Seminal Weird Fiction

The list author says:
	"Machen’s work is suffused with alchemical symbolism and a palpable sense of the pagan, often lent extra potency by his wondrous, incantory prose, especially in a story such as ‘The White People.’"

The list author says:
	"As an outdoorsman and former member of the Golden Dawn, Blackwood lends real conviction to his stories of the terror which can be found in open spaces, ‘The Willows’ and ‘The Wendigo’ particularly."

The list author says:
	"As well as being quite viscerally terrifying, James’s stories can function as a powerful defence of faith and mystery against the assault from prying intellectual arrogance and colourless materialism."

The list author says:
	"A most subtle and insidiously disturbing work, Meyrink’s dark invocation of cabbalistic mythology in Prague’s Jewish ghetto revels in a clammy atmosphere that lingers long after the novel is read."

The list author says:
	"In Lovecraft’s bleak cosmic horror, mankind is but the plaything of forces his mind cannot begin to comprehend, whilst the patent neuroticism of his prose only adds to the sense of creeping madness."

The list author says:
	"‘The House on the Borderland’ novella is a visionary work, starting out claustrophobic and grotesque, whilst ending as positively psychedelic, written – incredibly – by an Edwardian fitness fanatic."

The list author says:
	"Le Fanu is dubbed the ‘father of the modern ghost story,’ and here, narratives such as ‘Green Tea’ introduce the psychological aspect, whilst ‘Camilla’ is a far better vampire tale than ‘Dracula.’"

The list author says:
	"The author of bleak children’s classic ‘Moonfleet,’ first produced this decidedly Decadent novella, a chilling tale of supernatural possession in which a sense of dread and malevolence are palpable."

The list author says:
	"Aickman understood that mystery is more enduring than any solution, and his oblique narratives employ the atmosphere of supernatural literature to excavate the wounded psychology of his protagonists."

The list author says:
	"An unjustly neglected master of the weird tale, Sarban shares the genius of Machen and Blackwood for capturing the terror of wild, pagan places and augments it with a disturbingly menacing eroticism."

The list author says:
	"A remarkably sustained work of unease, this is the apotheosis of the psychological ghost story where the absence of easy answers and dark hints of madness are as unnerving as the supernatural itself."

The list author says:
	"It seems odd to describe any supernatural fiction as ‘charming’ but this is certainly a component in Wellman’s short tales of Silver John the Balladeer and his encounters in the Appalachian mountains."

The list author says:
	"These inter-linked stories ooze Decadence and were a huge influence on Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos, not just in the recurring motif of the forbidden tome, but in the sense of cosmic dread they inspire."

The list author says:
	"Another perfect example of the psychological ghost story, it brims with ambiguity, never clarifying whether it deals with witchcraft and psychic vampirism or the paranoia of an lonely outsider."

The list author says:
	"A much neglected practitioner of weird fiction, Gilchrist’s tales are often concerned with tragedy, madness and doomed love, whilst the landscape of his native Derbyshire provides a vivid backdrop."

The list author says:
	"There is perhaps nothing especially characteristic about Benson’s supernatural tales and yet this yields a much greater thematic variety amongst his work, which is always solid and frequently macabre."

The list author says:
	"Many of Smith’s Decadent and macabre stories are essentially prose-poems and it is this which gives them their hallucinatory power, rivalling his friend Lovecraft in the portrayal of an alien dread."

The list author says:
	"Onions’ short tales tend to lack a distinctive voice, but this novella is a masterpiece, a disconcerting work which can be read either as a chronicle of ghostly possession or the descent into madness."

The list author says:
	"One of the most distinctly American voice in the genre, Bierce’s economy of style stands in stark contrast to the dense prose of most weird fiction of his age but is somehow no less evocative for it."

The list author says:
	"Although Wells is better known for his science-fiction, ‘The Red Room’ is a classic ghost story, perfectly encapsulating the ambiguities and suspicion of rationality on which the genre thrives."

The list author says:
	"Sadly ‘A Christmas Carol’ is sentimental, moralist dross, but on the other hand ‘The Signalman’ is one of the definitive stories in the field, and of course, recipient of a wonderful BBC adaptation."

The list author says:
	"These days, Wheatley’s jingoism seems entirely unconscionable, but there’s no denying his ability to write a compulsive page-turner, or the quality of the occult research on which he based his tales."

The list author says:
	"Cram’s masterpiece, often overlooked today, is ‘The Dead Valley,’ a forceful evocation of dread and sense of place, justly praised by Lovecraft as the finest supernatural story in American literature."

The list author says:
	"Whilst Buchan’s supernatural output has been largely overshadowed by his other work, his efforts in this area are rendered especially evocative by his feeling for the wild, lonely Scottish landscape."

The list author says:
	"Whilst Fortune is scarcely the greatest prose stylist, she is amongst the most significant occultists of the 20th Century and the depth of her knowledge is obvious in these hermetic detective tales."