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Post by dem bones on Nov 19, 2015 21:10:49 GMT
Rosemary Pardoe (ed.) - The Ghosts & Scholars M. R. James Newsletter #27 (Haunted Library, April 2015) Cover: Alisdair Wood: The Five JarsBack Cover: Jim Pitts: The Treasure Of Abbot Thomas (originally published in Kadath, Fall 1984) Rosemary Pardoe - Editorial Rosemary Pardoe & Rick Kennett - News
Carole Tyrrell - Lorelei Drew Anderson - Evening Prayers
Jim Bryant - Shane Leslie's Memoir of M. R. James
Stewart Evans - Notes & Queries; M. R. James and Local Names Correspondence: Mark Valentine - The Hamilton/ Potter Mystery John Hodder - Des Laudum
Letters: David A. Sutton, Peter Bell
Reviews: Daniel McGachey - Rosemary Pardoe (ed.) The Ghosts & Scholars Book of Shadows Volume 2 Peter Bell - J. S. Le Fanu's Reminiscences of a Bachelor Roger Johnson - Jim Rockhill & Brian J. Showers (eds.) Dreams Of Shadow and Smoke: Stories for J. S. Le Fanu Daniel McGachey - Whistle C. E. Ward - Remember Me Helen Grant - Casting The Runes by Box Tale Soup
Reviews of Unwritten Books: Mark Valentine - J. Mead Falkner's The West Door & Other Stories: Mr. Mead Falkner's Last Tales
The Ghost Story Awards: Winners AnnouncementI'd been out of the loop for so long, and, not having seen any of the G&S MR James newsletters until now, was seriously worried that I'd not be able to take anything in. Needn't have worried on that score. But for the lack of interior illustrations, the newsletter is Ghosts & Scholars of old in all but name. News items that are often fully fledged articles in themselves. Reviews worthy of the name. Original fiction with a habit of resurfacing in Years Best selections. To think G & S was originally conceived as a one-off publication for fear there would not be enough feedback to warrant a second! I read through the bulk of the non-fiction in #28 earlier, then started on the two stories. As Tina Rath's tale was inspired by Stewart Evans' non-fiction article in #27, thought it best to refer back to M. R. James and Local Names, then found myself embroiled in the rest. Which means, lucky you, you've a short reprieve on the excuse for a "review," at least until I can decipher three sides of my spidery scrawl (Hugh Lamb thought he had problems with the "Hamilton," "Potter" entry on his initial James list ...)
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Post by dem bones on Nov 20, 2015 16:28:07 GMT
Fiction first. Carole Tyrrell and Drew Anderson are new names (on me), but we'll get on just rosy if they've more like Lorelei and Evening Prayers in their respective lockers.
Carole Tyrrell - Lorelei: Turfed out of the travelling circus on account of Meg's hare-lip and Jennet's tactless fortune-telling revelations being "bad for business", Will and his sisters make for Shillingbridge where the well water is said to cure all ills. The villagers are as hostile as you'd hope, but the parish priest intervenes, offering food, shelter and rudimentary employment. Disastrously for the trio, he is neither without sin nor ulterior motive. The ancient, pre-Christian spirit of the well demands sacrifice in return for a rich harvest, and he has resisted her for two years, hence current famine. Time to pass on the responsibility to these wretched vagrants. At first Our Lady of the Well is appeased by tiny creatures of the field and the odd sheep, but, inevitably, the day soon comes when she requires a substantial offering. Lone drunks and infants would do well to steer clear of her reluctant providers.
A clever prequel to MRJ's Wailing Well (which I've not read in approximately a century), this reader would have no hesitation in recommending Lorelei to fellow fans of Dorothy K. Haynes' horrible Thou Shalt Not Suffer A Witch ... (similar remorselessly bleak atmosphere, if not as graphic in its violence).
Drew Anderson - Evening Prayers: Will Carruthers' account of his terrible experience working nights at the Sattler Gymnasium, annexing Queensbury University. The Gym, converted 1920, was formerly the library of Thomas Sattler, a religious zealot, who fled England when the "Devil" Cromwell seized power. At time of the incident, Will is enjoying a summer fling with co-worker Alison, a theology student moonlighting as a lifeguard. Alison, a poor little rich rebel, is not one to let slip an opportunity to flaunt her Atheism, resulting in a night never to be forgotten when she procures a prayer book - demon-haunted, as it transpires - from Sattler's library shelves. Contemptuously tossing the volume aside, Alison is suitably appalled when it lands in the swimming pool and several pages come unsealed from the binding. As she and Will attempt an emergency salvage operation utilising the hand-dryers, something pulpy and seriously pissed off comes oozing into the bathroom ....
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Post by dem bones on Nov 22, 2015 6:17:38 GMT
Whistle. I would so love to work for the BBC props dept! So to the non-fiction, which accounts for the bulk of #27. Spoiler. It's superb! Daniel McGachey somehow pulls off an exhaustive, just shy of four pages review of Ghosts & Scholars Book Of Shadows Vol II without once resorting to spoilers. All you know by the end of his contagiously enthusiastic critique is that you really bloody need to read this book - and it's predecessor. Elsewhere, in another epic, the same author provides the low-down on an adaptation of a famous M. R. J. story involving a Whistle, moonlighting as an episode of popular TV daytime soap Doctors (Series 16, Episode 124)! Jim Bryant's Shane Leslie's Memoir of M. R. James is essentially a two-page prelude to a piece he intends to contribute to a future newsletter. That is no sarky dig on my part. It's self evident that the proposed article, incorporating extracts from the unpublished biography, requires the back story, not least because to suggest that some of James' surviving friends and contemporaries were less than enthralled Leslie should embark upon such a project is an understatement of "M. R. James didn't write many Cthulhu Mythos tales" proportions. Stewart Evans' diligent newspaper research into the exploits of the West Sussex Mothersoles and Agers (surnames immortalised in The Ash Tree and A Warning To The Curious), reveals that the neighbours from whom James surely borrowed the names, were locally notorious in their own right. A passage in Mr. Evans' intriguing article has since inspired a splendid short story by Tina Rath in G&S Newsletter #28. Here's your short cut to attaining instant Canonization in Jamesian circles. Much as I realise it must exasperate poor Hugh Lamb beyond endurance, I love the 'Hamilton/ Potter' mystery for its sheer everyday fiendishness. For those unfamiliar with the details, the way of it was this. Back in 1973, while kicking around ideas for his next anthology, Hugh jotted down the data that would eventually see print as the James List MK I ( Ghosts & Scholars, 1979). "I still have the envelope; perhaps someone else could solve the riddle of what I meant, when I wrote, between 'Malden' and 'Honeycombe,' the enigmatic entry 'Hamilton/ Potter.' It means absolutely nothing to me now." Considering that, between us, our emergency helpline are absolute rubbish at identifying any story that isn't A Woman Seldom Found, what chance cracking this devil of a puzzle? According to Mark Valentine, even the internet can't help!
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Post by dem bones on Nov 24, 2015 12:40:22 GMT
Am getting stuck in to #28 now, but couldn't not at least mention the following items from the reviews pages.
The late, truly great bibliographer E. F. Bleiler didn't deliberately overlook much by way of supernatural fiction, but he missed J. S. LeFanu's The Fatal Bride, which finally sees revival in Reminiscences of a Bachelor, (Swan River Press, 2015) which also reprints The Bachelor the first published version of what would later become The Watcher and finally, The Familiar. Introduced by Matthew Holness and including two co-written essays by the publisher, Brian J. Showers, and Jim Rockhill, this is a book to have you cursing your wants list to Hell (Dr. Proof is right. In the unlikely event of your accumulating every book that takes your fancy, where would put them all? Even Probert Towers struggled before the costly outlay on an entire new North West wing). To further torment us, Messrs Showers & Rockhill have also compiled Dreams Of Shadows & Smoke: Stories for J. S. LeFanu (Swan River Press,2015) featuring original fiction by, amongst others, Angela Slatter, Sarah LeFanu, Mark Valentine, Peter Bell. It is never ending!
Finally (possibly). On occasion, certain contributors to this forum have been known to post "cover artwork" of an ever-so-slightly 100% spurious nature. The G & S MRJ Newsletter takes this mischief a step further with regular (we hope) column, 'Reviews of Unwritten Books.' In this issue, no less an authority than Mark Valentine shares his thoughts on Moonfleet maestro J. Meade Falkner's 'lost' classic of supernatural literature, The West Door & Other Stories. The Lost Stradivarius being the only Falkner I've read, some of the subtleties were lost on me, though for Fall-esque title alone, Obols of Belisarius is surely one to hunt down with extreme prejudice.
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