The darkness that endures beneath the earth . . . the disquiet that lingers in the woodland surrounding a forgotten path . . . those ancient traditions and practices that still cling to standing stone circles, earthworks, and abandoned buildings; elaborate rituals that invoke elder gods or nature deities; the restless spirits and legendary creatures that remain connected to a place or object, or exist in deep wells and lonely pools of water, waiting to ensnare the unwary traveler. . .
These concepts have been the archetypes of horror fiction for decades, but in recent years they have been given a name: Folk Horror.
This type of storytelling has existed for more than a century. Authors Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, H. P. Lovecraft, and M. R. James all published fiction that had it roots in the notion of the supernatural being linked to objects or places "left behind." All four writers are represented in this volume with powerful, and hopefully unfamiliar, examples of their work, along with newer exponents of the craft such as Ramsey Campbell, Storm Constantine, Christopher Fowler, Alison Littlewood, Kim Newman, Reggie Oliver, and many others.
Illustrated with the atmospheric photography of Michael Marshall Smith, the stories in The Mammoth Book of Folk Horror tap into an aspect of folkloric tradition that has long been dormant, but never quite forgotten, while the depiction of these forces as being in some way "natural" in no way detracts from the sense of nameless dread and escalating horror that they inspire . . .
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'SORCERY AND SANCTITY' said Ambrose, 'these are the only realities. Each is an ecstasy, a withdrawal from the common life'. THE WHITE PEOPLE BY ARTHUR MACHEN
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(@simonschusterUK, 25 November 2021, ebook, 552 pages, #ARC from the publisher via @edelweiss_squad)
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I haven't read a lot of folk horror, not to my knowledge anyway. This collection intrigued me because I thought it be different than the usual horror stuff I read. Once of the things I enjoy about these Mammoth collections is the mix of old and new stories. I've read The White People by Arthur Machen before and didn't enjoy it much. I'm not a fan of his writing. It's too old-fashioned now and I found this story a bit of a slog. It wasn't the best opener for a thick volume. The other stories were much better. The stand-out stories included Jenny Greenteeth by Alison Littlewood, Wailing Well by M.R James, The Hound by H.P Lovecraft and The Fourth Call by Ramsey Campbell which really freaked me out.
