Over the years, I’ve read more than a dozen Isaac Asimov and Marty Greenberg anthologies. Not only are the stories fun to read, but Asimov and Greenberg always provide interesting introductions to the stories and their authors. In the case of Tales of the Occult this information is provided in a series of “Afterwards” with “Additional Reading” recommendations included. As you glance at the Table of Contents you’ll find plenty of classic writers as well as more contemporary authors. I suspect this anthology was aimed at the school market. No matter. The stories will give you pleasure and you’ll learn a lot about the occult!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introdution: The Occult, Isaac Asimov
1. Under the Knife, H. G. Wells
2. Children of the Zodiac, Rudyard Kipling
3. The Girl Who Found Things, Henry Slesar
4. The Emigrant Banshee, Gertrude Henderson
5. Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne
6. Through a Glass, Darkly, Helen McCloy
7. Dumb Supper, Kris Neville
8. The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe
9. The House and the Brain, Edward Bulwer-Lytton
10. The Dead Man’s Hand, Manly Wade Wellman
11. The Scythe, Ray Bradbury
12. The Great Keinplatz Experiment, A. Conan Doyle
13. Do You Know Dave Wenzel, Fritz Leiber
14. August Heat, W. F. Harvey
15. Speak to Me of Death, Cornell Woolrich
16. The Woman Who Thought She Could Read, Avram Davidson
17. Tryst in Time, C. L. Moore
18. The Blood Seedling, John Hay
19. The Tracers of Lost Persons & the Seal of Solomon Cypher, Robert W. Chambers
20. Miss Esperson, August Derleth
21. Peeping Tom, Judith Merrill
22. The Moving Finger, Edith Wharton
I read so many of their anthologies growing up. Such great primers! I have no idea if this was among them though.
Sergio, I’m sure Asimov and Greenberg produced dozens of anthologies. High quality!
I don’t know that one at all. Greenberg did a boatload of anthologies, didn’t he? A check of my database surprised me – I have 36 titles read with Greenberg’s name on them, though only a couple were with Asimov (though I have several more in their GREAT SF STORIES series on the shelf).
I will look for this one.
Jeff, I’ve enjoyed all the Asimov and Greenberg anthologies. I really like those GREAT SF STORIES volumes.
I also remember those anthologies that I used to read at the “America House” – before I had the money to buy books …
Somehow this slipped by.
But this doesn’t get very high marks on goodreads – I wonder why?
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/381499.Tales_of_the_Occult
Wolf, there’s a lot of “classic” stories in TALES OF THE OCCULT that might not appeal to younger readers.
Wolf, it received only 18 ratings there, and one, from someone who’d like you to think of him as reactionary blowhard tv commentator Bill O’Reilly, is a one-star rating which drags down the average. Consider the fanboy source of the judgment, in other words.
I’m currently reading an anthology edited by them: SHERLOCK HOLMES THROUGH TIME AND SPACE. Being a traditionalist, Holmes in the canon only, you probably wouldn’t like it, but it has good stories by the likes of Mack Reynolds, Poul Anderson, several others. As for this I’m not much for occult stories.
Rick, I have a copy of SHERLOCK HOLMES THROUGH TIME AND SPACE but haven’t gotten around to reading it. You’re tempting me to find it and put it on my Real Real Soon stack.
George, forget it. The last 8 stories are so-so at best, and I barely skimmed to the end. Probably not worth your reading time.
Rick, good to know. I’ll put SHERLOCK HOLMES THROUGH TIME AND SPACE back on the shelf.
George, nearly every name in that list is familiar to me though I have not read all of them. I didn’t know Wharton had written an occult story.
Prashant, I didn’t know Wharton had written an occult story, either, until I read TALES OF THE OCCULT.
Sounds interesting. And yes I too had no idea that Wharton had written an occult story.
Neer, that’s one reason I’ve always enjoyed the Asimov/Greenberg anthologies. They included a lot of odd-ball stuff.