American Supernatural Tales (Penguin Classics)

S.T. Joshi has done the reader a great service, taking several of the most accomplished supernatural tales that the American fictional tradition has to offer, and placing them together in just one 477-page book. With the exception of Robert E. Howard's "Old Garfield's Heart" (a clunker that is so poorly written that it comes off as humorous), all the tales are either competent or good... But the most satisfying stories in the collection are, in my humble opinion:Fitz-James O'Brien's "What Was It?"Howard P. Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu"Clark Ashton Smith's "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis"Shirley Jackson's "A Visit"T.E.D. Klein's "The Events at Poroth Farm"Thomas Ligotti's "Vastarien"Caitlin R. Kiernan's "In the Water Works (Birmingham, Alabama 1888)"These are the ones which I found to have deft characterization, superb description, and/or exceptionally interesting plotting. If I had to pick just one favorite from the aforementioned stories, I'd tentatively say Smith's "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis"... The author's brooding and creative rendition of Martian landscapes, history, and life puts most contemporary dark fantasy to shame. Whatever your tastes, though, there should be at least one story you can appreciate... Joshi's anthology is truly a worthwhile investment, and I strongly recommend it.

I'm still on my classic horror kick, and this is an excellent collection, a mix of well known and more obscure stories. Starting with a story from Washington Irving, this particular anthology also includes more modern stories, including ones from Joyce Carol Oates and Caitlin Kiernan.Personal favorites include:The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe - An all time favorite short story of the titular doomed house and its inhabitants.The Yellow Sign by Robert Chambers - This is from Chambers' The King in Yellow. Despite that I've owned that book for a good 15 years now, I have not gotten around to reading it, but I may need to after this. If you like Ramsey Campbell, you'll like this. A new favorite.Black Bargain by Robert Bloch - Now that's what I'm talking about. I could have done without the cat death, but otherwise this was a fun, sometimes humorous, bargain-with-evil story.The Girl With the Hungry Eyes by Fritz Leiber - I should have read this psychic vampirism story a long time ago. It's tragic and weird and I really enjoyed it.The Vanishing American by Charles Beaumont - A relatively light hearted story about a man who finds himself turning invisible. I appreciated the upbeat ending.The Late Shift by Dennis Etchison - Why do night shift workers often seem like zombies? According to Etchison's story, it's because they are. This was such a creative idea, and Etchison executes it flawlessly.Last Call for the Sons of Shock by David J. Schow - Not at all what I was expecting. A bittersweet love song to the immortal Universal Monsters.Demon by Joyce Carol Oates - Horror writers often get a bad name for their stories being too violent, but Oates is a respected, Pulitzer prize winning author and writes some of the most disturbing stories out there. This one features a particularly graphic self-enucleation and is probably the most gruesome one in the collection.There is a wide variety of stories on offer in this anthology, so there's something for every type of horror fan here. An excellent read that deserves to be on ever horror reader's shelf.

This book is all Gothic, from the stories, to how the book is printed. It's filled with horror classics as old as Poe and as new as King.

This was a great collection of horror throughout American history. The forward and discussions of the authors were very interesting and offered great insights to the stories themselves.The short stories included were interesting and appropriate, though readers may note that the writing styles drastically change from tale to tale as the collection moves forward in time.It was a really fun read for someone interested in horror!

For any lover of either short stories or horror, there's something in here to catch anyone's attention. Filled to the brim with various authors, most of whom I've embarrassingly never heard of, these are the fantastic tales that will make you squirm and tuck the blanket under your feet at night on top of smile with a fanatical satisfaction.Admittidly this book is various horror and sci-fi and covers nearly the entire spectrum of the two genres. That being said...there are a few in here that will make you yawn and seem out of place. I won't name any because peoples' tastes are different, and you may enjoy the more tame mentally taunting pieces than I did.But reguardless, you can read them for their historical value and the contribution to the series or bypass them because you won't have to wait long for something else with that special glimmer to grip your attention again. ....just...don't read it to children before bed time.

Bought this for one of my college classes. From the selection we read, the stories were interesting to read and were well-written! Plus, this is a fraction of the price I'd pay if I got it at the campus bookstore.

I had to get this book for a class I'm taking, and ended up really enjoying it. The variety of selected stories is vast, and covers many different aspects of the Horror genre. Great read!

This book has a lot of great short stories in it. Well worth purchasing to read.I would recommend anyone to buy it.

Makes a great gift.Font size is quite comfy, the cover looks great, the pages are thick enough. No complaints.

Great

An excellent collection of old and new American Supernatural Tales, with an introduction of S.T. Joshi, one of the leading authorities in the field. These tales are presented in chronological order and feature a variety of styles , from the early gothic style of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe, to the weird 'cosmic' and urban horrors from H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Fritz Leiber, through to the 'ordinary people in small town USA faced with supernatural phenomena' type tales from Richard Matheson , Ray Bradbury, Stephen King and Dennis Etchison , four authors who modernised the horror tale in their respective eras , and the more recent 'splatterpunk' authors like David Schow. Its a great anthology and my favourite tales are the quiet Machen / Blackwood influenced horror of T.E.D Klein's ' Events at Poroth Farm' , which of course he expanded into his celebrated novel 'The Ceremonies', and Ray Bradbury's ' The Fog Horn' which really reignited childhood memories of my younger self's interest in the Loch Ness Monster, back in the early '70s. If you are dipping into horror /supernatural for the first time , this is the one to choose, along with the 80's anthology, 'Dark Forces'. edited by Kirby McAuley, which showcases a lot of the major players of the horror scene from that time, including, Stephen King , Dennis Etchison and Ramsey Campbell. You won't be disappointed!

Great collection, highly recommended.

Amazing,chilling stories, full of classics and masters of the genre.Beautiful edition to contemplate, text block tinted black... As midnight, black as pitch, blackest than the foulest witch.