For the 17th best horror short story for the fifty year period in question, I pick The Singualr Trial of Francis Ormiston by George Sloane. I'll give my thoughts on it later in the week. Enjoy!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Author of the 17th Best Scary Short Story 1800-1849 is George Sloane
When discussing horror stories for the first half of the nineteenth century, George Soane (1789-1860) is rarely mentioned. He is primarily known today as a playwright and scholarly translator of foreign poems and operas into English. Soane’s strained relationship with his famous architect father, John Soane, deflected much needed attention away from his short horror fiction. It also didn’t help his literary reputation when he started publishing many of his horror short stories anonymously. They were also spread out over a period of decades and first collected in three volumes titled, The Last Ball, and Other Stories of 1841. They are all produced at a high level. There is hardly a bad story in the lot. This is the finest, overlooked collection of horror, ghost and fantasy short stories by one author during the period in question. I hope to stem the tide of obscurity for George Sloane regarding his fine horror and ghost stories and it will begin with my next post of the 17th best horror short story from 1800-1849.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Comments on The Black Cat Scary Story by Edgar Allan Poe
Years before the black raven was ingrained into the minds of Americans as a reminder of lost love, another sable animal gained Edgar Allan Poe fame. The Black Cat ranks as one of Poe’s best horror short stories and one of the best from 1800-1849. I have picked it as the 18th best scary short story. Poe actually owned a black cat in 1840 when he published a short article entitled “Instinct vs. Reason.” Here is a snippet: The writer of this article is the owner of one of the most remarkable black cats in the world – and this is saying much; for it will be remembered that black cats are all of them witches. The one in question has not a white hair about her, and is of a demure and sanctified demeanor. He followed this line of thinking in the tale when speaking of the fictional cat:
This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree. In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise. Not that she was ever serious upon this point—and I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered.
Poe was a lover of cats to be sure. Besides his black cat, he owned a tabby cat with his wife, Virginia, named Catterina. Like many of his tales, there are other autobiographical elements here. As a child Poe killed a pet bird owned by his foster mother, Frances Allan, and later felt guilt and remorse. Poe gives a similar account of the cat:
When I first beheld this apparition—for I could scarcely regard it as less—my wonder and my terror were extreme. But at length reflection came to my aid. The cat, I remembered, had been hung in a garden adjacent to the house. Upon the alarm of fire, this garden had been immediately filled by the crowd—by some one of whom the animal must have been cut from the tree and thrown, through an open window, into my chamber. This had probably been done with the view of arousing me from sleep. The falling of other walls had compressed the victim of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; the lime of which, with the flames, and the ammonia from the carcass, had then accomplished the portraiture as I saw it.
"The Black Cat" was first published in the August 19, 1843 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. It employs the most effective use of an animal for any of the Top 40 scary short stories of this period. The fine writing and building terror plant it firmly as the 18th best scary short story on the countdown.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
The 18th Best Scary Short Story 1800-1849 is The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
I have chosen The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe as the 18 best scary short story for the fifty year period in question. Enjoy the free link and I will give my thoughts on it later in the week.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Author of the 18th Best Scary Short Story 1800-1849 is Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) has made early and often appearances on this countdown of the Top 40 scary short stories from 1800-1849. Tomorrow I will post a link to his next story that uses a household pet in an ingenious fashion.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Andrew's Thoughts on The Story of the Greek Slave by Captain Frederick Marryat
In my view The Story of the Greek Slave is the best scary short story by Captain Frederick Marryat (1791-1848) given its dark themes and high-level of writing. Wine from the casks taste better after a corpse has been sitting in it? To which the master replies "It certainly has more body . . .." This tale wasn't originally published as a short horror story. It has been extracted from Chapter II of The Pacha of Many Tales that was published by Marryat in the Metropolitan Magazine from 1831-1835. It was presented as a series of tales that drew strong parallels to the New Arabian Nights. Marryat was no stranger to horror and the supernatural. He would later pen the haunting novel called The Phantom Ship. The high writing and horror the reader experiences as the people drink from the corpse caskets places "The Story of the Greek Slave" as the 19th best scary short story published from 1800-1849.
Friday, May 14, 2010
The 19th Best Scary Short Story 1800-1849 is The Greek Slave by Captain Frederick Marryat
I pick The Greek Slave by Captain Frederick Marryat as the 19th best scary short story from the first half of the nineteenth century. Enjoy it over the weekend and I will give some background on Marryat's best horror story early next week. Thanks!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)