Ghosts & Scholars 5

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

I've been meaning for ages to resume my run down of the contents of those G&S issues I have, so I'll start with my most recent acquisition (only 4 issues left to find, but that might take years)...

GHOSTS & SCHOLARS 5 (1983)

Wendy Adrian Wees

Editor - Rosemary Pardoe
Editorial Consultants - David Rowlands & Harold Cranford
A Haunted Library Publication

CONTENTS –

"Introduction" by Rosemary Pardoe

"Conkers" by David G. Rowlands
(I'd previously read this in THE BEST OF GHOSTS & SCHOLARS, so I'll paraphrase what I said in my comments on that collection.)
An appearance from Father O'Connor, this time narrating his own tale of a recent trip to the Essex village of Little Bradbury, where tradition insists that the local horse-chestnut trees are to be treated with respect. While there, his mind is cast back to a previous visit, just before the Second World War, where he found there was more to the tradition than mere superstition.
This story features a "guest appearance" from "Mary Anne Allen's" church restorer character, Jane Bradshaw. The Little Bradbury tradition that as long as the trees stand, the coast is safe, is a nice echo of the legend of the Three Crowns of Anglia in "A Warning To The Curious".

"The Gravedigger and Death" by Mary Ann Allen
Following her guest starring role in the previous tale, Jane Bradshawe is front and centre in this tale of a pair of painted figures that stand sentry on the door of the church in South Tilford - one clearly a gravedigger, the other, seemingly, Death itself. But as Jane sets about restoring the paintings, she discovers an old legend of the gravedigger who was instructed to remove a stone from the churchyard 'held in heathen awe by the local people', and the dreadful 'guardian' that hounded the man to his death.

"The Alabaster Bowl" by Kelvin I. Jones
The narrator's father, Dr John Gray, has disappeared mysteriously and, according to his manservant, Davies, Dr Gray's behaviour before his disappearance was equally mysterious. Many of the artefacts he had gathered from his explorations were sold off, or else smelted down by the servants under orders from their master. But Davies refused to destroy a peculiar alabaster bowl with golden figures and the shape of a winged serpent and, after Gray had sent him away for a few days, returned to find the explorer gone and, in his bed, a crushed and twisted piece of flesh, like an earthworm, 'only much, much bigger'.

"Mawnan Rectory" by Dave Reeder
Before taking up his place at Oxford, our narrator takes himself off to Devon to stay with an old family friend, Septimus Flagg. Casual talk of 'revenants' leads the old chap to recount how, as children living in the local rectory, he and his brother had once seen a strange figure in their bedroom door at night. Years later, his father had told the story of the 'squire parson' Richard Tregarron, a tyrant who had reigned in terror over the village, and the curse laid on him by the father of a child Tregarron had forced himself upon.
(According to the postscript, this story is based on a true account from the author's own family.)

"Noel Boston: Master Antiquarian" by Mike Ashley
Another article on 'writers in the James tradition' - Although he published several books, Noel Boston, Vicar of Dereham, wrote only one volume of ghost stories, "Yesterday Knocks". Like MRJ, he wrote them mainly for his own amusement. Also like MRJ, he was a scholar and antiquarian. That single collection of ghost stories was privately printed, but the contents were revived by Boston's friend, Lionel Fanthorpe for "Supernatural Stories". Fanthorpe also claimed 'that Canon Boston had actually seen the Holy Grail' (presumably not referring to the Monty Python film).

"M.R. James: An English Humorist" by A.F. Kidd
An article on the humour in many of MRJ's stories - most obviously seen in "Wailing Well" and "after Dark in the Playing Fields" - and some of the comedic characters who would pop up here and there - the aunt in "The Diary of Mr Poynter" or the old chap obsessed with 'Gregory singing' in "The Uncommon Prayer Book".

"The Manuscripts of M.R. James" by Rosemary Pardoe
Article listing the known whereabouts of MRJ's original manuscripts, reprinting the details from the Sotheby's catalogue of the sale of MRJ's library 5 months after his death, and appealing for information on the untraced manuscripts.

Review-
"Ghost Stories by M.R. James": Read by Sir Michael Hordern

ILLUSTRATIONS -
Wendy Adrian Wees (Front Cover - "A Neighbour's Landmark")
Jim Pitts
David Lloyd
Dave Carson
Alan Hunter
Allen Koszowski

[dem bones]

I know several people chipped in but surely David Rowlands' contribution to Ghosts & Scholars was second only to Rosemary Pardoe's. Or maybe it's just that i much prefer his phantom-fighting Father O' Connor over Hogdson's Carnacki the Ghost Finder, while the seven-part A Warning to the Curious: A Critical Look at the James List (G & S 8-14[/i], maybe the ideal companion piece to The James Gang listing, was the first thing i'd turn to when i got hold of those issues (incredible as it seems now, the early ones weren't that hard to get hold of at a little over cover price even as late as the mid 'nineties. The Fantasy Center and Andy Richards' den downstairs at Murder One were happy hunting grounds for all things Haunted Library, and the early BFS booklets - most of which i stupidly passed on - were something of a fixture in both shops).

My favourite of the non-fiction items in #5 is Mike Ashley on Rev. Noel Boston, whose privately printed collection, Yesterday Knocks, is not a title you're likely to find in Help The Aged every day, and would have been an even bigger mystery to most readers had not his friend and fellow cleric, the Rev. Lionel Fanthorpe, recycled the stories over ten issues as Supernatural Stories. As a result, 'Noel Bartram', depending on your perspective, either enjoyed the ultimate accolade or endured the appalling indignity of seeing his work play a supporting role to 'Bron Fane's The Crawling Fiend & Co.

Supernatural Stories #30 (January, 1960): A much sought after Jamesian item.

As to Kelvin I. Jones The Alabaster Bowl, another devastating confirmation that my memory is shot to hell. A story that culminates in "a crushed and twisted piece of flesh, like an earthworm, 'only much, much bigger' " and it registers a complete blank?

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

Jan 31, 2012 15:01:03 GMT dem bones said:

I know several people chipped in but surely David Rowlands' contribution to Ghosts & Scholars was second only to Rosemary Pardoe's. Or maybe it's just that i much prefer his phantom-fighting Father O' Connor over Hogdson's Carnacki the Ghost Finder, while the seven-part A Warning to the Curious: A Critical Look at the James List (G & S 8-14

[/i], maybe the ideal companion piece to The James Gang listing, was the first thing i'd turn to when i got hold of those issues[/quote]

Indeed. Must admit, I've never been able to get to grips with Carnacki, and Father O'Connor always seemed more fun. And the A Warning to the Curious: A Critical Look at the James List features certainly led to many a purchase when I got hold of those issues.

Jan 31, 2012 15:01:03 GMT dem bones said:

Andy Richards' den downstairs at Murder One were happy hunting grounds for all things Haunted Library

Assuming that's the same Andy Richards that runs Cold Tonnage, that's exactly who I got this very issue from, and a few others in the collection.

Oh, and cheers for adding the cover to the original post, Dem.

[andydecker]

This is one of the mags I never got. I only read about it in Karl Edward Wagner´s Years Best Horror because he always featured a story from its pages. I was curious about the publication but before the net it was difficult to get such information.

But it must have been very good if the stories were material for other markets.

[monker]

Well, it's not as if Hodgson could look more than 50 years into the future to see if the 'competition' were getting ahead, in an effort to make his stories more "fun".

I prefer Wellman's 'John' stories but I still like the Carnaki tales for what they are.

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

Feb 7, 2012 9:45:08 GMT monker said:

Well, it's not as if Hodgson could look more than 50 years into the future to see if the 'competition' were getting ahead, in an effort to make his stories more "fun".

I prefer Wellman's 'John' stories but I still like the Carnaki tales for what they are.

Fair enough. I wasn't really thinking of the latter stories as 'competition', or in 'a competition' - otherwise I'd have to regard every latter day Jamesian tale as competing with MRJ's own work, and seeing MRJ as competing with le Fanu and his other predecessors - just mentioning a personal preference.

(Unrelated to the above - I wonder if the day will come when I'll post something in the Vault that DOESN'T mention MRJ. )

[monker]

Indeed, appreciation of classic fiction can often be like how someone is interested in antique cars. You can't expect such old cars to outperform new ones, for instance. I just tend to have my favourite eras and can get a little defensive. You would have thought that once the paranormal investigator idea was invented that someone would have done it full Justice sooner rather than later but that does not appear to have been the case. I just have a lot of respect for the likes of Hodgson and Blackwood for being pioneers. In the case of Hodgson, I actually find the Carnaki's less dated than his other fiction.