In a Glass Darkly

If you are a fan of Edgar Allen Poe, you will probably enjoy this collection of five short stories and novellas by Sheridan Le Fanu. Tied together by the idea that each of these 'case histories' come from the files of a deceased doctor who specialized in the paranormal, each is capable of giving the reader the creeps.

'Green Tea', 'The Familiar', and 'Mr. Justice Harbottle' all revolve around the idea of paranormal visitation: the main characters are visited by something or someone that others can't necessarily see. And while I enjoyed each of these stories, it was the last two that make me recommend this for fans of horror and the occult.

'The Room in the Dragon Volant' is the longest of the stories and plays out more as a mystery story with supernatural overtones. It would have made the basis for a great Sherlock Holmes story and is truly suspenseful and eerie. While most readers will pick out that a double cross is in store for the narrator, it is hard to tell where it will come from.

'Carmilla' is a frightening tale of vampires that might pre-date Dracula. Le Fanu does an excellent job with description and pacing. Some of the descriptive writing ranks up there with Hawthorne from the same general time period.

The full text of these stories can be found here.

The Fall of the House of Usher; The Pit and the Pendulum; The Purloined Letter

I read all three of these stories on my lunch hour today. It is amazing what a body of work Edgar Allan Poe left behind, and how accessible it is. Poe, who died at 40, left a legacy that is still being built upon today in the detective and horror genres.

The thing that I love about The Fall of the House of Usher and The Pit and the Pendulum is how relentless the horror is that Poe establishes in just 13 or 14 pages in each story. His descriptions of the decrepit mansion and the horrible Inquisition pit are enough to turn the stomach and get under the skin. His contemporary Hawthorne was great at this as well- describing inanimate objects and places and making the reader feel as if they can feel, smell, and hear the horror. I was reading these stories in a brightly lit faculty lounge and I swear my skin grew clammy. I love stories like this that are grotesque without being gross.

The Purloined Letter is another matter entirely. It is a very early detective story, featuring the same protagonist Poe used for The Murders in the Rue Morgue (arguably the first whodunnit in literature). The puzzle, while comparatively rudimentary by today's standards, is still a ground-breaker in terms of the use of criminal psychology in a fictional piece. The logic exercised by the detective would become the basis for Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Peter Wimsey, and countless other sleuths of 20th century literature. All in all, a great way to spend a lunch hour!

The Shining

Stephen King obviously needs no introduction. An amazing publishing phenomenon, King continues to produce a fairly consistent amount of work, even if he isn't quite as prolific as his 80s and 90s heyday. I have probably read just about everything he's written, with the exception of a few of the later books and the Dark Tower series. King is the source of controversy amongst literary types; his pulpy plots are a little too 'supermarket' for the snobs. Still, I count him as amongst one of the finest storytellers in literary history, and isn't that really what novels are all about? In addition, King's writing has grown richer and richer over the years as he's dabbled in many styles outside the pale of traditional horror.

The Shining was King's third or fourth novel, and arguably the best of the earliest part of his career. I won't go deep into plot details, as anyone with even a passing interest in King's work has probably read the book. Still, the creepy story of a troubled man and his family wintering as caretakers in a secluded Colorado hotel still has enough fright in its pages to keep me up at night. The book contains several hallucinatory and surreal passages and imparts a genuine sense of claustrophobia, much like what the characters in the story were experiencing. Stanley Kubrick's film version has its detractors, but I feel it holds up very well over time, even with Nicholson's over the top performance and the slightly different ending.

It is important to remember that authors like Dickens were often dismissed as hacks in their own time. I believe that King's best work will stand up over time in the same way as that of the most beloved storytellers from the past.