First published 1977
This collection brings together fifty-five horror stories spanning over a century of terror. Edgar Allan Poe opens with his classics "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart," while Ray Bradbury contributes "The Veld" and "Skeleton." The anthology moves through literary masters like Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad, and William Faulkner alongside genre specialists such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Daphne du Maurier. Ernest Hemingway's "The Killers" sits beside Roald Dahl's "Pig" and Harlan Ellison's "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs." Each story delivers its own brand of fear, from psychological terror to supernatural dread. The collection captures how different generations of writers have explored human darkness, creating a comprehensive survey of horror fiction that reveals our enduring fascination with what frightens us most.
Genres: anthologies, 20th-century, horror, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: anthology, supernatural-dread
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century
751 pages · Hardcover · The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited