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Post by dem bones on Oct 28, 2008 19:08:47 GMT
August Derleth - Not Long For This World (Ballatine, undated, originally Arkham House, 1948) The Shadow On The Sky Birkett's Twelfth Corpse The White Moth Nellie Foster Wild Grapes Fiegman's Beard The Drifting Snow The Return Of Sarah Purcell Logoda's Heads The Second Print Mrs Elting Does Her Part Mrs. Bentley's Daughter Those Who Seek Mr. Berbeck Had A Dream The Lilac Bush A Matter Of Sight Mrs. Lannisfree After You, Mr. Henderson The Lost Day A Collector Of Stones. The God Box Saunder's Little FriendThe original Arkham House edition (1948) from which this is derived includes a foreword and an additional ten stories: A Little Knowledge The Bridge of Sighs A Cloak from Messr. Lando He Shall Come Prince Borgia's Mass A Dinner at Imola Baynter's Imp The Tenant Lesandro's Familiar 'Just a Song at Twilight'Nellie Foster: When two local children fall ill with a blood disease, Mrs. Kroft takes it upon herself to watch over the grave of a recently deceased girl. A mist rises in their little corner of the cemetery, and sure enough young Nellie Foster comes crawling out from the soil. The following day Mrs Kroft sets out in a rainstorm to dig up Nellie's corpse - "she was always such a nice girl" - and perform the necessary unpleasantness. Birkett's Twelfth Corpse: Rivermen Fred Birkett and Hank Room are in bitter competition to dredge the most corpses from Badger Prairie on the Wisconsin. Forty years into the match and they're drawn on eleven each when Bud Enters drowns. This one's the championship decider. Mrs Elting Does Her Part: Richard Alder colludes with a gifted medium to avenge the death of his brother, Jack, driven to suicide by bent businessman, Sanders Hawk. The big plan is for Richard to appear as his brother's ghost at Mrs. Elting's next séance .... The Tenant: "He wasn't, if you happen to remember, just exactly a reputable character."
"I do remember that there were ugly rumours current about him. Nothing was ever proved as far as I remember."
"No, nothing was ever proved; that's true. His name was connected with the disappearance of several small children from the countryside."
"It was about the time of the agitation about vampires wasn't it?"
"Yes, I believe it was."The man under discussion is 'pseudo scientist' Roxy Camburn, a researcher of bacteria. His grandson, Michael Sanbury, has just inherited the estate which is locally regarded as being haunted. The taciturn butler Jenkins certainly thinks so and murmurs darkly of his late employer's mysterious pet. And what's the cause of that "kind of wet, sloshy noise, as if someone were throwing a wet sponge on the floor"? Top-notch 'man-eating blob of slime' nonsense. Baynter's Imp: Cyril Baynter, oafish spoilt bastard and self-styled Dandy about Chicago, is infuriated that local beauty Belle Fossett would rather be seen out with pauper Bert Trayle than spend one second with him. Assisted by an imp he unwittingly releases from the bottle that's imprisoned it for 900 years, Baynter first kills Bert, then Belle's father, who never approved of him, and prepares to jump Miss Fossett's bones. But first there's the little matter of doing away with his personal demon. The Drifting Snow: Aunt Mary insists the curtains remain drawn after sunset. When Henry's curiosity gets the better of him, he sees two beckoning figures outside. It transpires that a pregnant servant girl froze to death on the Western slope after being dismissed from the house during a snowstorm .... Saunder's Little Friend: Aunt Agatha dies, leaving lovely fortune and nice house in Stepney to grasping nephew, Rainleigh Saunder. Her one stipulation is that Saunder leave her favourite room undisturbed. Of course, having dabbled in the Black Arts all these years, Aunt Agatha knows a bit about human nature, the despised Ranleigh's in particular, and sure enough he can't help but clear the table of the clay mess she was working on when death struck her down. Saunder finds himself involuntarily moulding a dreadful figure which he disposes of in aunt's trunk along with a strange book and other bizarre paraphernalia. Subsequently, Saunder is haunted by a ghastly monkey-like entity visible to all save himself. They finally come face to face when he can no longer resist a look inside the trunk ... Lessandro's Familiar: Cesare Borgia wishes to slay powerful Black Magician Lessandro to avenge the murder of one of his men. disguised as a monk he enters the city of Celsina with Orvolo, a young soldier practiced in the dark arts. But Lessandro is waiting for them. Orvolo is cast into a dungeon and Cesare frozen on the spot while Lessandro summons forth his pet, "a huge, misshapen blasphemous monstrosity", to destroy them .... Prince Borgia's Mass: Satanists are stealing the bodies of the dead and using them in their blasphemous ceremonies. Cesare Borgia and his men sneak up on them as they celebrate Walpurgis night and, at his command, all nine participants are crucified upside down. Together with his Magi, Rene, he performs his own variation on the Black Mass. They summon Beelzebub who reduces the sorry sect to ashes.
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Post by lobolover on Feb 9, 2009 23:19:01 GMT
Now is it just me, or does "The Drifting Snow" seem to be a tad like "An old nurses storyy" by Gaskell?
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Post by dem bones on Feb 21, 2012 5:14:21 GMT
His work as an anthologist and publisher comes in for a great deal of praise, but as yet we've had little comment about August Derleth's own supernatural fiction on here. While it's true his work is scandalously derivative, i find the clichéd, horror comic likes of the very early Bats Belfry, The Pacer and The Tenant far more entertaining than they've probably any right to be, and every once in a while he'd come up with an absolute stormer (Carousel, The Lonesome Place, The Panelled Room).
The Pacer: " ... since these souls were moving merely to and fro in the cellar, it would be a comparatively easy thing to draw them back, if one had a body to put them into."
St. John's Wood, London. Immediately prior to his death, the eccentric scientist Brent found a volunteer for his experiment and successfully bagged a lost soul. Unfortunately, the house at number 21 has proved difficult to let ever since, due to the sudden death of the next tenant and unaccountable noises from the locked room upstairs. Mr. Larkin, an author of romantic novels, moves in and is soon troubled by the phantom footsteps. And what's that buried by the lilac bush ...?
Bat's Belfry: "I made a new and shocking discovery today. I went down to the place where the tablet lay, and another rock below the cavity wherein the Book of Thoth had been lain gave way below me and I found myself in a vault with about a score of skeletons - all of little children. If the house is inhabited by vampires it is only too obvious that these skeletons are those of their unfortunate victims."
Essentially, August Derleth's Dracula. Sir Harry Barclay moves into Lohrville Manor, a Mansion on the fog-bound moors. The place has a sinister reputation on account of his predecessor, Baron Lohrville who dubbed it 'Bats Belfry' and a spate of disappearances of young women from a neighbouring village. Barclay learns to his cost that the Baron has set up headquarters in the cellar, with four dishy brides at his call. Sir Harry finds the experience suitably draining.
The Metronome: Mrs. Farwell drowns her stepson Jimmy. After the funeral he comes back to see that she doesn't get away with it. The Coroner is mystified by all the wet footprints and the fact that Mrs. Farwell seems to have been suffocated with damp rags.
The Coffin Of Lissa: Gruesome tale of torture at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition. The narrator is placed in the titular contraption. Rats gnaw his hands. The lid slowly descends ...
The Panelled Room: Mrs. Lydia Grant moves into the house on Main St. against all advice. Seventeen years previous, Peter Mason killed his wife then hung himself in the panelled room, and successive residents have been troubled by their ghosts. Her sister, Irma, is delighted when Lydia sees the ghastly apparitions - she stands to inherit the property on the elder woman's death - but comes unstuck when Mrs. Grant is strangled by unseen hands. One of Derleth's best - horrible ending!
Carousel: A mob runs riot and lynches a black man at the Amusement Park for no reason other than his color. Three years later, scheming Mrs. Benjin is giving her lonely stepdaughter hell. Little Marcia befriends the dead man's ghost and he promises to watch over her. Mrs. Benjin follows her to the derelict funland intent on bringing about an 'accident', but the towering spectre intervenes. One of Derleth's best, and the ending is EC incarnate (albeit a decade early).
Here, Daemos!: The Rev. Martin Welby, formerly of Whitechapel ("not a savoury environment"), arrives in Millham to learn that the parish funds are all but depleted. On the plus side, local legend has it that the tomb of Sir Nicholas Millham, undisturbed these past three centuries, contains all his lovely treasure. Against the advice of the superstitious yokels he orders a swift exhumation. But Sir Nicholas was a noted Demonologist and he's not about to let the church get their grubby hands on his ill-gotten gains.
Hallowe’en For Mr. Faulkner: October 31st, 1953, and Guy Faulkner, a New Yorker in London to complete his genealogical studies, is lost in the fog. A stranger approaches, asks for a light and, when Mr. Faulkner complies, he is shocked to catch a glimpse of the man's face in the flame as it looks just like his own! The stranger leads him to a house in Old Paradise where a group of gentlemen in strange attire welcome him as though he were a close associate! Funny thing is, he's sure he knows them from somewhere ....
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Feb 21, 2012 10:55:39 GMT
His work as an anthologist and publisher comes in for a great deal of praise His family used to say he was best known for his "regional novels."
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Post by doug on Feb 21, 2012 16:44:25 GMT
Hi! I've always enjoyed Mr. Derleth's non-Lovecraftian stories very much. Even he admitted that many of his stories were just filler material for Weird Tales, but I still enjoy them for a little light bed time reading. And "The Lonesome Place" and "Drifting Snow" are two of my all time favorite stories .
tke care. Doug
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Feb 21, 2012 18:36:53 GMT
Dem: I've read a lot of Derleth stories, but not some of the ones listed in your most recent post. "The Carousel" sounds particularly intriguing.
Derleth wasn't the most imaginative writer. The following could work as a summary for around half of his stories: An unpleasant person does a dirty deed and is hounded to death by a supernatural agent of vengeance.
Still, he was a skilled craftsman; he always kept things fast and punchy. My thinking is that he was at his worst when he was aping or "collaborating with" Lovecraft and at his best when he wrote small-scale horror in more of what I assume to be his own voice. Among his best in my book:
The House in the Magnolias Zombies!
The Drifting Snow Snow vampire!!
A Wig for Miss DeVore Actress vs. possessed wig!!!
The Night Train to Lost Valley Devil worshipers!
Mrs. Manifold Morbidly obese woman vs. really icky supernatural agent of vengeance!!!!
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Post by dem bones on Feb 22, 2012 7:25:37 GMT
Hi! I've always enjoyed Mr. Derleth's non-Lovecraftian stories very much. Even he admitted that many of his stories were just filler material for Weird Tales, but I still enjoy them for a little light bed time reading. And "The Lonesome Place" and "Drifting Snow" are two of my all time favorite stories . It's his non-Lovecraftian work does it for me too, doug. Didn't know he'd "admitted that many of his stories were just filler material for Weird Tales", but his more generic horror tales certainly leave that impression. Somehow it makes them all the more likeable. Thank you for your recommendations, CB. Peter Haining exhumed Carousel for The Freak Show, but not sure anyone thought to revive it again until John Pelan included the story in his recently published two-volume Centuries Best Horror set for Cemetery Dance, which should bring it to the wider audience it deserves. August Derleth – When Graveyards Yawn (Tandem, 1965; originally Mr. George and Other Odd Persons, Arkham House, 1963) Introduction
Mr. George Parrington’s Pool A Gentleman From Prague The Man On B-17 Blessed Are The Meek Mara The Blue Spectacles Alannah Dead Man’s Shoes The Tsanta In The Parlour Balu The Extra Passenger The Wind In The Lilacs Miss Esperson The Night Train To Lost Valley Bishop’s Gambit Mrs. ManifoldBlurb Have you ever
Felt an unseen presence? Lived through the same moment before? Felt a sudden chill when there was no draught? Heard your name called when there was no-one near? Known something would happen before it does? The superb stories in this collection by August Derleth will confirm your worst fears.This one collects the bulk of the stories he published as 'Stephen Grendon' between 1939 and 1962 (by my reckoning, only Open, Sesame!, The Song of the Pewee and the much-anthologised The Drifting Snow are absent ?), Derleth writes in his brief introduction that he considers them among the best macabre tales he'd written, and I remember having a good time with Mr. George, The Tsanta In The Parlour, The Extra Passenger and Mrs. Manifold, but it's been a long time and the rest are a blur. From CB's remarks, The Night Train To Lost Valley should be right up my street but it hasn't stayed in my head at all. Yet another to revisit.
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Post by andydecker on Feb 22, 2012 9:20:26 GMT
I've always enjoyed Mr. Derleth's non-Lovecraftian stories very much I have to admit I have not read much of his non-Lovecraft work. As I am firmly entrenched in the camp which absolutly despises his thematic contribution to the Mythos I never searched him out. Just bought a Solar Pons collection these days which I still havn´t cracked. Those Borgia tales sound like fun. And that Tandem is a nice edition.
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Post by monker on Feb 22, 2012 11:37:03 GMT
That's funny because the whole Mythos thing might be the main reason why I haven't given Lovecraft much of a go whereas Derleth has had my attention (perhaps sometimes undeservedly) ever since I first read 'The Lonesome Place'.
Derleth's a competent writer who can quite often lack conviction. It's as if he is writing to a template that excludes both graphic horror and wit. However, I admire his work ethic and when he is 'on' he is a very worthwhile author. Apart from 'The Lonesome Place, I also like his domestic ghost stories such as 'The Panelled Room' and 'The Shuttered House'.
Derleth's a bit of a 'moral' author so I suppose he couldn't help himself with his Mythos efforts.
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Post by doug on Feb 22, 2012 12:06:54 GMT
Hi! I've always enjoyed Mr. Derleth's non-Lovecraftian stories very much. Even he admitted that many of his stories were just filler material for Weird Tales, but I still enjoy them for a little light bed time reading. And "The Lonesome Place" and "Drifting Snow" are two of my all time favorite stories . it's his non-Lovecraftian work does it for me too, doug. i didn't know he'd "admitted that many of his stories were just filler material for Weird Tales", but his more generic horror tales certainly leave that impression. Somehow it makes them all the more likeable. Thank you for your recommendations, CB. Peter Haining exhumed Carousel for The Freak Show, but i'm not sure anyone thought to revive it again until John Pelan included the story in his recently published two-volume Centuries Best Horror set for Cemetery Dance, which should bring it to the wider audience it deserves. August Derleth – When Graveyards Yawn (Tandem, 1965; originally Mr. George and Other Odd Persons, Arkham House, 1963) Introduction
Mr. George Parrington’s Pool A Gentleman From Prague The Man On B-17 Blessed Are The Meek Mara The Blue Spectacles Alannah Dead Man’s Shoes The Tsanta In The Parlour Balu The Extra Passenger The Wind In The Lilacs Miss Esperson The Night Train To Lost Valley Bishop’s Gambit Mrs. ManifoldBlurb Have you ever
Felt an unseen presence? Lived through the same moment before? Felt a sudden chill when there was no draught? Heard your name called when there was no-one near? Known something would happen before it does? The superb stories in this collection by August Derleth will confirm your worst fears.This one collects the bulk of the stories he published as 'Stephen Grendon' between 1939 and 1962 (by my reckoning, only Open, Sesame!, The Song of the Pewee and the much-anthologised The Drifting Snow are absent ?), Derleth writes in his brief introduction that he considers them among the best macabre tales he'd written, and i remember having a good time with Mr. George, The Tsanta In The Parlour, The Extra Passenger and Mrs. Manifold, but it's been a long time and the rest are a blur. From CB's remarks, The Night Train To Lost Valley should be right up my street but it hasn't stayed in my head at all. Yet another to revisit. Hi, I hope I didn't put my foot in my mouth, but I'm almost positive he mentioned it in the introduction to "Col. Markesan and Less Pleasnat People" that he and Mark Shorer wrote the stories in less than a month and that they were filler. So maybe I got ahead of my self and he only meant the stories he wrote in that one month. I'll do my homework tonight. Take care. Doug
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Feb 22, 2012 12:18:40 GMT
In the introduction to Someone in the Dark, Derleth writes:
"Perhaps it is not to my credit that I have never taken the time to write a really first-rate ghost story; indeed, out of some two hundred, less than a score stand up under a second reading. I have no intention, however, of making excuses; I wrote those ghost stories in the hope that they might entertain others as much as the writing of them entertained me."
I'm really going to have to buy that Pelan collection one of these days.
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Post by andydecker on Feb 22, 2012 16:00:43 GMT
Derleth's a bit of a 'moral' author so I suppose he couldn't help himself with his Mythos efforts. I think - I really am not certain - I read in the Joshi book a quote by HPL where he said something to the effect "Stargazing isn´t young August´s thing" or something like that. And how right he was. The idea that there is something which couldn´t be bothered with a human concept like good or evil was seemingly beyond Derleth´s comfort zone. And from his standpoint he was kind of right. How dull would have Mythos fiction become if the only role for the hero would have been to observe and die of fright or whatever?
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Post by doug on Feb 22, 2012 18:41:36 GMT
In the introduction to Someone in the Dark, Derleth writes: "Perhaps it is not to my credit that I have never taken the time to write a really first-rate ghost story; indeed, out of some two hundred, less than a score stand up under a second reading. I have no intention, however, of making excuses; I wrote those ghost stories in the hope that they might entertain others as much as the writing of them entertained me." I'm really going to have to buy that Pelan collection one of these days. I have a feeling that that is probably what I read. I had 5 of his Arkham House collections. That is probably what I read and then twisted around. Take care. Doug
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Post by doug on Feb 22, 2012 18:46:38 GMT
In the introduction to Someone in the Dark, Derleth writes: "Perhaps it is not to my credit that I have never taken the time to write a really first-rate ghost story; indeed, out of some two hundred, less than a score stand up under a second reading. I have no intention, however, of making excuses; I wrote those ghost stories in the hope that they might entertain others as much as the writing of them entertained me." I'm really going to have to buy that Pelan collection one of these days. I own "Who shall I say is Calling" the best of August Derleth. It was the only one of the 4 volumes that I could afford. And as far as the Pelan "Century's Best" goes, I swore to myself NO MORE HARDBACKS!! No Room! No money! It's a terrible addiction! "Hi! My name is Doug and I'm a bookaholic!"
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Post by dem bones on Feb 22, 2012 20:46:53 GMT
In the introduction to Someone in the Dark, Derleth writes: "Perhaps it is not to my credit that I have never taken the time to write a really first-rate ghost story; indeed, out of some two hundred, less than a score stand up under a second reading. I have no intention, however, of making excuses; I wrote those ghost stories in the hope that they might entertain others as much as the writing of them entertained me." refreshingly honest or unduly harsh on himself? all i can say is this pair of typically unpretentious pulp yarns from Not Long For This World sure kept me entertained. Logoda's Head '“Now, Henley,” he said, “I don’t want any interruption from you. I'm going to handle this thing myself, understand? You know how much influence these native witch-doctors have, and it’s no go angering them needlessly. And Logoda’s a bad one - he and his filthy heads.”
Henley flushed beneath his bronze. “One of those heads may be all that’s left of my brother,” he said shortly.
“Logoda knows too much to bother an Englishman,” returned the major.'A small English army detail versus the local witch-doctor? I think we all have a good idea who will come out on top and it won't be the chaps in the pith helmets. But Derleth - or rather, 'Tally Mason' - commendably turns the form book upside down to keep you guessing to the last. Relations between the white men and the slippery Logoda get off to a prickly start when Major Crosby diplomatically threatens to burn down the village unless Henley's brother Tom is returned, ideally with head still attached to shoulders, but Logoda strenuously denies any knowledge of the missing white man. Henley's examination of the staked heads around the tent proves otherwise, but he surprises the Major by not making a scene, merely asking that the witch-doctor be removed for a moment while he has a few words with the trophies. "You don't actually believe in this tomfoolery, Henley?" demanded the Major incredulously. Henley not only believes, he's also an adept in jungle sorcery and uses his power to set a trap for Logoda. The Second Print (originally published as Lord Of Evil: Set, for no apparent reason, in Piccadilly. Hercules Teddifer, black magician, sorcerer and self-styled Lord of Evil, has made no secret of his intention to kill his stepson. Moncati, once he reaches the age of twenty-five and comes into money. By means of a hidden camera and tripwire, Moncati obtains incriminating photographic evidence against Teddifer, which he deposits with old Wemyss the barrister to be opened in the event of his death. When he returns home, Moncati stretches another wire across the top of the stairs. Exit the Lord of Evil with a busted neck. With Teddifer in his grave, Moncati retrieves the photograph, which depicts the old man leaning over him as he sleeps, clawed hands reaching for his throat, until the unexpected popping of the flashbulb stops him in his tracks. Strange thing. The photo isn't quite as Moncati remembers it, and comparing it with a second print from the same negative is less than reassuring. Not only has the Lord of Evil turned his face away from the lens but he's drawn nearer the bed ....
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