{BOOK REVIEW} THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF FOLK HORROR, EVIL LIVES ON IN THE LAND! EDITED BY STEPHEN JONES
17/10/2021
THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF FOLK HORROR Evil Lives On in the Land! Publisher : Skyhorse; 1st edition (14 Oct. 2021) Language : English Paperback : 552 pages ISBN-10 : 1510749861 ISBN-13 : 978-1510749863 Reviewed by Mario Guslandi Folk Horror is a fashionable subgenre in the Horror area. Did we need this new label? No. Will it last? Perhaps. To prove that “folk” horror is nothing new, but has always existed, the huge volume assembled by famous British editor Stephen Jones includes an odd mix of classical, widely known horror stories by big names, a few “minor “ tales by established masters and some original, brand new stories by modern writers. In the first group we find short fiction by Arthur Machen ( “The White People”), HP Lovecraft ( “The Hound”), Karl Edward Wagner ( “Sticks”), Dennis Etchison ( “The Dark Country”), Algernoon Blackwood ( “The Eye-Witness”). Obviously I won’t make any comment about those recognized masterpieces in the horror genre. A nice example of the second group is “Wailing Well” one of the less known ( and reprinted] stories by the legendary and seminal MR James, an extremely dark piece where dangerous, unearthly presences lurk in an abandoned country area. Among the contributions by contemporary authors, to me the more accomplished are “ Jenny Greenteeth” by Alison Littlewood, a subtly horrific tale where an evil creature hunts its victim by a pool, “ The KIng of Stones” by Simon Strantzas, a terrifying story set in a rural village inhabited by dangerous and murderous women and “ The Mistake at the Monsoon Palace” by Christopher Fowler, an enjoyable piece of exotic horror set in India, featuring a restless American woman. Reggie Oliver contributes “Porson’s Piece”,a great supernatural tale featuring a retired professor forced to deal with unexplained phenomena. Last but not least I want to mention “ The Offering” a superb, deeply disturbing story taking place in Copenhagen during an unlucky family trip, penned by Michael Marshall Smith who,incidentally, has also provided all the spooky photographs appearing in the volume at the beginning of each story.  Welcome to a landscape of ancient evil . . . with stories by masters of horror Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, H. P. Lovecraft, M. R. James, Ramsey Campbell, Storm Constantine, Christopher Fowler, Alison Littlewood, Kim Newman, Reggie Oliver, Michael Marshall Smith, Karl Edward Wagner, and more! The darkness that endures beneath the earth . . . the disquiet that lingers in the woodland surrounding a forgotten path . . . those ancient traditions and practices that still cling to standing stone circles, earthworks, and abandoned buildings; elaborate rituals that invoke elder gods or nature deities; the restless spirits and legendary creatures that remain connected to a place or object, or exist in deep wells and lonely pools of water, waiting to ensnare the unwary traveler . . . These concepts have been the archetypes of horror fiction for decades, but in recent years they have been given a name: Folk Horror. This type of storytelling has existed for more than a century. Authors Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, H. P. Lovecraft, and M. R. James all published fiction that had it roots in the notion of the supernatural being linked to objects or places “left behind.” All four writers are represented in this volume with powerful, and hopefully unfamiliar, examples of their work, along with newer exponents of the craft such as Ramsey Campbell, Storm Constantine, Christopher Fowler, Alison Littlewood, Kim Newman, Reggie Oliver, and many others. Illustrated with the atmospheric photography of Michael Marshall Smith, the stories in The Mammoth Book of Folk Horror tap into an aspect of folkloric tradition that has long been dormant, but never quite forgotten, while the depiction of these forces as being in some way “natural” in no way detracts from the sense of nameless dread and escalating horror that they inspire . . .  THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR FICTION REVIEWS 17/10/2021 10:29:18
Thank you for the review, but in what way is it an "odd mix" of stories? I would like to think it is "informed".
Geo. Wahl
28/10/2021 18:12:05
I feel like I really don't know any more about the book than when I started this review. Did the reviewer actually read the book, or just skim it and regurgitate marketing copy? What an incongruous assembly of sentences. WTH GNoH? Comments are closed.
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