The Best of Pulp and Gothic Fiction
Explore the finest in gothic and pulp fiction with our curated list of must-read books. Dive into dark tales, thrilling adventures, and timeless classics that define these gripping genres.
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The Dreams in the Witch House
by H. P. Lovecraft
"The dreams were wholly beyond the pale of sanity . . . " Plagued by insane nightmare visions, Walter Gilman seeks help in Miskatonic University's infamous library of forbidden books, where, in the pages of Abdul Alhazred's dreaded Necronomicon, he finds terrible hints that seem to connect his own studies in advanced mathematics with the fantastic legends of elder magic. The Dreams in the Witch House, gathered together here with more than twenty other tales of terror, exemplifies H. P. Lovecraft's primacy among twentieth-century American horror writers. This volume is a companion to the other two Penguin Classics edition of Lovecraft's work: The Call of the Cthulhu and The Thing on the Doorstep. This original collection presents the definitive texts of the work, including a newly restored text of "The Shadow out of time" along with S. T. Joshi's invaluable introduction and notes. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories
by H. P. Lovecraft
A definitive edition of stories by the master of supernatural fiction Howard Phillips Lovecraft's unique contribution to American literature was a melding of traditional supernaturalism (derived chiefly from Edgar Allan Poe) with the genre of science fiction that emerged in the early 1920s. This Penguin Classics edition brings together a dozen of the master's tales-from his early short stories "Under the Pyramids" (originally ghostwritten for Harry Houdini) and "The Music of Erich Zann" (which Lovecraft ranked second among his own favorites) through his more fully developed works, "The Dunwich Horror," The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, and At the Mountains of Madness. The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories presents the definitive corrected texts of these works, along with Lovecraft critic and biographer S. T. Joshi's illuminating introduction and notes to each story. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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The Horror in the Museum
by H.P. Lovecraft
âH. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth centuryâs greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale.ââStephen King Some tales in this collection were inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, others he revised, two he co-authoredâbut all bear the mark of the master of primordial terror. The Horror in the Museum: Locked up for the night, a man will discover the difference between waxen grotesqueries and the real thing. The Electric Executioner: Aboard a train, a traveler must match wits with a murderous madman. The Trap: This mirror wants a great deal more than your reflection. The Ghost-Eater: In an ancient woodland, the past comes to life with a bone-crunching vengeance. And twenty more stories of unspeakable evil! âLovecraftâs fiction is one of the cornerstones of modern horror.ââClive Barker
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Northwest of Earth
by Catherine Lucile Moore
75th Anniversary Edition! Among the best-written and most emotionally complex stories of the Pulp Era, the tales of intergalactic smuggler Northwest Smith still resonate strongly 75 years after their first publication. From the crumbling temples of forgotten gods on Venus to the seedy pleasure halls of old Mars, Northwest Smith blazes a trail through the underbelly of the solar system in 13 action-packed stories you won't soon forget.
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Weird Tales
by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz
An anthology of 32 stories from the magazine, Weird Tales, one for each year the magazine was published (1923-1954.).
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Weird Vampire Tales
by Robert E. Weinberg
Collects a story from each of the "pulp" fiction magazines available from the 1920s to the 1950s, guaranteed to chill and thrill--if they don't make ill--all but the most bloodless readers.
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The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard
by Robert E. Howard
Here are Robert E. Howardâs greatest horror tales, all in their original, definitive versions. Some of Howardâs best-known charactersâSolomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and sailor Steve Costigan among themâroam the forbidding locales of the authorâs fevered imagination, from the swamps and bayous of the Deep South to the fiend-haunted woods outside Paris to remote jungles in Africa. The collection includes Howardâs masterpiece âPigeons from Hell,â which Stephen King calls âone of the finest horror stories of [the twentieth] century,â a tale of two travelers who stumble upon the ruins of a Southern plantationâand into the maw of its fatal secret. In âBlack Canaanâ even the best warrior has little chance of taking down the evil voodoo man with unholy powersâand none at all against his wily mistress, the diabolical High Priestess of Damballah. In these and other lavishly illustrated classics, such as the revenge nightmare âWorms of the Earthâ and âThe Cairn on the Headland,â Howard spins tales of unrelenting terror, the legacy of one of the worldâs great masters of the macabre.
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The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian
by Robert E. Howard
Conan is one of the greatest fictional heroes ever createdâ a swordsman who cuts a swath across the lands of the Hyborian Age, facing powerful sorcerers, deadly creatures, and ruthless armies of thieves and reavers. âBetween the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities . . . there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars. . . . Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand . . . to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.â In a meteoric career that spanned a mere twelve years before his tragic suicide, Robert E. Howard single-handedly invented the genre that came to be called sword and sorcery. Collected in this volume, profusely illustrated by artist Mark Schultz, are Howardâs first thirteen Conan stories, appearing in their original versionsâin some cases for the first time in more than seventy yearsâand in the order Howard wrote them. Along with classics of dark fantasy like âThe Tower of the Elephantâ and swashbuckling adventure like âQueen of the Black Coast,â The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian contains a wealth of material never before published in the United States, including the first submitted draft of Conanâs debut, âPhoenix on the Sword,â Howardâs synopses for âThe Scarlet Citadelâ and âBlack Colossus,â and a map of Conanâs world drawn by the author himself. Here are timeless tales featuring Conan the raw and dangerous youth, Conan the daring thief, Conan the swashbuckling pirate, and Conan the commander of armies. Here, too, is an unparalleled glimpse into the mind of a genius whose bold storytelling style has been imitated by many, yet equaled by none.
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The Bloody Crown of Conan
by Robert E. Howard
In his hugely influential and tempestuous career, Robert E. Howard created the genre that came to be known as sword and sorceryâand brought to life one of fantasyâs boldest and most enduring figures: Conan the Cimmerianâreaver, slayer, barbarian, king. âStories such as âThe People of the Black Circleâ glow with the fierce and eldritch light of [Howardâs] frenzied intensity.ââStephen King This lavishly illustrated volume gathers together three of Howardâs longest and most famous Conan storiesâtwo of them printed for the first time directly from Howardâ s typescriptâalong with a collection of the authorâs previously unpublished and rarely seen outlines, notes, and drafts. Longtime fans and new readers alike will agree that The Bloody Crown of Conan merits a place of honor on every fantasy loverâs bookshelf. THE PEOPLE OF THE BLACK CIRCLE Amid the towering crags of Vendhya, in the shadowy citadel of the Black Circle, Yasmina of the golden throne seeks vengeance against the Black Seers. Her only ally is also her most formidable enemyâConan, the outlaw chief. THE HOUR OF THE DRAGON Toppled from the throne of Aquilonia by the evil machinations of an undead wizard, Conan must find the fabled jewel known as the Heart of Ahriman to reclaim his crown . . . and save his life. A WITCH SHALL BE BORN A malevolent witch of evil beauty. An enslaved queen. A kingdom in the iron grip of ruthless mercenaries. And Conan, who plots deadly vengeance against the human wolf who left him in the desert to die.
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The Conquering Sword of Conan
by Robert E. Howard
This volume completes the set of Howard's Conan stories with some of his finest work, including "Beyond the Black River" and "Red Nails" alongside rare early drafts and synopses.
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The Monk
by Matthew Lewis
Set in the sinister monastery of the Capuchins in Madrid, The Monk is a violent tale of ambition, murder, and incest. The great struggle between maintaining monastic vows and fulfilling personal ambitions leads its main character, the monk Ambrosio, to temptation and the breaking of his vows, then to sexual obsession and rape, and finally to murder in order to conceal his guilt. This edition contains a new introduction which shows how Lewis played with convention, ranging from gruesome realism to social comedy, and even parodied the Gothic genre in which he was writing.
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The Haunting of Hill House
by Shirley Jackson
An anthropologist conducts an unusual research project in a reputedly haunted house.
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Best Ghost Stories of J. S. LeFanu
by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
A compilation of the Victorian master's classic tales of horror reveals his ability to depict the supernatural
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Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories
by Algernon Blackwood
By turns bizarre, unsettling, spooky, and sublime, Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories showcases nine incomparable stories from master conjuror Algernon Blackwood. Evoking the uncanny spiritual forces of Nature, Blackwood's writings all tread the nebulous borderland between fantasy, awe, wonder, and horror. Here Blackwood displays his best and most disturbing work-including "The Willows," which Lovecraft singled out as "the single finest weird tale in literature"; "The Wendigo"; "The Insanity of Jones"; and "Sand." For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Great Tales of Terror
by S. T. Joshi
These 23 chilling tales tell of the returning dead, haunted places, weird creatures, and the supernatural in "The Return of the Soul" by Robert Hichens, "The Mummy's Foot" by Theophile Gautier, Lafcadio Hearn's "Of a Promise Broken," as well as spine-tinglers by Algernon Blackwood, J. Sheridan LeFanu, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Lord Dunsany, and other masters.