I'm not a frequent horror reader. I've read the older classics in the genre, a handful of the big names from the last few decades, and I enjoy some of the recent crossover horror/fantasy/romance fiction. Most of all, I enjoy a good short story in any genre.
I'll discuss the stories here. In Part 2 I'll talk about the very interesting preface by Michele Slung.
The stories
I Shudder was first published in 1991; most of the stories date from before that. The earliest stories (1890s-1960s) are all strong: they're distinctive enough to stand out among decades of similar themes, and they're not overwhelmed by old-fashioned ornamentation. Several of those written in the 1970s-80s sin the other direction--they're distinctive only in plot, with no writing style; good stories told with minimal nuance. Too many of the later stories rely on the reader's visceral, squeamish reactions for effect, neglecting the good writing that turns a lurid read into a compulsive read.It's not that these stories are nonstop gore. The collection is fairly well balanced between different types of horror: growing hatred, sudden violence, and outré paranormal creatures. Nor am I arguing for an elaborate Gothic style. If anything, the opposite: several of the stories are flabby, wordy writing.
My synopses are sketchy because I hate to "spoil" short stories, and because there are 22 of them. If you want more detail, try here.
Women run amok
The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson by Stephen King, 1986
Becka accidentally shoots herself in the head. The bullet lodged in her brain is only the start, as her reality and her attitude toward her husband take some strange and threatening turns. King's language is flat, and his voice is blah. Interesting ideas, boring delivery.
- An episode of The Outer Limits is based on Becka.
Cleave the Vampire, or, A Gothic Pastorale by Patrick McGrath, 1991 (titled "Not Cricket" in the UK edition)
A well-written send-up of a British matron (complete with fox-hunting-obsessed husband and cricket-obsessed son), in the sex-mad style of a country-house farce. Lady Hock has stopped taking her medications, an grows increasingly obsessed with a vampire at the neighborhood cricket match. Cleave is light on the horror; Lady Hock's mental state is developed more than the vampire. Slung hits on the one aspect that up-ends the usual vampire story:
It's a provocative thought that the only thing worse than a vampire's advances could be a vampire's indifference.
The Conqueror Worm by Stephen R. Donaldson, 1983
The one madness story in the collection that centers on a man. The story would be unremarkable except for the ghastly "worm". Which is sort of the story of Donaldson's success, I think: seemingly ordinary stories with a queasy element that renders them uncomfortably memorable. It's very effective, but I always end up feeling manipulated by it.
Keeping House by Michael Blumlein, 1991
Another "horrid" story of a woman going mad. In this case the evil seems to emanate from a house, and manifests itself through creepy crawlies and rank odors. The horrors and her madness progress in smart tandem, keeping the reader unsure of the narrator's reliability until near the end.
Unsafe at home
Keeping House is the best of several stories about the terror and mental fatigue of feeling spied-on in one’s own home.The Master Builder by Christopher Fowler, 1991
More stalker-thriller than horror; great ideas but flabby, wordy writing.
Wings by Harriet Zinnes, 1988
This could have been an intriguing little psychological piece. It breaks all kinds of taboos and plays with the character's mind and sexuality to a cruel degree--but it goes nowhere and explores nothing.
Nature, red in tooth and claw
A few of the stories depict half-humans who seem to belong to a nature that's fierce and uncompromising. There’s no true understanding between the ordinary person and the half-human Other.Sea Lovers by Valerie Martin, 1988
Sea Predator might have been a better title. Mermaids can have cold, fishy hearts; this particular mermaid is anti-men, having seen one drowned and found his genitals frightening... quel shock! It's a strong story with a weak ending. Some editor should have accidentally-on-purpose omitted the last two paragraphs.
Slung compares this story to Beauty and the Beast, but the fairytale is altered in almost every respect. Most versions of the story alter the atmosphere but not the structure of the fairytale; Jean Cocteau's prince is beastly in instincts but still leads a life of privilege--and he's still constrained by the need to win the beauty's love. The Tiger Returns twists male/female power disturbingly. The Tiger Man is far from privileged; he's a prison escapee. He doesn't woo; he kidnaps and forces. On the face of it the Tiger Man possesses all the power in the relationship, and Molly can only take back her power negatively, by acquiescing to her own rape.
Master by Angela Carter, 1981
White man, native woman, jungle, jaguar, killing that which we love or that which we become. Oh-so-full of symbolism, but none of it spoke to me.
The everyday: Fantasy and cruelty
Most of the stories involve relationships going awry. A couple of the stories are about the entirely human dimension of horror, the kind of thing that leads to divorce court or, at their most fantastic, headlines for supermarket tabloids.A Quarter Past You by Jonathan Carroll, 1989
A wife is a little too honest about her sexual fantasies; the husband thoroughly squelches her fantasy. Not remotely horrific, but a decent short story.
A Glowing Future by Ruth Rendell, 1987
A rather predictable story of a woman done wrong, and her revenge on both the man who done it and the woman he done it for.
- The full text is online (PDF).
Other stories originate in human discontents but conjure something otherworldly.
Consanguinity by Ronald Duncan, 1965
I found this the most intriguing story in the book. After reading the ending, I immediately started again from the beginning. It's a primarily psychological tale of an unusually close brother and sister; more about the weird and the transgressive than the truly horrible.
Festival by Eric McCormack, 1987
A genuine piece of grotesquerie with a twist in the end. A couple attend a festival of increasing horrors; they've agreed to participate in the final act. The interest is in the couple's agreement, their brinksmanship, and their careful compact that accommodates both of their yearnings toward death. McCormack has found the flaw in the Prisoner's Dilemma: the two principals may trust each other implicitly, but can they trust the rest of the world to play along?
Psychopomp by Haydn Middleton, 1991
An exploration of the yearning to return to one's beginnings, and the death that accompanies this turning away from life.
Editor's note: A psychopomp... was, in ancient Greek myth, a conductor of souls to the place of the dead.
Salon Satin by Carolyn Banks, 1991
A trite tale of two women and a supernatural spa (described in ridiculous psychedelia). The "punchline" is all in the last page, and hinges on a lame pun.
Nameless horrors
A few of the stories are Gothic in structure, relying on nameless horrors for their emotive value. These two vintage Gothic pieces worked for me (Sinclair and Hitchens); the newer stories weren't very good.The Villa Désirée by May Sinclair, 1926
A classic Gothic tale of a young woman engaged to a mysterious stranger. Mildred is alone in his remote home, sleeping in a bedroom with a bloody past.
How Love Came to Professor Guildea by Robert Hitchens, 1900
Another classic story of an isolated man haunted by the nameless. The Professor would rather die than live with the creature's affection.
The Swords by Robert Aickman, 1975
A young commercial traveler becomes fascinated by a perverse carnival act. It's an interestingly macabre idea, but I didn't find the writing very effective.
Ladies in Waiting by Hugh B. Cave, 1975
An over-explained and under-atmospheric story of a strange house. A wife is strangely attracted to it, her husband strangely repelled.
Moral fairytales
I don't necessarily mean moral as in upright. Several of the stories have clear roots in legend, and take a fairly direct path toward resolution.The Basilisk by R. Murray Gilchrist, 1894
A lush and strangely sexy Victorian fairytale about a young woman who's in thrall to a basilisk, and her human lover who doesn't realize what he's up against. One wants to warn him of the obvious: "Young man, don't mess with basilisks."
- The full text is online (PDF)
Death and the Single Girl by Thomas M. Disch, 1976
An interesting, deadpan story that plays with the banal side of death by sex.
Death spread his suitcoat and unzipped his fly.
Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament by Clive Barker, 1984
Power leading to degradation; love leading to a fall; ultimately, both protagonists are damaged enough to come together.
Slung's breathless introductions do the stories no favors. The buildup is gushing, and the purple prose is comical. I prefer to read the stories first, then scan the introductions for any points of interest. Slung introduces Jacqueline Ess with typical hyperbole:
In the dark miracle of Jacqueline Ess, Clive Barker has given us what may be the most daring and unnerving story many of you will ever encounter. For in exploring those deepest mythic recesses of female power which exist beyond any known responses, he moves instinctively into the realm of Circe, of Medusa, of Kali, of shape-changing goddesses and demons. Yet, despite its awesomely frightening special effects, for me this story is ultimately an allegory of the nature of desire, which is in itself an endless mystery.(I found the story interestingly plotted and constructed, but by no means "the most daring and unnerving story" I've ever encountered.)
But because there are what can only be termed harrowing perversions of desire on exhibit here, I must also stress the tenderness that unexpectedly breaks through. I could be mistaken, but I do think that Barker provides in "Jacqueline Ess" an utterly original expression of admiration for and homage to the smoldering primal force that is women's sexuality.
I enjoyed about half stories from the collection, and found most of the rest interesting. But overall it's not the strongest collection; too many pieces are blandly written and not aging well.
I'm certain some of my reaction is due to reading these stories many years after they were first published, in a whole different literary culture. However, I can't evaluate these stories based on a hypothetical long-ago reader. As a book to read in 2007, I'd give it a C+ grade. If it were re-released with better introductions, I'd read it with historical curiosity... but I'd still find the writing a mixed bag.
