HELL! SAID THE DUCHESS by Michael Arlen (1934, Doubleday) “#1: Hell! Said the Duchess. An unexpectedly chilling tale of demonic possession by this most charming author.” -Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Supernatural Horror Novels”(Twilight Zone Magazine,…
“#13 Medusa. If David Lindsay had written Treasure Island in the throes of a peyote-induced religious experience…Well, if Coleridge had given Melville a hand on Moby Dick after a few pipes of opium….”
-Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Supernatural Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
“#5 The Fire-Spirits. A strange tale of a young man’s involvement with a bewitching peasant child, mountain legends, and the quest for German unification. The English translation is said to be heavily expurgated, but I haven’t read the German to compare.”
-“13 Best Non-Supernatural Horror Novels”, by Karl Edward Wagner (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
“#7 The Flying Beast. Masterman again takes the detective formula and runs berserk, this time with a haunted English manor, murder, anti-gravity metal, a lost race of troglodytes, and a hidden abyss in the desert.”
– Karl Edward Wagner, “Thirteen Best Science Fiction Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983).
“#10. The Shadow on the House. Hansom is another of the unjustly neglected group of thriller writers. Usually his novels only appeared to have supernatural content, and in the end we learn it was only Uncle Geoffrey in a Mad Monk costume behind it all. The ending to this one is a stunner.”
– Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Non-Supernatural Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
“#10. The Cross of Carl. Antiwar novella concerning a German foot soldier in World War I, horribly wounded and baled up with the other battle casualties to be rendered into soap. After this, things really get strange. Owen is best known for More Things in Heaven.”
– Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Science Fiction Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
Although known as a western and historical writer, Paul Dayton Bailey managed to turn out one genuine over-the-top creepy novel in 1946, Deliver Me from Eva. It’s listed on the 100 Best Modern Horror Novels collection.
“#8 Melmoth the Wanderer. The greatest of the Gothic novels, proving that Gothic and psychological horrors are doubly effective when combined.”
– Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Supernatural Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
The Top Suspense Group has unleashed on the public their latest anthology. In a collection which would do Jim Thompson proud, this is a hard boiled collection for fans of the genre.
#7 The Yellow Mistletoe. A wild one. Masterman was another of those detective writers who at times broke away from formula. This one reads like a cross between Monk Lewis and Sax Rohmer.
-Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Supernatural Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
