The modern weird tale

The august art of horror fiction, with its oral roots going back to prehistory, remains a very popular genre. Its most prolific modern writers are examined in this work, which begins with an introduction to horror fiction and a discussion about how it has been dealt with by the critics. The author provides his own literary criticism of the writings of well-known authors such as Stephen King and Anne Rice, among others. Divided into five segments - Shirley Jackson: Domestic Horror; The Persistence of Supernaturalism; Ramsey Campbell: The Fiction of Paranoia; The Alternatives to Supernaturalism; and Pseudo-, Quasi-, and Anti-Weird Fiction - this work takes a close look at writers who have worked extensively in horror fiction and examines themes that often operate in this genre.