"Nightmare-Touch" (2010) Review

For the longest time, I had passed over purchasing this book online for several reasons. First, its simple cover that I am now fond of struck me as rather print-on-demandish in outward appearance; second, the title, "Nightmare-Touch", is simply the title of a Hearn essay found in "Shadowings". My logic told me that the volume was either print on demand or a simple reprinting of one essay. Finally, and upon closer inspection, I realized that this book has a substantial selection of Hearn's writings with an introduction from Hearn biographer Paul Murray.

Initially I was disappointed with the selections as they were purported to contain Hearn's best horror writing. Yours truly was thinking of undergoing a similar project a couple of years ago rendering myself knowledgeable of such selections. After reading the introduction, and despite Murray's mentioning such pieces, many of the titles that one would think should be included in a collection of Hearn's horror writing have been omitted: My Guardian Angel, the tanyard murder, Haceldama, Skulls and Skeletons, Golgotha, Vespertina Cognito, and Gautier's Clarimonde just to name a few. Murray's reasons for doing so apparently center around the idea that Hearn, as a writer, was not yet fully matured during his Cincinnati period which would account for a number of the aforementioned titles missing. The translations are, well, translations; and "Nightmare-Touch" already contains a strong selection of works from Hearn's Japanese period, although, Vespertina Cognito is perhaps his most chilling tale.

As for the book itself, it was published by Tartarus Press in a limited edition of 300 copies in 2010. The book comes with a white dust jacket and its hardback underneath is made of green material. It is a fine book in an age when publishing is on the wane. Contents are as follows:

Introduction by Paul A. Murray

Nightmare-Touch (Shadowings)

Fantastics (Fantastics and Other Fancies)
The Fountain of Gold
The Ghostly Kiss
The Vision of the Dead Creole
The Name on the Stone
Aphrodite and [the] King's Prisoner
A Dead Love
At the Cemetery

Stray Leaves from Strange Literature
The Fountain Maiden
The Magical Words
The Bird Wife
The Legend of the Monster Misfortune

Some Chinese Ghosts
The Legend of Tchi-Niu
The Story of Ming-Y
The Return of Yen-Tchin-King
The Tradition of the Tea-Plant

Two Years in the French West Indies
La Guiablesse
Ye

Japanese Ghosts
Of Ghosts and Goblins (Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, v2)
Fragment (In Ghostly Japan)
A Passional Karma (In Ghostly Japan)
Ingwa-banashi (In Ghostly Japan)
The Reconciliation (Shadowings)
The Corpse-Rider (Shadowings)
Of a Promise Broken (Japanese Miscellany)
The Story of Umetsu Chubei (Japanese Miscellany)
The Legend of Yurei-Daki (Kotto)
In a Cup of Tea (Kotto)
The Story of Chugoro (Kotto)
Ikiryo (Kotto)
The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi (Kwaidan)
Rokuro-Kubi (Kwaidan)
Yuki-Onna (Kwaidan)
The Dream of Akinosuke (Kwaidan)
Jikininki (Kwaidan)
Mujina (Kwaidan)
The Story of Ito Norisuke (Romance of the Milky Way)