Horror fiction binge, week 3

 

32.  The Bone Flute - M. E. Brines
33. Green Tea - Sheridan Le Fanu
34. The Wendigo - Algernon Blackwood 
35. Jerusalem's Lot - Stephen King
36. The Last Rung on the Ladder - Stephen King
37. The Mangler - Stephen King
38. The Meat Forest - John Haggerty
39. The Fond Nightmare - Colin Azariah-Kribbs
40. Night They Missed the Horror Show - Joe R. Lansdale
41. The Fog Horn - Ray Bradbury
42. Demon - Joyce Carol Oates
43. The Haunter of the Ring - Robert E. Howard
44. Old Garfield's Heart - Robert E. Howard
45. The Death of Halpin Frayser - Ambrose Bierce
46. The Voice in the Night - William Hope Hodgson
47. Wolverton Station - Joe Hill
48. The Ninth Skeleton - Clark Ashton Smith
49. The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis - Clark Ashton Smith
50. Miss Jeromette and the Clergyman - Wilkie Collins
51. The Ghost of Towneley Towers - Seabury Quinn

Lots of repeat authors from the past few weeks, but some new stuff too.  I used to read a lot of Stephen King when I was young, but it has been a while.  I was really blown away by "Jerusalem's Lot", a modern gothic story written in epistolary form.  "The Last Rung on the Ladder", which contained nothing supernatural and was written in his usual style, was also fantastic.  I've always thought that his short fiction was generally better than his novels, and these stories reaffirmed this belief. 

Other standouts from this week: "Night They Missed the Horror Show" was stellar, I'll definitely be seeking out more from Lansdale soon.  The two stories from Clark Ashton Smith were great; he is another "weird" fiction author from around Lovecraft's time.  "Wolverton Station" was really cool, and possibly my new favorite Joe Hill story.

Also, about Algernon Blackwood's "The Wendigo":  I read this story at some point when I was a kid, and it scared the absolute shit out of me.  In the years since, I've had a faint memory of it but could never remember the author or where I read it - the gruesome way in which the wendigo's victims were carried off was all that stuck with me.  I'm happy to have finally identified it.