I am now the proud owner of two collections of Victorian era short fiction (one is science fiction, the other is vampires—and, holy crap, today’s vampire stories have nothing on the old-school horror of these tales!!). They are titled “Dracula’s Guest” and “Frankenstein’s Dreams,” both assembled by Mr. Michael Sims.
Mr. Sims introduces each short fiction with interesting insights about he author, giving context to the story in relation to the authors’ personal lives and philosophies, as well as the impact the work had on the world around them.
The stories are all amazing, but if I had to pick one story from each book, then the first ones that comes to mind are:
- “What Was It?” by Fritz-James O’Brien (from “Dracula’s Guest”)
- “Man-bats on the Moon” by Richard Adams Locke (from “Frankenstein’s Dreams”)
“What Was It?”
In “What Was It?” the tenants of a supposedly haunted building hope to see a ghost but instead are attacked by and catch an invisible creature that tries to maul one of the characters in his bed. (The story was so unexpected and wild, and yet surprisingly innocent, I loved it.)
“Man-Bats on the Moon”
The Man-Bats story was a riot! Not the story itself but the way it was published and received. Apparently the author wrote and released it to mimic the typical publication method of cutting edge astrological developments that there was mass confusion and debate about life on the moon! This went on and on, and when word reached the man who everyone THOUGHT had written it, not even he knew what was going on. (And nobody knew who the real author was for years because that sassy pain the ass didn’t bother clearing anything up! HA this guy!)
If anyone has any Victorian era gems to recommend, please please please don’t keep them to yourself. Be awesome, and share the awesome.
Duri Rolvsson 