Featured Ebooks
Welcome
Welcome, everyone, to the spooky good time of October! This month's theme is Spooky Season. Please take some time to read a few stories about the ghosts and goblins who celebrate and play during this time of year. We have invited witches, vampires, werewolves, and a few others to join in this October reading, so sink your teeth into a few of these books for a spellbinding time.
Contemporary Poetry Books
Dracula
While Bram Stoker didn't invent the vampire, his 1897 novel Dracula has been the defining force in the popularity and evolution of vampire mythology today. The story of its infamous antagonist Count Dracula is told in the form of letters and diary entries.
Frankenstein
Victor Frankenstein, a visionary young student of natural philosophy, discovers the secret of life. In the grip of his obsession, he constructs a being from dead body parts and animates this creature. The results, for Victor and his family, are catastrophic. Written when Mary Shelley was just eighteen, Frankenstein was inspired by the ghost stories and vogue for Gothic literature that fascinated the Romantic writers of her time. She transformed these supernatural elements into an epic parable that warned against the threats to humanity posed by accelerating technological progress. Her novel is an iconic study of power, creativity, and, ultimately, what it is to be human.
The Invisible Man
The mysterious Griffin arrives at a picturesque English inn during a snowstorm, swaddled in bandages that cover his face and with his eyes hidden behind dark glasses. His odd get-up and irascible behavior intrigue the locals, who believe him to be an accident victim. However, the valid reason for Griffin's outfit is far stranger: underneath those clothes, he is entirely invisible. As the cause of Griffin's state of transparency is revealed, his nefarious and destructive intentions become clear. One of the foundational texts of science fiction, The Invisible Man, has inspired numerous film and TV adaptations and remains chilling in its depiction of scientific experimentation gone wrong.
The Curse of the Werewolf
Half-man-half-myth, the werewolf has, over the years, infiltrated popular culture in many strange and varied shapes, from Gothic horror to the 'body horror' films of the 1980s and today's graphic novels. Yet despite enormous critical interest in myths and monsters, from vampires to cyborgs, the werewolf figure has been strangely overlooked. Embodying our primal fears - of anguished masculinity, of 'the beast within' - the werewolf, argues Bourgault du Coudray, has revealed in its various lupine guises radically shifting attitudes to the human psyche. Tracing the werewolf's 'use' by anthropologists and criminologists and shifting interpretations of the figure - from the 'scientific' to the mythological and psychological. "The Curse of the Werewolf" finally looks at the werewolf's revival in contemporary fantasy, finding a fascinating new model of the human's relationship to nature in this supposedly conservative genre. It is a required reading for fantasy, myth, and monsters students.
The Raven
During a night in December, a man sits in his room, sadly thinking about his lost love, Lenore. Suddenly, he hears a tapping on the door, but no one is there. The noise moves to the window, and the man opens it only to see an ominous raven. The raven only has one thing to say, and as the night goes on, his haunting call of "Nevermore" begins to make the man more and more paranoid. This unabridged version of Edgar Allan Poe's eerie poem, first published in 1884, is accompanied by Gustave Doré's stunning woodcut illustrations.
Selected Tales
Since their first publication in the 1830s and 1840s, Edgar Allan Poe's extraordinary Gothic tales have established themselves as classics of horror fiction and have also created many conventions that still dominate the detective fiction genre. Yet, as well as being highly enjoyable, Poe's tales are works of authentic intellectual exploration. Abandoning the criteria of characterization and plotting in favor of blurred boundaries between self and other, will and morality, identity and memory, Poe uses the Gothic to question the integrity of human existence. Indeed, Poe is less interested in solving puzzles or in moral retribution than in exposing the misconceptions that make things seem `mysterious' in the first place. Attentive to the historical and political dimensions of these very American tales, this new critical edition selects twenty-four tales and places the most popular - `The Fall of the House of Usher,' `The Masque of the Red Death,' `The Murders in the Rue Morgue; and `The Purloined Letter' - alongside less well-known travel narratives, metaphysical essays, and political satires.
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Stories
One of Stevenson's most famous and enduringly popular works, the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, describes the mysterious relationship between a respectable and courteous doctor and his brutal associate. Set in the grimy streets of Victorian London, this tale of murder, split personality, and obscure science, with its chilling final revelation, became an instant horror classic when it was first published in 1886 and has enthralled and terrified generations of readers ever since. This volume also contains seven other Gothic stories by Stevenson - such as 'The Body Snatchers,' 'Markheim' and 'Olalla' - showcasing the author's mastery of the horror genre and his interest in both the otherworldly and the strange ways the human brain can distort reality.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
In a secluded Dutch settlement in New York, two men vie for the hand of a wealthy farmer's daughter. Ichabod Crane, the superstitious schoolmaster, is one of those men. One night, when walking home from the farmer's house, Ichabod is chased by the Headless Horseman, who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head." Irving's short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, is one of the earliest examples of American literature that is still read today.
The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters
From vampires and demons to ghosts and zombies, interest in monsters in literature, film, and popular culture has never been stronger. This concise Encyclopedia provides scholars and students with a comprehensive and authoritative A-Z of monsters throughout the ages. It is the first major reference book on monsters for the scholarly market. Over 200 entries written by experts in the field are accompanied by an overview introduction by the editor. Generic entries such as 'ghost' and 'vampire' are cross-listed with important specific manifestations of that monster. In addition to monsters appearing in English-language literature and film, the Encyclopedia also includes significant monsters in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, African and Middle Eastern traditions. Alphabetically organized, the entries in the book each feature suggestions for further reading. The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters is an invaluable resource for all students and scholars and an essential addition to library reference shelves.
Hosted Horror on Television
In October 1957, Screen Gems made numerous horror movies available to local television stations nationwide as part of a package of films called Shock Theater. These movies became a huge sensation with TV viewers, as did the horror hosts who introduced the movie and offered insight--often humorous--into the plots, the actors, and the directors. This history of hosted horror walks readers through the best TV horror films, beginning with the 1930s black-and-white classics from Universal Studios and ending with the grislier color films of the early 1970s. It also covers and explores the horror hosts who presented them, some of whom faded into obscurity while others became iconic within the genre.
A Guide to Sky Monsters
When a dark shadow passes overhead, do you stop? Or do you run? Infamous sky monsters have haunted our imaginations for centuries. The Thunderbird, steeped in Native American folklore, supposedly controls evil by throwing lightning. The Jersey Devil is said to roam the Pine Barrens of South Jersey, terrorizing anyone who crosses its path. The cryptic warnings of Mothman have worried Point Pleasant, West Virginia residents since the 1960s. In A Guide to Sky Monsters: Thunderbirds, the Jersey Devil, Mothman, and Other Flying Cryptids, authors T. S. Mart and Mel Cabre introduce 20 flying cryptids with legends that span the United States. With 70 hand-drawn illustrations, A Guide to Sky Monsters details our fascination with these creatures and describes historical evidence in the fossil record and the specifics of modern-day sightings. By studying the fact, fiction, and pop culture surrounding these notorious beasts, Mart and Cabre help us lean into the question, "What if?" A Guide to Sky Monsters, perfect for the believer and skeptic alike, addresses the broader truths about flying cryptids and leaves us all to wonder whether that breeze was the wind or a wing.
The Bell Witch in Myth and Memory
Slumber parties in the mid-South 1970s were plied with a strange ritual. At midnight, attendees would gather before a mirror and chant "I don't believe in the Bell Witch" three times to see if the legendary spook would appear alongside their reflections--a practice that echoes the "Bloody Mary" pattern following the execution of Mary Queen of Scots centuries ago. But that small circuit of preteen gatherings was neither the beginning nor the end of the Bell Witch's travels. Indeed, the legend of the haint who terrorized the Bell family of Adams, Tennessee, is one of the best-known pieces of folklore in American storytelling--featured around the globe in popular-culture references as varied as a 1930s radio skit and a 1980s song from a Danish heavy metal band. Legend has it that "Old Kate" was investigated even by the likes of future president Andrew Jackson, who was reported to have said, "I would rather fight the British ten times over than to ever face the Bell Witch again."
The Lancashire Witches
This book is the first major study of England's most significant and best-known witch trial, which took place in 1612 when ten witches were prosecuted and hung in the village of Pendle in Lancashire. The book has equal appeal across the disciplines of History and English Literature/Renaissance Studies, with essays by the leading experts in both fields. Includes helpful summaries to explain the key points of each essay. It brings the subject up-to-date with a study of modern Wicca and paganism, including present-day Lancashire witches. This is the most comprehensive study of any English witch trial.
Ghosts and Haunted Places
Ghosts are the single most common paranormal experience, fascinating and frightening to people of all ages. What makes some people linger on beyond the grave? Are ghosts real, are they imagined, or are they some weird aberration of time and space? ""Ghosts and Haunted Places"" will examine the history, folklore, science, technology, and personal experience of ghosts and hauntings, as well as the major themes in ghostlore.
Haunted
An award-winning scholar and author charts four hundred years of monsters and how they reflect the culture that created them Leo Braudy, a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, has won accolades for revealing the complex and constantly shifting history behind seemingly unchanging ideas of fame, war, and masculinity. Continuing his interest in the history of emotion, this book explores how fear has been shaped into images of monsters and monstrosities. From the Protestant Reformation to contemporary horror films and fiction, he explores four major types: the monster from nature (King Kong), the created monster (Frankenstein), the monster from within (Mr. Hyde), and the monster from the past (Dracula). Drawing upon deep historical and literary research, Braudy discusses the lasting presence of fearful imaginings in an age of scientific progress, viewing the detective genre as a rational riposte to the irrational world of the monstrous. Haunted is a compelling and incisive work by a writer at the height of his powers.
Over My Dead Body
Journalist Greg Melville's Over My Dead Body is a lively tour through the history of US cemeteries that explores how, where, and why we bury our dead. "Astonishing. . . fascinating . . . powerful. . .This clever, sensitive book gives us a new way to think about death, not as the final chapter, but as a window onto life in America." --New York Times Book Review The summer before his senior year in college, Greg Melville worked at the cemetery in his hometown, and thanks to hour upon hour of pushing a mower over the grassy acres, he came to realize what a rich story the place told of his town and its history. Thus was Melville's lifelong curiosity about how, where, and why we bury and commemorate our dead. Melville's Over My Dead Body is a lively (pun intended) and wide-ranging history of cemeteries, places that have mirrored the passing eras in history but have also shaped it. Cemeteries have given birth to landscape architecture and famous parks and influenced architectural styles. They've inspired and motivated some of our greatest poets and authors--Emerson, Whitman, and Dickinson.