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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Category Archives: Horror
The Third Grave, by David Case
As a big fan of ancient Egypt, I am a sucker for horror novels based on ancient Egyptian mythology. So when I saw that Valancourt Books had reprinted David Case’s 1981 novel The Third Grave earlier this year, I knew … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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A Night in the Lonesome October, by Roger Zelazny
So, just before October began, I declared my plan to read Roger Zelazny’s A Night in the Lonesome October (1993) in the way that a lot of dedicated fans do: one chapter per day. This post is a summary of … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft
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Gallery of classic horror illustrations!
I’ve been in a very Halloween mood this year, and with the holiday almost upon us, I thought I would share one more post about classic horror. This time, I want to focus on the classic illustrations that accompanied a … Continue reading
Halloween Treats 2019
Time to continue what has been the longest-running tradition on this blog: posting a collection of classic (freely available) horror stories for folks to read during the creepy season! The list of past posts is getting too long to share … Continue reading
Haunted Houses from Valancourt Books!
It’s that spooky time of year, when I hunt down classic ghost and horror stories freely available on the internet and post them for your reading enjoyment! Currently working on that post, but I thought in the meantime I would … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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October reading: A Night in the Lonesome October
So I semi-regularly blog about books on this site, and my usual strategy is to read the book and then write a blog post about it. For October, I’m going to be a little different! Over the month, I’m going … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Personal
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The Last, by Hanna Jameson
Life has been rough lately… and by “lately,” I kinda mean the past two years, for various reasons, on and off. Because of that, I’ve struggled to focus on reading fiction, much to my own dismay. However, I opted to … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Mystery/thriller
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An Ode to the “Tomb of Horrors”
(NOTE: Updated the post to include one additional Tomb-related adventure, which I completely forgot about while first writing!) Part of this feeling on my part is certainly nostalgia, but there really isn’t anything quite like the original Advanced Dungeons & … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Fantasy fiction, Horror
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Way of the Worm, by Ramsey Campbell
Over the summer, I blogged about the first two books in the “Three Births of Daoloth” trilogy by Ramsey Campbell, an ambitious work of cosmic horror that spans decades and follows the struggles of Dominic Sheldon against a family that … Continue reading
Burnt Offerings, by Robert Marasco
For many years, I marveled at what appeared to be a genuine dearth of quality haunted house novels. There are a number of undeniable classics, such as Jay Anson’s The Amityville Horror (1977), Stephen King’s The Shining (1977), Shirley Jackson’s … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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