Dover Horror Classics Series

While best known for literature's greatest, most popular, and most famous vampire novel, Dracula, Bram Stoker also wrote superlative short stories. Indeed, he was a genius at creating horror within the confines of a short tale. Now readers can sample Stoker's mastery in this treasury of fourteen spine-tingling stories. Not all the selections deal with the ghostly and supernatural, but they are always bizarre, and some—like "The Squaw" and "The Burial of the Rats"—are equal to Poe at his best. In addition to these two masterly tales, the collection includes "The Crystal Cup," "The Chain of Destiny," "The Castle of the King," "The Dualists" (probably Stoker's most horrifying story), "The Judge's House," "The Secret of the Growing Gold," "A Dream of Red Hands," "Crooken Sands," "Dracula's Guest," and three more. Lovers of occult and supernatural fiction will delight in this inexpensive collection of ghost and horror stories, called by Stephen King "absolutely champion short stories."

Characterized by gratuitous acts of brutality and surprise endings, these tales of obsession and violence are the creations of a twentieth-century French writer whose works were staged by the legendary Théâtre du Grand-Guignol of Paris. The precursors of modern thrillers and slasher films, these stories have been specially selected for this edition and introduced by horror specialist S. T. Joshi. Thirty-nine conte cruel ("cruel tales") include "In the Light of the Red Lamp," in which a husband's photographs of his dead wife reveal a deeper tragedy; "Fascination," the tale of a morbid passion that develops when the narrator, determined to stay at home, shoots his mistress for the sake of peace and quiet; and "The Bastard," concerning a father's suspicions about his son's paternity. Other stories include "The Taint," a view of infanticide as mercy-killing; "The Test," in which an accused murderer is forced to reenact his crime; and "A Maniac," recounting a thrill-seeker's ghoulish impulse to witness death-defying stunts gone wrong.

This original compilation presents chilling tales of terror by an unjustly neglected author. Inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe as well as his own vivid nightmares, Edward Lucas White (1866–1934) weaves a tapestry of weird stories populated by ghouls, monsters, a witch doctor, and creatures of ancient myths. The collection features White's most famous story, "Lukundoo," a gripping fable of an American explorer who incurs the wrath of an African sorcerer. Other tales include "Sorcery Island," an uncanny foreshadowing of television's The Prisoner, "The Flambeau Bracket," "The House of the Nightmare," "The Song of the Sirens," and five other stories. Additional selections include the haunting poems "Azrael" and "The Ghoula" and an essay in which the author reflects on the influence of dreams in his fiction. Editor S. T. Joshi provides an informative Introduction to White's life and work.

In the early years of the Victorian age, a newly literate class of readers turned to "penny dreadfuls" for escapist fun. Blood-curdling tales, published in installments and costing only a penny, offered gripping episodes of romance, mystery, and horror. The notorious penny dreadful Sweeney Todd: The String of Pearls recounts a young woman's desperate search for her missing sailor sweetheart―a quest that ends in a Fleet Street barber shop, where the proprietor has an unsavory connection with a local baker and the secret ingredient to her delicious meat pies. Authorship of this tale, which was printed anonymously in 1846-47 in eighteen weekly installments, remains in doubt. The story's serial publication ensured an abundance of cliffhangers, and its dark humor made it an especially appealing source for the long-running Broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. A delight for fans of the modern play, this gripping yarn remains a treat for readers of Victorian mysteries.

Weird tales — exquisitely chilling works of fiction dealing with supernatural horrors, fantasy, and pseudo-science — became an established genre with the enduring masterpieces of Edgar Allan Poe. The 14 spellbinding stories assembled in this outstanding collection are by later writers, who produced a great outpouring of weird fiction in the “Golden Age” of the genre, between 1880 and 1940. Included in this treasury are "The Sin Eater," by Fiona McLeod, a wild Celtic fantasy about a grotesque ritual; Algernon Blackwood’s “The Man Whom the Trees Loved,” in which a man’s spirit is ultimately absorbed by the trees surrounding his estate: "The Eye Above the Mantel," by Frank Belknap Long, a sonorous prose-poem demonstrating the effects of verbal witchery; “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family,” by H. P. Lovecraft, which ingeniously fuses conventional supernaturalism with science fiction; as well as absorbing works by such masters as Ambrose Bierce, Ralph Adams Cram, William Hope Hodgson, F. Marion Crawford, Lord Dunsany, M. P. Shiel, R. H. Barlow, Arthur Machen, W. C. Morrow, and Fitz-James O’Brien. Edited by occult fiction expert S. T. Joshi, who has also written an illuminating introduction, these gripping tales will transport lovers of ghost stories and devotees of supernatural fiction to terrifying realms of the unknown.

Returning to the horror story genre again and again during the first 20 years of his literary career, Rudyard Kipling produced a substantial body of work in the genre. This collection includes 17 of the best of these tales. Written in Kipling’s vigorous, plain-spoken manner and gathered together for the first time in one volume, the stories vary widely in tone, style, and subject matter — from comic ghost stories (“Haunted Subalterns”) to grim tales of psychological terror (“The Wandering Jew”) to chilling stories of the returning dead (“The Lost Legion”). Also included are the title story, widely considered Kipling’s most accomplished horror tale; “The Dream of Duncan Parrenness,” the author’s first tale of the supernatural; “The City of Dreadful Night,” a brooding prose poem; “The Phantom Rickshaw,” a forbidding tale of a man haunted by the ghost of a woman he jilted; “At the End of the Passage,” which poignantly conveys the loneliness and homesickness felt by many English civil servants in India; and nine other compelling works. Selected, introduced, and edited by occult fiction authority S. T. Joshi, these tales will be welcomed by horror story fans and devotees of the celebrated English author.

"A fantastic anthology by the true master of horror fiction. Highly recommended." — Book Nutter's Book Reviews "This is an excellent collection of Lovecraft's 'zombie' stories, which serves both as a treat to old fans and a sampler to people who haven't read Lovecraft before. I would highly recommend this collection." — Of Stacks and Cups Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King, and other experts on horror fiction deem H. P. Lovecraft the master teller of weird tales. These six chilling stories ― all published between 1921 and 1933 ― offer compelling journeys into the land of the undead. The collection begins with "The Outsider," the tale of a recluse whose overwhelming loneliness emboldens him to seek out human contact. Subsequent stories include "Herbert West―Reanimator," written as a satire of Frankenstein and used as the source for a popular horror film; "In the Vault," in which an undertaker experiences supernatural revenge; "Cool Air," an account of a doctor's fanatical obsession with defying death; and "Pickman's Model," focusing on an artist's gallery of nightmares. "The Thing on the Doorstep" concludes the compilation with the compelling tale of a man whose body is preyed upon by a spirit that refuses to die. "Highly recommended. A great way to re-animate Lovecraft's standing as a master of the horror genre." —Looking for a Good Book "A delightfully horrific collection of tales that will thrill any horror fan!" — A Universe in Words

This original anthology presents 19 short stories that cover nearly a century of speculative fiction by women authors. Selections range from Mary Shelley's "Transformation" (1830), a pendant to Frankenstein in its themes and motifs, to "Where Their Fire Is Not Quenched" (1922) by May Sinclair, a tale of time travel that follows its heroine to Hell and back. Gripping narratives include Virginia Woolf's "A Haunted House," in which a ghostly couple revisit their former home; "A Wedding Chest" by Vernon Lee, a story of romance and revenge that unfolds in Renaissance Italy; and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," recounting a woman's psychic possession by the previous occupant of her attic bedroom. Additional tales include E. Nesbit's "From the Dead," "The Eyes" by Edith Wharton, Elizabeth Gaskell's "Curious If True," and many others. Editor S. T. Joshi offers an extensive Introduction as well as notes on each of the authors.

Fernand Wagner's deal with the devil buys wealth and youth―at the price of monthly transformations into a ravening beast. The first important fictional treatment of the werewolf theme in English literature, this Victorian thriller traces Wagner's blood-soaked trail through sixteenth-century Italy. Packed with horrors and thrills, it offers a gothic feast of murders and supernatural events, punctuated by hidden plots and secret passages, Turkish invasions and intrigues, and other diabolical doings. Although largely forgotten today, author George W. Reynolds ranked among mid-Victorian England's most celebrated authors and was a prominent political figure and pioneer for social justice. This edition of Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf includes the first extensive modern survey of Reynolds' work as well as twenty-four atmospheric illustrations.