A mixed bag, 15 Jun 2005
The best tale in this lengthy compilation of nineteenth century 'spinechillers' is probably the last one, Algernon Blackwood's 'The Kit Bag', a cracking piece of macabre atmospheric suspense that could've been written yesterday. Unfortunately it is preceded by a fair number of inferior - and sometimes poorly executed - stories that may prove interesting to academics but are likely to cause you to fall asleep prematurely rather than lie awake with the light on. The more notable names, such as Dickens, MR James, Conan-Doyle and so forth, turn in excellent work (the latter's 'Captain of the Pole Star' is unforgettable) but the less familiar authors vary with dramatic unevenness from genuinely scary to wholly indifferent and forgettable. Probably half of the thirty or so tales on offer are worth a look. You'd probably be better off checking out the best of MR James. That's my plan anyway.

A mixed bag, 15 Jun 2005
The best tale in this lengthy compilation of nineteenth century 'spinechillers' is probably the last one, Algernon Blackwood's 'The Kit Bag', a cracking piece of macabre atmospheric suspense that could've been written yesterday. Unfortunately it is preceded by a fair number of inferior - and sometimes poorly executed - stories that may prove interesting to academics but are likely to cause you to fall asleep prematurely rather than lie awake with the light on. The more notable names, such as Dickens, MR James, Conan-Doyle and so forth, turn in excellent work (the latter's 'Captain of the Pole Star' is unforgettable) but the less familiar authors vary with dramatic unevenness from genuinely scary to wholly indifferent and forgettable. Probably half of the thirty or so tales on offer are worth a look. You'd probably be better off checking out the best of MR James. That's my plan anyway.

Excellent selection, both for the student and the casual reader, 16 Jul 2006
I bought this in conjunction with Fred Botting's Gothic and have found this to be an excellent pair of books to supplement my knowledge and understanding of late Victorian Gothic literature. The range of tales on offer extends from well established names such as Oscar Wilde and Henry James through to rather more obscure figures like Grant Allen and B.M. Croker.

The collection is edited by Roger Luckhurst who provides an excellent introduction, and it is on the basis of this that I award this book 5 stars. His essay will be required reading for my students, and the select bibliography is thorough and up-to-date.

Above all, though, these stories provide entertaining and at times chilling reading, while at others the reader cannot help but laugh out loud at what seem to modern eyes hopelessly sentimental and over-the-top evocations of gothic terror.

All in all, this is well worth buying, whether you intend to study the period in depth, or want a range of engaging and effective stories.

A mixed bag, 15 Jun 2005
The best tale in this lengthy compilation of nineteenth century 'spinechillers' is probably the last one, Algernon Blackwood's 'The Kit Bag', a cracking piece of macabre atmospheric suspense that could've been written yesterday. Unfortunately it is preceded by a fair number of inferior - and sometimes poorly executed - stories that may prove interesting to academics but are likely to cause you to fall asleep prematurely rather than lie awake with the light on. The more notable names, such as Dickens, MR James, Conan-Doyle and so forth, turn in excellent work (the latter's 'Captain of the Pole Star' is unforgettable) but the less familiar authors vary with dramatic unevenness from genuinely scary to wholly indifferent and forgettable. Probably half of the thirty or so tales on offer are worth a look. You'd probably be better off checking out the best of MR James. That's my plan anyway.

Excellent selection, both for the student and the casual reader, 16 Jul 2006
I bought this in conjunction with Fred Botting's Gothic and have found this to be an excellent pair of books to supplement my knowledge and understanding of late Victorian Gothic literature. The range of tales on offer extends from well established names such as Oscar Wilde and Henry James through to rather more obscure figures like Grant Allen and B.M. Croker.

The collection is edited by Roger Luckhurst who provides an excellent introduction, and it is on the basis of this that I award this book 5 stars. His essay will be required reading for my students, and the select bibliography is thorough and up-to-date.

Above all, though, these stories provide entertaining and at times chilling reading, while at others the reader cannot help but laugh out loud at what seem to modern eyes hopelessly sentimental and over-the-top evocations of gothic terror.

All in all, this is well worth buying, whether you intend to study the period in depth, or want a range of engaging and effective stories.

A bit disappointing, 04 Sep 2006
I love collections of ghost stories, which is primarily why I bought this - and although several stories in this small book are worth a look(particularly the one about the ghost ship),on the whole I personally found it a bit thin on good, quality ghost stories and thought it was padded out with other "mystery" stories rather than real spine chillers. Much of this anthology is a bit tedious and not what I had hoped for. Depends on your expections I suppose but not really my cup of tea - there's better stuff available elsewhere in other anthologies.

those dark victorians...., 24 May 2004
Right, let's get down to business - these victorians sure know how to scare the wits out of anybody. Fantastic use of words which really put images of murder, blood and a pile of corpses into your mind. These stories should be read, with a single light on (a candle for example), the rest of the house shut tight with no lights on and all windows open. Kids love these type of things to as I found out when read these out to my class!

A must for those old fashioned short horror story fanatics!, 01 Jan 2004
When i bought this book, i could not put it down. Each short story is written by someone different; each with their own style and sudden, heart stopping end!
It reminds me very much of a similar book i had when i was a child, of which i have still got and regularly go back to read, again and again. My old book was published by StMichael! (M&S) Those were the days. So you can imagine my delight and suprise when i came across this "A Bottomless Grave" and Other Victorian Tales of Terror!" It bought back all my happy child like thoughts and familiar expereinces of reading these 'scary' ghost stories for the very first time, LATE AT NIGHT UNDER THE BED COVERS and EVERY NOISE AROUND YOU MADE YOU JUMP OUT OF YOUR SKIN! During my tender fragile years:a time when I first discovered the joys of reading a 'whole' story, where what you read stays with you for the rest of your life. A time when reading interesting (and slightly strange and eerie) stories lays down the foundations that will eventually mould your preferred reading style. I have since always preferred HORROR!
Read it and be astounded. It may be old fashioned to some, but that is part of it's charm. It goes back to the days when horror stories were horrific and QUITE RIGHTLY SO!

A mixed bag, 15 Jun 2005
The best tale in this lengthy compilation of nineteenth century 'spinechillers' is probably the last one, Algernon Blackwood's 'The Kit Bag', a cracking piece of macabre atmospheric suspense that could've been written yesterday. Unfortunately it is preceded by a fair number of inferior - and sometimes poorly executed - stories that may prove interesting to academics but are likely to cause you to fall asleep prematurely rather than lie awake with the light on. The more notable names, such as Dickens, MR James, Conan-Doyle and so forth, turn in excellent work (the latter's 'Captain of the Pole Star' is unforgettable) but the less familiar authors vary with dramatic unevenness from genuinely scary to wholly indifferent and forgettable. Probably half of the thirty or so tales on offer are worth a look. You'd probably be better off checking out the best of MR James. That's my plan anyway.

Excellent selection, both for the student and the casual reader, 16 Jul 2006
I bought this in conjunction with Fred Botting's Gothic and have found this to be an excellent pair of books to supplement my knowledge and understanding of late Victorian Gothic literature. The range of tales on offer extends from well established names such as Oscar Wilde and Henry James through to rather more obscure figures like Grant Allen and B.M. Croker.

The collection is edited by Roger Luckhurst who provides an excellent introduction, and it is on the basis of this that I award this book 5 stars. His essay will be required reading for my students, and the select bibliography is thorough and up-to-date.

Above all, though, these stories provide entertaining and at times chilling reading, while at others the reader cannot help but laugh out loud at what seem to modern eyes hopelessly sentimental and over-the-top evocations of gothic terror.

All in all, this is well worth buying, whether you intend to study the period in depth, or want a range of engaging and effective stories.

A bit disappointing, 04 Sep 2006
I love collections of ghost stories, which is primarily why I bought this - and although several stories in this small book are worth a look(particularly the one about the ghost ship),on the whole I personally found it a bit thin on good, quality ghost stories and thought it was padded out with other "mystery" stories rather than real spine chillers. Much of this anthology is a bit tedious and not what I had hoped for. Depends on your expections I suppose but not really my cup of tea - there's better stuff available elsewhere in other anthologies.

those dark victorians...., 24 May 2004
Right, let's get down to business - these victorians sure know how to scare the wits out of anybody. Fantastic use of words which really put images of murder, blood and a pile of corpses into your mind. These stories should be read, with a single light on (a candle for example), the rest of the house shut tight with no lights on and all windows open. Kids love these type of things to as I found out when read these out to my class!

A must for those old fashioned short horror story fanatics!, 01 Jan 2004
When i bought this book, i could not put it down. Each short story is written by someone different; each with their own style and sudden, heart stopping end!
It reminds me very much of a similar book i had when i was a child, of which i have still got and regularly go back to read, again and again. My old book was published by StMichael! (M&S) Those were the days. So you can imagine my delight and suprise when i came across this "A Bottomless Grave" and Other Victorian Tales of Terror!" It bought back all my happy child like thoughts and familiar expereinces of reading these 'scary' ghost stories for the very first time, LATE AT NIGHT UNDER THE BED COVERS and EVERY NOISE AROUND YOU MADE YOU JUMP OUT OF YOUR SKIN! During my tender fragile years:a time when I first discovered the joys of reading a 'whole' story, where what you read stays with you for the rest of your life. A time when reading interesting (and slightly strange and eerie) stories lays down the foundations that will eventually mould your preferred reading style. I have since always preferred HORROR!
Read it and be astounded. It may be old fashioned to some, but that is part of it's charm. It goes back to the days when horror stories were horrific and QUITE RIGHTLY SO!

Cities of Vampires, 18 Aug 2004
Regina Blake and her vampire mistress Victoria head for France to seek clues to the fate of Regina's mother, Emma. The latter has been embraced as part of a murky Tremere plot to bring down the Prince of London. Even as their quest evolves, events in London threaten to explode. Lord Blake, Emma's husband, and Malcolm Seward, Regina's fianc?e tear through the dark side of the city seeking traces of their loved ones, but despite causing considerable turmoil seem condemned to be always one step behind.
Other players have entered the fray as well. Beckett, a scholarly vampire with a compulsive interest in vampiric history, and Hesha Ruhadze, a mysterious Settite with his own agenda, temporarily join forces to try to discover answers, or perhaps to carry out an act or revenge, or to enlighten a goddess. On the human side Othman al-Masri seeks out the Society of Leopold, heir to the Inquisition and hunters of vampires.

Regina seems to make waves wherever she goes in vampire society. Although nothing more tha Victoria's prot?g?e, turmoil seems to follow her. In A Morbid Initiation she witnessed the poisoning of Mithras, ruler of the London vampires. Now the pattern continues, for while Victoria copes with the intricacies of vampire politics, Regina is less patient, whether she is dealing with Francois Villon, the Prince of Paris, or anatole, the mad vampire priest whose abbey is hidden behind the gates of a prison.

Phillippe Boulle continues to weave an intricate plot without ever revealing the real goal. There is something underlying all this moves and counter-moves, but it always seems to lie just beyond out grasp. Just as Lord Blake never seems able to catch up with his daughter. The Madness of Priests add detail and texture to the story, but keeps a tight hold on its secrets. Detail tends to be the devil in white Wolf publications, since much of what is in the books will feed back into the game world on which they are based.

This hunger for information can slow down the flow of action excessively, but Boulle manages to avoid this fault, dancing on the edge of overwriting, but never quite stepping over. Instead, the finely drawn descriptions of Victorian London and post-Napoleonic Paris increase the reader's enjoyment. Welcome to the Masquerade...

A mixed bag, 15 Jun 2005
The best tale in this lengthy compilation of nineteenth century 'spinechillers' is probably the last one, Algernon Blackwood's 'The Kit Bag', a cracking piece of macabre atmospheric suspense that could've been written yesterday. Unfortunately it is preceded by a fair number of inferior - and sometimes poorly executed - stories that may prove interesting to academics but are likely to cause you to fall asleep prematurely rather than lie awake with the light on. The more notable names, such as Dickens, MR James, Conan-Doyle and so forth, turn in excellent work (the latter's 'Captain of the Pole Star' is unforgettable) but the less familiar authors vary with dramatic unevenness from genuinely scary to wholly indifferent and forgettable. Probably half of the thirty or so tales on offer are worth a look. You'd probably be better off checking out the best of MR James. That's my plan anyway.

Excellent selection, both for the student and the casual reader, 16 Jul 2006
I bought this in conjunction with Fred Botting's Gothic and have found this to be an excellent pair of books to supplement my knowledge and understanding of late Victorian Gothic literature. The range of tales on offer extends from well established names such as Oscar Wilde and Henry James through to rather more obscure figures like Grant Allen and B.M. Croker.

The collection is edited by Roger Luckhurst who provides an excellent introduction, and it is on the basis of this that I award this book 5 stars. His essay will be required reading for my students, and the select bibliography is thorough and up-to-date.

Above all, though, these stories provide entertaining and at times chilling reading, while at others the reader cannot help but laugh out loud at what seem to modern eyes hopelessly sentimental and over-the-top evocations of gothic terror.

All in all, this is well worth buying, whether you intend to study the period in depth, or want a range of engaging and effective stories.

A bit disappointing, 04 Sep 2006
I love collections of ghost stories, which is primarily why I bought this - and although several stories in this small book are worth a look(particularly the one about the ghost ship),on the whole I personally found it a bit thin on good, quality ghost stories and thought it was padded out with other "mystery" stories rather than real spine chillers. Much of this anthology is a bit tedious and not what I had hoped for. Depends on your expections I suppose but not really my cup of tea - there's better stuff available elsewhere in other anthologies.

those dark victorians...., 24 May 2004
Right, let's get down to business - these victorians sure know how to scare the wits out of anybody. Fantastic use of words which really put images of murder, blood and a pile of corpses into your mind. These stories should be read, with a single light on (a candle for example), the rest of the house shut tight with no lights on and all windows open. Kids love these type of things to as I found out when read these out to my class!

A must for those old fashioned short horror story fanatics!, 01 Jan 2004
When i bought this book, i could not put it down. Each short story is written by someone different; each with their own style and sudden, heart stopping end!
It reminds me very much of a similar book i had when i was a child, of which i have still got and regularly go back to read, again and again. My old book was published by StMichael! (M&S) Those were the days. So you can imagine my delight and suprise when i came across this "A Bottomless Grave" and Other Victorian Tales of Terror!" It bought back all my happy child like thoughts and familiar expereinces of reading these 'scary' ghost stories for the very first time, LATE AT NIGHT UNDER THE BED COVERS and EVERY NOISE AROUND YOU MADE YOU JUMP OUT OF YOUR SKIN! During my tender fragile years:a time when I first discovered the joys of reading a 'whole' story, where what you read stays with you for the rest of your life. A time when reading interesting (and slightly strange and eerie) stories lays down the foundations that will eventually mould your preferred reading style. I have since always preferred HORROR!
Read it and be astounded. It may be old fashioned to some, but that is part of it's charm. It goes back to the days when horror stories were horrific and QUITE RIGHTLY SO!

Cities of Vampires, 18 Aug 2004
Regina Blake and her vampire mistress Victoria head for France to seek clues to the fate of Regina's mother, Emma. The latter has been embraced as part of a murky Tremere plot to bring down the Prince of London. Even as their quest evolves, events in London threaten to explode. Lord Blake, Emma's husband, and Malcolm Seward, Regina's fianc?e tear through the dark side of the city seeking traces of their loved ones, but despite causing considerable turmoil seem condemned to be always one step behind.
Other players have entered the fray as well. Beckett, a scholarly vampire with a compulsive interest in vampiric history, and Hesha Ruhadze, a mysterious Settite with his own agenda, temporarily join forces to try to discover answers, or perhaps to carry out an act or revenge, or to enlighten a goddess. On the human side Othman al-Masri seeks out the Society of Leopold, heir to the Inquisition and hunters of vampires.

Regina seems to make waves wherever she goes in vampire society. Although nothing more tha Victoria's prot?g?e, turmoil seems to follow her. In A Morbid Initiation she witnessed the poisoning of Mithras, ruler of the London vampires. Now the pattern continues, for while Victoria copes with the intricacies of vampire politics, Regina is less patient, whether she is dealing with Francois Villon, the Prince of Paris, or anatole, the mad vampire priest whose abbey is hidden behind the gates of a prison.

Phillippe Boulle continues to weave an intricate plot without ever revealing the real goal. There is something underlying all this moves and counter-moves, but it always seems to lie just beyond out grasp. Just as Lord Blake never seems able to catch up with his daughter. The Madness of Priests add detail and texture to the story, but keeps a tight hold on its secrets. Detail tends to be the devil in white Wolf publications, since much of what is in the books will feed back into the game world on which they are based.

This hunger for information can slow down the flow of action excessively, but Boulle manages to avoid this fault, dancing on the edge of overwriting, but never quite stepping over. Instead, the finely drawn descriptions of Victorian London and post-Napoleonic Paris increase the reader's enjoyment. Welcome to the Masquerade...

New Orleans gothic, 06 Jun 2001
This is indeed a scholarly book. Mighall's dank and furious broodings on his subject matter resonate profoundly with my own experience of the development of the gothic genre in New Orleans. I mean, this guy is darker than the bottom of a bayou; a very dark, particularly spooky bayou. Probably haunted. Like every good work of literary criticism, this book stirs up a wonderful gumbo of sophistry and smut, although I would have liked to have seen a greater focus on the role of the vampire as uber-oral-intruder and friend. Some of the filthier aspects might be disturbing for students or the religious, and I'm thinking of the organ fetishist episode in particular. I wonder if Mighall is aware of the recent discovery of a Le Fanu manuscript, curiously entitled "A Case for Mr. Sausage". This might well be right up his alley. In conclusion, three thumbs up! Smashing!

A powerful challenge to current critical assumptions, 26 Mar 2001
The author of this book has thrown down the gauntlet to psychoanalytically-minded critics. They've long touted forms of Freud's 'return of the repressed' to explain the efficacy of Gothic horror, though feminist Lacanian and Kristevan co-options don't necessarily please Queer theorists.

Mighall's work is refreshingly free of talk about desire and subjectivity. For him Gothic writings frequently evoke fear and mystery by depicting a present threatened by the survival of, or sudden reappearance of, disturbing features from a dark, unenlightened past. His strategic move is to discuss revealingly the discourses which historically constituted psychoanalysis and with which Gothic novels of the 1880s and 90s engaged at particular points. He provides much excellent material on earlier Gothic texts also, but his argument reaches its crux in the chapters on late Victorian Gothic concerned with the body as a site of horror - particularly in his discussion of Dracula. Here he lambastes critics for their Whiggish Gothic take on the reactions of Stoker's Victorian Crew of Light when they find that the dead are really undead and just won't lie down. His humour and brio make this an entertaining as well as illuminating read.

A lot of original research underpins this book. I would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in the Gothic, but particularly to students who are also interested in psychoanalysis and telling the truth about history.

an indispensable guide to some murky literary territory, 27 Jan 2001
This book stands out amongst the mass of writings about Gothic fiction, not least for its careful restoration of its subject to contexts of time and place. The scholarly agenda never gets in the way of readability, and parts are genuinely funny. As for the illustrations - once seen, they will sink into your mind and stay with you for ever, like a dormant virus or secret wound...

A great introduction to why gothic things are frightening, 10 Dec 1999
I've been a huge fan of horror books for years and also like to read about science fiction creature model making. When I was a grad student in Hawaii, working on a Tarantino-inspired ghost story about the great Hawaiin god Lono, I was really annoyed that there wasn't any good criticism of this kind of literature. Now, it's great news to find literary critics and profs running courses, have started to take creepy books seriously. This is just about the best, but also the oddest, books I've read on the subject. It's very original, and a little weird in places. It's almost as if this guy, like, really, and I mean really, knows about this stuff a little too well. But I guess that's ok, given the subject. Maybe it takes someone who actually inhabits the 'darkside' to be able to really explain the subject properly. The best chapters are on Vampires which I just love. All vampires are really cool especially when they 'go for it'. The chapter on Bertrand 'The Parisian Vampire' (who likes doing it to dead people) is wild. The big let down though is I wish the author had brought everything up to date. Why stop at 1900, and exclude the likes of Lovecraft, Ann Rice and Clive Barker? Rice writes alot like Bram Stoker, and there's loads to say about her books (eg. they make great movies) and Barker is 'the man' right now. It's a real shame he also failed to mention the little known but well scary tale 'Black Dog's Log', which is a real classic. Overall, the author's really up for it. He sure knows how to pick a fight and good for him! Why not? What do these other guys know anyway? The chapter on why Freud is bogus is really funny and worth the price alone. I think I would recommend this to proper students of Horror fiction as well as anyone who likes the history of scary stuff generally.

A mixed bag, 15 Jun 2005
The best tale in this lengthy compilation of nineteenth century 'spinechillers' is probably the last one, Algernon Blackwood's 'The Kit Bag', a cracking piece of macabre atmospheric suspense that could've been written yesterday. Unfortunately it is preceded by a fair number of inferior - and sometimes poorly executed - stories that may prove interesting to academics but are likely to cause you to fall asleep prematurely rather than lie awake with the light on. The more notable names, such as Dickens, MR James, Conan-Doyle and so forth, turn in excellent work (the latter's 'Captain of the Pole Star' is unforgettable) but the less familiar authors vary with dramatic unevenness from genuinely scary to wholly indifferent and forgettable. Probably half of the thirty or so tales on offer are worth a look. You'd probably be better off checking out the best of MR James. That's my plan anyway.

Excellent selection, both for the student and the casual reader, 16 Jul 2006
I bought this in conjunction with Fred Botting's Gothic and have found this to be an excellent pair of books to supplement my knowledge and understanding of late Victorian Gothic literature. The range of tales on offer extends from well established names such as Oscar Wilde and Henry James through to rather more obscure figures like Grant Allen and B.M. Croker.

The collection is edited by Roger Luckhurst who provides an excellent introduction, and it is on the basis of this that I award this book 5 stars. His essay will be required reading for my students, and the select bibliography is thorough and up-to-date.

Above all, though, these stories provide entertaining and at times chilling reading, while at others the reader cannot help but laugh out loud at what seem to modern eyes hopelessly sentimental and over-the-top evocations of gothic terror.

All in all, this is well worth buying, whether you intend to study the period in depth, or want a range of engaging and effective stories.

A bit disappointing, 04 Sep 2006
I love collections of ghost stories, which is primarily why I bought this - and although several stories in this small book are worth a look(particularly the one about the ghost ship),on the whole I personally found it a bit thin on good, quality ghost stories and thought it was padded out with other "mystery" stories rather than real spine chillers. Much of this anthology is a bit tedious and not what I had hoped for. Depends on your expections I suppose but not really my cup of tea - there's better stuff available elsewhere in other anthologies.

those dark victorians...., 24 May 2004
Right, let's get down to business - these victorians sure know how to scare the wits out of anybody. Fantastic use of words which really put images of murder, blood and a pile of corpses into your mind. These stories should be read, with a single light on (a candle for example), the rest of the house shut tight with no lights on and all windows open. Kids love these type of things to as I found out when read these out to my class!

A must for those old fashioned short horror story fanatics!, 01 Jan 2004
When i bought this book, i could not put it down. Each short story is written by someone different; each with their own style and sudden, heart stopping end!
It reminds me very much of a similar book i had when i was a child, of which i have still got and regularly go back to read, again and again. My old book was published by StMichael! (M&S) Those were the days. So you can imagine my delight and suprise when i came across this "A Bottomless Grave" and Other Victorian Tales of Terror!" It bought back all my happy child like thoughts and familiar expereinces of reading these 'scary' ghost stories for the very first time, LATE AT NIGHT UNDER THE BED COVERS and EVERY NOISE AROUND YOU MADE YOU JUMP OUT OF YOUR SKIN! During my tender fragile years:a time when I first discovered the joys of reading a 'whole' story, where what you read stays with you for the rest of your life. A time when reading interesting (and slightly strange and eerie) stories lays down the foundations that will eventually mould your preferred reading style. I have since always preferred HORROR!
Read it and be astounded. It may be old fashioned to some, but that is part of it's charm. It goes back to the days when horror stories were horrific and QUITE RIGHTLY SO!

Cities of Vampires, 18 Aug 2004
Regina Blake and her vampire mistress Victoria head for France to seek clues to the fate of Regina's mother, Emma. The latter has been embraced as part of a murky Tremere plot to bring down the Prince of London. Even as their quest evolves, events in London threaten to explode. Lord Blake, Emma's husband, and Malcolm Seward, Regina's fianc?e tear through the dark side of the city seeking traces of their loved ones, but despite causing considerable turmoil seem condemned to be always one step behind.
Other players have entered the fray as well. Beckett, a scholarly vampire with a compulsive interest in vampiric history, and Hesha Ruhadze, a mysterious Settite with his own agenda, temporarily join forces to try to discover answers, or perhaps to carry out an act or revenge, or to enlighten a goddess. On the human side Othman al-Masri seeks out the Society of Leopold, heir to the Inquisition and hunters of vampires.

Regina seems to make waves wherever she goes in vampire society. Although nothing more tha Victoria's prot?g?e, turmoil seems to follow her. In A Morbid Initiation she witnessed the poisoning of Mithras, ruler of the London vampires. Now the pattern continues, for while Victoria copes with the intricacies of vampire politics, Regina is less patient, whether she is dealing with Francois Villon, the Prince of Paris, or anatole, the mad vampire priest whose abbey is hidden behind the gates of a prison.

Phillippe Boulle continues to weave an intricate plot without ever revealing the real goal. There is something underlying all this moves and counter-moves, but it always seems to lie just beyond out grasp. Just as Lord Blake never seems able to catch up with his daughter. The Madness of Priests add detail and texture to the story, but keeps a tight hold on its secrets. Detail tends to be the devil in white Wolf publications, since much of what is in the books will feed back into the game world on which they are based.

This hunger for information can slow down the flow of action excessively, but Boulle manages to avoid this fault, dancing on the edge of overwriting, but never quite stepping over. Instead, the finely drawn descriptions of Victorian London and post-Napoleonic Paris increase the reader's enjoyment. Welcome to the Masquerade...

New Orleans gothic, 06 Jun 2001
This is indeed a scholarly book. Mighall's dank and furious broodings on his subject matter resonate profoundly with my own experience of the development of the gothic genre in New Orleans. I mean, this guy is darker than the bottom of a bayou; a very dark, particularly spooky bayou. Probably haunted. Like every good work of literary criticism, this book stirs up a wonderful gumbo of sophistry and smut, although I would have liked to have seen a greater focus on the role of the vampire as uber-oral-intruder and friend. Some of the filthier aspects might be disturbing for students or the religious, and I'm thinking of the organ fetishist episode in particular. I wonder if Mighall is aware of the recent discovery of a Le Fanu manuscript, curiously entitled "A Case for Mr. Sausage". This might well be right up his alley. In conclusion, three thumbs up! Smashing!

A powerful challenge to current critical assumptions, 26 Mar 2001
The author of this book has thrown down the gauntlet to psychoanalytically-minded critics. They've long touted forms of Freud's 'return of the repressed' to explain the efficacy of Gothic horror, though feminist Lacanian and Kristevan co-options don't necessarily please Queer theorists.

Mighall's work is refreshingly free of talk about desire and subjectivity. For him Gothic writings frequently evoke fear and mystery by depicting a present threatened by the survival of, or sudden reappearance of, disturbing features from a dark, unenlightened past. His strategic move is to discuss revealingly the discourses which historically constituted psychoanalysis and with which Gothic novels of the 1880s and 90s engaged at particular points. He provides much excellent material on earlier Gothic texts also, but his argument reaches its crux in the chapters on late Victorian Gothic concerned with the body as a site of horror - particularly in his discussion of Dracula. Here he lambastes critics for their Whiggish Gothic take on the reactions of Stoker's Victorian Crew of Light when they find that the dead are really undead and just won't lie down. His humour and brio make this an entertaining as well as illuminating read.

A lot of original research underpins this book. I would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in the Gothic, but particularly to students who are also interested in psychoanalysis and telling the truth about history.

an indispensable guide to some murky literary territory, 27 Jan 2001
This book stands out amongst the mass of writings about Gothic fiction, not least for its careful restoration of its subject to contexts of time and place. The scholarly agenda never gets in the way of readability, and parts are genuinely funny. As for the illustrations - once seen, they will sink into your mind and stay with you for ever, like a dormant virus or secret wound...

A great introduction to why gothic things are frightening, 10 Dec 1999
I've been a huge fan of horror books for years and also like to read about science fiction creature model making. When I was a grad student in Hawaii, working on a Tarantino-inspired ghost story about the great Hawaiin god Lono, I was really annoyed that there wasn't any good criticism of this kind of literature. Now, it's great news to find literary critics and profs running courses, have started to take creepy books seriously. This is just about the best, but also the oddest, books I've read on the subject. It's very original, and a little weird in places. It's almost as if this guy, like, really, and I mean really, knows about this stuff a little too well. But I guess that's ok, given the subject. Maybe it takes someone who actually inhabits the 'darkside' to be able to really explain the subject properly. The best chapters are on Vampires which I just love. All vampires are really cool especially when they 'go for it'. The chapter on Bertrand 'The Parisian Vampire' (who likes doing it to dead people) is wild. The big let down though is I wish the author had brought everything up to date. Why stop at 1900, and exclude the likes of Lovecraft, Ann Rice and Clive Barker? Rice writes alot like Bram Stoker, and there's loads to say about her books (eg. they make great movies) and Barker is 'the man' right now. It's a real shame he also failed to mention the little known but well scary tale 'Black Dog's Log', which is a real classic. Overall, the author's really up for it. He sure knows how to pick a fight and good for him! Why not? What do these other guys know anyway? The chapter on why Freud is bogus is really funny and worth the price alone. I think I would recommend this to proper students of Horror fiction as well as anyone who likes the history of scary stuff generally.

Excellent selection, both for the student and the casual reader, 16 Jul 2006
I bought this in conjunction with Fred Botting's Gothic and have found this to be an excellent pair of books to supplement my knowledge and understanding of late Victorian Gothic literature. The range of tales on offer extends from well established names such as Oscar Wilde and Henry James through to rather more obscure figures like Grant Allen and B.M. Croker.

The collection is edited by Roger Luckhurst who provides an excellent introduction, and it is on the basis of this that I award this book 5 stars. His essay will be required reading for my students, and the select bibliography is thorough and up-to-date.

Above all, though, these stories provide entertaining and at times chilling reading, while at others the reader cannot help but laugh out loud at what seem to modern eyes hopelessly sentimental and over-the-top evocations of gothic terror.

All in all, this is well worth buying, whether you intend to study the period in depth, or want a range of engaging and effective stories.

A mixed bag, 15 Jun 2005
The best tale in this lengthy compilation of nineteenth century 'spinechillers' is probably the last one, Algernon Blackwood's 'The Kit Bag', a cracking piece of macabre atmospheric suspense that could've been written yesterday. Unfortunately it is preceded by a fair number of inferior - and sometimes poorly executed - stories that may prove interesting to academics but are likely to cause you to fall asleep prematurely rather than lie awake with the light on. The more notable names, such as Dickens, MR James, Conan-Doyle and so forth, turn in excellent work (the latter's 'Captain of the Pole Star' is unforgettable) but the less familiar authors vary with dramatic unevenness from genuinely scary to wholly indifferent and forgettable. Probably half of the thirty or so tales on offer are worth a look. You'd probably be better off checking out the best of MR James. That's my plan anyway.

Excellent selection, both for the student and the casual reader, 16 Jul 2006
I bought this in conjunction with Fred Botting's Gothic and have found this to be an excellent pair of books to supplement my knowledge and understanding of late Victorian Gothic literature. The range of tales on offer extends from well established names such as Oscar Wilde and Henry James through to rather more obscure figures like Grant Allen and B.M. Croker.

The collection is edited by Roger Luckhurst who provides an excellent introduction, and it is on the basis of this that I award this book 5 stars. His essay will be required reading for my students, and the select bibliography is thorough and up-to-date.

Above all, though, these stories provide entertaining and at times chilling reading, while at others the reader cannot help but laugh out loud at what seem to modern eyes hopelessly sentimental and over-the-top evocations of gothic terror.

All in all, this is well worth buying, whether you intend to study the period in depth, or want a range of engaging and effective stories.

A bit disappointing, 04 Sep 2006
I love collections of ghost stories, which is primarily why I bought this - and although several stories in this small book are worth a look(particularly the one about the ghost ship),on the whole I personally found it a bit thin on good, quality ghost stories and thought it was padded out with other "mystery" stories rather than real spine chillers. Much of this anthology is a bit tedious and not what I had hoped for. Depends on your expections I suppose but not really my cup of tea - there's better stuff available elsewhere in other anthologies.

those dark victorians...., 24 May 2004
Right, let's get down to business - these victorians sure know how to scare the wits out of anybody. Fantastic use of words which really put images of murder, blood and a pile of corpses into your mind. These stories should be read, with a single light on (a candle for example), the rest of the house shut tight with no lights on and all windows open. Kids love these type of things to as I found out when read these out to my class!

A must for those old fashioned short horror story fanatics!, 01 Jan 2004
When i bought this book, i could not put it down. Each short story is written by someone different; each with their own style and sudden, heart stopping end!
It reminds me very much of a similar book i had when i was a child, of which i have still got and regularly go back to read, again and again. My old book was published by StMichael! (M&S) Those were the days. So you can imagine my delight and suprise when i came across this "A Bottomless Grave" and Other Victorian Tales of Terror!" It bought back all my happy child like thoughts and familiar expereinces of reading these 'scary' ghost stories for the very first time, LATE AT NIGHT UNDER THE BED COVERS and EVERY NOISE AROUND YOU MADE YOU JUMP OUT OF YOUR SKIN! During my tender fragile years:a time when I first discovered the joys of reading a 'whole' story, where what you read stays with you for the rest of your life. A time when reading interesting (and slightly strange and eerie) stories lays down the foundations that will eventually mould your preferred reading style. I have since always preferred HORROR!
Read it and be astounded. It may be old fashioned to some, but that is part of it's charm. It goes back to the days when horror stories were horrific and QUITE RIGHTLY SO!

Cities of Vampires, 18 Aug 2004
Regina Blake and her vampire mistress Victoria head for France to seek clues to the fate of Regina's mother, Emma. The latter has been embraced as part of a murky Tremere plot to bring down the Prince of London. Even as their quest evolves, events in London threaten to explode. Lord Blake, Emma's husband, and Malcolm Seward, Regina's fianc?e tear through the dark side of the city seeking traces of their loved ones, but despite causing considerable turmoil seem condemned to be always one step behind.
Other players have entered the fray as well. Beckett, a scholarly vampire with a compulsive interest in vampiric history, and Hesha Ruhadze, a mysterious Settite with his own agenda, temporarily join forces to try to discover answers, or perhaps to carry out an act or revenge, or to enlighten a goddess. On the human side Othman al-Masri seeks out the Society of Leopold, heir to the Inquisition and hunters of vampires.

Regina seems to make waves wherever she goes in vampire society. Although nothing more tha Victoria's prot?g?e, turmoil seems to follow her. In A Morbid Initiation she witnessed the poisoning of Mithras, ruler of the London vampires. Now the pattern continues, for while Victoria copes with the intricacies of vampire politics, Regina is less patient, whether she is dealing with Francois Villon, the Prince of Paris, or anatole, the mad vampire priest whose abbey is hidden behind the gates of a prison.

Phillippe Boulle continues to weave an intricate plot without ever revealing the real goal. There is something underlying all this moves and counter-moves, but it always seems to lie just beyond out grasp. Just as Lord Blake never seems able to catch up with his daughter. The Madness of Priests add detail and texture to the story, but keeps a tight hold on its secrets. Detail tends to be the devil in white Wolf publications, since much of what is in the books will feed back into the game world on which they are based.

This hunger for information can slow down the flow of action excessively, but Boulle manages to avoid this fault, dancing on the edge of overwriting, but never quite stepping over. Instead, the finely drawn descriptions of Victorian London and post-Napoleonic Paris increase the reader's enjoyment. Welcome to the Masquerade...

New Orleans gothic, 06 Jun 2001
This is indeed a scholarly book. Mighall's dank and furious broodings on his subject matter resonate profoundly with my own experience of the development of the gothic genre in New Orleans. I mean, this guy is darker than the bottom of a bayou; a very dark, particularly spooky bayou. Probably haunted. Like every good work of literary criticism, this book stirs up a wonderful gumbo of sophistry and smut, although I would have liked to have seen a greater focus on the role of the vampire as uber-oral-intruder and friend. Some of the filthier aspects might be disturbing for students or the religious, and I'm thinking of the organ fetishist episode in particular. I wonder if Mighall is aware of the recent discovery of a Le Fanu manuscript, curiously entitled "A Case for Mr. Sausage". This might well be right up his alley. In conclusion, three thumbs up! Smashing!

A powerful challenge to current critical assumptions, 26 Mar 2001
The author of this book has thrown down the gauntlet to psychoanalytically-minded critics. They've long touted forms of Freud's 'return of the repressed' to explain the efficacy of Gothic horror, though feminist Lacanian and Kristevan co-options don't necessarily please Queer theorists.

Mighall's work is refreshingly free of talk about desire and subjectivity. For him Gothic writings frequently evoke fear and mystery by depicting a present threatened by the survival of, or sudden reappearance of, disturbing features from a dark, unenlightened past. His strategic move is to discuss revealingly the discourses which historically constituted psychoanalysis and with which Gothic novels of the 1880s and 90s engaged at particular points. He provides much excellent material on earlier Gothic texts also, but his argument reaches its crux in the chapters on late Victorian Gothic concerned with the body as a site of horror - particularly in his discussion of Dracula. Here he lambastes critics for their Whiggish Gothic take on the reactions of Stoker's Victorian Crew of Light when they find that the dead are really undead and just won't lie down. His humour and brio make this an entertaining as well as illuminating read.

A lot of original research underpins this book. I would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in the Gothic, but particularly to students who are also interested in psychoanalysis and telling the truth about history.

an indispensable guide to some murky literary territory, 27 Jan 2001
This book stands out amongst the mass of writings about Gothic fiction, not least for its careful restoration of its subject to contexts of time and place. The scholarly agenda never gets in the way of readability, and parts are genuinely funny. As for the illustrations - once seen, they will sink into your mind and stay with you for ever, like a dormant virus or secret wound...

A great introduction to why gothic things are frightening, 10 Dec 1999
I've been a huge fan of horror books for years and also like to read about science fiction creature model making. When I was a grad student in Hawaii, working on a Tarantino-inspired ghost story about the great Hawaiin god Lono, I was really annoyed that there wasn't any good criticism of this kind of literature. Now, it's great news to find literary critics and profs running courses, have started to take creepy books seriously. This is just about the best, but also the oddest, books I've read on the subject. It's very original, and a little weird in places. It's almost as if this guy, like, really, and I mean really, knows about this stuff a little too well. But I guess that's ok, given the subject. Maybe it takes someone who actually inhabits the 'darkside' to be able to really explain the subject properly. The best chapters are on Vampires which I just love. All vampires are really cool especially when they 'go for it'. The chapter on Bertrand 'The Parisian Vampire' (who likes doing it to dead people) is wild. The big let down though is I wish the author had brought everything up to date. Why stop at 1900, and exclude the likes of Lovecraft, Ann Rice and Clive Barker? Rice writes alot like Bram Stoker, and there's loads to say about her books (eg. they make great movies) and Barker is 'the man' right now. It's a real shame he also failed to mention the little known but well scary tale 'Black Dog's Log', which is a real classic. Overall, the author's really up for it. He sure knows how to pick a fight and good for him! Why not? What do these other guys know anyway? The chapter on why Freud is bogus is really funny and worth the price alone. I think I would recommend this to proper students of Horror fiction as well as anyone who likes the history of scary stuff generally.

Excellent selection, both for the student and the casual reader, 16 Jul 2006
I bought this in conjunction with Fred Botting's Gothic and have found this to be an excellent pair of books to supplement my knowledge and understanding of late Victorian Gothic literature. The range of tales on offer extends from well established names such as Oscar Wilde and Henry James through to rather more obscure figures like Grant Allen and B.M. Croker.

The collection is edited by Roger Luckhurst who provides an excellent introduction, and it is on the basis of this that I award this book 5 stars. His essay will be required reading for my students, and the select bibliography is thorough and up-to-date.

Above all, though, these stories provide entertaining and at times chilling reading, while at others the reader cannot help but laugh out loud at what seem to modern eyes hopelessly sentimental and over-the-top evocations of gothic terror.

All in all, this is well worth buying, whether you intend to study the period in depth, or want a range of engaging and effective stories.

Spellbinding!, 04 Apr 2007
This is one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a long time. The author brings his charming neighborhood to life with a spellbinding collection of true ghost stories that keep the reader rushing to turn the next page. I promise, all who love true ghost stories will find this one of the best books you've read in a long, long time!

Great Read!, 02 Nov 2006
Lovers of ghost stories, don't hesitate to get this book! Granted, Kentucky is on the other side of the big pond, but these stories are so well-crafted and sure to keep you turning to the next page that anyone will enjoy reading them. The author does a fine job of capturing the feel of the Victorian Period in America's Gilde Age, and that is something that makes this book special. Whereas so many writers recount old versions of hauntings and spectral apparitions, this man takes a fresh approach to ghostly legends and includes many stories he has dug up himself. Forgive the pun. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book and was sad to put it down. I learned a lot, and event better, I got quite a bit of goose flesh in the process. I will read anything else he puts out. When will it be?