Product Description

Beware, the Dead are coming back! This is a unique and fascinating collection of early mummy stories that helped to establish the chilling concept of the Dead returning to life as a potent sub-genre of horror fiction. The main feature on the mummy bill, The Jewel of the Seven Stars by Bram Stoker, is generally regarded as his best work after Dracula. A weird mixture of adventure, the supernatural and science fiction is found in Jane Webb's The Mummy, a tale written in 1827 but set in 2126. Some Words with a Mummy is by the great horror writer Edgar Allen Poe. Arthur Conan Doyle's The Ring of Thoth is the classic mummy tale and was the basis for the 1932 movie 'The Mummy' starring Boris Karloff and, indeed most mummy films ever since. Lot 249, another Doyle chiller, completes this collection, which is guaranteed to entertain and possibly prompt a nightmare.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #338708 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

About the Author
Part of Wordsworth's Mystery & Supernatural series, featuring classic spine chilling tales, some previously unavailable for many years.

Customer Reviews

Kitsch but still creepy
Anyone who's seen Boris Karloff shambling around swathed in bandages probably isn't going to be petrified by the thought of unshakeable nightmares after reading these stories. Beyond the Hollywood stereotyping, however, it's interesting to find that the original Victorian mummy stories aren't all copies from this mould. Collected in this book are examples from a cross-section of the genre, including some unexpected takes, like Edgar Allan Poe's satirical treatment, and Jane Webb's highly amusing science fiction rendition. Their combination with the classic Conan Doyle story 'The Ring of Thoth' (the source of the Karloff film) proves nto only that there's more to the mummy story than we think, but that contemporaries also saw it as a highly intriguing subject.
Indeed, for anyone interested in the culture of Victorian England and its fascination with Egyptology, then this volume is a real eye-opener. In the other Conan Doyle story 'Lot 249' there is a chilling overlap with the ghost story, introducing themes of supernatural vengeance that highlight man's attempts to harness the powers of nature. The real winner here is Bram Stoker's 'Jewel of the Seven Stars', however. It is a subtle story, that although apparently simple upon the surface, has all the foreboding of Dracula. Its uncompromisingly bleak ending is a real shock, but unleashes all of the grim retribution of the natural world upon those who seek to control its life-giving forces. These stories make for great entertainment, but under the humour of the monstrous, they also still have the power to raise unsettling questions.

Kitsch but still creepy
Anyone who's seen Boris Karloff shambling around swathed in bandages probably isn't going to be petrified by the thought of unshakeable nightmares after reading these stories. Beyond the Hollywood stereotyping, however, it's interesting to find that the original Victorian mummy stories aren't all copies from this mould. Collected in this book are examples from a cross-section of the genre, including some unexpected takes, like Edgar Allan Poe's satirical treatment, and Jane Webb's highly amusing science fiction rendition. Their combination with the classic Conan Doyle story 'The Ring of Thoth' (the source of the Karloff film) proves nto only that there's more to the mummy story than we think, but that contemporaries also saw it as a highly intriguing subject.
Indeed, for anyone interested in the culture of Victorian England and its fascination with Egyptology, then this volume is a real eye-opener. In the other Conan Doyle story 'Lot 249' there is a chilling overlap with the ghost story, introducing themes of supernatural vengeance that highlight man's attempts to harness the powers of nature. The real winner here is Bram Stoker's 'Jewel of the Seven Stars', however. It is a subtle story, that although apparently simple upon the surface, has all the foreboding of Dracula. Its uncompromisingly bleak ending is a real shock, but unleashes all of the grim retribution of the natural world upon those who seek to control its life-giving forces. These stories make for great entertainment, but under the humour of the monstrous, they also still have the power to raise unsettling questions.

A mistake on the spine
Dears! The book is perfect but there is a mistake on the spine. "Thomas Hardy. Return from the Dead". Poor guy, this Hardy, he would never even consider writing any Mummy stories, I think. Although, who knows, who knows...