This new treasury of terror will propel you through fifty-eight stories and poems of fear and nightmare. Like its companion volume, Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural, this collection intends to terrify the reader with the cosmic fear of the unknown, not merely horrify with blood and gore. The modern and classic authors represented are some of the most distinguished and popular of our time. Joyce Carol Oates writes about a man who starts to see long-dead acquaintances - alive. John Jakes recounts the unnatural desire of "The Man Who Wanted to Be in Movies" and Winston Churchill tells of the natural fear of a man lost at sea. Of special interest is the poem by W. S. Gilbert (of Gilbert & Sullivan) and the story by Gaston Leroux (author of The Phantom of the Opera). Other authors include Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen, Richard Matheson, Joanna Russ, Theodore Sturgeon, Guy de Maupassant, Michael Moorcock, Parke Godwin, Willa Cather, A. Merritt, Isaac Asimov, Frederick Pohl, and Jack Vance. Masterpieces of Terror and the Unknown is expertly compiled by Marvin Kaye, who provides fascinating notes with each selection and an Introduction that provides further insights into the genres of terror and horror.