The Valancourt Book of Horror Stories

by Christopher Priest

First published 2016

This collection gathers seventeen horror stories that span two centuries of terror. The anthology opens with tales like "Aunty Green" by John Blackburn and "Miss Mack" by Michael McDowell, then moves through works by Francis King, Richard Marsh, and Stephen Gregory. Mary Cholmondeley contributes "Let Loose" while Christopher Priest himself adds "The Head and the Hand." Victorian authors Florence Marryat and M. G. Lewis appear alongside twentieth century writers like Hugh Walpole with "The Tarn" and Gerald Kersh's "The Gentleman All in Black." The collection includes two original tales created specifically for this volume. Many of these stories have rarely seen reprinting, making them discoveries for modern readers. The anthology moves from psychological experiments to frozen corpses, from ghostly women to mysterious gentlemen in black. Each story delivers its own brand of fear, whether through supernatural encounters or disturbing human behavior.

Genres: short-stories, anthologies, 20th-century, horror, 21st-century, 19th-century

Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful

Tropes: disturbing-human-behavior, supernatural-encounters

Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century

277 pages · Paperback · Valancourt Books

Content warnings: violence

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