List time! Besides the obvious pre-code comic books, what else do you read that really gets you in the mood around Halloween? I tend to stick with the short horror story collections, anything really, but those especially by M. R. James or E. F. Benson. Call me old fashioned but I like the way the scholarly antiquarian gents from 'Ol England do up the scares better than anyone else. So let’s hear it, your TOP THREE FAVORITE READS for Halloween.
'Beating the Devil'--the story behind the making of 'Night of the Demon'
ReplyDeleteI JUST BOUGHT VINCENT PRICE THE ART OF FEAR BY DENNIS MEIKLE. ALL THIS TALK ABOUT HIM ON YOUR BLOG GOT ME INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT HIS LIFE. SO FAR IT'S AN EXCELLENT READ.
ReplyDeleteALSO THE MONSTERS CELEBRATION BOOK FROM UNIVERSAL STUDIOS IS GOOD TOO.
John Grafton's GREAT GHOST STORIES collection has one stinker(from M.R.James!!who i usually love,but"The Rose Garden" isn't on par with "Casting the Runes".)but is otherwise excellent,and no halloween is complete without Roger Zelany's NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER,Bruce Coville's BOOK OF series is mainly for kids,but has some really good material.
ReplyDeleteAny H.P. Lovecraft story, random Victorian and pulp era horror stories, and Coleridge poems - especially Christabel. All are scary by suggestion.
ReplyDeleteIn MRJ's defense, while The Rose Garden is definitely not one of his best, it's far from being "a stinker." I reserve that title to his Two Doctors story.
ReplyDeleteAlso of note: Robert E. Howard, most famous for his Conan, Kull, and Soloman Kane stories, wrote a mound of excellent horror stories too. And I actually think the Lovecraft mythos stuff that he created is better than HPL's!
CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST - HARVEY COMICS CLASSICS VOL. 1 by Leslie Cabarga & Jerry Beck!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely disappointed this year. My local library seems to have gotten rid of their copy of A Night In The Lonesome October. Really a shame because honestly I think it's his best one.
ReplyDeleteGahan Wilson's (coincidentally illustrator of a night in the lonesome october) books are great too. Spooky sort of otherworldly zaniness (and usually illustrated to boot). Some people don't like his style and think it's sloppy,or amatueristic, but I like it.
>CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST - HARVEY COMICS CLASSICS VOL. 1 by Leslie Cabarga & Jerry Beck!
ReplyDeleteThe new issue of PREVIEWS has a HOT STUFF collection listed for January!
Wow another Gahan Wilson fan, I used to incessantly read his collections as a kid and always loved his crazy detours from the "norm" in Playboy mag. I'd love to be reading some of his stuff this Halloween, i need to track down some of his stuff used.
ReplyDeleteI gotta keep it pretty simple due to time restraints, but lately i've been paging thru Horror rags and horror movie reference books before bed.
I have been reading a collection of ghost stories, put together by Roald Dahl tho.
I read Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" every October. Finally picked up the Disney movie from 1983 too, but the book's better.
ReplyDeleteHappy Halloween!