Horrors

That notorious evening at Villa Diodati when Lord Byron challenged his contemporaries to write a ghost story, his summons brought forth a mad doctor intent on reanimation and a vampire drunk with bloodlust. The night modern horror was born was notoriously dark and stormy, as were the lives of those who wrote the most fearsome—yet beloved—tales in literature, for those so gifted were also cursed. Horrors, a graphic novel, reveals in gruesome detail how Mary Wollstonecraft, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe and other masters of the genre were haunted by their monstrous creations.

Rocky Wood is the Bram Stoker Award–winning author of many books about Stephen King. He is president of the Horror Writers Association and lives in Victoria, Australia.

Glenn Chadbourne is a freelance artist who specializes in the horror/dark fantasy genre. His trademark pen and ink illustrations have enhanced the work of some of today’s hottest authors, including Stephen King’s The Secretary Of Dreams. He lives in Newcastle, Maine with his wife Sheila and their pug dog Rocket.

Written by Rocky Wood

Illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne

Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 192
Bibliographic Info: b&w illustrations
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4563-9
eISBN: 978-0-7864-6230-8
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1
Frankenstein      9
The Vampyre      69
Death of the Diodati      91
Beowulf      105
Shakespeare      117
The Rise of the Gothic Novel      123
Poe      127
Dracula      137
Conclusion      173
Afterword      183

• Finalist, Aurealis Award
• “This unusual book blends fiction and nonfiction and is illustrated with detailed and terrifying pen-and-ink drawings”—School Library Journal
  “quite an accomplishment. Wood does a masterful job of encapsulating each of the classic stories, hitting all of the important beats, and Chadbourne’s illustrations are just masterful. You could literally spend hours going over all of the fine details on each page”—Horror World
• “Glenn Chadbourne’s black and white illustrations hint at the great work of horror illustrators from the early days of comics and pulps. At the same time he brings an amazing level of detail to his work which draws the reader deeper and deeper…exceptional writing of Rocky Wood. Readers will find themselves driven from page to page, finding each illustration as delightful as the last. I cannot recommend this work more highly even if the words existed to do so”—DriveThru Comics
• “A fascinating and truly scary collection that takes a new and compelling look at some of the most well-known works of terror by renowned horror authors. Horrors borrows from graphic novel format to create a new and exciting non-fiction art form. Chadbourne’s illustrations are wondrously frightening…bringing depth and visual excitement to Mr. Wood’s entertaining and gripping narrative. Once begun, it is difficult to stop turning pages of this addictive book of graphic terrors, and one can only hope that a second volume will be forthcoming soon. Enjoy!”—Count Gore