H. P. Lovecraft's Book of the Supernatural by Stephen Jones

A life-long antiquarian and resident of Providence, Rhode Island, most of his work appeared in the cheaply produced pulp magazines that he despised. Next comes that dean of cosmic horror, H. James, a definitive collection of James’ fiction beautifully illustrated by Les Edwards, for Jo Fletcher Books a couple of years ago. I was proud to compile Curious Warnings: The Great Ghost Stories of M.R. The Cambridge Provost invented the modern ghost story as we know it, replacing the Gothic horrors of the previous century with more contemporary settings and subtle terrors. Although his tales have been much imitated, they have never been surpassed, and amongst the very best is ‘A Warning to the Curious’ which, with its cursed object and doomed protagonist, perfectly exemplifies everything that is memorable about the author’s fiction. (Rhodes) James (1862-1936), that English master of supernatural fiction.

No horror anthology would be complete without a contribution by M. Here are ten very different terrors that I would recommend to anyone interested in discovering the diversity of the horror genre. An editor has to worry not only about which authors and which stories to select, but also how to put the book together so that the stories flow – for example, you don’t want two stories with similar themes next to each other, and you need to vary the word-lengths and styles so that you retain the reader’s interest throughout. “Constructing a good anthology is no easy thing. “I suspect like many other writers and editors in my genre, I sometimes lay awake at night constructing the perfect horror anthology in my mind,” admits Steve.

Once he’d stopping laughing, we agreed to compromise with a list of ten of his own favourite frighteners! Over the years he’s read literally tens of thousands of stories from writers both old and new, and so we knew we were setting him a real challenge when we asked him to pick a definitive list of the ten best horror stories of all time. Stephen Jones, one of Britain’s most acclaimed and prolific anthologists of horror and dark fantasy, has edited the magnificent Fearie Tales: Stories of the Grimm and Gruesome for Jo Fletcher Books.

H. P. Lovecraft's Book of the Supernatural by Stephen Jones