Horror Aficionados discussion

This is a thread for tracking short fiction read in 2017. Threads tracking short fiction for years past have been hosted by either myself or Greg and may be found here (2013 thread), here (2014), here (2015), and here (2016).

For the purposes of this thread, the term “short fiction” can be defined as broadly or as narrowly as the person crafting the list desires — it can include, for example, novellas, novelettes, essays, or poems as well as short stories. Similarly, the fiction in question can come from whatever genre the list-maker is interested in (although one presumes that since this group is primarily interested in horror at least some of the entries will be horror-related). The fiction can come from magazines, story collections, the web, chapbooks, e-books, whatever. The format of the list can take whatever form is deemed appropriate by the list-maker. (I tend to make separate posts for each month, but that’s just me.) Finally, any list entries can also serve as the springboard for the discussion of said entries if members so desire.

Last year I set for myself the task of reading 300 stories, but still managed to fall well short of what I had thought of as a rather modest goal. I suppose I’ll set the same goal for this coming year.

In part because the obsessive-compulsive way in which I fashion these lists generates a lot of characters (breaking the Goodreads-imposed cap on characters per post), I’m going to follow my usual practice of partitioning my posts by month.

And, here we go...

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Canavan’s short stories

January

1. “ ‘Bring Me a Light!’ ”, Jane Margaret Hooper (1861). ✭✭
2. “The Upper Berth”, F. Marion Crawford (1885). ✭✭✭✭✭
3. “The Dead Smile”, F. Marion Crawford (1899). ✭½
4. “Man Overboard!”, F. Marion Crawford (1903). ✭✭✭✭✭
5. “For the Blood Is the Life”, F. Marion Crawford (1905). ✭✭✭✭
6. “E for Effort”, T. L. Sherred (1947). ✭✭
7. “Over the River and Through the Woods”, Clifford D. Simak (1965). ✭✭✭½
8. “S.F.”, T. E. D. Klein (1975). ✭½
9. “Magic Carpet”, T. E. D. Klein (1976). ✭✭½
10. “Before the Play”, Stephen King (1982). ✭✭✭✭
11. “The Jigsaw Girl”, Stephen Gallagher (1986). ✭✭✭✭
12. “Well-Connected”, T. E. D. Klein (1987). ✭✭✭✭
13. “Camera Shy”, T. E. D. Klein (1988). ✭✭✭
14. “Scrawler”, Ann K. Schwader (1988). ✭✭✭½
15. “Driving Force”, Stephen Gallagher (1989). ✭✭✭
16. “Modus Operandi”, Stephen Gallagher (1989). ✭✭½
17. “They Don’t Write ’Em Like This Anymore”, T. E. D. Klein (1989). ✭✭½
18. “In the Airlock”, Ann K. Schwader (1989). ✭✭✭
19. “Old Glass”, Ann K. Schwader (1989). ✭✭✭
20. “Experiencing the Other”, Ann K. Schwader (1992). ✭✭✭
21. “The Tulu Jar”, Ann K. Schwader (1992). ✭✭✭½
22. “Twenty Mile”, Ann K. Schwader (1992). ✭✭✭✭½
23. “Hole in the Wall”, Etgar Keret (1994). ✭✭✭
24. “Balancing”, Ann K. Schwader (1995). ✭✭½
25. “Teddington”, David Longhorn (1997). ✭✭✭
26. “The Story About a Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God”, Etgar Keret (1998). ✭✭✭✭
27. “Home Visitor”, Ann K. Schwader (1998). ✭✭✭✭
28. “Curtains for Nat Crumley”, T. E. D. Klein (1996). ✭✭✭
29. “Growing Things”, T. E. D. Klein (1999). ✭✭✭
30. “Fade Away”, Ann K. Schwader (1999). ✭✭½
31. “Mail Order Bride”, Ann K. Schwader (1999). ✭✭✭✭
32. “Goodman”, Etgar Keret (2002). ✭✭✭½
33. “Body of Work”, Ann K. Schwader (2003). ✭✭½
34. “The Gazing Globe”, Ann K. Schwader (2003). ✭✭½
35. “If He Calls”, Ann K. Schwader (2003). ✭✭✭½
36. “Lost Stars”, Ann K. Schwader (2003). ✭✭✭½
37. “The Matthias Critical Method”, Ann K. Schwader (2003). ✭✭✭✭½
38. “Meeting Mr. Marmalade”, Ann K. Schwader (2003). ✭✭½
39. “Objects from the Gilman-Waite Collection”, Ann K. Schwader (2003). ✭✭✭½
40. “The Prince of Perfect”, Ann K. Schwader (2003). ✭✭
41. “Tattered Souls”, Ann K. Schwader (2003). ✭✭✭✭
42. “Little Angels”, Stephen Gallagher (2004). ✭✭½
43. “Rope Trick”, Mark P. Henderson (2004). ✭✭✭✭
44. “Period Instruments”, Mark P. Henderson (2008). ✭✭
45. “The Well Dresser”, Mark P. Henderson (2008). ✭✭✭
46. “The Night Marchers”, Tom Ogden (2008). ✭
47. “Candle Cove”, Kris Straub (2009). ✭✭✭
48. “The Madonna of Picardy”, Peter Bell (2012). ✭✭✭
49. “The Silken Drum”, Reggie Oliver (2013). ✭✭✭½
50. “Ruins”, Eleanor Arnason (2015). ✭✭✭½
51. “For Something to Do”, Elmore Leonard (2015). ✭✭✭½
52. “Walking with the Cross”, Peter Bell (2016). ✭✭✭½
53. “Picture This”, Vincent C. Cava (2016). ✭✭✭½
54. “Wild Swimming”, Elodie Harper (2016). ✭✭✭½
55. “Teeny Tiny”, Max Lobdell (2016). ✭✭✭
56. “Creeping Crimson”, Michael Marks (2016). ✭✭✭½

January was a fairly decent “kick-off” month for my list, although I don’t really expect to maintain this pace. I’ll make special mention of a few of the better stories I read.

I remember saying once before that a sometimes weakness of F. Marion Crawford’s ghost stories is their utter predictability. And yet I often find that I’m so delighted by his craftsmanship that I’m willing to overlook this supposed flaw. “Man Overboard!” (a re-read for me) is my favorite Crawford story, although aficionados are more likely to be familiar with either “The Screaming Skull” or “The Upper Berth”. “Man Overboard!” originally appeared the Strand Magazine and subsequently in Crawford’s 1911 collection, Uncanny Tales (alternate title in the U.S.: Wandering Ghosts ).

Stephen King’s famous novel about the destruction of an American family, The Shining , was originally to have included a prologue and a (sort-of) epilogue entitled “Before the Play” and “After the Play”, respectively. If I once knew why those sections were absent from the final draft, I have since forgotten. The lengthy prologue was eventually published separately in a 1982 issue of Stuart David Schiff’s Whispers. Both “Before” and “After” appeared in an insanely expensive revised edition of the novel published a while back by Cemetery Dance. If you poke around on the web you can find “Before”. So why do I like this story/prologue? While I enjoyed King’s novel, for me the last third or quarter falls a bit flat as the author grapples only semi-successfully with that problem common to many supernatural novels — “explaining” the supernatural element. The prologue is able to avoid that problem precisely because it is the prologue.

Stephen Gallagher is a writer who, in my opinion, is under-read and under-appreciated. “The Jigsaw Girl” deftly integrates the themes of past regrets and future longings. I only wish the story’s ending had been just a tad more clever or, as regards the narrator, more transformative. The story first appeared in Charles L. Grant’s Shadows 9 and was later collected in the author’s Out of His Mind (2004).

I may use this as a place to list my short reads. I used to keep track of the books I planned on reading but I lost track of it. This should prove viable and interesting.

Canavan I have to ask where you found those T. E. D. Klein stories: I adore his writing and have never read those stories but want to. Thank you!

Holly asked:

Canavan I have to ask where you found those T. E. D. Klein stories: I adore his writing and have never read those stories but want to. Thank you!

They can be found in Reassuring Tales , a limited edition collection that was published by Subterranean Press in 2006. You can find used copies floating around, but they ain’t cheap and, frankly, I’m not sure the book taken as a whole merits the price. Compared to the contents of Dark Gods , what’s found in Reassuring Tales is “lesser” Klein. The single best entry is “The Events at Poroth Farm”, which can easily be found elsewhere (viz., according to the ISFDB, more than ten different anthologies).

Canavan’s short stories

February

57. “The Story of an Hour” [alternate title: “The Dream of an Hour”], Kate Chopin (1894). ✭✭✭✭½
58. “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”, Ernest Hemingway (1933). ✭✭✭✭½
59. “Apartment 205”, Mark Samuels (2003). ✭✭✭✭½
60. “Religion, Evil, and Obssession in the Ghostly Stories of Henry James”, Reggie Oliver (2007). ✭✭✭
61. “Ghost Stories of Another Antiquary: Montague Summers and the Supernatural Tale”, Reggie Oliver (2009). ✭✭✭½
62. “The Scholar and the Story Teller: Aspects of M. R. James” [alternate title: “M. R. James: The Scholar and the Story Teller”], Reggie Oliver (2009). ✭✭✭✭
63. “Stella Gibbons, a Writer and the Supernatural”, Reggie Oliver (2009). ✭✭✭
64. “Off the Menu”, Jae Miles (2014). ✭½
65. “The Scariest Story Ever Told”, Colin Nissan (2015). ✭✭✭½
66. “The Perfect Author”, Reggie Oliver (2013). ✭✭✭½
67. “The Prince of Darkness” [alternate title: “Posessions”], Reggie Oliver (2015). ✭✭✭½
68. “Love at Second Sight”, Reggie Oliver (2016). ✭✭✭✭
69. “Rapture”, Reggie Oliver (2016). ✭✭✭
70. “A Day with the Delusionists”, Reggie Oliver (2017). ✭✭½

The best horror story I read this month was Mark Samuel’s “Apartment 205”, a rather dark take on the theme of paranormal investigations. It first appeared in The White Hands and Other Weird Tales (2003).

Hadn't realised that I'd not posted here yet! Anyway, below are my short story reads for the coming year. I'm including individual issues of comics which, as serial publications, can't be included as books on the GR database (for the most part).

January

1. 2000 AD, prog #2005 (2 Nov. 2016). [Sci-fi comic]

February

2. 2000 AD, prog #2006 (9 Nov. 2016). [Sci-fi comic]
3. 2000 AD, prog #2007 (16 Nov. 2016). [Sci-fi comic]
4. 2000 AD, prog #2008 (23 Nov. 2016). [Sci-fi comic]
5. 2000 AD, prog #2009 (30 Nov. 2016). [Sci-fi comic]

March
6. Anonymous, 'Robot Archie vs. The Spider', in Lion Holiday Special (1980). [Superhero comic strip. Re-read after many years for indexing at the Grand Comics Database.]
7. Anonymous, 'Captain Condor and the Planet of Treachery', in Lion Holiday Special (1980). [Textual science fiction story. Re-read after many years for indexing at the Grand Comics Database.]
8. Anonymous, 'Black Max', in Lion Holiday Special (1980). [War/science fiction/historical comic strip. Re-read after many years for indexing at the Grand Comics Database.]

April
9. Anonymous, Rigel Express (Starblazer #49) [Sci-fi comic; re-read after many years for indexing at the Grand Comics Database.]

May
10. Brady Webb (ed.), The Astonishing Spider-Man & Deadpool (Panini UK, 2016 series) #17 (12 April 2017). [Superhero comic]

June
11. Aaron Wilson, 'The Gates of Hell', in Kasma SF Magazine, June 2017. [Bizarro short story.]

July

August
12. 'A Song for the Season' by Eliza Hirsch, in Cast of Wonders podcast #70 (8 March 2013). [YA fantasy]
13. 2000 AD, prog #1301 (24 July 2002). (Re-read for indexing at the Grand Comics Database.) [Sci-fi comic]
14. 'Sara's Cell' by John Beyer, in Youth Imagination, https://youthimagination.org/index.ph... (posted 20 July 2017). [YA]
15. 'Under the Earth' by Micah Castle, in Crimson Streets, http://www.crimsonstreets.com/2016/10... (posted 16 October 2016). [Horror]
16. 'North of 25' by Mike Adamson, in Uprising Review, http://www.uprisingreview.com/north-o... (posted 24 July 2017). [Sci-fi]
17. 'Fishboy' by Seras Niketa, in Body Parts Magazine #8 (Spring 2017), http://www.bodypartsmagazine.com/fish.... [Horror]

September

October
18. 2000 AD, prog #2004 (26 October 2016). [Sci-fi comic; recently purchased back issue.]
19. 2000 AD, prog #2010 (7 December 2016). [Sci-fi comic; recently purchased back issue.]
20. 2000 AD, prog #2011 (14 December 2016). [Sci-fi comic; begun earlier in the year]
21. 2000 AD, prog #2012 (4 January 2017). [Sci-fi comic]
22. 2000 AD, prog #2013 (11 January 2017). [Sci-fi comic; recently purchased back issue.]
23. 2000 AD, prog #2014 (18 January 2017). [Sci-fi comic; recently purchased back issue.]
24. 2000 AD, prog #2015 (25 January 2017). [Sci-fi comic; recently purchased back issue.]
25. 2000 AD, prog #2016 (1 February 2017). [Sci-fi comic; recently purchased back issue.]
26. 2000 AD, prog #2017 (8 February 2017). [Sci-fi comic; recently purchased back issue.]
27. 2000 AD, prog #2018 (15 February 2017). [Sci-fi comic; recently purchased back issue.]
28. 2000 AD, prog #2019 (22 February 2017). [Sci-fi comic; recently purchased back issue.]
29. 2000 AD, prog #2020 (1 March 2017). [Sci-fi comic; recently purchased back issue.]

November
30. 'Fat Bubble' by Tom Easton, in Analog Science Fiction and Fact July/August 2017, pp 84-5. [SF]

December
31. 'Alouette, gentille alouette' by Andrew Barton, in Analog Science Fiction and Fact July/August 2017, pp 80-3. [SF]

Canavan’s short stories

March

71. “The Signal-Man”, Charles Dickens & Gregory Gallant (as by Seth) (Illustrator) (1866/2015 ed.). ✭✭✭✭
72. “Lord Beden’s Motor”, Harris Burland (as by J. B. Harris-Burland) (1901) ✭✭✭
73. “Afterward”, Edith Wharton & Gregory Gallant (as by Seth) (Illustrator) (1910/2016 ed.). ✭✭✭✭
74. “The Shadowy Third”, Ellen Glasgow (1916). ✭✭✭✭
75. “The Diary of Mr. Poynter”, M. R. James & Gregory Gallant (as by Seth) (Illustrator) (1919/2015 ed.). ✭✭✭
76. “The Past”, Ellen Glasgow (1920). ✭✭✭½
77. “The Eye Above the Mantel”, Frank Belknap Long (1921). ½
78. “At the Home of Poe” [poem], Frank Belknap Long (1922). ✭
79. “The Ocean Leech”, Frank Belknap Long (1925). ✭
80. “The Sea Thing”, Frank Belknap Long (1925). ✭✭½
81. “The Spirit of Stonehenge”, Rosalie Muspratt (as by Jasper John) (1930). ✭½
82. “The Crown Derby Plate”, Marjorie Bowen & Gregory Gallant (as by Seth) (Illustrator) (1931/2016 ed.). ✭✭✭✭
83. “One Who Saw”, A. M. Burrage & Gregory Gallant (as by Seth) (Illustrator) (1931/2015 ed.). ✭✭✭✭½
84. “When Chaugnar Wakes” [poem], Frank Belknap Long (1932). ✭
85. “All But Empty”, Graham Greene (1947). ✭✭✭✭
86. “The Observer”, Clifford D. Simak (1972). ✭½
87. “Last Writes”, David Longhorn (1997). ✭✭✭
88. “One Over”, Steve Duffy (1998). ✭✭✭
89. “Tidesend”, Steve Duffy (1998). ✭✭½
90. “Better Than Home”, Joe Hill (1999). ✭✭✭
91. “Pop Art”, Joe Hill (2001). ✭✭✭½
92. “Abraham’s Boys”, Joe Hill (2004). ✭✭✭✭½
93. “The Black Phone”, Joe Hill (2004). ✭✭✭½
94. “Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead”, Joe Hill (2005). ✭✭✭½
95. “The Cape”, Joe Hill (2005). ✭✭✭✭
96. “Dead-Wood”, Joe Hill (2005). ✭✭½
97. “In the Rundown”, Joe Hill (2005). ✭✭✭½
98. “Last Breath”, Joe Hill (2005). ✭✭✭✭
99. “Scheherazade’s Typewriter”, Joe Hill (2005). ✭✭✭½
100. “The Widow’s Breakfast”, Joe Hill (2005). ✭✭½
101. “Talkers”, David Longhorn (2007). ✭✭✭
102. “The Little Men”, Megan Abbott (2015). ✭✭✭½
103. “East Wickenden”, Edward Pearce (2015). ✭✭✭
104. “Eight Short Science-Fiction Short Stories”, Paul Simms (2015). ✭
105. “Holywood”, Tom Johnstone (2016). ✭
106. “Jabber Andy”, Edward Pearce (2016). ✭✭✭½
107. “The Legacy”, Edward Pearce (2016). ✭✭✭
108. “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”, Edward Pearce (2013). ✭½
109. “Sirens”, Edward Pearce (2016). ✭✭
110. “The Spark of Life”, Edward Pearce (2016). ✭✭
111. “A Stronger Magic”, Edward Pearce (2016). ✭✭½
112. “Toddy”, Edward Pearce (2016). ✭½
113. “Bone Matter”, David A. Sutton (2017). ✭✭✭
114. “ ‘The Rare, the Choice and the Curious’: A. N. L. Munby’s ‘The Comte de Marnay’ ”, Mark Valentine (2017). ✭✭✭✭
115. “Mr. Humphreys Meets Ann Clark: M. R. James Sightings in Maurice Sandoz’s The Maze ”, Martin Voracek (2017). ✭✭½
116. “Assizes”, C. E. Ward (2017). ✭½

When making these lists I typically refrain from citing re-reads that I’ve previously read within the last 4 or 5 years. I’ve made an exception for March in the case of a quintet of stories, all of which I recently picked up as newer editions (2015, 2016) illustrated by Seth (the pen name of Gregory Gallant). The five stories are: Charles Dickens’ “The Signal-Man”, Edith Wharton’s “Afterward”, M. R. James’ “The Diary of Mr. Poynter”, Marjorie Bowen’s “The Crown Derby Plate”, and A. M. Burrage’s “One Who Saw”. My interest in Seth came about when a friend recently introduced me to his Palookaville series which dates back to the early 90s (yeah, I know, I’m coming a bit late to the game). The stories are part of a series (published by Biblioasis) called Ghost Stories for Christmas, after the largely British tradition of reciting ghostly tales around Christmastime. The choices are pretty good, if a tad unoriginal. (Although I would have picked a story from the M. R. James canon other than “The Diary of Mr. Poynter”.) I will note that Seth’s work seems to be a bit of an acquired taste. His style has been described as somewhat spare and blocky. Some people like it a lot; others not so much.

I just started tracking the short stories I'm reading, this is really great.

Brandon wrote:
I just started tracking the short stories I'm reading, this is really great.

Thanks, Brandon.

Canavan’s short stories

April

117. “The Phantom Rickshaw”, Rudyard Kipling (1888). ✭✭✭✭
118. “The Horror on the Links”, Seabury Quinn (1925). ✭✭
119. “The Tenants of Broussac”, Seabury Quinn (1925). ✭✭
120. “The Sobbin’ Women”, Stephen Vincent Benét (1926). ✭✭✭✭
121. “The Devil and Daniel Webster”, Stephen Vincent Benét (1936). ✭✭✭✭
122. “Pacific 421”, August Derleth (1944). ✭✭✭
123. “The Six Fingers of Time”, R. A. Lafferty (1960). ✭✭✭½
124. “Bind Your Hair”, Robert Aickman (1964). ✭✭✭½
125. “The Midnight El”, Robert Weinberg (1994). ✭✭½
126. “The Game of Bear”, M. R. James & Helen Grant (2007). ✭✭✭✭
127. “Disappearing Act”, Mark P. Henderson (2008). ✭½
128. “Return Ticket”, Mark P. Henderson (2008). ✭✭✭✭
129. “Rome Will Rise Again”, Mark P. Henderson (2003). ✭✭✭
130. “Ticking”, Mark P. Henderson (2008). ✭✭✭½
131. “The Advent Reunion”, Andrew Klavan (2011). ✭✭✭✭½
132. “The Second Crown”, Katherine Hayes (2016). ✭✭✭✭
133. “The Grave of the Radio Ventriloquist”, David Longhorn (2016). ✭✭✭
134. “The Heart of England”, David Longhorn (2016). ✭✭✭
135. “An Actor’s Nightmare”, Reggie Oliver (2017). ✭✭½
136. “A Jar”, David Longhorn (n.d.). ✭✭✭½

The story I had the most fun with this past month was Andrew Klavan’s “The Advent Reunion”. Although a relatively recent piece, it reads like something that might have been written during the mid-twentieth century. The story originally saw life as an on-line recitation that the author captured using a webcam; it was subsequently published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and reprinted in Otto Penzler’s The Big Book of Ghost Stories .

Canavan wrote: "
Canavan’s short stories


April

117. “The Phantom Rickshaw”, Rudyard Kipling (1888). ✭✭✭✭
118. “The Horror on the Links”, Seabury Quinn (1925). ✭✭
119. “The Tena..."

That's an unusual first publication format for Klavan's story. I guess this will become more common as an alternative method of publication on the Web.

Greg wrote:

That's an unusual first publication format for Klavan's story. I guess this will become more common as an alternative method of publication on the Web.

What is perhaps ironic is that Klavan was using new technology in an attempt to recapture an older aspect of the art form — the oral recitation of the ghost story during Christmas.

Canavan wrote: "Greg wrote:


That's an unusual first publication format for Klavan's story. I guess this will become more common as an alternative method of publication on the Web.


What is perhaps ironic is t..."

LOL But that's a nice idea. Do you think it worked well?

Greg asked:

LOL But that's a nice idea. Do you think it worked well?

To be honest, I only listened to a portion of it. I read the story first in the aforementioned anthology by Otto Penzler. Klavan was okay; he tries hard, but I thought his delivery was only marginally successful in conveying the kind of atmosphere I associate with the traditional ghost story. Robert Lloyd Parry has for a number of years been reciting in public some of M. R. James’ stories in a way that strikes me personally as closer to the way it ought to be done.

Canavan’s short stories

May

137. “Wakefield”, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1835). ✭✭✭
138. “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes”, Henry James (1868). ✭✭½
139. “The Ghostly Rental”, Henry James (1876). ✭½
140. “Death’s Warm Fireside”, Paul Ernst (1936). ✭✭✭½
141. “I Did Not Hear You, Sir”, Avram Davidson (1958). ✭✭
142. “Genius Loci”, Mark P. Henderson (2008). ✭½
143. “What Became of April”, Mark P. Henderson (2008). ✭✭
144. “Taking the Dare”, Gary Jonas (2015). ✭½
145. “Blackberry Time”, Peter Bell (2016). ✭✭✭✭½
146. “The Mask of the Dead Mamilius”, Mark Valentine (2016). ✭✭✭
147. “The Brooch”, John Ward (2016). ✭✭✭½
148. “We Don’t Want for Company”, D. P. Watt (2016). ✭✭✭½

May was a bit of a lean month, both in terms of quantity and quality. The real standout was Peter Bell’s “Blackberry Time”, written for Rosemary Pardoe’s M. R. James-themed anthology, The Ghosts & Scholars Book of Shadows, Volume 3 . Bell’s story is based on one of James’ lesser tales, “An Evening’s Entertainment”, and manages the perhaps difficult trick of far surpassing its model in quality.

Canavan’s short stories

June

149. “The Dance of Death”, Algernon Blackwood (1907). ✭✭✭½
150. “The Listener”, Algernon Blackwood (1907). ✭✭✭½
151. “The Wendigo”, Algernon Blackwood (1910). ✭✭✭✭½
152. “Seaton’s Aunt”, Walter de la Mare (1922). ✭✭✭✭
153. “The Outsider”, H. P. Lovecraft (1926). ✭✭✭½
154. “The Tower of Moab”, L. A. Lewis (1934). ✭✭✭½
155. “The Dark Eidolon”, Clark Ashton Smith (1935). ✭✭✭½
156. “The Crawling Horror”, Thorp McClusky (1936). ✭✭½
157. “Evening Primrose”, John Collier (1940). ✭✭✭✭½
158. “The Words of Guru”, C. M. Kornbluth (1941). ✭✭✭
159. “The Idol of the Flies”, Jane Rice (1942). ✭✭✭
160. “They Bite”, William Anthony Parker White (as by Anthony Boucher) (1943). ✭✭✭✭½
161. “The Jar”, Ray Bradbury (1944/1955 rev.). ✭✭✭✭✭
162. “Skeleton”, Ray Bradbury (1945/1955 rev.). ✭✭✭✭½
163. “Carousel”, August Derleth (1945). ✭✭✭
164. “Shonokin Town”, Manly Wade Wellman (1946). ✭✭
165. “Bianca’s Hands”, Theodore Sturgeon (1947). ✭✭
166. “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson (1948). ✭✭✭✭✭
167. “Born of Man and Woman”, Richard Matheson (1950). ✭✭✭✭
168. “The Tourist Who Wasn’t There”, Brendan DuBois (2002). ✭✭✭
169. “The Nephews”, Rick Hautala (2002). ✭✭✭½
170. “The Grandmaster’s Final Game”, Mark Samuels (2003). ✭✭✭
171. “Alice Baker”, Susan Hill (2016). ✭✭✭
172. “Boy Number Twenty-One”, Susan Hill (2016). ✭½
173. “The Front Room”, Susan Hill (2016). ✭✭✭
174. “The Travelling Bag”, Susan Hill (2016). ✭
175. “Line of Sight”, Brian Evenson (2017). ✭✭✭½

I spent some of this month plowing through the first of John Pelan’s two-volume anthology, The Century’s Best Horror Fiction . (I had initially picked this up a number of years ago, only to unaccountably stall out somewhere in the 1930s.) One of the most pleasant surprises was a re-read of Ray Bradbury’s “The Jar”. (I must have first read this some 50 years ago, but frankly could barely remember having done so.) Originally written in 1944 for Weird Tales, it subsequently appeared in Arkham House’s 1947 Dark Carnival and then (in a slightly revised form) the 1955 Ballantine collection, The October Country . I sometimes find Bradbury’s Luddite tendencies and sentimentality off-putting (especially in his later work), but “The Jar” is a surprisingly clever and cynical take on (view spoiler)[the insidious nature of religious ideation. (hide spoiler)] The 1944 version of the story can be found here.

February 2017
1. To The Measures Fall by Richard Powers. **** Ode to the power of books and memory and life.
2. The Dungeon Master by Sam Lipsyte. *** Pain of growing up.
March 2017
1. New Best Horror by Joe Hill *** Funny ending
2. 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill ****Sad and sweet
3. Pop Art by Joe Hill ****Imaginative and melancholic.
4. Abraham’s Boys by Joe Hill *** Fun take on the Helsing Bros.
5. Better Than Home by Joe Hill ***** Love this one about a boy and his baseball coach father
6. The Black Phone by Joe Hill *** Supernatural fun
7. In the Rundown by Joe Hill ***Depressing
8. The Cape by Joe Hill ***** That was fun
9. Last Breath by Joe Hill **** definitely creepy
10. Dead-Wood By Joe Hill ** didn’t understand it
11. The Widow’s Breakfast by Joe Hill **** Sad & creepy
12. Corrine by Alice Munro *** Very Lost Generation ennui with a surprise twist
13. Bobby Conroy Comes Back by Joe Hill **** Fun but I always feel bad for the guy. Wish I was in that movie.
14. My Father’s Mask - by Joe Hill **** For some reason I liked this story not sure why, Remind me a little of Peter Straub
15. Voluntary Committal - by Joe Hill **** Good one, once again sad study of brothers.
16. The Scheherazade Typewriter – By Joe Hill *** funny story about an author who won’t let go.
17. The Blind Man’s Sighted Daughters by Joyce Carol Oates - *** I guess it’s more common than I thought of parents holding their adult children ‘hostage’ when they are old and unwilling to go to a nursing home. At 50 I can’t wait to go to a home! Put me there now!
April 2017
1. The Tree Line, Kansas, 1934 - *** FBI stand-off story. Good but not me.
May 2017
1. Magda Maria - Joyce Carol Oates ***JC can sure put a damper on things in a beautiful way can’t she. Dive bar stories are like that.
2. "Leave It to Jeeves" P. G. Wodehouse *****– took me a minute (like it always does with English authors) but once I got the cadence… funny stuff.
3. "Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest" P. G. Wodehouse ***** – the subplot with Jeeves and Wooster fighting over clothes choice is hilarious.
4. "Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg" - P. G. Wodehouse
5. "Absent Treatment" - P. G. Wodehouse
6. "Helping Freddie" - P. G. Wodehouse
7. "Rallying Round Old George" - P. G. Wodehouse
8. Doing Clarence a Bit of Good - P. G. Wodehouse
June 2017
1 .Boys Town by Jim Shepard - ***depressing
2 "The Aunt and the Sluggard" - P. G. Wodehouse – all these stories were good. The Jeeves ones better.
3 Blue Roses by Frances Hwang - ****Funny and bittersweet
4 Cutty Sark by Joyce Carol Oates - ***couldn’t relate to the kid. My reactions would be different. Not that that makes it bad just …

I don't typically go out and buy short story books, the ones I read just come to me. Mainly from old New Yorkers I kind of inherited from an aunt that passed. I did just discover P. G. Wodehouse (meaning I just now read him, I have heard of him for years) and I read Joe Hills collection, although when I bought it I didn't know it was short stories, I loved Horns and wanted to read more. I do love the form and I am glad to see others do too.

Tom said (in part):

I did just discover P. G. Wodehouse (meaning I just now read him, I have heard of him for years)

An acquaintance of mine has been pushing me on and off for years to give Wodehouse a try, but I have thus far resisted. Perhaps I should give in.

Canavan’s short stories

July

176. “In the Dark”, Ronal Kayser (1936). ✭½
177. “Uncle Isaiah”, Russell Kirk (1951). ✭✭✭✭
178. “Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot (10)”, Reginald Bretnor (as by Grendel Briarton) (1959). ✭
179. “Killed by Kindness”, Nedra Tyre (1963). ✭✭
180. “Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot (71)”, Reginald Bretnor (as by Grendel Briarton) (1969). ✭
181. “The Hospice”, Robert Aickman (1975). ✭✭✭✭✭
182. “Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot (Epsilon)”, Reginald Bretnor (as by Grendel Briarton) (1985). ✭½
183. “The Score” (originally untitled), Joe Hill (2003). ✭✭✭½
184. “Mannequins in Aspects of Terror”, Mark Samuels (2003). ✭✭✭
185. “Blitzkrieg Pop”, Joe Hill (2007). ✭✭½
186. “Jude Confronts Global Warming”, Joe Hill (2007). ✭
187. “Shock and Blah” (originally published as “A Short and Unhappy Life”), Joe Hill (2007/2017 rev.). ✭✭✭
188. “Birds of a Feather” (originally published as “Of a Feather”), Joe Hill (2008). ✭✭✭✭
189. “Real, True Damage: Mr. Majestyk Remembered”, Joe Hill (2009). ✭✭✭½
190. “10 Reasons Elmore Leonard Rules”, Joe Hill (2010). ✭✭✭
191. “Under the Influence”, Joe Hill (2011). ✭✭✭½
192. “Weird Worlds! Strange Customs! And Tricks to Mystify Your Friends! A Frankly Fetid Forword to Chamber of Chills: Volume One”, Joe Hill (2011). ✭✭✭½
193. “Strange Survival in ‘It’s a Good Life’ ”, Desirina Boskovich (2012). ✭✭✭
194. “Strange Salvation in ‘The Brotherhood of Mutilation’ ”, Larry Nolen (2012). ✭✭✭
195. “The Colonial Nightmare in ‘Sandkings’ ”, Elwin Cotman (2013). ✭✭✭
196. “Bring on the Bad Guys” (originally published as “Good Minds Suggest—Joe Hill’s Favorite Horror Villains”), Joe Hill (2013). ✭✭✭½
197. “Good Help Is Hard to Find”, Joe Hill (2013). ✭✭✭✭½
198. “Underground Idol”, Joe Hill (2013). ✭✭½
199. “May Bury You (On Robert Aickman’s ‘The Hospice’)”, Laird Barron (2014). ✭✭✭✭
200. “Visor Down” (origianlly published as “Peering into the Darkness”), Joe Hill (2014). ✭✭✭
201. “Possession Is Nine-Tenths of the Law”, Ian Rogers (2014). ✭✭✭
202. “Remember, Remember: An Introduction to Voice of Fire”, Joe Hill (2015). ✭✭✭
203. “Something Rotten”, Joe Hill (2015). ✭✭✭✭
204. “Weirder Than Wonderland”, Joe Hill (2015). ✭✭✭½
205. “Five Times the World Ended (and It Was Awesome)”, Joe Hill (2016). ✭✭✭
206. “Launching Rockets”, Joe Hill (2016). ✭✭✭
207. “Rules for Writing Horror: An Anti-List”, Joe Hill (2016/2017 rev.). ✭✭✭
208. “ ‘Something Vindictive Resides in Soot’: Stefan Grabiński’s Transmutative Imagination”, Timothy Jarvis (2016). ✭✭✭½
209. “The Only Lights Are Headlights”, Helen Marshall, (2016). ✭✭✭
210. “The House of Wonders”, C. E. Ward (2016). ✭✭✭✭

Canavan’s short stories

August

211. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, Washington Irving (1820). ✭✭✭✭✭
212. “The Search for Kruptos”, Mark Samuels (2003). ✭✭✭½

August proved to be a terrible month for reading. Two measly stories, one of those being Washington Irving’s classic novelette in preparation for one of Horror Aficionados’ September group reads.

Canavan’s short stories

September

213. “Can These Stones Speak?”, William Croft Dickinson (1953). ✭✭✭
214. “The Eve of St. Botulph”, William Croft Dickinson (1953). ✭✭✭½
215. “Return at Dusk”, William Croft Dickinson (1953). ✭✭✭
216. “The Keepers of the Wall”, William Croft Dickinson (1968). ✭✭✭
217. “Colony”, Mark Samuels (2003). ✭✭½
218. “Early Stages”, James Doig (2017). ✭✭✭✭
219. “No Surrender”, Peter Holman (2017). ✭✭✭½
220. “The Black Dog of Zero”, Rhys Hughes (2017). ✭✭✭
221. “Bluebells I’ll Gather”, Colin Insole (2017). ✭✭✭✭
222. “The English House”, D. P. Watt (2017). ✭✭✭

Canavan’s short stories

October

223. “The Man without a Country”, Edward Everett Hale (1863). ✭✭✭½
224. “A Visitor from Down Under”, L. P. Hartley (1926). ✭✭✭✭½
225. “The Travelling Grave”, L. P. Hartley (1929). ✭✭✭✭½
226. “Feet Foremost”, L. P. Hartley (1932). ✭✭✭
227. “Three, or Four, for Dinner”, L. P. Hartley (1932). ✭✭✭✭
228. “The Bell”, Beverley Nichols (1946). ✭✭✭½
229. “Podolo”, L. P. Hartley (1948). ✭✭✭✭½
230. “The Elemental”, R. Chetwynd-Hayes (1974). ✭✭½
231. “Samhain”, Bernard Taylor (1991). ✭✭✭
232. “The Washingtonians”, Bentley Little (1992). ✭✭✭✭
233. “The Impasse”, Mark Samuels (2003). ✭✭✭
234. “Janelle Asked to the Bedroom”, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2017). ✭✭
235. “The Bunker”, Mark Haddon (2017). ✭✭
236. “Mr. Lanyard’s Last Case”, Andrew Michael Hurley (2017). ✭✭✭
237. “They Flee from Me That Sometimes Did Me Seek”, Sarah Perry (2017). ✭✭✭
238. “Foreboding”, Kamila Shamsie (2017). ✭✭

Canavan’s short stories

November

239. “A Change of Ownership”, L. P. Hartley (1929). ✭✭½
240. “The Cotillion”, L. P. Hartley (1931). ✭✭✭½
241. “The Sweet Singers” (variant title: “A Professor’s Ghost Story”), William Croft Dickinson (1947). ✭½
242. “The Castle Guide”, William Croft Dickinson (c. 1957-1962). ✭½
243. “Let the Dead Bury the Dead”, William Croft Dickinson (c. 1957-1962). ✭✭
244. “Quieta non Movere”, William Croft Dickinson (c. 1957-1962). ✭½
245. “The Return of the Native”, William Croft Dickinson (c. 1957-1962). ✭✭
246. “His Own Number”, William Croft Dickinson (1963). ✭✭✭
247. “The House of Balfother”, William Croft Dickinson (1963). ✭✭½
248. “The MacGregor Skull”, William Croft Dickinson (1963). ✭½
249. “The Witch’s Bone”, William Croft Dickinson (1963). ✭✭
250. “The Colomber”, Dino Buzzati (1966/trans. 2011). ✭✭✭✭
251. “It Only Comes Out at Night”, Dennis Etchison (1976). ✭✭✭
252. “Black As Darkness”, Mark Samuels (2003). ✭✭✭½
253. “Vrolyck”, Mark Samuels (2003). ✭✭✭
254. “The Plot”, Stephen Gallagher (2006). ✭✭✭½
255. “Out of Bedlam”, Stephen Gallagher (2012). ✭✭
256. “One Dove”, Stephen Gallagher (2014). ✭✭✭½

Canavan’s short stories

December

257. “The Island”, L. P. Hartley (1924). ✭½
258. “Night Fears”, L. P. Hartley (1924). ✭✭✭½
259. “Lips of the Dead”, W. J. Stamper (1925). ✭½
260. “Conrad and the Dragon”, L. P. Hartley (1932). ✭✭½
261. “The Shanghai Jester”, Robert Leslie Bellem (1934). ✭
262. “The Thought”, L. P. Hartley (1948?). ✭✭✭
263. “McIlvaine’s Star”, August Derleth (1952). ✭✭✭
264. “Galactic Chest”, Clifford D. Simak (1956). ✭✭✭✭
265. “His Kind of Hellion”, Johnston McCulley (1957). ✭½
266. “Aloys”, R. A. Lafferty (1961). ✭✭✭
267. “Napier Court”, Ramsey Campbell (as by J. Ramsey Campbell) (1971). ✭✭
268. “Petey”, T. E. D. Klein (1979). ✭✭✭✭
269. “A Brief Dance to the Music of the Spheres”, Michael Kurland (1983). ✭✭✭
270. “Nadelman’s God”, T. E. D. Klein (1985). ✭✭✭✭✭
271. “Deep Wood”, Stephen Mark Rainey (as by Stephen M. Rainey) (1990). ✭✭½
272. “Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot (94)”, Reginald Bretnor (as by Grendel Briarton) (1992). ½
273. “Dark Brother”, Donald R. Burleson (1993). ✭✭½
274. “An Air of Berlioz”, H. R. Wakefield (2000). ✭✭✭
275. “The Assignation”, H. R. Wakefield (2000). ✭✭✭
276. “At World’s End”, H. R. Wakefield (2000). ✭✭
277. “The Bodyguard”, H. R. Wakefield (2000). ✭✭✭
278. “The Fall of the House of Gilpin”, H. R. Wakefield (2000). ✭✭✭
279. “Familiar Spirit”, H. R. Wakefield (2000). ✭✭✭
280. “The Latch-Key”, H. R. Wakefield (2000). ✭✭
281. “A Man’s Best Friend”, H. R. Wakefield (2000). ✭✭✭
282. “ ‘The Night Can Sweat with Terror’ ”, H. R. Wakefield (2000). ✭✭
283. “The Sandwich”, H. R. Wakefield (2000). ✭✭✭
284. “ ‘That Sleep of Death’ ”, H. R. Wakefield (2000). ✭✭✭
285. “Vengeance Is Ours!”, H. R. Wakefield (2000). ✭½
286. “All the Things You Are”, Mike Resnick (2006). ✭✭✭½
287. “Chance Corrigan and the Queen of Hearts”, Michael A. Stackpole (2011). ✭½
288. “Chance Corrigan and the Tick-Tock King of the Nile”, Michael A. Stackpole (2010). ✭✭½
289. “The Horror from the Vault”, Isaac Boissonneau (2016). ✭½
290. “Claymore and Maelstrom”, Paul StJohn Mackintosh (2017). ✭½
291. “The Echo of the Sea”, Paul StJohn Mackintosh (2017). ✭✭✭½
292. “Ghost Town”, Joe McKinney (2017). ✭✭✭½

Wow! Almost 300! Nice work, Canavan!

Greg said:

Wow! Almost 300! Nice work, Canavan!

Thanks, Greg. Of course, my goal was 300 and, once again, I managed to fall short. *sigh* Maybe 2018 will finally be the year I reach my goal. ;-)

Canavan wrote: "Greg said:


Wow! Almost 300! Nice work, Canavan!


Thanks, Greg. Of course, my goal was 300 and, once again, I managed to fall short. *sigh* Maybe 2018 will finally be the year I reach my goal. ;-)"

Well a goal is something to aim for - and if you achieve it, then that's just a bonus, right? ;-)

Greg said:

Well a goal is something to aim for - and if you achieve it, then that's just a bonus, right? ;-)

Yeah. I never take these goals all that seriously. As they say, it’s more about the process than the outcome. :-)