Monster Carnival: An Anthology of Things, Beasts & Creatures

This Halloween the monsters are real, and they are coming to your house! Shadow House Publishing opens the crypt and unleashes a MONSTER CARNIVAL! Under the bed and behind the closet, in dank basements and gloomy attics…they are the whisper in the dark, the growl in the corner…they are everything we fear, and all that we secretly desire…they are us…they are MONSTERS! MONSTER CARNIVAL: An Anthology of Things, Beasts, & Creatures, edited by supernatural horror author and critic WILLIAM P. SIMMONS, is an evocative anthology featuring the monsters that terrified us when we were children…and still do. They’re all here, a paranormal parade of the dead, demonic, and devilish! Vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghouls, and blobs…unnamable entities and marvelous monstrosities, and murderous severed hands…every crawling, lurching, leaping, shambling THING that ever stalked a printed page. They were the original bad boys of horror–the ugly outcast, the despised loner, the creature from the grave-basement-coffin-outer space-that everybody loved to be scared by (even as we secretly rooted for them). From ancient folklore bogies to inter-dimensional demons, this funerary feast of 21 classic and rare stories makes fear fun again. Children of the night stalk in 21 tales from a diverse group of authors, some well-known, others anonymous or forgotten, from the gothic era to the 20th century. Contributors include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, E.F. Benson, H.P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, Rudyard Kipling, Lord Dunsany, and H.G. Wells alongside fear specialists Frank Belknap Long, William Hope Hodgson, Henry S. Whitehead, and Robert E. Howard. Some chilling tales make their first appearance in decades, including monstrosities from Edward Lucas White, Victor Roman, Anthony M. Rud, Hume Nisbet, Ulric Daubeny, Augustus Hare, and several others. Editor William P. Simmons leads this spectral spectacle, hand-picking supernatural, psychological, and weird tales for every torrid taste. From the bloody behemoths of pulp magazines to the terror titans of the Lovecraft circle, from classic supernatural monsters to mutants and slithery things with tentacles, this compendium of long legged beasties and ‘things that go bump in the night’ features an Introduction discussing the appeal of the monster in fiction. Monster Carnival Table of Contents:Here There Be Monsters, William P. SimmonsAmina, Edward Lucas WhiteFour Wooden Stakes, Victor RowanThe Hounds of Tindalos, Frank Belknap LongMark of the Beast, Rudyard KiplingThe Demon’s Spell, Hume NisbetJumbee, Henry S. WhiteheadThe Spectre Spiders, W.J. WintleThe Werewolf, Eugene O’NeilAt the End of the Corridor, Evangeline WaltonThe Hoard of the Gibbelins, Lord DunsanyThe Lurking Fear, H.P. LovecraftThe Sea Raiders, H.G. WellsLot 249, Sir Arthur Conan DoyleThe Voice in the Night, William Hope HodgsonThe Vampire of Cronglin Grange, Augustus HareRukorokubi, Lafcadio HearnThe Death of Halpin Frayser, Ambrose Bierce The Beast with Five Fingers, W.F. Harvey The Sumach, Ulric DaubenyOoze, Anthony M. RudThe Thing in the Hall, E.F. Benson About the Editor: William P. Simmons is a supernatural fiction author, critic, & journalist. Eight of his stories earned Honorable Mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror. By Reason of Darkness was praised by Publisher’s Weekly, All Hallows & Cemetery Dance. Graham Masterton, Hugh B. Cave & T.M. Wright endorsed his fiction. He has interviewed such authors as Richard Matheson, F. Paul Wilson & Caitlin Kiernan. SHADOW HOUSE PUBLISHING preserves our horror heritage!

About the Author

"We feed the dark and the dark feeds us."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.

Reviews

News