Yepper, it’s that time of year, time to welcome all the ghosts and goblins to our door and feed them tooth-eating treats. When it comes to horror and terror, you’d think that that would scare all kids, the idea of a trip to the dentist to take care of all the problems caused by trick or treat delights. But of course, that’ll never enter anyone’s mind and I’m actually just kidding, though I do remember the fear of going to the dentist as a kid. I also remember, though, the joy of the season. Halloween was always a blast! One of my fondest memories is of the Fall Festival we’d have at my elementary school with all the silly games and prizes that seemed so important at the time. Oh yeah, to be that kid, again.

As an adult, though, I’ve strayed away from the childish joys. I’m not one who goes to Halloween parties or visits haunted houses. And Yogi’s got too big to do the trick or treatin’ now, though we do go out to a special area and walk the streets of a local neighborhood known for its elaborate decorations. But I do channel my curiosity of the dark side in my own way by the use of the written word, books.

As I’ve shared here, I’m an immense fan of Steven King.  But that love began when I was a kid reading the works of Ambrose Bierce, Nathaniel Hawthorne and the masters H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, to name a few. Granted, those works were a bit on the deep side for such a young soul but led me on to a later understanding of the dark side of life and peoples fascination of the supernatural and scary side of life.

My well-worn copy of masterful horror. And the illustration is not indicative of the stories within. The publishers just put the creepy picture to catch attention.

It was just recently while going through my old books that I ran across a classic oldie, Masters of Horror. It’s a compilation of nine short stories, most written in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. There are pieces, however, done by 19^thcentury authors such as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, the creator of Frankenstein, and Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula. Interestingly, the story by Stoker, Dracula’s Guest,  was originally the first chapter of Dracula, only to be removed during editing to shorten the 200,000 word novel. It was eventually released after his death by his wife who was aware he was working on a new collection of stories and planned on including this one as the lead-off piece. Though part of a novel, in itself it was a complete short story.

Of all the stories in this book, there is one I had never ran across before I got hold of this book. And it goes hand-in-hand with Frankenstein and Dracula, especially if you remember all those classic horror movies we watched as kids. Remember the Lon Chaney, Jr. movie The Wolf Man? This novella, written by Clemence Housman, the sister of the English authors A. R. and Laurence Housman, is titled The Were-Wolf. Not only was she an author, she was an illustrator and activist in the women’s suffrage movement. The Were-Wolf was first published in 1896 and, ironically, it was actually illustrated by her brother Laurence Housman, also an illustrator. But this story is almost a poem in prose, a fantasy, an erotic allegory of a female werewolf which holds nothing in common with the Wolf Man movies of our childhood. And when it comes to horror literature, most scholars agree this one wins 1^st place among the tales of werewolves.

Though the copy of this book I have was published in 1968, I actually found used copies at Amazon.  But I paid 60¢ for my copy while the ones I found at Amazon cost from $3.73 to $29.95! I guess inflation has risen that much since 1968 but…

For those of you who might be interested in reading The Were-Wolf, just go here and read it for free without having to buy the book at such an outrageous price. And this includes the illustrations by her brother Laurence. For those who are lovers of good literature as well as the horror of the supernatural, you’ll not be disappointed. ENJOY!