Stephen King, "Cycle of the Werewolf"

By MichaelP03 on 8/28/10 1:03am
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Cycle of the Werewolf is an interesting little book from the man who brought us The Stand, The Tommyknockers and Needful Things. For one, it is really a little book - at 128 pages, I finished it a little more than a day. Secondly, it is articulated by the chilling and vivid illustrations of the renowned Bernie Wrightson. Thirdly, it is told in the present tense. Not mentioned in the same breath as Cujo and Christine, I didn't give much thought to Cycle of the Werewolf until my Stephen King rush kicked in a couple of weeks ago. But I figured that while I was in the man's twisted version of New England, a little stop in the quaint and idyllic Maine town of Tarker Mills surely wouldn't hurt.

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Cirque du Freak

By sarajean on 3/27/10 8:25am
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What an incredible disappointment.

With a movie deal, rave reviews, and even an endorsement from J.K. Rowling on the cover, I wholeheartedly expected—well, something. Something bigger, something better, something much more extraordinary. All I found in Darren Shan’s novel Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare, however, was an enormous letdown.

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The Open Window

By akgoemans on 3/14/10 8:55am
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SakiSaki
Seems like I don't have time for lengthy horror stories anymore. Well, they certainly make interesting reading when traveling. This particular story, The Open Window, is a relatively short one by Saki (or Hector Hugh Munro). It is a weird little story about a man's visit to his new neighbors.

Since the story is incredibly short, I won't spend too much time talking about the plot. It basically has a main character, Mr. Nuttel, who is obliged to visit the neighbors when visiting his sister. At one of these houses, whilst waiting for the lady of the house to come down and greet him, he ends up chatting to one of the kids in the house. Unfortunately for him, she turns out to be a bit of a gossip.

And even worse for Mr. Nuttel, she loves talking about weirdly morbid details of their family history.

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The Evil Eye

By akgoemans on 3/8/10 10:54am
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Lady WildeLady WildeThe Evil Eye by Lady Wilde was one of the stories in the horror story collection I checked up recently. Since I had read it expecting a creepy horror, I was initially disappointed. However, when I look back on it now, I am kinder in my view of it and figure that the story certainly has its own merits.

The story itself does not have a main plot or major character. Rather, it describes a series of events that revolve around a particular theme – the concept of an Evil Eye. The author explains the general idea of the evil eye and explains how it influences people. She describes the various ways in which folks might be influenced or manipulated by people possessing this power. At the same time, there is ample coverage of people's superstition in this matter.

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A Haunted Island

By akgoemans on 2/26/10 2:00am
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A Haunted IslandA Haunted IslandI have read a few of Algernon Blackwood's short stories and I must say, so far, I have enjoyed them. Unfortunately almost every writer has a story that does not live up to the reader's expectations. Well, I recently came across one such story by Blackwood. A Haunted Island was the name of the story and it was part of a collection of short horror stories.

The story in question starts with the same format as The Empty House. Thus, you have a main protagonist who finds himself in a secluded, scary-looking spot. There is build-up of suspense and then the main character faces up to something horrific. That's all good and well. Such concepts won't sound cliché he tackles the imagery rather well. And Blackwood, as demonstrated by The Empty House, has a flair for creating a tense atmosphere.

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Monos and Daimonos

By akgoemans on 2/25/10 4:37am
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Monos and DaimonosMonos and Daimonos
The horror story I read most recently was Monos and Daimonos by Edward Bulwer Lytton. I was hoping for an 'attacked by tentacled monster' type of tale and ended up with something completely different. Not that I am complaining; at least it is better than that atrocious story I read last week (looking at you, Mr Blackwood).

Monos and Daimonos is a weird little story about a recluse. Well, it's this young man who is brought up, away from the bustling crowds, on an isolated island. He doesn't give much details about the spot except to paint it as a somewhat bleak location. Oh and he is with his father, a man who is not exactly chummy with him. In fact, it looks like they didn't like each other, which admittedly was more so from the father's side than the son's.

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The Empty House

By akgoemans on 2/4/10 7:54am
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Empty HouseEmpty House
One of my friends, who is also a fan of the horror genre, recommended checking out Algernon Blackwood's works. I've not read any of his works thus far but was assured that his works would delight a true fan of the genre. I bet my friend probably intended for me to check out one of his more famous novels but, for now, I managed to find a collection of short stories containing a number of his works. So far, so good. That's how I ended up reading The Empty House.

I came across this particular story in the short story collection called The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories. Since it is quite an old collection, it is hard to find the print versions of this book.

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The Stephen King Universe

By sarajean on 1/30/10 4:48pm
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Many people believe that Stephen King is your garden variety scare king who happened to make it big. His stories are often wet-your-pants terrifying, sometimes made into movies, and widely popular. There are those who would claim that those are pretty much the facts surrounding the author, and that he’s not exactly known creating anything “important.”

Neither are true.

He has some works that are purely thrill rides, for sure; but who is to say that thrill rides have no value? Why are they cast aside while books about the depression, the 1920s, coming-of-age stories—hey, aren’t those all about depression?—are glowing in the limelight, particularly in schools and colleges across the country? I would argue that fantasy and horror, as a genre, is pretty damn creative, if not important, and that to snub them is simply a mistake at best, hubris at worst.

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The Grey Woman

By akgoemans on 1/22/10 2:41am
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The Grey WomanThe Grey Woman

Thus far, I am only familiar with Cranford from all of Elizabeth Gaskell's works and was initially wary of reading her Gothic horror tale, The Grey Woman. Sure, it would be brilliantly written but would it be scary? As it turns out, I was fretting for nothing; I enjoyed this book far more because of its different take on the horror genre as well as its specific style of writing.


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Told After Supper

By akgoemans on 1/15/10 12:31pm
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Told After SupperTold After Supper

In all honesty, I was hoping for a creepy horror story when I first picked up Jerome K. Jerome's Told After Supper. Admittedly, I was not familiar with his work and thus, was not expecting a quirky little comedy about ghost tales. Once I started reading the book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was mostly his sense of humor and his way of adding a dark twist to our everyday customs. 

In true ghost story tradition, Jerome has opted for a storytelling session on Christmas Eve. Of course, soon enough, you realize that he doesn't do this because he is conforming to a social habit. Rather, he has a plan for poking fun at some of our habits which we take as norm.

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