Christine Campbell Thomson (1897-1985)

[dem]

Editor of the Not At Night series, she also penned a number of stories as 'Flavia Richardson'. Many of these were competent, if formula, young-women-in-peril-from-demented-surgeons shockers, although Black Magic and the 'supernatural' also featured in such stories as When Hell Laughed Out Of The Earth and The Red Turret. My favourite of her efforts is the nasty Behind The Yellow Door, although Christine herself had a fondness for her final attempt at fiction, Message For Margie, in Van Thal's Pan Horror #5).

After Not At Night, Campbell would publish her autobiography I Am A Literary Agent (Sampson Low, 1951), which, sadly, doesn't even touch upon her experiences as the enfante terrible of the horror anthologists (the general public seem to have loved her books, the critics less so. M. R. James, evidently of a mind that such nastiness could never be conceived by an Englishwoman, accused the series of being "American". She and Not At Night legend Oscar Cook were divorced in 1938, and Christine remarried in 1945, adopting her second husband's surname, Hartley, for two non-fiction occult titles, The Western Mystery Tradition (1968) and A Case For Reincarnation (1972).

Christine passed away, aged 88, on September 29th 1985. Six weeks later, Charles Birkin, ten years her junior died on November 8th. Between then, they had been responsible for arguably the two most intriguing series' of horror fiction to be published in England between the wars.

Christine's short fiction includes:

Behind The Yellow Door: Mrs. Merrill, the brilliant surgeon and pathologist, advertises for a secretary. Marcia Miles is told that her main duty will be to act as a companion to her daughter, Olivette. As it transpires, Merrill only wants some of Miss Miles to act as permanent companion to the girl, who is a horror from the waist down. Together with Dorcas the 'chambermaid', Mrs. Merrill overpowers Marcia and straps her down on the operating table: "Assuming that the operation is successful, as it must be, you will find Olivette's deformed legs grafted on to your body, while Olivette will at last be able to enjoy her life as a normal human being. She has waited nearly twenty years. You have had twenty years. It's your turn."

Behind The Blinds: Everyday story of a brilliant scientist "stricken with a loathsome disease" and his elderly assistant, who keep girls chained up in the spare room and starve them to death. As the twisted old spinster explains to plucky Joan Morgan: "slimming is so fashionable now. Our method of reducing is a little drastic perhaps, but so efficacious ... in a few days you will hardly know yourself. Your clothes will hang on you so loosely that it will be simpler to remove them entirely .... we keep our patients under a very strict regime - no outings, and no visitors - except the doctor, of course. And he comes twice daily".

She's the talkative one of the two. It's the best the wheelchair-bound old boy can do to slobber "too fat ... too fat" and chuckle with "filthy, senile amusement."

At Number Eleven: (Weird Tales, Dec. 1929 as The Grey Lady). Bernard and Maureen move into a flat in Bloomsbury, pretty much their dream home ... save for the ghost of the grey lady. At first she seems rather a benevolent spirit, but now they sense evil and there's a horrible smell pervading the building. And what caused the crippled Mr. Robinson to come racing down the stairs? A slower than usual build-up gives way to a gloriously gruesome denouement.

The Red Turret: Roy Errington, the last of the family line, returns to England to claim his birthright, the Errington estate. His wife, Helen, is terrified of the place, in particular, a portrait of Roy's great grandfather who had a reputation for being an 'evil cove'. Her fears prove justified when the sinister ancestor puts in a personal appearance, mesmerizes Roy, and entices him to sacrifice Helen at a black mass in the concealed room ...

Out Of The Earth: Gloucestershire. Anthony and Sylvia Wayre are attacked by an elemental at their new cottage, A greenish gas seeps under the door and takes the form of a man who gives off a dreadful, fetid stench. When it looms up and threatens to engulf them, Anthony snatches the crucifix from his swooning wife's neck and fends it off. Their home was built on a Roman settlement.

When Hell Laughed: Halloween. Terrific night for raising the Devil, making him bend to your will, etcetera etcetera. Such is the view of Chester Warren, dark occultist. Wife Estelle thinks it's all a jolly wheeze until they're deep into the business and figures manifest on the outside of the pentagram ...

The Black Hare: "You be going to stay here alone, misses? ... only they do say as how ... strange things have happened here afore now". So says the superstitious coachman as he and his passengers, Elizabeth and Susan, alight at Wisteria Cottage, the girls having just inherited it from an uncle, Mr. Roylance. The credulous old fool's main cause for concern involves a black hare which can transform itself into a women and augers death or some such poppycock.
The girls are met at the door of their new home by Mrs. Verity who used to do for their late uncle. She readies a fire for them, helps them unpack and tells them to give she or her husband a shout if they need anything - she lives in a cottage at the bottom of their garden. Susan decides to explore the attic while Elizabeth settles for a relaxing bath.

As she lies in the tub, Elizabeth hears a dull thump overhead and then a droplet of blood lands in the water, followed by another. She rushes upstairs to see if her sister has met with some accident and sure enough, Susan is dead, her throat having been torn out. Elizabeth runs to the window to raise the alarm ... just in time to see a black hare disappear into Mrs. Verity's cottage ...

Pussy: Godfrey Ellington buys a little green cat figure in a shop off the British Museum. His own puss, Simpkins, has an aversion to it from the first - as well it might. The ikon is the earthly receptacle of Bubastis. It doesn't stay small for long ...

[allthingshorror]

Seemingly there is a book called DANCER TO THE GODS by Alan Richardson which deals with Christine Campbell Thomson - aged around 40 and a priestess- who became Richardsons 'magical partner' in the occult.


Also come across the one crime novel that she wrote called Port of Call : Love and Murder in Algeria - published by Philip Allan (1936) - pinched the coverscan from abebooks.

[allthingshorror]

Photo of Christine and a letter which mentions The Red Turret.

[jamesdoig]

Wow, terrific stuff!

[dem]

i think it's the first photo i've seen one of CCT and, god, so sad to see her so obviously frail and coming to the end of her life, something the accompanying letter only confirms.

anyhow, here's an Index to the original series in case anyone wants it, slightly modified from the version that appears on Gruesome Cargoes. 170 stories spread over 11 volumes, all published in the UK by Selwyn & Blount between 1925 and 1936, although at least 100 of the stories originally appeared in legendary US pulp Weird Tales.

Michael Annesley - Rats At Dead Of Night
R. Anthony (Anthony Rud) - The Parasitic Hand You'll Need A Night Light
R. Anthony - The Witch-Baiter By Daylight Only
Benge Atlee - The Green Eyes of Mbuiri Gruesome Cargoes

A. Barclay - The Chamber Of Death Terror By Night
Francis Beeding - The Tomb Gruesome Cargoes
J. W. Benjamin - The Man Who Saw Red Terror By Night
Paul Benton - The Beast You'll Need A Night Light
Archie Binns - The Last Trip Not At Night
Zealia B. Bishop - The Curse of Yig Switch On The Light
Oswell Blakeston - The Crack Nightmare By Daylight
F. Bonney - The Flying Head Terror By Night
Jack Bradley - Haunted Hands Switch On The Light
R. F. Broad - Bhuillaneadh Switch On The Light
Arthur J. Burks - Bells Of Oceana By Daylight Only
Lorretta G. Burrough - Creeping Fingers At Dead Of Night

Hugh B. Cave - Cult Of The White Ape Keep on the Light
Hugh B. Cave - The Watcher In The Green Room Terror By Night
Gordon Chesson - Little Red Shoes Nightmare By Daylight
Dora Christie-Murray - Drums of Fear Gruesome Cargoes
Galen C. Colin - Teeth More Not At Night
W. Chiswell Collins - The Leopard's Trail Not At Night
Eli Colter - The Last Horror You'll Need A Night Light
Oscar Cook - Si Urag Of The Tail You'll Need A Night Light
Oscar Cook - When Glister Walked Gruesome Cargoes
Oscar Cook - Piece-meal By Daylight Only
Oscar Cook - Boomerang Switch On The Light
Oscar Cook - His Beautiful Hands At Dead Of Night
Oscar Cook - The Great White Fear Grim Death
Oscar Cook - Golden Lilies Keep on the Light
Oscar Cook - Dog Death Terror By Night
Oscar Cook - The Crimson Head-Dress Nightmare By Daylight
Mary E. Counselman - The House Of Shadows Keep on the Light
Mary E. Counselman - The Accursed Isle Terror By Night
Charles Cullum - Scarred Mirror Nightmare By Daylight

R. Dawson - Grannie Nightmare By Daylight
Gerald Dean - The Devil Bed Not At Night
August Derleth - Bat's Belfry More Not At Night
August Derleth - The Coffin Of Lissa You'll Need A Night Light
August Derleth - The Tenant By Daylight Only
August Derleth - Prince Borgia's Mass At Dead Of Night
August Derleth - The Metronome Terror By Night
August Derleth & Marc R. Schorer - The Pacer Switch On The Light
Harry De Windt - A Celestial Hell Gruesome Cargoes
John Dwight - The Fates By Daylight Only

Charles Lawrence Edholm - The Rose Window By Daylight Only
Captain George Fielding Eliot - The Copper Bowl By Daylight Only
Paul Ernst - The Scourge Of Mektoub At Dead Of Night

Dion Fortune - The Flute Of Seven Stops Nightmare By Daylight

Rupert Grayson - The Man Who Ordered a Double Gruesome Cargoes
Rupert Grayson - Blood By Daylight Only
Michael Gwynn - The Death Plant Terror By Night

Edmond Hamilton - Pigmy Island Switch On The Light
Hazel Heald - The Horror in the Museum Terror By Night
J. M. Hiatt & Moye W. Stephens - Ghosts Of The Air You'll Need A Night Light
William R. Hickey - The Cave of Spiders By Daylight Only
Hester Holland - Dorner Cordainthus Grim Death
Hester G. Holland - The Library Keep on the Light
Hester Holland - The Scream Nightmare By Daylight
Robert E. Howard - The Black Stone Grim Death
Robert E. Howard - Worms Of The Earth Keep on the Light
Robert E. Howard - Rogues in the House Terror By Night

E.M.P. Inglefield - The Cossacks Nightmare By Daylight

Richard Jackson & A. Edwards Chapman - The Idol Of Death At Dead Of Night
Royal W. Jimerson - Medusa By Daylight Only
Morgan Johnson - Panthers of Shevgoan By Daylight Only

A. W. Kapfer - The Phantom Drug More Not At Night
David H. Keller - The Seeds Of Death At Dead Of Night
David H. Keller - The Thing in the Cellar Grim Death
David H. Keller - The Dead Woman Nightmare By Daylight
Donald Edward Keyhoe - The Mystery Under The Sea More Not At Night
Jessie D. Kerruish - The Wonderful Tune At Dead Of Night
Jessie D. Kerruish - The Seven Locked Room Keep on the Light
Jessie D. Kerruish - The Gold Of Hermodike Nightmare By Daylight
Joseph O. Kesselring - King Cobra Terror By Night
Zayu Konstanz - The Yellow Paw Nightmare By Daylight

Greye La Spina - The Tortoise-Shell Cat Not At Night
Warden Ledge - Legion Of Evil Keep on the Light
Raoul Lenoir - The Dead Soul More Not At Night
Maurice Level - Night And Silence Grim Death
Mortimer Levitan - The Third Thumb-Print Not At Night
L. A. Lewis - The Author's Tale Terror By Night
Amelia Reynolds Long - The Thought Monster Switch On The Light
Frank Belknap Long jr. - Death-Waters Not At Night
Frank Belknap Long, jr. -The Sea Thing More Not At Night
Frank Belknap Long, jr. -The Red Fetish Switch On The Light
H. P. Lovecraft - The Horror At Red Hook You'll Need A Night Light
H. P. Lovecraft - Pickman's Model By Daylight Only
H. P. Lovecraft - The Rats In The Walls Switch On The Light

Charles Henry MacKintosh - Guardian Of The Guavas At Dead Of Night
R. G. MacReady - The Plant-Thing Not At Night
Dagney Major - The Children of Bondage Gruesome Cargoes
Harold Markham - The Hand From The Ruins Gruesome Cargoes
Harold Markham - White Lotus Flower By Daylight Only
J. Dyott Matthews - The Tapping Switch On The Light
J. Dyott Mathews - The Wings Grim Death
J. Dyott Mathews - Green Slime Keep on the Light
Joseph McCord - The Girdle You'll Need A Night Light
C. Franklin Miller - His Family Not At Night
C. Franklin Miller - The Last Laugh By Daylight Only
J. Leslie Mitchell - If You Sleep In The Moonlight Grim Death
G. Frederick Montefoire - Black Curtains Not At Night
Bassett Morgan - Laocoon You'll Need A Night Light
Bassett Morgan - Devils of Po Sung By Daylight Only
Bassett Morgan - Island Of Doom Grim Death
Bassett Morgan - Tiger Dust Keep on the Light
H. Warner Munn - The Chain By Daylight Only
Rosalie Muspratt - Helvellyn: Elivion Or Hill Of Baal Grim Death
Rosalie Muspratt - Althorpe Abbey Keep on the Light

Douglas Newton - The Trimmer By Daylight Only
Joel Martin Nichols, jr. - The Hooded Death More Not At Night
Lockhart North - Dead Man's Luck Gruesome Cargoes

N. J. O'Neail - The Flame Fiend Switch On The Light
L. Oulton - The Padlocked House Gruesome Cargoes

Zina Inez Ponder - His Wife You'll Need A Night Light
Romeo Poole - A Hand From The Deep Not At Night
Romeo Poole - The Death Crescents Of Koti You'll Need A Night Light
Paul S. Powers - Monsters Of The Pit Not At Night
Paul S. Powers - The Life Serum You'll Need A Night Light
Guy Preston - The Inn Grim Death
Guy Preston - The Way He Died
Merle Prout - The House Of the Worm Terror By Night

Seabury Quinn - The Horror On The Links More Not At Night
Seabury Quinn - The House Of Horror You'll Need A Night Light
Seabury Quinn - The Curse Of The House Of Phipps At Dead Of Night

Edith Lyle Ragsdale - Vials Of Wrath More Not At Night
A. A. Rawlinson - The Creeping Horror Gruesome Cargoes
J. Joseph Renaud - Suzanne Switch On The Light
H. Thompson Rich - The Purple Cincture Not At Night
H. Thompson Rich -The Black Box More Not At Night
Flavia Richardson - Out Of The Earth You'll Need A Night Light
Flavia Richardson - When Hell Laughed Gruesome Cargoes
Flavia Richardson - At Number Eleven By Daylight Only
Flavia Richardson - The Red Turret Switch On The Light
Flavia Richardson - Pussy At Dead Of Night
Flavia Richardson - Behind the Blinds Grim Death
Flavia Richardson - The Black Hare Keep on the Light
Flavia Richardson - Behind the Yellow Door Terror By Night
Flavia Richardson - Empty Stockings Nightmare By Daylight
Victor Roman - Four Wooden Stakes Not At Night
Walter Rose - The Horror Of the Cavern Nightmare By Daylight

Oscar Schisgall - In Kashla's Garden By Daylight Only
Elizabeth Sheldon - The Ghost That Never Died Grim Death
B. W. Sliney - The Man Who Was Saved More Not At Night
Clark Ashton Smith - Isle Of The Torturers Keep on the Light
Will Smith & R. J. Robbins - Swamp Horror More Not At Night
Edmund Snell - The Black Spider Gruesome Cargoes
Nicholas Stafford - Mirabel Houston Nightmare By Daylight
W. J. Stamper - Fidel Basin More Not At Night
W. J. Stamper - Lips Of The Dead Not At Night
W. J. Stamper - Ti Michel You'll Need A Night Light
Richard Stone - Murder By Proxy Switch On The Light

H. Thomson - Offspring Of Hell Gruesome Cargoes
Signe Toksvig - The Devil's Martyr By Daylight Only

Geoffrey Vace (Hugh B. Cave) - Four Doomed Men At Dead Of Night
Stewart Van Der Veer - The Yellow Spectre More Not At Night
Anthony Vercoe - Flies Grim Death

Harold Ward - House Of The Living Dead Grim Death
Harold Ward - The Closed Door Terror By Night
F. A. M. Webster - The Owl At Dead Of Night
Anthony Wharton - The Hunting on the Doonagh Bog Gruesome Cargoes
Henry S. Whitehead - Passing Of A God At Dead Of Night
Henry S. Whitehead - The Chadbourne Episode Keep on the Light
Henry W. Whitehill - The Case Of The Russian Stevedore Not At Night
J. S. Whittaker - Flower Valley Switch On The Light
Don C. Wiley - The Head Of Wu Fang Keep on the Light
Barrett Willoughby - One Alaskan Night Nightmare By Daylight
Arthur Woodward - Lord Of The Talking Heads Grim Death
Everil Worrell - The Grey Killer At Dead Of Night
Sewell Peaslee Wright - The Experiment Of Erich Weigert More Not At Night

[allthingshorror]

Have uncovered both an Oscar Cook story and a Flavia Richardson story, both have never been published in book form. What's even more mindblowing is that there may be a few more to follow...

A good news day.

[elricc]

ooh looking forward to new Oscar Cook stories, I enjoyed his Borneo tales

[allthingshorror]

From The Right Way to Write Successful Fiction
by Christine Campbell Thomson

Andrew George Elliot (1946)

Chapter 7 - The Occult Story

This is a difficult chapter to write and a difficult type of story to discuss. I think the simplest thing to say is that you either have leanings to write it or you haven't. It's a very hard thing to handle either in long or short form, because as soon as you start looking at the "fourth dimension", "inner planes" or whatever you like to call them, you have got to have, first, at least some knowledge of the phraseology and of the possibilities and, secondly, the power to know when to stop giving out what you do not know.

Editors as a rule don;t like "ghost" stories, but there is the definite public which takes to what might be called "occult novels" and stories of this type in book form with avidity. And if you want to write this kind of thing, there's no reason why you shouldn't.

After a good deal of experience in writing it and reading it, I feel that there are two distinct classes of occult writing: the class of material written by those who don't know very much, have a certain knowledge of what might be called the "jargon" and a vivid imagination: and there are the really first-class stories built up on years of research, reading and appreciation which carry conviction not by bludgeoning the reader with horror but by sheer mastery of technique.

Among the writers of the latter class, of course, some leap to the mind - Dr. Montague Rhodes James, E. F. Benson and Algernon Blackwood. They are masters of the craft of making the flesh creep without the piling up of common horrors.

Before attempting to write stories of this kind, I would advise you to read all three of these - their short stories can be found individually in volumes and some of them are included in all anthologies dealing with this subject.

For full-length books, try the novels of Dion Fortune - The Winged Bull, The Goatfoot God and The Sea Priestess and if you are luck enough to get a hold of it, The Secrets of Doctor Taverner; try also The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley, The Undying Monster by Jessie Douglas Kerruish and, among the short stories, Margret Irwin's Madame Fears the Dark, with its companions in the volume.

To-day there is so much interest in the mystic and so much, comparatively speaking, is spoken and written about the mysterious unseen dimensions and the possibilities of their occupation that the would-be writer had again got to know quite a bit about his subject if he is going to get away with it more than the least critical selection of the public.

If you write occult novels - and I have used the term to denote practically everything dealing with the Other World - you may not find them easy of acceptance, but the public is definitely growing.

Your trouble will probably be that you will find yourself lost in the morass of terms, with an idea of what you want to say and not much knowledge on how to cross from the first opening to the final closing. It is rather like trying to write in the language of a distinct science.

On the other hand, if you want to write more than the obvious ghost story - and clanking chains and headless ladies are now quite out of fashion - I think it may be taken for granted that you have read something of the subject and know a little bit about the ground on which you are treading.

The occult novels can be divided into those dealing with curses, witchcraft and so forth and those dealing with the Old Gods, such as Blackwood's The Centaur and Julius Levallon.

I think perhaps the best advice I can give you on this type of work is not to write until you know something about it and can create a good story, and, secondly, to remember that the mere fact that you are dealing with the Unseen in some form or another gives you no right to turn out slovenly work on this plane. Your construction, your language and your plot must be as carefully worked out as for any other type of story: to lose your reader in a haze of muzzy mysticism is no good to either you or him.

So many stories of this kind fail to get anywhere because the author so obviously fails to get anywhere himself in his denouement. So frequently he gives the impression that the whole thing is beyond his own understanding and so he leaves the story in mid-air for the unfortunate reader. That is why I said earlier on in this chapter that the occult novel is a very hard type of thing to handle. It has a scientific aspect: it does or should conform to certain definite rules and regulations, and the author who does not abide by these and carry them out to their accepted conclusion is admitting to anyone with any pretence to knowledge of the subject that he does not really understand what he is talking about.

Probably in few forms of fiction is it easier to get half-way through a good story or good situation and find oneself utterly stuck for the final wind-up.

Don't begin to write a story like this without being quite sure that you know how to finish it.

[allthingshorror]

She also wrote a novel called Penelope's Daughter under the pseudonym of Dair Alexander (Robert Hale 1975)

[dem]

The old masters: M. R. J., Blackwood, E. F. Benson and Dennis Wheatley (!) - all notable by their glaring absence from the Not At Night's, and i must admit i'm glad of it. C. C. T. had more luck with Dion Fortune and Jessie Douglas Kerruish, although their contributions don't really show either at their best, imo.

very interesting article, that. thanks for sharing, mr. Mains.

There's another Campbell book we were going on about before, a collaboration with John Woodiwiss, Murder And Sudden Death (Quality Press, 1939). Thanks to this lousy search engine, i've found the original, unanswered post on Gruesome Cargoes but not on here, where Steve came up with the dirt. I've one of Woodiwiss's solo efforts, Mad Or Bad? (Quality Press, 1950), a series of essays about Spring Heeled Jack, the London Monster and other colourful criminals, so if the CCT-assisted volume is more of the same its bound to be an interesting read.

[allthingshorror]

Here are three more books I've uncovered by her - but I'm not sure if they have any supernatural/occult connotations:

The Incredible Island (1924)
His Excellency - pub by Selwyn and Blount (date ?)
In a Far Corner - pub by Methuen (date?)

What's lovely is that she's being fleshed out a little bit more - hopefully in time will be able to get some photos of her in her younger days etc.

[jamesdoig]

I've got the 1934 Author's & Writer's Who's Who. Not sure if her entry adds anything:

Thomson, Christine Campbell (Flavia Richardson). b: Lon. e: Queen's Col Lon. m: Oscar Cook. s: 1. Lit Agent & Author. Publ: His Excellency; In a Far Corner; The Incredible Island; Not at Night Series. contributor to: Newcastle Sunday Sun, Even News, Star, Glas Herald, Daily Herald etc. Curtis Brown Ltd some yrs. a: c/o Christine Campbell Thomson Ltd, 12 Henrietta St, W.C. 2.

[dem]

it's certainly very interesting to learn the 'Flavia Richardson' pseudonym wasn't a closely guarded secret even as early as 1934.

[noose]

Here is a photo of CCT of her in her early 40's that I've recently come across:



Dem, I think you'd agree - a much better photo than the one above.

[dem]

Can't believe I only just spotted this! what a lovely photo to remember her by. Thanks so much for posting, John.

by comparison, this is a very titchy find indeed, but it cheered me up.

Wasn't gonna bother with Brick Lane market on Sunday gone certain that, as far as the few remaining bookstalls were concerned, heavy rain would stop play. Perhaps more pertinently, I only had £1.60 to my name. Glad to have bothered though, as first up I spotted Peter Haining's The Television Detectives Omnibus for 50p and then, in the 25p box ....

Christine Hartley - The Western Mystery Tradition: The Esoteric Heritage Of The West (Aquarian, 1968, 1986)

Steinar Lund

Blurb
A reissue of a classic work, by a pupil of Dion Fortune, on the mythical and historical roots of Western occultism.

Christine Hartley's aim was to demonstrate that we in the West, far from being dependent upon Eastern esoteric teachings, possess a rich and potent mystery tradition of our own, evoked and defined in myth, legend, folklore and song, and embodied in the legacy of Druidic culture.

More importantly, she provides practical guidelines for modern students of the ancient mysteries, 'The Western tradition,' in Christine Hartley's view, 'is the basis of the Western religious feeling, the foundation of our spiritual life, the matrix of our religious formulae, whether we are aware of it or not. To it we owe the life and force of our spiritual life.'

I am sure I will eventually get around to reading this when I have my serious head on - The Internet Sacred Text Archive has it that The Western Mystery Tradition is "considered a "classic" by some occultists, it is for the most part more Atlantis and space-aliens" - but it is Alan Richardson's brief (4 page) introduction which holds immediate interest. Understandably, this focuses on C.C.T.'s life-long interest in the occult. Even before the Not At Night's and marriage to Oscar Cook, J. W. Brodie-Innes was so impressed with Christine's feyness that he tried to persuade her to join an esoteric group of his acquaintance, but she had other business to attend just then, namely the little matter of compiling classic horror anthologies for Selwyn & Blount and introducing H. P. Lovecraft, Seabury Quinn, REH, CAS and 'Flavia Richardson' to the British reading public! CCT would eventually hook up with Violet 'Dion Fortune' Firth, a pupil of Brodie-Innes', from whom she had commissioned stories for the Not At Night's. According to Mr. Richardson, at the height of her powers, Christine was "a formidable Priestess ... a fully-trained initiate of the Golden Dawn" who communed with the Secret Chiefs and saw herself as a disciple and servant of Merlin. The unfussy chapter headings - The Ancient Gods, Arthur, Merlin And Morgan And Bride, The Holy Places, The Druids, The History Of Our Race, etc. - would appear to offer some clue to what's on offer once i muster enough steely resolve to take the plunge.