Wildwood: Tales of Terror & Transformation From the Forest

Unnamable nightmares lurk in the wild. Do you dare stray from the path? Witness the sylvan horrors of nature with WILDWOOD: TALES OF TERROR & TRANSFORMATION FROM THE FOREST, the first anthology in the Shadow House Library of Weird Fiction series.Forests fill us with fear and fascination, evoking dread of the unknown while promising savage freedom. Anthologist William P. Simmons invites you to get lost in the woods with 15 rare and classic horror stories of eldritch altars, haunted forests, and sylvan dread. See pagan rituals in doom-laden groves and the great god Pan wreak havoc in stygian glades. Encounter woodland elementals and a weird wilderness of spirits, faerie, and furrow fiends.Famed and forgotten authors around the world reveal nature in its most terrifying and visionary aspects, merging horror with wonder as humanity faces supernatural, occult, and undefinable nightmares…and discover numinous secrets about reality (and themselves). In the world’s dark forests macabre miracles hide behind every tree, death slithers between gnarled roots, and neither your mind nor your soul will escape unscathed. Satyrs, nymphs, and faerie; elementals, nature spirits, and ancient gods; werewolves, ghosts, and witches; all here for those bold enough to stray from the path. Collected from the late 19th-20th centuries, these stories inspire not only terror but wonder. Experience the forest as a mysterious setting of sudden death, spiritual panic and metamorphosis; witness supernatural entities born of the wildwood; quake before nature as a sentient being hinting of other realities. A wide range of sub-genres and supernatural motifs are represented in this carefully curated call to the wild, from rustic folk-horror and mystical nightmares to traditional ghost stories and cosmic fright. Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, and M.R. James, E.M. Forester, Saki, Ralph Adams Cram, and H.F.W. Tatham appear beside obscure female authors Bessie Kyffin-Taylor, Theo Douglas, and others. They dare you to confront the darkest part of the woods…and your own natures. Does the Wildwood offer freedom or damnation, liberation or destruction? This critical edition features a comprehensive Introduction examining weird nature fiction, Story Notes, Author Biographies, and Further Reading. An article on “Forest Folklore” by late ghost hunter Elliott O’Donnell is appendixed. If you enter the weird woods, you may survive but you won’t be unchanged. Table of Contents:The Story of a Panic, E.M. ForsterThe Watcher, R.H. BensonThe White People, Arthur Machen The Wind in the Woods, Bessie Kyffin-TaylorThe Music on the Hill, SakiThe Brazen Cross, H.B. Marriott WatsonThe Grove of Ashtaroth, John BuchanThe Dead Valley, Ralph Adams CramThe Man Who Went Too Far, E.F. BensonThe Hollow of the Three Hills, Nathaniel HawthorneThe House in the Wood, H.F.W. TathamThe Touch of Pan, Algernon BlackwoodThe White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains, Frederick MarryatA View from a Hill, M.R. JamesThe Next Heir, Theo DouglasAbout the Editor: William P. Simmons is a bestselling author and editor of supernatural horror fiction. He is the editor of the anthologies Season of the Dead, Monster Carnival, and Yuletide Frights, and of the series Horror Hall of Fame Novellas and Macabre Mistresses. Eight of his stories earned Honorable Mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror. His collection By Reason of Darkness was praised by Publisher’s Weekly, All Hallows & Cemetery Dance. Best-selling authors Graham Masterton, Hugh B. Cave & T.M. Wright have endorsed his work.

About the Author

"We feed the dark and the dark feeds us."Active HWA member, William P. Simmons is a best-selling editor and author of supernatural and mystical horror. Praised by bestselling horror legends Graham Masterton, T.M. Wright, Nancy Kilpatrick, and others, Simmons has received critical acclaim from Publisher's Weekly, Rue Morgue, Cemetery Dance, Hellnotes, etc. Nine of his stories received honorable mentions and his work has been compared to Ray Bradbury and Shirley Jackson. His collections include By Reason of Darkness and Dark Harvest. A critic and journalist, he has reviewed for Publisher's Weekly and has interviewed such authors as Richard Matheson, Hugh B. Cave, Poppy Z. Brite, and others. His newest anthologies include Season of the Dead, Monster Carnival, and Yuletide Frights.

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