The Mammoth Book Of Short Horror Novels [Paperback]

This is one of the finest anthologies of supernatural fiction I have ever read. The short novel (novella) is, in the opinion of many, the perfect form for a work of supernatural terror, and the ten stories in this collection illustrate the point very well. They are a mixture of classic and more modern horror tales, covering a 100-year range (from the 1880s to the 1980s), and quite a few of them are very hard or impossible to find anywhere else:

"The Monkey", by Stephen King - A man's terrifying childhood toy has somehow returned to haunt him.

"The Parasite", by Arthur Conan Doyle - A sceptical professor subjects himself to hypnotic experiments with disastrous results.

"There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding", by Russell Kirk - A lonesome petty criminal with a good heart holes up in an abandoned house that seems to be haunted.

"The Damned", by Algernon Blackwood - One of the most unusual haunted house stories ever written, in which the whole point is that nothing much happens.

"Fengriffen", by David Case - A young bride at an old English manor comes under a horrifying family curse - or is it all in her mind? Although written by an American in the 1970s, this story masterfully creates a classic 19th-century Gothic atmosphere.

"The Uttermost Farthing", by A. C. Benson - It's a race to uncover the secrets hidden by a wicked dead man. Another unusual haunted house story, by E. F. Benson's big brother.

"The Rope in the Rafters", by Oliver Onions - A horribly disfigured WW-I veteran takes a room in an ancient French chateau, but he seems to have an unexpected roommate.

"Nadelman's God", by T. E. D. Klein - A pseudo-Satanic poem he wrote as a teenager (and which was later set to music by a heavy metal band) has come back to haunt the narrator in a very real way.

"The Feasting Dead", by John Metcalfe - Many think that this powerfully creepy story is the gem of the collection, and I won't disagree. A man's son, staying with friends in France, returns with a very strange and unwelcome companion. The ending may be puzzling - indeed, the narrator never quite figures it out - but Metcalfe drops enough clues for an attentive reader to get at least a fairly good idea of what has happened.

"How the Wind Spoke at Madaket", by Lucius Shepard - A wind monster from the sea wreaks bloody havoc on Nantucket. My least favorite story of the bunch, although even it has some very strong points.

Get this book!!!

This book is a collection of 10 short Horror stories and my favourite would have to be Russell Kirk's "There's A Long, Long Trail A-Winding" for which the author won the World Fantasy Award in 1976.In this book the reader is introduced to ex prisoner and drifter, Frank Sarsfield. One lonely night Frank finds himself walking in the midst of a snowstorm and seeks shelter in an old, empty Victorian Mansion. Things are not what they appear to be and Frank is caught up in the strange hapenings that occur once he is safely inside the house. This book is beautifully written and captures the lonely atmosphere of Life On The Road and explores the Themes of Meaning and Redemption. This would have to be my favourite short Horror story.The author weaves his tale with a deft hand and the reader is left with a sense of visiting another time and place long after he has finished this book.

Everything in this anthology is excellent. These are not novels but rather novellas. My favorite in the book is FENGRIFFEN, by David Case, which was turned into a film called AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS. I have loved this work for many decades, when I first found it published as a Gothic Romance in paperback. It is, for me, the perfect work of Gothic horror: beautifully written, imaginative, terrifying, intelligent. No other Gothic work has an ending that chills me more. But FENGRIFFEN is just one of many top-notch, captivating works of horror that will capture your imagination with their dark potency. A brilliant anthology, highly recommended.