The Bridal of Death (1903) (from The Jewel of Seven Stars)
Contents:
The Dream in the Dead House (aka Dracula's Guest)
The Spectre of Doom (1880) (aka The Invisible Giant) (from Under the Sunset)
The Dualitists (1887)
Death in the Wings (1888) (aka A Star Trap) (from Snowbound)
The Gombeen Man (1890) (from The Snake's Pass)
The Squaw (1893)
A Deed of Vengeance? (1892) (aka Lord Castleton Explains)
The Man from Shorrox' (1894)
The Red Stockade (1894)
Midnight Tales (1990) (from Personal Reminiscence)
A Criminal Star (1904) (from Snowbound)
The Bridal of Death (1903) (from The Jewel of Seven Stars)
July 8, 2016
"More than Dracula"
I have heard more than once that Bram Stoker's OTHER works were overshadowed by his success with Dracula. After reading Midnight Tales, I understand why. Obviously, it is easy for Dracula to overshadow. Unfortunately, it is easy for Stoker's others works to be overshadowed. The stories featured in this book ranged from fantastic (The Squaw) to blindingly boring (The Gombeen Man). The stories that were written in Irish dialect were hard for me to follow and very confusing, which led to me becoming extremely bored. While some stories were very good- dark, gruesome, hauntingly vivid- I did not enjoy the works as a whole. I may have set my expectations too high, for I am a HUGE fan of Dracula and wanted to be as entranced by Stoker's others works.
I have heard more than once that Bram Stoker's OTHER works were overshadowed by his success with Dracula. After reading Midnight Tales, I understand why. Obviously, it is easy for Dracula to overshadow. Unfortunately, it is easy for Stoker's others works to be overshadowed. The stories featured in this book ranged from fantastic (The Squaw) to blindingly boring (The Gombeen Man). The stories that were written in Irish dialect were hard for me to follow and very confusing, which led to me becoming extremely bored. While some stories were very good- dark, gruesome, hauntingly vivid- I did not enjoy the works as a whole. I may have set my expectations too high, for I am a HUGE fan of Dracula and wanted to be as entranced by Stoker's others works.
May 19, 2015
After reading Dracula I was looking, hoping, anticipating...
Please please please let there be a Stoker's collection of Draculas somewhere. I enjoyed reading about the author's life itself and how he spent his time and more importantly, who with.
Unfortunately the stories did not hold the same kind of air, mood, darkness as Dracula and felt to me a little forced. Or I was forcing myself to read them. Either way, it was nothing compared to Poe, that's for sure.
Please please please let there be a Stoker's collection of Draculas somewhere. I enjoyed reading about the author's life itself and how he spent his time and more importantly, who with.
Unfortunately the stories did not hold the same kind of air, mood, darkness as Dracula and felt to me a little forced. Or I was forcing myself to read them. Either way, it was nothing compared to Poe, that's for sure.
April 28, 2015
As with any collection of stories, not all are equal. I did enjoy the book overall.
Although Stoker can be credited with scaring the pants off his contemporaries, I think we in the 21st century require more heinous actions to cause us to drop trou.
I found the preface to each story, describing its origin much more interesting.
Although Stoker can be credited with scaring the pants off his contemporaries, I think we in the 21st century require more heinous actions to cause us to drop trou.
I found the preface to each story, describing its origin much more interesting.
March 11, 2016
These stories are great little scares, some of them a bit too chilling, but I had a terrible time reading a few of them because of the language used - quite literally old English with an accent from specific dialects - which made such a short book (182 pages) take a long time to read.
December 13, 2013
I could take it or leave it. These stories never really grabbed me, yet I respect Stoker's gift for writing.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews