July 08, 2004
The King in Yellow
Posted by nerdling | July 8, 2004 05:18 PM
As a public service to my readers—all four of you—I thought I would share some links that have been holding my interest of late. I'm not really sure how many people are interested in classic weird fiction and gothic tales, but you're getting some anyway. ('F' stands for 'fiction' and 'N' for 'nonfiction.')
AMBROSE BIERCE
Can Such Things Be?, also at Project Gutenberg (F)
The Devil's Dictionary, also at Project Gutenberg (F)
Fantastic Fables (F)
"The Damned Thing" (F)
"An Inhabitant of Carcosa" (F)
"Moxon's Master" (F)
"My Favorite Murder" (F)
"An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" (F)
ALGERNON BLACKWOOD
"An Egyptian Hornet" (F)
"A Victim of Higher Space" (F)
"The House of the Past" (F)
"The Willows" (F) HP Lovecraft considered this story to be the pinnacle of weird fiction; I don't happen to agree, but who am I to argue with Howard Phillips?
ROBERT W CHAMBERS
The King in Yellow (F)
"The Purple Emperor" (F; 1897)
"In the Court of the Dragon" (F)
"The Messenger" (F; 1897)
"The Repairer of Reputations" (F; 1895)
"The Yellow Sign" (F)
LORD DUNSANY
The Book of Wonder (F; 1912)
Chess problems by Lord Dunsany (N)
WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON
Carnacki the Ghostfinder (F; 1910)
Captain Gault (F; 1917)
"The Derelict" (F; 1912)
E T A HOFFMAN
"The History of Krakatuk" (F)
"The Sand-man" (F; 1817)
"The Cremona Violin" (F; c. 1817)
"The Deserted House" (F; 1909)
Excerpt from "Nutcracker and the King of Mice" (F)
H P LOVECRAFT
"Supernatural Horror in Literature" (N; 1927)
Collected writings (F)
MARIE BELLOC LOWNDES
"The Lodger" (F; 1912)
ARTHUR MACHEN
The Great God Pan (F; 1914)
"The White People" (F; 1899)
Introduction to "The Bowmen" (N; 1915)
"The Bowmen" (F; 1914)
I highly recommend the Gaslight Archives, Literature of the Fantastic and Project Gutenberg if you're interested in perusing old manuscripts.
Excellent links! I'm familiar with Lovecraft and Bierce, but not so much the others. Who do you recommend to start? Or a better question: which story is the creepiest?
Posted by: Sean at July 8, 2004 05:53 PM
I'm glad you qualified that with "creepy" since all the writers are different—Machen and Dunsany are more strictly fantasy writers, while Blackwood, Lovecraft, Hodgson, Chambers and Lowndes are concerned with horror and the gothic. Lovecraft wins for creepiness but I have to say that Hoffman is one of my particular favorites, though unlike the others he wrote in the German Romantic style. He has a story called "The Mines of Falun" that freaked me out but good. I couldn't find it online or I would have included it in the list.
The Lowndes story is a serialized (and fictionalized) account of the Whitechapel murders of Jack the Ripper. Hodgson likes to write about the horrors of the sea and his stories are great examples of visual storytelling, so those are also good places to go for creeps.
As for Lovecraft, he is in a class unto himself. Some of my favorite late-night reads are: "The Colour Out of Space," "Herbert West: Reanimator," "The Haunter of the Dark," "Cool Air" and of course "The Call of Cthulhu."
Posted by: Marleigh at July 8, 2004 06:52 PM
Indeed, Lovecraft is in a class unto himself. As far as asking for "creepiness", I was seeking something along the Lovecraftian vein. I will definitely check out some of Hodgson's work. Once again, great post Marleigh!
Posted by: Sean at July 8, 2004 07:28 PM
