This collection of contemporary multi-cultural fiction includes stories by: Bessie Head * Charles Mungoshi * Ngugi wa Thiong'o * Wang Anyi * Ding Ling * Wang Meng * Chen Rong * Lu Wenfu * Anita Desai * Mahasweta Devi * Ruth Prawer Jhabvala * R. K. Narayan * Khushwant Singh * Kobo Abe * Sawako Ariyoshi * Yasunari Kawabata * Yukio Mishima * Yuko Tsushima * Carlos Fuentes * Luisa Valenzuela * Nadine Gordimer * Isabel Allende

They are the fearful images that have stalked humanity's nightmares for centuries, supernatural creatures that feast on flesh and haunt the soul, macabre and uncanny beings that frighten and fascinate the imagination.

"Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves, and Ghosts" collects classic stories from literary masters inspired by folklore and mythology who dared to explore the darker side of human nature and crafted tales that defied convention, stirred up controversy, and gave life to a storytelling genre that has endured for generations.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a celebrity--acclaimed as a leader in the feminist movement and castigated for her divorce, her relinquishment of custody of her daughter, and her unconventional second marriage. She was also widely read, with stories in popular magazines and with dozens of books in print. Her most famous short story, the intensely personal "The Yellow Wallpaper," was read as a horror story when first published in 1892 and then lapsed into obscurity before being rediscovered and reinterpreted by feminist scholars in the 1970s.
Noted anthologist Barbara Solomon has put together a remarkable collection of Gilman's fiction, which includes twenty short stories and the complete text of "Herland," the landmark utopian novel that remained unavailable for more than sixty years. From "The Unexpected," printed in "Kate Field's Washington "in 1890, to such later tales as "Mrs. Elder's Idea," published in Gilman's own periodical, "The Forerunner," readers can again encounter this witty, original, and audacious woman who dared to challenge the status quo and who created fiction that continues to be fresh and timeless.
Edited and with an Introduction by Barbara H. Solomon