''The Supernatural Reader'' is an
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...
of
horror
Horror may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Genres
*Horror fiction, a genre of fiction
**Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction
**Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction
**Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction
* ...
short stories edited by
Groff and Lucy Conklin. It was first published in hardcover by American company
J. B. Lippincott in April 1953, with a Canadian edition issued the same year by Longmans. The first British edition was issued by Cassell & Company in 1957. Paperback editions were published in Britain by World/WDL Books in 1958 and in the United States by Collier Books in 1962. The Collier edition was issued as edited by Groff Conklin alone and was reprinted several times, in 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1970.
The book collects twenty-seven novelettes and short stories by various authors, together with an introduction by the editor. The stories were previously published from 1858-1952 in various magazines.
Contents
*"Introduction" (
Groff Conklin
Edward Groff Conklin (September 6, 1904 – July 19, 1968) was an American science fiction anthologist. He edited 40 anthologies of science fiction, one of mystery stories (co-edited with physician Noah Fabricant), wrote books on home improvement ...
)
*"The Angel With Purple Hair" (
Herb Paul)
*"For the Blood Is the Life" (
F. Marion Crawford)
*"The Stranger" (
Richard Hughes)
*"Mrs. Manifold" (
Stephen Grendon)
*"Piffingcap" (
A. E. Coppard
Alfred Edgar Coppard (4 January 187813 January 1957) was an English author, noted for his short stories, many of which had rural settings. Largely self-taught, he was championed by Ford Madox Ford and Arnold Bennett, among others, in his life ...
)
*"
Shottle Bop" (
Theodore Sturgeon
Theodore Sturgeon (; born Edward Hamilton Waldo, February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American author of primarily fantasy fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and Horror fiction, horror, as well as a critic. He wrote approximately 400 ...
)
*"
Gabriel-Ernest
"Gabriel-Ernest" is a 1909 short story by British writer H. H. Munro, better known as Saki. The story was included in ''The Westminster Gazette'' and appears in the collection ''Reginald in Russia'' published by Methuen & Co. in 1910.
Summary
" ...
" (
H. H. Munro
Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and cu ...
)
*"The Lost Room" (
Fitz-James O'Brien)
*"The Traitor" (
James S. Hart)
*"Angus MacAuliffe and the Gowden Tooch" (
Charles R. Tanner)
*"Are You Run-Down, Tired—" (
Babette Rosmond
Babette Rosmond (November 4, 1917 – October 23, 1997) was an American author.
Biography Career
Rosmond sold her first short story to ''The New Yorker'' at age seventeen. She published short fiction of her own and with Leonard M. Lake. She w ...
and
Leonard M. Lake)
*"The Nature of the Evidence" (
May Sinclair
May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. Clair (24 August 1863 – 14 November 1946), a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry. She was an active suffragist, and member of the Woman Writers' S ...
)
*"The Tree's Wife" (
Mary Elizabeth Counselman)
*"The Pavilion" (
E. Nesbit)
*"Pick-Up for Olympus" (
Edgar Pangborn
Edgar Pangborn (February 25, 1909 – February 1, 1976) was an American writer of mystery, historical, and science fiction.
Biography
Edgar Pangborn was born in New York City on February 25, 1909, to Harry Levi Pangborn, an attorney and dictio ...
)
*"The Swap" (
H. F. Heard)
*"The Tombling Day" (
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...
)
*"Minuke" (
Nigel Kneale
Thomas Nigel Kneale (18 April 1922 – 29 October 2006) was a Manx screenwriter and author, whose career spanned more than 50 years, between 1946 and 1997. Predominantly a writer of thrillers that used science-fiction and horror elemen ...
)
*"Bird of Prey" (
John Collier John Collier may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* John Collier (caricaturist) (1708–1786), English caricaturist and satirical poet
*John Payne Collier (1789–1883), English Shakespearian critic and forger
*John Collier (painter) (1850–1934) ...
)
*"The Thing in the Cellar" (
David H. Keller
David Henry Keller (December 23, 1880 – July 13, 1966) was an American writer who worked for pulp magazines in the mid-twentieth century, in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. He was also a psychiatrist and physician to shell-sh ...
)
*"Devil's Henchman" (
Will Jenkins)
*"
Lost Hearts
"Lost Hearts" is a ghost story by British writer M. R. James, originally published in 1895. It was later collected in his 1904 book ''Ghost Stories of an Antiquary''.
Plot summary
The tale tells the story of Stephen Elliott, a young orphan b ...
" (
M. R. James
Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English medievalist scholar and author who served as provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936) as well as Vice-Chancellor of the Univers ...
)
*"Thirteen at Table" (
Lord Dunsany
Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957), commonly known as Lord Dunsany, was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. He published more than 90 books during his lifetime, and his output consist ...
)
*"Lights" (
Philip Fisher)
*"The Silver Highway" (
Harold Lawlor)
*"
The Moonlit Road" (
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book '' The Devil's Dictionary'' was named one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the ...
)
*"The Curate's Friend" (
E. M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author. He is best known for his novels, particularly '' A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910) and '' A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous shor ...
)
References
1953 anthologies
Horror anthologies
Groff Conklin anthologies
{{Horror-novel-stub