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Books : Literature & Fiction : Authors, A-Z : ( J ) : Jacobs, W. W.
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Many people have encountered the story "The Monkey's Paw," anthologized nearly 70 times in horror collections alone. Most do not know, however, that its author, W.W. Jacobs, was an immensely popular writer from the 1890s through the Second World War, selling many tens of thousands of copies of his 13 short story collections. His craftsmanship was admired by such authors as G.K. Chesterton and Evelyn Waugh.Jacobs mostly wrote humorous short stories about humble seafaring folk, but "The Monkey's Paw" is by no means his only tale of the macabre. This collection contains 18 stories with subjects including haunted houses, vengeful ghosts, guilty murderers and people faking supernatural phenomena.
"The Monkey's Paw" is, of course, a moral tale about how there's always a price to pay if you interfere with what's natural. It's not a mere object lesson, though: the powerful mood of mourning and despair is what makes it so memorable. Jacobs also emphasizes the dangers of mocking the supernatural. In the superb tale "The Toll House," for example, four men pull the familiar stunt of staying in a supposedly haunted house overnight. They tease each other while drinking whiskey and playing cards to while away the time, and one of them tugs on the servants' bell as a joke. Later on the man who pulled the bell is all alone in the dark, pursued by ominous footsteps, rushing about in a panicky search for the stairs. And in "Jerry Bundler," an actor tries to pull a prank on a man who is fearful of ghosts by dressing up as a renowned local spirit. He pays for his impudence in a way that is not supernatural, but the reader's left wondering what forces contrived the tragic chain of events.
It's a delightful collection of stories, distinguished by Jacobs's ability to infuse horror into the simplest, most prosaic of situations, his excellent sense of pacing in the short story form, and his sardonic sense of humor. --Fiona Webster
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Horror Classics is an anthology of great fiction adapted in comics form for readers of all ages. This tenth volume of the Graphic Classics series presents stories by eleven of the original creators of the horror genre, including H.P. Lovecraft's "The Thing on the Doorstep," Edgar Allan Poe's "Some Words with a Mummy," and W.W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw." Plus Saki, Balzac, Jack London, Olive Schreiner, Bret Harte, Howard Garis, Fitz-James O'Brien and Clark Ashton Smith. With art by Michael Manning, Richard Jenkins, Gabrielle Bell, Ryan Inzana and nine more great illustrators.
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What makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up? Is it something sinister-a secret sense warning you that something is wrong, that someone, some thing you can't see, is in the room with you? Is it real? Should you run? Fight? Scream? Find the answers within the musty, dark recesses of these stories. Through the haunted imaginations of Edgar Allan Poe, Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, and nine other great authors, we are transported to places our own imaginations hesitate to take us, and we bear witness to unthinkable events. These stories endure, not merely because of what they are about, but how they are told-and when told by master storytellers, these startling tales send chills up and down our spines. Open the book, if you dare, and enter another world-you'll find that it's worth the risk. This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Classic includes a glossary and notes to help the modern reader appreciate details that may otherwise be confusing or overlooked.
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Outside, the night is cold and wet. Inside, the White family sits and waits. Where is their visitor? There is a knock at the door. A man is standing outside in the dark. Their visitor has arrived. The visitor waits. He has been in India for many years. What has he got? He has brought the hand of a small, dead animal and#150; a monkey's paw. Outside, in the dark, the visitor smiles and waits for the door to open.
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The Monkey's Paw"" is a moral tale about how there's always a price to pay if you interfere with what's natural. It's not a mere object lesson, though: the powerful mood of mourning and despair is what makes it so memorable
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Spine-tingling twists, powerful atmospheres and individual brands of wit and humor, featuring a gallery of ghostly characters, forbidding landscapes, gloomy country manors, and occult occurrences come alive as these ten masters of supernatural fiction take perverse pleasure in the hair-raising horrors the listener will experience. Includes works by Ambrose Bierce, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte Perkins Gillman, and Gertrude Atherton. 4 cassettes.
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The best horror fiction in one collection (With an active table of contents):
The Monkey’s Paw, by W. W. Jacobs,
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley,
Dracula, and
The Man, by Bram Stoker
The Beckoning Fair One, by Oliver Onions
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Eleven classic tales of terror by Saki, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allen Poe, Lord Halifax, O. Henry, W.W. Jacobs, and others, with vivid illustrations.
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From "The Monkey's Paw": "What was that you started telling me the other day about a monkey's paw or something, Morris?" "Nothing," said the soldier, hastily. "Leastways nothing worth hearing." "Monkey's paw?" said Mrs. White, curiously. "Well, it's just a bit of what you might call magic, perhaps," said the sergeant-major, offhandedly. His three listeners leaned forward eagerly. The visitor absent-mindedly put his empty glass to his lips and then set it down again. His host filled it for him. "To look at," said the sergeant-major, fumbling in his pocket, "it's just an ordinary little paw, dried to a mummy." He took something out of his pocket and proffered it. Mrs. White drew back with a grimace, but her son, taking it, examined it curiously. "And what is there special about it?" inquired Mr. White as he took it from his son, and having examined it, placed it upon the table. "It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," said the sergeant-major, "a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow. He put a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it." This volume also includes "The Lady of the Barge," "Bill's Paper Chase," "The Well," "Cupboard Love," "In the Library," "Captain Rogers," "A Tiger's Skin," "A Mixed Proposal," "An Adulteration Act," "A Golden Venture," "Three at Table."
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Brand new! LEATHER BOUND book accented in 22kt gold!
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In 2001, a group of Portland, ME area theatrical professionals began creating a series of audio theatre programs--Nightmares on Congress Street "classic horror stories to Chill & Thrill." These productions have all been broadcast on Maine's NPR station for the past few Halloween Eves. Now in its fourth year, this production includes an original story, which is dedicated to Maine's very own 'Master of the Macabre', Stephen King.