Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Gordon Laite's Art to Tremble By

"More Tales to Tremble By" from 1968 was Whitman Publishing's second collection of great haunting and suspenseful horror stories (see also "Tales to Tremble By" 1966.) And though the first collection contains a well chosen assortment of classic terrors by the luminary likes of Bierce, Dickens, Irving, Stoker etc., it's actually the second collection that really screams out from beyond the grave with demonic delights by some of my own personal favorites-- Saki, Asquith, Hodgson, Derleth, and the supreme master of all horror, M. R. James! Great writing aside, this collection also rises well above the first with the much more evocative, beautifully eerie, horrifyingly hypnotic illustrations of Gordon Laite. Here now is a small sampling of highlights from this fantastically frightening book, (edited by Stephen P. Sutton.)











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5 comments:

  1. Prof. GrewbeardMarch 17, 2011

    wow, great stuff! nice illustration for "A Voice In The Night", a strange story and a stranger choice for Toho to turn into a film!

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  2. Mr. KarswellMarch 17, 2011

    Indeed Prof, there'd be no Matango, aka 'Attack of the Mushroom People' without William Hope Hodgson!

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  3. Mr. CavinMarch 17, 2011

    I usually like Gordon Laite's color stuff best (like his really subtle watercolor work, or dig these groovy covers), but I really like the whimsy evident here in the deceptively loose-looking black and white stuff. The illustration with the man in the hat, or those awesome paisley PJs, for example. That flower bedspread. There's absolutely nothing at all wanton about this guy's use of pattern and the way he toys with its subjective place within the context of the image.

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  4. Mr. KarswellMarch 17, 2011

    Nice comment Mr C, and you are correct on all points. And thanks again for the links-- to those of you wishing to see a picture of the original cover art for this collection click here:

    http://www.facebook.com/l/0b9f6/www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=726713&GSub=104240

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  5. Crafty COctober 07, 2013

    wow - these illustrations are really amazing.

    i love the one with what looks like the wind with an image of a guy in between some trees going by. that's really interesting.

    i found both these books in PDF at the Open Library too.

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