Book Review: "Spores of Doom" ed. by Aaron Worth

Full Title: Spores of Doom: Dank Tales of the Fungal Weird edited by Aaron Worth

There have been some British Library stuff I've been eyeing in this month of May. Hopefully, more and more keeps coming out because I quite enjoy the Crime Classics, but I love the Tales of the Weird even more. There's something about collecting the great horror stories together together under one lovely theme or motif that is quite delightful to read. I would have never thought about the stories in particular ways even though I'd read some of them before. Let us get on with it then, this anthology is entitled Spores of Doom.

“It is the strangest yellow, that wallpaper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw - not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things.”

- The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

One story I have read countless times that appears in this anthology is called The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This story covers the depression and madness of one woman who believes there is a woman trapped behind the wallpaper of her room. She constantly observes this and scratches at the wallpaper althought she finds the yellowish nature of it ugly and disturbing. It almost looks mouldy and and disgusting which definitely plays into the theme of the dank and horrible that underscores this book. I have often enjoyed this story for its portrayal of female madness and how it serves as a marker in dark feminist literature, especially feminism in its very original and primal form. However, I was pleased to take a different take on it when I read it this time.

"I looked upon the scene before me—upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain—upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant eye-like windows—upon a few rank sedges—and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium—the bitter lapse into every-day life—the hideous dropping off of the veil."

- The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

Another story I have read countless times and now, seem to be getting a different perspective on is The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. When the narrator visits his chidlhood friend, Roderick Usher he finds him suffering from a horrible illness. We also have Roderick's sister who is violently ill and even appears to die. We have this giant climax which deals with the agitation of Roderick Usher and the fact that they have essentially buried his sister alive and ultimately, they do both die - for real this time. The narrator is left fleeing the house in terror. I've often read this looking at the way in which Poe presents the gothic tropes of his day but here, we are looking at the state of the decaying mansion.

...I can still recall my youthful terror not only at the morbid strangeness of sinister vegetation, but at the eldritch atmosphere and odour of the dilapidated house, whose unlocked front door was often entered in quest of shudders. The small-paned windows were largely broken, and a nameless air of desolation hung round the precarious panelling, shaky interior shutters, peeling wallpaper, falling plaster, rickety staircases, and such fragments of battered furniture as still remained.

- The Shunned House by HP Lovecraft

Keeping with the theme of decaying houses I also read a story that I was surprised I hadn't come across before. It's called The Shunned House by HP Lovecraft. I was honestly shocked I'd missed a Lovecraft story and so, I was quite excited about how atmospheric this was going to be judging simply by the title and Lovecraft's regular writing style. The narrator and his uncle set off to investigate a decaying house on Rhode Island which has been long associated with illness and death. As they start to uncover secrets, there is a question of something either vampiric or something parasitic making the house as deadly as it is. The climax amounts to something similar to The Fall of the House of Usher in which the main character must escape on their own after something terrifying happens during the night. It was truly a terrifying and wonderful reading experience. It is very much a Lovecraft staple if you want to see some of his most atmospheric writing.

All in all, it doesn't really end there - another great story was entitled The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis by Clark Ashton Smith which I also say that you should take time to read. I find this to be one of the stronger anthologies and was actually surprised I liked it as much as I did. Perhaps this is a lesson in not overhyping the Tales of the Weird for myself.