Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Frights for Free

Happy Halloween
 
A few items to help you terrify yourselves for the bargain basement price of zero dollars, merely your sanity.  Please see the disclamer at the end of the post before heeding our words of wisdom.


Authors
For those who like to curl up with a good, classic e-book during those dark and story nights, might I recommend these three greats.  Edgar Allan Poe who is one of the few writers that people actually like to read in high school English class.  Morbid, dark, and depressed, he is a good match for the season.  Also of note is Mary Shelley, who as a teenager wrote Frankenstein, not just one of the greatest horror and gothic novels, but one of the greatest novels in the English language.  And if Frankenstein is here, can Dracula be far behind.  Don't overlook Stoker's classic or his stranger works.  And for those who have long nightime drives, try the LibriVox audio versions to cal your nerves.

Edgar Allan Poe: Writings at Project Gutenberg. Audio Versions at LibriVox.

Mary Shelley: Writings at Project Gutenberg. Audio Versions at LibriVox.

Bram Stoker: Writings at Project Gutenberg. Audio Versions at LibriVox.

Fiction
For those who like their fear a little more contemporary, try one, or all, of these evil purveyors of panic.  


Nightmare Magazine - "an online horror and dark fantasy magazine. In Nightmare’s pages, you will find all kinds of horror fiction, from zombie stories and haunted house tales, to visceral psychological horror."

Lovecarft eZine - "a monthly online magazine (also known as an ezine) devoted to Lovecraftian horror."

Innsmouth Free Press "a Canadian micro-publisher of dark fiction and horror."

Flashes in the Dark - "well-written short, horror fiction under 1,000 words." 

Audio
Perhaps it is best to truly let yourself be truly immersed in the emotion and  to put on some headphones, turn out the lights, and listen to some audio on your favorite digital device. Perhaps, if you dare, you might even find some old abandoned house in the country and spend your night listening to some these.

Pseudopod "the world’s premier horror fiction podcast. Pseudopod brings you the best short horror in audio form, to take with you anywhere."

Tales to Terrify

Cast Macabre - "brings you premium quality new and classic horror short fiction in free audio podcasts."

Cthulhu - "inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft and his Cthulhu Mythos. You will hear readings of his works, and horror or ghost stories by other authors" 

19 Nocturne Boulevard - "Award winning twisted tales" 

and at LibriVox - Ghost and Horror Story Collections.


Old Time Radio
If you want to listen to some terrifying tales from olden times, back when television appealed to an audience with IQs above 75 and was called radio, then you are in the right section.  I recommend starting at Monster Club, which is a superb sampler of the more macabre old time radio series. For those seeking extra excitement, try any of the classics available at the Internet Archive.

The Monster Club

At Internet Archive.
Dark Fantasy "Dark Fantasy was a short series with tales of the weird, adventures of the supernatural, created for you by Scott Bishop. The series aired as a horror drama on NBC between 1941 and 1942."

 Hall of Fantasy -

Lights Out One Two
"an early example of a network series devoted mostly to horror and the supernatural"Wikipedia.

Macabre - 8 episodes 1961-2

Quiet Please -

Suspense- Mostly mysteries, but more supernatural episodes in later years.

Weird Circle ---


Video
Well for those of you who absolutely must see what's haunting them, the archive also has a selection of horror movies and television shows. The best choices are listed since television aficionado are apparently accustomed to being instructed.
  
Movies - Sci-Fi / Horror at Internet Archive. Night of the Living Dead.

TV - Horror TV at Internet Archive. Lights Out and Tales of Frankenstein.

Comic Book
Be forewarned, these  are not Richie Rich, Archie, or even Superman comics.  The are classic horror stories from the days before the now-defunct comics code authority turned gory, cheesy horror stories into insipid tales of timidity.

The Horrors of It All - The first stop for your online horror reading. Long-running, never tamed.

Seduction of the Innocent!! -Another great online

And just a few of the many gruesome titles at the Digital Comics Museum for those willing to sell their soul, or "become a member" as it is called in the vernacular.
Baffling Mysteries - Beyond - Hand of Fate - Web of Mystery - Adventures into the Unknown- Skeleton Hand- Out of the Night- Haunted Thrills- Voodoo- Adventures into DarknessOut Of The Shadows- Unseen, The - Eerie - Witchcraft - Ghost Comics.

And lastly, by tradition, a charming poem about kittens and sunshine by a cheerful young man from the East.

The Conqueror Worm
by Edgar Allan Poe.
 
Lo! ’t is a gala night
   Within the lonesome latter years!   
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
   In veils, and drowned in tears,   
Sit in a theatre, to see
   A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully   
   The music of the spheres.

Mimes, in the form of God on high,   
   Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly—
   Mere puppets they, who come and go   
At bidding of vast formless things
   That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
   Invisible Wo!

That motley drama—oh, be sure   
   It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore   
   By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in   
   To the self-same spot,
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,   
   And Horror the soul of the plot.

But see, amid the mimic rout,
   A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes from out   
   The scenic solitude!
It writhes!—it writhes!—with mortal pangs   
The mimes become its food,
And seraphs sob at vermin fangs
   In human gore imbued.

Out—out are the lights—out all!   
   And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
   Comes down with the rush of a storm,   
While the angels, all pallid and wan,   
   Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”   
   And its hero, the Conqueror Worm.


Disclaimer: QuasarDragon is not responsible for and deaths or injuries, natural or supernatural, caused by any of these sites, or by following our advice.  We are also not responsible for any soiled undergarments or other embarrassment cause if you run screaming like a six year old girl who thought the 30 Days of Night blu-ray was a Twilight sequel. We are also not responsible for any confusion caused by referring to a singular blogger as "we." Insanity is its own excuse.

5 comments:

bliss_infinte said...

The Monster Club Link doesn't work.. :(

bliss_infinte said...

Oh, and also Weird Circle and Dark Fantasy go to the same location. Not sure if that was to be on purpose.

Dave Tackett said...

Thanks, gremlins got the site again. Both should be fixed.

Regan Wolfrom said...

Gremlins? Or a well-organized team of SF Signal wetwork operatives?

Dave Tackett said...

lol, I suspected you, but then I realized that there are no Tim Hortons within a hundred miles - so no Canadian would be caught dead here.