The Equation Chillers series

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The Equation Chillers series specialised in reviving Victorian and Edwardian short stories. In two years they rushed through eight volumes before the series went under just when it was on the verge of launching arguably it's most long-awaited work - the first ever publication of Frederick Cowles' Fear Walks the Night. Dracula's Brood is one of the more thoughtful vampire collections and other welcome revivals include E. G. Swain's gentle ghost stories, Robert Barr's rather more vicious horrors (all taken from his aptly named collection, Revenge, Edith Nesbit's gothic melodrama, and ... Bernard Capes. How I loved that Bernard Capes collection! Also, today's second mention of Jack Adrian: he gets around a bit! Here's the roll-call and a couple of sample covers:

Bernard Capes - The Black Reaper: Tales Of Terror (Equation, 1989)

Selected and Introduced by Hugh Lamb

Introduction - Hugh Lamb

The Black Reaper
The Thing In The Forest
The Accursed Cordonnier
A Queer Cicerone
A Gallows-Bird
The Sword Of Corporal Lacoste
Poor Lucy Rivers
The Green Bottle
The Marble Hands
The Moon Stricken
The Mask
An Eddy On The Floor.

Bibliography and Acknowledgements.

"His stories reveal the author's desperate frustration ... He also uses words in a curious way at many places, as if he were writing under the influence of drink, as perhaps he was, when one considers his basic attitude

Robert Aickman on Bernard Capes (1854-1918), as quoted in Hugh Lamb's introduction.

One of the most interesting of the late-Victorian authors, unjustly neglected for decades until Hugh Lamb began resurrecting his work in the 'seventies. Capes didn't have anything published until he'd turned forty through a series of tragicomic mishaps - a failed stint as a rabbit breeder takes some doing - and the disappointment and anger at these personal disasters informs his best work. The worldview on offer in A Gallows Bird is one of gloating pessimism and, as Aickman points out, the stories often open with Capes getting what's been troubling him off his chest before they're allowed to continue.

Here's a few thumbnails:

A Gallows Bird: Ducas poses as a swinging corpse to learn the location of hidden Carmelite treasure. While hanging, he witnesses the torture-murder of a fellow brigand by a priest and the 'junta of women.' He is also shot in the leg by a sadistic, corpse-kicking Holy man.
Assisted by his lover, Anita, who spends much of her time disguised as a goatherd, Ducas escapes the danger of his own making, but she is discovered and hung by her thumbs. Ducas considers it fine sport to watch her tortured so. He was tiring of her devotion in any case, so he's quite relieved when she's shot dead during a crossfire ....

A Queer Cicerone: The wicked Lord steps out of his portrait to lead the guided tours around the Somerset family castle, exposing their biographies as told in the guide book to be entirely fraudulent and each supposedly saintly member to be at least as notorious as he.

The Mask: Penn-Howard, author of Haunted Houses, a book of factual ghost stories, doesn't actually believe in the supernatural - until the affair in Hampshire involving the prematurely aged Mand Howick, a likeness of whom hangs in the family gallery. However, she is not the original, but the grand-daughter of the lady in the original, cursed by the twisted, unforgiving artist.

The Thing In The Forest: In a weird rewrite of Little Red Ridinghood, little Elspet is making her way through the forest when she encounters a werewolf. Taking pity on the starving wretch, she feeds him - then realises that to do so is a mortal sin. She rushes to Father Ruhl who takes her confession and then, laughing, changes shape ...

The Sword Of Corporal Lacoste: Lacoste survives an avalanche in which his men are either killed outright or fatally injured. While he is unconscious, a gnome-like Priest and his dog-faced peasant accomplice rob the corpses and slit the throat of a survivor. Infuriated at having overlooked a potential victim, the Priest leads Lacoste to an inn where he is plied with food and drink and lets slip that he is carrying much gold coin. The barmaid tries to warn him of his peril but Lacoste allows the pair to lead him through the snow and back to his company. When they are attacked by a wolf pack, the peasant reveals himself to be not only a robber, but a lycanthrope!

You can download a number of Capes' stories from Horrormasters, including The Mask, The Black Reaper, A Queer Cicerone and The Vanishing House though, sadly, no A Gallows Bird as yet.

E. F. Benson - The Flint Knife; Further Spook Stories (Equation, 1988)

Selected and Introduced by Jack Adrian.

The Flint Knife, The Chippendale Mirror, Dummy On A Dahabeah, The Friend In The Garden, The Light In The Garden, The Witch Ball, The China Bowl, The Shuttered Room, The Box At The Bank, The Return Of Frank Hampden, The Ape, Sir Roger de Coverley, The Red House, Through, The Passenger.

Bibliography and Acknowledgements.

E. Nesbit - In The Dark (Equation, 1988)

Selected and Introduced by Hugh Lamb.

Man-Size In Marble, Uncle Abraham's Romance, From The Dead, The Three Drugs, The Violet Car, John Charrington's Wedding, The Pavilion, Hurst Of Hurstcote, In The Dark, The Head, The Mystery Of The Semi-Detached, The Ebony Frame, The Five Senses, The Shadow.

Bibliography and Acknowledgements.

A.M. Burrage - Warning Whispers (Equation, 1989)

Selected and Introduced by Jack Adrian.

The Acquital, For The Local Rag, The Case Of Thissler And Baxter, The Ticking Of The Clock, The Imperturbable Tucker, The Fourth Wall, Warning Whispers, The Little Blue Flames, The Green Bungalow, The Boy With Red Hair, For One Night Only, The Mystery Of The Sealed Garret, Crookback, The Recurring Tragedy, The Attic, The Garden Of Fancy, Father Of The Man.

Bibliography and Acknowledgements.

E.G. Swain (& David Rowlands) - Bone To His Bone: The Stoneground Ghost Tales (Equation, 1989)

Selected and Introduced by Michael Cox

Introduction - Michael Cox

The Man With The Roller, Bone To His Bone, The Eastern Window, The Rich Pins, The Indian Lampshade, The Rockery, Lubrietta, The Place Of Safety, The Kirk Spook.

'More Stoneground Ghost Tales' by David Rowlands

From The Diggings, One Man Went To Mow, One Good Turn, The Marsh Lights, Providing A Footlight, Off The Record.

Bibliography and Acknowledgements.


Algernon Blackwood - The Magic Mirror: Lost Supernatural and Mystery Stories (Equation, 1989)

Selected and Introduced by Mike Ashley

Mike Ashley - Introduction

The Early Years
A Mysterious House
The Kit-Bag
The Laying Of A Red Haired Ghost
The Message Of The Clock
The Singular Death Of Morton
La Mauvaise Riche
The Soldier's Visitor
The Memory Of Beauty
Onanonanon

The Novels
First Flight (From Jimbo)
The Vision Of The Winds (From The Education Of Uncle Paul)
The Call Of The Urwelt (From The Centaur)
The Summoning (From Julius LeVallon)

Radio Talks
The Blackmailers
The Wig
Kings Evidence
Lock Your Door
Five Strange Stories:
The Texas Farm Disappearance
The Holy Man
Pistol Against a Ghost
Japanese Literary Cocktail
The Curate And The Stockbroker

Later Stories
At A Mayflower Luncheon
The Man-Eater
By Proxy
The Voice (aka The Reformation of St. Jules)
The Magic Mirror
Roman Remains
Wishful Thinking

Bibliography and Acknowledgements.

Jerome K. Jerome, Barry Pain, and Robert Barr - Stories In The Dark: Tales Of Terror (Equation, 1989)

Selected and Introduced by Hugh Lamb.

Robert Barr: Purification, The Vengeance Of The Dead, The Hour And The Man, Not According To The Code, Transformation, An Alpine Divorce.

Jerome K. Jerome: The Skeleton, The Dancing Partner, The Snake, The Haunted Mill, The Woman Of The Saeter, Silhouettes.

Barry Pain: The Moon Slave, The Undying Thing, The End Of A Show, The Unfinished Game, The Glass Of Supreme Moments, Smeath, The Green Light, The Case Of Vincent Pyrwhit, Linda, The Tower, The Four Fingered Hand, The Gray Cat.

Bibliography and Acknowledgements.

Richard Dalby (ed.) - Dracula's Brood: Neglected Vampire Classics by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood and Others (Equation 1989, originally Crucible, 1987)

Introduction - Richard Dalby

William Gilbert - The Last Lords of Gardonal
Eliza Lynn Linton - The Fate of Madame Cabanel
Phil Robinson - The Man-Eating Tree
Vasile Alecsandrai - The Vampyre
Anne Crawford - A Mystery of the Campagna
Julian Hawthorne - Ken’s Mystery
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Parasite
Mary Elizabeth Braddon - Good Lady Ducayne
Mary Cholmondeley - Let Loose
Vincent O’Sullivan - Will
H. B. Marriott Watson - The Stone Chamber
Hume Nisbet - The Vampire Maid
Hume Nisbet - The Old Portrait
Vernon Lee - Marsyas in Flanders
Louise J. Strong - An Unscientific Story
Sabine Baring-Gould - A Dead Finger
Horacio Quiroga - The Feather Pillow
Algernon Blackwood - The Singular Death of Morton
Alice & Claude Askew - Aylmer Vance and the Vampire
Ulric Daubeny - The Sumach
M. R. James - Wailing Well
Edward Heron-Allen - Another Squaw?
E. R. Punshon - The Living Stone
Frederick Cowles - Princess Of Darkness

Richard Dalby - Ghosts & Scholars: Ghost Stories In The Tradition Of M. R. James (Equation, 1989, originally Crucible, 1987)

Foreword - Michael Cox
Introduction - Rosemary Pardoe & Richard Dalby
M. R. James - Ghosts-Treat Them Gently

Sabine Baring-Gould - On the Leads
'B' - The Stone Coffin
A.C. Benson - The Slype House
R. Hugh Benson - Father Macclesfield's Tale
Cecil Binney - The Saint and the Vicar
Sir Andrew Caldecott - Christmas Reunion
Ramsey Campbell - This Time
Patrick Carleton - Dr Horder's Room
Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr) - Blind Man's Hood
Frederick Cowles - The Strange Affair at Upton Strangewold
'Ingulphus' (Arthur Gray) - Brother John's Bequest
Sheila Hodgson - 'Come, Follow!'
M. R. James - Ghost Story Competition
Winifred Galbraith - 'Here He Lies Where He Longed to Be'
Emma S. Duffin - The House-Party
A. F. Kidd - An Incident in the City
Shane Leslie - As In a Glass Dimly
R. H. Malden - Between Sunset and Moonrise
L. T. C. Rolt - New Corner
David G. Rowlands - Sins of the Fathers
Eleanor Scott - Celui-La
Arnold Smith - The Face in the Fresco
Dermot Chesson Spence - The Dean's Bargain
Lewis Spence - The Horn of Vapula
Montague Summers - The Grimoire
E. G. Swain - The Eastern Window

Select Bibliography

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In an attempt at making this listing as definitive as possible, Equation published at least two further titles which should be of interest although, as with their Ghosts & Scholars reprint, these weren't decorated with the 'Chillers' logo. Already mentioned in the movie section is David J. Hogan's splendid Dark Romance: Sex And Death In The Horror Film (1988), and then there's this beauty, possibly the only hardcover they ever got to publish in our field?

Michael Cox (ed.) - The Illustrated J. S. Le Fanu: Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery By a Master Victorian Storyteller. (Equation, 1988)

Michael Cox - Introduction

Schalken the Painter (Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery, 1851: originally Dublin University Magazine, May 1839).
The Familiar (In a Glass, Darkly, 1872)
The Murdered Cousin (Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery, 1851)
An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street (Dublin University Magazine, Dec. 1853)
Ghost Stories of the Tiled House (Dublin University Magazine, Nov. 1861)
Wicked Captain Walshawe, of Wauling (Dublin University Magazine, April 1864)
Squire Toby’s Will (Temple Bar, January 1868)
Green Tea (All the Year Round, Oct. 23-Nov. 13, 1869)
Madam Crowl’s Ghost (All the Year Round, Dec. 31, 1870
Mr. Justice Harbottle (Belgravia, Jan. 1872)
The Room in the Dragon Volant (London Society, February 1872)

Publication Details
Select Bibliography
Illustration Credits

Back cover blurb:

What made Schalken the Painter faint with horror in the crypt of a Rotterdam church?
Why did Captain Barton glance anxiously over his shoulder as he walked home through the quiet suburbs of north Dublin?
What was strange about the room in the Dragon Volant?
What did the Revd Mr Jennings encounter in an omnibus at twilight?
How was Lewis Pyneweck revenged on bloated, gouty Mr Justice Harbottle?

The answers are revealed in this page-turning collection of supernatural stories and tales of mystery, many of them complemented by atmospheric period illustrations.

So, draw the curtains, pull your chair towards the fire: Schalken, Madam Crowl, Squire Toby, Wicked Captain Walshawe and the rest await you ...

[unholyturnip]

Illustrated Le Fanu eh? I'd no idea that even existed!

Did Le Fanu write shorts extensively in the non-supernatural? I've read Dragon Volant and a few of the other more frequently anthologised works of his, but I've never been able to get hold of a complete collection.

[dem]

Feb 19, 2009 14:50:25 GMT unholyturnip said:

Illustrated Le Fanu eh? I'd no idea that even existed!

The sad thing is, I found it in a remainder shop very soon after its publication - so soon that it might even have been an instant-remainder - and it could be that it was the last book Equation published? worse, they'd announced Frederick Cowles Fear Walks The Night as the next chiller, but it never happened and the Ash Tree edition sold out before it was printed! Such a shame to lose them as they were shaping up so well. You only have to look at all the fantastic titles they were responsible for over such a brief period.

As to Le Fanu, the only other collections of his i've seen are either compilations of his ghost stories or, like Illustrated ..., a mixture of the ghost stories and mysteries, but hopefully one of the others can help and in the meantime i'll see what i can dig up!

[dem]

..... which turns out to be - not much.

Cover Photograph: Glen S. Heller

E. F. Bleiler's J. S. Le Fanu: Ghost Stories & Tales Of Mystery (Dover, 1975) is the best I can do. It's a companion volume to Bleiler's earlier Best Ghost Stories of J. S. Le Fanu (Dover, 1964) and mops up the ten supernatural tales left over from the first book, rounding things off with four mystery tales: The Evil Guest, The Murdered Cousin, A Chapter In The History Of A Tyrone Family and The Room In The Dragon Volant.

Bleiler notes in his typically informative introduction that, word for word Le Fanu's mystery and crime fiction far outweighs his supernatural work but it's mostly confined to the novels. Le Fanu also had a habit of revising or even entirely rewriting his stories after publication (The Murdered Cousin is an early attempt at what would become Uncle Silas), and many have appeared in different versions under alternate titles. So, any other mystery shorts you can turn up, chances are they're variations on these!

[humgoo]

Feb 19, 2009 19:37:25 GMT dem said:

worse, they'd announced Frederick Cowles Fear Walks The Night as the next chiller, but it never happened and the Ash Tree edition sold out before it was printed! Such a shame to lose them as they were shaping up so well. You only have to look at all the fantastic titles they were responsible for over such a brief period.

It must have been a difficult time for publishing this type of fiction. Hugh Lamb, in the new edition of Ghosts in the House (HarperCollins, 2018) by the Benson Brothers (A.C. and R.H.), says the book was "turned down umpteen times" and "nearly made it on to the late Michael Cox's Equation Chillers list in the late 1980s" (see "Acknowledgements" at the end of the book).

One wonders what other books almost made it. (Ghosts in the House was first published by Ash-Tree in 1996.)