Columns: Cold Reads

Cold Reads celebrates Writer of the Month for August! For the next four weeks, we will be studying the works of Edgar Allan Poe and celebrating his massive contributions to the horror genre.

Edgar Allan Poe is known for many things, one of which is being one of the leading voices in American Gothic literature. But his work in creating detective fiction as we know it today (along with the likes of Voltaire and E.T.A. Hoffman) is usually overlooked in favor of his more macabre pieces. Without Poe's help, sleuths such as Sherlock Holmes and Sam Spade may never have come into existence. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" marks the first appearance of Poe's famous detective C. Auguste Dupin in a tale of homicide gone completely wild.(read more...)

Horror is fear of the unknown, the invisible terror lurking just beyond our sight. Even in movies and literature when the creature or abomination is exposed in all their grotesque glory, it is the thought of them slinking in the darkness that creates the tension. As the cliché goes, what you don't see is more frightening than what you do see. Ambrose Bierce teaches us this most valuable of lessons in his short but powerful tale of "The Damned Thing."(read more...)

Lullaby is by no means a conventional horror novel. Then again, Chuck Palahniuk is by no means a conventional horror novelist. Hell, Palahniuk isn't even a conventional writer. While these factors may seem to be detriments to the success of the book, Palahniuk's novel accomplishes something that hardly seems possible in the world of horror today: he has developed a completely new, unique, and refreshing idea. Lullaby deserves to go down in the annals of the best psychological/satirical/horror novels, however small said annals may be.(read more...)

Dark and dirty things occur in the Deep South at the dead of night, while the crickets are a-chirping and the big ol' devil moon is smiling down at the earth. I apologize for the folksy intro, but after reading "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner, I can't help but get in the moonshine spirit of things. If the bizarre effect the tale had on me isn't testament enough, I can personally assure you that Faulkner's prose will have you convinced that his town of Jefferson, Mississippi is as real as your own childhood home.(read more...)

Here in the grim library section of Classic-Horror.com, I have thus far delved into written works of fiction both short and long. It is my mission to discuss varying mediums of the written word, everything from novels, plays, and comic books. This week's selection is the first in one of my mad experiments in the realm of the graphic arts.

Hellboy is somewhat of a cultural phenomenon. Starting out as a mere sketch by artist Mike Mignola, the character has developed and changed over the years since that first conception. Hellboy is now a force in the comic book industry to be reckoned with and one of the luminaries of the fabulous comic book company Dark Horse. Being no stranger to graphic novels, I eagerly awaited for the moment I could begin reading Hellboy: Seed of Destruction. As a fan of horror and comic books, I was sufficiently rewarded.(read more...)

Gather around, everyone. I have a tale to tell you. It may shock you. It might even horrify you. But fear not, my dear readers. We have the safety of the crackling fire and the roof over our heads to protect us from the night's terrible wrath. You may have heard this story before. Perhaps from a family member or a friend of a friend. For those of you who have yet to hear this little shocker, you may wish you never had...(read more...)

See the swashbuckling hero smite out evil with the blade of his holy sword! Witness the evil doings of nefarious French criminals and diabolical African warlords! Shiver at the sight of the dead returning from their graves to the beat of voodoo drums as they shamble forth into the mysterious void of the night world! All these thrilling adventures await you in Robert E. Howard's tale of vengeance and bare-chested action that succeeds in both boiling the blood and chilling the flesh.(read more...)

When we sleep, why is it so easy for our dreams to descend into nightmares? Why is our first reaction to a sudden pain to laugh at the sensation? Everything that exists seems to overlap into the next, breaking the barriers. The world of fantasy is just a breath away from reality, phantoms eagerly pressing in around the corners of our lives until they crack. Perhaps one of the most terrifying things about Clive Barker's novella "The Hellbound Heart" is that it reveals to us (and revels in) the symbiotic relationship between pain and pleasure, light and darkness, and the toll that it takes on our souls.(read more...)

In 1872, a writer named Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu published a tale that in many ways paved the road for Dracula, Lestat, and hundreds of other bloodsuckers to come. This was the tale of Carmilla, an undead seductress who typified the bond between vampirism and sensuality and whose dark influence on the genre can still be felt to this very day.(read more...)

Even before seeing Robert Downey Jr.'s awesome performance in Guy Ritchie's film Sherlock Holmes, I had been a fan of the genius detective for some time. For some reason I was always intrigued by Holmes, something about this figure of reasoning and bravery resonating within me. I still consider him to be one of my literary heroes, right alongside Batman. The Hound of the Baskervilles helped bring back some wonderful memories and reinstate my assertion that Holmes is one of the greatest characters in the history of literature.(read more...)