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Post by dem bones on Dec 8, 2022 6:16:13 GMT
James Hogg's "The Surpassing Adventures of Allan Gordon" is an odd tale (though not a weird one), and I think it's the first work of his I've read; I never got around to trying The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. It's about a Scottish sailor who finds himself stranded on a mountain of ice drifting through the arctic. Most of the action involves polar bears. The narrator kills one and feels guilty about it, then befriends its cub. The pair live an idyllic, if chilly existence, before fighting another polar bear and eventually discovering a lost Norse colony in Greenland. Our hero plots to marry one, or maybe three, of the young Norsewomen (they're short of Norsemen), but the cub--which he has named Nancy--is jealous (let's just say there's a lot more man-bear chemistry than man-woman chemistry in this story). In the climax, a horde of polar bears attacks the Norse village, slaughtering most of its inhabitants, but Nancy saves the narrator (who hardly spares a backward glance for his wife and "supposed" children). Eventually he finds his way home to Scotland. Just looked at the entry for Hogg in my ancient handwritten indexes to stories/ novels read (unpublished, c. 1995) and turns out I've read Private Memoirs ... which merited one red asterisk (meaning "good"). I've no memory of doing so. Mary Burnet, The Brownie of the Black Haggs and The Hunt of Eildon also score highly (i.e., none are awarded a curt, desultory pencil tick). Anyway, am so much more inclined to attempt Surpassing Adventures ... having read your comments. Maybe a rematch with Unjustified Sinner ... in New Year? Hamilton Drummond's A Secret of the South Pole washed over me on first attempt, so I turned to a story referenced in John Miller's introduction — and the original blurb — which didn't make the book.  Boris Dolgov: ( Weird Tales, Sept. 1945). Many guessed about the horrible thing that came from the barrens, but only one knew and he lay in the cemetery!. North City, a 500 strong trapping community in the arctic wastes. Pug Davenport, veteran fox-trapper, returns alone from the Barrens claiming an invisible giant web-footed something butchered his partner. Our narrator, Dr. George Mallory, graduate geologist, who is sweet on Pugs doting daughter, Marcia, initially dismisses his story as the ravings of an alcoholic — "There couldn't be any truth in the wild, disconnected story he had told. Tall green trees, foxes big as wolves, and a duckfoot and a stick that had done something terrible to Matt Brazeal" — until several of the townsfolk are snatched up into the air having stood too close to a discarded wooden rod. Then Mallory is taken. Pugs takes up his gun and heads off in pursuit, closely followed by Mallory. They stop at a snow bank strewn with three skinned human corpses. A ghastly hollow chuckle as the monstrous webbed footprints approach ... |
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Post by humgoo on Dec 8, 2022 8:00:01 GMT
John Buchan - Skule Skerry: [...] A great supernatural horror story — until ... I laughed out loud at the ending. Buchan must have had a lot of fun penning that. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Dec 8, 2022 11:40:11 GMT
I read two more entries in Polar Horrors last night. Aviaq Johnston's "Iqsinaqtutalik Piqtuq; The Haunted Blizzard" is a story of the sort you might find in a Mary Danby children's anthology, except it's set in Nunavut and features an Inuit schoolchild as the protagonist. An enjoyable little tale with a solid ending. Hamilton Drummond's A Secret of the South Pole washed over me on first attempt ... If you'd told me "A Secret of the South Pole" was by William Hope Hodgson, I would've believed you. I liked the premise--crusty old sailor tells a story of the strange, centuries-old derelict he and two other men came across while adrift in the Pacific--but the ending didn't fully deliver on the potential. ... so I turned to a story referenced in John Miller's introduction — and the original blurb — which didn't make the book. Boris Dolgov Jim Kjelgaard - The Thing From The Barrens: ( Weird Tales, Sept. 1945). Many guessed about the horrible thing that came from the barrens, but only one knew and he lay in the cemetery!. North City, a 500 strong trapping community in the arctic wastes. Pug Davenport, veteran fox-trapper, returns alone from the Barrens claiming an invisible giant web-footed something butchered his partner. Our narrator, Dr. George Mallory, graduate geologist, who is sweet on Pugs doting daughter, Marcia, initially dismisses his story as the ravings of an alcoholic — "There couldn't be any truth in the wild, disconnected story he had told. Tall green trees, foxes big as wolves, and a duckfoot and a stick that had done something terrible to Matt Brazeal" — until several of the townsfolk are snatched up into the air having stood too close to a discarded wooden rod. Then Mallory is taken. Pugs takes up his gun and heads off in pursuit, closely followed by Mallory. They stop at a snow bank strewn with three skinned human corpses. A ghastly hollow chuckle as the monstrous webbed footprints approach ... Now this sounds fun. I also appreciate the illustration--Dolgov had such a distinctive style. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Dec 9, 2022 11:35:17 GMT
Sophie Wenzel Ellis - Creatures of the Light: ( Astounding, Feb. 1930). He Had Striven to Perfect the Faultless Man of the Future, and Had Succeeded — Too Well. For in the Pitilessly Cold Eyes of Adam, His Super-human Creation, Dr. Mundson Saw Only Contempt — and Annihilation — for the Human Race. ... Mundson shows Northwood a photograph of Athalia, an "houri from Paradise" and "your future wife" who they'll meet at journey's end. The young man refuses to be smitten; there is not a woman on this or any earth can hold a candle to his beloved, if, admittedly, plain-looking and very dull fiancée, Mary Burns. Still, civility costs nothing .... They arrive in next to no time (the Sun Ship travels at above 1,000 mph) ... but Mundson's renegade superman, Adam has beaten them to it. In a huge blow to mankind, Adam — who can time travel, read minds, turn invisible and destroy puny 'Black age' civilizations at will — has rejected his lab-created Eve. "I have one human weakness. I want Athalia" - and, after the briefest of introductions, so does Northwood. Tough luck, Mary! While Mundson hosts Northwood on a tour of a super-baby nursery, he explains that, when he first met Athalia she was toiling in New York sweat shop and half-dead of consumption. A blast from his Life-Ray restored her to near perfection. John Northwood is a man in demand. Eve no longer cares that Adam doesn't want her now she's clapped eyes on this dishy human hunk. How to remove the Athalia distraction? Adam, furious that Athalia would reject him for Northwood, primes his putrefying death ray to destroy every life form on the planet. "Astounding" is the word. Even for a between the wars pulp this one is excessively lunatic. I'm very grateful to the editor for reviving it. As I was reading this story, I expected Mary to show up and save the day. Poor young woman, but I suspect she's better off without Northwood. I was impressed that Ellis anticipated the plot of Moonraker (with Northwood standing in for Bond, Athalia for Dr. Goodhead, Mundson + Adam for Drax, and Antarctica for outer space). Well, maybe impressed isn't exactly the right word. |
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Post by dem bones on Dec 9, 2022 18:17:28 GMT
I read two more entries in Polar Horrors last night. Aviaq Johnston's "Iqsinaqtutalik Piqtuq; The Haunted Blizzard" is a story of the sort you might find in a Mary Danby children's anthology, except it's set in Nunavut and features an Inuit schoolchild as the protagonist. An enjoyable little tale with a solid ending. : (Neil Christopher [ed.], Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories, 2019). "The storm is full of bad things." Nunavet, Canadian Arctic. Dismissed from school early to beat the worst of a blizzard, a little girl is pursued by a shadowy figure she can but vaguely glimpse through the snow. She arrives home to an empty house — Mum's stranded at work like the rest — intermittent power cuts, and ..... After reading Mr. Brewer's endorsement, there was no way I could resist. If they're all like this, the parent anthology is surely worth a go. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Dec 10, 2022 19:24:35 GMT
Mordred Weir [Amelia Reynolds Long] - Bride of the Antarctic: ( Strange Stories, June. 1939). Captain 'Mad' Bill Howard insisted wife Gloria accompany his winter expedition to Antartica. Of the sixteen strong party all but the Captain and the cook, Witherspoon, perish. On their rescue Witherspoon, more dead than alive, raves of the horrors he'd witnessed. "But that part was the nightmare of delirium, of course. Excellent selection on the editor's part here. Also, "Mordred Weir" is a great pen name. |
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