Middle Unearthed: The Best Fantasy Short Stories 1800-1849 is Published!

There has been amazing news in the book publishing world in 2015. It seems that every month we learn of another new book by a famous author, which has been discovered and will be published for all the world to read. First we heard about the great J.D. Salinger and his rumored five novels that he wrote for so many decades in obscurity at his modest home in Cornish, New Hampshire.

Next, a prequel of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird titled Go Set a Watchman was announced. How the book was found and whether Lee wanted it to be published are the source of a Southern-fried controversy. Then it was announced that a new book by none other than the long deceased Dr. Seuss is on its way to children everywhere. It’s being called What Pet Should I Get. “But wait, there’s more!” the chintzy infomercial’s tell us.

If these announcements weren’t enough to titillate the interest of bibliophiles everywhere, we find out that more than 100 years after Queen Victoria’s death that stories she wrote as a child will be published. There is no end to the literary surprises popping up in 2015.

What’s next, a new horror story from Edgar Allan Poe? A forgotten werewolf story by Alexander Dumas? A lost fantasy story by Mary Shelley? Well . . . in a way, yes!

Legion are the people who have read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but few have read her short stories. I have opined that they fall (ahem) short of storyline and characters of her most famous novel, but she did pen an excellent fantasy story called the “Transformation.” It is just one of the Top 10 fantasy short stories I uncovered from the first half of the nineteenth century:

2015 Middle Unearthed, an Introduction — Andrew Barger

1836 “The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton” — Charles Dickens

1839 “The Kelpie Rock” — Joseph Holt Ingraham

1831 “Transformation” — Mary Shelley

1819 “Rip Van Winkle” — Washington Irving

1824 “Lilian of the Vale” — George Darley

1835 “The Doom of Soulis” — John MacKay Wilson

1827 “The Dwarf Nose” — Wilhelm Hauff

1829 “Seddik Ben Saad the Magician” — D.C.

1845 “The Witch Caprusche” — Elizabeth F. Ellet

1837 “The Pale Lady” — George Soane

They are included in my new classic anthology, Middle Unearthed: The Best Fantasy Short Stories 1800-1849. Before there were lovable ogres named Shrek and a quizzical boy wizard named Harry Potter, there were these groundbreaking fantasy stories that laid the foundation of so many great works to come. This annotated collection is on sale now at $12.99 for the book and $3.99 for the ebook. Read these stories from Middle Earth of fantasy writing today.

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Countries for the Authors in The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Horror Anthology

Yesterday I posted a list of the authors in The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849. In reviewing the list, I see that I left out Wilhelm Hauff, the brilliant German writer of horror stories who died much too young. For those of you counting at home, here is another list of the authors who have horror stories in my classic horror anthology AND their respective countries.

Honore de Balzac (France)
Charles Dickens (UK)
Wilhelm Hauff (Germany)
E.T.A. Hoffmann (Germany)
Nathaniel Hawthorne (US)
Edgar Allan Poe (US)
George Soane (UK)
Samuel Warren (UK)

The UK is represented by the most authors (3) in my best horror stories book for the first half of the nineteenth century. Now let's look at it from a different angle--from the number of horror stories by country. 

Honore de Balzac (France) (Stories in horror anthology: 2)
Charles Dickens (UK) (Stories in horror anthology: 1)
Wilhelm Hauff (Germany) (Stories in horror anthology: 1)
E.T.A. Hoffmann (Germany) (Stories in horror anthology: 1)
Nathaniel Hawthorne (US) (Stories in horror anthology: 1)
Edgar Allan Poe (US) (Stories in horror anthology: 4)
George Soane (UK) (Stories in horror anthology: 1)
Samuel Warren (UK) (Stories in horror anthology: 1)

By this you will see that the US has 5 of the 12 horror stories, the UK has 3, Germany and France have 2 each. To me this is interesting. Please keep in mind that only stories translated into the English language were considered for the horror anthology. Next week I will start counting down these Top 12. Have a great weekend.

Buy The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849 at Amazon
Buy The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849 at Barnes & Noble
Website: www.AndrewBarger.com

 

New Cover for The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Horror Anthology

It has been a while since I have posted to my blog and I have been hearing about it! I was forced to pause my countdown of the best horror short stories from 1800-1849 to launch another book I edited: The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849. That book has gotten off to a good start in both the US and UK. I was also finalizing the cover for The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849 and here it is! Now, I don't want to hear any jokes about that being a picture of me on the cover. I look much worse than that after a late night of writing. Overall, I am pleased with the cover. It gives the book a classic horror feel without blood and gore. There is little of either in the 12 horror stories I picked as the best ones for this period, yet nothing is lost in their fright factor. The horror book has 250 pages and it is available at all major Internet retailers such as The Best Horror Short Stories at Amazon.com and The Best Horror Short Stories at Barnes & Noble. Over the next two weeks I will reveal the 12 horror stories I have chosen for the book to finish out the countdown.

 

The 19th Best Horror Short Story 1800-1849 is The Greek Slave by Captain Frederick Marryat

I pick The Greek Slave by Captain Frederick Marryat as the 19th best horror short story from the first half of the nineteenth century. Enjoy it over the weekend and I will give some background on Marryat's best horror story early next week. Thanks!

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Author of the 19th Best Horror Short Story 1800-1849 is Captain Frederick Marryat

Captain Frederick Marryat (1792-1848) is the next author to appear on my countdown of the best horror short stories from 1800-1849. He last appeared at 29 on the countdown with his chilling short story called The Legend of the Bell Rock. I have provided the link if you missed it the first time.

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Andrew's Thoughts on the Horror Story A Scots Mummy by James Hogg

A Scots Mummy first appeared in the August 1823 issue of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Questions remain as to how much of the horror short story was fact and how much was fiction--or at least Hogg's exaggeration of the truth. "A  Scots Mummy" is based on the suicide of a boy in Scotland. When Hogg sent it to William Blackwood for consideration in the magazine in a letter dated August 7th, he called it "a curious incident that has excited great interest . . .." James Hogg, like Edgar Allan Poe and others of this period, were no strangers to literary hoaxes. Some believe that the event of the story never happened and was a figment of Hogg's imagination. Evidence of this is the shepard who appears in the horror story and is supposed to be Hogg (the Ettrick Sheppard) himself. He would later publish "A Scots Mummy" in the pages of his novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. As further evidence consider the described fashion in which the suicide hangs himself:

[T]he unfortunate young man had hanged himself after the man with the lambs came in view. He was, however, quite dead when he cut him down. He had fastened two of the old hay ropes at the bottom of the rick on one side, (indeed they are all fastened so when first laid on,) so that he had nothing to do but to loosen two of the ends on the other side; and these he tied in a knot round his neck, and then, slackening his knees, and letting himself lean down gradually till the hay rope bore all his weight, he contrived to put an end to his existence in that way. Now the fact is, that if you try all the ropes that are thrown over all the outfield hay ricks in Scotland, there is not one among a thousand of them will hang a colley dog—so that the manner of this wretch's death was rather a singular circumstance.

One hundred and five years later, when the suicide is dug up, his body is almost perfectly preserved. The lack of gruesomeness in the corpse is somehow gruesome in itself. Hogg published "A Scots Mummy" at the time when reanimation was taking center stage on the Gothic-romantic literary scene. The only fault of this story is that it lacks a certain complexity that would have placed it higher on my countdown of the best horror short stories from 1800-1849.

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Author of the 20th Best Horror Short Story 1800-1849 is James Hogg

James Hogg (1770-1835) is no stranger to this countdown of the Top 40 horror short stories for the first half of the nineteenth century. He appeared at week 32 with his excellent horror story titled The Fords of Callum. Tomorrow I will post a link to an even better tale by the Ettrick Shepard.

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List of Horror Short Stories 40 Thru 21 from 1800-1849

Below is a rundown of horror short stories 40 through 21 that I have posted so far in my countdown of the Top 40 horror short stories from 1800 to 1849. You will notice some familiar names and some that may be new. With so many fine horror short stories that have appeared on the countdown already, it is hard to believe that much better ones await. I will start early next week with a post of the 20 best horror short story from 1800-1849. If you want to read any of these stories, simply scroll back through my blog. Have a great weekend!

40.     1839 Running the Gauntlet by Anonymous

39.     1823 The Mutiny by William Harrison Ainsworth

38.     1836 The Wedding Knell by Nathaniel Hawthorne

37.     1842 Ben Blower's Story; or How to Relish a Julep by Charles Feno Hoffman

36.     1827 The Bohemian by Anonymous

35.     1831 Singular Passage in the Life of the Late Henry Harris, Doctor in Divinity by Richard Harris Barham

34.     1830 Confessions of a Reformed Ribbonman by William Carleton

33.     1820 The Field of Terror by Baron Friedrich Heinrich Karl De la Motte Fouquâe

32.     1837 Cousin Mattie by James Hogg

31.     1844 Rappaccini’s Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

30.     1821 The Man in the Bell by William Maginn

29.     1836 The Legend of the Bell Rock by Captain Frederick Marryat

28.     1849 Hop-Frog by Edgar Allan Poe

27.     1832 Gabriel Lindsay by William Mudford

26.     1835 The Fiery Vault by Reithra

25.     1837 The Involuntary Experimentalist by Samuel Ferguson

24.     1831 The Lonely Man of the Ocean by Anonymous

23.     1843 Ko-rea-ran-neh-neh; or, The Flying Head by Charles Feno Hoffman

22.     1846 The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

21.     1837 Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Author of the 24th Best Horror Short Story 1800-1849 is Thomas Hood

Thomas Hood (1799-1845) is the next author in my countdown of the Top 40 horror shorts stories from 1800-1849. He was British and found modest fame in midlife through poetry and satire. Edgar Allan Poe turned the tables on Hood when he satired Hood in Four Beasts in One: The Homo-Cameleopard (human, camel, lion, leopard), which I detailed in the background of Edgar Allan Poe's Annotated Short Stories.

Thomas Hood penned only a handful of horror short stories and two of them involved the plague. It is one of those horror stories that appears as the 24th best in my countdown and I'll provide a free link to it in my next post.

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