The Upper Berth

Author

Lord Dunsany

In fantasy, I've seen magic used in many ways: as plot device, curio, religious allegory, and the personification of morals, but rarely do I find a book where magic is truly magical. Too often, it's a convenience, a cliche, but for Dunsany, magic is pervasive, mysterious, unknowable, and lovely. He...

Author	Edgar Allan Poe
ISBN	1594567395

The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague known as the Red Death by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, has a masquerade ball within seven rooms of his abbey, each decorated with a different color.

In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious...

Author	Ambrose Bierce
ISBN	0874068134

The condemned man stands on a bridge, his hands bound behind his back. A noose is tied around his neck. In a moment he will meet his fate: DEATH BY HANGING. There is no escape. Or is there? Find out in . . . An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital...

Author	Algernon Blackwood
ISBN	1587156520

Two friends are midway on a canoe trip down the Danube River. Throughout the story Blackwood personifies the surrounding environment—river, sun, wind—and imbues them with a powerful and ultimately threatening character. Most ominous are the masses of dense, desultory, menacing willows,...

Author	W.W. Jacobs
ISBN	1583419195

Classic horror tale. A family and their son Herbert are visited by an old soldier named Morris. He tells them from his time in India and shows them a mysterious talisman, the monkey's paw. According to him the owner of the paw has three wishes. Since he already had three he throw the object into the fire....

Author

Neil Gaiman

*3.5 stars*



Oh my! Snow, Glass, Apples is some twisted, dark and creepy fairytale retelling of Snow White, lovely and dear Snow White. In this short story written by the critically acclaimed author Neil Gaiman, she is pure and innocent no more. Better watch out: the mask she wears might...

Author	M.R. James
ISBN	1557425574

The follow-up volume to "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" collects seven more of Montague Rhodes James's classic horror stories, including "A School Story," "The Rose Garden," "Casting the Runes," and "Martin's Close."

"...gifted with an almost diabolic power of calling horror by gentle...

Author	Algernon Blackwood
ISBN	1406905925

a rainy, windy, chilly night with nothing to do but gaze lovingly at my overly full bookcases. so why not reread one of my favorite classic horror novellas? this one is about, wait for it, The Wendigo and its prey du jour (du nuit?): some hunters and their guides. but is the story really about this so-called...

Author	Hanns Heinz Ewers
ISBN	1419183265

For Madame Dubonnet, the owner of the small, cheap guesthouse whose clientele was composed almost completely of employees in a nearby Montmartre vaudeville theater, this second curious death in the same room had very unpleasant consequences. Already several of her guests had moved out, and other...