Horror Books

great book for preteens, teens and adults
scary fantasy, but has a good theme, realistic behaviors

This book was great, started off exciting with Tom, the spooks apprentice binding his first boggart. From there the story leads to The master and apprentice going to preistown to take care of the Bane, an ancient dark creature that lives in the catacombs under the city. Overall great book.

A mix of medieval fantasy and good old-fashioned horror, this second book in The Last Apprentice series will definitely take its place in your grey matter [and your bones] for a long time. Young Tom Ward is the Spook's apprentice. The Spook, whose brother is a priest, rids the county of dark forces on a less spiritual level. Although people throughout the county are indebted to the work of the Spook, who neutralizes dangerous witches, boggarts and ghosts, he is treated with fear and apprehension. A major antagonist is the Quisitor, who makes it his mission to eliminate those who practice what he deems 'the dark arts'. And yet, there is an even more deadly foe, the Bane, a shape-shifting demon that controls minds, and must be eliminated before the dire prophecy regarding the Bane rings true. The story is told by Tom, accommodated by intriguing illustrations and addendums. This is edge-of-your-seat scary, and I can't wait to read it again!

I'm not usually one for audio books but I had to do a 64 hour drive from California and back in a 4 days period. Having read the first Apprentice book I was very interested in this one.
Let me tell you, it scared the heebies out of me. :) It was exciting and terror-filled. Many times I had to turn it off because I was driving in middle of nowhere Texas.

All in all, 2 thumbs up for scaring a 22 year old college student.

I bought this book with kind of low (kids book) expectations...but holy smokes, it wasnt a kids book at all, I was actually a little scared!! I slept with a light on...I'm 25 years old!!

I would have given a much lower score based on an HPL feel scale; but I must admit the product is solid even if it has nothing to do with classic CoC; its a totally different game.
That other type of flavor game was mainly to appeal to people that:
1) Felt uneasy to play in the 20s
2) Wanted more fire power or modern organized resources
3) Were fan of X-Files even if DG came a bit before the TV series, the popularity grew much after that

So its a good game to play Mulder and Scully or even men in black kinda investigators with those sunglasses and Steyr rifles
Its definitally Modern horror type and not for the classic HPL type of game fans

This amazing game (and just plain interesting read!) is currently back in print. You can pick up the new edition, converted to D20, by heading to the publisher's web site. Pagan Publishing and TC Corp have done a great service to its fans by releasing this reprint!

I don't have a long, thoughtful review to write. Just wanted to say this is the BEST RPG idea/supplement I've ever seen. Intelligent, thoughtful, scary, fun...get it get it get it!

This is the best RPG suppliment I have ever read, bar none. It's a great READ, even if you are not a gamer. Interesting background, lots of plot hooks as well. The group that did this book are great writers and are loving what they do and it shows. If you are into Horror, X-Files, Call of Cthulhu, ect...buy it to read, if not play.
The book is curently out of print, but I understand that it will be reprinted in 2006 as a hardcover with d20 rules. Anyone wanting to write or publish an RPG should read this book and use it as an example. A MUST.

DELTA GREEN is the modern adaptation of Call of Cthulhu. Drawing on the same body of UFO lore and paranormal activity as the X-Files, DELTA GREEN has tapped into something very deep. And of course, once you have a successful RPG, you might as well start the fiction flowing, right?

Dark Theaters has some fairly lenghty short stories, designed to flesh out the world of DELTA GREEN. Some clues and hints are elaborated on; what exactly happened during the fabled raid on Innsmouth in 1928? What was the final mission of Gen. Fairfield? We find out more about the summoning by the Karotechia that was a dress rehearsal for the end of the world, but the entirety of the episode remains tantalizingly removed.

Dark Theaters, like the rest of DELTA GREEN fiction, is about what it means to be human. Or not human. The monstrosities which are called up and cannot easily be put away serve to highlight our humanity. But in the end, humanity is just short-hand for a fundamental incomprehension of the universe. We are carrying on a rear-guard action against reality, buying our fellow-man time for ... what? To say that humanity loses in the end is to pretend that there are other players, rules agreed upon, some validity to having tried and lost. Life is a game of solitaire, and we're not playing with a full deck. All is meaninglessness, a blowing of the wind.

And yet humanity means staying in the game. Like Lucifer, the real patron saint of lost causes, we know that we will lose and darnit, we are going to keep playing the hand we were dealt. It gives meaning to life, death, and the passing of the seasons, the sacrifices we have made and those we have sacrificed, to play by the rules, even if there aren't any. So let us cheer for the hero and jeer for the villain, and not go gently into that dark night.

I was sent to River Jordan by a Joshlyn Jackson website. She writes Southern-Woman/Family novels. Jordan's book is a Southern-Family novel with a Stephen King twist.
Like most of this genre the Women are the caretakers of wisdom and culture. Unlike most, men have some sense of mystery as well.
This book has none of the obvious as the Straub books and some of the King books. You are never sure what is real and what is not. This is a good thing.
You are only sure of one thing and that is the interconnectedness of lovers, family and community. That is a pretty important thing and one which Jordan communicates regardless of all else that goes on.
I know I am going to look for more of her books.

Thank you for the adventure and most importantly for the reminder that sometimes a parched soul needs only a droplet of dream to be renewed. Just like the folks of Shibboleth craved Nehemiah's stories, so it is for souls like mine. And, Messenger does the trick. It takes you to another place and TIME, but drops you off back at home - with a whole new perspective. I swear I saw a little gold dust in the sand hugging my feet just as I closed the cover. This story is as captivating as the intriguing, beautiful cover promises.

Shibbleth is not on any map; there are no GPS coordinates, but there is a guide book. In The Messenger of Magnolia Street, Author, River Jordan takes you there; she shows you where to look, then leaves to wander its streets. River Jordan writes with a southern style that reflects small town influence. Her deep faith is evident in tale of the classic battle of good and evil.

At times, this novel seems like something Stephen King might write: some horrible evil thing is about to destroy a town, and a trio of childhood friends must find a way to fight it. There are two major differences between this book and a Stephen King book, however: 1) the religious tone, and 2) the details (or lack thereof) of the story.

The Messenger of Magnolia Street is definitely religious in tone; if I had a dime for every time a character is saved by prayer or divine intervention, or prayer or divine intervention or faith is alluded to, or God pops up as a sort of supporting character, I would have enough money to go out and buy another book. A reader who enjoys Christian fiction, who enjoys reading books that feature angels and miracles, might enjoy this book much more than I did.

The other nagging feature of this book is in the lack of details. Several of the characters don't seem to have jobs, and many aspects of their lives just aren't described. Even the evil thing itself is not specifically described until the end. The story was still compelling, however, and in some ways very well-written.

I found THE MESSENGER OF MAGNOLIA STREET to be both intriguing and eerie, and a very magical story. I plan to read it again soon because there are so many nuances in the story and I want to make sure that I didn't miss anything.

It's the tale of hard times that come to a cozy little town in Alabama called Shibboleth. The changes to the town take place over a twelve-year period and seemed to have started after Nehemiah Trust left the town to work for a senator in Washington, D. C. Nehemiah was bright, kind and admired by everyone. The changes to the town were slow but a feeling of darkness, and in many people, forgetfulness, was sliding into their minds and thoughts. The town and citizens were becoming parched and dry just like the land around them.

Not everyone was completely aware of the changes, but Nehemiah's brother Billy knew some odd things were taking place. When his best friend, Trice told him they needed to get Nehemiah to come home he agreed. Trice had always had some kind of psychic insight and Billy also longed for his brother's presence. Nehemiah reluctantly returns to his hometown and the childhood friends reunite in a bond to save Shibboleth.

The characters in "Messenger" are wonderful. The story is told by an angel who calls himself the Recorder and he sometimes tells us what God has to say. For instance, Aunt Kate is a bigger than life and kind-hearted woman who owns the local diner. She offers food and good will to all that need it. At one point we are told that everyone loves Kate, and the Recorder tells us that God loves her too!

I can't wait to see what River Jordan writes next!

"Iron men, of visage grim,
Do more than meets the viewer's eye.
You've left and left and found my tomb
And now your soul will die!"

These words struck fear into the hearts of players at Origins I. With them, they knew that they had entered the most devious of all the creations to emerge from the mind of E. Gary Gygax. As player after player lost his character to Acererak's tomb, the creator of AD&D looked on, I'm sure, with an evil grin.

Tomb of Horrors was the first module ever published by TSR. It set the bar high for all that would follow. It inspired people like Grmitooth to try to invent increasingly deadly traps. It made AD&D into a game of intellect and wits, not one of hacking and slashing. It is probably the most popular adventure of all time.

So who is the upstart, Bruce R. Cordell, who thinks he can write a sequel? Does he think he can do justice to the master, the father of all adventures, the Great Gygax? Does this sequel, Return to Tomb of Horrors, do anything more than insult the greatest of all dungeon crawls? Read on, you might be surprised.

To answer the question, we must look at Gygax's original intention. Was he trying to smite players everywhere? Was he trying to make them frightened and instill a feeling of hopelessness? Was he just being mean?

No. He had fallen into a trap many of us do. He had characters, Rob Kuntz's Robilar and Ernie Gygax's Tenser, who seemed to walk through whatever challenges he put before them. He needed something that would test them to their limits. Something that would teach them humility. He needed an adventure that not even they could defeat.

Alan Lucien gave him the idea. He locked himself in his writer's room and began to invent the deadliest adventure that ever was. This time, they'd know a challenge.

So what happened? Robilar sacrifice many orc retainers to get to the last tomb. There, he dumped the treasure into a bag of holding and amscrayed. Tenser manage to defeat Acererak himself, proving to Gygax that an ingenious player can negotiate any but the most arbitrary death traps.

Then he continued to carry it in his briefcase, pulling it out whenever a player claimed to have an unbeatable character. More often than not, they remembered things they had to do and quickly left the table as the other players looked down at their dead characters in horror.

The module then debuted at Origins I. It hit the shelves in 1978. The rest is history.

So now Cordell has written a sequel. How, you might ask yourself, can this box set pretend to be a sequel deadliest 12 pages in role playing history? Does this man actually think he can pull it off?

Let me assure you, gentle reader, he not only thinks he has, but he has.

The adventure starts years after treasure hunters spent their blood and souls in Acererak's final resting place. The place is all but forgotten by most, but as of late, and evil necromantic force has been reaching out of the Vast Swamp. The party begins examining the problem and comes across a name, "The Devourer."

This name leads them to the path of a man who sought the Devourer years before, a mage named Desatysso. As the party follows the long-cold trail of this mage, they discover that there is more to the Tomb than anyone has ever suspected.

You see, Acererak wanted to build a series of tests, to lead people toward a final great reward. Unfortunately, the knowledge of the true purpose of the Tomb was lost, and only Desatysso seems to have found it.

The test consists of three parts: a Tomb, a City and a Fortress. Evidently, crawling into the tomb and smashing Acererak's skull is not enough. He must be hunted to his conclusion and stopped in his dreaded apotheosis. Otherwise, his demonic minions will just keep rebuilding his tomb and adventurers will keep spending their souls there.

This dungeon is not for the weak of heart. It suggests that players not take their beloved characters in, and I wholeheartedly agree. The PK rate is extremely high.

I set up a party of fourteen characters, giving each player at least two. They then started the adventure. However, I couldn't see how they could have any guarantee of surviving the original Tomb (which is included in the boxed set), much less get far enough for me to produce an adequate review. I therefore began sending them dreams. Dreams of people who were not them, but they recognized as each other. They were going through this strange tomb, and they knew that all this had taken place years ago. Finally, at the end, they threw themselves against the demi-lich. The Paladin, who had died and failed his resurrection survival (a convenient accident, not a plot element), appeared and got them to vow to kill this force of evil, no matter what it took, no matter how many lives.

It was then that the players realized they were dreaming of a past life. They threw their might against Acererak and were soundly destroyed.

This plot device worked well. They had already played the Tomb by the time they got to it in present day, and were therefore able to get a full compliment of characters through it. It also gave them a sense of purpose that unified them with these characters they didn't know. It was a right proper epiphany, and feel free to use it when you buy this product yourself.

Anyway, this allowed them to progress beyond this most classic of Tombs, into a place where Orcus himself once walked, the city of Moil. This place has claimed four or five characters (though their pact is keeping Acererak from devouring their souls, so they can come back again in another 50 years, should the party fail).

I'll not give away any more of the plot. Buy this product, and you'll see.

I was not convinced I should give it this good of a review, however. You see, I have always loved the Tomb, and I was afraid I was biased. I therefore gave it to a friend who has never (in my memory) liked a TSR module. He gave this his grudging approval, unable to blow any holes in its plot.

A good product. The traps are as deadly as ever, but this adventure is surrounded by intricate plots and histories. There is so much going on here that the players will never even guess it all.

This is one of the things I love about this module. It is filled with information that the players will never know. They will never fully understand the history of the necromantic academy that has sprung up around the tomb. My players have figured out that the City of Moil worshiped Orcus, but they will never figure out that it was put to sleep because it turned to the worship of a God of Morning.

Most writers try to invent complicated and awkward ways of making sure that the players discover the core of all their intricate plans. Not Bruce R. Cordell. If he had James Bond in his clutches, when Bond asked what this was all about, he'd shrug and put a bullet in his head. It's enough that the GM knows, so that he can flush out details as needed. The players will never guess most of what's happened here.

My players have made me promise to tell all when it's done.

Anyway, this adventure tests players to their furthest. Not only have my players latched onto their characters, four of them have married now (the characters, that is), so that they can snatch some joy in the midst of all this horror. It takes a powerful setting to force people to start searching for affirmations of life.

So there it is. I'm rarely impressed with adventures anymore. I'm not forgiving enough. This module needs no forgiveness. Other than an abuse of absolutes ("nothing can save the character if happens"), I can find no criticism for this product. My players have been going through it for months now, and I have rarely had so much success.

So did they survive? I can hear the question in your minds.

The question should be "Will they survive?" The party has begun spending more time on roleplaying than problem solving. They lick their wounds and clutch each other in the night, whispering reassurances. The adventure continues at a slow, methodical pace, and has become a campaign unto itself. If they survive this, I don't think that can convince them to play other characters. I mean, when you've taken someone into the darkest of all pits, you develop a bond.

Too bad they'll all be dead by the time you read this.

Return to the Tomb of Horrors is a new boxed adventure module based on the old S1: Tomb of Horrors module from tournaments and 1st edition AD&D. The scenario is intended for four to eight characters from 13th to 16th level. Like the original Tomb by Gary Gygax, Cordell's Return is an intense deathtrap challenge even for experienced veterans of the game.

Set in Greyhawk but usable in any campaign, this adventure begins with mysterious villager disappearances and swarms of undead. Your party comes to investigate and becomes entangled in a web of deadly schemes. But what does this have to do with the original Tomb of Horrors? The one that's been dared by many, plundered by few, over the years? Well, it's still in business, and still merrily eating heroes. But if the original deathtrap dungeon was a satisfying meal, this new adventure, wrapped around the original module and set 20 years later, is a murderous banquet. This is the first dungeon adventure I've ever read where I actually felt sorry for the players, and I'm including the original Tomb in that. The new story enfolds the original dungeon crawl in a deadly blanket of new traps and additional story, creating a hideous multi-stage gauntlet for anyone seeking the final mystery at the end. Yes, you get to visit the Tomb itself again, but its significance has changed and deepened.

I have to agree with the author on the use of characters for this adventure: either the group ought to be specifically rolled up for this adventure, or, if the players' regular favorites are to be run through the scenario, tone the thing down, WAAAYYY down. There are sections in this beastly tome that can kill one character per page, and, as the party penetrates the deeper mysteries, the killer trap rate escalates to one or more per room. This makes a party of four-to-eight high-level PCs seem rather puny, and suggests a horde of henchmen, hirelings, and cannon fodder, preferably walking out in front.

Can someone familiar with the original Tomb play or enjoy this? Absolutely. In fact, I'd like to see a group of players, all either DMs who have run Tomb or players who went through it successfully, go through the Return to the Tomb of Horrors. Maybe they'd live long enough to get to the second half of the adventure. Maybe.

This boxed set is stuffed with goodies. There are nine maps and seven new monsters in a full-color maps and monsters book. The maps are very clear, with one exception: Map 3 is so darkly printed that the color-coding is very difficult to make out, but I believe that because of the restricted movement in those areas there should be little impact on play. An illustrated "module" of 160 pages, with appendices of new spells and magic items, includes many "old" spells relying on several other AD&D books (some out of print) but the author urges the DM to make appropriate substitutions when necessary. There is a facsimile of the original S1: Tomb of Horrors module, which is actually used in play. DMs will want to go through this and make detailed adjustments beforehand, since it is not written to 2nd edition AD&D standards. No problem for collectors worried about the value of your original copy: this is not an exact facsimile, as the illustration booklet is bound into the middle. A new illustration book holds scenes to be shown to the players at various points in the adventure, and because since there are two scenes on each page you might want keep a sheet of plain paper folded length-wise handy for covering the second illustration. Lastly, there are handouts for the players, consisting of an eight-page "journal" (in a very difficult font) and a double-sided color card, with special instructions for photocopying and preparation.

In playing this adventure DMs may want to keep in mind their particular players' temperament and game style: are they looking for a real, undiluted challenge, or are they going to be murderously upset by the DM making their PCs into elf flambe, dwarf kabobs, and Halfling hash in one evening? If there is serious risk of you becoming a DM pretzel, you might want to edit this severely and just integrate it into your regular campaign.

Return to the Tomb of Horrors is an excellent adventure in the old module style.

--Sharon Daugherty for Skirmisher Online Gaming Magazine

I've purchased dozens of probucts from this website, but this is the first time I've felt compelled to write a review.

Return To The Tomb of Horrors is a quality product from top to bottom. The boxed set includes many maps, illustrations, the original Tomb of Horrors, an expansion to the Tomb of Horrors story (the equivalent of 3 more adventures), and more.

I have not yet run this module, but have read all the contents, and plan to implement it as soon as possible. The story is well written, EXTREMELY original, and the many traps are truly inspiring. Despite the fact this boxed set is the equivalent of 4 normal length adventures, all of the encounters are unique and often ingenious. As I read the module, I found myself often wondering what the writers would think of next.

Note to GM's: This module is possibly the most deadly I've ever read. I would only recommend it for experienced players. Even then, expect casualties.

Although it is out of print and written for 2nd edition, i can't express enough what a high quality product this is. Even if you are running a 3rd edition campaign, this boxed set is definitely worth your picking up if you can find it. The conversion to the new rules might take a little effort on the DM's behalf, but the payoff is the most exciting, deadly, and awe-inspiring campaign ever put to paper. It wraps seamlessly around Gary Gygax's original Tomb of Horrors, and you even get the chance to go back and explore it again if you did so for the first time twenty years ago. My players have no clue what the Tomb really is, and i'm still keeping them in the dark until later. Like other reviewers have said though, be warned. The module is deadly, and about halfway through and all the way to the end, it can eat up PC's like candy. But far as quality, it has some of the best writing, the best traps, the best plot, and over sixty illustrations to mesmerize your players. Definitely try to check this one out, as its going into the history books.

Come on, people. Where do you get the crazy notion that a "killer" module is good? Are you so lame that you cannot create your own killer modules? It is pretty [dang] easy. And that is what TSR does here, it creates a killer module that makes little to no sense.

Everything starts good as a plot is well formed and progresses well for a little while. It gets even better when the party arrives at the environs of the old tomb. All right, ervything pretty [dang] cool thus far. Realistic, fun, and the players better think before they act rashly.

So you are thinking why 3 stars only? Well, the problem is it all goes downhill from there. Once the players leave the old Tomb the new area is just silly. It makes no sense that something this powerful would have ANY trouble with the PC's. Plus the traps are illogical and almost impossible to detect. By this time, roleplaying is long forgotten as players just push their characters from point to point and hope to make their saving rolls.

Still, it gets 3 stars for a good effort from TSR. But there certainly are better choices out there.

Finally, I am amazed so many D&D'ers are impressed with killer modules. Big ... deal. Give me something to excite the players' imagination. That is what role playing is supposed to be about.

This book is a piece of art.Finished on the day my teacher gave it to me; she let me keep the book soon after.About dark arts and a desire to escape these arts,this book is extremly good and if you were to buy it you would not regret it.Thank you Ms.Frank!!!

When I was in fifth grade, my teacher read this to our class (early 80's). It had such an unusual storyline and setting. Krabbat must resist the evil goings-on in the mill while also trying to understand his place in it. I think I liked all the transformations and magic in this book, the theme of the battle between good and evil, his prophetic dreams and that love "won" in the end. I'm sorry to see it's out of print. It reads like a fairy tale, maybe owing to its German origins.

The Satanic Mill by Otfried Preussler is a great book to read. It is about a begger boy called Krabat who gets called to a mill in a dream. The mill is also a Black School. He met a female singer, and they both fell in love. Krabat wanted to leave the mill, but to do that the Singer (the book did not give her name) had to pick him out while he and all the other miller's men were in the form of ravens.
This book is very creepy, mysrerious, and unpredictable which, I think, is great. There are several things to focus on, so it doesn't get boring. It's very nervewracking, too. All in all, it is one of the best books I have ever read. I give it a five-star rating.

I bought this book in 1974 for 30p, purely because of the title. At the tender age of 11 I loved it. I have read it numerous times since then, the last being at the moment at the age of 40. I still can't put it down. Even though I know the story I find it enthralling, and it still keeps me on edge. I so wish they would make it into a film. Each of the 3 segments builds up to a great ending. You are really rivetted throughout. I cannot recommend it enough..it is my favourite book I have ever read. It's amazing how something costing 30p has given so much enjoyment over the years !!

I read this years ago, as a child and in Russian, and I still remember the feeling of genuine dread (and triumph) this story inspired. Even as I think of it now, I feel the hair rise on the back of my neck. The evil in the book does not chase after you--it waits for you to come to it, and invariably, you do. In that sense, the title THE SATANIC MILL is unfortunate--you expect the mill to be Satanic; in Russian translation, the book was called simply KRABAT (the main character's name), and you did not quite know what to expect.

The story begins as a young boy named Krabat, somewhere around present-day Eastern parts of Germany, falls asleep wandering, and dreams of ravens crowing. Their message is for him to go to the mill some miles away, to sign up as an apprentice. Which he does, of course, and soon learns that it is no regular mill. (Nor is it quite Satanic, actually--for it is not Satan who runs it). He may stay, or he may go; if he goes, he will learn magic from the Miller himself. Of course, he stays--and becomes one of the apprentices, who turn, at their Master's command, into black ravens. All peachy so far--until the cleverest (and the kindest) of all the apprentices dies an unnatural death--but not before having made his own coffin and dug his own grave.

In the (happy) end, of course, Krabat will have to choose between love and good and fairness--and magic. Between being a regular boy and a powerful Miller himself; but such a choice will not come to him easily--and he will have to fight for his life, and that of his love.

My favorite characters in the book were the idiot Yuro and the Great Pumphut, who gives the Miller a run for his money. The story is very creepy (or I think it would be for a 13-14 year old; I know it was for me), poignant and beautiful.

Is it "imposter" or "impostor"--that's the question that nagged me while I read The Three Imposters. Which spelling is correct, and which is the imposter/or? The lexicographers need to come down hard on this issue!

That aside, The Three Imposters is a black diamond of a little dark fantasy, told in hypnotic descriptive prose. The book is structured as a series of stories within a frame story, much like the Decameron or Canterbury Tales, only the frame story has its own plot and is the most interesting of all in The Three Imposters. The sub-stories range from the strange to the macabre, to the frankly paranormal, each entertaining in its own right, besides what it contributes to the whole. Moreover, Machen's style glitters with curious flights of thought and characterizations, wellnigh as entertaining as the story itself.

What struck me most of all about The Three Imposters is how panoramically influencial this short book is, as if it were the whole nine muses of twentieth century literature! The Maltese Falcon owes an obvious debt to the Gold Tiberius. I think that the Novel of the Dark Valley is a clear precursor to the Trial, and obviously, Lovecraft derived his entire schtick from the Adventure of the Lost Brother. Machen himself must have been influenced by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, published about 10 years earlier, but Machen amplifies the original, rather than narrowing it.

Altogether, The Three Imposters is well worth the 150 pages or so of reading time. Dyson and Phillipps are my new literary heroes! I would recommend this Chaosium edition, which includes these several other quality Machen works and sells for nearly the same price as other editions.

First of all, a warning; do NOT read the introduction to Machen by S. T. Joshi strangely placed in the front of the book before you read the stories. The otherwise excellent introduction contains spoilers to all the stories, something I thankfully noticed at an early time. Being part of my effort to "branch out" beyond H. P. Lovecraft, I purchased all the three books by Arthur Machen that has been published by Chaosium. The tales within turned out to be excellent, and I quickly saw why HPL praised Machen so highly. Even though parts of the tales no longer appear as "shocking" as they once did, with their horror being centred on "sex and pagans", they still have a mild discomfort to offer, and the final tale of the book is, as we shall see, quite the masterpiece.

The first tale is "The Great God Pan", a very good tale, but as I've said; time has not been kind to this. A naked God in the forest don't exactly scare or shock people these days, at least not in the way that Machen intended. Although, it should be noted that I'm not the type of "conventional Christian" that Machen had in mind as his audience when he wrote it. The tale details an experiment gone "wrong", where a young girl sees and interacts with the ancient heathen god Pan. The result pops out nine months later, and several horrific incidents spawn from this. A fine tale, but a bit dated.

The second tale is much more to my taste, "The Inmost Light" (and for fans of the marvellous English musical group Current 93, I assume this is where Tibet got his title), also a taste centred around an experiment, where an occultist attempt to capture the essence of the body, "The Inmost Light", in a gem. A wonderful tale with an eerie feeling throughout.

The third tale is "The Shining Pyramid", a tale about the well-known "Little people", and one of the two best tales in the book. It unfolds somewhat like a detective novel, where two men find strange clues to uncanny activities in connection to the disappearance of a young woman in the Welsh countryside. The protagonists suspect the hands of the pre-Aryan inhabitants of Europe, and the tale is an effective weird tale, with Machen's wonderful prose really showing its best side.

The final tale, or I should say "tales", is the title story, "The Three Impostors", which is a strange creation of interlocking tales many in number. The tale is about a young man in London, a wannabe writer, who through random encounters with a few people hears several tales that all contain a few common elements; "a young man with large spectacles" and some weird and horrific incidents involving this young man. But alas all is not as it appears to be, and we are brought to several places in the search for this man, and what it all means is not revealed before the final phrases, where the real evil is revealed. This tale is among the best work I've read in the genre, and it really gives you the creeps at various parts, some of it being simply excellent.

Highly recommended!

This review is only about the title story, or rather, short novel. It is a circular story, as it ends where it begins. Characters have multiple identities and strange coincidences abound. It is a macabre joke, a foundational book of the cosmic horror a la Lovecraft and his Ctulhu mysteries. It is also a peak of the late Victorian era and much more. What makes it more than a genre story is the poetic quality of its literature. There are paragraphs that would make little perfect prose poems.

Along several months, or years, Dyson and Phillips meet different persons, who have in common the search for a shy and nervous young man with a little black moustache and big spectacles. Each one of these persons tells his or her story in inserted chilling tales, full of the imagery that would later become cliche. This is no cheap horror: it has a great sense of humor, it is not about axe-grinding nor about phantoms and exorcisms. It is pure cosmic horror, the horror of hidden forces and obscure memories of a remote past. It is a horror of strange gatherings and incognoscible conspiracies. The inserted stories are often compiled independently of their contextual frame: "The novel of the Dark Valley" is an adventure in the loneliness of the Rocky Mountains, with a pre-Kafkian touch that makes you go pale. "The novel of the Black Seal" happens in the Welsh wilderness, with a mad scientist and beings from the past. "The novel of the Iron Maiden" includes a collectionist of instruments of torture. "The novel of the White Powder" is about a substance that transforms humans into something indefinible and horrific. Finally, ""The story of the Spectacled Young Man" closes the circle and "explains" everything.

Like a good Englishman, Machen is a master of the understatement. More than showing, he insinuates to let the readers feel for themselves all the weight of the horror of the world, the mysteries that haunt us, and the strangeness of this life. Little surprise, then, that this was one of Jorge Luis Borges's favorite books, since much of his beloved subjects are here: ancient and undecipherable languages; stories lost in time; mirror games; equivocal identities; implacable gods; and somber mansions. Much recommended.

Other reviews are longer and more in-depth. This is meant as a quickie.

The title story is the heavy-hitter of this collection; it ties several shorter stories together under one title. The other stories are much shorter but have their twists and turns as well.

The language is not as dry as one might expect from stories written a century ago.

Worth four stars out of five.

As the title says, I found this collection so intriguing that I will be buying the next volume (The White People and other Tales). The only work that I had previously known by Arthur Machen was "The Great God Pan", which has shown up in so many anthologies that I am thoroughly sick of it, although it is a good read the first few times through. "The Inmost Light" was quite disturbing to me in terms of plumbing the depravity of the human soul. "The Shining Pyramid" was a good supernatural detective story, in my opinion, although the intuitive leaps made by the protagonist would have made Fox Mulder proud. This clearly inspired quite a few of Robert Howard's stories.

Clearly, the crown jewel of this collection is "The Three Imposters." The deeper I got into this novel, the more engrossed I became. It is made up of 14 short stories, each of which is part of an overarching storyline that involves the protagonist, a golden coin, a man with spectacles, and 3 people who are not who they say they are. Each successive short story drew me in further. Some of the best reading I have done in years!

I have an inexplicable attraction to the Modern Library hardbacks. Inevitably, if a Modern Library hardback version of some book that I want exists, I'll end up buying it. I really don't know why. Anyway, case and point: Edgar Allan Poe.

The benefits of this edition are evident:

a) All the short stories--yes, even the uproariously funny ones that most paperbacks leave out, as well as Poe's bizarre "hoaxes" and inexplicably contrived "articles" that don't really pass very well as stories

b) All the poems--including poetry written in childhood as well as posthumously discovered

c) ...and a couple of essays--most importantly, "The Rationale of Verse."


However, the book still lacks most of Poe's criticism and other essays. I suggest you purchase Dover's little paperback _Edgar Allan Poe: Literary Theory and Criticism_ (kind of a "Greatest Hits" collection of Poe's critical work which, in reality, spans over 1500 pages) to complete your library. There you will find the great classic "The Philosophy of Composition" accompanied by dozens of ingenius (and at times ascerbic) reviews of books you may know from elsewhere. It's an invaluable resource.


Moreover, the same Modern Library problems afflict this edition--thus, herein lies another reason I cannot explain why I must keep on buying and reading Modern Library hardbacks:

A) There is no textual or intertextual editing, nor are there any critical footnotes. Moreover, there is no critical introduction by a Poe scholar. This bytes.

B) There is no margin room. There never is in a Modern Library hardback. This gets really annoying when you're reading "The Fall of the House of Usher," and you're trying to tie together pieces of evidence (all part of Poe's perfect conceived "totality" of content) to form a of cohesive, critical interpretation of the story with about a centimeter of margin room in which to write! Your handwriting will quickly show itself illegible, and your hand mercilessly cramped.

C) Modern Library hardbacks are customarily printed on cheap (although smooth and aesthetically pleasing) paper. Thus, when you write in your book, the ink is very likely to bleed over onto the converse page. Also quite annoying.


However, however, however--I must not forget that the goal of Modern Library is not to print the best book possible, but the best _affordable_ book possible. And at $18.00, this 1000 page hardback is hard to beat.

So, if you have the money, do actually buy _the best_ edition: the Library of America edition. ISBN 0940450186. It's over 1400 pages, is printed on paper that will last forever, and is edited by a prominent Poe scholar--but it's almost $40.00!


But, more importantly for those of us on budgets: This edition is in direct competition with both the DoubleDay and Castle editions of Poe's collected stories and poems. Under no circumstances would I recommend the other two editions due to their typesettings. I know that may sound ridiculous, but a humane typesetting has a lot to do with the pleasure and utility that a book can and will proffer its reader. The print on the other two editions is inordinately overloaded (too much packed on each page) and serves to burden the eyes. For sooth, the Modern Library version is packed too--but it's a huge improvement on the other two editions.

If you've got $40, get the Library of America edition. If you've only got $20, get this one.

I've always had a liking for Edgar Allan Poe, with his tales of horror, mystery and suspense, done in the atmospheric prose of a master writer. Since I live close enough, I've even made some trips to his gravesite, a place that is always surrounded by a sense of sadness.

Poe was a tormented genius who died young, under mysterious circumstances, and at the time of his death he wasn't deservingly popular. Certainly his work was not cute romances for the masses -- he explored the darkness of the human heart, love, satire, and the earliest whodunnit stories. And "Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" brings together all of his poetry and writings in one book.

Poe's fiction writings include short stories and novellas, which tend to be rather weird -- a treasure-hunt and a golden insect, a ship caught in a whirlpool, a hypnotized man talks about the universe, and stories of despair, madness, and occasionally beauty. There is also his trilogy of Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin stories, which were the first to feature a brilliant detective solving an impossible crime.

Most people know about "The Raven" (which even has the Baltimore Ravens named after it) but Poe actually wrote a lot of poetry, most of which readers never heard of. Sometimes dark, or whimsical, or even both. "By a route obscure and lonely/Haunted by ill angels only/Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT/On a black throne reigns upright..."

And, of course, the horror. This is what Poe is best known for, including such well-known stories as "The Fall Of The House Of Usher." But there are also lesser-known gems -- tales of a plague invading a party, being buried alive, a portrait that siphoned the life out of its subject, and a nightly visit to an Italian crypt leading to madness.

Don't read "Complete Stories and Poems" all at once. It's too intense. It's better to soak it in a little at a time, so that you can get a better feel for the different kinds of writing that Poe did, and how he excelled at pretty much everything he put down on paper. Most great writers can't boast of that much.

Poe's writing is what makes even his least story or poem come alive -- he brought a gothic, misty vibrancy to his stories, and could make his quiet dialogue seem utterly chilling (" "I have no name in the regions which I inhabit. I was mortal, but am fiend..."). It's not hard to see why he was an influence on authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle and Franz Kafka.

"Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" is a must-have for anyone with an appreciation for great literature and beautiful, dark writing.

Poe is one of the world's finest writers and this collection of stories is what he's all about. This book contains the best of his tales, with many others for you to explore on your own. It has his poems and short stores. Its contents is very close to being unabridged except, for it missing a few poems and stories that aren't very good anyway.

Poe's tales contain all the excitement of a novel, in around 10 pages. I recommend this collection because it offers hours of enjoyment. The only thing you might need is a large vocabulary because he tends to have an advanced word choice. Get this book and have fun!

'Horror,' as it is broadly understood, is defined by two essential elements: the active presence of decay, some 'abnormal' manifestation of nature, or a combination of both.

One hundred and fifty-seven years after his early death, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), who made horror the dominant theme of his creative work, remains the American master of the weird tale. Poe's work has had enormous worldwide influence: French poet Charles Baudelaire was an early champion and translator, Poe's 'William Wilson' (1839) haunts the pages of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), and several stories look presciently ahead to work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe (1992), which also includes humorous pieces ('The Devil in the Belfry' is a hilarious tribute to the father of American literature, Washington Irving), detective fiction (Irving's 1838 story-cycle 'The Money-Diggers' stirs fluidly beneath 'The Gold Bug'), and early examples of what would come to be known as science fiction, brings together most of the author's important work.

Two general narrator (or protagonist/character) types emerge. The first is meticulously rational, calm, and 'objective'--like Dupin, the amateur sleuth who coolly solves the mystery of 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue.' The second, best represented by Roderick Usher in 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' is psychically haunted, deeply subjective, acutely sensitive in every pore, and barely able to repress the hysteria--at best--simmering just beneath the surface of his consciousness.

Both general types are isolated and obsessive in their own way--the first perhaps imagines he has found salvation by holding the world at a kind of hard cerebral remove, while the second surrenders his will in increments and sinks obliquely into emotional, spiritual, psychic, and physical fragmentation. The second type (found in 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' 'Berenice,' 'The Black Cat,' 'The Pit and the Pendulum,' and 'William Wilson,' among others) dominates and defines Poe's work.

Poe occasionally offers readers a combination of both types, as in 'The Imp of the Perverse,' in which the narrator, after a lengthy, meditative, and 'objective' discourse on the self-destructive aspects of human nature, briefly tells his own story: compelled to commit a pointless murder, he then finds himself equally compelled to publicly confess it.

Fatalism and perdition are key characteristics of the author's work: death may await everyone, but, in Poe, death impatiently reaches forward into men's lives, sickening, exhausting, and corrupting them, thus hastening fragile humanity's end. Poe's protagonists are once healthy, now dire, everymen surrounded on every side by hostile, malevolent, and destructive forces which dominate every plateau, division, and category of existence that man has methodically--and rather naively--mapped out. Human instinct proves to be 'red in tooth and claw'; the senses betray; the mind collapses; the borders and boundaries of civilization are violently breached; the natural world reveals a harsh, predatory, and incomprehensible face; physical laws prove unreliable; loving relationships sicken and fester; all agents of stability prove false and slip away.

Most of Poe's work suggests that there is no escape for anyone (--"dead to the World, to Heaven, and to Hope!"), and, as several of the tales underscore, including 'The Fall of the House of Usher' and 'Ms. Found in a Bottle,' even the cessation of life may bring no solace for some. However, reprieves are possible: the narrator barbarically tortured by the Spanish Inquisition is freed by the arriving French army at the conclusion of 'The Pit and the Pendulum,' the sailor who experiences 'A Descent Into the Maelstrom' survives to tell of his ordeal, and the vengeful dwarves in 'Hop Frog' apparently escape at that story's conclusion.

Remarkably, because of the skill with which he illustrates his view of man's utter lack of genuine choice or ability for self-determination, Poe manages to make most of his characters likeably human, despite their illnesses, eccentricities, and perversions. Though the tales team with toxic bloodlines, incestuous relationships, premature burials, rioting lunatics, marauding plagues, 'tormenting' doppelgangers, parasitic spirits of the dead, animated corpses, "ghoul-haunted woodlands," and a fair variety of additional supernatural tableaus, Poe remains is a remarkably rational, balanced, and economic storyteller, since the ultimate horror lies not in the external threat, but in the narrator's realization that what he is experiencing is the genuine nature of life itself.

Poe's tales suggest that, if all of mankind lives within a perpetually collapsing, cannibalizing universe, the most one can hope for is that, in the present, it is collapsing on someone else.

Poe is one of the best horror writers ever to have lived. I have read all of his works. Some of his best stories are The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of Red Death, The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontaiado, The Pit and the Pendelum, and The Tell-Tale Heart. His great poems include-The Raven and The Bells. Poe is a fantastic author, and his creepy tales of the dark side of life should be read over and over.

This is a very black, dark book. This is not a book for kids, nor is it a book for people who haven't read anything by Ellison previously. Harlan Ellison is one of those rare writers that can finish a story so powerfully, that you'll feel like you've been literally stabbed in the heart. Like many of Ellison's short story collections, he deals with a specific theme. In this book, he writes short stories about gods, in all their myriad shapes and forms. Gods of machines, pain, rocks, speed, revenge, among others. Of the 19 stories in this collection, let me tell you what I consider to be the best. THE WHIMPER OF WHIPPED DOGS: Ellison's award-winning retelling of the Kitty Genovese incident. Never heard of Kitty Genovese? Don't worry, after reading this chilling tale, you'll make sure you remember. BASILISK: A traitor to his country comes home and finds that he is not welcome. A little confusing at first, but you'll soon get the hang of it. PRETTY MAGGIE MONEYEYES: Don't let the strange title deceive you. This is Ellison in TOP form. Ever wondered what gods reside at the casinos and what they have in mind. It's not PRETTY, I can assure you. ERNEST AND THE MACHINE GOD: An easy-to-visualize story about a girl in a car-accident and her meetings at a gas station. ADRIFT OFF THE ISLETS OF LANGERHANS . . . : Another award-winning story about a man trying to find the geographical location of his soul. THE DEATHBIRD: Still another award-winner. This one is Ellison's retelling of Genesis. This story has a very innovative structure to it. You'll see what I mean, when you buy this book.

While I typically associate Harlan Ellison with Science Fiction, I'm somewhat hesitant to call all of these stories SciFi... they are more like Twilight Zone episodes. They are 19 short stories that involve individuals getting caught up in all sorts of fantastic situations. While there is a general underlying theme of the stories involving "Gods", I found that the main uniting feature was the fantastic nature of the stories.

Some sample reviews from the collection:

ALONG THE SCENIC ROUTE(1969)***** - Ellison published this tale of "Road Rage" way back in the late 60's. It is definately a classic, and one of the more SciFi-esque stories from this collection. Richard K. Morgan recently tried to do a modern "Road Rage" novel, MARKET FORCES(2005)***, which takes ideas from ALONG THE SCENIC ROUTE, but ultimately falls flat.

O YE OF LITTLE FAITH(1968)**** - A young man of no faith in any god, is accompanying his mid-30's girlfriend back from a quick Tijuana abortion, in this pre-Roe vs. Wade world (Roe vs. Wade was decided in late 1973), and finds himself transported to a world populated by gods nobody believes in any longer.

PRETTY MAGGIE MONEYEYES(1967)*** - A sad story of two people's fateful encounter via a Slot Machine in a Las Vegas Casino. One is a pretty poor girl, who turns to prostitution to claw her way from the ghetto to Beverly Hills; the other is a long-time Vegas loser, who is down to his last dollar, and who's luck is about to change, but is it for the better?

CORPSE(1972)**** - A Latin American Studies professor from Columbia University, a man of some faith in Christianity, begins to see the emergence of a new type of god - the Automobile God, but ultimately fails to realize the inevitability and make the transition to the new faith.

SHATTERED LIKE A GLASS GOBLIN(1969)***** - A Marine, recently back from Vietnam, enters and becomes consumed by the varied pesonalities and drugs in a 60's "Party House"... reminds me of an old house my recently graduated high school buddies rented in San Diego, CA in the 70's (and which was slated to be razed along with the adjacent drive-in theater, to make way for a new shopping center). Like O YE OF LITTLE FAITH, this story is notable for the snapshot it gives of a Beatle's White Album-era America. Indeed, having just said that, I just realized that the title of this story SHATTERED LIKE A GLASS GOBLIN(1969), seems to be a play on the title of the Beatle's White Album song LOOKING THROUGH A GLASS ONION(1968).

This book has recently been republished by the SFBC in December 2005, as part of the third set of books in the SFBC 50th Anniversary Collection.

Harlan presents some stellar stories here about what modern gods might be like in what one would call a pessimistic, cynical outlook. He moves through such milieus as sci-fi, high fantasy and even urban fantasy through this book.

The best stories are very hard-hitting and emotionally affecting. These include The Whimper of Whipped Dogs, a retelling of the Kitty Genovese episode about the alleged god of New York City, The Basilisk, where the most terrifying aspect of the story is how a small town treats a returning POW and Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes where a manipulative woman continues to manipulate even after death. There are some other good stories, such as the road rage tale, though not as emotionally hard-hitting.

The problems in several of the stories stem from an abundance of cleverness. Rather than letting the story take the forefront, Harlan chooses to favor style over substance in an attempt to showcase his virtuoisity in the various methods of writing. This lessened some of his stories for me. He is most successful doing this in the titular tale, The Deathbird, but it was still distracting even there.

A very good collection though, despite the flaws. It is unapologetic and uncomprimising demanding you take the stories on their own terms.

For those fans of Ellison, you will not be disappointed, for those of you not familiar with Ellison, this one will have you hitting the used book stores in a vain hope of finding more fodder for your mind. (Don't bother looking, I already hit every book store myself.) Reading this book is like seeing Mohammed Ali box or Stevie Ray Vaughn play the guitar, you get the feeling of seeing the best at his best. Every story in this collection is a gem, some more than others. "The Whimpering of Whipped Dogs" is a classic in and of itself. "The Deathbird" is the most amazing story ever created by a fantasy writer and I say this with no hyperbole. Go out and get this book . . . NOW! It will change the way you view the world and yourself. Other books make this promise, Deathbird Stories is the only book I've ever read that actually delivers.

I read this book because, in the acknowledgements his wonderful novel "American Gods," neil gaiman said this book burned itself into the back of brain when he was still young enough for something like that to happen.

Well, how can you resist an endorsement like that? So, I raced up to the nearest library that had this book (an hour or so away, I'll have you know) and checked it out. And befoul these modern gods if it didn't blow my mind. At least, parts of it did.

Most of the stories - "the Whimper of Whipped Dogs," "Shattered Like a Glass Goblin," "Basilisk," and "Ernest and the Machine God," just to name a few - are really brilliant. They will twist your mind around like only certain versions of certain myths can. They will smack your conciousness around until you think there really are gods in the engine of your car and that traitors really are the high priests of Aries. They will, as Niel Gaiman says, burn themselves into the back of your brain.

Others, however, are not so brilliant. A few simply repeated ideas put forth in other, better stories. Some were simply not as interesting as the others, and some were both uninteresting and sordid. But please note that "some" could and should be read as "one, two at the outside." The majority are amazing.

On the whole, however, this is a wonderful book. I am shocked and dismayed to find that it it unavailable. I think anybody who is into mythology should read this book, just for some of the ideas expressed in it. So should anyone who read "American Gods" and thought it was cool, too. They should have a good time pointing to certain stories and saying, "Neil Gaiman lifted that, that and that." I recommend this book highly. Even with the few faulty tales herein, it is definately worth the time.

I have been collecting all of Poppy Z. Brite's work for a few years now. She is a great artist, and this book was wonderful.

This collection of short stories is an excellent introduction to this author's many talents. There's no sameness here. The stories are well crafted and tight. She has an uncanny ability to shift gears seamlessly keeping your interest and absorbtion factor high. She knows how to tell a story with style. Buy it. You won't regret it at all.

well short stories that is. This is a truly fine little book. The writing is lean and precise and fits well with her new series of books. This was my first encounter with her alter ego Doc Brite and I found him to be a wonderful character. It was also good to see Rickey and G-man and the additional Stubbs family story was excellant.

Here's hoping that Ms. Brite will give us many more of these shorts to enjoy.

I bought this collection because I am a Rickey and G-Man completist, and I was anxious to read "Bayou De La Mere" and "A Season In Heck." Of course both stories turned out to be excellent little windows into other aspects of the ever-growing Liquor milieu (particularly "A Season In Heck," which is a little more tangental as it deals with the travails of a young inexperienced Liquor cook), but fortunately this book also introduced me to Doc Brite, Brite's maverick foodie medical examiner alter-ego. With all these stories, Brite (the author) manages both to write great food porn and give lively insight into the intricate workings of New Orleans society and culture. Brite is, simply, a terrific writer.

In her first new collection in a couple of years, Poppy Z. Brites "The Devil you Know" focuses many of its stories in and around her beloved New Orleans and often travels in the restaurant world (her husband is a chef). Less gothic than her previous works, one might even consider "The Devil You Know" somewhat whimsical in certain spots. She certainly is prone to using humor and irony more so than in the past. But don't think that Brite has lost her edge. While she continues to explore new avenues she can still hit you right between the head although she does so with a skillful, subtle hand in this collection of 13 stories.

Several of the tales feature Poppy's alter ego, Coroner Dr. Brite such as the black humor tale "Marisol" about a restaurant critic who writes an unflattering review of a restaurant and then promptly disappears as the chef introduces his newest dish. The "Ocean" brazenly shows the high cost of fame in a story about a dysfunctional, drug addicted rock band, being fed upon by their fans.

"System Freeze" seems a bit out of place with the other stories in the book, being as much a Sci-fi story as anything else. After a fatal fall from a mountain during a climb, a woman finds she's been given a second chance at life by the mysterious Agent Fine, as long as she completes the new AI program that she is working on. The story is supposed to be a Matrix-esque type tale and is short but effective

"Burn Baby Burn" will have people thinking of Stephen King's "Firestarter" with its tragic tale of pyrokinetic Liz Sherman (of Hellboy fame) and the destruction she causes to friends and family...not to mention her entire neighborhood when her powers go out of control. Liz finds her only place of comfort and safety is at the governments Bureau of Paranormal Research---with the other freaks.

My favorite story was "Lantern Marsh" as it evoked the feelings of youth when our own little worlds and suburbs were filled with mystery and enchantment. We firmly believed that the big old house down on the corner was home to a mad scientist. Set again in the Deep South, three young friends frequent a local swamp where odd lights are seen to float and dance about. Noel especially us drawn to the area over and over, even after he's warned to stay out by the man who owns part of the land it rests on. Years later, Noel returns home from college to find that Mr. Prudhomme now owns all of the land and plans to fill in the swamp for development. Noel knows he'll have to do something drastic to save the swamp, and whatever it is that lives there.

This diverse collection of short tales shows Poppy's development and comfort with various forms and settings as well as her enormous skill as a storyteller. A must have for her fans and a great place to start for new Brite readers!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Fluke tells the tale of an abandoned dog named Fluke that has past life memories of being a man, a man that was evidently murdered. Fluke then goes on an odyssey to find his home, his family, and his killer. Getting there alternates between funny and frightening. Herbert shows genuine skill as a fantasist here and I wish it was a talent that he tried explore more often, as this is his best novel.

This book is a delightful and wondrous tale told by a writer who is best known by his forays into the Horror Genre.Author James Hebert abandons his usual ghosts and scares and takes the reader on a marvellous journey through the eyes of a dog , Fluke who was once a man in a previous life. In this book we see Fluke trying desperately to regain his life as a man as he goes on a journey to find his Human Family.Read this book and then give it to your children to read as it is a enchanting story for young and old.

This is a surprise. With Herbert, you usually got a gore-fest, and when I started reading this book about a man who finds himself in a dog's body, I imagined there would be lurid descriptions of dogs ripping apart other living things, probably humans. Far from it. This book is as cleverly written and as skilfully told as anything by Richard Matheson or Jonathan Aycliffe, and I do not make such comparisons lightly. `Fluke' describes the dog's (told in the first person-or should that be in the first dog?) quest to discover his previous humanness. It is a journey both of discovery and self-awareness. Herbert vividly describes what it (probably) feels like to be a dog, capturing the world of smells and canine desires; and the lingering sense of his previous humanity that propels him to discover who he was before he became a dog. The ending is moving without being sentimental. An unusual and satisfying book and one that I can fully recommend.

This book is as beautiful, moving, riveting, and profound as its film version, and explains further the concept of reincarnation. A man returns to life on Earth as a dog...trying desperately to adjust to his new life, he is constantly beset by confusing flashbacks to his former life as a man. Why is he one of the few who remember? And should he go back home to find his human family? These questions and more are answered in "Fluke."

I've read this book many times and still find it fascinating; it's written simply but beautifully, in language anyone can appreciate fully. The author obviously has a vivid mind and understands how the world looks through a dog's eyes; or perhaps he has been a dog in past lives. I know that I have. I highly recommend this lovely, exciting adventure.

It was a dog's life for Fluke the puppy until the images that had been haunting his canine mind came into sharp focus - he wasn't supposed to be a dog, he was actually a MAN! How had he ended up in this furry body? What of his wife, his child? What of HIM? Soon, though, the truth came - he the man had died, and had been reincartnated as a dog. And the visions hinted that he had been murdered! This begins a quest as Fluke sets out to his old town, determined to deliver out justice to whoever murdered him...An excellent book and a personal favorite of mine. But the best part of all was Fluke. He remained at all times a dog, even though he had human intelligence and memories, rather than some bizarre mix of human and animal that all too many books have. Fluke's friend Rumbo is also an enjoyable character, even if he did have a passion for crime. One of the best, well-written and beautiful stories I have ever read.