For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet,… Read More ›
short stories
Spooky Stories: “The Derelict” by William Hope Hodgson
“It’s the material,” said the old ship’s doctor — “the material plus the conditions — and, maybe,” he added slowly, “a third factor — yes, a third factor; but there, there ——” He broke off his half-meditative sentence and began… Read More ›
In a Smile of Peculiar Meaning: Edgar Allan Poe’s “Berenice”
In 1835, the Southern Literary Messenger published a short story so shocking, so graphic and ghastly, that outraged letters poured into the office of editor Thomas W. White. Written by a relatively unknown Edgar Allan Poe, the story, Berenice, tells of Egaeus, a young man of family and… Read More ›
The Year of Halloween 