My friend, Jay Rothermel, recently presented this series of questions online and since I’m running way behind on stuff this month, I thought I’d post my answers here for this month’s Horror Delve entry.
Short horror fiction I think underrated: “Clairvoyance” by D. K. Broster (1932) – I challenge anyone to read it. It starts in a serene, Victorian manor house before suddenly shifting to intense, brutal carnage.
Short horror fiction I love: “The Calamander Chest” by Joseph Payne Brennan (1954) – It’s very weird and creepy in a really magnificent way.
Short horror fiction I can read over and over: “At Lorn Hall” by Ramsey Campbell (2012) – This one’s a haunted house masterpiece!
Short horror fiction that made me fall in love with short horror fiction: “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs (1902) – I originally read it as a school assignment and absolutely loved it!
Short horror fiction that changed my life: “The Caterpillars” by E. F. Benson (1912) – I found it’s bizarre weirdness inspiring.
Short horror fiction that surprised me: “The Beast With Five Fingers” by W. F. Harvey (1919) – What I thought was just going to be a rather standard monster story turned phenomenal for me, due in large part to the section featuring the automatic writing encounter.
Short horror fiction guilty pleasure: “The White-Haired Children” by Ruth Ainsworth (1971) – This is a YA tale and although it isn’t super-scary, it does have a quaint eeriness to it which I always loved.
Short horror fiction collection masterpiece: Alone With the Horrors by Ramsey Campbell (1993) – For me, there is no collection better than this one in existence.
Short horror fiction anthology masterpiece: The Mammoth Book of Haunted House Stories edited by Peter Haining (2011) – I love haunted house tales and this anthology is full of great ones.
Short horror fiction authors I love to read: Ramsey Campbell, M. R. James, Algernon Blackwood, Edith Wharton, Mark Justice, Anna Taborska, H. R. Wakefield, E. F. Benson, Reggie Oliver, Steve Duffy, Robert Aickman, Thomas Ligotti, Jo Kaplan, Paul Finch, L. P. Hartley, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Lisa Tuttle, Joseph Payne Brennan and countless more I can’t think of right now.
Now that you have read my answers to these questions, I love to read yours in the comments.
Article by Matt Cowan
Horror Delve 