The Dark Descent

by Hartwell, David G.; Barker, Clive; Bradbury, Ray; Collier, John; Jackson, Shirley; King, Stephen; Oates, Joyce Carol

• ISBN13: 9780312862176
• ISBN10: 0312862172
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-01-15
• Publisher: Tor Books

Summary

In The Dark Descent , hailed as one of the most important anthologies ever to examine horror fiction, editor David G. Hartwell traces the complex history of horror in literature back to the earliest short stories. The Dark Descen t, which won the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology, showcases the finest of these ever written--from the time-honored classics of Edgar Allan Poe, D.H. Lawrence, and Edith Wharton to the contemporary writing of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Ray Bradbury. David G. Hartwell is a Senior Editor at Tor/Forge Books. He also is the proprietor of Dragon Press, a publisher and bookseller, and is Chairman of the Board of the World Fantasy Convention. An administrator of the Philip K. Dick Award, Hartwell has edited several other fiction anthologies. Winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology In his highly informed and wide-ranging Introduction to The Dark Descent , hailed by many as one of the most important anthologies ever published on the theme of horror fiction, editor David G. Hartwell examines the rich history of horror in literature all the way back to the earliest short stories. An omnibus numbering over one-thousand pages, this thorough collection showcases many of Western literature's finest horror stories'”from the classic yarns of Edgar Allan Poe, D. H. Lawrence, and Edith Wharton up to the contemporary tales of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Ray Bradbury. "A gigantic, superlatively edited historical overview of horror fiction."'” Chicago Sun-Times "For a sample of the current excellence and variety of horror, one could do no better."'” New York Newsday "An important work which belongs in every library."'” The West Coast Review of Books

Author Biography

David G. Hartwell, called "an editor extraordinaire" by Publishers Weekly, is one of science fiction's most experienced and influential editors. As an editor with Berkley Books, Pocket Books, William Morrow, and Tor Books, he has worked with many of the field's best authors and edited many award-winning works. He is the author of Age of Wonders, a nonfiction study of the science fiction field. Among his many anthologies is the bestselling World Treasury of Science Fiction. He is the holder of a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Columbia University, a winner of the Eaton Award, and has been nominated for the Hugo Award twenty-four times.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(14)
PART I: The Color of Evil
The Reach	15	(16)
Stephen King
Evening Primrose	31	(9)
John Collier
The Ash-Tree	40	(10)
M. R. James
The New Mother	50	(9)
Lucy Clifford
There's a Long, Long Trial A-Winding	59	(26)
Russell Kirk
The Call of Cthulhu	85	(23)
H. P. Lovecraft
The Summer People	108	(10)
Shirley Jackson
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs	118	(14)
Harlan Ellison
Young Goodman Brown	132	(10)
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Mr. Justice Harbottle	142	(25)
J. Sheridan Le Fanu
The Crowd	167	(8)
Ray Bradbury
The Autopsy	175	(28)
Michael Shea
John Charrington's Wedding	203	(6)
E. Nesbit
Sticks	209	(16)
Karl Edward Wagner
Larger Than Oneself	225	(20)
Robert Aickman
Belsen Express	245	(10)
Fritz Leiber
Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper	255	(13)
Robert Bloch
If Damon Comes	268	(10)
Charles L. Grant
Vandy, Vandy	278	(13)
Manly Wade Wellman
PART II: The Medusa in the Shield
The Swords	291	(21)
Robert Aickman
The Roaches	312	(9)
Thomas M. Disch
Bright Segment	321	(18)
Theodore Sturgeon
Dread	339	(29)
Clive Barker
The Fall of the House of Usher	368	(14)
Edgar Allan Poe
The Monkey	382	(28)
Stephen King
Within the Walls of Tyre	410	(21)
Michael Bishop
The Rates in the Walls	431	(14)
H. P. Lovecraft
Schalken the Painter	445	(15)
J. Sheridan Le Fanu
The Yellow Wallpaper	460	(12)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A Rose for Emily	472	(8)
William Faulkner
How Love Came to Professor Guildea	480	(33)
Robert Hichens
Born of Man and Woman	513	(3)
Richard Matheson
My Dear Emily	516	(16)
Joanna Russ
You Can Go Now	532	(9)
Dennis Etchison
The Rocking-horse Winner	541	(12)
D. H. Lawrence
Three Days	553	(23)
Tanith Lee
Good Country People	576	(15)
Flannery O'Connor
Mackintosh Willy	591	(11)
Ramsey Campbell
The Jolly Corner	602	(27)
Henry James
PART III: A Fabulous Formless Darkness
Smoke Ghost	629	(12)
Fritz Leiber
Seven American Nights	641	(39)
Gene Wolfe
The Signal-Man	680	(10)
Charles Dickens
Crouch End	690	(22)
Stephen King
Night-Side	712	(19)
Joyce Carol Oates
Seaton's Aunt	731	(22)
Walter de la Mare
Clara Militch	753	(40)
Ivan Turgenev
The Repairer of Reputations	793	(24)
Robert W. Chambers
The Beckoning Fair One	817	(47)
Oliver Onions
What Was It?	864	(10)
Fitz-James O'Brien
The Beautiful Stranger	874	(6)
Shirley Jackson
The Damned Thing	880	(7)
Ambrose Bierce
Afterward	887	(22)
Edith Wharton
The Willows	909	(35)
Algernon Blackwood
The Asian Shore	944	(26)
Thomas M. Disch
The Hospice	970	(25)
Robert Aickman
A Little Something for Us Tempunauts	995
Philip K. Dick