The Dead of Night: The Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions
Introduction by David Stuart Davies.
Oliver Onions is unique in the realms of ghost story writers in that his tales are so far ranging in their background and substance that they are not easily categorised. His stories are powerfully charged explorations of psychical violence, their effects heightened by detailed character studies graced with a powerful poetic elegance. In simple terms Oliver Onions goes for the cerebral rather than the jugular. However, make no mistake, his ghost stories achieve the desired effect. They draw you in, enmeshing you in their unnerving and disturbing narratives. This collection contains such masterpieces as The Rosewood Door, The Ascending Dream, The Painted Face and The Beckoning Fair One, a story which both Algernon Blackwood and H. P. Lovecraft regarded as one of the most effective and subtle ghost stories in all literature. Long out of print, these classic tales are a treasure trove of nightmarish gems.
Contents
Introduction (The Dead of Night) essay by David Stuart Davies
1. Credo (1935)
2. The Beckoning Fair One (1911)
3. Phantas (1910)
4. Rooum (1910)
5. Benlian (1911)
6. The Ascending Dream (1924)
7. The Honey in the Wall (1924)
8. The Rosewood Door (1929)
9. The Accident (1911)
10. Io (1911)
11. The Painted Face (1929)
12. The Out-Sister (1935)
13. "John Gladwin Says ..." (1928)
14. Hic Jacet (1911)
15. The Rocker (1911)
16. Dear Dryad (2000) (variant of The Dear Dryad 1924)
17. The Real People (1924)
18. The Cigarette Case (1910)
19. The Rope in the Rafters (1935)
20. Resurrection in Bronze (1935)
21. The Woman in the Way (1924)
22. The Smile of Karen (1927)
23. The Ether-Hogs (1926)
24. The Mortal (1926)
25. The Master of the House (1929)
26. Tragic Casements (1952)
Oliver Onions
George Oliver Onions (1873–1961) was a significant English novelist who published over forty novels and story collections.
Besides detective fiction, historical fiction and a science fiction novel, New Moon (1918), Onions wrote several collections of ghost stories, of which the best known is Widdershins (1911). It includes the novella The Beckoning Fair One, widely regarded as one of the best in the genre of horror fiction, especially psychological horror.
Onions was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his 1946 novel Poor Man's Tapestry.
Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural
Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural consists of 21 total books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.