Sunday, November 12, 2017

Penny Dreadfuls: Sensation Tales of Terror compiled by Stefan Dziemianowicz






I think it would appropriate to listen to J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor while reading my latest post.




Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of TerrorPenny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


" Penny Dreadfuls were cheaply printed, inexpensive publications written to titillate the masses with shocking thrills and lurid horrors. Over time, "penny dreadful" became a catch-phrase for any story steeped in gothic horror that pushed the limits of what was acceptable in popular fiction." From the Dust Jacket

This is a collection of twenty short stories, some novellas, of gruesome and horrific stories of varying quality. Some, such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Edgar Allen Poe's The Pit and Pendulum deserve their place as timeless horror classics. Others probably needed to be left in the nineteenth century.

They are all Victorian in style which is to say they possess a certain melodramatic flair with damsels in distress and genteel men determined to save them. Many would have been considered quite horrible in their day but can be taken in stride in our jaded era.

The worst in my opinion was written by Bram Stoker, of all people. He wrote a disgusting little short of two psychopathic young boys who torment and murder babies and get away with it. Not sure what he was going for in that. It did not scare me, just filled me with revulsion towards the writer as much as the characters. Why write a story like that?

Some writers not much known today, wrote some good, scary tales and wrote them well. One was by James Hogg, a lamentably little known writer, who wrote a wonderful short called George Dobson's Expedition to Hell. A carriage driver has a horrible, hellish vision and when he awakes he discovers no peace (I don't want to give anything away so I leave out the details).

Another was by John Galt (who is John Galt? chuckle...if you haven't read Atlas Shrugged, forget it) where he describes a young man's nightmarish experience as a coma victim taken for dead and what happens thereafter.

Of course the Piece de Resistance and the last story in the collection is The String of Pearls better known as Sweeney Todd. I had never seen the movie or musical and do not know what attracted anyone to converting this story into a form of visual entertainment, but it kept me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails for the entire book, which is a couple hundred pages.

All in all, a great diversion for the month of October.




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12 comments:

Fred said...

Sounds like a perfect October read.

Mudpuddle said...

i've heard the Bach played on every instrument i can think of, almost... the most amazing was on the banjo! i don't read much of that kind of thing anymore; too old and unshockresistant... but some of them sound very familiar, the James Hogg for one... Bram Stoker is a bit of a puzzle to me... i've never read any of his vampire or horror stories, but i have read some standard adventure novels that i thought were quite acceptable... can't remember the names now, of course, but they're probably on the web... oh, The Lair of the White Worm was one, but i don't recall much about that either... sigh....

Brian Joseph said...

Great review of these stories Sharon.

I think that I would enjoy these. I would really like to read The String of Pearls.

I am not sure if you read it, but I thought that James's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner was an excellent short novel and well ahead of its time. It is a piece of psychological horror.

Have a great week!

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hi Fred. It was!

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hi Mudpuddle. I read the Lair of the White Worm. I did not quite get it. His Dracula is much better, although I think scariest part is at the very beginning and it levels off after that.

I had no idea that Bach could be performed on the banjo. Wow. I'd like to hear that.

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hi Brian. I did read Private Memoirs. A few years back you reviewed the book and I went and got it myself. It is a fascinating work.

RTD said...

Sharon, I wonder what it is about human beings that causes such preoccupation with horror and dreadful unpleasantness in literature. Well, in spite of your wonderful posting, I’ll skip the stories. They seem not the best medicine for me right now.

Mudpuddle said...

check out Bela Fleck, sometime... you'll be amazed!

Sharon Wilfong said...

Will do..

Sharon Wilfong said...

HI R.T. I dully appreciate your feelings. I really enjoy books that are more suspenseful than actually gory. Why fill our minds with such stuff?

Hope you have a good week!

Fred said...

You might want to listen to some CDs with Bela Fleck on the banjo and Edgar Meyer on the bass and piano.

Sharon Wilfong said...

I most certainly do, Fred. I'm going to look them up on my Spotify and add them to my list. Thanks for the head's up.