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Merry Christmas! ~ Frohe Weihnachten! ~ Feliz Navidad! ~ Buon Natale!
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas! ~ Frohe Weihnachten! ~ Feliz Navidad! ~ Buon Natale!
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Charlaine Harris - Sookie Stackhouse (10)
Ready for pre-order (publ. date May 4, 2010)
'Dead in the Family' - Sookie Stackhouse (10.)
Product Description - Amazon.co.uk:
If you think your family relationships are complicated, think again: you haven't seen anything like the ones in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie Stackhouse is dealing with a whole host of family problems, ranging from her own kin (a non-human fairy and a telepathic second cousin) demanding a place in her life, to her lover Eric's vampire sire, an ancient being who arrives with Eric's 'brother' in tow at a most inopportune moment. And Sookie's tracking down a distant relation of her ailing neighbour (and ex), Vampire Bill Compton. In addition to the multitude of family issues complicating her life, the werewolf pack of Shreveport has asked Sookie for a special favour, and since Sookie is an obliging young woman, she agrees. But this favour for the wolves has dire results for Sookie, who is still recovering from the trauma of her abduction during the Fairy War.
'Dead in the Family' - Sookie Stackhouse (10.)
Product Description - Amazon.co.uk:
If you think your family relationships are complicated, think again: you haven't seen anything like the ones in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie Stackhouse is dealing with a whole host of family problems, ranging from her own kin (a non-human fairy and a telepathic second cousin) demanding a place in her life, to her lover Eric's vampire sire, an ancient being who arrives with Eric's 'brother' in tow at a most inopportune moment. And Sookie's tracking down a distant relation of her ailing neighbour (and ex), Vampire Bill Compton. In addition to the multitude of family issues complicating her life, the werewolf pack of Shreveport has asked Sookie for a special favour, and since Sookie is an obliging young woman, she agrees. But this favour for the wolves has dire results for Sookie, who is still recovering from the trauma of her abduction during the Fairy War.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Best Books of 2009 (III) Germany
Amazon.de List - Best Books of 2009:
Top 10 Books: Science Fiction & Fantasy
01) Todesfluch: Black Dagger 10 (J. R. Ward)
02) Blutrote Küsse (Jeaniene Frost)
03) Gefährtin der Schatten (Lara Adrian)
04) Blutlinien: Black Dagger 11 (J. R. Ward)
05) Seelenjäger: Black Dagger 9 (J. R. Ward)
06) Die Legenden der Albae: Gerechter Zorn (Markus Heitz)
07) Nachtjagd: Black Dagger 1 (J. R. Ward)
08) Vampirträume: Black Dagger 12 (J. R. Ward)
09) Gesandte des Zwielichts (Lara Adrian)
10) Geliebte der Nacht (Lara Adrian)
Top 10 Books: Science Fiction & Fantasy
01) Todesfluch: Black Dagger 10 (J. R. Ward)
02) Blutrote Küsse (Jeaniene Frost)
03) Gefährtin der Schatten (Lara Adrian)
04) Blutlinien: Black Dagger 11 (J. R. Ward)
05) Seelenjäger: Black Dagger 9 (J. R. Ward)
06) Die Legenden der Albae: Gerechter Zorn (Markus Heitz)
07) Nachtjagd: Black Dagger 1 (J. R. Ward)
08) Vampirträume: Black Dagger 12 (J. R. Ward)
09) Gesandte des Zwielichts (Lara Adrian)
10) Geliebte der Nacht (Lara Adrian)
Best Books of 2009 (II) UK
Amazon.co.uk List - Best Books of 2009:
Top 10 Books: Science Fiction & Fantasy
01) Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
02) And Another Thing ... Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Part Six of Three by Eoin Colfer
03) FlashForward by Robert J. Sawyer
04) Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb
05) Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
06) Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
07) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
08) Under the Dome by Stephen King
09) The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
10) New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Best Books of 2009
Amazon.com List - Best Books of 2009:
Top 10 Books: Science Fiction & Fantasy
01) Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 9) by Charlaine Harris
02) The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
03) One Second After by William R. Forstchen
04) Turn Coat (The Dresden Files, Book 11) by Jim Butcher
05) Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, Book 4) by Patricia Briggs
06) Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, Book 2) by Patricia Briggs
07) White Witch, Black Curse (The Hollows, Book 7) by Kim Harrison
08) Relentless (The Lost Fleet, Book 5) by Jack Campbell
09) Unseen Academicals (Discworld) by Terry Pratchett
10) By Heresies Distressed (Safehold) by David Weber
Top 10 Books: Romance
01) Vision in White (The Bride Quartet, Book 1) by Nora Roberts
02) Bed of Roses (The Bride Quartet) by Nora Roberts
03) Lover Avenged (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 7) by J. R. Ward
04) Skin Trade (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 17) by Laurell K. Hamilton
05) Black Hills by Nora Roberts
06) Hidden Currents (Drake Sisters, Book 7) by Christine Feehan
07) Dreamfever by (Fever series, Book 4) by Karen Marie Moning
08) Bad Moon Rising: A Dark-Hunter Novel (Dark-Hunter Novels) by Sherrilyn Kenyon
09) Dark Slayer by Christine Feehan
10) Covet (Fallen Angels, Book 1) by J. R. Ward
Sunday, December 13, 2009
True Blood - Behind the scences
True Blood - Behind the scenes - Part 1 & 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yck9iFYMiw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCd0Ow2ULkY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yck9iFYMiw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCd0Ow2ULkY
Charlie Huston - Joe Pitt series
Joe Pitt series by Charlie Huston
Author Charlie Huston
(Source: fantasticfiction.co.uk)
German editions:
1) Stadt aus Blut
2) Blut Rausch
3) Das Blut von Brooklyn
4) Bis zum letzten Tropfen
1) Already Dead
2) No Dominion
3) Half the Blood of Brooklyn
4) Every last Drop
5) My Dead Body
Charlie Huston: Roman noir vs. "Twighlight"-Schmock
Source: Rolling Stone Magazine
Link: http://www.rollingstone.de/news/article.php?article_file=1259766808.txt&showtopic=The%20Pop%20Life
Seit "Twiglight" haben Vampire ein Image-Problem. Auf einmal müssen sie nicht nur das Schreckgespenst, sondern auch den Posterboy geben. Der US-Autor Charlie Huston hält dagegen - mit einer düsteren Roman-noir-Vampirsaga und einem abgerissenen Antihelden.
Seit vergangenen Donnerstag hat die zweite Verfilmung von Stephenie Meyers "Twilight"-Saga die deutschen Kinos erreicht und setzt den spektakulären Siegeszug der Vampire fort. Der Film mit Kristen Stewart als verliebter Mensch Bella, Robert Pattinson als in Bella verliebter Vampir Edward und Taylor Lautner (Titelstar des aktuellen US-Ausgabe des Rolling Stone) als in Bella verliebter Werwolf Jacob wird erfahrungsgemäß wieder wochenlang die Kinocharts anführen und die schon seit Jahrzehnten beliebte Legende von den blutsaugenden Nachtwesen auch ins letzte Teenagerzimmer bringen. Ein internationaler Erfolg, den sich "Der Kleine Vampir" im Leben nicht erträumt hätte. So wundert es auch nicht, das momentan überall Vampir-Romane auf den Angebotstischen der Buchhandlungen auftauchen. Sei es Lara Adrians "Geliebte der Nacht", Jeanine Frosts "Kuss der Nacht" oder auch mal - in guten Buchhandlungen - der Klassiker "Dracula" von Bram Stoker oder "So Finster die Nacht" von Tomas Alfredson. Dabei kann man meist schon am Einband erkennen, für welche Zielgruppe der Vampirmythos da gerade aufbereitet wird.
Vom Vampir-Hype leider noch relativ unberührt, sind dabei die Romane des US-Autoren Charlie Huston, der mit "My Dead Body" kürzlich seine "Joe Pitt Casebooks" abschloss, eine fünfbändige Vampirsaga, die in den Nächten New Yorks spielt und das so beliebte Thema mit den Mitteln des Roman-noir angeht. Der titelgebende Held Joe Pitt wird Ende der 70er auf einem Ramones-Konzert im CBGBs von einem "Vampyr" infiziert und muss zwangsläufig lernen sein neues (Nacht-) Leben in den Griff zu kriegen. Dabei lernt er, dass New York zwischen rivalisierenden Clans aufgeteilt ist, die allesamt verschiedene Auffassungen haben, wie man als "Vampyr" zu leben hat. Während die "Coalition" ein Großteil Manhattans beherrscht und im Untergrund die Fäden zieht, will die hippieske "Society" die Existenz der "Vampyre" publik machen, während sich in Harlem die aus den Black Panthers entstandene "Hood" um ihre Leitfigur DJ Gravediggah sammelt und die sektenartige "Enclave" nach der totalen Erleuchtung strebt. Joe Pitt steht dabei zwischen allen Lagern, spielt alle gegeneinander aus, stolpert immer wieder in den nächsten Hexenkessel und steckt dabei mindestens genauso so ein, wie er austeilt - freilich selten, ohne das letzte Wort zu haben. Wie Charlie Huston selbst die Handlung erklärt, kann man in diesem ausführlichen Interview nachlesen.
Charlie Huston versteht es in den fünf Büchern, von denen bereits drei im Heyne-Verlag ins deutsche übersetzt wurden, den Vampir-Mythos glaubhaft ins New Yorker Nachtleben zu transportieren und dürfte damit sogar den Leuten gefallen, die sonst von Vampiren in der Literatur lieber die Finger lassen. Auch seine Ironie dem Thema gegenüber sorgt immer wieder für Glanzmomente, zum Beispiel wenn er bissig die Liebe zwischen einem Teenager-Vampyr und einem jungen Mädchen kommentiert - ein Paar, das sich dermaßen in seinem Pathos gefällt, das es glatt aus der Feder von Stephenie Meyer entstammen könnte. Wer also seinem durch die "Twilight"-Überpräsenz glatt poliertem Vampirbild ein paar Schrammen verpassen will, der ist bei Huston an der richtigen Adresse.
Author Charlie Huston
(Source: fantasticfiction.co.uk)
German editions:
1) Stadt aus Blut
2) Blut Rausch
3) Das Blut von Brooklyn
4) Bis zum letzten Tropfen
1) Already Dead
2) No Dominion
3) Half the Blood of Brooklyn
4) Every last Drop
5) My Dead Body
Charlie Huston: Roman noir vs. "Twighlight"-Schmock
Source: Rolling Stone Magazine
Link: http://www.rollingstone.de/news/article.php?article_file=1259766808.txt&showtopic=The%20Pop%20Life
Seit "Twiglight" haben Vampire ein Image-Problem. Auf einmal müssen sie nicht nur das Schreckgespenst, sondern auch den Posterboy geben. Der US-Autor Charlie Huston hält dagegen - mit einer düsteren Roman-noir-Vampirsaga und einem abgerissenen Antihelden.
Seit vergangenen Donnerstag hat die zweite Verfilmung von Stephenie Meyers "Twilight"-Saga die deutschen Kinos erreicht und setzt den spektakulären Siegeszug der Vampire fort. Der Film mit Kristen Stewart als verliebter Mensch Bella, Robert Pattinson als in Bella verliebter Vampir Edward und Taylor Lautner (Titelstar des aktuellen US-Ausgabe des Rolling Stone) als in Bella verliebter Werwolf Jacob wird erfahrungsgemäß wieder wochenlang die Kinocharts anführen und die schon seit Jahrzehnten beliebte Legende von den blutsaugenden Nachtwesen auch ins letzte Teenagerzimmer bringen. Ein internationaler Erfolg, den sich "Der Kleine Vampir" im Leben nicht erträumt hätte. So wundert es auch nicht, das momentan überall Vampir-Romane auf den Angebotstischen der Buchhandlungen auftauchen. Sei es Lara Adrians "Geliebte der Nacht", Jeanine Frosts "Kuss der Nacht" oder auch mal - in guten Buchhandlungen - der Klassiker "Dracula" von Bram Stoker oder "So Finster die Nacht" von Tomas Alfredson. Dabei kann man meist schon am Einband erkennen, für welche Zielgruppe der Vampirmythos da gerade aufbereitet wird.
Vom Vampir-Hype leider noch relativ unberührt, sind dabei die Romane des US-Autoren Charlie Huston, der mit "My Dead Body" kürzlich seine "Joe Pitt Casebooks" abschloss, eine fünfbändige Vampirsaga, die in den Nächten New Yorks spielt und das so beliebte Thema mit den Mitteln des Roman-noir angeht. Der titelgebende Held Joe Pitt wird Ende der 70er auf einem Ramones-Konzert im CBGBs von einem "Vampyr" infiziert und muss zwangsläufig lernen sein neues (Nacht-) Leben in den Griff zu kriegen. Dabei lernt er, dass New York zwischen rivalisierenden Clans aufgeteilt ist, die allesamt verschiedene Auffassungen haben, wie man als "Vampyr" zu leben hat. Während die "Coalition" ein Großteil Manhattans beherrscht und im Untergrund die Fäden zieht, will die hippieske "Society" die Existenz der "Vampyre" publik machen, während sich in Harlem die aus den Black Panthers entstandene "Hood" um ihre Leitfigur DJ Gravediggah sammelt und die sektenartige "Enclave" nach der totalen Erleuchtung strebt. Joe Pitt steht dabei zwischen allen Lagern, spielt alle gegeneinander aus, stolpert immer wieder in den nächsten Hexenkessel und steckt dabei mindestens genauso so ein, wie er austeilt - freilich selten, ohne das letzte Wort zu haben. Wie Charlie Huston selbst die Handlung erklärt, kann man in diesem ausführlichen Interview nachlesen.
Charlie Huston versteht es in den fünf Büchern, von denen bereits drei im Heyne-Verlag ins deutsche übersetzt wurden, den Vampir-Mythos glaubhaft ins New Yorker Nachtleben zu transportieren und dürfte damit sogar den Leuten gefallen, die sonst von Vampiren in der Literatur lieber die Finger lassen. Auch seine Ironie dem Thema gegenüber sorgt immer wieder für Glanzmomente, zum Beispiel wenn er bissig die Liebe zwischen einem Teenager-Vampyr und einem jungen Mädchen kommentiert - ein Paar, das sich dermaßen in seinem Pathos gefällt, das es glatt aus der Feder von Stephenie Meyer entstammen könnte. Wer also seinem durch die "Twilight"-Überpräsenz glatt poliertem Vampirbild ein paar Schrammen verpassen will, der ist bei Huston an der richtigen Adresse.
Percy Parker (Leanna Renee Hieber)
New cover / Percy Parker 02.
Percy Parker 01:
"The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker"
From Publishers Weekly:
Six young men and women are called to protect the living world from the dead in Hieber's Gothic romance debut. Mysterious powers give Alexi and his peers the mission of keeping the restless dead in line and seeking a prophesied seventh guardian. Miss Percy Parker, an albino orphan with a talent for languages, fills none of their expectations, but Alexi is drawn to her all the same. Hieber draws Victorian London as beautiful and grim, with depictions of Jack the Ripper as a nightmarish many-headed hound alongside charming descriptions of the Athens Academy, Percy's boarding school, and Greek mythology that smartly draws together various elements of the story. The supporting characters are nuanced and appealing but given short shrift by the narrow focus on Percy and Alexi, though future sequels may give them more room to play. Hieber's debut shows great potential, and readers will want to revisit her intriguing world.
(My rating: 4 of 5 stars)
Percy Parker 01:
"The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker"
From Publishers Weekly:
Six young men and women are called to protect the living world from the dead in Hieber's Gothic romance debut. Mysterious powers give Alexi and his peers the mission of keeping the restless dead in line and seeking a prophesied seventh guardian. Miss Percy Parker, an albino orphan with a talent for languages, fills none of their expectations, but Alexi is drawn to her all the same. Hieber draws Victorian London as beautiful and grim, with depictions of Jack the Ripper as a nightmarish many-headed hound alongside charming descriptions of the Athens Academy, Percy's boarding school, and Greek mythology that smartly draws together various elements of the story. The supporting characters are nuanced and appealing but given short shrift by the narrow focus on Percy and Alexi, though future sequels may give them more room to play. Hieber's debut shows great potential, and readers will want to revisit her intriguing world.
(My rating: 4 of 5 stars)
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Shirley Damsgaard / Ophelia and Abby mysteries
Book 7 in the 'Ophelia and Abby' mystery series is ready for pre-order.
Publ. Date: January 26, 2010
The Seventh Witch / From Amazon.com:
Small-town librarian and psychic Ophelia Jensen hails from a long line of wise and wonderfully gifted women. There's her grandmother, Abby, a talented witch, and her great-aunt Mary, who's about to celebrate her 100th birthday. But as Ophelia learns, when she and Abby travel to North Carolina for the centennial celebration, their family secrets aren't just magickal—they're murderous.
Someone in the sweet Southern town wants Abby dead. Could it be a rogue witch in Ophelia's own family? A vengeful local witch desperate to settle a bitter feud decades in the making? Ophelia must use all her talents to save her loved ones—before the witching hour comes upon them, and bad blood turns deadly.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
SCARY STORIES
What story scares the hell out of you?
Source: The Washington Post / Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/27/AR2009102703745.html
Writers with experience in the dark art of terror pick their favorite frightening tales.
Anne Rice: I would say M.R. James's story "Count Magnus" That evil could be so easily roused and so relentless in its pursuit of the innocent who stumbled on to it, that terrifies me. But then many of James's stories are terrifying.
Scott Smith: I don't know if "scares the hell out of me" would be the right description for Stewart O'Nan's incredible novel "A Prayer for the Dying" "Disturbs the hell out of me" would probably be more apt. It's a beautifully written account of a town's descent into hell, a delightful cocktail of fire, plague and mass death with a dash of necrophilia thrown in to spice things up.
Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child: The worst short story either of us has read, in terms of absolute mind-freezing fear, is "Sticks," by Karl Edward Wagner. We consider ourselves pretty tough cookies when it comes to handling horror tales, but this is one of those really rare pieces that you put down with nerveless fingers and mutter quietly to yourself: "Oh . . . my . . . God."
Jonathan Carroll: Totally unoriginal of me, but "The Monkey's Paw," by W.W. Jacobs, still does it every time. Just thinking about the last two pages of that story gives me the willies. Thanks a lot for making me think about them now. . . .
Dan Chaon: Joyce Carol Oates has written many wonderfully terrifying stories, but I find myself going back to the odd, disturbing "Is Laughter Contagious?" which seems surprisingly pertinent today in our increasingly hostile and nasty media age. It's a story about cruel humor, the loss of civility and the delight that we can take in wounding one other. The scariest thing is that her once-phantasmagoric premise has mostly come true over the ensuing 18 years.
Charlaine Harris: This is an easy one for me: "The Haunting of Hill House," by Shirley Jackson. No matter how many times I read it, I get goose bumps. Do not read this book if you're alone in the house.
Joe Hill: I'll cheat -- here's two: Kelly Link's "The Specialist's Hat" which is simply the most original horror story since Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and Neil Gaiman's "Bitter Grounds" a quiet, unnerving piece of work that I've found myself returning to again and again in the three years since I first read it.
R.L. Stine: There's a story by Ray Bradbury that I always tell kids is the scariest thing I ever read: "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is about boys in the Midwest who sneak out of their houses late at night and go to this really creepy carnival. It gets horrifying. . . .
Lemony Snicket: Anything by Charles Krauthammer. Just about all of his commentary has a madness and a menace that H.P. Lovecraft couldn't top.
Sarah Waters: "The Monkey's Paw," by W.W. Jacobs, is a small masterpiece of a tale in which a grieving couple use an unlucky talisman to wish their dead son back to life. . . . Oh, it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, just thinking about it now.
China Miéville: "Sredni Vashtar," by Saki (H.H. Munro), is a remorseless depiction of stifling, brutal familial cruelty, with a resolution simultaneously satisfying, horrifying, restrainedly implied and overtly macabre. It's a quite brilliant and terrifying piece of work.
Audrey Niffenegger: "The Island of Doctor Moreau," by H.G. Wells, is horrifying in a very visceral way. Wells was commenting on Darwinism, but the story is still sadly topical in a modern world unable to grapple with torture and animal rights.
Elizabeth Hand: "The Yellow Wall-Paper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, terrified me when I first read it at age 12 with its depiction of a woman's descent into madness as she undergoes an enforced rest cure for melancholy and is haunted by the "other woman" she sees creeping behind her room's "horrid wall-paper." Originally published in 1892, the story has lost none of its nightmarish power.
Peter Straub: I love Shirley Jackson's "The Daemon Lover" which leads into a greater and greater instability and ends in a world of absolute mystery and unknowability that all the time remains the world around us.
William Peter Blatty: It's still Bram Stoker's "Dracula" if only for his description of the Count crawling down the side of a massive stone mansion headfirst. But then I sleep with a night light. Well, actually two.
Source: The Washington Post / Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/27/AR2009102703745.html
Writers with experience in the dark art of terror pick their favorite frightening tales.
Anne Rice: I would say M.R. James's story "Count Magnus" That evil could be so easily roused and so relentless in its pursuit of the innocent who stumbled on to it, that terrifies me. But then many of James's stories are terrifying.
Scott Smith: I don't know if "scares the hell out of me" would be the right description for Stewart O'Nan's incredible novel "A Prayer for the Dying" "Disturbs the hell out of me" would probably be more apt. It's a beautifully written account of a town's descent into hell, a delightful cocktail of fire, plague and mass death with a dash of necrophilia thrown in to spice things up.
Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child: The worst short story either of us has read, in terms of absolute mind-freezing fear, is "Sticks," by Karl Edward Wagner. We consider ourselves pretty tough cookies when it comes to handling horror tales, but this is one of those really rare pieces that you put down with nerveless fingers and mutter quietly to yourself: "Oh . . . my . . . God."
Jonathan Carroll: Totally unoriginal of me, but "The Monkey's Paw," by W.W. Jacobs, still does it every time. Just thinking about the last two pages of that story gives me the willies. Thanks a lot for making me think about them now. . . .
Dan Chaon: Joyce Carol Oates has written many wonderfully terrifying stories, but I find myself going back to the odd, disturbing "Is Laughter Contagious?" which seems surprisingly pertinent today in our increasingly hostile and nasty media age. It's a story about cruel humor, the loss of civility and the delight that we can take in wounding one other. The scariest thing is that her once-phantasmagoric premise has mostly come true over the ensuing 18 years.
Charlaine Harris: This is an easy one for me: "The Haunting of Hill House," by Shirley Jackson. No matter how many times I read it, I get goose bumps. Do not read this book if you're alone in the house.
Joe Hill: I'll cheat -- here's two: Kelly Link's "The Specialist's Hat" which is simply the most original horror story since Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and Neil Gaiman's "Bitter Grounds" a quiet, unnerving piece of work that I've found myself returning to again and again in the three years since I first read it.
R.L. Stine: There's a story by Ray Bradbury that I always tell kids is the scariest thing I ever read: "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is about boys in the Midwest who sneak out of their houses late at night and go to this really creepy carnival. It gets horrifying. . . .
Lemony Snicket: Anything by Charles Krauthammer. Just about all of his commentary has a madness and a menace that H.P. Lovecraft couldn't top.
Sarah Waters: "The Monkey's Paw," by W.W. Jacobs, is a small masterpiece of a tale in which a grieving couple use an unlucky talisman to wish their dead son back to life. . . . Oh, it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, just thinking about it now.
China Miéville: "Sredni Vashtar," by Saki (H.H. Munro), is a remorseless depiction of stifling, brutal familial cruelty, with a resolution simultaneously satisfying, horrifying, restrainedly implied and overtly macabre. It's a quite brilliant and terrifying piece of work.
Audrey Niffenegger: "The Island of Doctor Moreau," by H.G. Wells, is horrifying in a very visceral way. Wells was commenting on Darwinism, but the story is still sadly topical in a modern world unable to grapple with torture and animal rights.
Elizabeth Hand: "The Yellow Wall-Paper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, terrified me when I first read it at age 12 with its depiction of a woman's descent into madness as she undergoes an enforced rest cure for melancholy and is haunted by the "other woman" she sees creeping behind her room's "horrid wall-paper." Originally published in 1892, the story has lost none of its nightmarish power.
Peter Straub: I love Shirley Jackson's "The Daemon Lover" which leads into a greater and greater instability and ends in a world of absolute mystery and unknowability that all the time remains the world around us.
William Peter Blatty: It's still Bram Stoker's "Dracula" if only for his description of the Count crawling down the side of a massive stone mansion headfirst. But then I sleep with a night light. Well, actually two.
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