The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time

A title like The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time automatically beggars belief. Immediately, readers will notice the absence of modern masters like Stephen King and Peter Straub, and past masters like E.T.A. Hoffmann and Charles Beaumont. A more accurate title for this volume would be Thirteen of the Best Horror Stories Published in English Between 1843 and 1948. Its selections are sometimes uneven, but usually excellent, and are often of tremendous importance.

The anthology presents some masterpieces that have appeared in innumerable other collections: Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," W.W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw," H.P. Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu," and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." However, The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time avoids some obvious choices (instead of "Carmilla," the selection from J. Sheridan Le Fanu is "Green Tea"), and it includes a genre-stretching work (H.G. Wells's "The Country of the Blind," which may also be viewed as sci-fi or fantasy), as well as a classic novella (Arthur Machen's "The Great God Pan") that is often excluded from other anthologies because of limited space.

Prefaced with a brief, intelligent introduction by editor Leslie Pockell, The 13 Best Horror Stories of All Time is a wonderful book for the budding horror fan. Readers more experienced in fantastic fiction will want to compare the table of contents with their libraries before making a purchase decision. --Cynthia Ward