The Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural
by Bill Pronzini (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Barry Malzberg (Editor)
Arbor House Treasuries
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A spellbinding collection of the best stories in the genre of horror and the supernatural. With works by Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Silverberg, H.G Wells and dozens more, this indispensable compilation will show that anything can happen in these tales of unworldly terror and heart stopping horror. A truly definitive volume that will stand the test of time!Tags
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Good-but-not-great compendium of horror stories originally published in 1981 and since reissued under a number of different titles (Great Tales of Horror and the Supernatural, The Giant Book of Horror Stories, et al.). It covers a lot of ground, but much of the book reflects the very individual tastes of its editors...and, particularly amongst the more recent material, this leads to the ill-advised inclusion of stories which, even by the loosest definition, struggle to qualify as "horror." Hence a couple of pointless, uninvolving vignettes like Arthur L. Samuels's "Mass Without Voices" and Elizabeth Morton's "Namesake," and a longer story such as editor Bill Pronzini's "Black Wind." (Pronzini wrote at least one bang-up horror tale, show more "Peekaboo," and it's the one that should have appeared in this collection. You can find it in Nightmares, the anthology edited by Charles L. Grant, or Frank McSherry's A Treasury of American Horror Stories.) Most of the earlier stories are fantastic, however, and Truman Capote's chilling "Shut a Final Door" demonstrates that horror can be found in atypical locations. There's a curious lack of emphasis on English authors, who were incredibly important to the development of ghost and horror stories. You may find it difficult to imagine a book that purports to trace the history of the genre yet includes nothing by M.R. James or Algernon Blackwood, but here it is. (However, James's favorite ghost story writer--the Irishman Sheridan Le Fanu--is represented with "Squire Toby's Will," one of his greatest works.)
All in all there's some terrific stuff, including less frequently anthologized tales by Poe ("Hop Frog") and Nathaniel Hawthorne ("Rappaccini's Daughter"), as well as undisputed classics by Henry James ("The Jolly Corner"), Lovecraft ("Pickman's Model") and Karl Edward Wagner ("Sticks"). The intro was written by Stephen King, who also contributes one of his best and most overtly horrific stories ("The Crate," later dramatized in George Romero's 1982 film Creepshow). Not a comprehensive anthology, but a very readable one for the most part. show less
All in all there's some terrific stuff, including less frequently anthologized tales by Poe ("Hop Frog") and Nathaniel Hawthorne ("Rappaccini's Daughter"), as well as undisputed classics by Henry James ("The Jolly Corner"), Lovecraft ("Pickman's Model") and Karl Edward Wagner ("Sticks"). The intro was written by Stephen King, who also contributes one of his best and most overtly horrific stories ("The Crate," later dramatized in George Romero's 1982 film Creepshow). Not a comprehensive anthology, but a very readable one for the most part. show less
Excellent anthology. Highly recommended.
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Author Information
Bill Pronzini was born in Petaluma, California on April 13, 1943. His first novel, The Stalker, was published in 1971. He is best known for his creation of the Nameless Detective Mystery series, as well as several westerns and novels of dark suspense. He has been a full time writer since 1969. He is also an active anthologist, having compiled more show more than 100 collections, most of which focus on mystery, western, and science fiction short stories. He has won numerous awards including three Shamus Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Mystery Writers of America. His book Snowbound received the Grand Prix de la Litterature Policiere, as the best crime novel published in France in 1988. Pronzini has established himself as a master of the Western novel as well as earning a name for himself in the dark fiction genre. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Martin Harry Greenberg (March 1, 1941 - June 25, 2011) was an American academic and speculative fiction anthologist. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books; he was also a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel. Some of his anthologies included: Past Imperfect (2001), Once Upon a Galaxy show more (2002) and Sirius: The Dog Star (2004). (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- The Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural
- Original title
- The Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural
- Alternate titles
- Classic Tales of Horror and the Supernatural; Masters of Horror & the Supernatural: The Great Tales; The Giant Book of Horror Stories
- Original publication date
- 1981 (as Arbor House Treasury) (as Arbor House Treasury)
- Dedication
- TO Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich
1903-1968 - First words
- First of all (and this is fundamental), you have my cheerful permission to shoot me if I fall into a classic crouching posture and begin to defend the horror story, your right to read it or the right of any writer--those repr... (show all)esented in this volume, those not and those yet unborn--to tell such tales.
--Introduction - Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- The Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural was republished as Classic Tales of Horror and the Supernatural. Do not combine with Great Tales of Horror and the Supernatural. According to... (show all) the book's front matter, Great Tales of Horror and the Supernatural is "abridged from the Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural". It does not contain the story "Mass Without Voices" by Arthur R. Samuels, but otherwise the contents are the same.
The story, "Man Overboard", by Winston Churchill was authored by the British prime minister, that he reserved for posthumous publication.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Horror
- DDC/MDS
- 813.0872 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English By type Genre fiction Adventure fiction Mystery fiction
- LCC
- PS648 .H6 .A73 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Collections of American literature Prose (General)
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 218
- Popularity
- 149,655
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.29)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 1
