E.G. Swain Stoneground Ghost Tales

[noose]

Heffer (1912)

Contents


The Man With the Roller
Bone to his Bone
The Richpins
The Eastern Window
Lubrietta
The Rockery
The Indian Lamp Shade
The Place of Safety
The Kirk Spook

Dedicated to M.R. James , and while E.G. Swain is considered the lesser writer of the pair, I'm finding Stoneground Ghost Tales easier and way more entertaining than anything by James. Granted, the stories are extremely formulaic, you can see the endings coming off a mile a way - but they are so gently written and Swain's passion for East Anglia and its Fens is quite inspiring.

The Man With The Roller - Mr Batchel, the present incumbent of Stoneground Vicarage is entertaining two boys (seemingly, that kind of thing happened all the time) and for one of the lads' fifteenth birthday Batchel gives him a camera. The lad takes a photo of the Vicarage and a few weeks later the boy sends him the photo, Batchel is pleased but would like a bigger print made. The boy tells him there's a white scuff mark on the negative - but Batchell persists and when he examines the negative he can just about make out the scuff mark.

He takes the negative to Mr Groves, a young clergyman who is lodging with the vigorous Mrs Rumney who makes a print of it. But why has Mrs Rumney suddenly taken to trembling and complaining about the photograph of Stoneground Vicarage? And what does all this have to do with the disappearance of Master Wilburton way back in 1600?

It's quite a nice story to start on, and coming only 20 or so years after the invention of flexible roll film makes you realise what an incredible process people used to have to go through to develop a negative into a working print.

Bone to his Bone

Mr Batchel is having trouble sleeping - and nearly has a nervous breakdown when in the night he reaches his hand out into thin air and someone only goes and places a box of matches in it! What with that and the books in his library turning pages and not being in places they should be and giving him directions to go to a certain spot in the garden, one wonders why he doesn't move the very next day.

But what does the human bone he finds in the garden have to do with Vicar Whitehead who died one hundred and fifty years previously and whose many books are now the staple of Stonehead Vicarage library?

[cauldronbrewer]

Jan 1, 2011 11:40:44 GMT noose said:

Granted, the stories are extremely formulaic, you can see the endings coming off a mile a way - but they are so gently written and Swain's passion for East Anglia and its Fens is quite inspiring.

I've been on a Jamesian kick lately, having recently read L.T.C. Rolt's Sleep No More and now E.G. Swain's Stoneground Ghost Tales (with the Wordsworth collection of Andrew Caldecott's stories working its way up the queue). Swain's stories caught me in the right mood, though I think it's good that they're all short--any longer and I think I might have started to get bored, as nothing much really happens in them. I'm still not certain why the vicarage was such a traffic jam of ghostly activity.

I read the Equation Chillers version, which includes the David Rowlands stories that continue the series. Though I remember liking other stories of his, I didn't get much out of these--it seemed as though he worked so hard to imitate Swain's leisurely, digressive style that he neglected to include enough ghostly substance.

[Shrink Proof]

Quite agree. I thought that David Rowlands' non-Swain tales were much more fun. I felt that he'd needlessly boxed himself in with the latter and made life more difficult for himself.

[Dr Strange]

I can recommend Caldecott - it's probably my favourite of the Wordsworths that I've bought.

[cauldronbrewer]

Thanks for the recommendation, Dr. Strange. I started reading it last night, and three stories in I'm liking it quite a bit.

[ripper]

I first tried reading Swain's stories about 14 years ago while I was on a Jamesian kick. As I was by then used to James et al rather grim tales, Swain's gentler Batchel yarns didn't really suit my mood at the time and I only read a couple before moving to something else. However, while reading through David G. Rowlands' collection, The Executor and other Stories, I decided to give his continuation of Batchel adventures a go, and much to my surprise, I am enjoying them. Yes, they are quite gentle and formulaic, but I like the dry humour and after finishing them I think I should give Swain's originals another go.

[clarence]

These are the next on my list.
Checked the out on the Ghosts and Scholars site in the Jamesian category.

Clarence

[Swampirella]

Oct 21, 2014 11:11:55 GMT ripper said:

I first tried reading Swain's stories about 14 years ago while I was on a Jamesian kick. As I was by then used to James et al rather grim tales, Swain's gentler Batchel yarns didn't really suit my mood at the time and I only read a couple before moving to something else. However, while reading through David G. Rowlands' collection, The Executor and other Stories, I decided to give his continuation of Batchel adventures a go, and much to my surprise, I am enjoying them. Yes, they are quite gentle and formulaic, but I like the dry humour and after finishing them I think I should give Swain's originals another go.

I just read the originals today; fairly enjoyable but I actually prefer Rowland's stories.