M. R. James
James perfected the English ghost story and defined its rules so thoroughly that the form is simply called 'Jamesian'.
Folk Horror
Old ways, old gods and rural landscapes where the past never stopped being dangerous.
The authors (2)
Arthur Machen
A foundational figure of weird fiction whom Lovecraft ranked among the modern masters of horror.
Essential books, oldest first (6)
The Three Impostors
'The Black Seal' essentially invented the Lovecraftian little-people survival horror; 'The White Powder' is a body-horror landmark fifty years early.
The Wendigo
Fixed the wendigo permanently in horror's bestiary, influencing everyone from Lovecraft (who borrowed it for his Ithaqua mythology via Derleth) to Stephen King's Pet Sematary.
The Lair of the White Worm
Minor Stoker, major afterlife: Ken Russell's gleefully unhinged 1988 film adaptation gave it cult status, and its imagery recurs across British horror.
The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James
The standard one-volume James and a permanent fixture of horror's canon, continuously in print for over ninety years.
The Shadow over Innsmouth
Source of horror's entire 'fishy seaside town with a secret' tradition, and the story where Lovecraft's hereditary anxieties are most nakedly the engine.
The Lottery
The most anthologised American horror story ever written and a permanent fixture of school syllabuses; the entire 'normal town, terrible custom' tradition — folk horror included — cites it as…