| 1. Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus (The Pennyroyal Edition) | 
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By: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Joyce Carol Oates (Afterword)
Publisher: Univ of California Pr
1984-10
Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" is the most important novel of the twenty-first century. Written almost two hundred years ago by a young woman nineteen years old, this parable captures with astounding clarity the problems that heartless science has visited upon the planet earth. In brief, the story makes clear the circumstances by which human inventions control their inventors. This book is not to... more
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| 2. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
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By: Robert Louis Stevenson
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
April 01, 1990
"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" has been called a Victorian parable, and it must have been groundbreaking in its time, but Robert Louis Stevenson seems to draw heavily on this passage from the Apostle Paul: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me." (Romans 7:15&17) He explores... more
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| 3. Expensive People (Modern Library Paperbacks) | 
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By: Joyce Carol Oates
Publisher: Modern Library
September 12, 2006
This was my first book of JCO's, and I'm tempted to read another. I liked her writing style although it is different and more disjointed that nice, neat and literary writing. You are taken into the head of a demented young man who not only thinks but writes strangely, and that's hard to wrap around, but interesting in that you can really identify, which can terrify you once you figure out the history... more
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| 4. Shirley Jackson: Novels and Stories (Library of America) | |
By: Shirley Jackson
Publisher: Library of America
May 27, 2010
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| 5. The Dark Descent |
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By: Clive Barker, Ray Bradbury, John Collier, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates
Publisher: Tor Books
January 15, 1997
This book was published in 1987 and contained 56 short stories by 47 writers. There were 30 authors from the United States, 14 from Great Britain, plus Ireland's Sheridan LeFanu and Fitz-James O'Brien and Russia's Turgenev. Of all the writers, nine were women.
The pieces ranged from 1835 (Hawthorne) to the 1980s (Dennis Etchison, Michael Shea, Stephen King, Tanith Lee, Clive Barker), covering... more
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| 6. American Gothic Tales (William Abrahams) |
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From: Plume
Publisher: Plume
December 01, 1996
The chapter from Wieland is excellent; I have read the novel, and found it one of the best gothic novels of America. I figure it is the way schizophrenia works in human mind. I also enjoyed Melville's "the tartarus of maids". Maybe it is not strictly a gothic tale, but it has a gothic atmosphere, and many levels of reading. I like the way the landscape is depicted, and the feelings it conjures. It... more
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| 7. Beasts |
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By: Joyce Carol Oates
Publisher: Da Capo Press
January 01, 2002
'Beasts' is my first encounter with the work of Joyce Carol Oates. I confess to having been prejudiced against reading her because of her prolific output. In most cases, I feel, quantity leads to a dilution of quality. But she is such a presence in American fiction, having garnered praise from the likes of John Gardner, whom I regard as one of the greatest modern American authors, that it seems negligent... more
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| 8. The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque |
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By: Joyce Carol Oates
Publisher: Plume
October 01, 1999
This is by no means Oates best collection of stories, but it's better than Haunted, and it has enough bang to keep readers interested.
The first story, "The Sky Blue Ball," quite honestly blew me away. It's short, odd, and written with amazing precision. While it may be argued that this story, along with several others, are hardly grotesque, that story is in it's own way. The last paragraph... more
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| 9. The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mystery and Suspense | 
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By: Joyce Carol Oates
Publisher: Harcourt
August 06, 2007
Joyce Carol Oates has floored me with the best that short fiction could offer. With collections like The Female of the Species and Transgressions, she has written stories that disturb you in more ways than one. Her stuff is literary, with a touch of suspense and terror for good measure. The Museum of Dr. Moses, while not her best effort, continues to bring in amazing efforts.
"Hi!... more
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| 10. The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eleventh Annual Collection (Vol 11) |
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By: Charles de Lint, Peter S. Beagle, Ray Bradbury, Michael Chabon, Joyce Carol Oates, Pat Cadigan, Ursula K. Le Guin, Stephen King
Publisher: St Martins Pr
1998-07
(Because Amazon lumps all of these volumes together, this review is split in halves: Fifteen/2001 and Fourteen/2000.)
For THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR: FIFTEENTH ANNUAL COLLECTION (2001)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fifteen Annual Collection collects the best (as determined by the editors) short fiction of both genres in 2001, using wide definitions of the genres in... more
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