Some M.R. James Love

Horror fans know that during the early years of the 20th century, M.R. James was THE ghost story writer.  Yesterday, The Guardian ran this editorial in praise of James.

Check out the comments too.

Best Horror of 2010

Over on the Readers' Advisor Online, Cindy posted this list of the Best Horror of 2010:

Laird Barron – Occultation
Robert Jackson Bennett – Mr. Shivers
Justin Cronin – The Passage
Ellen Datlow, ed. – Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror (short stories)
Stephen M. Irwin – The Dead Path
Stephen King – Full Dark, No Stars
Jeff Lindsay - Dexter Is Delicious
John Ajvide Lindqvist – Handling the Undead
Dan Wells – Mr. Monster
Dave Zeltserman – The Caretaker of Lorne Field 

For the record, not all of these titles are horror in the strictest definition of the genre, but they will all appeal to your horror fans.  I also highly recommend Handling the Undead and Full Dark, No Stars on Cindy's list.  I have not reviewed these books personally, but they are good.

I am happy to see them recognizing horror not only at Halloween, but to their list I would like to add a few others.  Here are my personal favorite horror and horror-esque titles that I read in 2010.  All links are to my full reviews.

• The Passage by Justin Cronin (this was the absolute BEST book I read all year)
• Horns by Joe Hill
• Locke and Key: Crown of Shadows by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
• Feed by Mira Grant
• The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
• Sparrow Rock by Nate Keyon

Other 2010 titles I would suggest to horror readers would be: 

• Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
• Dweller  by Jeff Strand
• A Dark Matter by Peter Straub
• Darkness on the Edge of Town by Brian Keene
• Pariah by Bob Fingerman
  

Finally, I keep a review index of horror titles I have reviewed on this blog.  It is in the right gutter of every page of the blog.  Click here to access it right now.  These are only my original reviews.

Do you have a favorite that I forgot from 2010?  Share it with me by leaving a comment.

Frankenstein Exhibition

The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford is presenting an exhibition on Mary Shelley which includes a handwritten manuscript of Frankenstein.

Click here to read an article about the exhibition.  If you have plans to be in Oxford before March 27th, I would suggest checking it out.

If you cannot make it, here is the link to the exhibition guide.

Just Finished the Manuscript

Minutes ago I typed my last sentence of the new book (pending revisions of course).  It is not the last line in the book, but it was the last one I wrote.  As a teaser (and to celebrate) I thought I would share it here.

The chapter is on the books dealing with Monsters and Ancient Evil, and it is the last line of the text which proceeds the list:

On the other hand, for many readers this peek into an illicit world ruled by revenge, murder, and mayhem is one of the most important appeal factors fueling the continued interest in the monster and ancient evil story.

Now I will take a breath before I begin to get the book ready for its Spring/Summer 2011 release.