Michael Sims – Dracula’s Guest

Michael Sims (ed.) – Dracula’s Guest: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories (Bloomsbury, 2010)

Cover illustration: Victoria Sawdon

Michael Sims – Introduction: The Cost Of Living

Part One: The Roots

Jean-Baptise de Moyer, Marquis d’Argens – They Opened The Graves
Antoine Augustin Calmet – Dead Persons In Hungary
George Gordon, Lord Byron – The End Of My Journey
John Polidori – The Vampyre
Johann Ludwig Tieck (attributed [almost certainly wrongly]) – Wake Not The Dead
Theophile Gautier – The Deathly Lover

Part Two: The Tree

Aleksei Tolstoy – The Family Of The Vourdalak
James Malcolm Rymer – Varney The Vampyre (extract)
Fitz-James O’Brien – What Was It?
Anonymous – The Mysterious Stranger
Anne Crawford – A Mystery of the Campagna
Emily Gerard – Death And Burial – Vampires And Werewolves
Mary Cholmondeley – Let Loose
Eric Count Stenbock – A True Story of a Vampire
M. E. Braddon – Good Lady Ducayne
Augustus Hare – And The Creature Came In
F. G. Loring – The Tomb of Sarah
Hume Nisbet – The Vampire Maid

Part Three: The Fruit

Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman – Luella Miller
M. R. James – Count Magnus
Alice and Claude Askew – Aylmer Vance and the Vampire
Bram Stoker – Dracula’s Guest

Acknowledgements
Bibliography & Further Reading

From the Blurb
Before Twilight and True Blood, vampires haunted the nineteenth century, when brilliant writers everywhere indulged their bloodthirsty imaginations, culminating in Bram Stoker’s legendary 1897 novel, Dracula.

Acclaimed author and anthologist Michael Sims brings together the finest vampire stories of the Victorian era in a unique collection that highlights their cultural variety. Beginning with the supposedly true accounts that captivated Byron and Shelley, the stories range from Aleksei Tolstoy’s tale of a vampire family to Fitz-James O’Brien’s invisible monster to Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s sinister widow Good Lady Ducayne. Sims also includes a nineteenth-century travel tour of Transylvanian superstitions, and rounds out the collection with Stoker’s own Dracula’s Guest – a chapter omitted from his landmark novel.

Michael Newton – The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories

Michael Newton (ed.) – The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (Penguin, Feb 2010, £10.99)

Acknowledgements
Chronology Of The Ghost Story 1820-1914
Introduction
Further Reading
A Note On The Texts

Elizabeth Gaskell – The Old Nurse’s Story
Fitz-James O’Brien – What Was It?
Edward Bulwer Lytton – The Haunted And The Haunters: or, The House And The Brain
Mary E. Braddon – The Cold Embrace
Amelia B. Edwards – The North Mail
Charles Dickens – No 1 Branch Line: The Signalman
J. S. Le Fanu – Green Tea
Harriet Beecher Stowe – The Ghost In The Cap’n Brown House
Robert Louis Stevenson – Thrawn Janet
Margaret Oliphant – The Open Door
Rudyard Kipling – At The End Of The Passage
Lafcadio Hearn – Nightmare Touch
W. W. Jacobs – The Monkey’s Paw
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman – The Wind In The Rose-Bush
M. R. James – “Oh Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad”
Ambrose Bierce – The Moonlit Road
Henry James – The Jolly Corner
Mary Austin – The Readjustment
Edith Wharton – Afterward

Glossary Of Scots Words
Biographical And Explanatory Notes

Blurb:
‘The ghost is the most enduring figure in supernatural fiction. He is absolutely indestructible… He changes with the styles in fiction but he never goes out of fashion. He is the really permanent citizen of the earth, for mortals, at best, are but transients’ – Dorothy Scarborough

This new selection of ghost stories, by Michael Newton, brings together the best of the genre. From Elizabeth Gaskell’s ‘The Old Nurse’s Story’ through to Edith Wharton’s ‘Afterword’, this collection covers all of the most terrifying tales of the genre. With a thoughtful introduction, and helpful notes, Newton places the stories contextually within the genre and elucidates the changing nature of the ghost story and how we interpret it.

Rosemary Gray – Gripping Yarns

Rosemary Gray (ed.) – Gripping Yarns (Wordsworth Special Editions, 2008)

Anonymous – One Night Of Horror
————- The Pipe
————- The Puzzle
————- The Closed Cabinet
————- The Alibi
Stacey Aumonier – Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty
————- A Source Of Irritation
————- Where Was Wych Street?
Harold Auten – a Fight To The Finish
Etienne Barsony – The Dancing Bear
Jorgen Wilhelm Bergsoe – The Amputated Arms
Ambrose Bierce – The Moonlit Road
————- A Tough Tussle
————- A Jug Of Syrup
————- The Middle Toe Of The Right Foot
————- John Bartine’s Watch
Algernon Blackwood – a Silent Visitation
————- The Wood Of The Dead
————- A Suspicious Gift
————- Skeleton Lake : An Episode In Camp
George Brame – On The Belgian Coast
John Buchan – The Wind In The Portico
————- The Loathley Opposite
George Washington Cable – The Young Aunt With White Hair
Egerton Castle – The Baron’s Quarry
Wilkie Collins – The Dream Woman
Joseph Conrad – The Secret Sharer
————- A Smile Of Fortune
————- The Black Mate
A. R. Cooper – With The Foreign Legion In Gallipoli
Stephen Crane – Manacled
————- An Illusion In Black And White
————- Twelve O’Clock
F. Marion Crawford – By The Waters Of Paradise
Guy De Maupassant – The Wreck
————- The Terror
John Charles Dent – Gagtooth’s Image
Thomas De Quincey – The Avenger
Arthur Conan Doyle – A Foreign Office Romance
————- The Striped Chest
————- The Croxley Master
————- The New Catacomb
————- The King Of The Foxes
————- The Green Flag
————- The Lord Of Chateau Noir
————- The Three Correspondents
————- The Debut Of Bimbashi Joyce
————- The Doings Of Raffles Haw
Arthur Elck – The Tower Room
A. J. Evans – Exploits Of The Escaping Club
J. S. Fletcher – The Lighthouse On Shivering Sand
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman – The Shadows On The Wall
E. W. Hornung – The Wrong House
————- The Rest Cure
————- A Bad Night
————- The Spoils Of Sacrilege
Bernard Severin Ingemann – The Sealed Room
Maurus Jokai – Thirteen At Table
Rudyard Kipling – My Own True Ghost Story
————- Bubbling-Well Road
————- At The End Of The Passage
————- The Return Of Imray
————- The City Of Dreadful Night
Leoplod Lewis – A Dreadful Bell
Jack London – Siwash
————- The Man With The Gash
————- Where The Trail Forks
Anselme Marchal – Hoodwinking The Germans
Ferenc Molnar – The Living Death
Frank Norris – A Memorandum Of Sudden Death
————- The Ghost In The Crosstrees
Fitz-James O’Brien – My Wife’s Temper
David Phillips – At A Sap-Head
William Pittinger – The Locomotive Chase In Georgia
A. O. Pollard – I Charge!
Saki – Sredni Vashtar
————- The Hounds Of Fate
Mary Shelley – The Mortal Immortal
Robert Louis Stevenson – The Pavilion On The Links
————- The Sire de Maletroit’s Door
Anthony Trollope – The Man Who Kept His Money In A Box
Edgar Wallace – The Lone House Mystery
————- The Dark Horse
————- Clues
————- Romance In It
————- A Certain Game
————- The Swift Walker
————- Nine Terrible Men
————- The Sickness-Mongo
Edith Wharton – A Bottle Of Perrier
————- The Lady’s Maid’s Bell
————- The Bolted Door
John Taylor Wood – Escape Of General Beckinridge
Walter Wood – How Trooper Potts Won The V.C. On Burnt Hill
E. D. Woodhall – Secret Service Days

Blurb
For those who sometimes long to escape the strictures of modern life or to inject a little more drama and excitement into their workday world, the remedy could be the collection of stories you hold in your hand. Here for the taking are tales of high adventure and low intrigue from masters of the genre like John Buchan and Robert Louis Stevenson, classics of crime and detection from veteran thriller writers like Edgar Wallace and Arthur Conan Doyle, spine-chillers from the pens of Ambrose Bierce and other purveyors of suspense and horror, and true accounts of courage and survival from heroic and intrepid individuals caught up in the rigours and insanity of war or battling against the elements on gruelling expeditions of discovery and exploration. Between the covers of this crowded volume, Wordsworth Editions has assembled from the work of famous, less well-known and totally unsung writers a treasure trove of rattling good yarns to fire the imagination, chill the blood and perhaps awaken (or reawaken) the spirit of adventure in any reader who dares to plunge in!

Horror Stories: By The Greatest Masters Of The Gruesome

Anonymous (ed.) – Horror Stories: By The Greatest Masters Of The Gruesome (Paul Elek Bestseller Library, 1962)

Alexander Woolcott – Midnight Sonata
Arthur Machen – The Novel Of The Black Seal
E. F. Benson – Mrs. Amworth
F. Marion Crawford – The Upper Berth
H. P. Lovecraft – The Dunwich Horror
Guy de Maupassant – Was It a Dream?
Bram Stoker – The Judges House
Charles Collins & Charles Dickens – The Trial For Murder
J. F. Sullivan – The Man With A Malady
Anonymous – Sawney Beane and His Family
Bram Stoker – The Squaw
A. J. Alan – The Hair
Fitz-James O’Brien – What Was It?
H. G. Wells – The Cone
F. Marion Crawford – The Screaming Skull
Blurb

Warning
If these tales are read late at night when the reader is alone in the house, the publishers will not he responsible for the consequences.

and nor will i be held accountable for posting ’em here!

Perhaps the most interesting thing to be said for this selection is that the contents are identical to  The Arrow Book Of Horror Stories (1965)

Harrison Dale – Great Ghost Stories

Harrison Dale (ed.)  – Great Ghost Stories (Herbert Jenkins, 1930)

Help! Cover Wanted!

Harrison Dale – The Art Of The Ghost Story

Sir Walter Scott – Wandering Willie’s Tale
Mrs. Gaskell – The Old Nurse’s Story
Lord Lytton – The Haunted And The Haunters
Fitz-James O’Brien – What Was It?
J. S. Le Fanu – Madam Crowl’s Ghost
Robert Louis Stephenson – Thrawn Janet
Trad – Teig O’Kane And The Corpse (Translated by Douglas Hyde)
Edith Wharton – The Lady’s Maid’s Bell
F. Marion Crawford – The Upper Berth
Theophile Gautier – the Mummy’s Foot
Gustavo Becquer – Maese Perez, The Organist
Pedro De Alarcon – The Tall Woman
Lafcadio Hearn – The Story Of Ming-Y
Lafcadio Hearn – The Cedar Closet
Anon – The Corpse And The Blood Drinker (Translated by George Soulie)

Arrow Book of Horror Stories

Anonymous (ed.) – Arrow Book of Horror Stories (1965)

Arrow Book of Horror Stories

Alexander Woollcott – Moonlight Sonata
Arthur Machen – The Novel of the Black Seal
E.F. Benson – Mrs Amworth
F. Marion Crawford – The Upper Berth
H.P. Lovecraft – The Dunwich Horror
Guy de Maupassant – Was it a Dream?
Bram Stoker – The Judge’s House
Charles Collins & Charles Dickens – The Trial for Murder
J.F. Sullivan – The Man With a Malady
Anonymous – Sawny Bean and His Family
Bram Stoker – The Squaw
A.J. Alan – The Hair
Fitz-James O’Brien – What Was It?
H.G. Wells – The Cone
F. Marion Crawford – The Screaming Skull

Thanks to James Doig for providing the cover scan & contents!

Vote In The Wordsworth Editions Poll!

It’s one of the enduring mysteries surrounding the awards that horror people are so fond of bestowing upon one another: Why  Wordsworth Editions, arguably the best thing to happen to the genre in the noughties,  are so notably absent from each and every nominations list? Over the past few years their ludicrously tiny staff have been responsible for reissuing long sought novels and collections by the likes of R. Murray Gilchrist, Marjorie Bowen, Dennis Wheatley, May Sinclair, G. W. M. Reynolds and Mrs. Everett at a budget price (most of their stock retails at £2.99) and now here’s YOUR chance to have a shout in which authors they publish in 2010!

There are two polls: one comprising twenty authors whose work is out of copyright from which you may select up to five to be considered for publication in the ‘Mystery & The Supernatural’ series.

The second is limited to five authors – H. R. Wakefield, L. T. C. Holt, A. M. Burrage, Hugh Walpole & Arthur Machen – from whom you may select the two you’d most like to see back in print.

also, our friends at Wordsworth have kindly stumped up for a lucky dip!

“As a token of our thanks, everyone who votes in our poll (or has previously contributed a suggestion through email) will be put into a lucky dip, and 2 of you will win £50 of Amazon vouchers to use as you wish (although if you want to spend them on Wordsworth books, that’s fine with us!)”

Details on the Vault of Evil forum (i’m afraid you’ll have to register: don’t worry – just delete your account at the end of February once you’ve been entered for the lucky dip!)

Polls close on 28th February 2009 so get in quick!

Choose wisely, now.

Direct Links

Out of copyright
Still in copyright

Wordsworth Editions

Richard Dalby – Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories 1

Richard Dalby (ed.) – The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories: Volume 1 (Robinson 1990)

Preface

Robert Aickman – The Unsettled Dust
Louisa Baldwin – How He Left the Hotel
Nugent Barker – Whessoe
E.F. Benson – The Shuttered Room
Ambrose Bierce – An Inhabitant of Carcosa
Charles Birkin – Is there Anybody there?
Algenon Blackwood – The Whisperers
L.M. Boston – Curfew
A.M. Burrage – I’m Sure it was No. 31
Ramsay Campbell – The Guide
R. Chetwynd-Hayes – The Limping Ghost
Wilkie Collins – Mrs Zant and the Ghost
Basil Copper – The House by the Tarn
Ralph A. Cram – In Kropfsberg Keep
Daniel Defoe – The Ghost in all the Rooms
Charles Dickens – The Bagman’s Uncle
Arthur Conan-Doyle – The Bully of Brocas Court
Amelia B. Edwards – In the Confessional
Shamus Frazer – The Tune in Dan’s Cafe
John S. Glasby – Beyond the Bourne
William Hope Hodgson – The Valley of Lost Children
Fergus Hume – The Sand-Walker
Henry James – The Real Right Thing
M.R. James – The Haunted Dolls’ House
Roger Johnson – The Wall-Painting
Rudyard Kipling – They
D.H. Lawrence – The Last Laugh
Margery Lawrence – Robin’s Rath
J. Sheridan Le Fanu – The Dream
R.H. Malden – The Sundial
Richard Marsh – The Fifteenth Man
John Metcalfe – Brenner’s Boy
Edith Nesbit – Uncle Abraham’s Romance
Fitz-James O’Brien – What was It?
Vincent O’Sullivan – The Next Room
Roger Pater – The Footstep of the Aventine
Edgar Allan Poe – William Wilson
Forrest Reid – Courage
Mrs J.H. Riddell – The Last of Squire Ennismore
L.T.C. Rolte – The Garside Fell Disaster
David G. Rowlands – The Tears of St. Agatha
Saki – The Soul of Laploshka
Sapper – The Old Dining-Room
Montague Summers – The Between-Maid
Mark Twain – A Ghost Story
Mark Valentine – The Folly
H. Russell Wakefield – Out of the Wrack I Rise
Karl Edward Wagner – In the Pines
Manly Wade Wellman – Where Angels Fear
Edward Lucas White – The House of the Nightmare
Oscar Wilde – The Canterville Ghost
William J. Wintle – The Spectre Spiders