The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time

The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time
by Leslie Pockell

The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time
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Book Summary Information

Author: Leslie Pockell
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2002-09-01
ISBN: 044667950X
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Book Reviews of The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time

Book Review: A Super and Scary Selection
Summary: 5 Stars

Note: I made some Mormon reader angry over my negative reviews of books written by Mormons out to prove the Book of Mormon, and they have been slamming my reviews as soon as they are posted. Oh, well.

Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks.

This book is worth it for one story alone--the "Willows," by Algernon Blackwood. Just imagine camping on a willowy island in the Danube River. I hope the following first lines will make you feel that my little review was worth reading.

"After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, the Danube enters a region of singular loneliness and desolation, where its waters spread away on all sides regardless of a main channel, and the country becomes a swamp for miles upon miles, covered by a vast sea of low willow bushes."

A great collection of other stories, too.

When an author has a name like "Algernon Blackwood," you know the story has to be good.

I enjoyed most of the stories because like the "Willows," they set up a mood of mystery. A great collection for a rainy day read.

Summary of The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time

This collection of classic tales of the supernatural and the un-canny will satisfy anyone's desire for chills. These are the stories that surprise-even the second and third time around. They reflect readers' innermost fears and go to places where reality is blurred by imagination, where insanity and madness are shrouded in mystery, and where humanity is haunted by repressed passion and obsession. Even the most jaded will be delighted-and terrified-by this shivering collection, which includes Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," J. Sheridan Le Fanu's "Green Tea," Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Bottle Imp," Bram Stoker's "Dracula's Guest," Arthur Machen's "The Great God Pan," W. W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw," M. R. James' "Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad," H. G. Wells' "The Country of the Blind," Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows," Oliver Onions' "The Beckoning Fair One," H. P. Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu," and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery."
A title like The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time automatically beggars belief. Immediately, readers will notice the absence of modern masters like Stephen King and Peter Straub, and past masters like E.T.A. Hoffmann and Charles Beaumont. A more accurate title for this volume would be Thirteen of the Best Horror Stories Published in English Between 1843 and 1948. Its selections are sometimes uneven, but usually excellent, and are often of tremendous importance.

The anthology presents some masterpieces that have appeared in innumerable other collections: Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," W.W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw," H.P. Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu," and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." However, The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time avoids some obvious choices (instead of "Carmilla," the selection from J. Sheridan Le Fanu is "Green Tea"), and it includes a genre-stretching work (H.G. Wells's "The Country of the Blind," which may also be viewed as sci-fi or fantasy), as well as a classic novella (Arthur Machen's "The Great God Pan") that is often excluded from other anthologies because of limited space.

Prefaced with a brief, intelligent introduction by editor Leslie Pockell, The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time is a wonderful book for the budding horror fan. Readers more experienced in fantastic fiction will want to compare the table of contents with their libraries before making a purchase decision. --Cynthia Ward

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