The Best Horror Novels According to Karl Edward Wagner

[OSJ]

Okay, to preface this for those who don't know, Karl Edward Wagner was a writer, editor, publisher and most of all a friend and mentor to one OSJ... Like Stephen King and Ramsey Campbell, Karl was a student of the game, scouring British bookstalls on his frequent trips to the UK for the old, obscure, and creepy. In his monthly column in Twilight Zone he posited three lists of what he felt were the "best" horror novels of all time. Karl later confided to me that if Twilight Zone was still being published, he would have perhaps amended the list as he had read a lot more material since the original article. So, in three posts I'm going to present the original list and my suggestions for a few changes based on the fact that I've outlived Karl and read a lot more of this stuff in the last twenty years. In no way is this a disrespect of his original list. It's just that I know there was stuff he didn't have access to until it was too late. There are three categories, Non-Supernatural, Supernatural, and Science Fictional Horror.

 

BEST SUPERNATURAL NOVELS (they are not in a particular order of greatness):

 

1. "Hell," Said the Duchess - Michael Arlen (An interesting book, but probably doesn't belong here; may I suggest you try one of Ramsey Campbell's supernatural novels instead.)

 

2. The Burning Court - John Dickson Carr (Known as a master of locked-room mysteries Carr could do anything he put his mind to, including writing effective supernatural horror).

 

3. Alraune - Hanns Heinz Ewers (This is part of a trilogy, and while all three are good, I don't think we need all three on the list. So let's drop this in favor of something by Caitlin R. Kiernan. Pretty much anything besides Five of Cups, which is merely good, but not great.)

 

4. Dark Sanctuary - H.B. Gregory (A Xtian take on Lovecraft, absolutely excellent in every respect.)

 

5. Falling Angel - William Hjortsberg (You've seen the movie, now read the book, you'll be glad you did.)

 

6. Maker of Shadows - Jack Mann (you can't go wrong with Jack Mann, I prefer Nightmare Farm, but that's just me)

 

7. Melmoth the Wanderer - Charles Maturin (It's a chore to read, but worth it, merits the distinction as a "classic")

 

8. The Yellow Misteltoe - Walter S. Masterman (Masterman is going to have two novels on these lists and both deserve to be there.)

 

9. Burn, Witch Burn - A. Merritt (I know this is blasphemy, but I just can't read Merritt any longer without laughing out loud. What was reall cool when I was twelve is really awful at 50-something. Let's drop this in favor of Master of Souls or The Wizard of Berner's Abbey by Mark Hansom. Yes, Hansom's British pulp, but he's very, very cool.)

 

10. Doctors Wear Scarlet - Simon Raven (This or his Roses of Picardie, Raven spent most of his career writing mainstream novels and libeling people he didn't like, when he close to write supernatural fiction he was bloody brilliant.)

 

11. Medusa - E.H. Visiak (This is simply awful, but everyone should read it. A horribly failed experiment, there's actually a really cool novel in there, it's just not the one that Visiak chose to write. If we want archaic language for the sake of atmosphere, let's have The Ghost Pirates by William Hope Hodgson, which is actually excellent.)

 

12. Fingers of Fear - J.U. Nicolson (Brilliant, I've always thought that the author started out to lampoon the genre and the book got away from him and turned into a classic.)

 

13. Echo of a Curse - R.R. Ryan (Best novel on this list and one of the best horror novels ever written. That this got published over seventy years ago (or at all) is a miracle. Some seriously sick and twisted stuff here.

 

I wanted to stick Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons in there somewhere, but y'all probably know about that one anyway.