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The

CLASSIC HORROR BLOG

Literary Essays on Horror, Ghost Stories, & Weird Fiction

— from Mary Shelley to M. R. James —

by M. Grant Kellermeyer

GOTHIC NOVELS & NOVELLAS

MACABRE MASTERS BEST STORIES BY AUTHOR

STORY SUMMARIES & ANALYSES HORROR TROPE SPOTLIGHTS

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— CLICK ON A NAME TO SEE ALL ESSAYS ON THAT WRITER —

E. F. BENSON AMBROSE BIERCE ALGERNON BLACKWOOD RHODA BROUGHTON
ROBERT W. CHAMBERS F. MARION CRAWFORD GUY DE MAUPASSANT CHARLES DICKENS
LORD DUNSANY AMELIA B. EDWARDS ELIZABETH GASKELL NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON E. T. A. HOFFMANN WASHINGTON IRVING W. W. JACOBS
HENRY JAMES M. R. JAMES RUDYARD KIPLING J. SHERIDAN LE FANU GASTON LEROUX
H. P. LOVECRAFT ARTHUR MACHEN EDITH NESBIT FITZ-JAMES O'BRIEN
MARGARET OLIPHANT OLIVER ONIONS EDGAR ALLAN POE
MARY SHELLEY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON BRAM STOKER
H. G. WELLS EDITH WHARTON OSCAR WILDE

Aug 25, 2019
17 min

Ambrose Bierce's Brutally Savage, Bitterly Mournful Horror Stories

“GHOST, n. The outward sign of an inward fear” — Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary He was the successor of Edgar Allan Poe and a harbinger of H. P. Lovecraft, penning some of the most shocking, savage horror stories in the English language. His dark, literary universe was haunted by shadowy monsters who never quite revealed themselves, only stalking in the dim background like woodland predators around a campfire. And what better stories for any campfire’s company: he wro

Jul 8, 2019
14 min

The Nightmarish, Deeply Personal Horror Stories of Edgar Allan Poe

You have read Poe before. I say that with the authority of someone who was brought up in the American public education system. You have read “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” If your school was ambitious you have read “Annabelle Lee” and “The Cask of Amontillado.” If they were truly ambitious you may have read “The Bells” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” But you have read Poe. Our annotated and illustrated collection of his best horror and macabre poetry hopes to tr

Jan 14, 2019
22 min

E. T. A. Hoffmann's Freakishly Surreal, Reality-Bending Horror Stories

“I felt as a child feels when some fairy tale has been told it to conceal the truth it suspects.” – E. T. A. Hoffmann He was the godfather of modern horror, weird fiction, and fantasy, an inestimable influence on Poe, Dickens, and Hawthorne, de Maupassant, Stevenson, and James, left his fingerprints on “Frankenstein,” “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,” “Dracula,” and “The Turn of the Screw,” and inspired filmmakers from Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan to David Lynch and Fritz Lang (an

Dec 7, 2018
30 min

J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Savage, Unnervingly Intimate Ghost Stories

CREPUSCULAR (Adj.) : of, resembling, or relating to twilight; (of an animal) appearing or active in twilight. Synonyms: Half-light, semi-darkness, gloom, dusk, murk, sundown, nightfall, sunset, shadowy. UNCANNY (Adj.) : something which treads the boundary between normal and abnormal, causing anxiety by virtue of its not quite normal character; a humanoid creature or figure which is not quite human; strange or mysterious, especially in an unsettling way. Synonyms: eerie, unnat

Oct 23, 2018
23 min

Washington Irving's Wistfully Anxious, Lonesome Ghost Stories

He was the greatest American writer of his time: he was a mentor to Poe, Longfellow, and Hawthorne, his country’s first professional author, and had met almost every president from Washington to Pierce. He transformed copyright laws to give writers and artists more representation, and cultivated a previously non-existent literary culture throughout the United States. He was idolized internationally, and adored by great authors of the day, including Byron, Walter Scott, and hi

Jun 21, 2018
14 min

Robert Louis Stevenson's Morally Schizophrenic, Existential Horror Stories

J. M. Barrie, the Scottish playwright and author of Peter Pan, once quipped that the initials “R.L.S.” are “the best beloved in recent literature.” A quick comparison between Pan and Treasure Island, Kidnapped, or The Black Arrow will remove any doubt that the writer was making an impersonal observation. Edmond Gosse agreed that he was “the most beloved of all the authors of our time,” and William Gladstone, Prime Minister at the time, stayed up an entire night reading Treasu

Apr 22, 2018
14 min

Arthur Machen's Sexually Charged, Mystical Horror Stories

There are sacraments of evil as well as of good about us, and we live and move to my belief in an unknown world, a place where there are caves and shadows and dwellers in twilight. It is possible that man may sometimes return on the track of evolution, and it is my belief that an awful lore is not yet dead.— Arthur Machen With only a few exceptions, Arthur Machen rarely reveled in gore, Gothic clichés, or moments of horror. He hosts no chattering skeletons, moldering corpses,

Mar 10, 2018
11 min

Bram Stoker's Savage Thrillers and White-Knuckle, Survivalist Horror Stories

Bram Stoker’s name has become synonymous with horror and the macabre, and with good reason. Frequently associated with nothing more than Count Dracula, Stoker wrote some half a dozen masterpieces of short horror fiction, and another dozen-and-a-half which contribute respectably to the genre. The Bram Stoker Award was created in honor of his short fiction as much as for “Dracula.” Stephen King admired him so profoundly that – when describing Stoker’s contributions to English h

Mar 8, 2018
17 min

William Hope Hodgson's Savage, Otherworldly Thrillers and Hopeless Horror Stories

Although it was not until later in his career that H. P. Lovecraft stumbled upon the treasure trove of William Hope Hodgson’s fiction, it is undeniable that once he did, he had found a kindred spirit. Lovecraft was probably indirectly influenced by Hodgson regardless of the relative lateness of his discovery: they were influenced by the same authors – primarily Poe, with elements of Bierce and Blackwood – and Hodgson’s writings were influential to writers whom Lovecraft disco

Mar 4, 2018
10 min

F. Marion Crawford's Gruesomely Visceral, In-Your-Face Horror Stories

Like so many of the great American horror writers of the nineteenth century, Francis Marion Crawford had a transatlantic education: he was born in Italy – a country which would be to him what France was to Robert W. Chambers, England to Washington Irving, and the Continental spa resorts to Henry James – educated in Cambridge, Heidelberg, and Rome, and lived in India for years. What it is about the transatlantic experience that caused American expatriates to delve into superna

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FEATURED POSTS

The

CLASSIC HORROR BLOG

S U B S C R I B E:

GOTHIC NOVELS & NOVELLAS

MACABRE MASTERS BEST STORIES BY AUTHOR

STORY SUMMARIES & ANALYSES HORROR TROPE SPOTLIGHTS

FILM ADAPTATIONS NEW BOOK REVIEWS HOLIDAY STORIES

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FEATURED POSTS

The

CLASSIC HORROR BLOG

S U B S C R I B E:

GOTHIC NOVELS & NOVELLAS MACABRE MASTERS BEST STORIES BY AUTHOR STORY SUMMARIES & ANALYSES HORROR TROPE SPOTLIGHTS FILM ADAPTATIONS NEW BOOK REVIEWS HOLIDAY STORIES

GOTHIC NOVELS & NOVELLAS

MACABRE MASTERS BEST STORIES BY AUTHOR

STORY SUMMARIES & ANALYSES HORROR TROPE SPOTLIGHTS

FILM ADAPTATIONS NEW BOOK REVIEWS HOLIDAY STORIES