Articles tagged with horror
Horror Short Story Review: "Hypnos" by H. P. Lovecraft
Below a quote from Baudelaire suggesting that people only sleep because they don’t know how dangerous it is, the unnamed narrator of this short story, a sculptor, tells the reader he’s afraid to sleep. He then talks of his friend, a man h
Ghost Story Review: "No. 252 Rue M. le Prince" by Ralph Adams Cram
Upon finding himself in Paris in May 1886, the narrator of this story wishes to impose himself on an old friend, Eugene Marie d’Ardeche. His old friend deserted Boston after learning that an aunt had died and willed him property in Paris.
Horror Short Story Review: "The House on the Rynek" by Dermot Chesson Spence
This tale is relayed by a superstitious Irishman (…and aren’t they all in tales of the supernatural?) who has been listening to group of friends tell their stories. His has to do not with Ireland, though, but with Poland. One Coun
Horror Short Story Review: "I'll be Glad When I'm Dead" by Charles King
Skinny Julius doesn’t need an alarm clock. His fat wife makes sure he gets up and out of bed and to work whether he wants to or not. It would be just like him, she says, to take food out her mouth and the roof from over her head! He
Horror Short Story Review: "The Lame Priest" by Susan Carleton Jones
The narrator of the story is on his way to his home some twelve miles outside the village during the first snowfall of the season when he notices something black on the horizon moving quickly toward him. His eyes aren’t good. It takes him
Horror Short Story Review: "The Green-and-Gold Bug" by J. M. Alvey
This story begins by letting the reader know two people have died. The coroner has concluded his business and the inquest is over. The narrator then recounts how, a mere forty-eight hours earlier, he and his uncle had welcomed his sister Joe
Horror Story Review: "The Specter Bride" by William Harrison Ainsworth
My next review counting down to Halloween was in a collection of ghost stories. It even has a title making it sound like a ghost story. But it's not. Fooled me. Twice. But here goes: This is horror story takes place in a baro
Horror Story Review: "The Gray Wolf" by George MacDonald
In this brief tale, a student out walking in the woods is overtaken by a storm. He separated from his friends earlier and has no way of getting back to them. He takes shelter in a cave, feeling the crunch of the bones of small animals beneath h
Horror Short Story Review: "The Outsider" by H. P. Lovecraft
The unnamed narrator of this this brief tale has been raised in a decaying castle filled with mold and skeletons. He doesn’t know where he was born. Someone must have taken care of him, but he’s not sure who. The sun doesn&rsq
Horror Story Review: "Ghouls of the Sea" by J. B. S Fullilove
The narrator of this short tale notes that like everyone else, he’d heard the sad story of the disappearance of the Kay Marie in a storm. Just the same, the Kay Marie was the last thing on his mind when he went down to the beach to fish for bas
Horror Story Review: "The Gargoyle Sacrifice" by Tina L. Jens
Fourteen-year-old Marissa is in the Sun King’s Occult Book Store waiting for her boyfriend to call her into the backroom where Pharaoh—the servant of the Sun King—performs after-hours piercing and tattooing. But at the moment,
Horror Short Story Review: "The Moon-Bog" by H. P. Lovecraft
Having done well for himself in the States, Irish-American Denys Barry has now gone back to holy ground of (fictional) Kilderry in County Meath to buy back the ancestral castle and restore it. The narrator, an American friend, comes for a visit. &ld
Horror Short Story Review: "Medusa's Coil" by H. P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop
The narrator of this story is driving toward Cape Girardeau, Missouri in the late afternoon in unfamiliar territory and decides to stop and ask for directions. He does so in a most unlikely place, at a gate of a place that’s obviously seen bett
Horror Short Story Review: "The Nameless City" by H. P. Lovecraft
The narrator of this story finds the nameless city in a parched and terrible valley in the moon “protruding uncannily above the sands as parts of a corpse may protrude from an ill-made grave.” It lies “remote in the desert of &ldquo
Horror Short Story Review: ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" by H. P. Lovecraft
This story begins by recounting the horrific suicide of Arthur Jermyn who, after opening a box he’d received from Africa, smeared himself with oil, left his ancestral home, and went out onto the moor. There, he lit his clothing on fire
Horror Story Review: "Caterpillers" by E. F. Benson
The unnamed narrator of this piece tells the reader he was prompted to write this story after reading in an Italian paper that Villa Cascana has been pulled down. A factory of some sort will be built in its place. The reader can choose to belie
Horror Story Review: "Nyarlathotep" by H. P Lovecraft
eThis is a short prose poem, almost like a recitation of a dream. A new god, too horrible to describe, has arisen in Egypt. He looks like one of the old Pharaohs. The narrator refers to him as “crawling chaos.” Whe
Horror Story Review: "The Feather Pillow" by Horacio Quiroga
This little horror story follows Alicia and Jordan from their three-month honeymoon back to a house that Alicia never feels at home in. She is young, “angelic” and timid. She loves her husband who loves her in return. He just
Horror Story review: "The Night Wire" by H. F. Arnold
This atmospheric little tale is narrated by a night manager at a newspaper in western seaport, the name of which is unimportant. The opening paragraph sets the tone: There is something ungodly about these night wire jobs. You sit up here on th
Short Story review: "The Temple" by H. P. Lovecraft
This tale is the contents of a (fictional) manuscript found off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. As the story goes, the manuscript was placed in the bottle by Karl Heinrich, Graf von Altberg-Ehrenstein, Lieutenant-Commander in the Imperial German
Horror Story Review: "From Beyond" by H. P. Lovecraft
The unnamed narrator tells the reader first of the change in his erstwhile friend, Crawford Tillinghast, who threw him out of his house when he expressed doubt about an experiment he was conducting. Tillinghast was in the midst of creating a machine t
Ghost Story Short Story Review: "The Room in the Tower" by E. F. Benson
The first-person narrator of this story has been plagued by a recurrent dream since he was about 16. At the time of the story, he’s about 30. He finds himself visiting an unpleasant family, that of his schoolmate Jack Stone, whom he barely knew and d
Science Fiction Short Story Review: "They Twinkled Like Jewels" by Philip José Farmer
This is another in the series of “It Came from the Pulps!” where I review science fiction short stories that were originally published in the pulp magazines of mid-20th century. Many of these have become available in electronic form as free dow
Review of Duma Key by Stephen King
This tale is narrated by its protagonist, Edgar Freemantle, a man who became successful and wealthy in the building trade, but whose career was cut short by a terrible jobsite accident that took one of his arms, severely damaged a leg and his vision, and,
What's on the Telly?
The “telly”? That's what the #British call television. Right? In America it's television, TV, or some old folks used to call it the “boob tube”. Why are old people so resistant to technological advance? No sooner than #television wa
The Exorcist
Just read a short post by &VinceSummers. The Black Scorpion (1957) So let's stay on this train of thought. #Horror #movies are definitely not for me! Are you kidding? The #werewolf and #Frankenstein used to scare me. Spooky sci-fi TV shows l
Short Story Review: "The Statement of Randolph Carter" by H. P. Lovecraft
Randolph Carter and Harley Warren were close friends for five years. Now Warren has gone missing. Carter was found early in the morning at the edge of the Big Cypress Swamp, stunning and barely able to give an account of himself. The authorities
The Thirty Day Music Challenge – Day 01 – Your favourite song
My first entry for the &AliCanary 30 Day Music Challenge looking at my favourite song. This changes frequently for me as my tastes in music vary enormously. There are classical favourites, folk favourites, jazz favourites, etc. Blues Favourit
short story review: "Amina" by Edward Lucas White
Waldo is a New Englander stationed in Persia. He’s told never to walk was as outside base without a companion and to avoid the ruins. He overheard discussions of “them.” Hassan, who speaks some English, tells him stories of afrit, of ghou
Diary Friday 27th February 2015 My First Radio Play
A much awaited and exciting day for me as my radio play, Wendigo Water, about shipwreck survivors, and demonic possession, was to be recorded before a live theatre audience at Manchester’s delightful Three Minute Theatre. I checked the text
Movie Review - The Return Of The Living Dead Three
Spoiler alerts - 1993 George Romero’s defining zombie movie, The Night Of The Living Dead spawned its own direct sequels, Dawn, Day, & Diary Of The Dead among them. Return Of The Living Dead was a spoof sequel, and a very inventive comed
short story review: "Dagon" by H. P. Lovecraft
The unnamed narrator of this story tells the reader that life has become unbearable. He is penniless and has run out of morphine, the drug that alone made his life endurable. By the end of the day, he plans to commit suicide. He tells about be
short story review: “After Dark in the Playing Fields” by M.R. James
The narrator of this story is out for a stroll one lovely evening. He halts by Sheeps’ Bridge (wherever that may be) and thinks about the stillness, only to have that stillness abruptly pierced by the hoot of an owl. He looks around for it, then, see
TV Review I Survived A Zombie Apocalypse
Spoiler alerts A rather fun drama feature that the BBC are hyping as a genuine reality game show featuring ten zombie attack survivors under siege in a shopping precinct, sent on missions for provisions as they wait to be airlifted to safety. &nb
Diary Sunday 8th February 2015
I always think the day before your birthday is a day to celebrate as much as the birthday itself as it is the last day you will ever be the age you were before the birthday itself starts. I had my main celebration day out on the Sunday as Monday would be m
short story review: "The Tomb" by H. P. Lovecraft
This story is told by Jervas Dudley, dreamer and visionary, who is writing from his “confinement within this refuge for the demented,” or what others might call an insane asylum. He understands that this might cause the reader to doubt what he
short story review: "Dog, Cat and Baby" by Joe R. Lansdale
This short tale is told from the Dog’s point of view, the Dog who did not like the new baby. He didn’t like the Cat, either, but the Master and the Master Lady didn’t love the Cat. They loved the new pink thing. They fed the Cat, but they
short story review: "The White Ship" by H. P. Lovecraft
In this dream-cycle story, the narrator Basil Elton tends the same lighthouse his father and grandfather did. Few ships come by that did in their day, but the White Ship always comes from the South when the moon was full and high in the sky. Regardless of
Horror Novel Review – Horace Walpole – The Castle Of Otranto
1764 – Oxford World Classics Crumbling castles, mad princes, ghosts everywhere – seen it all before in every horror story and Roger Corman movie right? Yes, but Otranto is the first such work – the officially recog
Horror Movie Review – The Bay
2012 – Spoiler alerts A genuinely scary entry in the found footage horror genre with a powerful, credible environmental disaster theme, and a few clever make you jump moments. A relatively unknown cast help to create the documentary
Book review: More Horowitz Horror
Eight nerve-tingling stories that are guaranteed to make you shiver and shudder and look rather suspiciously at the person unfortunate enough to be sitting next to you while you read the book. Anthony Horowiz is a well know author of spy #books for childr
Short Story Review: "The Devil of the Marsh" by H. B. Marriott-Watson
The narrator of this story is in love, so utterly besotted that he’s willing to meet his ladylove in the marsh at night. He’s hoping that this is some kind of test he’ll pass to prove his loyalty and that the young woman will “be hi
