Supernatural Fiction:
Selected Online Resources
This list is necessarily a selective one, since the limits of space and
time are more easily transcended in fiction than in fact.
Other Classic Authors
General
Horror and the Weird Tale
Fantasy, Myth, and Science Fiction
Publishers and Bookstores
Other Classic Authors
- F. Marion Crawford -- author of the following classic horror tales, all online:
- Robert E. Howard -- creator of Conan, King Kull, Bran Mac Morn and other heroes
of sword and sorcery
- M. R. James -- a noted antiquary and classic master of the ghost tale
- Fritz Leiber
-- an
sf/horror writer and member of the Lovecraft circle, fast becoming a "classic"
writer with the inexorable passage of time!
- William Morris -- one
of the fathers of modern fantasy; site sponsored by the William Morris Society.
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General
- Council for the
Literature of the Fantastic -- an organization based at University of Rhode Island
whose purpose is "to promote the 'fantastic' in a world where literary values tend
overwhelmingly to favor 'realism.'" Included in the umbrella term
"Fantastic" are sci-fi, fantasy, magic realism, the surreal, horror, and
slipstream. With online Manifesto and Newsletters.
-
In Tenebris Sculptus: Andrea Bonazzi - Photomontages Amusing/terrifying images, montages with photos of some of our favorite authors against altered backgrounds that often include Bonazzi's own fantastic scupltures. Authors include Bierce, Blackwood, Dunsany, Hodgson, Lovecraft, Machen, Poe and Smith and several others.
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Horror and the Weird Tale
- The Cabinet of Dr. Casey - The Horror Web Page
is an excellent site devoted to the horror genre and includes, The Horror Reference by
David Carroll (Timeline/Atlas), Interviews, Audio and Graphics Archives, Horror In The
Movies (with Poster Archive), Newsgroups and Other Links.
- Fear & Loathing, by Fiona
Webster. "A Space Devoted to Horror Literature" with news, favorites,
recommendations, discussion, where to buy books, etc.
- The Gaslight
email discussion list reviews one story a week from the genres of the weird, mystery,
and adventure written between 1800 and 1919. This is their fiction archive.
- The Canada-based Ghost Story Society,
founded in 1988, is devoted to "celebrating supernatural fiction in books, films and
TV. The Society's emphasis is on the traditional English ghost story as perfected by such
gaslight authors as M. R. James and Algernon Blackwood, but coverage extends to the horror
genre, and fans of everything from Dracula and Frankenstein to H. P.
Lovecraft and Stephen King are catered for."
Several spin-off publishing enterprises have been launched through the Ghost Story
Society, including the tri-annual journal All Hallows and an extensive
series of classic and long out-of-print ghost tales has been published in handsome
editions during the last four years by Ash-Tree Press, once in England
but now at P. O. Box 1360, Ashcroft, British Columbia, VOK 1AO, Canada. They can be
reached by e-mail at ashtree@ash-tree.bc.ca
- Joshi, S. T. The Evolution of the Weird Tale
(Hippocampus Press, 2004), 216 pp., softcover, with Preface,
ISBN 0-9748789-2-8
Joshi's long-awaited history of The Weird Tale!
Order from Hippocampus Press.
- Joshi, S. T. The Modern Weird Tale: A Critique of Horror Fiction
(Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, Inc., 2001), 278pp., softcover, with Preface,
Introduction, Epilogue, Notes, and Bibliography. Paperback. ISBN: 078640986X.
An "informal sequel" to Joshi's The Weird Tale of 1990, this volume covers the
period since WWII and attempts to establish a canon of weird literature.
Provides a useful roadmap for a complex and uneven terrain; indispensable to
the serious devotee.
Order from Amazon.
- The Literary Gothic Page,
by Jack Voller, is devoted to online resources concerned with literary Gothicism,
including ghost stories, "classic" Gothic fiction (1764-1820), and related
Gothic and supernaturalist literature prior to 1960 (with a few exceptions). Links to a
great number of author pages.
- The Literature of the
Fantastic, by James D. Macdonald, is an online library with fantasy, science
fiction, and horror works in the public domain, including works by Bierce, Blackwood,
Chambers, Dunsany, O'Brien, LeFanu, Poe, Shelley, Stoker and others.
- Sweet Despise Dark Literature
-- pages dedicated to Angela Carter and Michael Moorcock, and bibliographies of Ramsey
Campbell, R. E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith; also includes original writing by Ian
Davey.
- Violet Books -- features essays on H. Rider Haggard's Lost Race fantasies, Marie Corelli's occult horror
novels, heroic fantasy, and the ghost stories of Sarah Orne Jewett, and a large gallery of
rare fantasy and supernatural dustwrappers and decorative bindings from early in the
century. Also a rare book search service. Jessica Salmonson, VIOLET BOOKS, P.O. Box 20610,
Seattle, WA 98102 USA. Tel: 206-726-5924. Fax: 206-320-0829. Email Address: violet@drizzle.com
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Fantasy, Myth, and Science Fiction
- An Historical Overview of Heroes in Contemporary Works of Fantasy Literature, by John
L. Flynn, essay in three parts:
- Mythopoeic Society is "a non-profit
international literary and educational organization for the study, discussion, and
enjoyment of fantasy and mythic literature," with emphasis on the works of the Oxford
Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. The group publishes
periodicals, organizes discussion groups and conventions, and awards prizes for writing
and art.
- The Science Fiction Foundation
Collection at The University of Liverpool consists of some 25,000 books and
magazines in the field of Science Fiction and related genres (it features the manuscripts
of Ramsey Campbell) and publishes Foundation: The Review of Science Fiction, an
award-winning academic journal. Some information on the collection (the largest in Europe)
is available online and search capability is being added. The University of Liverpool also
offers an M.A. in Science Fiction Studies.
They are currently appealing for support to buy the John Wyndham Archive.
- Science
Fiction Resource Guide from S.F. Lovers
at Rutgers, featuring Authors, with Bibliographies, Art, Artists, Bookstores, Reviews
and criticism, Television program guides and other resources.
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Publishers and Bookstores
- Arkham House
(P.O. Box 546, Sauk City, Wisconsin 53583). Founded by August
Derleth and Donald Wandrei in 1939, this publishing house prevented Lovecraft, Hodgson,
Shiel, Smith and numerous others in this genre from lapsing into total obscurity.
- Chaosium publishes Lovecraftian fiction
and role-playing games.
- Hippocampus Press specializes in H. P. Lovecraft and related writers, especially Clark Ashton Smith, and including Dunsany, Sterling, Shiel and original essays by S.T. Joshi. Also publishes the journals Lovecraft Studies and Studies in Weird Fiction.
- JDS Books (P. O. Box 292333, Kettering, OH 45429)
publishes books by and about M.P. Shiel, including reproductions of early serial
appearances with original illustrations; also carries Shiel books from other publishers.
Their Catalog of Books is hosted at this site. Email:
jsquires@woh.rr.com
- Necronomicon Press (P. O. Box 1304, West
Warwick, RI 02893 USA). Originally devoted solely to Lovecraft, and in many ways
continuing original spirit of Arkham House, they publish a variety of works, including
original texts by -- and scholarly studies about -- such writers as Bierce, Hodgson,
Machen, and Smith. They also publish Studies in Weird Fiction, Lovecraft Studies,
The New Lovecraft Collector, Necrofile: The Review of Horror Fiction, and Crypt
of Cthulhu among other periodicals. E-mail: necropress@ids.net
- Night Shade Books publishes many SF&F authors including Dunsany, Hodgson, Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith.
-
Tartarus Press specializes in high quality limited editions of such classic authors as Machen and Shiel and publishes Wormwood a paperback journal of fantasy, supernatural and decadent literature edited by Mark Valentine.
- Tsathoggua Press
(6442 Pat Ave., West Hills, CA 91307) publishes Yawning Vortex, an irregular journal
of weird and fantastic literature edited by Perry M. Grayson. They have also published chapbooks
of work by Frank Belknap Long and these fairly recent titles: Donald Sidney-Fryer's
long-awaited Clark Ashton Smith: The Sorcerer Departs and Peter H. Cannon's
hilarious The Early Cannon, Volumes 1 and 2. For more information, see their
Online Catalog. Email: fortress@smartlink.net.
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Last Updated: October 22, 2004.
Selected Authors of Supernatural Horror
Alan Gullette, Oakland, California.
Email: alang@alangullette.com