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Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: Many people have encountered the story "The Monkey's Paw," anthologized nearly 70 times in horror collections alone. Most do not know, however, that its author, W.W. Jacobs, was an immensely popular writer from the 1890s through the Second World War, selling many tens of thousands of copies of his 13 short story collections. His craftsmanship was admired by such authors as G.K. Chesterton and Evelyn Waugh. Jacobs mostly wrote humorous short stories about humble seafaring folk, but "The Monkey's Paw" is by no means his only tale of the macabre. This collection contains 18 stories with subjects including haunted houses, vengeful ghosts, guilty murderers and people faking supernatural phenomena. "The Monkey's Paw" is, of course, a moral tale about how there's always a price to pay if you interfere with what's natural. It's not a mere object lesson, though: the powerful mood of mourning and despair is what makes it so memorable. Jacobs also emphasizes the dangers of mocking the supernatural. In the superb tale "The Toll House," for example, four men pull the familiar stunt of staying in a supposedly haunted house overnight. They tease each other while drinking whiskey and playing cards to while away the time, and one of them tugs on the servants' bell as a joke. Later on the man who pulled the bell is all alone in the dark, pursued by ominous footsteps, rushing about in a panicky search for the stairs. And in "Jerry Bundler," an actor tries to pull a prank on a man who is fearful of ghosts by dressing up as a renowned local spirit. He pays for his impudence in a way that is not supernatural, but the reader's left wondering what forces contrived the tragic chain of events. It's a delightful collection of stories, distinguished by Jacobs's ability to infuse horror into the simplest, most prosaic of situations, his excellent sense of pacing in the short story form, and his sardonic sense of humor. --Fiona Webster Product Description: Considered one of the foremost humorists in England at the turn of the century, W. W. Jacobs (1863-1943) is best known for his masterpiece of horror, "The Monkey's Paw." He was the author of thirteen volumes of short stories-all of which were commercially successful-and eighteen of these are included together for the first time in this gripping collection of horror fiction.This book features Gothic narratives, stories of the macabre and supernatural tales. But they are also infused with shrewd and sardonic humor, for which Jacobs was justifiably famous. They demonstrate vividly his masterful instinct for weaving terror and suspense into scenes of ordinary everyday life. His boyhood memories of the South Devon Wharf lend authenticity to the many stories with nautical backgrounds or that feature seamen as protagonists.Because of its immense popularity, "The Monkey's Paw" has tended to overshadow a good deal of Jacobs' other work, and it is undoubtedly the most readily recognized and by far the most anthologized story in the collection. But readers will be delighted to know that Jacobs' craftmanship is abundantly apparent in many of his other tales, as they will discover in this new volume. Horror and mystery aficionados will be intrigued and delighted by his range of skillful and witty prose; and they will at last come to appreciate a writer whose other work has been for so long "lost" to the general public. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - "The Monkey's Paw" Terrorizes Even at 106 Years Old"The Monkey's Paw" was written by a humorist who enjoyed writing about adventures on the high seas. Yet W.W. Jacobs is best remembered for giving the world one of the most terrifying short stories in literature. The story is a chilling morality play about the dangers of tempting fate. The lesson is simple: Be careful what you wish for. The story, written in 1902, opens on a cold, damp night in an English village on the edge of a moor. A strong wind is buffeting the house, ... Read More Rating: - Spooky!I tried to read it, but the first 3 stories are terrifying, and i could not continue after them... very good book if you like the macabre. Rating: - Still haunting after all these years...I was first introduced to Jacobs's work by my high-school English teacher, who had us read "The Monkey's Paw" along with assorted works by Edgar Allan Poe. Jacobs is first and foremost a humorist, but he handles human psychology and psychopathy well in this collection of his short stories. Also must-reads, aside from the title, are "The Well," "The Toll-House," "The Interruption," and if you like morbid humor with your mystery, "The Vigil." Rating:  - greatness and uninventivenesssome of his stories are truly great. the monkey's paw and toll-house. some pretty good. his brother's keeper and jerry Bundler. but when he doesn't have much of a plot, the result is sad. uninventive. and awfully obvious. at his best his plot is excellent, his descriptions good, the suspence of the characters marked well. 
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