This richly illustrated anthology gathers together classic short stories from masters of supernatural fiction including M. R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu and Arthur Machen, alongside lesser-known voices in the field including Eleanor Scott and Margery Lawrence, and popular writers less bound to the horror genre, such as Thomas Hardy and E. F. Benson. And what a book it is: a considerable and considered selection, and delivered handsomely. When I heard it was being crowd-funded I was a bit wary of what the quality would be like, but there’s no complaint here. It is solidly constructed and well presented. The subtle touch of adding an earthy red to some of the chapter openings is just a little thing, but I found it nice attention to detail. And the illustrations are superb. Sharply printed, and the old woodcut style suits the material. There is a quirkiness and humour to some which suits folk horror tales really well, yet – even so – the image for Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Thrawn Janet’ is rather disturbing (and also my favourite illustration in the book). Presenting once more my latest lino print for Damnable Tales. This time it’s John Collier’s tale ‘The Lady on the Grey’, first published in 16th June edition of The New Yorker magazine, 1951. I had to keep pulling myself away from it so I didn’t finish it in one sitting . . . An incredible book'Annie Kapur, Vocal Media

Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology Kindle Edition

And the rest of the stories? Dull and mediocre at best. And not in anyway horrific. I feel that the editors idea of what Folk Horror is, is vastly different to mine. As with any anthology, the stories are of mixed quality. There are 23 short stories in this volume, and each is accompanied by its own newly commissioned woodcut style lino print at the beginning of each tale. Fresh off the printing press once more, here’s my latest lino print for Damnable Tales. This time, it’s ‘Man-Size in Marble’ by Edith Nesbit, first published in the December issue of Home Chimes magazine, 1887. A newly married couple relocate to the country (always an unwise move where Folk Horror is concerned!), and fall foul of the local legend of the shapes “that walked in their marble…

The Music on the Hill" - Saki. "She looked on the country as something excellent and wholesome in its way, which was apt to become troublesome if you encouraged it overmuch." Ha! All Hallows" - Walter de la Mare. Wandering traveller learns of strange influences at work on a rural church. The author uses powerfully suggestive phrases to create an atmosphere of oppressive dread. June: The Priest's Story: How Pan Came to Little Ingleton• (1926) • short story by Margery Lawrence The subtitle says ‘A Folk Horror Analogy’, and that description is kind of loose, since some of the tales are more folky than others, and a few are dubiously horrific at all.

Pan Came to Little Ingleton | Unbound How Pan Came to Little Ingleton | Unbound

Here's my latest lino print for Damnable Tales. This time, it's Fiona Macloed's tale The Sin-Eater, first published in the collection ‘The Sin-Eater, and Other Tales’, 1895. There's a good variety of folk horror here, but I'd be lying if I said that every story held my attention.

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Did I ever tell you how I lost my arm?” An old man recounts a childhood encounter with a sinister rural cult. Very much the archetypal Folk Horror tale, with an ancient evil bubbling under the surface of a seemingly… Tales Accursed is the second collection of classic supernatural stories selected by the artist Richard Wells. Each of the eighteen tales is accompanied by one of Richard’s striking lino-print illustrations. And yes some of the stories where indeed good, but these where all stories I had read before so this anthology was not bringing me anything new and exciting. EXCEPT for the story where they kill a child and sow it’s ground up bones into the soil to provide a good harvest. I enjoyed that one.

Damnable Tales - A Folk Horror Anthology - Unbound

What is it about these stories of the uncanny, many of them written over a century ago, that make them so appealing to contemporary readers? In his Introduction to Damnable Tales, the novelist Benjamin Myers offers a clue: ‘They take place in worlds we recognise as once-removed from our realities. These are the settings of our ancestors, and therefore are still carried somewhere deep within us now: remote villages and darkened lanes, lonely woodlands, obscure country houses and crumbling cemeteries. Places where the crepuscular light is eternally fading and in which the inanimate or the dormant is slowly stirring.’ Secondly, an announcement that the pledge levels will close at midnight on 25th April. This will be the last chance for… The Ash-Tree" - M. R. James. Misfortunes plague residents of a country estate. The conclusion of this story was creepy and fun in the best way.This a beautiful book with some real gems of stories. Every story is accompanied with its own linocut by Richard Wells add something really special as well. remember how the first story was written in an almost-unreadable dialect? well this one is 10 times worse This anthology of Folk Horror Tales curated and illustrated by Richard Wells, has the most hauntingly beautiful imagery to accompany diverse and Damnable Tales about the horrors of the ages.