Best of
Weird-Fiction

2008

The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard


Robert E. Howard - 2008
    Some of Howard’s best-known characters–Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and sailor Steve Costigan among them–roam the forbidding locales of the author’s fevered imagination, from the swamps and bayous of the Deep South to the fiend-haunted woods outside Paris to remote jungles in Africa.The collection includes Howard’s masterpiece “Pigeons from Hell,” which Stephen King calls “one of the finest horror stories of [the twentieth] century,” a tale of two travelers who stumble upon the ruins of a Southern plantation–and into the maw of its fatal secret. In “Black Canaan” even the best warrior has little chance of taking down the evil voodoo man with unholy powers–and none at all against his wily mistress, the diabolical High Priestess of Damballah. In these and other lavishly illustrated classics, such as the revenge nightmare “Worms of the Earth” and “The Cairn on the Headland,” Howard spins tales of unrelenting terror, the legacy of one of the world’s great masters of the macabre.

Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce


Ambrose Bierce - 2008
    This comprehensive eBook is spiced with numerous illustrations, rare and forgotten texts, concise introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Bierce's life and works.* Concise introductions to the collections and other texts* The rare novella THE DANCE OF DEATH appears here for the first time in digital print* ALL the short story collections, with individual contents tables* Featuring 475 tales, many appearing for the first time in digital print* Images of how the books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts* Excellent formatting of the texts* Famous works such as COBWEBS FROM AN EMPTY SKULLare fully illustrated with their original artwork* Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the poetry, essays and the short stories* Easily locate the works you want to read* The complete non-fiction, with many scarce essays and newspaper articles* Includes Bierce's letters - spend hours exploring the author’s personal correspondence* Special criticism section, with essays evaluating Bierce’s contribution to literature* Also provides a unique ‘Biercian Texts’ section with interesting articles on the works and disappearance of Ambrose Bierce* Features a bonus full-length biography - discover Bierce's literary life* Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genresCONTENTS:The NovellasTHE DANCE OF DEATHTHE MONK AND THE HANGMAN’S DAUGHTERTHE LAND BEYOND THE BLOWThe Short Story CollectionsTHE FIEND’S DELIGHTCOBWEBS FROM AN EMPTY SKULLPRESENT AT A HANGING, AND OTHER GHOST STORIESIN THE MIDST OF LIFE: TALES OF SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANSCAN SUCH THINGS BE?FANTASTIC FABLESNEGLIGIBLE TALESTHE PARENTICIDE CLUBTHE FOURTH ESTATETHE OCEAN WAVEKINGS OF BEASTSTWO ADMINISTRATIONSMISCELLANEOUS TALESThe Short StoriesLIST OF SHORT STORIES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDERLIST OF SHORT STORIES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDERThe Poetry CollectionsBLACK BEETLES IN AMBERSHAPES OF CLAYFABLES IN RHYMESOME ANTE-MORTEM EPITAPHSTHE SCRAP HEAPThe PoemsLIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDERLIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDERThe Non-FictionTHE SHADOW ON THE DIAL, AND OTHER ESSAYSTHE DEVIL’S DICTIONARYWRITE IT RIGHTASHES OF THE BEACON“ON WITH THE DANCE!”: A REVIEWA CYNIC LOOKS AT LIFETANGENTIAL VIEWSBITS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHYMISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES AND REVIEWSUNCOLLECTED ESSAYSThe EssaysLIST OF ESSA

The Klarkash-Ton Cycle: Clark Ashton Smith's Cthulhu Mythos Fiction


Clark Ashton Smith - 2008
    Includes The Ghoul, Hunters from Beyond, Ubbo-Sathla, Vulthoom, The Infernal Star, and others. Selected and introduced by Robert M. Price. This book is part of an expanding collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction and related topics. Call of Cthulhu fiction focuses on single entities, concepts, or authors significant to readers and fans of H.P. Lovecraft.

Cyclonopedia: Complicity with Anonymous Materials


Reza Negarestani - 2008
    Reza Negarestani bridges the appalling vistas of contemporary world politics and the War on Terror with the archeologies of the Middle East and the natural history of the Earth itself. CYCLONOPEDIA is a middle-eastern Odyssey, populated by archeologists, jihadis, oil smugglers, Delta Force officers, heresiarchs, corpses of ancient gods and other puppets. The journey to the Underworld begins with petroleum basins and the rotting Sun, continuing along the tentacled pipelines of oil, and at last unfolding in the desert, where monotheism meets the Earth's tarry dreams of insurrection against the Sun. 'The Middle East is a sentient entity - it is alive!' concludes renegade Iranian archeologist Dr. Hamid Parsani, before disappearing under mysterious circumstances. The disordered notes he leaves behind testify to an increasingly deranged preoccupation with oil as the 'lubricant' of historical and political narratives. A young American woman arrives in Istanbul to meet a pseudonymous online acquaintance who never arrives. Discovering a strange manuscript in her hotel room, she follows up its cryptic clues only to discover more plot-holes, and begins to wonder whether her friend was a fictional quantity all along. Meanwhile, as the War on Terror escalates, the US is dragged into an asymmetrical engagement with occultures whose principles are ancient, obscure, and saturated in oil. It is as if war itself is feeding upon the warmachines, leveling cities into the desert, seducing the aggressors into the dark heart of oil ...

Glyphotech


Mark Samuels - 2008
    Inside this book you will find weird things indeed, not least the likes of:The fungus-riddled mannequin in the lunatic asylumThe reconstruction company that works with life and deathThe legal nightmare where the sane are guiltyA horror writing convention taken over by black magic cannibalsThe Punch and Judy show broadcast live after deathThe strange fate of the reincarnation of H.P. Lovecraft

Shrike


Quentin S. Crisp - 2008
    In an attempt to make sense of his existence he travels to the provincial town of Ôtani in Japan, hoping that, through his writing, he will obtain the insight that he lacks. But in Japan it is late autumn and, closeted within the garden of the lately widowed Mrs Kunisada, Stokes finds the motleycollection of arboreal reds and yellows working upon his imagination, until reality itself becomes spectral.As the strange season unfolds, and Stokes meditates upon the meaning of life, death and literature, thepower of the Shrike gradually takes centre-stage.In this startling novella Quentin S. Crisp fuses delicacy with darkness and pathos with terror, creatinga blend of Japanese and English literature that is as deeply moving as it is unique.

The Rise and Fall of the Cthulhu Mythos


S.T. Joshi - 2008
    T. Joshi has authored a criticism of Lovecraftian and Cthulhu Mythos fiction, beginning with the stories by H.P. Lovecraft that gave birth to the entities, locales, books, and other plot devices that have come to be known as the "Cthulhu Mythos." Joshi further details the works of August Derleth, Frank Belknap Long, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Donald Wandrei, Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber and other. Joshi then expounds upon the "Derleth Mythos," and its influence on subsequent Lovecraftian fiction. Joshi then explores a new generations of Mythos writers and their respective expansion of the Cthulhu Mythos, including Richard L. Tierney, Gary Myers, Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell, Michael Shea, Walter C. DeBill Jr. and others. Finally, Joshi reviews some of the more modern authors who have taken up the Lovecraftian mantle: Jeffrey Thomas, Stanley C. Sargent, Wilum H. Pugmire, Thomas Ligotti, Joseph C. Pulver and many others.

Haggopian and Other Stories


Brian Lumley - 2008
    P. Lovecraft's cosmic Cthulhu Mythos backdrop. A soldier in 1967, serving in Berlin with the Royal Military Police, Lumley jump-started his literary career by writing to August Derleth, the then dean of macabre publishers at his home in Sauk City, Wisconsin, telling of his fascination with the Mythos, and purchasing books by the "Old Gentleman of Providence, RI." In addition, he sent a page or two of written work allegedly culled from the various forbidden or "black books" of the Mythos. Suitably impressed, the master of Arkham House invited Lumley to write something solid in the Mythos as a possible contribution to a new volume he was currently contemplating, , to be titled—what else but?—Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. And as might well be imagined, that set everything in motion.Forty years have passed since then and a good many words of Mythos fiction written, including critically acclaimed and award-nominated work, stories that have appeared in prestigious magazines such as Fantasy & Science Fiction, and hardcover volumes from publishers all over the world from the USA to China and the United Kingdom to Russia. But while Lumley's novels are all currently available, many of them in hardcover format, his Mythos short stories and novellas have until now remained uncollected.Subterranean Press is proud to correct that omission in volumes that are guaranteed to be the pride of any collector's library of Mythos fiction other than tales written by H. P. Lovecraft himself. Here in this book are found the shorter stories. Thus the best of Brian Lumley's works in this sub-genre are collected and presented for the first time in this much more worthy and durable format…

Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: The Shadow Out of Time (Audio Drama)


H.P. Lovecraft - 2008
    Five years later, he awakes with no recollection of the intervening time. He launches an investigation and discovers the horrifying reality behind his affliction, making a discovery that reverberates with cosmic horror.Many scholars consider The Shadow Out of Time to be one of HPL's highest achievements in weird fiction. Here the scope of the horror reaches across the cosmos and through the vast essence of time itself. Dark Adventure Radio Theatre brings the weird tale to life as it might have been broadcast during Lovecraft's lifetime. This old-time radio adaptation features a cast of more than a dozen professional actors, exciting sound effects and a thrilling original musical score by Troy Sterling Nies (composer for The Call of Cthulhu). Sit down, dim the lights, fire up the wireless and enjoy 77 minutes of exciting Lovecraftian drama, suspense and cosmic horror.

Beneath the Surface (Revised & Expanded)


Simon Strantzas - 2008
    Here, a man searches for truth in a universe that has forsaken him and pays the price for that knowledge, and a woman with out hope travels northward to find the place where her life fell to pieces and discovers of what she truly is made. They say no man is an island, no matter how much he wishes to be, but what then is that ship that sails toward him, and what pray tell is that lashed to its bow. These are tales that infect our dreams, tales of things that live beyond our understanding and watch us with malignant indifference. They are tales of grief, of loneliness, of guilt. Tales of the liminal places that separate our world from that other world, the world to which our souls are merely a gateway. Come inside and witness what resides in us all, deep down beneath the surface.Table of ContentsForeword To Beneath The Surface by Matt CardinA Shadow in God's EyeIt Runs Beneath the SurfaceThe Constant Encroaching of a Tumultuous SeaA Thing of LoveOff the HookMore to LearnBehind GlassIn the AirYou Are HereThe Autumnal CityThe Wound So DeepThoughtlessLeather, Dark and ColdDrowned Deep Inside of MeAfterword: Excerpts from a Writer's Journal"One of the most important debut short story collection in the genre." -- Stephen Jones

Three Supernatural Classics: "The Willows," "The Wendigo" and "The Listener"


Algernon Blackwood - 2008
    P. Lovecraft of Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951). The preeminent British supernaturalist of the twentieth century, Blackwood combined elements of philosophy and modern psychology to introduce a new sophistication to a genre formerly dominated by traditional ghost stories. His tales of terror, occult detective stories, fantasies, and other thrillers possess an unprecedented degree of subtlety and finesse.This trio of tales showcases Blackwood's best and most gripping work. An idyllic camping trip along the Danube goes horribly wrong in "The Willows," as supplies start to disappear, trees begin to move, and a hole inexplicably forms in the bottom of the canoe. The dark terror of "The Wendigo" unfolds in the remote Canadian wilderness, where a hunting party encounters a creature from Algonquin myth. "The Listener," a ghost yarn set in a rundown house in London, recounts a struggling writer's dawning realization of the chilling connection between his headaches, a mysterious sound of footsteps, and the sensation of being watched while he sleeps. All three of these stories feature Blackwood's characteristically high level of sustained suspense and offer readers a refined supernatural experience.

The Bleeding Horse, and Other Ghost Stories


Brian J. Showers - 2008
    It infests the Dublin neighbourhood with an authentic population of ghosts, ghouls and goblins. Each story is filled with regional history, local atmosphere and architectural details.

The Complete Poetry and Translations Volume 1: The Abyss Triumphant


Clark Ashton Smith - 2008
    

Through the Dragon Glass/The People of the Pit


A. Merritt - 2008
    Merritt, was an American editor and author of works of fantastic fiction. Originally trained in law, he turned to journalism, first as a correspondent, and later as editor. He was assistant editor of The American Weekly from 1912 to 1937 under Morrill Goddard, then its editor until his death. He was a major influence on H. P. Lovecraft, and highly esteemed by his friend and frequent collaborator Hannes Bok. Merritt's stories typically revolve around conventional pulp magazine themes: lost civilizations, hideous monsters, etc. His heroes are gallant Irishmen or Scandinavians, his villains treacherous Germans or Russians and his heroines often virginal, mysterious and scantily clad. What sets Merritt apart from the typical pulp author, however, is his lush, florid prose style and his exhaustive, at times exhausting, penchant for adjective-laden detail. His fondness for micro-description nicely complements the pointillistic style of Bok's illustrations. He wrote Through the Dragon Glass, and The People of the Pit (1917), The Moon Pool (1918), The Metal Monster (1920), and Three Lines of Old French.

Worse Than Myself


Adam Golaski - 2008
    These are stories to be savored late at night in bed, read by the light of a single lamp in an empty, dark house.