About this book
Trade paperback edition is in stock and shipping!
Horror From The Depths
For the first time, Far Below and Other Weird Stories contains all of Robert Barbour Johnson’s weird fiction in one book, plus three essays selected by S. T. Joshi. His distinctive stories were admired by H. P. Lovecraft, and “Far Below” was voted by readers in 1953 as the best story ever published in Weird Tales magazine.
His stories are distinctive and fast-paced, and he frequently uses common motifs such as inanimate objects coming to life, ancestral curses, vampires, werewolves, witches, and more! He always manages to infuse new life into these venerable themes by innovative treatment, and writes with an intense, Poe-like style which makes his weird fiction engaging and very entertaining to read.
From the Introduction by S. T. Joshi:
“Readers have waited far too long for Robert Barbour Johnson’s weird work to be gathered in the covers of a book, but now they can enjoy this richly diverse material and see it was the product of a writer deeply embedded in the weird tradition…Johnson’s horror tales will always command an audience because of the skill which he endows time-tried motifs with a semblance of originality through novel treatment.”
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Far Below and Other Weird Stories by Robert Barbour Johnson
Edited by S. T. Joshi
Trade paperback edition is in stock and shipping!
Full color wrap around cover! Front cover illustration by K. L. Turner.
Back cover art and overall book cover design by Dan Sauer.
For the first time, all of the weird fiction of Robert Barbour Johnson in one book!
PRAISE FOR ROBERT BARBOUR JOHNSON
“The most popular story in the June-July issue, as shown by your votes and letters, was Robert Barbour Johnson’s macabre tale of horror in the New York subway Far Below.”
The Editors of Weird Tales, September 1939
“Far Below… was and is a very fine weird tale, a serious treatment of the ghoul theme.”
Robert A. W. Lowndes, The Magazine of Horror, November 1964
“Far Below name-checks H. P. Lovecraft and reflects the influence of “Pickman’s Model”… it is still powerful and strange.”
Jeff Vandermeer, The Weird (2012)
“Robert Barbour Johnson authored six stories for Weird Tales. All of them are quite good but “Far Below” is his masterpiece. In 1953, Dorothy McIlwraith, the editor of Weird Tales, picked it as the best story ever to appear in the magazine.”
Robert Weinberg, Far Below and Other Horrors (1974)
“While some people might think it impossible to make New York’s subway system scarier than it is, Robert Barbour Johnson proved capable of the task in “Far Below.” So capable, in fact, that fourteen years after it appeared in the June-July issue for 1939, Dorothy McIlwraith named “Far Below” the best story ever published in Weird Tales.”
Stefan DziemianowiczWeird Tales: 32 Unearthed Terrors (1988)
“Robert Barbour Johnson is remembered almost exclusively today for “Far Below,” his immensely popular story of creatures who lurk in the depths of the New York City subway system. Among his five other Weird Tales contributions was “The Silver Coffin,” a sort of vampire-hunter’s guide to building a better mousetrap.”
Stefan Dziemianowicz, Weird Vampire Tales (1992)
“Far Below had more of a convincing quality to not than anything I’ve read in a long time—in plot, that is. Almost makes me feel like investigating the New York subway myself.”
Harry Warner Jr., The Eyrie, Weird Tales (1939)
“A weird tale of the New York subway, and horrible things with dead-white eyes that burrow up beneath the unsuspecting city.”
The Editors of Weird Tales on “Far Below,” June-July 1939
“Far Below… is one weird tale in a thousand.”
Charles H. Chandler, The Eyrie, Weird Tales, August 1939
“I especially enjoyed… Johnson’s Lead Soldiers. The latter was very interesting being highly timely and very well written.”
Robert Leonard Russell, The Eyrie, Weird Tales, February 1936
“Johnson’s Far Below took top honors in last month’s magazine.”
Sheldon Benscoter, The Eyrie, Weird Tales, September 1939
