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Mr Wrong
Book
From the bestselling author of the Cazelet Chronicles comes Elizabeth Jane Howard's comes Mr Wrong,...
Help! for Writers: 210 Solutions to the Problems Every Writer Faces
Book
The craft of writing offers countless potential problems: The story is too long; the story's too...
Morse's Greatest Mystery and Other Stories
Book
Morse had solved so many mysteries in his life. Was he now, he wondered, beginning to glimpse the...
Hadley (567 KP) rated Ghostly Tales: Spine-Chilling Stories of the Victorian Age in Books
Jan 20, 2021
Ghost stories (1 more)
Well-written
This collection of tales will transport you to a time when staircases creaked in old manor houses, and a candle could be blown out by a gust of wind, or by a passing ghost. Penned by some of the greatest Victorian novelists and masters of the ghost story genre, these stories come alive alongside exquisitely eerie art in this special illustrated edition.
Since this is a short story collection, I will list the stories with a short synopsis and what I liked and disliked about them.
"Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" by M.R. James
A professor decides to go on vacation to work on his golf game while doing a little side work in the town's archaeology, but when he digs up an old whistle and blows into it, he instantly regrets what the whistle brings.
Liked: the buildup to the climax was done masterfully, and the superstition that was used as the premise of the story
Disliked: that the ending is never explained
"The Old Nurse's Story" by Elizabeth Gaskell
When a governess and her ward are taken to a haunted house, they found out that everyone has to pay for their misdeeds.
Liked: the perfect example of what Victorian ghost stories were
Disliked: Nothing; I really enjoyed this one
"The Signalman" by Charles Dickens
A railroad signalman tells a co-worker that he is seeing a ghost that warns him of future accidents, but his co-worker can't tell if he's telling the truth or losing his mind.
Liked: an excellent ghost story; I wish it were an entire novel
Disliked: nothing
"The Body-Snatcher" by Robert Louis Stevenson
When a medical student realizes that the 'donated' bodies are murder victims, he's not so sure he can live with the consequences.
Liked: the ending wasn't predictable
Disliked: at the start, there's a little confusion among who is who
" The Captain of the Pole-Star" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A group of whalers are stuck in the middle of the ocean because of ice burgs, but the ice is the least of their problems when they begin to hear and see supernatural things out on the ice.
Liked: the plot of the story was really good
Disliked: the run-on sentences, some of the accents were hard to decipher, and the ending wasn't explained
"The Phantom Coach" by Amelia B. Edwards
A young man loses his way while on a hunt, but soon finds help with an old man that is convinced the supernatural is real, and when he senses the young man does not, he puts him up against forces from the other side.
Liked: the story never lulled, and the descriptions of the undead were amazing
Disliked: nothing, I thought the story was really good
"The Screaming Skull" by F. Marion Crawford
When the friend of a family finds a skull in the latter's home, he begins to question whether or not the husband murdered his wife.
Liked: I love that this story is actually based off an urban legend
Disliked: the way the author kept breaking away from the story to talk to the audience; it caused the flow of the story to stop
Overall, the Victorian-era authors knew how to write a ghost story. I absolutely loved this collection of short stories. I highly recommend this book to people who love a good 'ol fashioned ghost story (not the gory ones we have today).
Since this is a short story collection, I will list the stories with a short synopsis and what I liked and disliked about them.
"Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" by M.R. James
A professor decides to go on vacation to work on his golf game while doing a little side work in the town's archaeology, but when he digs up an old whistle and blows into it, he instantly regrets what the whistle brings.
Liked: the buildup to the climax was done masterfully, and the superstition that was used as the premise of the story
Disliked: that the ending is never explained
"The Old Nurse's Story" by Elizabeth Gaskell
When a governess and her ward are taken to a haunted house, they found out that everyone has to pay for their misdeeds.
Liked: the perfect example of what Victorian ghost stories were
Disliked: Nothing; I really enjoyed this one
"The Signalman" by Charles Dickens
A railroad signalman tells a co-worker that he is seeing a ghost that warns him of future accidents, but his co-worker can't tell if he's telling the truth or losing his mind.
Liked: an excellent ghost story; I wish it were an entire novel
Disliked: nothing
"The Body-Snatcher" by Robert Louis Stevenson
When a medical student realizes that the 'donated' bodies are murder victims, he's not so sure he can live with the consequences.
Liked: the ending wasn't predictable
Disliked: at the start, there's a little confusion among who is who
" The Captain of the Pole-Star" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A group of whalers are stuck in the middle of the ocean because of ice burgs, but the ice is the least of their problems when they begin to hear and see supernatural things out on the ice.
Liked: the plot of the story was really good
Disliked: the run-on sentences, some of the accents were hard to decipher, and the ending wasn't explained
"The Phantom Coach" by Amelia B. Edwards
A young man loses his way while on a hunt, but soon finds help with an old man that is convinced the supernatural is real, and when he senses the young man does not, he puts him up against forces from the other side.
Liked: the story never lulled, and the descriptions of the undead were amazing
Disliked: nothing, I thought the story was really good
"The Screaming Skull" by F. Marion Crawford
When the friend of a family finds a skull in the latter's home, he begins to question whether or not the husband murdered his wife.
Liked: I love that this story is actually based off an urban legend
Disliked: the way the author kept breaking away from the story to talk to the audience; it caused the flow of the story to stop
Overall, the Victorian-era authors knew how to write a ghost story. I absolutely loved this collection of short stories. I highly recommend this book to people who love a good 'ol fashioned ghost story (not the gory ones we have today).
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Creepshow (1982) in Movies
Sep 27, 2019
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark
Creepshow- is a very great movie, with its five short stories that are really horrorfyed and terrorfyed. Each one of them are scary.
The Plot: A compendium of five short but terrifying tales contained within a single full-length feature, this film conjures scares from traditional bogeymen and portents of doom. In one story, a monster escapes from its holding cell. Another focuses on a husband (Leslie Nielsen) with a creative way of getting back at his cheating wife. Other stories concern a rural man (Stephen King) and a visitor from outer space, and a homeowner (E.G. Marshall) with huge bug problems and a boozing corpse.
The film consists of five short stories: "Father's Day", "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", "Something to Tide You Over", "The Crate" and "They're Creeping Up on You!" Two of these stories were adapted from King's short stories, with the film bookended by prologue and epilogue scenes featuring a young boy named Billy (played by King's son, Joe), who is punished by his father for reading horror comics.
The film was adapted into an actual comic book of the same name soon after the film's release, illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, (of Heavy Metal and Warren magazines fame), an artist fittingly influenced by the 1950s E.C. Comics.
It is a very great movie and i would highly reccordmend it.
The Plot: A compendium of five short but terrifying tales contained within a single full-length feature, this film conjures scares from traditional bogeymen and portents of doom. In one story, a monster escapes from its holding cell. Another focuses on a husband (Leslie Nielsen) with a creative way of getting back at his cheating wife. Other stories concern a rural man (Stephen King) and a visitor from outer space, and a homeowner (E.G. Marshall) with huge bug problems and a boozing corpse.
The film consists of five short stories: "Father's Day", "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", "Something to Tide You Over", "The Crate" and "They're Creeping Up on You!" Two of these stories were adapted from King's short stories, with the film bookended by prologue and epilogue scenes featuring a young boy named Billy (played by King's son, Joe), who is punished by his father for reading horror comics.
The film was adapted into an actual comic book of the same name soon after the film's release, illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, (of Heavy Metal and Warren magazines fame), an artist fittingly influenced by the 1950s E.C. Comics.
It is a very great movie and i would highly reccordmend it.
Sam (74 KP) rated Almost Midnight in Books
Mar 27, 2019
If you’re a nerd, this is for you! Kindred Spirits is a story about Star Wars fans, and even though Star Wars isn’t my thing, I found the story really cute and I was pulled in right from the start.
This book is worth getting just for the cover! It’s all glittery and gorgeous and you really have to see it in real life to really be able to appreciate it! Mine’s the hardback though – I’m not too sure on whether the paperback is actually glittery.
It is only a tiny book though – I did expect something a bit bigger for the price of it, but I suppose that it does only have two short stories in it.
This book is worth getting just for the cover! It’s all glittery and gorgeous and you really have to see it in real life to really be able to appreciate it! Mine’s the hardback though – I’m not too sure on whether the paperback is actually glittery.
It is only a tiny book though – I did expect something a bit bigger for the price of it, but I suppose that it does only have two short stories in it.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2163 KP) rated Fairest of All (Whatever After, #1) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Abby and her brother Jonah make a shocking discovery when the mirror in the basement of their new house sucks them through and they find themselves in the woods. When they keep Snow White from eating the poisoned apple, they must find a way to fix her story and make it home.
This was a short but delightful story that anyone looking for an early chapter book will appreciate. A twist or two along the way even surprised me. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.
I won this book in a contest.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2014/02/book-review-fairest-of-all-by-saran.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
This was a short but delightful story that anyone looking for an early chapter book will appreciate. A twist or two along the way even surprised me. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.
I won this book in a contest.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2014/02/book-review-fairest-of-all-by-saran.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
David McK (3369 KP) rated Celtic Warrior: The Legend of Cú Chulainn in Books
Jan 30, 2019
I'm always surprised that the story of Cu Chulainn, The Hound of Ulster, isn't better known; not as well known as, say, The Legend of King Arthur and his Knights, or of Robin Hood and his outlaws.
Based primarily around the Cattle Raid of Cooley at the end of Cu Chulainn's life, this graphic novel is a mythic retelling of that story, split into 6 distinct chapters. Interestingly, nearly every chapter includes a flash-back (shown in gray-scale) to an earlier part of Cu Chulainn's life, taking in how he got that name (from his birth name Setanta) and his training to become a warrior, for example.
Short? Yes.
Did I enjoy this? Also yes.
Based primarily around the Cattle Raid of Cooley at the end of Cu Chulainn's life, this graphic novel is a mythic retelling of that story, split into 6 distinct chapters. Interestingly, nearly every chapter includes a flash-back (shown in gray-scale) to an earlier part of Cu Chulainn's life, taking in how he got that name (from his birth name Setanta) and his training to become a warrior, for example.
Short? Yes.
Did I enjoy this? Also yes.
Ross (3284 KP) rated That's Your Lot in Books
Aug 1, 2019
Not as good as Daft Wee Stories
Some more daft wee stories from Limmy. I picked this up as a holiday read when my current fantasy book became too grim for poolside reading. These short stories are all of a similar feel to the first set but to my mind of lesser quality. The stories are generally all someone getting themselves into a ludicrous situation after a series of seemingly logical decisions. None of these quite match up with those in the first book, and some just end without his trademark twisted punchline. The final story, more of a novella, is more like a rejected Irvine Welsh story than his usual, and is really quite an unpleasant read.
Moon Lake
Book
'"Watch out for the mosquitoes," they called to one another, lyrically because warning wasn't any...