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Post by dem on Aug 28, 2017 14:55:47 GMT
Peter Haining (ed.) – The Craft Of Terror (Mews, 1976: originally Four-Square, Dec. 1966)  Cover: Tony Masero
Matthew Lewis – The Monk
Horace Walpole – The Castle Of Otranto
Clara Reeve – The Old English Baron
William Beckford – Vathek
William Godwin – Caleb Williams
Charles Brockden Brown – Wieland, or The Transformation
Charles Maturin – Melmoth The Wanderer
Mary Shelley – The Last Man
Edward Bulwer Lytton – The Cult Of Zanoni
Thomas Prest – The Feast Of blood
Eugene Sue – The Mysteries Of Paris
J. S. Le Fanu – The House By The Churchyard
William Harrison Ainsworth – The Elixir Of Life
Edgar Allan Poe – Metzengerstein
BibliographyBlurb: Haunted castles and beautiful, terrified girls.
Ghosts, demons, phantoms and The Devil himself.
Evil debauched monks and villainous noblemen.
All these are the ingredients which made the Gothic Horror Stories an overnight sensation and the foundation of a literary genre which flourishes to this day.
From their creation in the Eighteenth Century by such masters of the macabre as Matthew Lewis, Charles Maturin, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe, these stories have influenced all subsequent writers in the field of fantasy and horror.
In this unique collection, Peter Haining has brought together some of the very best of these stories, providing, in effect, a basic reader for all who enjoy tales of terror.
Watch out for more horror titles in this series.An early stab at what would become Great British Tales Of Terror. All bar the Poe story are extracts from their host novels of the same name and Craft Of Terror makes for an entertaining read. Watch out for Edmund, the alleged ‘hero’ of Clara Reeve’s classic, though. Every time somebody speaks to him, he falls to his knees sobbing and beseeching and/ or praising his creator. It gets right on your tits after a bit. The extract from Varney The Vampyre or, The Feast Of Blood, wrongly credited to Prest, is once again the famous opening chapter - Sir Francis' midnight attack on fair Flora in her bed. The Le Fanu extract is often reproduced as The Narrative Of The Ghost Of A Hand.  Josh Kirby
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Post by ropardoe on Aug 28, 2017 15:44:48 GMT
Peter Haining (ed.) – The Craft Of Terror (Mews, 1976: originally Four-Square, Dec. 1966) Cover: Tony Masero Introduction – Peter Haining
Matthew Lewis – The Monk
Horace Walpole – The Castle Of Otranto
Clara Reeve – The Old English Baron
William Beckford – Vathek
William Godwin – Caleb Williams
Charles Brockden Brown – Wieland, or The Transformation
Charles Maturin – Melmoth The Wanderer
Mary Shelley – The Last Man
Edward Bulwer Lytton – The Cult Of Zanoni
Thomas Prest – The Feast Of blood
Eugene Sue – The Mysteries Of Paris
J. S. Le Fanu – The House By The Churchyard
William Harrison Ainsworth – The Elixir Of Life
Edgar Allan Poe – Metzengerstein
BibliographyBlurb: Haunted castles and beautiful, terrified girls.
Ghosts, demons, phantoms and The Devil himself.
Evil debauched monks and villainous noblemen.
All these are the ingredients which made the Gothic Horror Stories an overnight sensation and the foundation of a literary genre which flourishes to this day.
From their creation in the Eighteenth Century by such masters of the macabre as Matthew Lewis, Charles Maturin, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe, these stories have influenced all subsequent writers in the field of fantasy and horror.
In this unique collection, Peter Haining has brought together some of the very best of these stories, providing, in effect, a basic reader for all who enjoy tales of terror.
Watch out for more horror titles in this series.An early stab at what would become Great British Tales Of Terror. All bar the Poe story are extracts from their host novels of the same name and Craft Of Terror makes for an entertaining read. Watch out for Edmund, the alleged ‘hero’ of Clara Reeve’s classic, though. Every time somebody speaks to him, he falls to his knees sobbing and beseeching and/ or praising his creator. It gets right on your tits after a bit. The extract from Varney The Vampyre or, The Feast Of Blood, wrongly credited to Prest, is once again the famous opening chapter - Sir Francis' midnight attack on fair Flora in her bed. The Le Fanu extract is often reproduced as The Narrative Of The Ghost Of A Hand. Josh Kirby Gosh, that FourSquare edition was one I bought with my pocket money back in 1966. I'd forgotten all about it but recognised the cover. This may have been when I first realised that excerpts from longer works are extremely frustrating. I think I found the Vathek excerpt intriguing though, and there's always the Le Fanu to enjoy. |
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Post by dem on Aug 28, 2017 20:31:13 GMT
Gosh, that FourSquare edition was one I bought with my pocket money back in 1966. I'd forgotten all about it but recognised the cover. This may have been when I first realised that excerpts from longer works are extremely frustrating. I think I found the Vathek excerpt intriguing though, and there's always the Le Fanu to enjoy. Was that your first Peter Haining, Ro? Think the first ones I read were The Penny Dreadful (Tower Hamlets Mobile Library loan), and Terror! (Cubitt Town Library loan), still two of my favourites. Could be they were the first Hainings I bought, too, as I snapped up both on first ever wages-blowing visit to the Fantasy Centre. Agree that, as a rule, extracts are a pain although there are rare exceptions (the aforementioned Penny Dreadful being a case in point). Mr. H. became a little too over-reliant on them later in his career. |
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Post by ropardoe on Aug 29, 2017 8:43:19 GMT
Gosh, that FourSquare edition was one I bought with my pocket money back in 1966. I'd forgotten all about it but recognised the cover. This may have been when I first realised that excerpts from longer works are extremely frustrating. I think I found the Vathek excerpt intriguing though, and there's always the Le Fanu to enjoy. Was that your first Peter Haining, Ro? Think the first ones I read were The Penny Dreadful (Tower Hamlets Mobile Library loan), and Terror! (Cubitt Town Library loan), still two of my favourites. Could be they were the first Hainings I bought, too, as I snapped up both on first ever wages-blowing visit to the Fantasy Centre. Agree that, as a rule, extracts are a pain although there are rare exceptions (the aforementioned Penny Dreadful being a case in point). Mr. H. became a little too over-reliant on them later in his career. More than likely yes, as I bought it on publication, and it must have been one of Haining's earliest anthologies. |
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Post by dem on Aug 29, 2017 18:18:29 GMT
More than likely yes, as I bought it on publication, and it must have been one of Haining's earliest anthologies. It certainly was. The Hell Of Mirrors (Four Square, 1965) was first, after which I'm not entirely sure of the running order, but The Craft Of Terror was one of four Haining anthologies published in 1966, the others being Summoned From The Tomb (Digit), Where Nightmares Are (Mayflower) and the very ambitious for its time Beyond The Curtain Of The Dark (Four Square). And he was only warming up. |
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