What do you think?
Rate this book
Great Weird Tales: 14 Stories by Lovecraft, Blackwood, Machen and Others
Weird tales---exquisitely chilling works of fiction dealing with supernatural horrors, fantasy, and pseudo-science---became an established genre with the enduring masterpieces of Edgar Allan Poe. The 14 spellbinding stories assembled in this outstanding collection are by later writers, who produced a great ourpouring of weird fiction in the "Golden Age" of the genre, between 1880 and 1940.
Included in this treasury are "The Sin-Eater," by Fiona McLeod, a wild Celtic fantasy about a grotesque ritual; Algernon Blackwood's "The Man Whom the Trees Loved," in which a man's spirit is ultimately absorbed by the trees surrounding his estate; "The Eye Above the Mantel," by Frank Belknap Long, a sonorous prose-poem demonstrating the effects of verbal witchery; "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family," by H.P. Lovecraft, which ingeniously fuses conventional supernaturalism with science fiction; as well as absorbing works by such masters as Ambrose Bierce, Ralph Adams Cram, William Hope Hodgson, W.C. Morrow, F. Marion Crawford, Lord Dunsany, M.P. Shiel, R.H. Barlow, Arthur Machen, and Fitz-James O'Brien.
Edited by occult fiction expert S.T. Joshi, who has also written an illuminating introduction, these gripping tales will transport lovers of ghost stories and devotees of supernatural fiction to terrifying realms of the unknown.
Included in this treasury are "The Sin-Eater," by Fiona McLeod, a wild Celtic fantasy about a grotesque ritual; Algernon Blackwood's "The Man Whom the Trees Loved," in which a man's spirit is ultimately absorbed by the trees surrounding his estate; "The Eye Above the Mantel," by Frank Belknap Long, a sonorous prose-poem demonstrating the effects of verbal witchery; "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family," by H.P. Lovecraft, which ingeniously fuses conventional supernaturalism with science fiction; as well as absorbing works by such masters as Ambrose Bierce, Ralph Adams Cram, William Hope Hodgson, W.C. Morrow, F. Marion Crawford, Lord Dunsany, M.P. Shiel, R.H. Barlow, Arthur Machen, and Fitz-James O'Brien.
Edited by occult fiction expert S.T. Joshi, who has also written an illuminating introduction, these gripping tales will transport lovers of ghost stories and devotees of supernatural fiction to terrifying realms of the unknown.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
About the author
S.T. Joshi
680 books438 followersSunand Tryambak Joshi is an Indian American literary scholar, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors. Besides what some critics consider to be the definitive biography of Lovecraft (H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, 1996), Joshi has written about Ambrose Bierce, H. L. Mencken, Lord Dunsany, and M.R. James, and has edited collections of their works.
His literary criticism is notable for its emphases upon readability and the dominant worldviews of the authors in question; his The Weird Tale looks at six acknowledged masters of horror and fantasy (namely Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Dunsany, M. R. James, Bierce and Lovecraft), and discusses their respective worldviews in depth and with authority. A follow-up volume, The Modern Weird Tale, examines the work of modern writers, including Shirley Jackson, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King, Robert Aickman, Thomas Ligotti, T. E. D. Klein and others, from a similar philosophically oriented viewpoint. The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004) includes essays on Dennis Etchison, L. P. Hartley, Les Daniels, E. F. Benson, Rudyard Kipling, David J. Schow, Robert Bloch, L. P. Davies, Edward Lucas White, Rod Serling, Poppy Z. Brite and others.
Joshi is the editor of the small-press literary journals Lovecraft Studies and Studies in Weird Fiction, published by Necronomicon Press. He is also the editor of Lovecraft Annual and co-editor of Dead Reckonings, both small-press journals published by Hippocampus Press.
In addition to literary criticism, Joshi has also edited books on atheism and social relations, including Documents of American Prejudice (1999), an annotated collection of American racist writings; In Her Place (2006), which collects written examples of prejudice against women; and Atheism: A Reader (2000), which collects atheistic writings by such people as Antony Flew, George Eliot, Bertrand Russell, Emma Goldman, Gore Vidal and Carl Sagan, among others. An Agnostic Reader, collecting pieces by such writers as Isaac Asimov, John William Draper, Albert Einstein, Frederic Harrison, Thomas Henry Huxley, Robert Ingersoll, Corliss Lamont, Arthur Schopenhauer and Edward Westermarck, was published in 2007.
Joshi is also the author of God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong (2003), an anti-religious polemic against various writers including C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, T. S. Eliot, William F. Buckley, Jr., William James, Stephen L. Carter, Annie Dillard, Reynolds Price, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Guenter Lewy, Neale Donald Walsch and Jerry Falwell, which is dedicated to theologian and fellow Lovecraft critic Robert M. Price.
In 2006 he published The Angry Right: Why Conservatives Keep Getting It Wrong, which criticised the political writings of such commentators as William F. Buckley, Jr., Russell Kirk, David and Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly, William Bennett, Gertrude Himmelfarb and Irving and William Kristol, arguing that, despite the efforts of right-wing polemicists, the values of the American people have become steadily more liberal over time.
Joshi, who lives with his wife in Moravia, New York, has stated on his website that his most noteworthy achievements thus far have been his biography of Lovecraft, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life and The Weird Tale.
His literary criticism is notable for its emphases upon readability and the dominant worldviews of the authors in question; his The Weird Tale looks at six acknowledged masters of horror and fantasy (namely Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Dunsany, M. R. James, Bierce and Lovecraft), and discusses their respective worldviews in depth and with authority. A follow-up volume, The Modern Weird Tale, examines the work of modern writers, including Shirley Jackson, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King, Robert Aickman, Thomas Ligotti, T. E. D. Klein and others, from a similar philosophically oriented viewpoint. The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004) includes essays on Dennis Etchison, L. P. Hartley, Les Daniels, E. F. Benson, Rudyard Kipling, David J. Schow, Robert Bloch, L. P. Davies, Edward Lucas White, Rod Serling, Poppy Z. Brite and others.
Joshi is the editor of the small-press literary journals Lovecraft Studies and Studies in Weird Fiction, published by Necronomicon Press. He is also the editor of Lovecraft Annual and co-editor of Dead Reckonings, both small-press journals published by Hippocampus Press.
In addition to literary criticism, Joshi has also edited books on atheism and social relations, including Documents of American Prejudice (1999), an annotated collection of American racist writings; In Her Place (2006), which collects written examples of prejudice against women; and Atheism: A Reader (2000), which collects atheistic writings by such people as Antony Flew, George Eliot, Bertrand Russell, Emma Goldman, Gore Vidal and Carl Sagan, among others. An Agnostic Reader, collecting pieces by such writers as Isaac Asimov, John William Draper, Albert Einstein, Frederic Harrison, Thomas Henry Huxley, Robert Ingersoll, Corliss Lamont, Arthur Schopenhauer and Edward Westermarck, was published in 2007.
Joshi is also the author of God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong (2003), an anti-religious polemic against various writers including C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, T. S. Eliot, William F. Buckley, Jr., William James, Stephen L. Carter, Annie Dillard, Reynolds Price, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Guenter Lewy, Neale Donald Walsch and Jerry Falwell, which is dedicated to theologian and fellow Lovecraft critic Robert M. Price.
In 2006 he published The Angry Right: Why Conservatives Keep Getting It Wrong, which criticised the political writings of such commentators as William F. Buckley, Jr., Russell Kirk, David and Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly, William Bennett, Gertrude Himmelfarb and Irving and William Kristol, arguing that, despite the efforts of right-wing polemicists, the values of the American people have become steadily more liberal over time.
Joshi, who lives with his wife in Moravia, New York, has stated on his website that his most noteworthy achievements thus far have been his biography of Lovecraft, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life and The Weird Tale.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 21, 2017
As Weird As It Gets . . .
Great Weird Tales is an enticing collection, edited by none other than that erudite scholar of the strange, S. T. Joshi. This is an engrossing read and one that should not be missed by literary acolytes of the uncanny.
As far as being ‘weird’, most of the stories herein deliver the goods, providing a sterling survey of the genre across fourteen of its practitioners. Indeed, authors of the weird tale are well represented in this anthology, including behemoths such as Lovecraft, Machen, and Blackwood alongside many less recognizable names, most of whom you will likely be glad to get to know.
Precious few of these tales fall short of the mark, “The Sin-Eater” and “My Favorite Murder” being two that come to mind. The first gets bogged down in Gaelic dialect, and the second is a tad too satirical for my taste. I might also level an accusatory finger at His Lordship, Dunsany, whose parable “The Unhappy Body” unhappily doesn’t fit into the spirit of the proceedings quite as well as the works of some of his untitled colleagues.
But there are plenty of great selections here to please both connoisseur and newcomer alike. Written in his typical matter-of-fact style, Lovecraft’s “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family” tells a tale of dynastic degeneration with horrific implications. Although it stretches a bit long, Blackwood’s “The Man Whom the Trees Loved” is both eerie and atmospheric, providing a healthy dose of nature-oriented mysticism. And while Machen’s intriguing mystery “The Inmost Light” seems to lack anything resembling a satisfactory conclusion, it is perhaps only because his approach is so masterful.
As for the lofty peaks of this collection, they are gems indeed. “The Dead Valley” is a disturbing excursion into the strange that exists right alongside our everyday human haunts, and Hodgson’s “The Voice in the Night” is truly chilling, taking the weird to an entirely new level. Barlow’s “A Dim-Remembered Story” is a visionary revelation, and “The Diamond Lens” may force you to reexamine your perceptions of reality itself.
As usual, Joshi provides an excellent introduction, elucidating the nuances of the genre and filling out some of the biographical details of the authors. Although it would have been nice to have included the years of publication along with the tales to help orient the reader as to their precise location within the scope of the genre, this information can be sought out in the bibliography.
Mysteriously, the table of contents omits the names of the authors of the tales, making it inconvenient for the reader to see them at a glance and revisit his favorites. So that you know what’s included in this collection, here are the tales and their respective authors:
“The Dead Valley” by Ralph Adams Cram
“The Sin-Eater” by Fiona Macleod
“The Voice in the Night” by William Hope Hodgson
“His Unconquerable Enemy” by W. C. Morrow
“My Favorite Murder” by Ambrose Bierce
“The Inmost Light” by Arthur Machen
“The Man Whom the Trees Loved” by Algernon Blackwood
“The King’s Messenger” by F. Marion Crawford
“The Unhappy Body” by Lord Dunsany
“Xélucha” by M. P. Shiel
“The Eye Above the Mantel” by Frank Belknap Long
“A Dim-Remembered Story” by R. H. Barlow
“The Diamond Lens” by Fitz-James O’Brien
“Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family” by H. P. Lovecraft
If you enjoyed this collection, be sure to check out another great anthology edited by S.T. Joshi, Great Tales of Terror.
Great Weird Tales is an enticing collection, edited by none other than that erudite scholar of the strange, S. T. Joshi. This is an engrossing read and one that should not be missed by literary acolytes of the uncanny.
As far as being ‘weird’, most of the stories herein deliver the goods, providing a sterling survey of the genre across fourteen of its practitioners. Indeed, authors of the weird tale are well represented in this anthology, including behemoths such as Lovecraft, Machen, and Blackwood alongside many less recognizable names, most of whom you will likely be glad to get to know.
Precious few of these tales fall short of the mark, “The Sin-Eater” and “My Favorite Murder” being two that come to mind. The first gets bogged down in Gaelic dialect, and the second is a tad too satirical for my taste. I might also level an accusatory finger at His Lordship, Dunsany, whose parable “The Unhappy Body” unhappily doesn’t fit into the spirit of the proceedings quite as well as the works of some of his untitled colleagues.
But there are plenty of great selections here to please both connoisseur and newcomer alike. Written in his typical matter-of-fact style, Lovecraft’s “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family” tells a tale of dynastic degeneration with horrific implications. Although it stretches a bit long, Blackwood’s “The Man Whom the Trees Loved” is both eerie and atmospheric, providing a healthy dose of nature-oriented mysticism. And while Machen’s intriguing mystery “The Inmost Light” seems to lack anything resembling a satisfactory conclusion, it is perhaps only because his approach is so masterful.
As for the lofty peaks of this collection, they are gems indeed. “The Dead Valley” is a disturbing excursion into the strange that exists right alongside our everyday human haunts, and Hodgson’s “The Voice in the Night” is truly chilling, taking the weird to an entirely new level. Barlow’s “A Dim-Remembered Story” is a visionary revelation, and “The Diamond Lens” may force you to reexamine your perceptions of reality itself.
As usual, Joshi provides an excellent introduction, elucidating the nuances of the genre and filling out some of the biographical details of the authors. Although it would have been nice to have included the years of publication along with the tales to help orient the reader as to their precise location within the scope of the genre, this information can be sought out in the bibliography.
Mysteriously, the table of contents omits the names of the authors of the tales, making it inconvenient for the reader to see them at a glance and revisit his favorites. So that you know what’s included in this collection, here are the tales and their respective authors:
“The Dead Valley” by Ralph Adams Cram
“The Sin-Eater” by Fiona Macleod
“The Voice in the Night” by William Hope Hodgson
“His Unconquerable Enemy” by W. C. Morrow
“My Favorite Murder” by Ambrose Bierce
“The Inmost Light” by Arthur Machen
“The Man Whom the Trees Loved” by Algernon Blackwood
“The King’s Messenger” by F. Marion Crawford
“The Unhappy Body” by Lord Dunsany
“Xélucha” by M. P. Shiel
“The Eye Above the Mantel” by Frank Belknap Long
“A Dim-Remembered Story” by R. H. Barlow
“The Diamond Lens” by Fitz-James O’Brien
“Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family” by H. P. Lovecraft
If you enjoyed this collection, be sure to check out another great anthology edited by S.T. Joshi, Great Tales of Terror.
December 24, 2016
A great collection of short weird fiction, with only a few duds in the bunch. Broken up into sections based on sub-genre (e.g. "Tales of Horror" or "Tales of Pseudoscience"). Joshi's introduction is not extensive, but gives brief background on each author and gets the job done overall. Highly recommended.
October 2, 2017
3.5 since a few were repeats for me but a wonderful collection overall. They just don't write them like they used to.
October 31, 2009
Dover Publications has set out to specialize in the field of horror and fantasy tales -- particularly those in the public domain. This book contains fourteen tales, some outstanding and some barely tolerable, but the good ones make it eminently worthwhile. I particularly admired Lord Dunsany's "The Unhappy Body" and the novelette-length "The Man Whom the Trees Loved" by Algernon Blackwood. The H.P. Lovecraft selection, "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and Family," is a funny take on the subject of miscegenation.
October 20, 2020
What more can be said? Title speaks for itself. Anyone, looking for definition of “the weird” can read this collection as introduction, by noted practitioners.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews