It reminded me of a James Bond movie, tied to a slab with a circular saw slowly edging closer to slicing himThis is an excellently macabre experience.
It reminded me of a James Bond movie, tied to a slab with a circular saw slowly edging closer to slicing him in half, between his legs and ultimately through his gonads. Or maybe it was Goldfinger and a laser? I don't rightly remember. Naturally 007 escapes to live another day.
Did the movie borrow the horror from this short story? It wouldn't surprise me.
The claustrophobic terror is compounded by hungry rats and a bowl of tasty meat that I failed to grasp the significance of, perhaps connected to chewing through the imprisoning straps coated with minced morsels?
And the Spanish Inquisition element, what's that all about? incidental?
You feel the terror of being tied down and awaiting impending mutilation by swinging blade, ravenous rats, by being buried alive, suffocation or going out of your mind!
It's a wondrously weird and sinister tale that showcases EAP at his nutcase best, also reminding me of The 120 of Sodom for some reason, but that book, although laugh-out-loud and gagging on your snack at times, goes on and on, repeats and gets really boring.
This however is a nice slice of inescapable terror that doesn't overstay its welcome....more
This isn't a short story but a short chapter about a man who goes to a mysterious location and spends the night in the Red Room, waking up in the mornThis isn't a short story but a short chapter about a man who goes to a mysterious location and spends the night in the Red Room, waking up in the morning with a bandaged head and no recollection other than being haunted by fear and all the candles and the fire being snuffed out.
While scary in concept, there's not enough content to justify publication as a single unit, which is how it was marketed to me and why I bought it, albeit for pennies.
Sure it's worth reading because it's written by H.G. Wells, which is a plus point....more
The title tells you little and a lot at the same time: something happened at a certain location.
During this very short story there are visions of the The title tells you little and a lot at the same time: something happened at a certain location.
During this very short story there are visions of the American civil war, tactical ineptitude, the futility of battle, Vietnam and, inexplicably, the movie Apocalypse Now!
A single tear rolls down my cheek.
A very beautiful, sad and melancholic story, of life, family, homestead and hope.
The importance of life is almost indescribable: right there at your fingertips every moment of the day, yet somehow obfuscated and out of reach until maybe it's too late.
This book was my first foray into H.P. Lovecraft territory.
Naturally, the weight of expectation was a letdown in the same way that first reads by ShakThis book was my first foray into H.P. Lovecraft territory.
Naturally, the weight of expectation was a letdown in the same way that first reads by Shakespeare are, and this book isn't necessarily a good introduction to HPL or cosmic horror.
Three stars for historical reference and pretty atmospheric but disconnected stories, which are incongruous and hard to grasp.
This is a short story written in 1835 about two mates, Legs and Hugh Tarpaulin, who go on a drinking spree in London, get waylaid and stumble on a denThis is a short story written in 1835 about two mates, Legs and Hugh Tarpaulin, who go on a drinking spree in London, get waylaid and stumble on a den of drunken inequity somewhere down a dingy dark alley.
One friend is extremely short while the other is excessively tall, and there's a smattering of the John Steinbeck story Of Mice And Men about it, which is maybe where he borrowed the idea from? I imagine James Joyce giggling with drunken glee if reading this, too, with its barroom rumbles and stumbles from door to door.
It's written in that compelling Edgar Allan Poe prose: complicated on first glance but easy to understand in comparison to some of his other short stories.
It's also different because of the unusual amount of weird wit and humour.
Finding themselves in Will Wimbles's undertaker shop, Legs and Tarpaulin encounter six pestilent drunks, King Pest, Queen Pest and their lesser subjects, who offer the dreaded Black Strap liquor to drink!
Sup this yon drinking fellows and further submit to alcoholic ruin, or refuse and pay the consequences!
The moral of this story, perhaps, is that no good comes from heavy drinking besides more heavy drinking and a sore head.
This is an entertaining and bizarre little story that's more enjoyable than a tempting tipple of Black Strap....more
You only have to look at some of the book covers available online to make a decision about Morella. You don't have to read it. People have done that enYou only have to look at some of the book covers available online to make a decision about Morella. You don't have to read it. People have done that enough to create a harrowing atmosphere.
If you have any doubt about the sinister and bizarre inner persona of EAP, put that aside at once. He is, I mean he was, bonkers nuts. I love that about the man.
Morella and Carmilla get together in a lovenest of epic proportions and go to the moon in moans of pleasure (I wish). At the same time, the crockery in gran's kitchen has cracked and disintegrated into dust and I haven't started the first page yet. That's the EAP effect.
Work hard, rage quietly, build up a steam of intrepid love and awe from within and let the demons do their thing. It's what they do best.
After reading this short story twice I'm none the wiser, as with pretty much everything by Edgar Allan Poe. You're supposed to be confused and he succeeds in this admirably.
Morella is a beautifully written story about death.
The unknown or unreliable protagonist falls in love and gets married, but instead of settling down and living happily ever after - this, after all, is EAP - his wife gets pale and wan and dies after what appears to be childbirth.
The child, a daughter, grows up in the image of her mother, who he can never forget. You're never going to believe this, but the daughter dies as well!
Maybe this is Poe's way of telling us we're ready for the crypt, which you can look at in two ways:
- a gloomy outlook with no point in living because we're going to die anyway? - or a reminder that we're close to the edge and might as well get busy living with the time we've got left?
This could be one of the reasons EAP is misinterpreted as a harbinger of doom and gloom. Sure, it's the way he expresses himself, but I prefer to view this as a reminder to get on with it before it's too late.
Maybe I interpreted this short story wrong? Does it matter? What does matter is finding something positive and worth living for within....more
Berenice is a short story about obsession, unrequited love and madness.
It’s gothically reminiscent of the Picture of Dorian Gray, or should that be thBerenice is a short story about obsession, unrequited love and madness.
It’s gothically reminiscent of the Picture of Dorian Gray, or should that be the other way round, borrowing from the former?
The writing style is absolutely amazing, irrespective of the genre, horror, it pops and fizzes along in an undercurrent of fear and despair.
“How is it that from Beauty I have derived a type of unloveliness? — from the covenant of Peace a simile of sorrow.“
Note the aesthetic capitalization of “Beauty” and “Peace”?
About a man who yearns for his beautiful cousin “into the wild dominions of monastic thought and erudition”, when he should be concentrating on his “studies of the cloister…”.
There’s plenty of time in a monastery to become erudite? As well as getting thoroughly creeped out.
“I loitered away my boyhood in books, and dissipated my youth in reverie”, as did many of us?
This is a tale of yearning and unrequited passion, of lustful desire to never be fulfilled, perhaps too busy reading books instead of chasing tail?
Berenice, the “sylph amid the shrubberies of Arnheim”, is a tantalizing beauty.
Our storyteller dabbles with opium as he tries to dim his passion and suffering, followed by obsessive monomania for Berenice, no matter what or who she is.
“To muse for long unwearied hours with my attention riveted to some frivolous device upon the margin.”, over “the characteristic qualities of the disorder itself”, the disorder, the obsession for his female cousin.
Berenice starts to metamorphosize in his mind with “startling changes wrought in the physical frame of Berenice, and in the singular and most appalling distortion of her personal identity…”, going from exceptional beauty to “now I shuddered in her presence, and grew pale at her approach”.
Read the story in full to better understand the transformation.
Berenice has overtones of The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in how it deals with mental illness governing physical action.
The most visible aspect of Berenice is her teeth! Maybe reflective of a smile, a wink, a promise of something more on the nuptial bed? Just the teeth?
This is a story of unrequited love between two cousins, one a shy male obsessed with a beautiful young woman, Berenice, who becomes ill (or does she) before the first kiss. The omnipresent teeth.
I had a recurring dream for many years, over whom I cannot say, at falling in love and chasing her through crumbling cities, to eventually catch up with her and sit alone ready to kiss, only to experience the hissing teeth of a cat, never the lips of my unknown beloved.
This alternative story is weird, abstract and haunting. It captures so much in a very short journey of words.
It could be a longer, drawn out into a novel, but does just fine with the vivid imagery portrayed!...more
It's extremely short at only 13 pages, so why not give it a spin?
I'm not propeI read this as part of the our Short Story Marathon on Horror or Heaven.
It's extremely short at only 13 pages, so why not give it a spin?
I'm not properly qualified to rate this type of book as Edgar Allan Poe is in another league of intellectualism for my comparatively tiny brain.
It's the way he writes, almost 200 years ago, in a blurred mirage between reality and fantasy.
Some of his alliteration is fantabulous - "...the behavior of the heir out-heroded Herod..." - for example.
Metzengerstein finds a tapestry with a horse emblazoned on it, decides to ride it hard, comes back later one night with his castle burning to the ground. There's even a dedicated Wikipedia article for this tiny story that's about three times as long! That's EAP for you - necessary to dissect to comprehend a fraction of the content within.
This story is reminiscent of The Fall of The House of Usher as everything comes tumbling down to the ground.
It's definitely worth a quick read because... > It's cool EAP, as his first published work. > Takes you into a realm of strange mystery. > Costs nothing to purchase, or next to it. > Can be read in a quick sitting. > Makes you more gothic and intellectual!
It's well worth your time just for the excellence of prose....more
After reading Books of Blood volumes 1 & 2, you might be thinking, why read even more short stories by Clive Barker?
Someone with more knowledge than mAfter reading Books of Blood volumes 1 & 2, you might be thinking, why read even more short stories by Clive Barker?
Someone with more knowledge than me decided to group these three volumes into a 'best of collection' and this is the third instalment, but is it worth your time for yet more churned out horror? The answer is yes, brilliant in places, but not quite as consistent as vols. 2 & 3.
Two of the stories are absolutely stellar and two are really good.
Confessions of a (Pornographer's) Shroud is about an accountant who works above a sex shop in Soho, London, who has no idea who he is doing the books for, the local mafia, until it all goes remarkably wrong. The best part is the humor as he goes through his discovery and revenge evolution. It works really well because it's like being in Clive Barker's backyard with all the seedy sex working and petty crime.
Best of all is the final short story, Human-Remains, in my opinion one of Clive Barker's best tales and a little bit longer than normal. I raced through it. Again, more sex and criminal activities, but this time involving a male bumboy (his words, not mine) who sweeps the local hotels and bars at night to render his 'services' for payment, but with a really strange and clever twist. It's very atmospheric and a little bit sad.
Son of Celluloid is really good as well with its inventive concept, borrowing ideas from favorite movies to dovetail our collective fear of confronting the grim reaper but not getting away with it. It's a pacey and bizarre story that goes full circle and could easily have been made into a full book.
And there's Rawhead Rex with its intriguing buildup and sudden violence, including a particular scene of priesthood worship to the nine-foot urinating devil. Maybe I was having a bad day, but the ending left me blank.
The only story I didn't enjoy was Scape-Goats, with too much sexing, not enough depth and no real logic or palpable tension. It has elements of Lord of the Flies to it, cruelty for the sake of it and a rather disappointing conclusion.
Overall, another great volume for Clive Barker fans and newcomers alike. I recommend it....more
Books of Blood Volume 2 is totally worth your time and just as good as Volume 1.
The only story I didn't enjoy was Hell's Event, which didn't resonate Books of Blood Volume 2 is totally worth your time and just as good as Volume 1.
The only story I didn't enjoy was Hell's Event, which didn't resonate with me at all.
The first story, Dread, is genuinely sinister and malicious. You know those beguiling people you sometimes meet, so full of character, but with something not quite right about them? Don't go visiting their houses any time soon, especially if they live in the middle of nowhere and definitely not if other people associated with them start disappearing. This is a story about how people react under extreme duress and go past their breaking point. It's also a story about revenge.
There's a cosmic horror element about this entire volume, with references to Edgar Allan Poe and indirect terror in the background rather than upfront guts and gore. Definitely more H.P. Lovecraft than splatterpunk.
There's also a lot of non-explicit sex. The last three stories are all about it.
Jacqueline Ess is a great little yarn, probably my favourite. Jacqueline is able to control her mind and inflict punishment on men who don't please her or who have abused her. She's not a malicious person, just very unwell, while deeply attracted to men who are even more attracted to her to the point of obsession. There's an element of The Picture of Dorian Gray in this story, a macabre sense of lust and possession and an almost medieval baseness about it. Men are essentially satyrs, drunkenly running around to satisfy their sexual desires, with Jacqueline Ess the ultimate feminist story of control at any cost, including personal happiness or pleasure.
The Skins of the Fathers is another strange little tale, reminiscent of the 'In The Hills, The Cities' from Volume 1. This is a sceptical story about the brutality and stupidity of mankind and how we all deserve to rot in our own self-made hells, while spirits and devils carry on as before throughout eternity, oblivious to our petty lives. There's bullying, wife-beating, child abuse and harassment and yet more very weird sexual encounters with multitudinal 20-ft 'divils'. I enjoyed it a lot. It's reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy and the desert, which leads us to the final story and a possible reference to 'No Season (country) for Old Men'.
New Murders in The Rue Morgue, set in Paris, is a type of crime thriller, but again, with very sexual overtones, domineering males and overt jealousy, including mincing men, red-haired prostitutes and 70-year-old lovers... as yet another weird and sordid and very readable Clive Barker creation.
A great volume but not quite five stars. You get a terrific insight into the mind of Clive Barker and all his crazy ideas and obvious personal depravity. I love him....more
This volume consists of six short stories: a spectral introduction called Book of Blood, and five longer stories.
My particular favourite is Pig Blood This volume consists of six short stories: a spectral introduction called Book of Blood, and five longer stories.
My particular favourite is Pig Blood Blues, a horror story set in a borstal full of bastard boys and their carers. It has a distinct Animal Farm by George Orwell element to it, with a revered deity in the guise of a fetid and sordid pig.
The Yattering And Jack is really good story also, played like a game of chess between the demonic Yattering spirit and Jack Polo, being a distinct retelling of The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde, but like all of Clive Barker's stories, is more grisly and sinister.
These are other people's stories told in a horrific way, but that's okay when they're as rich, fresh and seemingly unique as this, and I like them all. Clive Barker has a way of expressing his ideas in a vividly harrowing manner that compensates for his far out imagination.
The Midnight Meat Train is a memorable day-in-the-life account of a brutal serial killer who delivers carcasses via the subway; Sex, Death and Starshine is surprisingly charming for its quotes and references to Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare; and the final story, In the Hills, the Cities is downright bizarre, featuring a gay male couple, tourism in Yugoslavia and a man-made fight between two regional cities.
This is a really good collection and I recommend it. My only criticism is the constant retellings, but so what when they're as imaginative as this?
There are SIX volumes available in total, this being the first, so plenty more wondrous tales from the strange brain of Clive Barker.
Be aware of a misleading administration error. Pig Blood Blues, and Sex, Death and Starshine are listed as a single story: 'Pig Blood and Starshine'....more
I don't rate any of the 10 volumes in this mammoth collection of 2200+ pages five stars per-se, but I do rate this body or work five stars. How does tI don't rate any of the 10 volumes in this mammoth collection of 2200+ pages five stars per-se, but I do rate this body or work five stars. How does that make any sense?
Because of what it means to me from a historical upbringing perspective. Because of the memories, the nostalgia, the pompous British spirit, the everything associated with Sherlock Holmes, investigated crime, Victorian England, steam trains and what goes bump in the night with logical reasoning behind it.
This collection consists of 10 volumes: Four books in their own right + six separate collections of short stories. Three of the single books are excellent and nearly all of the short stories equally so.
These 10 volumes are ordered in such a way as to retain a logical timeline of events such as when Holmes and Watson first meet and when they decide to reside together at Baker Street and how their friendship and professional relationship develops over time. There are deaths and resurrections and other events that make more sense this way.
If you read these volumes in chronological order it's more intelligible than picking up one of the volumes at random, although it's not essential that you absolutely do that because the timelines start to make less sense as times goes on, but with this amount of material it's good to have less confusion.
This collection is absolutely epic for attempting to put it all together and become the definitive amalgamation of everything Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle writes in such an appealing and fluent style that you can't fail to be charmed from the start.
Amazingly, this was the first book I officially bought on my Kindle, before anything by Jane Austen or other amazing authors, and for practically tuppence ha'penny, guvnor!
If you like Arthur Conan Doyle, be sure to check out H.G. Wells for similar fluency from that period, a long long time ago... in a galaxy far far away....more
I loved everything about this little novella from start to finish, especially the beautiful cover, font and images freely smattered throughout.
Even thI loved everything about this little novella from start to finish, especially the beautiful cover, font and images freely smattered throughout.
Even the hyphen between wall and paper makes you think.
Written in a clear and stylish manner, it's very personable and easy to read.
Broadly classified as horror, this is disturbing literature at its best. There's no gore, action or violence, but pure psychological drama. It's gothic too - stuck in a big house, sea views, roaring wind and Wuthering Heights.
Through my own experiences with depression and negative mental health, this book has been on my hit list for a while. The main character has severe psychological problems, including delusions, fixations and the inability to get on with basic tasks. She believes herself to be perfectly normal with only minor issues, dismissed as irrelevant by other people.
Sometimes authors get repetitive very quickly, but Charlotte Perkins Gilman could write about drying paint (she kinda does) and still be interesting.
I totally recommend this book if psychology and disturbing literature are of interest to you....more
The biggest struggle I have with H.P. Lovecraft is H.P. Lovecraft. His imagination and technical ability are unquestionably competent at describing evThe biggest struggle I have with H.P. Lovecraft is H.P. Lovecraft. His imagination and technical ability are unquestionably competent at describing events from an investigative journalist perspective in the aftermath of events that we don't actually get to see ourselves, so have to take his word for it in retrospect.
Lovecraft is confusing to write about, scientific without any solid facts or backup, his distant and far-flung narrative often comes across as purposefully vague and snootish, frustratingly far-removed and irritating, mildly tense but far from scary.
He was clearly lucid and intelligent when writing this book but also out of his gourd, hovering between Darwinian delusions and whatever he used for LSD at the time. Where he got his ideas from is beyond comprehension - the Necronomicon, apparently. It all depends whether you enjoy cosmic horror written from a standoffish perspective?
This is my fourth Lovecraft novella and I'm impressed by the atmosphere in all of them as well as the writing skill, but with the exception of The Dunwich Horror, I'm beginning to dislike this body of work in general. Cthulhu was dreary. I know this opinion is tantamount to pulling down my pants in public (inadvisable) or telling the emperor that he's got no clothes on (gets you nowhere), but that's how I feel. This isn't an entertaining read and, although fluid, is too fantastical and untethered for real enjoyment.
I now approach Lovecraft as a sort of Shakespeare, not necessarily for enjoyment but for wisdom and bragging rights, to experience the daddies of their respective genres. I have a soft spot for them but am rarely entertained.
Edgar Allen Poe is mentioned a few times as another weirdly enigmatic dude in this genre, as Lovecraft's forefather of strange, abstract and spooky literature.
I don't recommend this book but I do appreciate its importance....more
This is the complete collection of 15 stories, 16 if you include the introduction to volume 1, spaced into three bite-size chunks of volumes 1, 2 and This is the complete collection of 15 stories, 16 if you include the introduction to volume 1, spaced into three bite-size chunks of volumes 1, 2 and 3.
All three volumes are consistent, which is surprising, with only a few duffers here and there in each volume.
So, I have to choose a favourite story from each volume and explain why?
Vol. 1: - 'Pig Blood Blues' because of how sinister it is and the references to Animal Farm by George Orwell, although wildly different in every other way. This is a really dark and sordid tale that scared and disgusted me, which is why I read this type of material.
Vol. 2: - 'Jacqueline Ess' because of my personal connection with her mental health issues and how she is endlessly pursued, controlled and gets her own back in one way or another. It feels hopeless, and it totally is.
Vol. 3: - 'Human-Remains' because of the plot twist at the end and how it captivates and saddens you at the plight of a sex worker who ultimately has no control, but thinks he does because of his incredible looks.
All of Clive Barker's stories are sordid, but more in line with cosmic horror than sheer gore and splatterpunk, and even though published in 1983, still feel relevant and fresh, while also serving as horror classics borrowing many influences from the past while emphasising where many current authors get their influences from.
My criticisms are that some of the stories don't feel fleshed out enough, which is inevitable with this much material, plus they start to repeat in ideas and concepts a bit, with volumes 2 & 3 containing six stories with highly charged sexual elements.
But overall, quite phenomenal and 4 dirty black stars from me....more
Richard Alex
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