Who do you consider to be phantasmagorical writers? For me, "phantasmagorical" is in many ways a term that retreads the old meaning of the term "Romantic," before it came to mean Harlequin novels and their ilk. This sort of novel involves forces that are beyond human understanding, and into which it is dangerous to fall. Some of these might be horror stories (per Lovecraft) or not (per Dunsany)...
Here's an "official" definition:
adj : characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous
juxtapositions; "a great concourse of phantasmagoric
shadows"- J.C.Powys; "the incongruous imagery in
surreal art and literature"; " [syn: phantasmagoric,
surreal, surrealistic]
Into that list, I'd place (for starters)
H.P. Lovecraft
Robert Chambers
August Derleth
Mary Shelley
Bram Stoker
Lord, there must be a huge number. Any suggestions to add to the list?
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I think that Robert E. Howard definitely belongs on this list.
Completely agree. In the part II post, I'll add in the authors people suggest, for a complete list.
Clark Ashton Smith, too.
Arthur Machen and Edgar Allan Poe should be added as well.
Michael Moorcock occasionally drifts into this area too.
Doh! How could I forget Clark Ashton Smith!?!??
Frank Belknap Long
Robert Bloch
Fritz Leiber
Brian Lumley
Ramsey Campbell
Leiber? What has he written that fits into the weird fiction genre (assuming you don't mean Fafhyrd and the Mouser)?
I've read Conjure Wife, but not much else by him other than F and the GM.
Leiber's The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich and The Terror from the Depths are highly recommended. Daniel Kesserich is one of the coolest Weird Tales I've ever read. Seriously.
I'll be looking for those tomorrow!
If you can pickup a copy of Cthulhu 2000, I'd recommend it. Good authors, like Harlan Ellison, picking up the torch.
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