Sleep No More was the first of three 1940s anthologies of fantasy and horror

Horror fiction

Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

 stories edited by August Derleth

August Derleth

August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...

 and illustrated by Lee Brown Coye

Lee Brown Coye

Lee Brown Coye was an American artist.Coye is probably best remembered for his black-and-white illustrations for pulp magazines and horror fiction, but he produced many other works in other media.-Biography:...

. It was first published by Rinehart & Company

Rinehart & Company

Rinehart & Company, an American publishing company, was the successor to Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. In 1946, following the departure of John C. Farrar, the company was renamed Rinehart & Company. The brothers Stanley M. Rinehart and Frederick R. Rinehart continued to operate the company until its...

 in 1944. Featuring short stories by H. P. Lovecraft

H. P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....

, Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard

Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....

, Clark Ashton Smith

Clark Ashton Smith

Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...

 and other noted authors of the macabre genre, many of the stories made their initial appearance in Weird Tales

Weird Tales

Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....

magazine. The anthology is considered to be a classic of the genre, and is the initial foray by Coye into the field of horror illustration.

Contents

• "Count Magnus", by M. R. James
  M. R. James
  Montague Rhodes James, OM, MA, , who used the publication name M. R. James, was an English mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge and of Eton College . He is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre...
  
  
• "Cassius", by Henry S. Whitehead
  Henry S. Whitehead
  Rev. Henry St. Clair Whitehead was an American writer of horror fiction and fantasy.- Biography :Henry S. Whitehead was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on March 5, 1882. He graduated from Harvard University in 1904. He led an active and worldly life, playing football at Harvard...
  
  
• "The Occupant of the Room", by Algernon Blackwood
  Algernon Blackwood
  Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE was an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre. He was also a journalist and a broadcasting narrator. S. T...
  
  
• "The Return of the Sorcerer", by Clark Ashton Smith
  Clark Ashton Smith
  Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...
  
  
• "Johnson Looked Back", by Thomas Burke
  Thomas Burke (author)
  Thomas Burke was a British author. He was born in Eltham, London.His first successful publication was Limehouse Nights , a collection of stories centered around life in the poverty-stricken Limehouse district of London...
  
  
• "The Hand of the O'Mecca", by Howard Wandrei
  Howard Wandrei
  Howard Elmer Wandrei was a US artist and writer. He wrote over 200 stories that appeared in the magazines Weird Tales. Astounding, Esquire, Black Mask and others. He wrote under his own name and as by Robert Coley and H.W...
  
  
• "He Cometh and He Passeth By", by H. Russell Wakefield
  H. Russell Wakefield
  Herbert Russell Wakefield was an English short story writer, novelist, publisher, and civil servant chiefly remembered today for his ghost stories.-Life:...
  
  
• "Thus I Refute Beelzy", by John Collier
  John Collier (writer)
  John Henry Noyes Collier was a British-born author and screenplay writer best known for his short stories, many of which appeared in The New Yorker from the 1930s to the 1950s. They were collected in a 1951 volume, Fancies and Goodnights, which won the International Fantasy Award and remains in...
  
  
• "The Mannikin", by Robert Bloch
  Robert Bloch
  Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
  
  
• "Two Black Bottles", by W. B. Talman
• "The House of Sounds", by M. P. Shiel
  M. P. Shiel
  Matthew Phipps Shiel was a prolific British writer of West Indian descent. His legal surname remained "Shiell" though he adopted the shorter version as a de facto pen name....
  
  
• "The Cane", by Carl Jacobi
  Carl Richard Jacobi
  Carl Richard Jacobi was an American author. He wrote short stories in the horror, fantasy, science fiction and crime genres for the pulp magazine market.-Biography:...
  
  
• "The Horror in the Burying Ground", by Hazel Heald
• "The Kennel", by Maurice Level
  Maurice Level
  Maurice Level , was a French writer of fiction and drama who specialized in short stories of the macabre which were regularly printed in the columns of Paris newspapers and sometimes staged by le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, the repertory company in the Pigalle district devoted to melodramatic...
  
  
• "The Yellow Sign", by Robert W. Chambers
  Robert W. Chambers
  Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers , a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers , a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island...
  
  
• "The Black Stone
  The Black Stone
  "The Black Stone" is a classic short story by Robert E. Howard, first published in the November 1931 issue of Weird Tales. The story introduces the mad poet Justin Geoffrey and the fictitious Unaussprechlichen Kulten by Friedrich von Junzt....
  
  ", by Robert E. Howard
  Robert E. Howard
  Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
  
  
• "Midnight Express", by Alfred Noyes
  Alfred Noyes
  Alfred Noyes was an English poet, best known for his ballads, "The Highwayman" and "The Barrel-Organ".-Early years:...
  
  
• "A Gentleman From Prague", by S. Grendon
  August Derleth
  August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
  
  
• "The Black Druid", by Frank Belknap Long
  Frank Belknap Long
  Frank Belknap Long was a prolific American writer of horror fiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, gothic romance, comic books, and non-fiction. Though his writing career spanned seven decades, he is best known for his horror and science fiction short stories, including early contributions to...
  
  
• "The Rats in the Walls
  The Rats in the Walls
  "The Rats in the Walls" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. Written in August–September 1923, it was first published in Weird Tales, March 1924.-Plot summary:...
  
  ", by H. P. Lovecraft
  H. P. Lovecraft
  Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....