Classic horror, ghost stories and supernatural fiction
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Frankenstein
Book SynopsisA twisted, upside-down creation myth that gave birth to the modern science fiction novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley's chilling Gothic tale, lays bare the dark side of science, and the horror within us all. Written after a nightmare Mary Shelley was only eighteen, this book gave birth to the modern science fiction novel. Set against the backdrop of Europe in the late 18th century, Frankenstein explores themes of scientific ethics, the nature of monstrosity, and the consequences of playing god. The book follows the ambitious scientist Victor Frankenstein who plunders graveyards to create a human-like creature from reanimated body parts, driven by his desire to overcome death and unlock the secrets of life. Frankenstein is often considered a reflection of the cultural and scientific anxieties of the time, with the Industrial Revolution and advancements in science raising questions about the ethical boundaries of scientific exploration. Despite first being published in 1818, this nov
£12.74
British Library Publishing The Horned God
Book SynopsisAssembling ten tales and six poems – along with Machen’s novella – from the boom years of Pan-centric literature, this new collection revels in themes of queer awakening, transgression against societal bonds and the bewitching power of the wild as it explores a rapturous and culturally significant chapter in the history of weird fiction.
£9.49
Arcturus Publishing Vampire Stories
Book SynopsisAcclaimed for their thrilling tales, Sheridan Le Fanu, Edgar Allan Poe, and M. R. James are some of the world's greatest writers of classic horror. Some of their most haunting vampire stories have been compiled here alongside those of Bram Stoker, F. G. Loring, and many more.
£16.99
Alma Books Ltd Dracula: Annotated Edition. Illustrated by David Mackintosh
Regarded as one of the most influential horror stories of all time and the inspiration for countless literary spin-offs, the tale of the young Englishman Jonathan Harker’s journey into the very heart of Count Dracula’s evil realm remains a compelling read to this day. A thriller of hypnotic power, a dark exploration of human passion, mythology and the paranormal, and a plain old-fashioned masterpiece of storytelling, the nightmarish saga of Dracula is one of the enduring classics of supernatural fiction.
£6.99
British Library Publishing Queens of the Abyss
Book SynopsisThis new anthology follows the instrumental contributions made by women writers to the weird tale, and revives the lost authors of the early pulp magazines along with the often overlooked work of more familiar authors.
£9.49
Pan Macmillan Irish Ghost Stories
Book SynopsisBlend the wild and fevered Irish imagination with a wonderful facility for recounting a dark, compelling tale, add a dash of the supernatural, and you have a potent brew of spine-tingling tales. This anthology of the best ghost stories from Ireland and Irish writers includes contributions from such masters as Sheridan Le Fanu, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats and Rosa Mulholland. Within these pages you will find strange accounts of haunted houses, death warnings from beyond the grave, and revengeful spirits, all guaranteed to stir the imagination and chill the blood.The haunting tales featured in this beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition of Irish Ghost Stories have been selected and introduced by David Stuart Davies.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.
£10.79
HarperCollins Publishers Dark Carnival
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£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Masque of the Red Death
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe most original genius that America has produced -- Alfred, Lord TennysonPoe has entered our popular consciousness as no other American writer * The New York Times Book Review *The most influential American writer * Washington Post *
£9.99
Oxford University Press The Classic Horror Stories
Book Synopsis''Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men. A time will come - but I must not and cannot think!'' H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) was a reclusive scribbler of horror stories for the American pulp magazines that specialized in Gothic and science fiction in the interwar years. He often published in Weird Tales and has since become the key figure in the slippery genre of ''weird fiction''. Lovecraft developed an extraordinary vision of feeble men driven to the edge of sanity by glimpses of malign beings that have survived from human prehistory or by malevolent extra-terrestrial visitations. The ornate language of his stories builds towards grotesque moments of revelation, quite unlike any other writer.This new selection brings together nine of his classic tales, focusing on the ''Cthulhu Mythos'', a cycle of stories that develops the mythology of the Old Ones, the monstrous creatures who predate human life on earth. It includes the Introduction from Lovecraft''s critical essay, ''Supernatural Horror in Literature'', in which he gave his own important definition of ''weird fiction''. In a fascinating contextual introduction, Roger Luckhurst gives Lovecraft the attention he deserves as a writer who used pulp fiction to explore a remarkable philosophy that shockingly dethrones the mastery of man.Trade ReviewThis book is a testament to Lovecraft's enduring ability to thrill us while simultaneously scaring us stupid, and as such it is very highly recommended. * Ian White, Starburst *Table of ContentsIntroduction Select Bibliography A Chronology of H. P. Lovecraft The Horror at Red Hook The Call of Cthulhu The Colour out of Space The Dunwich Horror The Whisperer in Darkness At the Mountains of Madness The Dreams in the Witch House The Shadow over Innsmouth The Shadow out of Time Appendix: from 'Supernatural Horror in Literature' Explanatory Notes
£8.54
British Library Publishing Penny Bloods
Book SynopsisCollecting seven tales from classic penny publications including the story of Mrs. Lovett, the piemaking counterpart to Sweeney Todd, this volume features newly edited text and insights from Dr. Dittmer’s research to revive a wild company of witches, femme fatales, and deadly criminals for a new generation of readers.
£14.24
Alma Books Ltd Tales of Horror
Book SynopsisA murderer is forced to reveal his crime by the sound of a beating heart, a mysterious figure wreaks havoc among a party of noblemen during the time of the plague, a grieving lover awakens to find himself clutching a box of his beloved blood-stained teeth, a man is obsessed with the fear of being buried alive – these are only some of the memorable characters and stories included in this volume, which exemplify Poe’s inventiveness and natural talent as a storyteller. Immensely popular both during and after his lifetime, and a powerful influence on generations of writers and film-makers to this day, Edgar Allan Poe is still counted among the greatest short-story writers of all time and seen as one of the initiators of the detective, horror and science-fiction genres.Table of ContentsMetzengerstein, MS Found in a Bottle, Berenice, Morella, Ligeia, The Devil in the Belfry, The Fall of the House of Usher, William Wilson, The Man of the Crowd, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, A Descent into the Maelstrom, Never Bet the Devil Your Head, Eleonora, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, The Pit and the Pendulum, A Tale of the Ragged Mountains, The Premature Burial, The Oblong Box, The Purloined Letter, Some Words with a Mummy, The Oval Portrait, The Imp of the Perverse, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, The Sphinx
£6.99
Chartwell Books The Picture of Dorian Gray
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£13.49
British Library Publishing Sunless Solstice
Book SynopsisStrange things happen on the dark wintry nights of December. Welcome to a new collection of haunting Christmas tales, ranging from traditional Victorian chillers to weird and uncanny episodes by twentieth-century horror masters including Daphne du Maurier and Robert Aickman.
£9.49
British Library Publishing Chill Tidings
Book SynopsisWelcome to the second new collection of dark Christmas stories in the Tales of the Weird series, ushering in a fresh host of nightmarish phantoms and otherworldly intruders bent on joining or ruining the most wonderful time of the year.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Beetle The Penguin English Library
Book Synopsis''I saw him taking a different shape before my eyes. His loose draperies all fell off him, and, as they were in the very act of falling, there issued ... a monstrous creature of the beetle type''Eminent politician Paul Lessingham is the toast of Westminster, but when ''the Beetle'' arrives from Egypt to hunt him down, the dark and gruesome secret that haunts him is dragged into the light. Bent on revenge for a crime committed against the disciples of an Egyptian goddess, the Beetle terrorizes its victims and will stop at nothing until it has satisfaction. The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers'' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.
£7.59
Penguin Books Ltd Im the King of the Castle Susan Hill Penguin
Book SynopsisI''m the King of the Castle by Susan Hill is a chilling novel that explores the extremes of childhood cruelty, now published as a Penguin Essential for the first time.''Some people are coming here today, now you will have a companion.''But young Edmund Hooper doesn''t want anyone else in Warings, the large and rambling Victorian house he shares with his widowed father. Nevertheless Charles Kingshaw and his mother are soon installed and Hooper sets about subtly persecuting the fearful new arrival.In the woods, Charles fights back but he knows that his rival will always win the affections of the adults - and that worse is still to come . . .
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Ghost Stories: Selected and Introduced by Mark
Book SynopsisSherlock star Mark Gatiss selects and introduces chilling tales by the unsung master of the classic ghost story - E.F. Benson. There's nothing sinister about a London bus. Nothing supernatural could occur on a busy Tube platform. There's nothing terrifying about a little caterpillar. And a telephone, what could be scary about that? Don't be frightened of the dark corners of your room. Don't be alarmed by a sudden, inexplicable chill. There's no need for a ticking clock, a limping footstep, or a knock at the door to start you trembling. There's nothing to be scared of. Nothing at all.Trade ReviewThis collection, selected by that connoisseur of the eldritch, Mark Gatiss, contains enough nastiness to give you just the right kind of frisson for the time of year. -- Nicholas Lezard * Guardian Review *Ghost Stories collects nine of his most gruesome stories… Impressively shocking. -- Tim Martin * Daily Telegraph *Spooks galore in E.F. Benson’s nightmare-inducing stories. -- Val Hennessy * Daily Mail *[A] master ghost story teller. * Choice *
£8.54
Oxford University Press Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre
Book Synopsis`Upon her neck and breast was blood, and upon her throat were the marks of teeth having opened the vein: - to this the men pointed, crying, simultaneously struck with horror, a Vampyre, a Vampyre!'' John Polidori''s classic tale of the vampyre was a product of the same ghost-story competition that produced Mary Shelley''s Frankenstein. Set in Italy, Greece, and London, Polidori''s tales is a reaction to the dominating presence of his employer Lord Byron, and transformed the figure of the vampire from the bestial ghoul of earlier mythologies into the glamorous aristocrat whose violence and sexual allure make him literally a ''lady-killer''. Polidori''s tale introduced the vampire into English fiction, and launched a vampire craze that has never subsided. `The Vampyre'' was first published in 1819 in the London New Monthly Magazine. The present volume selects thirteen other tales of the macabre first published in the leading London and Dublin magazines between 1819 and 1838, including Edward Bulwer''s chilling account of the doppelganger, Letitia Landon''s elegant reworking of the Gothic romance, William Carleton''s terrifying description of an actual lynching, and James Hogg''s ghoulish exploitation of the cholera epidemic of 1831-2. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewI enjoyed the collection very much, and recommend it as a good mix of stories that are a little different from the norm. * FictionFan *Moving effortlessly from folklore to melodrama, the Introduction assesses the position that Polidori's story . . . We may not be ableto recover the experience of the origianl readers, but we can be grateful to the editors for bringing back to life tales that are not only of academic interest but which still exert their own nightmarish fascination * Studies in Hogg and his World *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Note on the Text ; Select Bibliography ; Chronology of the Magazines ; The Vampyre ; Sir Guy Eveling's Dream ; Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman ; Edward Bulwer ; The Master of Logan ; The Victim ; Some Terrible Letters from Scotland ; The Curse ; Life in Death ; My Hobby - Rather ; The Red Man ; Post-Mortem Recollections of a Medical Lecturer ; The Bride of Lindorf ; Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess ; Appendix A: Preliminaries for 'The Vampyre' ; Appendix B: John Polidori, Note on the Vampyre ; Appendix C: Lord Byron: 'Augustus Darvell' ; Biographical Notes, Explanatory Notes
£9.49
Oxford University Press The Phantom of the Opera
Book SynopsisLeroux's classic Gothic melodrama, here freshly presented in a vivid new translation, with informative introduction and notes. The original novel behind Andrew Lloyd Webber's famous musical, The Phantom of the Opera tells of the masked Phantom whose obsessive love for Christine Daaé sets in chain a series of terrifying events.
£8.54
Alma Books Ltd The Castle of Otranto: Annotated Edition
Book SynopsisWhen Conrad, son of Prince Manfred of Otranto, is killed in mysterious circumstances on his wedding day, his father, fearing his line is at an end, declares that he will divorce his wife and marry his late son’s intended bride. Soon, however, this planned union brings about a series of supernatural events, tragic misunderstandings and cold-blooded murder. Presented as the translation of a medieval Italian text from the time of the crusades, The Castle of Otranto was the first and most influential novel of the eighteenth-century Gothic revival, and introduced several of what became its most recognizable tropes.Trade ReviewI have received The Castle of Otranto… It engages our attention here, makes some of us cry a little, and all in general afraid to go to bed o’nights. -- Thomas Gray
£7.59
Firestone Books Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
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£7.60
Vintage Publishing The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories
Book SynopsisEdgar Allan Poe was a writer of uncommon talent; in The Murders in the Rue Morgue he created the genre of detective fiction while his genius for finding the strangeness lurking within us all has been an influence on everyone from Freud to Hollywood. This complete collection of all his short stories and novellas contains well-known tales ''The Pit and the Pendulum'' and ''The Tell-Tale Heart'' alongside hidden gems that both unsettle and enthrall the reader.Trade ReviewPoe's work as a whole is a series of haunting improvisations on themes from the macabre that are hard to categorise, dazzlingly original and posthumously influential on an extraordinary range of writers from Baudelaire and RL Stevenson to Yeats, Wilde and Borges * Observer *His work continues to enthral. His greatest tales (The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum) radiate a dark humour and mockery that strike an oddly modern note * Sunday Times *If genius is an exceptional capacity for imaginative creation, Poe had it in spades * Daily Mail *His reputation as a master of the grotesque and macabre has veiled the real cause of his fame: an astonishing mastery of language and literary technique which made Arthur Ransome, himself no mean story technician and a considerable literary critic, liken his stories to rare coloured goblets or fantastic metalwork * Independent *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Lois the Witch
Book Synopsis90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin BooksBeware the self-righteous man of faith, the wicked-eyed child, the jealous lover. For this is Salem, in 1691, where rumours fly on the wind and witchcraft is abroad. Lois Barclay, cursed in childhood, is a stranger in a strange land and the devil will work his mischief on Lois's neighbours before the season of madness is out.
£7.20
Pan Macmillan The Yellow Wallpaper & Herland
Book SynopsisCharlotte Perkins Gilman’s progressive views on feminism and mental health are powerfully showcased in her two most famous stories. The Yellow Wallpaper skillfully charts one woman's struggle with depression whilst Herland is an entertaining imagining of an all female utopia.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by journalist and author Lucy Mangan.Confined to her attic bedroom and isolated from her newborn baby, the nameless narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper keeps a secret diary in which she records the sprawling and shifting patterns of the room’s lurid yellow wallpaper as she slowly sinks into madness. This chilling story is based on the author’s own experience of depression. In Herland, a trio of men set out to discover an all-female community rumoured to be hidden deep in the jungle. What they find surprises them all; they’re captured by women who, for two thousand years, have lived in a peaceful and prosperous utopia without men.Trade ReviewThe Yellow Wallpaper by the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman created feminist fireworks the moment it appeared in the January 1892 edition of the New England Magazine -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *Gilman wrote her story about husbands, the medical profession and the patriarchy at large shaping and suppressing women’s lives and freedoms 126 years ago. It was only in 2015 that we got a name and a crime – coercive control – for most of what her heroine experiences * Stylist *
£10.44
Everyman Frankenstein
Book SynopsisVictor Frankenstein driven by the mad dream of creating his own creature, experiments with alchemy and science to build a monster stitched together from dead remains. Once the creature becomes a living breathing articulate entity, it turns on its maker and the novel darkens into tragedy.Trade ReviewShelley’s speechifying, lonely, Miltonic monster remains one of the greatest characters in all of literature… The book may also be the greatest meditation on birth I have ever read. -- Siri Hustvedt * The Week *
£12.34
Penguin Books Ltd Frankenstein
Book SynopsisIn trying to create life, the young student Victor Frankenstein unleashes forces beyond his control, setting into motion a long and tragic chain of events that brings Victor himself to the very brink. How he tries to destroy his creation, as it destroys everything Victor loves, is a powerful story of love, friendship ...and horror.Trade ReviewPraise for Penguin Horror Classics:“The new Penguin Horror editions, selected by Guillermo del Toro, feature some of the best art-direction (by Paul Buckley) I've seen in a cover in quite some time.” – Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing"Each cover does a pretty spectacular job of evoking the mood of the title in bold, screenprint-style iconography." – Dan Solomon, Fast Company
£18.69
HarperCollins Publishers Plain Bad Heroines The extraordinary new gothic
Book SynopsisBrimming from start to finish with sly humour and gothic mischief' SARAH WATERS Beguilingly clever, very sexy and seriously frightening' GUARDIANAtmospheric, sexy, creepytotally addictive' KATE DAVIES, author of In At The Deep EndA gloriously over-the-top queer romp' I PAPER_________________________________________________________________It's a terrible story and one way to tell it is this: two girls in love and a fog of wasps cursed the place forever after'BROOKHANTS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS: Infamous site of a series of tragic deaths over a hundred years ago. Soon to be the subject of a controversial horror movie about the rumoured Brookhants curse':In the early 1900's, Brookhants students Flo and Clara fell madly in love, brought together by their obsession for a scandalous memoir.A few months later they were found dead in the woods, after a horrific wasp attack, the book lying next to their intertwined bodies.Three more grisly deaths followed before the school was forced to close.Now, the Trade Review‘Brimming from start to finish with sly humour and gothic mischief, Plain Bad Heroines is a brilliant piece of exuberant storytelling by a terrifically talented author’ SARAH WATERS ‘Full of Victorian sapphic romance, metafictional horror, biting misandrist humor, Hollywood intrigue, and multiple timeliness—all replete with evocative illustrations that are icing on a deviously delicious cake’ O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE ‘A gloriously over-the-top queer romp’ I PAPER, top picks for 2021 ‘Big and messy – and immensely enjoyable’ I PAPER ‘Spooky, sexy and immensely entertaining’ CLAIRE HENNESSY,THE IRISH TIMES ‘I can tell you that it is a ride very much worth taking. One full of the Gothic and the glamour, brimming with historically bad heroines and women with warped predilections, but there is one thing I have failed to mention so far: the yellowjackets. Their buzzing echoes eerily throughout the pages of Plain Bad Heroines, the consequences of their repeated stings are devastating and reverberate across the centuries’ DIVA MAGAZINE ‘Plain Bad Heroines is immersive, addictive, frustrating and highly entertaining featuring a brilliant cast of extremely eccentric, yet very intriguing, characters. A tale made for the big screen I would think!’ SWIRL AND THREAD ‘Immensely enjoyable’ SCOTSMAN ‘A labyrinthine tale in every way, slowly unfolding horror after horror with a sense of creeping dread and inevitability invading every page’ Palatinate
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Great God Pan
Book Synopsis''I will not read it; I should never sleep again'' A doctor performs an experiment on a young woman that goes horribly wrong, and a series of increasingly strange events follow: sinister woodland rituals, disappearances, suicides... Viewed as immoral and decadent on first publication in 1894, Machen''s weird tale has since established itself as a classic of its genre and has been described by Stephen King as ''one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the English language''. The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers'' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.
£7.99
Penguin Books Ltd The Colour Out of Space
Book SynopsisThe master of weird fiction, H. P. Lovecraft combines cosmic fantasy with creeping horror in these three tales of malevolent alien forces, body-switching and travel across the space-time continuum.''Evil, in Lovecraft, is universal, pervasive'' Michael Chabon''His prescience and novelty seem more and more remarkable ... shows a deeply modern horror at the universe'' Guardian''A unique and visionary world of wonder, terror and delirium'' Clive BarkerTrade ReviewOne of the most influential popular authors of the 20th century * Independent *It casts a spell . . . fiction like Lovecraft's can be brutally hypnotic * New York Review of Books *
£8.54
British Library Publishing Into the London Fog
Book SynopsisAs the fog thickens and the smoky dark sweeps across the capital, strange stories emerge from all over the city. Waiting in the shadowy streets are tales from writers such as Charlotte Riddell, Lettie Galbraith and Violet Hunt, who delight in twisting the urban myths and folk stories of the city into pieces of masterful suspense and intrigue.
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Flame Tree Publishing Tales of Mystery Imagination
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£9.49
Honford Star Alien Gods
£11.69
Titan Books Ltd Sworn Soldier What Feasts at Night
Book SynopsisA hair-raising standalone sequel to the bestselling and award-winning novella What Moves the Dead. Alex Easton returns to their home country of Gallacia, only to be confronted by a strange new horror.
£8.54
Duckworth Books The Spirit Engineer
Book Synopsis1914, Belfast. William is a sceptic, but one night during a séance something happens that places doubt in his heart and a seed of obsession in his mind. Could the spirits truly be communicating with him or is this one of Kathleen's parlour tricks gone too far?Trade Review'A fiendishly clever tale of ambition, deception, and power' Derren Brown'Is Goligher a fraud? Is Crawford himself a reliable narrator?... West answers these questions with ingenuity and invention' The Sunday Times‘I adored this book. Haunting, witty and deeply moving, The Spirit Engineer is surely set to become a gothic classic. I was instantly drawn into the mystery and swept along by the shocking twists and turns. A beautifully written novel’ Jodie Whittaker‘A.J. West has history at his fingertips and writes brilliantly - so clever it makes your head spin! The Spirit Engineer is a work of true invention and drama that moves at a cracking pace from the very first page and keeps you guessing. A compelling and daring book’ Jeremy Vine'Such a deliciously creepy, unsettling read… a melancholic gothic triumph. Gave me all the same feelings as one of my most favourite books ever, Frankenstein' Jennifer Saint, bestselling author of Ariadne'Based on an absolutely astonishing true story, it kept me guessing right till the end' Frances Quinn, author of The Smallest Man‘Set in a historical moment where science and spiritualism meet, The Spirit Engineer is an ingeniously plotted debut novel’ Sarah Burton, author of The Strange Adventures of H‘With a skilful misdirection that any Edwardian spirit medium would be proud to demonstrate, A.J. West soon turns the screw in this fascinating novel… Obsession builds until the stunning climax of the final shocking séance and its awful repercussions. Was William rights to be convinced? Did he prove ghosts exist?’ Essie Fox, bestselling author of The Fascination'It’s clever, it’s quirky, highly entertaining, but carries a chill as cold as the grave' Annie Garthwaite, author of Cecily‘A marvellous and menacing gothic chiller, filled with secrets and soaked in atmosphere, in which the ghouls and fiends are not of the other world, but this one...’ Neil Blackmore, author of The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle'Dark, powerful and twisting – The Spirit Engineer will leave you wondering what is real and what is illusion' W. C. Ryan, author of A House of Ghosts'A delight of a debut, an atmospheric and entirely gripping chiller that calls to mind the best of M.R. James and E.F. Benson, without in any way paling in comparison' Billy O'Callaghan, author of Life Sentences'Gripping from the outset – A.J West immerses readers in the spiritualism of 1914 Belfast with great skill. A wonderful debut' Sam Hurcom, author of Letters from the Dead‘A spooky tale of frustrated ambition, hidden loyalties, and desperation, told with wit, charm and devastating twists. A gothic novel that also manages to make you laugh, even if you shouldn't’ Jonathan Harvey, playwright‘A gripping, gothic story anchored in the political and spiritual chaos of Edwardian Belfast. Part horror, part history, The Spirit Engineer is a chilling and thought-provoking tale of exploitation, faith, deception, fraud, séances, hubris, and prejudice… accomplished and page-turning. Fans of Penny Dreadful and The Nevers will love it’ Gareth Russell, historian and author of The Ship of Dreams
£8.54
British Library Publishing The Face in the Glass
Book SynopsisA selection of haunting supernatural tales from prominent Victorian novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon, reissued in the Tales of the Weird series from the British Library.Table of ContentsIntroduction; The Cold Embrace; Eveline's Visitant; My Wife's Promise; At Chrighton Abbey; Three Times; Her Last Appearance; The Shadow in the Corner; The Face in the Glass; His Oldest Friends; The Ghost's Name; The Island of Old Faces; The Higher Life; Herself; Good Lady Ducayne
£9.49
Arcturus Publishing Frankenstein
Book SynopsisMary Shelley was only eighteen when Lord Byron challenged a group of friends to write the best horror story. She fleshed out her original and this was accepted for publication when she was just twenty. Shelley wrote several novels after Frankenstein but this remains her masterpiece. She died in 1851, thirty years after the tragic early death of her husband Percy.Kim Ekdahl is a freelance illustrator based in Sweden with Korean heritage. She has roots in game development and worked as a Lead 3D Artist in the gaming industry before deciding to pursue illustration full-time. Working with games made her realize her love for creating unique characters and telling enchanting stories with her art. She particularly loves to draw are strong female characters in magical fantasy and sci-fi settings. When she's not illustrating, she enjoys playing games, reading fantasy or sci-fi novels and taking care of her plants, which are all things that greatly inspire her art.
£13.16
Pan Macmillan Ghost Stories
Book SynopsisBringing together all Charles Dickens' ghost stories – twenty in all – including several longer tales. Here are chilling histories of coincidence, insanity and revenge. To paraphrase Joe in The Pickwick Papers: Charles Dickens 'wants to make your flesh creep'.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. Ghost Stories is illustrated by various artists, with an afterword by David Stuart Davies.Throughout his illustrious writing career, Dickens often turned his hand to fashioning short pieces of ghostly fiction. Even in his first successful work, The Pickwick Papers, you will find five ghost stories, all of which are included in this collection. Dickens began the tradition of 'the ghost story at Christmas', and many of his tales in this genre are presented here, including the brilliant novella 'The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain', which deserves to be as well-known as A Christmas Carol. While all his supernatural tales aim to send a shiver down the spine, they are not without the usual traits of Dickens' flamboyant style: his subtle wit, biting irony, humorous incidents and moral observations. It is a mixture that makes these stories fascinating and entertaining as well as unsettling.
£10.44
Vintage Publishing Classic Ghost Stories: Spooky Tales from Charles
Book SynopsisAs the winter nights draw in and you settle in front of a cosy fire, it's the perfect time for a dash of the supernatural...embrace the gloom with spine-chillers from Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells, Edith Wharton and many moreDo you believe in ghosts? Ghosts, spirits, spectres or spooks, we have always felt the presence of someone - or something - hovering in the darkest corners of our imaginations.The great writers of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, from Elizabeth Gaskell to Rudyard Kipling, also produced some of the most influential ghost stories ever written, defining the genre for generations of writers to follow.Gathered in this thrilling collection are some of the most iconic Victorian ghost stories, from Charles Dickens's 'The Signalman' to M.R. James's 'A Warning to the Curious', alongside more unexpected contributions from masters of the form such as J.S. Le Fanu and H.G. Wells. You may think you don't believe in ghosts, but these stories will haunt you nonetheless.
£9.49
British Library Publishing Julia Roseingrave
Book SynopsisThis new edition of an overlooked classic, features a handful of Bowen short stories that chime with the dark themes of the main novella. A twentieth-century forerunner of the popular subgenres of Gothic romance and witchcraft fiction.
£9.49
British Library Publishing The Haunted Trail
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Penguin Publishing Group The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories
Book SynopsisA chilling new collection of Henry James's short stories exploring the uncanny, including The Turn of the Screw, the basis for the new Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor In The Turn of the Screw, one of the most famous ghost stories of all time, a governess becomes obsessed with the belief that malevolent forces are stalking the children in her care. It is accompanied here by several more of the very best of Henry James's short stories, all exploring ghosts and the uncanny. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best w
£9.49
Oxford University Press Collected Ghost Stories
Book Synopsis''I was conscious of a most horrible smell of mould, and of a cold kind of face pressed against my own...''Considered by many to be the most terrifying writer in English, M. R. James was an eminent scholar who spent his entire adult life in the academic surroundings of Eton and Cambridge. His classic supernatural tales draw on the terrors of the everyday, in which documents and objects unleash terrible forces, often in closed rooms and night-time settings where imagination runs riot. Lonely country houses, remote inns, ancient churches or the manuscript collections of great libraries provide settings for unbearable menace, from creatures seeking retribution and harm. These stories have lost none of their power to unsettle and disturb.This edition presents all of James''s published ghost stories, including the unforgettable ''Oh, Whistle and I''ll Come to You, My Lad'' and ''Casting the Runes'', and an appendix of James''s writings on the ghost story. Darryl Jones''s introduction and notes provide a fascinating insight into James''s background and his mastery of the genre he made his own. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewArguably the definitive collection by a single writer, this edition collects together all of James' spine-tingling tales in a single volume. From Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad to The Mezzotint, these stories guarantee unbearable horrified suspense. * The New European *In his introduction to the 2013 Oxford World Classics edition of MR James's Collected Ghost Stories, Darryl Jones cites the story Casting The Runes, in which a Mr Dunning, lying in bed in the dark, gropes for matches under his pillow. * Teddy Jamieson, Sunday Herald (Glasgow) *They are classics of the genre. He had a brilliant skill for unsettling you and you wake up panting in the night * Reverand Richard Coles, Daily Express *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Select Bibliography ; Chronology of M. R. James ; Canon Alberic's Scrap-book ; Lost Hearts ; The Mezzotint ; The Ash-Tree ; Number 13 ; Count Magnus ; 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' ; The Treasure of Abbot Thomas ; A School Story ; The Rose Garden ; The Tractate Middoth ; Casting the Runes ; The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral ; Martin's Close ; Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance ; The Residence at Whitminster ; The Diary of Mr Poynter ; An Episode of Cathedral History ; The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance ; Two Doctors ; The Haunted Dolls' House ; The Uncommon Prayer-Book ; A Neighbour's Landmark ; A View from a Hill ; A Warning to the Curious ; An Evening's Entertainment ; There was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard ; Rats ; After Dark in the Playing Fields ; Wailing Well ; The Experiment ; The Malice of Inanimate Objects ; A Vignette ; Appendix: M. R. James on Ghost Stories ; Explanatory Notes
£8.54
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Haunter of the Dark: Collected Short Stories
Book SynopsisSelected and Introduced by M J Elliott. ‘They were removing the stones quietly, one by one, from the centuried wall. And then, as the breach became large enough, they came out into the laboratory in single file; led by a stalking thing with a beautiful head made of wax.’ From the dark, mind-expanding imagination of H P Lovecraft, Wordsworth presents a third volume of tales penned by the greatest horror writer of the 20th Century. Here are some of Lovecraft’s weirdest flesh-creeping masterpieces, including Pickman's Model, The Shunned House, his famous serial Herbert West – Reanimator, and several classic tales from the Cthulhu Mythos, in which mankind is subjected to the unimaginable terrors known only to those who have read from the forbidden Necronomicon. Also included in this compelling collection are the complete Randolph Carter stories, chronicling his adventures in this world and the realm of his dreams, where he faces perils beyond comprehension.
£6.23
Wordsworth Editions Ltd ManSize in Marble and Other Grim Tales
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£6.23
Daunt Books The Canterville Ghost
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£7.44
Vintage Publishing The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales
Book SynopsisHoward Phillips Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island on August 20, 1890. His father, a traveling salesman, suffered a nervous breakdown three years later and was hospitalised until his death in 1898, from a form of syphilis. Lovecraft's family experienced financial difficulties after the death of his grandfather in 1904, and the shame of this deeply affected the young writer. His relationship with his mother was severely troubled, and she was also hospitalised after a nervous breakdown in 1919. After a brief marriage and a period living in Brooklyn where he first began publishing his stories in the magazine Weird Tales, Lovecraft returned to Providence where he continued to write stories, and supported himself through ghost-writing. He continued to be plagued by money problems, and died in relative poverty on March 15, 1937. His numerous stories, novellas and poem were never collected and properly published during his lifetime.Trade ReviewThe twentieth century horror story's dark and baroque prince -- Stephen KingDark, weird tales about tentacled beasts, ancient artifacts that ooze unidentifiable slime and baby-eating cultists eager to bring about the end of the world * New York Times *Lovecraft found a voice that was profoundly his own -- and brought horror into the 20th century. His best stories sent the gothic into collision with science fiction and offered a bleak vision of a world whose thin veneer of civilization was being stripped away by an implacable zeal for knowledge * Washington Post *The founding father of what has become known as "weird fiction''...Lovecraft has nothing in common with Anita Brookner * Daily Telegraph *
£9.49
Profile Books Ltd The Dead of Winter: Ten Classic Tales for
Book SynopsisNot everything that goes bump in the night brings gifts ... As the nights draw in, the veil between worlds thins, and all sorts of ghosts and ghouls come tumbling in. In the shadows, under the bed, in wind-whipped snowy landscapes and in rooms lit by guttering candles, the dead of winter are waiting for us ... and their hearts are cold as ice. From the mysterious occupant of an ancient tomb to the Christmas visitor who is troubled by violent dreams, these are ten ghost stories from the masters of the genre that will chill your blood and haunt your dreams through the darkest months of the year. With stories from Lennox Robinson, M. Burrage, Ruth Rendell, E.F. Benson, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Russell Wakefield, M.R. James, Margaret Irwin, Algernon Blackwood and W.W. JacobsTrade ReviewWith Cecily Gayford in charge, we are on safe ground * Daily Mail *Looking forward to Christmas? [The Vintage Murder series] is a fine way to start it. It's a cracker -- Amy MyersPraise for Vintage Murder series -- :Has everything you might want ... take this little book to the beach [and] relax in the sun while reading of battered corpses -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *An excellent collection of short stories by ten top-class writers -- Marcel Berlins * The Times Books of the Year *Perfect for a quick fix of golden-age crime ... this collection of short winter chills is well worth reading by candlelight before turning in on Christmas Eve -- Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal and The Twyford Code * The Sunday Times *Short, clever and puzzling murder tales test the brains of the most avid crime reader ... delectable * On Magazine *An impressive tome by some great names ... there isn't actually a bum note in the entire collection, not a single one you could skip through and not miss it - which is quite some feat. To paraphrase Nick Cook's famous Crimewatch sign off, just don't have nightmares after reading it. -- Sarah Morgan * On Magazine *
£9.49
Profile Murder by Candlelight
Book SynopsisPoisoned mince pies. A Christmas Eve ghost story that comes suddenly, horribly true. A locked-room puzzle on a train steaming through the winter's night. All these, and many more, tales of mystery and malice await in Murder by Candlelight. As the nights draw in and the old year slips away, these ten classic stories - from the greatest writers of the crime genre - will baffle your mind and chill your blood in equal measure. From a cunningly-disguised killer to a country house with a lethal secret, the mood might be festive ... but the motive is murder.
£9.49
