James Jenkins - The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories. Volume 1

Whether you call them horror stories, griezelverhalen , historias de terror , skräckberättelser , racconti dell’orrore , or (perhaps our favorite) spookstories , there’s something universal about the telling and reading of a good, creepy tale. A whole new world of horror is awaiting your discovery. Turn the page and encounter the international side of horror . . .

James D. Jenkins and Ryan Cagle founded Valancourt Books in 2004 and since that time have republished over 500 lost and neglected texts, primarily in the fields of Gothic, supernatural, and horror literature, with an aim to making these books avail­able in affordable editions for modern readers. They are also the co-­editors of the four volumes of the acclaimed The Valancourt Book of Horror Stories series. James holds a BA in French and an MA in Romance Languages and Literatures and also studied Dutch and Italian at university; he has since learned over a dozen more languages and took advantage of his language studies in translating many of the stories for this volume.

The editors would like to thank first and foremost all the authors who submitted stories for our consideration, both those we ultimately selected for this volume and those we didn’t have room to include. It was a delight reading each and every one of them.

We acknowledge our debt to editors who preceded us and whose work made our own easier, including but not limited to Teresa López-­Pelliza and Ricard Ruiz Garzón’s anthology of fantastic literature in Spanish by women writers, Insólitas (2019); Antonio Rómar and Pablo Mazo Agüero’s compilation of contemporary horror stories from Spain, Aquelarre (2010); Martijn Lindeboom’s anthology of new Dutch horror tales, Halloween Horror Verhalen (2016); André Bjerke’s excellent Norwegian anthology Drømmen, draugen og dauingen (1978); and Lelani Fourie’s anthology of contemporary Afrikaans horror stories, Skadustemme (2016).

We are particularly grateful to Ramon Mas and Ricard Planas at Editorial Males Herbes for having shared with us a number of Catalan texts, including the one selected for this volume; to Laura Sestri for kindly sharing a variety of Italian horror stories with us and taking the time to respond to our questions; to Erica Couto for her kind suggestions and information on Spanish and Galician horror; to Jette Holst for her invaluable information on modern Danish horror fiction; to Luis Pérez Ochando for his help with translation questions; and to everyone else who provided guidance, suggestions, or feedback on the volume. Thank you!

‘Uironda’ © 2018 by Luigi Musolino. Originally published in Uironda (Torriglia: Kipple, 2018). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘Mater Tenebrarum’ © 2000 by Pilar Pedraza. Originally published in Arcano trece: Cuentos crueles (Madrid: Valdemar, 2000). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘The Time Remaining’ © 2019 by Attila Veres. Originally published as ‘Méltósággal viselt’ in Aether Atrox , edited by József Tomasics (Nagy­kanizsa: TBA Könyvek, 2019). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘The Angle of Horror’ © 1996 by Cristina Fernández Cubas. Originally published as ‘El ángulo del horror’ in El ángulo del horror (Barcelona: Tusquets, 1996). Published by permission of Casanovas Lynch.

‘Down, in Their World’ © 2013 by Flavius Ardelean. Originally published as ‘Jos, în lumea lor’ in Acluofobia. Zece povestiri macabre (Bucureşti: Herg Benet, 2013). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘The Collector’ © 2017 by Tanja Tynjälä. Originally published as ‘La coleccionista’ in ( Ir ) Realidades (Lima: El Gato Descalzo, 2017). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘Señor Ligotti’ © 2020 by Bernardo Esquinca. Forthcoming in El libro de los dioses . Published by arrangement with the author.

‘The Illogical Investigations of Inspector André Despérine’ © 2012 by Michael Roch. Originally published in La Boîte de Schrödinger (Editions Walrus, 2012). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘Menopause’ © 1994 by Flore Hazoumé. Originally published as ‘Ménopause’ in Cauchemars (Abidjan: Edilis, 1994). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘The Bones in Her Eyes’ © 2016 by Christien Boomsma. Originally published as ‘De beenderen in haar ogen’ in Halloween Horror Verhalen , edited by Martijn Lindeboom (Amsterdam: Luitingh Sijthoff, 2016). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘Twin Shadows’ © 2013 by Ariane Gélinas. Originally published as ‘Ombres jumelles’ in Le sabbat des éphémères (Montréal: Six Brumes, 2013). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘Backstairs’ © 2011 by Anders Fager. Originally published as ‘Pigornas trappa’ in Samlade Svenska kulter (Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 2011). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘Pale Toes’ © 2015 by Marko Hautala. Originally published as ‘Varpaat’ in Valkoiset varpaat (Vaasa: Haamu, 2015). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘Kira’ © 2016 by Martin Steyn. Originally published in Skadustemme: kortverhale , edited by Lelani Fourie (Crystal Lake Publishing, 2016). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘Donation’ © 2017 by Lars Ahn. Originally published in Den nat, vi skulle have set Vampyros Lesbos (Aarhus: Kandor, 2017). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘Tiny Women’ © 2018 by Solange Rodríguez Pappe. Originally published as ‘Pequeñas mujercitas’ in La primera vez que vi un fantasma (Barcelona: Candaya, 2018). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘Mechanisms’ © 2019 by Elisenda Solsona. Originally published as ‘Engranatges’ in Satel·lits (Barcelona: Males Herbes, 2019). Published by kind permission of Editorial Males Herbes, Barcelona.

‘The House of Leuk Dawour’ © 2005 by Editions L’Harmattan. Originally published as ‘La maison de Leuk Dawour’ in Nouvelles fantastiques sénégalaises . (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2005). Published by arrangement with the author and Éditions L’Harmattan.

‘The White Cormorant’ © 1971 by Frithjof Spalder. Originally published as ‘Den hvite skarven’ in Jernjomfruen: noveller (Oslo: Grøndahl & Søns, 1971). Published by arrangement with the author.

‘All the Birds’ © 2009 by Yvette Tan. Originally published in All that Darkness Allows: 13 Tales of Horror and Dread (Manila: Summit, 2016). Reprinted by arrangement with the author.

‘Snapshots’ © 2016 by Jose María Latorre. Originally published as ‘Instantáneas’ in La noche de Cagliostro y otros relatos de terror (Madrid: Valdemar, 2006). Published by kind permission of Valdemar Ediciones, S.A.

Horror literature is nothing new in Italy: it dates back at least to the first half of the 19th century. And the contemporary horror scene in Italy is particularly robust, including a number of authors whose works have appeared in English translations, like Samuel Marolla and Nicola Lombardi, and others still awaiting international discovery, such as Eraldo Baldini, Claudio Vergnani, and Danilo Arona. But our favorite current Italian horror writer – and in our opinion one of the best young horror writers in the world right now – is Luigi Musolino ( b. 1982) , a native of Turin. In his masterful two-­volume collection Oscure Regioni [Dark Regions] (2014-­15) , which still lacks a complete English translation, Musolino presents twenty horror tales – one for each of Italy’s regions – all inspired by local folklore. In his stories, the idea of Italy as a country of sun and sea is merely a façade for tourists: in reality, it is a country filled with witches, monstrous creatures, and dark caverns, where madness and unease lurk behind the veil of everyday normality. We’re pleased to kick this volume off with the title story from his most recent collection, Uironda (2018) . We think you’ll agree with us that Musolino is an author we’ll be hearing much more from in the future.