Poe Short Story #1: The Domain of Arnheim

Actually more in the nature of an essay than a story, I thought. Beautifully written. Puts forth the premise that what we create artistically -- whether paintings, or poetry, or music, or even gardens -- is in fact more beautiful and more perfect than nature itself. The latter third or so of the story is a description of a fantasy landscape created by the main character, who inherited 450 million pounds and this is how he decides to spend it. Certainly not a Poe story of darkness and murder and things-that-go-bump-in-the-night, as we might expect, but I quite enjoyed it regardless.

A passage worth thinking about: "He admitted but four elementary principles, or more strictly, conditions of bliss. That which he considered chief was (strange to say!) the simple and purely physical one of free exercise in the open air. "The health," he said, "attainable by other means is scarcely worth the name." He instanced the ecstasies of the fox-hunter, and pointed to the tillers of the earth, the only people who, as a class, can be fairly considered happier than others. His second condition was the love of woman. His third, and most difficult of realization, was the contempt of ambition. His fourth was an object of unceasing pursuit; and he held that, other things being equal, the extent of attainable happiness was in proportion to the spirituality of this object."

Read on-line at The Literature Network.

Come In.... and Be Afraid....Be Very Very Afraid....

Yes, indeed.... It's that time of year, boys and girls.... The countdown to Halloween and all things eerie and weird. :) And as the heat and laziness of summer begin to filter down into the cool coziness of autumn, it's time to join Carl V. and his band of dozens of vampires, monsters, and graverobbers as we drift down together into the depths of creepy horror stories that will make your skin crawl and keep you awake at night. Please do join us in the 2007 R.I.P. (Readers Imbibing Peril) Autumn Reading Challenge. You can read all the "rules" and join us in our insanity by clicking here.

I have set my sights on Peril The Third: The Scary Sandwich Peril -- Read two "monster"-sized books and read a smaller qualifying tale in between. Plus, as a side dish (the French fries, if you will), I'm adding on The Sunday Short Story Peril.

My "peril pool" is composed of the following scary, scary tomes:

#1 - Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
At 1024 pages (GASP!!!!), if this isn't a "monster" of a book, I don't know what is. Here's what Amazon has to say about JS&MN: "Any book touted as the ‘adult Harry Potter’ runs the risk of attracting critical parries from swords of the double-edged variety. If this wasn’t enough, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell -- the debut novel from Susanna Clarke -- also invites comparisons with Jane Austen. Set in the early nineteenth-century, the action moves from genteel drawing rooms — albeit where a mischievous Faerie king sips tea with the wife of a very human government minister, to the bloody battleground of Waterloo, where giant hands of earth drag men to their doom. The juxtaposition of perfectly realised magical worlds and the everyday one with which JK Rowling and Philip Pullman so successfully captured our imaginations and the social comedy of Austen and Thackeray can easily be recognised. But less easy to pastiche is the ability of these writers to induce sheer narrative pleasure, and it is Clarke’s great achievement that she succeeds with this hugely enjoyable read. Gilbert Norrell is determined to single-handedly rehabilitate his sanitised and patriotic version of English magic, which has suffered a post-Enlightenment neglect after a richly dark history. He ruthlessly secures his place as England’s only magician in two marvellously drawn feats. First, he brings the statues of York Cathedral to life and then, to facilitate his entry into London society, he brings a young bride-to-be back from the dead -- a feat with terrible consequences. However, another more naturally gifted magician — Jonathan Strange — emerges to become his pupil and later his rival. Strange becomes increasingly obsessed with the Raven King — the medieval lord-magician of the North of England and pursues his desire to recruit a fairy servant to the edge of madness. Whilst the differing characters of Norrell and Strange give the book a central human conflict, it is the tension between the dual natures of civilised and wilder magic that lends it a metaphysical texture that shades the narrative with wonderful and troubling descriptions of ships made of rain, paths between mirrors and faerie roads leading out of England to a bleak yet dazzling realm. Fortunately, the precision of her storytelling never reigns in Clarke’s prodigious imagination. Clarke’s broad canvas of characters — including Wellington, Napoleon and Bryon, locations and tones are masterfully realised....Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the perfect novel to take up residence in as the nights get longer." This one is on its way to my mailbox as we speak. Hehehehe.....

#2 - The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, by G.W. Dalhquist
At 768 pages, this one might almost qualify as a "short story" next to JS&MN.... but yes, it's still heavy enough to make my arms ache just thinking about it (in hardback no less!). Amazon says: "A gripping gothic adventure".... "Think of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes....Apply the production values of Buffy the Vampire Slayer....Literally a ripping yarn." Yum! Can't wait!!

#3 - Shattered, by Dean Koontz
This one represents the "filling" of my Scary Sandwich, the short guy stuck in the middle. "A chilling novel from bestseller Dean Koontz. It starts as a kid's game to while away the long drive across country. It ends in a grotesque nightmare of death and destruction. They're travelling three thousand miles to a golden city and a golden girl. She's Colin's adored sister, Alex's ravishing new wife. But she could cost them their lives. Someone's out to get them. To destroy their dreams. To plunge them into a paranoid world where every sound could be the last thing they ever hear!" Moooowhawhawhaaaaa.........

#4 - The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices, by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins
I'm including LToTIA as an alternate, or perhaps an extra. (We'll see how I manage with those two big suckers. LOL! ) I've chosen this for its gothic factor, and also because it's a creepy travelogue of sorts of 19th-century Great Britain, and -- bonus! -- it fits into my Classics category as well! Besides, these classic tales are free downloads from Project Gutenberg, and they fit ever-so-nicely on my PalmPilot. A collection of short stories -- perfect for reading on my daily commutes into London! A synopsis from a Wilkie Collins website: "Humorous narrative of Collins' and Dickens' walking tour of Cumberland during September 1857. Written in collaboration, it was originally published in Household Words, 3-31 October 1857; and Harper's Weekly, 31 October-28 November 1857. Collected in book form in 1890. Collins assumed the identity of Thomas Idle (a born-and-bred idler) and Dickens that of Francis Goodchild (laboriously idle). Collins wrote three main parts. In the first, he describes his sprained ankle after a reluctant ascent of Carrock Fell in the mist. The second, the story of Dr Lorn, was later republished as 'The Dead Hand'. The remaining section, in which Thomas Idle, stretched out injured on a sofa in Allonby, reflects that all the great disasters of his life have been caused by being deluded into activity, consists of reminiscences, and is loosely based on Collins' own life. At school, after foolishly winning a prize, he was rejected by the other idle boys as a traitor and by the industrious boys as a a dangerous interloper. The only time he played cricket he caught a fever from the unaccustomed perspiration. Mistakenly studying for the Bar, where he was expected to know nothing whatever about the law, he became the target of a persistent legal bore." Also contains a Charles Dickens' ghost story...."The Ghost in the Bridal Chamber"....just to assure everyone that it does indeed qualify for the R.I.P. Challenge. :)

#5 - A scaaaarrrryyy selection of Edgar Allan Poe short stories
For the Sunday Short Story Peril. Also from Project Gutenberg.... I've downloaded a selection to fill in any other bits of reading time that I haven't already used up! Hahaha! (I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this two-month challenge...but what a wonderful way to go!) The Poe stories I've selected include:

* The Purloined Letter
* The Fall of the House of Usher
* Silence: A Fable
* The Masque of the Red Death
* The Cask of Amontillado
* The Imp of the Perverse
* The Pit and the Pendulum
* The Premature Burial
* The Domain of Arnheim

So.... there you go.... A two-month selection of scary stories. I can't wait to begin! And I hope you'll come along for the ride. Head over to Carl's site, and sign up TODAY! (P.S. There's prizes!!)

Mwaaaahhaaaahaaaaaa......!!!!!!!!!!