SOURCE: Indick, Ben P. “H. Russell Wakefield: The Man Who Believed in Ghosts.” In Discovering Classic Horror Fiction 1, edited by Darrell Schweitzer, pp. 73-93. San Bernardino, Cal.: The Borgo Press, 1992.

In the following essay, Indick explains supernatural and horror fiction as two unique entities and deals with the ways in which Wakefield's work encompasses both.

There is a gulf between Supernatural and Horror fiction; it is sometimes bridged, but the entities nevertheless remain unique. In today's world, where power and violence appear to have overcome taste and subtlety, the Supernatural per se is in eclipse. Its sister, Horror, albeit in the form of guignol, reigns. Occasionally a contemporary master, such as Stephen King, will attempt to rediscover the method of the old school, as in his short story, “The Breathing Method,” from Different Seasons, but the result is somewhat self-conscious. To rediscover the genre in its clearest form...