Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology

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R James (‘ The Ash Tree’), Saki (‘The Music on the Hill’), Walter de la Mare (‘All Hallows’), and Thomas Hardy (whose ‘The Withered Arm’ is possibly a contender for my favourite story in the book) – tales previously unfamiliar to me, such as ‘The Sin-Eater’ by Fiona Macleod and ‘Cwm Garon’ by L.

It has the feel of a genuine folk narrative, and shows that Le Fanu wasn't finished after 'In a Glass Darkly'. Primarily working in the television industry, he has provided graphic props for the likes of Poldark, Sherlock, Doctor Who, and the BBC adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.Indeed there were a lot of good examples of that in this collection, but there were other themes too. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. He is one of the ‘talking heads’ on the Severin films' documentary, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror’. This makes the book a good choice for those new to the folk horror ways, whilst still being of appeal to those already acquainted with the strange goings-on behind the old hedges and the standing stones. It started badly, with stories written in such heavily accented “old/yocal English” that I couldn’t actually understand what was being said and therefore had to skip the first two stories.

Dear reader do yourself a favour and just read the collected works of the master of Folk Horror, Arthur Machen. I think the concept of the 'intruder meddling' which is so key to this subset of the genre is such an interesting one, and to me this is certainly able to be paralleled with colonialism and a fear/disgust of non-dominant cultural practices by the coloniser reflected in the stories. Saki, Walter de la Mare) through the obligatory for this subject matter (MR James, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Shirley Jackson) to names unfamiliar (at least, to me).Places where the crepuscular light is eternally fading and in which the inanimate or the dormant is slowly stirring. There was none of that eerie foreboding that you get from communities just outside the modern world going balls deep into some old school religion much to the horror of the modern watchers on. Unholy rites, witches’ curses, sinister village traditions and ancient horrors that lurk within the landscape all combine to remind us that the shiny modern, urban world might not have all the answers… Wicked witches, bad fairies, and the restless dead be damned, for those who are looking to fill up their folk horror fiction shelves, Damnable Tales is a must-have.

as with all horror, I find the reasons why it is seen as scary always so interesting, and with folk horror I think this is so deeply a fear of post-industrial revolution humans, of conquering humans, of hegemonic humans, of consumer humans, that they truly lack control over the world and its functionings and that 'civility' as it has been established is under threat or was even futile in its establishment. The collection of stories is pulled from the classics to the modern, and gives the reader a wonderful selection of Folk Horror. Con semejante nómina era difícil que algo saliera más pero hay también otros autores menos conocidos con relatos de mucha calidad. Am besten nach Einbruch der Dunkelheit mit einem Glas Portwein oder rauchigem Single Malt zu genießen!There are 23 short stories in this volume, and each is accompanied by its own newly commissioned woodcut style lino print at the beginning of each tale. Man Size in Marble' by Edith Nesbit was a beautiful, atmospheric tale that utilised the horrors of the Norman invasion well.

The title and reviews made me think that "folk horror" was the rural equivalent of "urban legends," scary stories told by people in rural areas as if they were true. It also clearly illustrates otherwise to anyone who may still think that folk horror originated with three British films at the tail-end of the hippy dream. But even if some are repetetive, it's usually easy to see why they were included, and this is a perfect gift for anyone who enjoys horror or dark fantasy. The Withered Arm was also a very interesting story, with almost a time travel/sensing the future paradox of the two main characters harming each other unintentionally, in ways that depend on the actions of the other.

Conversely, there were also one or two that seemed to end very abruptly and could have gone on for a bit longer. They stalk the moors at night, the deep forests, cornered fields and dusky churchyards, the narrow lanes and old ways of these ancient places, drawing upon the haunted landscapes of folk-horror. Tales Accursedexplores similar territory: great stories by acknowledged masters of the genre like M. Benson can be a pious bore, but though his tale has a strong Christian flavour, it still manages a couple of disturbing moments.