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firstbornofgwyn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
markusgmg's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
dillonrockrohr's review against another edition
4.0
Good introduction to a set of genre precursors I’d previously not read much of. Standouts for me were:
Chambers, “The Repairer of Reputations”: funnier than I was expecting! And a couple of the more interesting characters I’ve found in horror stories, a genre in which character is often subordinated.
Shiel, “The House of Sound”: the way I was imagining it, one of the coolest set pieces in fiction.
Machen, “The White People”: the varieties of horror I enjoy the most—folk elements, more emphasis on unhuman fey, mystifying creatures whose strangeness shares the world with us, than on slashers, undead, or tentacled aliens from outer space—bear the imprint of this story, either through direct influence or through unwitting parallel inscription. I see some of this in Cynthia Ozick’s “The Pagan Rabbi,” one of my favorite short stories.
Blackwood, “The Willows”: Blackwood walked so Vandermeer’s “Area X” could run.
De La Mare, “Seaton’s Aunt”: great character studies, subtle peripheral horror.
Lovecraft, “The Colour out of Space”: a reread for me but I enjoyed it more this time, partly because of how filmic I realized it is. The narration guides the reader’s eye across a whole scene, a restless kind of immersion.
Chambers, “The Repairer of Reputations”: funnier than I was expecting! And a couple of the more interesting characters I’ve found in horror stories, a genre in which character is often subordinated.
Shiel, “The House of Sound”: the way I was imagining it, one of the coolest set pieces in fiction.
Machen, “The White People”: the varieties of horror I enjoy the most—folk elements, more emphasis on unhuman fey, mystifying creatures whose strangeness shares the world with us, than on slashers, undead, or tentacled aliens from outer space—bear the imprint of this story, either through direct influence or through unwitting parallel inscription. I see some of this in Cynthia Ozick’s “The Pagan Rabbi,” one of my favorite short stories.
Blackwood, “The Willows”: Blackwood walked so Vandermeer’s “Area X” could run.
De La Mare, “Seaton’s Aunt”: great character studies, subtle peripheral horror.
Lovecraft, “The Colour out of Space”: a reread for me but I enjoyed it more this time, partly because of how filmic I realized it is. The narration guides the reader’s eye across a whole scene, a restless kind of immersion.
gabesteller's review against another edition
4.0
My Other Seasonal read is trashy fiction from 150 years ago! hooray for trash!
Was very curious to read cuz i love lovecraft, and unanny, unsettling stuff so much, plus I never got to read any old gothic or whatever stuff in college.
Lotta stuff I loved The willows (about a creepy island in a river (like Nicolet island???) that has a mind of its own, or the kinda OG folk/fairy horror in the White People, and any thing by Ambrose Bierce. although when the stories didn't hit it was kinda a big bummer cuz some o this shit can be real dense.
But something that was kinda disturbing while read is that these stories of immense, undefinable horror, were written by so many fucked up dudes. Like of course we go huge xenophobes, but also fascists, and real deal sex criminals!! Made me queasy reading (and enjoying) some of those stories but in a sort of f’d up way it was almost thematically fitting that stories about unfathomable evil, were written by actually pretty evil dudes.
( I should say this was just a significant minority of the authors as far as i could tell, and not my beloved Ambrose Bierce who was also crazy but in a good way)
Was very curious to read cuz i love lovecraft, and unanny, unsettling stuff so much, plus I never got to read any old gothic or whatever stuff in college.
Lotta stuff I loved The willows (about a creepy island in a river (like Nicolet island???) that has a mind of its own, or the kinda OG folk/fairy horror in the White People, and any thing by Ambrose Bierce. although when the stories didn't hit it was kinda a big bummer cuz some o this shit can be real dense.
But something that was kinda disturbing while read is that these stories of immense, undefinable horror, were written by so many fucked up dudes. Like of course we go huge xenophobes, but also fascists, and real deal sex criminals!! Made me queasy reading (and enjoying) some of those stories but in a sort of f’d up way it was almost thematically fitting that stories about unfathomable evil, were written by actually pretty evil dudes.
( I should say this was just a significant minority of the authors as far as i could tell, and not my beloved Ambrose Bierce who was also crazy but in a good way)
traa's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Blood, Gore, Violence, Torture, Death, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, and Body horror
mystic319's review against another edition
1.0
DNF'd this one. Extremely weak writing from authors I normally enjoy (Ambrose Bierce being the only exception). These works are less held together by cosmic horror (upon which the vast majority fail to deliver) and more by racism. I found myself incredibly bored and disappointed, and the editor of this collection clearly lacks good taste.
anti_formalist12's review against another edition
4.0
Some of the stories here are misses, but it ends on what might be my favorite Lovecraft tale.
jcovey's review against another edition
4.0
Loses a star for giving so many pages to Henry James' The Jolly Corner, an interesting but interminably long story with only the most tenuous connection to the themes of the collection. One suspects it was included more to assuage the editor's literary pretensions than anything else, and it eats up space that could have given us a second Blackwood or Lovecraft story at the very least. But the rest of the collection is fantastic, The White People by Arthur Machen being the stand out.
kirstendo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Sexual assault
lizzzardbean's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death