The Mark of the Beast

By Rudyard Kipling

Book Overview

Returning to the horror story genre again and again during the first 20 years of his literary career, Rudyard Kipling produced a substantial body of work in the genre. This collection includes 17 of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486414299
• ISBN13: 9780486414294
• Release Date: November 2011
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Kipling in Weird Mode...

Kipling was the pre-eminent man of letters circa 1900, but pretty much unread today. Here S. T. Joshi has assembled 17 short stories by Kipling, in chronological order of composition. Contrary to the book's subtitle, these aren't horror tales, and many have no supernatural aspect at all. It is notable that the stories grow steadily better as one goes through the book. "The Phantom Rickshaw" is a total absurdity, but by the time we get to "They" Kipling, like Barlowe and Lovecraft in "The Night Ocean," is looking ahead to the type of story that would be written by the likes of Robert Aikman in the 1960s and 1970s, probably the ultimate (to date) literary development of the horror tale, before it backslid into the EC-comics imitations of Stephen King and Dean Koonz and other currently and undeservedly popular writers.Kipling is noted for fiction and verse set in India, but the best stories in the book, for me, had nothing to do with India. These included the before-mentioned "They," and "The Finest Story in the World," both of which appear to be based very loosely on real experiences of Kipling, and both of which seem to break genuinely new ground within their respective themes.S. T. Joshi contributes his usual perceptive introduction.Recommended.

Masterpieces of the occult

S.T. Joshi edits Mark Of The Beast & Others, a collection of horror tales by Rudyard Kipling, which pairs his lively manner with chilling tales of the dead and psychological terror. Some, as 'The Phantom Ricksaw', have been widely published and will be familiar to fans of the genre; others such as 'Lost Legion' may be less so. All provide masterpieces of the occult.