Hi,

Does anybody know about a classic horror story that is half-forgotten or unrightly ignored and which should deserve more attention?

I would nominate:

The Soul-Hunter, Aleister Crowley, 1908
The Return, Robert Murray Gilchrist, 1896
The Proxy, John Metcalfe, 1926
Silas Weir Mitchell, The House Beyond The Prettymarsh, 1910
The Hole Of The Pit, Adrian Ross, 1914


P.S.: To be more specific, by classic I mean, let us say, the era between 1890s - 1940s.

M. P. Dare's "Unholy Relics," "The Demoniac Goat," and "The Nymph Still Lives" all from his 1947 collection Unholy Relics; the stories are all in the style of M. R. James crossed with Arthur Machen's Mason & Dyson tales.

In the anthology "H.P. Lovecraft's Favorite Weird Tales" are a couple of reprints from, yes, Weird Tales magazine which I have never encountered elsewhere. The two which impressed me the most are "The Night Wire" by H. F. Arnold, and "Beyond the Door" by Paul Suter. The latter story, in particular, has a terse but disquieting style which builds up to a horrifying final image.

Ancient History Wrote:
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> M. P. Dare's "Unholy Relics," "The Demoniac Goat,"
> and "The Nymph Still Lives" all from his 1947
> collection Unholy Relics; the stories are all in
> the style of M. R. James crossed with Arthur
> Machen's Mason & Dyson tales.

M. P. Dare is a new name to me; in actual fact, I have never heard about him so thanks for introducing me to this author. I will try to get something by him though it seems there is almost nothing to find about the guy on the net.

Ken K. Wrote:
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> In the anthology "H.P. Lovecraft's Favorite Weird
> Tales" are a couple of reprints from, yes, Weird
> Tales magazine which I have never encountered
> elsewhere. The two which impressed me the most
> are "The Night Wire" by H. F. Arnold, and "Beyond
> the Door" by Paul Suter. The latter story, in
> particular, has a terse but disquieting style
> which builds up to a horrifying final image.


I have definitely read both stories. For the life of me, I cannot remember what Beyond The Door was about but The Night Wire was great. I still have it somewhere on a flash drive.

"The Demoniac Goat" is in The Shub-Niggurath Cycle (though it is not a Mythos story), but yeah, otherwise he's a bit obscure. I happened upon a copy of Unholy Relics in a hole-in-the-wall bookstore.

For anyone wanting to read A. Merritt's book The Face In the Abyss, I would definitely recommend the earlier magazine versions of the stories "The Face in the Abyss" and "The Snake Mother". They have several fine descriptive passages that are not included in the abridged book version, and occasionally more refined language that is less pulpish.

I don't know how many of you have read David Lindsay's The Witch. I have not. But it is said to be his finest writing. As far as I know it has only been published once, in an incomplete version, in 1976, and that book sells for over $300 today. The complete text is said to exist in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. I don't see why no publisher commits to this. I wish someone eagerly would.

Knygatin Wrote:
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> For anyone wanting to read A. Merritt's book The
> Face In the Abyss, I would definitely recommend
> the earlier magazine versions of the stories "The
> Face in the Abyss" and "The Snake Mother". They
> have several fine descriptive passages that are
> not included in the abridged book version, and
> occasionally more refined language that is less
> pulpish.

A few years ago I started to read "The Face In The Abyss" but I was not impressed by the book at all and put it aside. By Merritt I read several short stories and liked "Three Lines Of Old French" and chiefly "The People From The Pit". The latter one seems to me to be a prototype of "At The Mountains Of Madness".

Minicthulhu Wrote:
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> By Merritt I read several short
> stories and liked "Three Lines Of Old French" and
> chiefly "The People From The Pit". The latter one
> seems to me to be a prototype of "At The Mountains
> Of Madness".

"The People From The Pit" is a great little piece. I like most of his short stories.

The Metal Monster is an incredible weird novel. I read the unabridged version, and found it impressive and enjoyable.

I think there is a danger in approaching a weird fictional work with too high expectations, as when, after having been told how "great" a certain piece is. A fictional work is never served complete readymade for passive consumption (like the visuals and sounds of a movie) - its effect also depends much on the openmindedness, imaginative ability, and patience of the reader. It is a joint effort.

The initial Barsoom trilogy: A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, The Warlord of Mars. Many glorious moments.

Does anyone here enjoy Charles Birkin, and Hugh B. Cave (Murgunstrumm and Others)? I have not read either of them.

Cave has some very good stories, especially the titular "Murgunstrumm", although others are pulpish. Birkin sounds familiar, but I don't recall reading anything specific.

I looked at the inside preview of Cave's book on Amazon. He may have been a full-fledged professional, but his writing is very amateurish. Still, pulpish literature can be enjoyable if it has an inspired madness to it.
They say van Vogt is a bad writer, but I find this much worse.

Birkin wrote conte cruels, very cruel, and sadistic entertainments.