According to S.T. Joshi, editor of Penguin Classics’ AMERICAN SUPERNATURAL TALES, the genre has its roots in Greek mythology. Sounds logical. He also claims that H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce sit atop the pinnacle of its practitioners. Sounds reasonable. And he compares Dean Koontz to Judith Krantz and Danielle Steel, “whose work will be deservedly forgotten in the next generation.” I disagree … on the Koontz part, that is.
That left-field slam aside, Joshi is as good a guide as any to trace the history of the supernatural short story in these United States, and this volume 26 examples in a mix of classics and lesser-known gems, arranged chronologically from 1824 to 2000.
A brief piece from Washington Irving kicks it off; rather than the expected “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” we get “The Adventure of the German Student.” Although oddly titled, it’s a quick kick – or at least for me, seeing how it’s the source material for a ghost story I was told as a young boy that has haunted me ever since.
Among other 19th-century authors included here are Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert W. Chambers, Henry James and Clark Ashton Smith.
Getting into the 20th century, Conan creator Robert E. Howard offers “Old Garfield’s Heart,” a quasi-Western about a man who cannot be killed by any old-fashioned way. Robert Bloch makes a “Black Bargain,” with a drugstore pharmacist who meets a man with a shadow with a mind of its own, and Fritz Leiber takes on the then-burgeoning field of advertising with 1949’s “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes.”
After Ray Bradbury’s oft-anthologized “The Fog Horn,” Shirley Jackson makes “A Visit” and Richard Matheson places a “Long Distance Call,” the latter with a chilling twist ending for which he’s known. Ditto for Charles Beaumont, here with “The Vanishing American.”
Representing the current crop of horror writers are Stephen King, Thomas Ligotti and the late Karl Edward Wagner, among others – such as Dennis Etchison and David J. Schow, both of whose work continues to elude my attention. This section also contains two of the collection’s highlights: Joyce Carol Oates’ short and sour “Demon,” proving that even the literary can get ugly when need be, and T.E.D. Klein’s “The Events at Poroth Farm,” an outstanding narrative of a student renting a room from a Mennonite married couple. Needless to say, strange things are afoot! It’s the book’s true great find, and it alone makes TALES worthy of a purchase.
Although I wish Joshi didn’t spoil the endings of some of the stories in his author intros, AMERICAN SUPERNATURAL TALES could prove to be one of the few definitive studies on the subject. And on the heels of FANTÔMAS and ARSÈNE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN-THIEF, it’s also nice to see Penguin Classics continue to recognize more oddball fiction as worthy of attention, whereas others dismiss it outright as trash. They don’t know what they’re missing. –Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF RAY BRADBURY:
• THE DRAGON WHO ATE HIS TAIL by Ray Bradbury
• MATCH TO FLAME: THE FICTIONAL PATHS TO FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
• NOW AND FOREVER by Ray Bradbury
• SOMEWHERE A BAND IS PLAYING by Ray Bradbury
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF CLARK ASHTON SMITH:
• THE END OF THE STORY: THE COLLECTED FANTASIES OF CLARK ASHTON SMITH, VOLUME 1 by Clark Ashton Smith
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ROBERT E. HOWARD:
• BLOOD & THUNDER: THE LIFE & ART OF ROBERT E. HOWARD by Mark Finn
• BOXING STORIES by Robert E. Howard
• THE COMPLETE ACTION STORIES by Robert E. Howard
• LORD OF SAMARCAND AND OTHER ADVENTURE TALES OF THE OLD ORIENT by Robert E. Howard
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF STEPHEN KING:
• CELL by Stephen King
• THE COLORADO KID by Stephen King
• CREEPSHOWS: THE ILLUSTRATED STEPHEN KING MOVIE GUIDE by Stephen Jones
• CUJO by Stephen King
• THE SECRETARY OF DREAMS: VOLUME ONE by Stephen King
• STEPHEN KING: THE NON-FICTION by Rocky Wood and Justin Brooks
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THOMAS LIGOTTI:
• THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY by Thomas Ligotti
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF H.P. LOVECRAFT:
• THE CALL OF CTHULHU AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES by H.P. Lovecraft
• THE DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES by H.P. Lovecraft
• THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM by H.P. Lovecraft
• THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES by H.P. Lovecraft
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF JOYCE CAROL OATES:
• AMERICAN GOTHIC TALES edited by Joyce Carol Oates
• THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES: TALES OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE by Joyce Carol Oates
• THE MUSEUM OF DR. MOSES: TALES OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE by Joyce Carol Oates
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
T. E. D. Klein’s “The Events at Poroth Farm” isn’t exactly being rescued from obscurity here. In the 70s and early 80s it seemed as if Klein was going to be the Next Big Thing in horror fiction. He was, for a while, the editor of “The Twilight Zone” magazine, and his own fiction had made quite an impression, especially “Poroth” and “Petey”. “Poroth” eventually became the centerpiece of his long (and very good) novel, “The Ceremonies”, published in 1984. I don’t know whether it’s still available, but it’s certainly worth seeking out. The following year he published a collection of four novellas called “Dark Gods”. At least one other novel was announced, but never appeared. I honestly can’t recall seeing anything at all from or about him after that. Perhaps one of your other readers will let us know.
T. E. D. edited a “True Crime” magazine for awhile, and I believe he has a new book coming out (or recently released) by either CEMETERY DANCE or SUBTERRANEAN.
He’s a heck of a writer. His stuff shows up frequently in used bookstores and it’s well worth picking up.
Mr. Klein just released a short story collection from Subterranean Press called Reassuring Tales and The Events at Poroth Farm is collected therein.
Troy
Yeah, that’s one of maybe two or three books that a search for him at Amazon will turn up. For someone who’s been around writing so long, it’s a shame his stuff is so hard to find and/or not in print.
This looks interesting, especially for us short-attention span adults. Can’t go wrong with Poe, Howard, and Wagner anyway
Clark Ashton Smith a 19th. century writer? His dates are January 13, 1893-August 14, 1961, and he is one of the Weird Tales “Big Three” (Lovecraft and Howard being the other two).
Certainly his style tended toward the fin de siecle, but he was as 20th. Century as I am.