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Post by jamesdoig on Aug 3, 2017 21:27:17 GMT
And it's a skill I keep polished as it often comes in handy (more often than folk might think!). Yep, Latin inscriptions are everywhere... Anyway, I'll have to pdf that Harrison story and send it through.
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Post by ropardoe on Aug 7, 2017 9:25:25 GMT
There's quite a nice Jamesian short story by Michael Harrison in The London Mystery Magazine #19: I was sure I remembered another short story by Michael Harrison, which I read many decades ago but which had stuck in my memory. I finally found it on the net. It's "Some Very Odd Happenings at Kibblesham Manor House", first published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1969. Apparently it's been reprinted only once, in The Eternal City edited by David Drake, Martin H. Greenberg, Charles G. Waugh in 1990 (Baen Books), which seems to have been an anthology of Rome-related stories. The story starts in a very, almost stereotypically, Jamesian manner, but about halfway through it becomes - goodness me! - something M.R. James would never have written. Now I know why I remembered it! Suffice to say that it involves the discovery of a relic of the cult of Cybele, after which - well - unpleasantness ensues (anyone who knows what the priests of Cybele were prone to will be able to guess the gist of it!). (Edited to add) I meant to say - yes please, James, to your offer of a pdf of the London Mystery Mag story.
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Post by jamesdoig on Aug 7, 2017 10:36:25 GMT
(Edited to add) I meant to say - yes please, James, to your offer of a pdf of the London Mystery Mag story. I meant to do it today but forgot all about it. He published another story in the LMM, about the shade of Charles Dickens appearing on 12th night, but it was too sentimental for me.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Aug 7, 2017 12:53:49 GMT
There's quite a nice Jamesian short story by Michael Harrison in The London Mystery Magazine #19: I was sure I remembered another short story by Michael Harrison, which I read many decades ago but which had stuck in my memory. I finally found it on the net. It's "Some Very Odd Happenings at Kibblesham Manor House", first published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1969. Apparently it's been reprinted only once, in The Eternal City edited by David Drake, Martin H. Greenberg, Charles G. Waugh in 1990 (Baen Books), which seems to have been an anthology of Rome-related stories. The story starts in a very, almost stereotypically, Jamesian manner, but about halfway through it becomes - goodness me! - something M.R. James would never have written. Now I know why I remembered it! Suffice to say that it involves the discovery of a relic of the cult of Cybele, after which - well - unpleasantness ensues (anyone who knows what the priests of Cybele were prone to will be able to guess the gist of it!). I've just checked p.40 of the original publication of "Some Very Odd Happenings at Kibblesham Manor House" here: archive.org/details/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v036n04_1969-04_PDFIt made my eyes water.
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Post by ropardoe on Aug 7, 2017 15:21:13 GMT
I was sure I remembered another short story by Michael Harrison, which I read many decades ago but which had stuck in my memory. I finally found it on the net. It's "Some Very Odd Happenings at Kibblesham Manor House", first published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1969. Apparently it's been reprinted only once, in The Eternal City edited by David Drake, Martin H. Greenberg, Charles G. Waugh in 1990 (Baen Books), which seems to have been an anthology of Rome-related stories. The story starts in a very, almost stereotypically, Jamesian manner, but about halfway through it becomes - goodness me! - something M.R. James would never have written. Now I know why I remembered it! Suffice to say that it involves the discovery of a relic of the cult of Cybele, after which - well - unpleasantness ensues (anyone who knows what the priests of Cybele were prone to will be able to guess the gist of it!). I've just checked p.40 of the original publication of "Some Very Odd Happenings at Kibblesham Manor House" here: archive.org/details/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v036n04_1969-04_PDFIt made my eyes water. Er, yes. I suppose it would have more of that sort of effect on persons of the male persuasion!
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Post by helrunar on Aug 9, 2017 12:04:38 GMT
Thanks, Michael, for that link. I look forward to reading that.
I'm probably misremembering but I think Michael Harrison may have written a book called something like The Roots of Witchcraft, published circa 1965. I was able to read some of the book many years ago while spending a week at the home of one of my teachers. It's a lovely old Sixties paperback that most likely goes for a high price with the online vendors, but those of you in the UK could stumble over a copy at one of your "charity shops" or "jumble sales" for a quarter. And then old Envy begins to gnaw at me again...
cheers, H.
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Post by helrunar on Aug 9, 2017 12:10:17 GMT
And then I wonder what the equivalent of "a quarter" is in today's UK since I think the shilling long ago died the death.
50p, I reckon??
cheers, another clueless Yank
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Post by Michael Connolly on Aug 9, 2017 12:44:55 GMT
Thanks, Michael, for that link. I look forward to reading that. I'm probably misremembering but I think Michael Harrison may have written a book called something like The Roots of Witchcraft, published circa 1965 . I was able to read some of the book many years ago while spending a week at the home of one of my teachers. It's a lovely old Sixties paperback that most likely goes for a high price with the online vendors, but those of you in the UK could stumble over a copy at one of your "charity shops" or "jumble sales" for a quarter. And then old Envy begins to gnaw at me again... cheers, H. The Roots of Witchraft? Here it is: www.oldways.org/documents/robertcochrane/oldcraft/the_roots_of_witchcraft.pdfI see that old Cybele is still up to her tricks on the last page. And there's an illustration of her forceps, which will scare you stiff.
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Post by helrunar on Aug 9, 2017 14:39:48 GMT
Awesome, Michael!
Thanks!
H.
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Post by ropardoe on Aug 9, 2017 15:37:34 GMT
Thanks, Michael, for that link. I look forward to reading that. I'm probably misremembering but I think Michael Harrison may have written a book called something like The Roots of Witchcraft, published circa 1965 . I was able to read some of the book many years ago while spending a week at the home of one of my teachers. It's a lovely old Sixties paperback that most likely goes for a high price with the online vendors, but those of you in the UK could stumble over a copy at one of your "charity shops" or "jumble sales" for a quarter. And then old Envy begins to gnaw at me again... cheers, H. The Roots of Witchraft? Here it is: www.oldways.org/documents/robertcochrane/oldcraft/the_roots_of_witchcraft.pdfI see that old Cybele is still up to her tricks on the last page. And there's an illustration of her forceps, which will scare you stiff. Thanks for that link. I'm working up an article for "Jamesian Notes & Queries" on Harrison's supernatural stories (for the Spring 2018 G&S), so this will come in very handy. The forceps illustration is exactly as described in "Some Very Odd Happenings at Kibblesham Manor House", but according to Roger Pearse on his blog, these weren't used (as stated in the story) as "nutcrackers" but to prevent blood loss while the actual work was being done with a knife. Not sure whether that makes any of the gentlemen among us feel any better! Judging from my quick scan through the Roots of Witchcraft pdf, this was a seriously misguided book (Harrison idolised Margaret Murray), but one which I shall probably enjoy reading!
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Post by helrunar on Aug 10, 2017 2:39:22 GMT
Wishing you all the best, Ro, with your Michael Harrison project. I quite enjoyed the horrors of Kibblesham/Kibbleswell (bafflingly, the village name changes for a couple of pages towards the end)--it felt more like a sketch than a finished story, but certainly packed a punch. Tangentially, I read an interesting tale by Raven Kaldera that imaginatively evoked at least a hint of the inner world of a galla Priest/ess earlier this year.
The harrowing hints of how and into what Verena transformed reminded me of Arthur Machen's Great God Pan. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times when re-reading that a few years ago--very much in admiration, never mockery--admiration at Machen's daring. His yarn "The White People," as I think I have commented here previously, may be the best story about ancient Pagan Witchcraft surviving in "modern" England ever written.
The blurb in F & SF states that as of 1969, Michael Harrison had published over 50 books--that's quite a vast terrain to contemplate! I look forward to hearing further news of your project.
Best, H.
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Post by ropardoe on Aug 10, 2017 8:47:33 GMT
Wishing you all the best, Ro, with your Michael Harrison project. I quite enjoyed the horrors of Kibblesham/Kibbleswell (bafflingly, the village name changes for a couple of pages towards the end)--it felt more like a sketch than a finished story, but certainly packed a punch. Tangentially, I read an interesting tale by Raven Kaldera that imaginatively evoked at least a hint of the inner world of a galla Priest/ess earlier this year. The harrowing hints of how and into what Verena transformed reminded me of Arthur Machen's Great God Pan. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times when re-reading that a few years ago--very much in admiration, never mockery--admiration at Machen's daring. His yarn "The White People," as I think I have commented here previously, may be the best story about ancient Pagan Witchcraft surviving in "modern" England ever written. The blurb in F & SF states that as of 1969, Michael Harrison had published over 50 books--that's quite a vast terrain to contemplate! I look forward to hearing further news of your project. Best, H. Aside from a more general introductory paragraph, I'm sticking strictly to his short supernatural fiction - hence 1300 or so words for my "Jamesian Notes & Queries" article rather than some sort of magnum opus! Apart from The Roots of Witchcraft and The London that was Rome, the only other full-length book by Harrison which I've read is Clarence, his biography of Eddie, the Duke of Clarence, which was the first to suggest that MRJ's friend (and Eddie's tutor) J.K. Stephen might have been Jack the Ripper. I read that years ago, possibly when it first came out, and quite enjoyed it. It profited by being a less far-fetched theory than the idea that Eddie himself was the Ripper. And there's no doubt that Stephen went a bit odd after falling on his head (who wouldn't?) - MRJ refers to it in Eton & King's. I think the Stephen/Ripper theory has turned out to have a great many holes in it though, and it isn't highly regarded! Interesting that you should mention "The Great God Pan" in relation to Verena in "Kibblesham". Harrison apparently wrote an article on Machen, so he would certainly have been aware of that story.
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Post by Swampirella on Aug 11, 2017 2:54:04 GMT
Thanks from me too for the link! I just finished reading "Kibblesham"; truly chilling
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Post by ropardoe on Aug 11, 2017 8:44:20 GMT
On thinking about it, I suspect I've also read Harrison's 1976 book Fire from Heaven, which is about spontaneous human combustion. It gets torn apart in the review section of Fortean Times in that year. I'd like to say I remember the review but my memory isn't that good (though I was certainly subscribing to the magazine back then): I have those early FTs on CDRom so I just did a check.
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Post by jamesdoig on Aug 11, 2017 11:27:43 GMT
On thinking about it, I suspect I've also read Harrison's 1976 book Fire from Heaven, which is about spontaneous human combustion. It gets torn apart in the review section of Fortean Times in that year. I'd like to say I remember the review but my memory isn't that good (though I was certainly subscribing to the magazine back then): I have those early FTs on CDRom so I just did a check. [/quote] I just picked up The Roots of Witchcraft after reading Colin Wilson's introduction online - MH certainly sounds like the consummate writer of nut books.
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