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Post by dem on Jun 15, 2017 21:56:19 GMT
Mary Williams - Where Phantoms Stir (William Kimber, 1976)  ionicus
Julian and Jo
Rustle of Spring
Perfection
Pink Knickers
Where Phantoms Stir
The Boat
Nothing
Widgett's End
A Pinch of Salt
The Bad Land
The Swing
The Second Man
No Dream
Legend
Poor KateBlurb: When stolid William Pollet visited the local art gallery and, enraptured, saw ‘The Awakening‘. and the nude girl it portrayed, he little thought she was to change his life. But he left his wife Martha . . . . and disappeared. . . . And what happened to Joseph Biddle so fond of playing ‘Rustle of Spring‘ and so attached to his dead mother? Possessive love is also the theme of ‘Love me, Love me’ where Olivia Crane, the career woman who had shut sex out from her life finds herself possessed by the spirit of the former owner of her home. Mary Williams can use the humorous, the horrific and the commonplace and turn them all magically into the mysterious. Where Phantoms Stir is another outstanding collection of her tales.While I'm in a Terror Tales of Cornwall mood, this is the third of twelve Mary Williams anthologies published by Kimber from 1975-1987 comprising 174 ghosts stories and novellas (she still had five further volumes in her). Not quite convinced by the not necessarily flattering comparison to RCH: there is humour in her work for sure, but it's not of the self-consciously wacky strain that so often sabotaged Ronald's work. This trio are delightful. Love Me, Love Me: Following her separation from husband after an "unsavoury honeymoon," Olivia Crane, psychologist, rents Penderclose Cottage for six months while she concentrates on writing her book, The Psyche in relation to Mind. Olivia detests men their "amorous cravings" and is fortunate to have struck a platonic friendship with like-minded university colleague, Markham Beresford. All would be rosy in her world were it not for the young woman who stands watching the cottage at all hours of the day. She learns that Lucy Brent fell pregnant by the previous tenant, an artist, who abandoned her when their son was born. The little boy died within a month and Lucy, unhinged by bereavement, keeps vigil outside Penderclose awaiting her lover's return. Eventually she dies of exposure. With Lucy's death a change comes over Olivia. She invites Markham down for the weekend ostensibly to discuss aspects of her book. The confirmed celibate won't know what hit him ... Pink Knickers: On William Pollet's retirement from the Civil Service, he and domineering wife Martha move from the Midlands to 'Crab Acres,' a remote cottage on the outskirts of Winkley village near Pendrift. Martha inflicts herself upon the local W.I. while William rekindles his youthful enthusiasm for painting and is soon spending virtually every waking hour at the local gallery transfixed by a painting of a voluptuous nude. Self-centred as she is, Martha is not altogether insensitive to her husband's needs and invests in a pair of "glamorous frillies" in an effort to bring a little lost romance back into their relationship. William laughs in her face. The pink knickers would look so much better on his dream woman. If only they could run away together .... Nothing: "If you think I'm going to spend the rest of my days pestered by your cheap sexy ghost ... you've got another thing coming." The way Fred remembers it, he deliberately drove the car at cheating wife Lucinda, sending her flying off the cliff at Hags head into the stormy sea below. So what is she doing sat at the dressing table making herself beautiful for lover boy?
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Post by dem on Jun 16, 2017 17:15:10 GMT
Where Phantoms Stir: Dr. Charles Baines, happily divorced from Wanda, is sworn off women for good until, crossing the moors on midsummer's eve, he meets the beautiful creature in the maxi dress trudging miserably through the fog. Earlier this evening Rhianna set out to visit her estranged father's home at Trencabra but is now having second thoughts. Despite himself, Baines insists on accompanying her to her destination. Meanwhile Squire Trewarris, her despicable monster of a Dad, is preparing a party for a 'devil's crowd,' in-house entertainment; human sacrifice ....
No Dream: The briefest glimpse of the afterlife helps a little girl come to terms with the death of her beloved grandfather.
A Pinch Of Salt: The Flying Pig Inn, St. Kerry's. When Cornwall is hit by the worst storm in living memory, Miss Arabelle Tripp, self-styled psychic medium, inadvertently demonstrates that, given a favourable set of circumstances, pigs can fly ....
The title story is a cracker. No Dream possibly autobiographical? Events at the Flying Pig Inn could make for decent television.
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Post by dem on Jun 18, 2017 2:52:47 GMT
Rustle Of Spring: Sixty year old Joseph Biddle's pitiful, borderline obscene attachment to his late mother is a torment for music teacher Amelia who, on the death of her own mum, has made the fatal error of rushing into wedlock. Even the late Mrs. Biddle despises Joseph as a clinging milksop of a man and wants rid of him so she can haunt her home in peace. Amelia and the old girl strike a mutually beneficial alliance. Also have this one on the go: Mary Williams - Whisper in The Night (William Kimber, 1976) Preface
Uneasy Territory
The Life-Bringer
Mouse
The Chair
Collision Course
Hungry House
Thalk
Curtain Call
Whisper in The Night
The Haunted Bower
The Walk
Jane Emily
The Wood
Down The River
DispossessedBlurb: When Melissa, crippled and dumb after an accident, hides away in Verryncourt, a remote Cornish manor house, she falls in love, and through her lover's strength, learns to walk and talk again. All very natural. But was it? For the lover was Lucien, and Lucien had died in the sixteenth century.
Once again in another collection of her inimitable ghost stories Mary Williams employs her power to invest the everyday world around her with the extraordinary, the mysterious and the frightening. A train journey, the sound of music from a church, a chair, are transmuted by her skill into instruments of the supernatural, which leave the reader to wonder whether perhaps there are not more things in heaven and earth than can be explained by reason.Whisper in The Night: Narrator chances upon a lonely church on the outskirts of St. Inta wherein a girl in a white dress is performing a requiem on piano. The following day he revisits his footsteps to reach ... a ruin. Church was destroyed during a German bombing raid in WWII. Narrator takes this as proof of "the eternal miracle of living and renunciation." Mary Williams collections may be laced with humour but a female R.C.H. she was not. Curtain Call: Rowena Dene, playwright, is preparing for her big TV interview when a sad, strangely familiar ghost child gatecrashes her life. Another reassurance that Death will be beautiful.
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Post by scotstonedog on Jun 21, 2017 12:11:09 GMT
Thank you for this! I've just picked up the first anthology having read your post. I love a new excuse to go through piles of books!
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Post by dem on Jun 21, 2017 13:42:59 GMT
Thank you for this! I've just picked up the first anthology having read your post. I love a new excuse to go through piles of books! Hope you enjoy it. Please let us know. Another three from Where Phantoms Stir. Title story, Love Me, Love Me, Pink Knickers and Nothing still best to my way of thinking. Think it is fair to say that Mary Williams was big on dead children. The Swing: It's Elizabeth's eighth birthday again, and to celebrate here she is flying high on her favourite swing in the garden. She is a little put out that the silly ghost nanny in the grey ghost house opposite won't let the little ghost boy come and play with her. Julian and Jo: Fifty-year-old Historian Alex Rivers' first wife died eight years ago giving birth to their son, Julian. He has since remarried, but Julian refuses to accept Elizabeth, twenty-four, as his surrogate mother. The troubled youth prefers the company of a family in the woods who only he can see. Elizabeth calls on her brother, a schoolmaster, to rid Julian of his "delusions." The Boat: Mark Frayne lies broken and comatose in intensive care following a car accident. His wife, Ellie, prone to panic at the best of times, is distraught. If only Sally was around to calm her, but they lost contact some years ago. Much to her delight Ellie receives a letter from her old friend - but, cruelly, the ink fades on exposure to the light! And still Mark remains on the critical list. Finally, Sally arrives in person, having travelled the longest distance to reassure Ellie that, fear not, her husband will pull through. |
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Post by dem on Nov 25, 2021 18:35:42 GMT
Mary Williams - Chill Company (Corgi, 1978: originally William Kimber, 1976) The Coat
The Beautiful Ones
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Autumn Leaves
Chill Company
The Little Yellow Dog
Witch Hollow
Full Circle
A Small Gnarled Man
The Grove
The Familiar
Ben's Place
Trog
Scent of Roses
Fragment of Time
Trains
The Blue Wig
The Green Ones
No Proof
The Shadow
The Buccaneer Blurb: There are parts of Cornwall which visitors don’t know about, and Cornishmen won’t talk about. ‘Bad’ Land’, best left to itself! And here, dreams and waking have no boundaries, and yesterday’s moonshine becomes tomorrow’s terrifying reality. A dangerous terrain where the only certainty is fear . . .
Mary Williams' brilliant ghost stories take us on a guided tour of Cornwall, into the territory of the supernatural .... Penwith, Tinweir, Trevathick, Tregorse ... WITH CHILL COMPANY!The Coat: Rod rushes into disastrous marriage to Fay Lester, actress, recently retired having reached "the top of her career," who, at 42, is ten years his senior. They set up home in a Port Erith cottage she christens 'Moongate.' Rod soon realises to his chagrin that there are three in the marriage, his wife being inseparable from her Persian cat, Sheba, who shares the matrimonial bed each night. When Rod attempts to assert his manhood, the cat claws his face, thereby sealing its doom. Sheba's murder is to no avail. Fay insists on erecting a shrine at bottom of the garden, and spends nights pining at the graveside. While Rod rekindles a romance an old flame, Fay acquires a white fur coat, which further accentuates her resemblance to the late, unlamented Sheba. Once frigid, she now develops an insatiable appetite for sex — such a shame that a formerly demanding husband now finds her closeness repulsive. Rod, by some distance the vilest of a dislikable cast, can take it no more. He resolves to do away with Fay on one of her nightly prowls alongside the quarry. It only makes things worse. Strong opener. Had forgotten how dark a Mary Williams' ghost story can get when she's in sombre mood. The Beautiful Ones: On Arthur Pendle's retirement, domineering wife Maud insists on their moving to Carnport, Penwith to enjoy his retirement. All Arthur wants is to stay put and take up gardening, but Maud's mind is made up. They move. Arthur tries to make the best of it, takes to daily tramping the gorgeous moors where, one day, having strayed from his path, a mystery woman invites him to take tea in her cottage. 'Old Debby' gifts him a very special, erotic plant to nurture in his attic .... Tweedledum and Tweedledee: Elderly twin-sisters, Misses Caroline and Angela Crowther, are served notice to quite The Towers, the family home for generations, with immediate effect. Never fear. A third sister, Miss Alice, who murdered their mother and died in Broadmoor, is not one to desert her sisters in times of crisis. Autumn Leaves: Mr. Forbes pays a visit to have a pain-giving tooth removed. He's in luck. The brilliant Mr. Penhallow's devotion to his profession has survived instant cremation in a doodlebug attack. Looks like this collection should see me alright.
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Post by dem on Nov 29, 2021 19:52:23 GMT
"The Abbey's worth taking a good look at. Famous people came from all parts of the world to see it. Of course the Roundheads blasted it in Cromwell's day; but there are other bits of ruins near, that historians like to puzzle over. Older than the Abbey, they say. Probably a monastery there at some time, because there's evidence of an underground passage, leading to Penbrook, that hamlet down the other side of the river, where there was a Nunnery .... or so they say. Visitors like to think that the monks used it to meet the nuns for a bit of carry on. I don't know .... Some say a hooded shape's been seen walking the path too ...."Chill Company: Author Cedric Hurst visits Tinweir to research local folklore and ghost legend for his next book. Hardly has he arrived than he's ravished by a wild, passionate creature who lurks on the river pathway by the bridge. She is the ghost of a living woman, Evangeline Adam, who has neither spoken a word or moved a muscle since she witnessed late father accidentally shoot dead her gypsy lover seven years ago. The Little Yellow Dog: Little boy helps ghost dog locate and excavate own bones from the sand dunes, so he may join his late master. Since exhumed in Barbara Ireson's Fearfully Frightening (1984), Robert Westall's Ghost Stories (1988), and Dennis Pepper's The Young Oxford Book of Ghost Stories, 1996). Witch Hollow: Lost on the Cornish moors, holidaymaker Mark Davies asks directions at a remote farmhouse. An irate man rudely demands he be on his way, no-one passes this way after dark, but his three beautiful sisters insist Mark stay for dinner. A malevolent haunting by vengeful victims of yokel prejudice versus Pan worshippers. All good so far.
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Post by dem on Nov 30, 2021 19:40:24 GMT
Full Circle: Two hikers, lost on the storm-lashed moorland at night, collapse in a stone circle to experience what they hope is merely a shared hallucination; having taken shelter at a cottage, they find themselves helpless to intervene as an evil dwarf drags his terrified daughter away from her lover and down below the earth.
A Small Gnarled Man: Miss Plum acquires a strange antique pendant from a pop-up craft shop with a pixie proprietor. The shop, needless to say, exists only during Midsummer, and is accessible to but a select few. Two years later, Miss Plum pays a second visit. She is never seen again.
The Grove: On his divorce from Julia, Dr. John Cave, psychotherapist, takes a holiday at a boarding house near Braggas, while he considers his future. Just his luck that the visit should coincide with that of the inscrutable Miss Jennet Mellyn, and that both should arrive in time for Halloween, when centuries-dead Druids rise to dance in the sacred oak grove! Then again, as his landlady insists: "No-one believes in such things these days, except some of them hippies and layabouts with nothing better to do."
The Familiar: Miss Mallaby, an insatiable nymphomaniac, swears off sex and vows to mend her ways. Her familiar, an ever-expanding monkey visible only to the child narrator, is murderously unhappy at so drastic a change of lifestyle.
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Post by dem on Dec 1, 2021 18:55:53 GMT
Ben's Place: "It could be possible that we meet more ghosts in daily life than we are aware of at the time ... in a street, on a bus, or wandering across a lonely beach." Peter returns to Porthellen after thirty years looking to catch up with old friends from the local artist community. Where else but to catch up with the gang but their restaurant of choice? In the intervening years 'Ben's Place' has become, quite literally, their permanent haunt.
Trog: An archaeological dig on the hill at Port Todric releases a million year old throwback — "frog lipped, with beady probing eyes under a knobbly forehead" — whose only requirements are food, drink and "a woman when I need one." This last is unfortunate for Lisa King, self-styled neighbourhood man-eater, who happens to be present when Trog drops in at The Shag Arms.
Scent of Roses: Richard Greer, struggling author, lands the long vacant 'Crab's End,' Porthcarn at minimal rent. The Estate Agent admits it is supposedly haunted by an artist's model who died tragically young. Her artist husband vanished shortly afterward. Sure enough, the ghost appears in her chair over successive evenings, indicating for Greer to scrape away a patch of yellow wallpaper in the studio....
Fragment of Time: That moment of jubilation while out shopping for bananas when you discover that you just died.
Ben's Place and Scent of Roses are a little too gentle for me just now. Trog is wonderful!
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Post by Shrink Proof on Dec 1, 2021 21:11:50 GMT
This all sounds great. It also supports my theory that books with Ionicus covers are usually worth checking out.
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Post by dem on Dec 2, 2021 18:10:57 GMT
This all sounds great. It also supports my theory that books with Ionicus covers are usually worth checking out. Had to make do with paperback edition whose unaccredited Gothic Romance cover painting is a beauty in its own right. Strong, varied selection of stories, too. Trains: Newlywed narrator, furious that husband Edward Pilkington should neglect her to play with an ever-expanding train set, resorts to sabotage. Exit Edward in a huge explosion, although ultimately everything works out to the satisfaction of both parties. The Blue Wig: Armand Demont (born Archie Bass), popular ladies hairdresser, suffers himself to wed Mrs. Agnes Bowser-Brown, a fantastically wealthy multiple-widow three times his age in the hope she is not much longer for this world. No sooner are they married than Armand remembers he cares for an "ailing sister," his days and nights are not his own, he'll not be home very often, etc. It is only in death that Mrs. Bowser-Brown discovers the truth, that this "sister," Marilyn, who he spends every night with, is his very fit young wife! Thereafter her ghost takes to haunting the beastly bigamist, who dies raving of a phantom blue wig which writhes like a jellyfish. No Proof: Brief interlude. Two men on a railway platform argue for and against the existence of ghosts while awaiting the train to Cornwall. The Green Ones: Myra, approaching her eighteenth birthday, is undecided whether to accept Farmer Joe's marriage proposal. She loves him, but would prefer they kept things on a permanent 'holding hands' basis, that ... other stuff ... sounds too scary. A traumatic episode passing a sinister spring sees the girl wed in double-quick time. Very short, any point likely went over my head. |
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Post by ramseycampbell on Dec 3, 2021 14:06:36 GMT
I confess that the title puts me in mind of a spectral tearoom.
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Post by dem on Dec 4, 2021 10:19:35 GMT
The Shadow: One month into their marriage, Julia and John Hilton move into Treespool, their dream sixteenth-century moorland cottage, acquired at a ridiculously low price, etc. Over a matter of a few weeks Julia, home alone during the day, is possessed by the ghost of a particularly avaricious woman who murdered her husband. Best of book contender, above generic synopsis fails it miserably.
The Buccaneer: Recently widowed Ethel Jarvis, sells up, moves South to Cornwall, where she takes over as landlady at The Buccaneer, Porthgarrow. No sooner has she bought the place than Ethel sets about a clear out of all those dirty old antiques. Old Thoms, octogenarian fisherman, warns against moving a huge wooden chest from the bar, but Mrs. Jarvis knows best. So begins her persecution by a lascivious arse-groping phantom who likes his women mature and pleasantly plump.
At first Ethel explains away the encounter on something she ate.
"The pasty. She'd had a pasty for lunch. And after all, you could never tell these days what went into those things. Not that she suspected the bakers or shopkeepers; Oh not for one minute. It was all this frozen stuff that was used. Frozen this, frozen that ... dried vegetables, packet meats, and packet potatoes, soup and onion mixtures .... The Common Market. That's what it was.
Having found a target for blame, Ethel stuck to it, and felt better, convincing herself the EEC was soley responsible for her vulgar visitant. As for the slap .... she must have bumped into something. That was all."
That night, a cold, clammy spectre slips into bed beside her ....
A most enjoyable collection with some fabulously dark moments bows out on a high.
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 4, 2021 12:28:05 GMT
The Shadow: One month into their marriage, Julia and John Hilton move into Treespool, their dream sixteenth-century moorland cottage, acquired at a ridiculously low price, etc. Over a matter of a few weeks Julia, home alone during the day, is possessed by the ghost of a particularly avaricious woman who murdered her husband. Best of book contender, above generic synopsis fails it miserably. The Buccaneer: Recently widowed Ethel Jarvis, sells up, moves South to Cornwall, where she takes over as landlady at The Buccaneer, Porthgarrow. No sooner has she bought the place than Ethel sets about a clear out of all those dirty old antiques. Old Thoms, octogenarian fisherman, warns against moving a huge wooden chest from the bar, but Mrs. Jarvis knows best. So begins her persecution by a lascivious arse-groping phantom who likes his women mature and pleasantly plump. At first Ethel explains away the encounter on something she ate. "The pasty. She'd had a pasty for lunch. And after all, you could never tell these days what went into those things. Not that she suspected the bakers or shopkeepers; Oh not for one minute. It was all this frozen stuff that was used. Frozen this, frozen that ... dried vegetables, packet meats, and packet potatoes, soup and onion mixtures .... The Common Market. That's what it was.
Having found a target for blame, Ethel stuck to it, and felt better, convincing herself the EEC was soley responsible for her vulgar visitant. As for the slap .... she must have bumped into something. That was all." That night, a cold, clammy spectre slips into bed beside her .... A most enjoyable collection with some fabulously dark moments bows out on a high. I was trying really hard not to buy any more books but these last 2 stories pushed me over the edge! So just bought a copy, possibly the first of several by Mary Williams. I like the cover of this one but it seems unavailable anywhere...
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Post by 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr on Dec 4, 2021 13:59:27 GMT
The Shadow: One month into their marriage, Julia and John Hilton move into Treespool, their dream sixteenth-century moorland cottage, acquired at a ridiculously low price, etc. Over a matter of a few weeks Julia, home alone during the day, is possessed by the ghost of a particularly avaricious woman who murdered her husband. Best of book contender, above generic synopsis fails it miserably. A most enjoyable collection with some fabulously dark moments bows out on a high. I was trying really hard not to buy any more books but these last 2 stories pushed me over the edge! So just bought a copy, possibly the first of several by Mary Williams. I like the cover of this one but it seems unavailable anywhere... I do prefer these older covers to what we get today for the most part. |
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