Book Review: "Polar Horrors" ed. by John Miller

Full Title: Polar Horrors: Strange Tales from the World's Ends edited by John Miller

The British Library's Tales of the Weird is probably the most fantastic set of anthology books to be published in recent years. With themes such as gastronomy, insects, trains, the undead, love and more, there are so many horrors to read about. Also, if you're not too into the themes and want to get to know the authors then there are author based anthologies as well. Compilations of stories by Vernon Lee, Algernon Blackwood, Mary Elizabeth Braddon and more are available to sink your teeth into. There are definitely a whole host of books that are perfect for every kind of horror lover out there.

Polar Horrors is one of those themes that many horror loves adore. Much like the opening to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the ends of the earth can prove to be some of the most terrifying horrors of all time. I feel like the arctic terrors have not been as viewed as perhaps say the horrors that come from other regions such as: Celtic. I am therefore glad that there is finally something that appreciates the literal and the metaphorical cold together.

There's stories by a bunch of different writers within this anthology. These writers include but are not limited to: James Hogg, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, John Buchan and many, many more. Many of the stories are the result of the 19th century fascination with whaling, which inspired the book Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Others are more inspired by the journeys of Robert Walton in Frankenstein. One thing is for sure no matter upon the differences though, there is a definite sense of shivering cold, a sense of loss and longing, a sense of atmosphere and more from the stories within.

I will say however, there were a couple of pitfalls to this book that I think require addressing so that The British Library is aware we feel this way. First of all, we have the pitfall of 'is this really a theme that is going to do well because of the lack of stories we actually see here?' It leads with a story by James Hogg which is about a heroic polar bear in the icy depths. Honestly, I would not have led or opened with a James Hogg story because of the fact his writing is just simply not awe-inspiring enough. Don't get me wrong, he's a good writer - but when it comes to horror I just do not think he inspires the kind of excitement required to get the reader interested.

The story The Third Interne was actually pretty good. Note that it is published in 1938, making it a fair stretch after things like Frankenstein (which brings me on to the point that I don't really understand why the editor didn't lead with Robert Walton's Letters, that would have been pretty intense). The atmosphere of the story definitely reflects a culture that knows a bit more about what is at the "world's ends" and how we see the weather, the intensity and the brutality over there. A surgical and mad-scientist horror, I feel like this theme was correct to put this story into as in an anthology such as Promethean Horrors, I believe it would have unfortunately got lost amongst the bigger, more famous writers. Making this story stand out perhaps makes a good reason not to use any single extract from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Despite a couple of setbacks in the actual curation of the anthology, I found this interesting because of its ability to give us a wide selection on quite a strange theme. Though there are not many stories, there are enough to make us wonder about whether in these periodicals of the Victorian Age, whether in the pulp magazines of the early 20th century and beyond, there may be more that we are yet unaware of.

All in all, I thought that it was an interesting anthology though I still complain that it was led with such a dry writer as James Hogg. His writing seems to be more appropriate to lead with if you were making an anthology of writers who resembled the style of Thomas De Quincy and William Hazlitt (I would invite it). Except for this, the anthology serves as thought-provoking and is definitely in the centre of the list of the best of its series.