Author of the 12th Best Horror Story 1800-1849 is Charles Dickens

When considering horror stories for the first half of the nineteenth century, Charles Dickens usually does not come to mind unless it is in the context of his ghost tales. For those following this blog you know that I excluded ghost stories from The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Horror Anthology because they belong in a genre all their own. Tomorrow I will provide the name of Dickens's horror story. Hint: It's from The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.

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Countries for the Authors in The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Horror Anthology

Yesterday I posted a list of the authors in The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849. In reviewing the list, I see that I left out Wilhelm Hauff, the brilliant German writer of scary short stories who died much too young. For those of you counting at home, here is another list of the authors who have scary stories in my classic horror anthology AND their respective countries.

Honore de Balzac (France)
Charles Dickens (UK)
Wilhelm Hauff (Germany)
E.T.A. Hoffmann (Germany)
Nathaniel Hawthorne (US)
Edgar Allan Poe (US)
George Soane (UK)
Samuel Warren (UK)

The UK is represented by the most authors (3) in my best horror stories book for the first half of the nineteenth century. Now let's look at it from a different angle--from the number of horror stories by country. 

Honore de Balzac (France) (Stories in horror anthology: 2)
Charles Dickens (UK) (Stories in horror anthology: 1)
Wilhelm Hauff (Germany) (Stories in horror anthology: 1)
E.T.A. Hoffmann (Germany) (Stories in horror anthology: 1)
Nathaniel Hawthorne (US) (Stories in horror anthology: 1)
Edgar Allan Poe (US) (Stories in horror anthology: 4)
George Soane (UK) (Stories in horror anthology: 1)
Samuel Warren (UK) (Stories in horror anthology: 1)

By this you will see that the US has 5 of the 12 horror stories, the UK has 3, Germany and France have 2 each. To me this is interesting. Please keep in mind that only stories translated into the English language were considered for the horror anthology. Next week I will start counting down these Top 12. Have a great weekend.

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Website: www.AndrewBarger.com

List of Authors in The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Horror Anthology

I am nearly finished with my countdown of the best horror stories from 1800-1849. I have published 40-13 and the final 12 stories are contained in my new book: The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Horror Anthology. Next I will start counting down these Top 12, but first I want to tease you a bit by listing the authors whose horror stories made the anthology:

Honore de Balzac
Charles Dickens (Surprise!)
E.T.A. Hoffmann
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Edgar Allan Poe (No surprise)
George Soane (Who?)
Samuel Warren

It's easy to see that some of these classic horror authors have multiple stories in the anthology. See if you can guess what horror stories by these authors made the Top 12 for the first half of the nineteenth century. Tomorrow I will list the countries where the authors are from. Enjoy.

Website: www.AndrewBarger.com

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New Cover for The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Horror Anthology

It has been a while since I have posted to my blog and I have been hearing about it! I was forced to pause my countdown of the best scary short stories from 1800-1849 to launch another book I edited: The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849. That book has gotten off to a good start in both the US and UK. I was also finalizing the cover for The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849 and here it is! Now, I don't want to hear any jokes about that being a picture of me on the cover. I look much worse than that after a late night of writing. Overall, I am pleased with the cover. It gives the book a classic horror feel without blood and gore. There is little of either in the 12 scary stories I picked as the best ones for this period, yet nothing is lost in their fright factor. The horror book has 250 pages and it is available at all major Internet retailers such as The Best Horror Short Stories at Amazon.com and The Best Horror Short Stories at Barnes & Noble. Over the next two weeks I will reveal the 12 horror stories I have chosen for the book to finish out the countdown.

Midwest Book Review Gives The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849 a 5 Star Review

Great reviews keep coming in for the werewolf book I edited called The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Werewolf Anthology. This one is by the Midwest Book Review:

"Knowledgeably compiled and deftly edited by Andrew Barger, "The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Werewolf Anthology" is a 170-page literary compendium covering a fifty year span from 1800 to 1849 and identifying famous and not-so-well known authors who wrote werewolf stories that range from Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, to Honore de Balzac and James Hogg. After an informed and informative introduction on the subject by Andrew Barger, five of these stories are presented in full, followed by a listing of short stories considered from 1800 to 1849, along with an index of Real Names. A seminal work of impressive scholarship, "The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Werewolf Anthology" is highly recommended reading for fantasy fans, and a valued addition to academic library Literary Studies reference collections."

Whether you call them lycans, shapeshifters or werewolves, if you are interested in classic werewolf stories then this is the werewolf book for you.

Website: www.AndrewBarger.com
Blog: www.scary-short-stories.blogspot.com

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First Review of The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849 is Posted by Werewolves.com

Werewolves.com has just posted a fine review of The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849. It includes short descriptions of each scary tale in the werewolf anthology. Click werewolf book review to read it in its entirety.

List of the Best Scary Short Stories 1800-1849 that Have Been Counted Down to Date

Now that my book The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Werewolf Anthology is published, I am back to focus on the horror countdown. Below is a rundown of horror short stories 40 through 13 that I have posted so far in my countdown of the Top 40 scary short stories from 1800 to 1849. You will notice some familiar names and some that may be new. With so many fine scary short stories that have appeared on the countdown already, it is hard to believe that much better ones await. If you want to read any of these stories, simply scroll back through my blog archive.

40.     1839 Running the Gauntlet by Anonymous

39.     1823 The Mutiny by William Harrison Ainsworth

38.     1836 The Wedding Knell by Nathaniel Hawthorne

37.     1842 Ben Blower's Story; or How to Relish a Julep by Charles Feno Hoffman

36.     1827 The Bohemian by Anonymous

35.     1831 Singular Passage in the Life of the Late Henry Harris, Doctor in Divinity by Richard Harris Barham

34.     1830 Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman by William Carleton

33.     1820 The Field of Terror by Baron Friedrich Heinrich Karl De la Motte Fouquâe

32.     1837 Cousin Mattie by James Hogg

31.     1844 Rappaccini’s Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

30.     1821  The Man in the Bell by William Maginn

29.     1836 The Legend of the Bell Rock by Captain Frederick Marryat

28.     1849 Hop-Frog by Edgar Allan Poe

27.     1832 Gabriel Lindsay by William Mudford

26.     1835 The Fiery Vault by Reithra

25.     1837 The Involuntary Experimentalist by Samuel Ferguson

24.     1831 The Lonely Man of the Ocean by Anonymous

23.     1843 Ko-rea-ran-neh-neh; or, The Flying Head by Charles Feno Hoffman

22.     1846 The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

21.     1837 Dr. Heidegger's Experiment by Nathaniel Hawthorne

20.     1823 A Scots Mummy by James Hogg

19.     1835 The Story of the Greek Slave by Captain Frederick Marryat

18.     1843 The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe

17.     1834 The Singular Trial of Francis Ormiston by George Sloane

16.     1842 The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe

15.     1827 Le Revenant by Henry Thomson

14.     1841 A Descent into the Maelstrom by Edgar Allan Poe

13.     1830 The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac

This is the list to date for my countdown of the best horror stories from 1800-1849. What horror tales will appear in the Top 12? I will soon be publishing all of them in my new book: The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Horror Anthology. In my next post I will show the cover!

Interview for The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Werewolf Anthology

"The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849" Interview With

Andrew Barger

Q1: Why did you decide to edit a book of the best werewolf short stories from 1800-1849?

A1: I have never seen one that addresses a 50 year time period, especially this time period. I try to fill in the gaps in the literature when I find them. This is when werewolf transformation stories were in their infancy, yet they are very good.

Q2: Were there many werewolf short stories written before 1800?

A2: I have been unable to find any. Shapeshifters in the literature go as far back as the ancient Romans and Greeks. They moved forward through poetry and jumped to the short story form in the early nineteenth century.

Q3: How do the werewolf short stories of 1800-1849 compare to today's werewolf stories?

A3: They are not as graphic and some of the stories lack deep character development. Since werewolf short stories were an entirely new form of writing in this period, this is to be expected.

Q4: Did you include any lycan stories that have not been collected in an anthology before?

A4: I did. "The Man Wolf" by Leitch Ritchie and "A Story of a Weir-Wolf" by Catherine Crowe.

Q5: Which of the lycan stories is your favorite?

A5: "The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains" by Captain Frederick Marryat. The way the female werewolf is portrayed is haunting.

Q6: Can you give us a list of the stories contained in the book?

A6: Sure. "Hugues the Wer-Wolf: A Kentish Legend of the Middle Ages," "The Man-Wolf," "A Story of a Weir-Wolf," "The Wehr-Wolf: A Legend of the Limousin," and "The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains."

Q7: Where can a person buy this book?

A7: The best place to start is follow this werewolf transformation stories path to my Website where I provide links to buy the book (or ebook) online. It can be purchased at all major online retailers including Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Q8: Edgar Allan Poe wrote his short stories during this time period and you edited Edgar Allan Poe Annotated and Illustrated Entire Stories and Poems. Did he write any werewolf short stories?

A8: Not one, but he did have a furry cat named Caterina. (Laughs)

Book Trailer for The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Werewolf Anthology

I hope you enjoyed the book trailer for The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Werewolf Anthology. Here is a bit about it: Werewolf transformation in the literature made its greatest strides in the first half of the 19th century when the monster leaped from poetry to the short story. It happened when this shorter form of literature, this shapeshifter, was morphing into darker forms thanks in no small part to Edgar Allan Poe, Honoré de Balzac, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Prosper Mérimée, James Hogg, and so many others in Europe and the United States.The fifty year period between 1800 and 1849 is truly the cradle of all lycan and werewolf short stories. For the first time in one werewolf anthology, I have compiled the best lycan stories from this fifty year period. The stories are "Hugues the Wer-Wolf: A Kentish Legend of the Middle Ages," "The Man-Wolf," "A Story of a Weir-Wolf," "The Wehr-Wolf: A Legend of the Limousin," and "The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains." It is believed that two of these scary short stories have never been republished in over one hundred and fifty years since their original printing. Read "The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849" tonight by the light of a full moon!

Website: Andrew Barger.com
Blog: scary-short-stories.blogspot.com

Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849 Table of Contents

This week I let everyone who follows my blog know about the new werewolf book I edited and have recently published. The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Werewolf Anthology contains the finest werewolf transformation stories from this the first half of the nineteenth century. This is the list of lycan stories contained in the book.

 

1. Hugues the Wer-Wolf: A Kentish Legend of the Middle Ages
2. The Man-Wolf
3. A Story of a Weir-Wolf
4. The Wehr-Wolf: A Legend of the Limousin
5. The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains

I hope you werewolf fans out there enjoy it!

Website: Andrew Barger.com
Blog: scary-short-stories.blogspot.com