Not Free SF Reader | The Dark Descent | Clive Barker, Ray Bradbury, ...

A fine anthology for the horror afficianado | The Dark Descent | Clive Barker, Ray Bradbury, ...

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	• The Dark Descent Clive Barker, Ray Bradbury, ... Tor Books, 1997 - 1024 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

I must be missing something

Why all the 5 star reviews? Am I really that picky or is everyone else that easy? Did we read the same book, I mean the WHOLE over 1,000 big pages? Well enough questions, there were some really excellent stories in this compilation namely "The Crowd", "The Autopsy", "Sticks", "Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper", "Dread", "How Love Came To Professor Guildia", "MacIntosh Willy", sadly those were in the minority. Some stories as in most compilations this vast were from early 1900's and the language requires careful reading to interpret the words or phrases used in those times. Also so many stories stacked side by side with winners like those mentioned above seemed to have almost nothing at all to do with horror and left me completely bored such as "The Asian Shore", "night side", others were just about unreadable and must have been included on a bet or a favor of some sort such as "The Jolly Corner" and "Larger Than Oneself". Glad I only paid over $6 from an Amazon Marketplace shop instead of the $29.95 cover price.

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Not Free SF Reader

Part of a larger series that takes a look at various types of horror writing, with an introduction giving some detail and thoughts on the topic, as well as to each author and story.

This is a good collection, and is well to the ghost story end of the spectrum, in general.

Fabulous Formless Darkness : Smoke Ghost - Fritz Leiber
Fabulous Formless Darkness : Seven American Nights - Gene Wolfe
Fabulous Formless Darkness : The Signal-Man - Charles Dickens
Fabulous Formless Darkness : Crouch End - Stephen King
Fabulous Formless Darkness : Night-Side - Joyce Carol Oates
Fabulous Formless Darkness : Seaton's Aunt - Walter de la Mare
Fabulous Formless Darkness : Clara Militch - Ivan Turgenev
Fabulous Formless Darkness : The Repairer of Reputations - Robert W. Chambers
Fabulous Formless Darkness : The Beckoning Fair One - Oliver Onions
Fabulous Formless Darkness : What Was It? - Fitz-James O'Brien
Fabulous Formless Darkness : The Beautiful Stranger - Shirley Jackson
Fabulous Formless Darkness : The Damned Thing - Ambrose Bierce
Fabulous Formless Darkness : Afterward - Edith Wharton
Fabulous Formless Darkness : The Willows - Algernon Blackwood
Fabulous Formless Darkness : The Asian Shore - Thomas M. Disch
Fabulous Formless Darkness : The Hospice - Robert Aickman
Fabulous Formless Darkness : A Little Something for Us Tempunauts - Philip K. Dick

Spectral look.

3.5 out of 5

Play things.

3.5 out of 5

Danger light haunting.

4 out of 5

Mythos scoffer mortality.

4 out of 5

Seance surprise.

3.5 out of 5

Ghost house.

3.5 out of 5

Poisoned woman not all gone.

3.5 out of 5

PR work not nice, free death not popular.

4 out of 5

Loopy writer problems.

4 out of 5

Nightmare rather solid it appears.

4 out of 5

Our house got lost.

3 out of 5

Invisible monster.

4 out of 5

Ghost visit.

3 out of 5

Wind in the tree monsters.

4.5 out of 5

Turkish twists.

3 out of 5

Lodging lacks lager and fun.

3 out of 5

Time to avoid own deaths.

4 out of 5

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A fine anthology for the horror afficianado

This huge, (topping out at just over 1000 pages!) collection of some of the finest tales from the masters of horror has it all. It was wonderful to read works I had not encountered over the years, along with some of the classics of the genre. Some personal favorites were the Lovecraftian "Crouch End" (King), a truly bizarre and unclassifiable tale, "The Swords" (Aickman), a masterful work of understated horror, "The Summer People" (Jackson), and a classic ghost story, "The Beckoning Fair One" (Onions) A one stop shop for the fan of all things scary.

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Multitudinous tome for the horror and preternatural aficionado

This publication rivals most of the horror/ mystery compilations printed elsewhere. Some of the most consequential and prolific ink slingers of the creepy and the dreary are featured here, and they don't disappoint.

Here, in this volume, you will find it all. The works of King, Bradbury, Jackson, Lovecraft, Poe and many others are at your reading pleasure. Some of my personal favorites: The Beach (King); The Call of the Cthulhu (Lovecraft); Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (Bloch)...I could go on for ever.

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Scary stuff

Comprehensive collection of horror stories. Lots of familiar authors here, perhaps some writers will gain new fans as a result of reading them for the first time. Would like to see more current authors included in the book, many of the stories are dated. It's a huge book, so it's worth the price for all the reading.

In The Dark Descent, hailed as one of the most important anthologies ever to examine horror fiction, editor David G. Hartwell traces the complex history of horror in literature back to the earliest short stories. The Dark Descent, which won the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology, showcases the finest of these ever written--from the time-honored classics of Edgar Allan Poe, D.H. Lawrence, and Edith Wharton to the contemporary writing of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Ray Bradbury.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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