I wanted to let everyone know that I am giving away an autographed edition of The Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Ghost Anthology on GoodReads this month. You can enter here. Good luck and get ready to be scared!
The Scary Short Stories Blog by award-winning author Andrew Barger where I discuss the scariest stories in the various supernatural genres. I emphasize classic scary short stories and provide insight into the origins of the stories and the authors behind them. Visit AndrewBarger.com to check out my books and to be scared.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Giveaway for The Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Ghost Anthology
I wanted to let everyone know that I am giving away an autographed edition of The Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Ghost Anthology on GoodReads this month. You can enter here. Good luck and get ready to be scared!
Friday, March 30, 2012
New Vampire Anthology Published - The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Vampire Anthology
Scary stories-vampire style. That is what's in store when you read my newly published book - The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Vampire Anthology. In the first half of the nineteenth century vampires were referred to as ghosts since they were once living. They were also called "vampyres," which I personally like better than "vampires." The old school version has a more goth look to it on the page. Anyway, here is some background into my new anthology. It's one that is uniquely presented in the vampire genre.
Unearthed from long forgotten journals and magazines, Andrew Barger has found the very best vampire short stories from the first half of the 19th century. They are collected for the first time in this groundbreaking book on the origins of vampire lore.
The cradle of all vampire short stories in the English language is the first half of the 19th century. Andrew Barger combed forgotten journals and mysterious texts to collect the very best vintage vampire stories from this crucial period in vampire literature. In doing so, Andrew unearthed the second and third vampire stories originally published in the English language, neither printed since their first publication nearly 200 years ago. Also included is the first vampire story originally written in English by John Polidori after a dare with Lord Byron and Mary Shelley. The book contains the first vampire story by an American who was a graduate of Columbia Law School. The book further includes the first vampire stories by an Englishman and German, including the only vampire stories by such renowned authors as Alexander Dumas, Théophile Gautier and Joseph le Fanu.
As readers have come to expect from Andrew, he has added his scholarly touch to this collection by including story backgrounds, annotations, author photos and a foreword titled "With Teeth." The ground-breaking stories are:
1819 The Vampyre - John Polidori (1795-1821)
1823 Wake Not the Dead - Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853)
1848 The Vampire of the Carpathian Mountains - Alexander Dumas (1802-1870)
1839 Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter - Joseph le Fanu (1814-1873)
1826 Pepopukin in Corsica - Arthur Young (1741-1820)
1819 The Black Vampyre: A Legend of Saint Domingo - Robert C. Sands (1799-1832)
1836 Clarimonde - Théophile Gautier (1811-1872)
Buy this best vampire book tonight!
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Tired Vampires vs. Wired Vampires
Old-school vampires, those of the Victorian era of literature, are back in fashion after a couple years of the sparkly vampire phenomena. Wire Magazine, in its April 2012 issue, printed a chart on how tired the editors were of certain types of vampires. To no one's surprise they were most tired of hunky vampires and Gothy Eurotrash vampires. Next on the chart were friendly vampires. Those they were lest tired of: "old-school evil" vampires like you'll find in The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Vampire Anthology.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Cover for The Best Vampire Stories 1880-1849
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Charlotte Sometimes by The Cure vs Charlotte Sometimes the Book by Penelope Farmer
"Charlotte Sometimes", the YA book by Penelope Farmer, is well known in England more than the US. It has time travel and ghosts and scary seances. What's not to like? I’ve recently read “Charlotte Sometimes” if for no other reason than to compare The Cure lyrics of their classic song Charlotte Sometimes to parts of the children’s fantasy. This is what I learned and it’s very interesting. ***Spoiler Alter***
All the faces, All the voices blur
Change to one face, Change to one voice
First sentence: By bedtime all the faces, the voices, had blurred for Charlotte to one face, one voice.
Prepare yourself for bed
Second sentence: She prepared herself for bed . . . .
The light seems bright, And glares on white walls
Book 2nd paragraph, 6th sentence: The light seemed to bright for them, glaring on white walls . . . .
All the sounds of
Book 4th paragraph, 4th sentence: All the sounds about her . . . .
Charlotte sometimes
Into the night with
Charlotte sometimes
Book 5th paragraph, 1st sentence: She must have slept at last . . . .
Night after night she lay alone in bed
Her eyes so open to the dark
Part II, chapter 4, 1st sentence: Night after night, Charlotte lay in bed with her eyes open to the dark . . . .
The streets all looked so strange
They seemed so far away
But Charlotte did not cry
Part II, chapter 4, paragraph 15, 1st sentence: The streets looked strange . . . .
The people seemed so close
Playing expressionless games
Part II, chapter 2, paragraph 24, 3rd sentence: Charlotte, on the other hand, became absorbed, concentrating wholly on her fingers’ easing . . . .
The people seemed so close
So many other names
Part II, chapter 2, paragraph 37: “Good night, Mr. Chisel Brown,” she said with almost a curtsy. “Good night, Mrs. Chisel Brown. Good night, Miss Agnes Chisel Brown. Good night, cat. Good night, dog . . ..”
When all the other people dance - Reference to school dance
Expressionless the trance - Reference to séance
So many different names - Reference to names of Brown family
The sounds all stay the same - Reference to airplane sounds overhead
On a different world - Past where Charlotte travels
On that bleak track
(See the sun is gone again)
The tears were pouring down her face
She was crying and crying for a girl
Who died so many years before
Part III, chapter 2, paragraph 53, 1st sentence: On that bleak track, the sun almost gone again, tears were pouring down her face. She was crying and crying for a girl for a girl who had died more than 40 years before.
Charlotte sometimes crying for herself
Part III, chapter 7, paragraph 13, last sentence: She began crying bitterly, could not stop . . . .
Charlotte sometimes dreams a wall around herself
Part III, chapter 7, paragraph 10, 1st sentence: She dreamed she stood below the picture, The Mark of the Beast, and there were soldiers all around her in red uniforms, stiff as toys but tall as men. There were dolls, too, like Miss Agnes’s doll, as tall as the soldiers . . .
Glass sealed and pretty
Part III, chapter 7, paragraph 15, 4th sentence: And when she looked at the wall at the picture glass, it looked quite empty, as if a mirror hung there, not a picture at all.
I'll compare two other songs by The Cure at my cure blog if anyone wants to go a little deeper!
Labels:
charlotte sometimes,
cure lyrics and book charlotte sometimes,
penelope farmer book,
the cure
Friday, February 10, 2012
Midwest Book Review of The Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849
The Midwest Book Review had this to say about my classic ghost anthology: [A] unique perspective on this dawn of horror's early roots and their connections to our modern day. "The Best Ghost Stories 1800-1849" is a choice pick with stories from many legendary authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving, very much recommended reading. You can check out the ghost book trailer on my site. Have a haunting weekend!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Scary Ghost References in Lyrics by The Cure
The Cure is the most successful Goth band in history. In prior posts I've let everyone know about my Cure blog that I've started and about the publication of The Best Ghost Stories book. This post is about a marriage of the two. What I mean by that is I did a little research into scary ghost reference by The Cure in their lyrics. I found 5 songs that contain them. I dare you to listen to these songs while reading The Best Ghost Stories 1800:1849: A Classic Ghost Anthology. The Hungry Ghost - 4:13 Dream Siren Song - 4:13 Dream The Upstairs Room - B Side to "The Walk" and Join the Dots Fear of Ghosts - "Lovesong" EP Untitled - Disintegration
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Blog About The Cure Band Started by Author Andrew Barger
For those of you who don't know, The Cure is one of my favorite bands. They are Goth. They make beautiful music unlike any other band and Robert Smith's lyrics brand him as one of our greatest modern day poets. The Cure is also one of the most literary bands to ever play. There are many references to fantastic books, old and new. So I've started a cure blog at www.DisintegrationNation-CureBlog.blogspot.com. From time-to-time I'll be posting my thoughts on this great band. What does this have to do with horror and scary stories? You'll see!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Azra'eil & Fudgie Ebook Launched for $.99 on Amazon
"Azra'eil & Fudgie" is my new short story about a group of marines in Afghanistan who encounter a precocious little girl who is much more than she first appears. It is a war story that combines the supernatural and the fears of a young marine who is on his first mission to hunt for skulls (IED buried explosives). You can download the supernatural war story on Kindle for only $.99. "Azra'eil & Fudgie" is one of the stories included in my first short story collection: Mailboxes - Mansions - Memphistophels. I hope you enjoy it.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
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