Product Description
For centuries, they have watched over us. Leering from the arches and peaks of ancient cathedrals. Spreading their wings across hallowed doorways. Even decorating our homes in stony, silent elegance. Are they angels or demons? Sacred or profane? In the Shadow of the Gargoyle features fifteen original stories and two classic tales of the legendary gargoyle. The contributors range from bestselling masters to the hottest newcomers--award-winners, artists, musicians, and, yes, gargoyle collectors.Each of them experts at drawing blood from a stone...Contributors include:* Harlan Ellison * Neil Gaiman * Katherine Kurtz * Brian Lumley * Jane Yolen * Charles L. Grant * John Mason Skipp * Nancy Holder * Alan Rodgers * Lucy Taylor * Jo Clayton * Don D'Ammassa * Christa Faust * Robert J. Harris * Brian Hodge * Caitlin R. Kiernan * Marc Levinthal * Melanie Tem * Wendy Webb ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Gotta Love the Gargoyles
Gargoyles have often been harbingers of fear, fascination, and fun -- from the creepy, beclawed critters that glower down from the impressive heights of the Notre Dame cathedral, to the friendly felines in pseudo-Goth mail order catalogues with their batwings and big grins.

In the Shadow of the Gargoyle brings us the stony sentry in all his expected guises -- fearsome, fascinating, and funny -- and a few more for good measure. This is a well rounded collection, with a least a story or three to suit everyone's taste.

Charles L. Grant's `The Soft Sound of Wings' starts the collection off, but I found it to be one of the weakest stories of the bunch -- it's about an old widower who heads up a neighborhood watch, and... well, does the neighborhood watch group symbolize modern-day gargoyles, or are they watching for actual gargoyles? I didn't get it.

Neil Gaiman's `Gargoyle of the Heart' is interesting and engaging, despite its lack of an actual ending. That's okay -- the obsessed lover, whose heart turns as hard and lifeless as the gargoyle he sculpts, is an interesting character, so I didn't mind following him essentially nowhere.

Katherine Kurtz's `The Gargoyle's Shadow' is a humorous, modern-day jaunt that transports the reader to "gargoyle powwows" in which the protectors of church treasures lament, "We used to be avenging angels. But now we don't get to kick ass like we did in the old days. The Boss has gotten a little soft on sinners..."

Don D'Amassa's `Scylla and Charybdis' follows shy Kim from the age of nine into adulthood, and her two gargoyle friends, Scylla and Charybdis, who are always there for her. There to listen, there to protect. This story was engrossing and somber, and it captured a gloomy mood while maintaining an interesting, if predicable, plotline.

Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris, collaborators on `Studies in Stone,' present a story that is similar to `The Gargoyle's Shadow' in that it takes a light, humorous look at the gothic icons, but I enjoyed this story a lot more in its' utter daftness -- cleverly titled, this "study in stone" follows the escapades of Gryx, a Scottish rainspout gargoyle who breaks free from his ledge and goes off to study at University.

Melanie Tem's `Hagoday' follows guilt-wracked ex-con Eric, who accidentally killed an acquaintance of his. He's haunted by gargoyles, and while the idea is interesting, I didn't think it panned out. The strange, unsatisfying ending left me feeling, well... strangely unsatisfied.

Charles deLint's `May This Be Your Last Sorrow' takes place in Bordertown (the creation of Terri Windling and Marc Alan Arnold). Never having read any Bordertown novels (or whatever they are -- no background or explanation was given), I got absolutely nothing from this story, although it was well-written.

Nancy Holder's `Little Dedo' was perhaps one of the most creative uses of the gargoyle in this collection, though personally, I do prefer a more traditional view. Sam and Jeannie, a married couple, go to Paris on vacation. She's more interested in Euro-Disney than she is Notre Dame, despite the fact she's pregnant with a little gargoyle... or is she? This story was engaging and appealing, even when nothing was "happening" (which was, actually, most of the time).

Alan Rodgers's `The Gargoyle's Song' is about the siren song of an ancient stone sentry who sits upon the ledge outside a lonely woman's New York apartment. And then, she invites him in. What unravels is a slow-moving, but sweetly romantic story of love found, lost, and found again.

Brian Lumley's `The Luststone' was listed as an excerpt. An excerpt from what, I don't know -- a novel? If so, if must have been taken from the middle of the novel, as it has no distinct beginning, middle and end. I didn't care for this one at all and don't consider it a true "short story" in keeping with the theme of the collection.

Christa Faust and Caitlin R. Keirnan's `Found Angels' starts off with a completely dead-on description of Mann's Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood tourist scene, and the scruffy, heroin-addicted kids who live and die on the sidewalk of stars. `Found Angels' follows one of these kids, who is lucky enough to hook up with an avant-garde artist who wants to immortalize him in stone. While I could see the ending of this one coming, it didn't matter, because Faust and Keirnan made the trip so much fun.

Jo Clayton's `The House of Sisters' began with what, for me, is the kiss of death: spelling out all the dialogue phonetically. A little bit of this goes a long way, and unfortunately Clayton didn't employ the "less is more" rule here. Added to that distraction is an almost incomprehensible plot. I read about four pages before realizing I had no idea what I had just read. I think it was something about a game between two sisters, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Wendy Webb's `Smiling Sisters' presents a day in the life (and death) of social worker, Rebecca Stern, in Atlanta, Georgia. Webb makes the most of the dark, decadent, decaying, sultry Southern atmosphere when she describes the clinging vines, the sickly sweet scent of flowers, and the crooked old mansion that Lillian, the old woman Rebecca is sent to see, lives in. Rebecca is convinced that Lillian can't take care of herself, and should not be living alone. What Rebecca doesn't know is that Lillian doesn't live alone.

Marc Levinthal and John Skipp's collaboration, `Now Entering Monkeyface' is one of the more creative uses of the gargoyle theme in this collection. The only science fiction story, it won me over right away with its excellent writing, sense of black humor, and fast, interesting pacing. Normally, I don't like fiction written in present tense, and I don't enjoy traditional science fiction, particularly stories set on other planets, but this one was, er... stellar.

Lucy Taylor's `Tempters' is a fascinating foray into the seamy, insidious underneath of the gargoyle. In most of these stories, and indeed throughout history, they are portrayed as protectors. Not so with `Tempters,' the tale of an English gentleman troubled, then obsessed, by a pair of 12th century Franking gargoyles posed in lewd, lascivious postures. I had not read anything by Lucy Taylor before, but her wicked writing style has inspired me to seek out more. This one is a standout.

Harlan Ellison's `Bleeding Stones' is more a vignette than a structured story -- here we follow gargoyles who are tired of being the protectors of the "Jesus people." They want to fly, they want to roam... they want to kill. It all begins at St. Patrick's Cathedral, when one, then another, and then another of the sentries breaks free during mass and takes revenge on the religion that enslaved them for so many centuries. The story dissolves into a bloody, unflinching look at the carnage these winged, beclawed, befanged creatures could inflict, should they choose to.

In the Shadow of the Gargoyle is a thought-provoking, entertaining collection overall, despite the additions of the two stories (Lumley's "excerpt" and the one set in Bordertown) that the average reader probably won't enjoy or understand. In short, it's a rockin' good time! (Note: no bad puns were hurt in the writing of this review.)

Staci Layne Wilson

average
A few of the stories were very good, and a few weren't very good at all, but most were just average.The average stories were just too predictable.Usually they ended with someone turning into a gargoyle, or there was a gargoyle protector killing people, things like that.I was really excited about finding this anthology, because I recognized a lot of authors I liked in it: Neil Gaiman, Katherine Kurtz, Jane Yolen, Jo Clayton, Charles de Lint.Unfortunately, most of the stories weren't nearly as good or as original as I had thought they'd be.I enjoyed Charles de Lint's "May This Be Your Last Sorrow" the most, but the rest was really just so-so.

A disappointing collection.
Judging by some of the authors who contributed tales to this anthology, you'd expect something of very high caliber.Sadly, most of the stories are fairly run-of-the-mill, and I barely remember them just a few daysafter finishing the book.Even Caitlin Kiernan's beautifully written shortis a bit predictable.It's nice to have Harlan Ellison's vicious"Bleeding Stones" back in print, but otherwise this is one themeanthology that is more or less missable.

A great book!
In the Shadow of the Gargoyle was a really good book, all the stories were really cool, and some of them even sad. My favorite was Scylla and Charybdis. It is really cool, though some of the stories, especially thesecond one, are kind of weird and nasty. But without those it's a reallygreat book and I think everyone should read it! ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on June 22, 2001. The length of the article is 538 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Rosa. (Fiction).
Author: Robert Schwarz
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2001
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: 75Page: 181(1)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
More than four dozen stories and poems, featuring writings by Joyce Carol Oates, Jane Yolen, Harlan Ellison, and many others, investigate the outermost perimeters of the human imagination. Amazon.com Review
The collaborative efforts of Ellen Datlow (horror) and TerriWindling (fantasy) are becoming something of a legend, as year after yearthey deliver the best horror and fantasy short fiction in a fat (500double-length pages) anthology that avoids pigeonholes with its mingled,unlabeled sample of the two genres. As in previous years, this volumeincludes more than 100 pages of summaries about the year 1997 in horrorand fantasy publishing, horror and fantasy in the media,and comics. The fiction includes 18 stories and 8 poems with just TerriWindling's initials, and 18 stories and 1 poem with Ellen Datlow'sinitials, with some (presumably dark fantasy) that are tagged by both.

Even more than usual, Ellen Datlow's horror selections introduce a remarkablevariety of types of stories. One of the best tales is Molly Brown's "The Psychomantium," about a mirror that allowsalternative time lines to intersect, creating double fates for thecharacters. "The Skull of Charlotte Corday" (photosincluded) by Leslie Dick takes an essayistic approach to afamous female assassin and some creepy details in the history of sexualsurgery. Douglas Clegg's "I Am Infinite, I ContainMultitudes" is a striking body-horror tale that was nominated for a BramStoker Award. Christopher Harman, P.D. Cacek, Joyce Carol Oates, and Vikram Chandra contributeold-fashioned ghost stories. Gary Braunbeck's"Safe" is reminiscent of the best of Stephen King in its portrayal ofrealistic horror in a small town. Michael Chabon's "In theBlack Mill" more than proves that Lovecraftian horror can transcend shallowpastiche. And other horror notables--such as Michael Cadnum,Christopher Fowler, Caitlín Kiernan, StephenLaws, Kim Newman, Norman Partridge, and Nicholas Royle--make appearances.

Terri Windling's selections include familiar fantasy names such as Peter Beagle, Charles de Lint, Karen JoyFowler, and Jane Yolen, and famous genre-crossers such asRay Bradbury, Howard Waldrop, and Jack Womack. She also provides welcome space for fantasy poetry--charmingpieces with images of the Trickster Coyote, Sheela Na Gig, and a mermaid,and titles like "Coffee Jerk at the Gates of Hell." The PulitzerPrize-winning Steven Millhauser contributes an enchanting tale that originally appeared in the New Yorker. Other tales are inspired byan intriguing range of sources: Gulliver's Travels,Marilyn Monroe, the Scottish legend of the Sineater, the artof glass blowing, Aztec myth, and ancient Jewish lore.

There's no better way to take in the best of these two genres, both for thegreat selections and the ample pointers to 1997's novels, magazines, art,movies, and comics that you may not have heard about. --Fiona Webster ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

15/2001: The bar is high and some stories are exceptional. Recommended 14/2000: Too many blatant stories. Not recommended
(Because Amazon lumps all of these volumes together, this review is split in halves: Fifteen/2001 and Fourteen/2000.)

For THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR: FIFTEENTH ANNUAL COLLECTION (2001)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fifteen Annual Collection collects the best (as determined by the editors) short fiction of both genres in 2001, using wide definitions of the genres in order to build a diverse, quality collection. Introductions survey related novels, anthologies, and media; some of these recommendations are useless, but others are a rich resource. The stories and poems themselves vary in quality, but the standard is high and some stories are a distinct success. It's no surprise that such a large anthology has its ups and downs, but Datlow and Windling achieve many of their lofty goals. This is a varied and successful collection of short fiction and a promising resource for discovering new authors. I recommend it.

Short fiction anthologies and collections are almost always a mixed bag, and this one in particular reaches farther--and is longer--than most collections, so there are plenty of opportunities for failure. But it's a surprising success: there's some underwhelming poetry and some disappointing and odd short stories, but on average the bar is high and the best stories are exceptional. Doerr's "The Hunter's Wife," Arnott's "Prussian Snowdrops," Kiernan's "Onion," Maguire's "Scarecrow," and best of all Palwick's "Gestella," the story of a rapidly-aging werewolf, were among my favorites, and while another reader may have different preferences the best part about this broad collection is that it has something to delight every sort of horror/fantasy fan, and perhaps something new for each reader.

Other than a treasure-trove of stories, The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror also serves to expose the reader to new work and new authors. The introductions are lengthy, but useful: Windling is the most succinct in picking her choices for best fantasy novels and anthologies, Datlow is more wordy and less helpful in her horror recommendations, and the surveys of related media, comics, and anime/manga are pretty much useless (and in the final case, laughably so). Still, skim the introductions and remember your favorite authors from the short story collection, and this anthology has the potential to inflate your to-be-read list in record time. All in all, this volume of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror is not perfect, but Datlow and Windling aim high and manage to pull together a surprising amount of enjoyable fiction that includes some true gems and opens the door to finding many more. I recommend it.

For THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR: FOURTEENTH ANNUAL COLLECTION (2000)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourteenth Annual Collection collects the best (as determined by the editors) short fiction of both genres in 2000, using wide definitions of the genres in order to build a diverse, quality collection. Largely useless introductions summarize the year in fantasy, horror, and related media, but the bulk of the book is 43 short stories and 11 poems which span paranormal horror to imaginary world fantasy to mythic poems. The stories are a mixed bag, but on the whole a disappointment: some break the mold, but most of these selections are so exaggerated that they lack magic or tension. This series has a laudable goal, but in this installment the editors don't quite reach it. Not recommended.

I so much enjoyed the fifteenth volume of this series that it boggles my mind that I found this fourteenth installment such a slog. Short story collections are usually composed of selection of varying quality, and an anthology this wide-reaching and long has plenty of opportunities for failure--and, unfortunately, in this volume it often does fail. The selections are a mixed bag: Some are wonderful, and Koja's "At Eventide," Grant and Link's "Ship, Sea, Mountain, Sky," Duffy's Circe and Little Red Cap, Adriázola's "Buttons," Gaiman's Instructions, and best of all Greer Gilman's "Jack Daw's Pack," a mythic and dreamlike story of the trials and tribulations of divine avatars, were my favorites. But too often, regardless of genre, these stories are often so blatant--horror exaggerated to empty violence, retold myth which is too obvious, humorous fantasy pushed over the top--that they lose all the magic and tension that can come with subtlety. Perhaps that's a personal preference, but I doubt it. Obvious, exaggerated stories smack of lazy writing, and certainly don't warrant a "best of" collection.

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourteenth Annual Collection still serves a purpose: some selections, like those listed above, break the mold and are in turns understated, haunting, intelligent, or otherwise subtlety and skillfully told. And the volume also functions as a means to encounter new stories and new authors. With such a wide range, pulling from paranormal to psychological horror, from magical realism to urban fantasy, The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror is a broad cross-section of both genres and may expose a reader to all number of new writers or texts. Unfortunately, like the middling quality of the stories themselves, this volume isn't always a good resource: Windling summary of fantasy novels is concise and useful, but Daltow's summary is unnecessarily long and the summations of media and comics often lose sight of their fantasy/horror purview. All told, this fourteenth installment of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror is well-intended but not wholly successful. Other installments prove that the premise can succeed, and such a wide goal as the year's best pulled from broad definitions of two genres is loftly and laudable. But perhaps the pickings were slim, perhaps they had a bad year--for whatever reason, Windling and Datlow don't reach their goals in this fourtheenth installment, and I don't recommend it.

Another Satisfying Entry In The Series
I collect this series hungrily. There are always at least 10 stories that excite and amaze me, and I do feel they can honestly be called "the best" of each year. I also buy stacks of other genre anthologies, none of which demonstrate such consistent quality. How there came to be a gap on my shelf where this volume ought to be I'm not sure, but I did find out while shopping for its replacement what others have discovered: it is frustratingly difficult to get an accurate report of the contents of each of these volumes. Of the several well-written and helpful reader reviews, one refers to the 11th edition, another, while begging Amazon to represent it faithfully, nevertheless is clearly misfiled, describing the contents of the 14th. To be sure, even as I snarl and curse my way through the tangle of confusion I salute each reviewer's insights; I only wish their efforts could be properly represented. To help other benighted seekers, I'm suggesting a visit to this site, an extremely valuable and meticulously maintained resource.
locusmag.com/index/2002

Snnorrrrre Snnnorrrreeeee
For some reason, the folks at Amazon keep posting my reviews for this series in the wrong place, so expecting that to happen again this time, let me clarify: The review is covering the FOURTEENTH edition.

Years ago, I made the mistake of taking "The Year's Best" title seriously, and rushed out and bought all the books in the series I could get my hands on. That turned out to be a BIG mistake, as Editors Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling seem to have very different ideas from me about what makes a good story. Luckily, this is the last volume I was unfortunate enough to purchase.

I'll skip the usual complaints this time out. I won't rant about the overlong year-in-review segments. I won't mention the fact that Windling's Fantasy selections monopolixe the book. I won't utter a word about Windling's bizarre penchant for poetry and rehashed versions of older-than-dirt fairy-tales. I'll concentrate on the stories that were actually readable.

Charles de Lint contributes another Newford story, "Granny Weather"; As usual, it's a good read.
Ramsey Campbell offers up two creepy little gems, "No Strings", and "No Story In It".
Jack Dann's "Marilyn" turns a young boy's sexual fantasy into a waking nightmare.
Glen Hirschberg's "Mr. Dark's Carnival" is a great haunted house tale.
Ian Rodwell & Steve Duffy's "The Penny Drops" is waaayyy too long, but the knockout ending makes the suffering worthwhile.
Bret Lott's "The Train, The Lake, The Bridge" could almost be a true story, and it's all the creepier for that.
Jonathan Carroll's "The Heidelberg Cylinder" is a hilariously bizarre tale that needs to be read to be appreciated.
Jack Ketchum contributes "Gone", a short but excellent halloween tale.
Paul J. McAuley's "Bone Orchards" is a follow up to his tale from the previous Year's collection, "Naming The Dead"; It's a real treat, and I'd love to see more with the main character.

Search out the aforementioned Authors, by all means; Just don't waste your money on this stankass series....unless you have MUCH more patience than me.

Tedious, Overblown, Pretentious, Overwritten......
I really can't be bothered doing my usual story-by-story review, since most of the stories stunk. I'm not a big Fantasy fan, so my distaste for the Fantasy side of the book shouldn't be a big surprise. I'll just reiterate my usual complaint about Fantasy Editor Terri Windling's half (More like 2/3rd's..) of the book: Waaaaayyy too much Fantasy, to the point where the Horror stories get short shrift. Ellen Datlow's Horror selections also leave a lot to be desired, as the truly distinctive voices of modern Horror fiction, like Bentley Little, Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, Richard Laymon, et al, continue to not be represented, while told-by-rote Victorian-era wannabes dominate the book.

(My original review was much longer, and I did single out particular stories/Authors for praise, and recommended some of the individual anthologies, but the review-censorship gang at Amazon saw fit to chop off four whole paragraphs of my review! Thanks, @ssholes!)

Another Year, Another Snooze-Fest....
Made it through another one!!! Once again, Fantasy Editor Terri Windling runs roughshod over Horror Editor Ellen Datlow- Windling weighs in with 26 stories, Datlow with 19. (Datlow continues to beat the drum for awful-poetry lovers everywhere, with no less than EIGHT poems...Yuck.)

As usual, the book opens with Windling's interminably long overview on The Year in Fantasy, which is really no more than a list of every book that's come out that year, along with her rambling on and on about "Magical Realism" for what seems like 5000 pages. I read one page, skimmed the rest, didn't miss a thing.

On to Datlow's Year in Horror- Slightly more interesting, but still WAAY too long. Skimmed once again...

Edward Bryant's Horror and Fantasy in the Media overview is interesting reading, but it seems as if Bryant just throws every movie he's seen into the mix. Does "In the Company of Men" really qualify as Fantasy or Horror...? Seth Johnson's Year in Comic Books overview is very interesting, and considering how much Windling drones on, I don't think it would kill them to let Johnson have a few more pages than he does.

On to the stories themselves....There are a LOT of stories that are bad, if not downright AWFUL, in this book, and most of them go on MUCH too long. Among the Awful/Overlong are: The meandering, pointless "The Skull of Charlotte Corday", "It Had To Be You", which would have been cute if had been 20 pages shorter; Charles Grant's head-scratching yawn-a-thon "Riding the Black", ... "In the Fields" was so bad I actually had to skip to the next story; I also couldn't finish Peter S. Beagle's "The Last Song of Sirit Byar"- It seemed like the song had no end.....

It's not ALL bad, though. Standout stories include "Gulliver at Home", which tells of Lemuel Gulliver's time at home between voyages; "I Am Infinite; I Contain Multitudes" has one of the nastiest scenes I've ever read, and packs a hell of a punch; Nicholas Royle's "Mbo" delivers a nasty spin on the Dracula legend; Gary A. Braunbeck's "Safe" is a moving tale of the aftermath of a gruesome mass-murder; "El Castillo De La Perseverancia" is THE weirdest story I've ever read...Mexican Wrestlers vs. Aztec monsters! It's like a Santos movie in print! "Residuals" tells the hidden history of Alien-abduction in America, and Michael Chabon delivers a ripping good H. P. Lovecraft pastiche "In the Black Mill". Christopher Fowler's "Spanky's Back!" is good sick fun, and Stephen Laws' "The Crawl" presents a far-fetched tale of road-rage that still manages to evoke a chill.

While there ARE some worthwhile reads here, the book is more pain than pleasure to read. Proceed at your own risk! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

excellent
The chapter from Wieland is excellent; I have read the novel, and found it one of the best gothic novels of America. I figure it is the way schizophrenia works in human mind. I also enjoyed Melville's "the tartarus of maids". Maybe it is not strictly a gothic tale, but it has a gothic atmosphere, and many levels of reading. I like the way the landscape is depicted, and the feelings it conjures. It is really an industrial nightmare, possibly inspired by the XIX century industrial revolution, and the terrible labour conditions of that time.
The legend of Sleepy hollow is a brilliant combination of gothicism, humour, and a thorough or exhaustive description of primitve dutch communities, rural life, and the lovely place where they settled. It is not so easy a combination, so the writer must have been very gifted to create it, and make of it one of the american classics. I did not like to much Ambrose Bierce's "The damned thing", It certainly is not the best gothic tale of this writer. He had wrote many other and moreinteresesting gothic tales, like "an episode in owl creek bridge".
It seems that american writers of the nineteen century were higlyinfluenced by religious puritanism, and - mainly - by its dark side, and destructive behaviour. For instance, "The man of adamant", of Hawthorne, and the above mentioned Wieland.
I did not like to much Gertrude Ashterton tale. Neither did I like Sherwood Anderson "death in the woods"; it is simply a sad story of a miserable woman, but it lacks interest. I enjoyed a lot, Lovecraft`s, derleth`s, and Faulkner tales. "The lonesome place" is a remarkable tale, about our dark places of our minds, and our fears of those places. Faulkner story is about a decadent southern aristocrat, that slightly reminded me of Tenesse Williams` Blanche DuBois. (even if they were not alike in any apparent sense) E.B. White story, "The door", is an unsettling tale of what happens in human mind when confronted with apparently insoluble problems. I do not know if it is a gothic story, but is a very good one. "The lovely house", by Shirley Jackson, has a feeling of impending danger... you feel that things are not so lovely as they look, that people are not what they seem to be, and that something bad is about to happen. Paul Bawles story is somewhat poor, I did not like it to much, notwithstanding the reference to drug use.
William Goyen tale, and "The Penny Arcade", are excellente literary works, but cannot be considered gothic. "Cat in glass", by Nancy Echemendy, is hundred per cent gothic, and a very good story. "Replacements", is quite weird and interesting. I did not like Stephen King tale, "The Reach", it is very long and not very good. There is a short tale called "time and again", that cannot be considered gothic either, but is quite good, unsettling, and weird. "The last feast of Harlekin ", is one of the best tales of the books. Gradually you start to feel a dangerous athmosphere, unfathommable misteries from ancient times, and fear of the unknown, and of what it is about to happen.
Mrs. Oates selection of american gothic tales includes many excellent, some good and a few definitively mediocre stories. I do think that in spite of some flaws, it is a book to recommend to anyone interested in good literature.

This book is a keeper...
I had to get this book for a Gothic class I recently took, and absolutely loved it!This is the kind of book that you keep and read over and over again.One of the things that I really liked was the way Oates selected authors and put them in chronological order through the book.I can't think of anything I would change about this collection - all the stories are very unique in their own way.

a rather tepid hodgepodge of weirdness..
Since I love gothic novels I eagerly dove into 'American Gothic Tales', a large collection of gothic short stories.And with Joyce Carol Oates as the editor I thought for sure this book would be terrific.Well, it wasn't.Not even close.

While it is hard to write a singular review of so many varied stories, let me say that hardly any of the stories were memorable.Worse, some of the stories were almost incomprehensible.As with other collections of short stories, I would have greatly appreciated some blurb by the editor in front of each story explaining its significance.Instead we have dozens of stories smashed together without interruption, with no real pattern to them.


Bottom line: I found very few jewels in this otherwise dull collection of stories.Not recommended.

Some great stories, some lame
I was rather disappointed in this book.Some of the stories were great.Most were unimpressive and a couple I would not have called 'gothic' by any definition I know of.I would instead reccomend the Oxford book of Gothic Short Stories.

A Better Name Would Be American Tales of the Weird
I don't necesarily agree with Joyce Carol Oates' defintion of Gothic literature in her introduction or that all of the stories in this collection are Gothic. The editor does a good job on the back cover, in her biographic section, and in the final page, of trying to advertise herself as being not only a "genius" but "rank[ing] on the spine-tingling chart with the masters". I beg to disagree.

Traditionally, Gothic literature deals with the dark and mysterious and with the tortured soul. I had great difficulty seeing some of these stories as being gothic at all. Some of these stories would better fit the category of "tales of the weird", but some don't even fit in that category. For example, there's a two-page story of a man leaving his wife and trying to wrest the baby from her arms in the dark. There's another with two men in a spaceship contemplating life. Another is merely a story of someone tripping on drugs.

Granted, there are some good gothic and weird stories here. The stories are placed in the book chronologically. Many of the earlier stories are anti-climatic with endings that are little more than a tiny "Boo!" (if that). Such a story is Oates' own attempt at a gothic story, "The Temple". Others are page-turners. In trying to put in some more obscure stories, she's left out better ones by the same author. For example, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" would have been a better Gothic literature choice for displaying Nathaniel Hawthorne's talents. And authors like H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, who greatly inspired writers of this genre, should have more inclusions in the book.

If this book were to truly be a book of good gothic literature, the following stories would remain (favorites starred): *Brown's exerpt from Wieland, *Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", Hawthorne's "The Man of Adamant" and "Young Goodman Brown", Poe's "The Black Cat", Perkin's "The Yellow Wallpaper", James' The Romance of Certain Old Clothes", Bierce's "The Damned Thing", *Wharton's "Afterward", Anderson's "Death in the Woods", *Lovecraft's "The Outsider", Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily", Derleth's "The Lonesome Place", *Jackson's "The Lovely House", *Cheever's "The Enormous Radio" (more twilight zone than gothic), *Bradbury's "The Veldt" (more science fiction than gothic), Doctorow's "The Waterworks", *L'Heureux's "The Anatomy of Desire", Oates' "The Temple", *Rice's "Freniere", Millhauser's "In the Penny Arcade", *King's "The Reach", Johnson's "Exchange Value" (good but not really gothic), *Crowley's "Snow", *Ligotti's "The Last Feast of the Harlequin" (a wonderful story in memory of Lovecraft), *Tuttle's "The Replacements", *Etchemendy's "Cat in Glass", and Baker's "Subsoil".

Even though I felt that some of the selections for this anthologywere poor choices, the good selections makes this a worthwhile read. Had she replaced the non-gothic and anti-climatic stories with more good stories by the above authors, the book would have been perfect. I will definitely be looking more into works by some of the authors like Ligotti and Wharton. I will not, on the other hand, be seeking out works by the editor. Her self-advertisement has fallen upon deaf ears. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (8)

A Lovecraft Retrospective Review
If you are reading this review then like me you are probably having thoughts somewhat along the lines of "HPL is awesome, and I love the premise of this book but geez it's pretty expensive. Is it worth it?" The short answer: Yes. Totally. Absolutely. In terms of the art contained within it is not only amazingly comprehensive but just so well reproduced. All the images are large and crisp, with many pages opening to fold outs to more fully display the creations. All of the art is identified in the back index via thumbnail style pictures so the images are not spoilt by writing overtop them. Of course not all of the images are awesome, but this is art after all and subject to the readers personal taste. The wheat far outweighs the chaff for mine. All of the classic and most iconic Lovecraftian images are there along with many new to me and some real discoveries. If there is a complaint (and the irony to Lovecraft fans will not be lost I'm sure) it is that there are quite a few typos and misspellings in the small text sections but in a book all about images this is a minor sin. Do yourself a favour and buy this book. It is worth it.

The best book of lovecraftian art.
First, sorry my english isn't very good (i'm spanish and i'm improving my english). I have the slipcase edition and I like very much the most of images. It's easy for a spanish man (or woman) to understand the text. And the organization of the images is very good: the early years, the middle art and finally the modern art. I have the cover image in the monitor of my computer, this complete image is very impressive. But I was interested in the John Coulthart art (I have his "Haunter of the Dark and other grotesque visions" and his Coulthart Calendar), the images of his Old Ones are in black and white (His Old Ones are coloured in the John Coulthart Calendar, but it's not a problem). Finally I think that this book is a collectionist book, the best book of lovecraftian art.

Horrific and awesome
This was quiet literally an amazing and magificent book.At every turn of the page, vivid horrific scenes jumped out at me.The art work is truely glorious and inspiring.As a previous reviewer stated, Matthew, there simply are no words to describe this book, and his review fit this book to a t.It took me 3 1/2 hours to go from front to back, reading each text and introduction, the brief stories contained, and taking in each breathtaking glimpse into a remarkable surrelistic world.This will be a very fine addition to my Giger books, Bezinski, and Barlowe's Inferno.Now all I can do is sit down with this book in front of me, re-read some classic HPL tales, and go to bed at night and let the nightmares begin.Simply fantastic.

A must for Lovecraft fans!
Much of what I'd like to say has already been said by those who have reviewed the book before me. Suffice to say that this book brings to life the images that might have been contained in Lovecraft's mind when he wrote those wonderful stories. Gibbering demons and gargoyles, nameless creatures too hideous to describe and of course, grotesque monsters from outer space - they're all here in their full glory. As Ellison said in the intro, if only HP could have lived to see this magnificent tribute.

The definitive book on Lovecraftian art
I only accidentally stumbled upon this book not long prior to its publishing, but after half a second's consideration, placed my order at Amazon with quite the discount. Having read the works of HP Lovecraft since I was about 13, I simply could not resist this. Incidentally, my first book was "The Road to Madness", who's cover a teenage boy could not resist, a cover that I found in this book. Small world indeed. What can one say about this book? It includes literally hundreds of pages of supreme quality art, both black and white and in full colour inspired or related to the literary works of Lovecraft and to a certain degree his milieu. Some of the pieces are even spread over fold-out pages, and the binding and covers is of supreme quality. It just doesn't get any better than this. The book is about half a meter tall and I guess about 5 kg's, so don't expect to sit and hold this while you read it!

There are small introduction texts for all the artists; some perhaps a bit excessively long, but oh well. Having Stuart Gordon write an introduction is a complete miss, Lovecraft must be turning in his grave considering what Gordon has done to wreck Lovecraft's work in all his "great films". That being so, I found so much great art in this book, I enjoyed myself immensely in its company for hours on end, and it is certainly a prize item to show your friends and loved ones. Granted, making it fit in a normal bookshelf might be hard, but if you can cough up the money, I can hardly recommend this book enough. Annoyingly, it has a lot of spelling- and editing-errors, enough of them to almost make me take away a star, but it is in the end a book with paintings, so it doesn't really matter. Buy it before it is too late, if you have even the faintest interest in Lovecraft's work, a book of this quality is something we don't see often in our shady circles. I think my favourite ones in the book might be Les Edward's excellent Innsmouth-related paintings; wow! 5 stars plus! ... Read more

Product Description
A respected and authoratative history of Rome and the Roman Empire that integrates social, economic, cultural, and religious aspects of Roman life with the rise and fall of the Republic and the achievements and decay of the imperial system to the time of Justinian. This paperback edition was updated in 1991 and includes an updated bibliography and a new appendix on women's history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Look no further
This textbook is the best brief introduction to Roman history and civilization that I have found.Africa manages to pack much detail into his rapid survey of political and military history.He is excellent as well with Roman social history and religion.He has an eye for telling anecdotes, and throughout it is clear that he had great fun writing this book.Africa is witty and often sardonic; The Immense Majesty is a great read, even for a professional historian.There is almost nothing about this book that I do not like, and my undergraduate students seem to agree.I believe that the general reader, seeking an introduction to ancient Rome, could hardly do better than this book.Do not expect lavish illustrations, however; the book is meant to be affordable.

This book is great
I had Africa as a teacher in 1992 and 1993.My first class was the"Rise and Fall of Rome" (200 level course) and the second was agraduate course more oriented on historiography ("Aliens andOthers").

Clearly, this book is easy to read, but I feel it cancater to a large group of people, from the amateur to the student to theexpert just getting into this time in history.

I can guarantee you thatAfrica's sources are well-documented.He's a "street-smart"historian with enough wisdom to get the "right balance", if thereis one, between fact and fiction.

I highly recommend this book.

If you like the Republic
If you like reading about the Roman Republic, Africa does a nice job of breaking it up into readable chunks that you can understand.I'm a student, so I needed it to be easily understandable.If you are a scholar in this field, then this book might seem a little simple to you.Yet it's not nearly as dry as some of the other texts that I have read for my class. ... Read more

Product Description
Wellock explores the international, rural, and industrial roots of modern environmentalism that emerged in the last half of the nineteenth century - three related movements in response to a rapidly expanding economy and population that depleted the nation's resources, damaged land in rural areas, and blighted cities. The first group favoured the conservation and efficient management of natural resources for production. The second, the preservationists, sought to protect scenic and wilderness areas and to sustain the spirit of the nation's pioneer heritage and virility. The third group, the urban environmentalists, sought reform to control industrial pollution and retard urban decay. Politically powerful and widely admired, resource management overshadowed the other two movements until the 1950s. After World War II, the two less-powerful strands of the movement, preservationism and urban environmentalism, wove into one, as the accelerating effects of affluence, scientific discovery, Cold War concerns, and suburbanisation led the public to value outdoor amenities and a healthy environment. This renamed 'environmental' movement focused less on efficient use of resources and more on creating healthy ecosystems and healthy people free of risks from pollution and hazardous wastes. By 1970, environmentalism enjoyed widespread popular support and bipartisan appeal. What all three movements always shared was a common recognition of the limits of America's natural resources and environment, a belief in preserving them for generations to come, and a faith in at least some government environmental action rather than relying purely on private solutions. Not only does the history of these movements bring to light much about the expanding role of government in environmental regulation and the growth of the modern American state, but a look at environmental campaigns over the course of the twentieth century reveals a great deal about the racial, gender, and class divisions at work in the ongoing efforts to preserve the environment. Accessible, insightful, and highly affordable, "Preserving the Nation" makes an ideal core text for use in courses in Environmental History as well as thought-provoking supplemental reading for Twentieth-century America and the US survey. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Overview
There's a positive review of this book, which I haven't read yet, at
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=24098

I have a list of overviews of the American environmental movement in the inside flap of a book I'm reading-- I think there must be a dozen so far.

but it's good to note, as this author does, that there isn't just ONE environmental movement, but many, all of which confusingly refer to themselves as THE green or environmental movement.

Here's a review excerpt:
"Wellock does not present any new or striking arguments in his study; what is new is the synthesis of scholarship from the past few decades into an overall narrative detailing the rise of the conservation and environmental movements. Much of the findings in this book will not be new to environmental historians, but instead this study serves as an updated textbook of sorts for younger scholars and students of environmental history. Preserving the Nation is a fairly short, compact book that reads well and will be useful for classes in environmental history, or as a succinct refresher for more experienced scholars."

I'd summarize this as a 4 star review, so that's what I gave it. ... Read more

Product Description
The materials used in this fascinating volume are from the standard nine-volume Collected Essays edited by T. H. Huxley himself during the last years of his life. Included are "A Liberal Education," Science and Culture," "Agnosticism," "Evolution and Ethics," and eight others. Edited by Alburey Castell, the selections of Huxley's pivotal works are supplemented by an introduction, a list of principal dates in the life of Huxley, and a bibliography. ... Read more