Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology

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Man-Size in Marble" - Edith Nesbit. A young couple new to the country learns why they can't "keep good help"! This is a great story, and one of the oldest in the collection- Nesbit was writing at the same time as Arthur Conan Doyle! While her contemporaries were cranking out Victoriana Nesbit delivers her tale in a strikingly modern style that reminded me of Bernard Taylor's best. Van az a pár ezer éves gondolat, hogy az ember annál boldogabb életet él, minél közelebb élhet a természethez. Körülbelül ugyanennyi ezer éves a kritikája is, de az ritkán zavarja a vágyakozókat. Akiknek adott esetben, ha elég okosan kezelik a helyzetet, akár igazuk is lehet. Sőt, még érvényes, jól működő filozófiákat is építhetnek erre a gondolatmenetre, ezt tették a romantikusok is, Atlanti-óceánon innen és túl. Ez azonban nem változtat azon, hogy a legtöbben annyit fognak fel ebből a gondolatmenetből, hogy vidéken tisztább, szebb és derűsebb az élet, az emberek mind szeretik egymást, a családtagok összetartanak, a halált és a születést egy körforgás részeként, harmóniában élik meg, az egyénieskedő elhajlásokat jótékonyan megfékezi a hagyományokon őrködő közösség, az agressziót pedig kiélik kapálás közben. Vagy ha ma nem is így van már, akkor is létezett ilyen időszak hosszú-hosszú ideig. And what a book it is: a considerable and considered selection, and delivered handsomely. When I heard it was being crowd-funded I was a bit wary of what the quality would be like, but there’s no complaint here. It is solidly constructed and well presented. The subtle touch of adding an earthy red to some of the chapter openings is just a little thing, but I found it nice attention to detail. And the illustrations are superb. Sharply printed, and the old woodcut style suits the material. There is a quirkiness and humour to some which suits folk horror tales really well, yet – even so – the image for Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Thrawn Janet’ is rather disturbing (and also my favourite illustration in the book). And while the hustle and bustle of modern life means we often think ourselves far removed from a world haunted by pixies and ghouls… Are we really that far from horror? Trolls have come out from under their bridges and now hide behind keyboards, a merciless plague darkens all of our doorways, and there is senseless division, terror and cruelty occurring all over the world in the name of belief… perhaps sadly, we are the same monsters we have always been.

The collection will feature classic stories from masters of supernatural fiction including M.R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu, and Arthur Machen, alongside lesser known voices in the field including Eleanor Scott and Margery Lawrence and popular writers less bound to the horror genre, such as Thomas Hardy and E.F. Benson.I had to keep pulling myself away from it so I didn’t finish it in one sitting . . . An incredible book' Annie Kapur, Vocal Media This richly illustrated anthology gathers together classic short stories from masters of supernatural fiction including M. R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu and Arthur Machen, alongside lesser-known voices in the field including Eleanor Scott and Margery Lawrence, and popular writers less bound to the horror genre, such as Thomas Hardy and E. F. Benson. And the rest of the stories? Dull and mediocre at best. And not in anyway horrific. I feel that the editors idea of what Folk Horror is, is vastly different to mine. There was none of that eerie foreboding that you get from communities just outside the modern world going balls deep into some old school religion much to the horror of the modern watchers on. There was nothing unexplained and just down right creepy. Blood on Satans Claw these stories ain’t. remember how the first story was written in an almost-unreadable dialect? well this one is 10 times worse

And yes some of the stories where indeed good, but these where all stories I had read before so this anthology was not bringing me anything new and exciting. EXCEPT for the story where they kill a child and sow it’s ground up bones into the soil to provide a good harvest. I enjoyed that one. Overall a disappointing collection, just because something is set in the wilderness and maybe has a wee bit of devil worship (hail Satan) does not make it Folk Horror. A fabulous opportunity wasted. Un libro fantástico y la primera gran recopilación de horror rural que he tenido el placer de leer. Interesting motifs that I was unaware of or unaware of the pervasiveness of. For example the idea that someone who is unbaptised is in danger from supernatural forces, the fear of the ancient inhabitants of Britain. Also interesting seeing past centuries' perception of Halloween, and some folklore/practices I was not aware of such as sin eating.the most memorable part of this story is that the narrator kept calling his wife "p***y" and that made me laugh The Ash-Tree" - M. R. James. Misfortunes plague residents of a country estate. The conclusion of this story was creepy and fun in the best way. But as this collection shows, writers of uncanny fiction were dabbling in the dark side of folklore long before those films. These 22 stories take the reader beyond the safety and familiarity of the town into the isolated and untamed wilderness. Unholy rites, witches’ curses, sinister village traditions and ancient horrors that lurk within the landscape all combine to remind us that the shiny modern, urban world might not have all the answers… As with any anthology, the stories are of mixed quality. There are 23 short stories in this volume, and each is accompanied by its own newly commissioned woodcut style lino print at the beginning of each tale.