And Afterward, the Dark: Seven Tales

Rating:
Summary: In the tadition of Alegeron Blackwood and H.P.Lovecraft
Review: Prior to reading "And Afterward, the Dark", I had read a couple of Copper's horror novels and his treatise on vampires and was none too impressed. But it is clear that Copper excells in the short horror tale, writen in the tradition of the 19th century English tale of weird fiction, placed in a 20th century context.

While neither as subtle as Blackwood or Arthur Machen, nor as definitive in detail as Lovecraft, Copper manages yet to capture the mood and the portrayal of believable otherworldliness thrust into an ordinary situation that those writers were masters of.

In "Afterward", Copper clearly proves he is in a league with such modern masters of English horror as Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley.

Of the best of the tales in this short Arkham House collection is "Camera Obscura", admirably filmed as an episode in Rod Serlings' "Night Gallery". Clearly, this now becomes one of my alltime favorite Horror tales, excelling in mood -- the essence of the horror tale -- the best of Lovecraft while standing with such greats as Machen's "White People" and Blackwood's "The Willows."

There are other gems as well, including a sci-fi Lovecraftian tale of an unseen alien menance plaguing Earth colonists on another planet.

Rating:
Summary: In the tadition of Alegeron Blackwood and H.P.Lovecraft
Review: Prior to reading "And Afterward, the Dark", I had read a couple of Copper's horror novels and his treatise on vampires and was none too impressed. But it is clear that Copper excells in the short horror tale, writen in the tradition of the 19th century English tale of weird fiction, placed in a 20th century context.

While neither as subtle as Blackwood or Arthur Machen, nor as definitive in detail as Lovecraft, Copper manages yet to capture the mood and the portrayal of believable otherworldliness thrust into an ordinary situation that those writers were masters of.

In "Afterward", Copper clearly proves he is in a league with such modern masters of English horror as Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley.

Of the best of the tales in this short Arkham House collection is "Camera Obscura", admirably filmed as an episode in Rod Serlings' "Night Gallery". Clearly, this now becomes one of my alltime favorite Horror tales, excelling in mood -- the essence of the horror tale -- the best of Lovecraft while standing with such greats as Machen's "White People" and Blackwood's "The Willows."

There are other gems as well, including a sci-fi Lovecraftian tale of an unseen alien menance plaguing Earth colonists on another planet.