Monday, May 16, 2016
Coming From Stark House: Ancient Egyptian Supernatural Tales - Jonathan E. Lewis. ed.
A superb collection of stories in which ancient Egyptian mysticism, mummies, and other supernatural occurrences play a significant role, including tales by Edgar Allan Poe, Louisa May Alcott, Arthur Conan Doyle, Tennessee Williams, H. Rider Haggard, Algernon Blackwood, Sax Rohmer and more. July 2016
(This looks like an excellent collection. You don't get much creepier than ancient Egyptian stuff, and those are some great authors. Sight unseen so far, but still highly recommended. It can be pre-ordered from Amazon or directly from Stark House.)
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7 comments:
I'm assuming ACD's story is "Lot 249" which is an excellent tale.
And the Tennessee Williams story must be the one that appeared in WEIRD TALES, although I'm drawing a blank on the title at the moment.
That's Vengeance of Nictocris.
Bloch's 'Beetles' needs to be in there.
John Hocking
I'm a sucker for ancient Egyptian supernatural stories. I'll have to get this. As a kid the Universal mummy films were a fetish with me. I used to imitate the mummies, dragging my leg and limping around the house.
Now as an older collector, I see I've returned to my younger days. I'm back to dragging my legs and limping around once again. I wish I could say this was a good thing!
Three of my all time favorite writers are in there with Sax Rohmer, Algernon Blackwood, and H. Rider Haggard, so it's likely to be a very good collection. Rohmer's Brood of the Witch Queen is my #1 favorite Egyptian themed fictional work ever, and (the non Egyptian story) 'The Wendigo' by Algernon Blackwood is the only horror story I've ever read that I rank alongside The Dunwich Horror.
Master writers, those three gentlemen.
And Walker feel free to get specific...
Craig, given your high opinion of Blackwood's 'The Wendigo', what do you think of his short story 'The Willows'? HPL considered that one of the all time great macabre yarns.
John Hocking
John Hocking
The Willows is very, very good, as is Blackwood's very scary tale The Listener, but The Wendigo has more details and more of the very interesting psychology that can often be found in Blackwood's best tales.
The difference between the The Willows and The Wendigo is the difference between something like Haunter in the Dark/The Festival/The Colour Out of Space and the aforementioned tale The Dunwich Horror---all are very good, but my favorites are my favorites mainly because they contain far more moments excellence and creativity and are richer as a consequence.
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