Overcoming the Monster: Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror
Let me tell you how I overcame a monster. A writer gets few a-ha! moments because the process of story-creating can be a murky thing. Read More
Tag: Occult Detectives
Link: On the Trail of Lonesome Ghosts
I’ve been watching Disney’s “Lonesome Ghosts” from 1937 and wondering… where did Dick Friel get the story idea and how much it relates to the Read More
The Case of the Ghost-Finder: Carnacki
In a house at No. 472, Cheyne Walk, five men assemble for a delightful dinner. Jessop, Arkright, Taylor and Dodgson (the narrator) all come to Read More
Sherlock Holmes: The Reluctant Ghostbreaker
When one speaks of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, visions of foggy London streets, hansom cabs, the Diogenes Club and the dim-witted bobbies from Scotland Read More
The Last Case of Jules deGrandjerque
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, does not always play out when the imitation proves to be a satire. I was surprised to hear Read More
“The Tomb of Sarah” and Seabury Quinn
The Jules De Grandin stories by Seabury Quinn were not innovative so much as reactionary. Anyone familiar with the Horror and Mystery of the previous Read More
The Flaxman Low Twelve-Step Plot
Flaxman Low was one of the first “periodical” occult detectives. By that, I mean, a psychic investigator who was featured in a magazine as a Read More
Can Occult Detectives Actually Be Scary 2?
I want to look at two stories that could argue either side of this debate: can occult detective stories actually be frightening? Ultimately, each reader Read More
Can Occult Detectives Actually Be Scary 1?
M. R. James, undoubtedly the finest ghost story writer in the English language, disparaged the occult detective story. This is very odd for James was Read More
Why Write Horror?
Why write horror? Why not the socially more accepted Science Fiction or Fantasy, in which the reader experiences wonder and the heights of imagination? Why Read More