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Post by dem bones on Jun 12, 2008 7:05:39 GMT
John Robert Columbo & Michael Richardson (eds.) - Not To Be Taken At Night: 13 Classic Tales Of Mystery And The Supernatural (Ravette, 1988) Preface
Robertson Davies - The Cat That Went To Trinity H. R. Percy - The Timeless Island Hugh Garner - The Premeditated Death Of Samuel Glover Yves Theriault - The Barren Field Graham Petrie - Village Theatre Al Purdy - The Undertaker Brian Moore - The Sight P. K. Page - The Woman Wilfred Watson - The Lice Michel Tremblay - The Thirteenth Wife Of Baron Klugg Lawrence Mathews - The Death Of Arthur Rimbaud Andreas Schroeder - The Late Man Ethel Wilson - Mrs Sleepwalker
Acknowledgements"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. " - H. P. Lovecraft Blurb: NOT TO BE TAKEN AT NIGHT is a collection of thirteen eerie tales of the unknown — from the subtly bizarre to the frankly blood-curdling — by thirteen top writers. Some of these authors write of the supernatural; some delve into the darker side of our own psychology; some explore those strange boundaries of normal and paranormal, real and surreal. But all succeed in cutting out from under our feet the terra firma of "what is", leaving us suspended in the frightful void of "what ought not to be". Not to be confused with Not At Night, copies of this book have passed through my hands twice before, so I'm nailing this one to the bookshelf. A cursory flick through reveals it to be the work of Canadian authors although the publishers are based in Horsham. Tho oldest story, The Barren Field, first appeared in Weird Tales (Nov. 1949) so that's the one I'll most likely start on.
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Post by dem bones on May 30, 2018 7:06:05 GMT
Weird and supernatural fiction by Canadian authors.
Robertson Davies - The Cat That Went To Trinity: (One Half Of Robertson Davies, 1977). "What bloody feast is this? Monsters, fiends, cannibals, what do I behold?"
A lecturer on the Gothic novel bemoans the lack of a Massey college cat, the latest, like its predecessors, having absconded to Trinity. Star pupils Frank Einstein and Elizabeth Lavenza resolve to build him one, and abduct a dozen strays from the compound for raw material. Unfortunately, the resultant abomination is fiercely protective of creator Frank and launches itself at Elizabeth when she attempts to give him a congratulatory snog.
Michel Tremblay - The Thirteenth Wife Of Baron Klugg: (Stories For Late-Night Drinkers, 1977). What happened to Karla von Kleiber's predecessors? The Baron reveals the ghastly secrets of the portrait gallery before she joins them in death. Bluebeard lives.
Graham Petrie - Village Theatre: (Story Quarterly, Winter 1975). Evidently an experimental production concerning the suicide of a play write. As Dave and Elsie learn to their despair, audience participation is compulsory.
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Post by dem bones on May 30, 2018 16:49:21 GMT
A. L. Purdy - The Undertaker: (The Canadian Forum, Oct. 1962). Randy undertaker Joe embalms childhood sweetheart Beth Holliday, before arranging tonight's fun and games with Julie in his favoured passion parlour, the Chapel of Rest. The following morning Juile telephones apologising for her no show. So who did he get off with? Proper morbid!
Hugh Garner - The Premeditated Death Of Samuel Glover: (The Yellow Sweater & Other Stories, 1953). Samuel Glover insists there is no such thing as free will, that all our moves are preordained. He informs the narrator that he, Glover, will die at the Adelaide Road intersection. So it proves.
H. R. Percy - The Timeless Island: (The Timeless Island & Other Stories, 1960). Joan accompanies Edgar on a trip to Dunkelvie where he was stationed during World War II. As they walk, he tells her about his friend, James Cameron McCleod, who grew fatally obsessed with a suicide whose corpse was dislodged from the peat bog by shell fire. Maggie had lain there for over a century, the locals having refusing her a Kirkyard burial. Once exhumed, she keeps coming back until her lover joins her in death. This, The Undertaker, The Cat That Went To Trinity and The Thirteenth Wife Of Baron Klugg have been the most enjoyable so far.
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Post by dem bones on May 31, 2018 15:57:34 GMT
This collection was originally published Not to Be Taken at Night: Thirteen Classic Canadian Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural (Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1981), the 'Canadian' having been dropped for the English paperback. Lee Brown Coye Yves Theriault - The Barren Field ( Weird Tales, Nov. 1949). It was a poor piece of land where nothing would grow but the hopes of one who would do anything, yes anything, to fulfil a strange dream. A year on from the death of her husband, Christina Sorenson resolves to grow wheat on her mountain farm no matter that the people of Connor's Wells insist it's impossible. When God fails to answer her prayers, the formidable Christina falls back on her "terrible secret" option - human sacrifice. P. K. Page - The Woman: ( The Sun and the Moon and other fictions, 1973). A soldier with a prosthetic arm rolls up at a desolate hotel. The landlady seems terrified. Of everything. Read, reread, and tried again a third time. Still none the wiser. Andreas Schroeder - The Late Man: ( The Late Man and other fictions, 1972). A taciturn fisherman confounds the villagers with his unorthodox schedule. Why does he only set out when there's no chance of a haul? Curiosity gets the better of the youngest of their number, who one night follows him out to sea. Another mood piece. Ethel Wilson - Mr. Sleepwalker: ( Mrs. Golightly & Other Stories, 1961). Mrs. Mary Manly is stalked by a moribund, feral-eyed lingerie salesman who smells of rotten wood.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on May 31, 2018 17:04:28 GMT
the 'Canadian' having been dropped for the English paperback. Alas! even in these enlightened times.
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Post by dem bones on Jun 4, 2018 18:57:00 GMT
Three black comedies to end on.
Wilfred Watson - The Lice: (Prism International, Fall 1960). The Bishop of Edmonton prays that God make the sins of himself and his congregation visible that it might shock the community to piety. God obliges by infesting the Holy Crucifix with lice. "The Edmonton Miracle" causes such embarrassment to the Church that the Bishop implores God to cleanse the cross and inflict him with the reeking blood-suckers instead. He gets his wish and is duly ostracised by his flock, happy to be rid of him so they can peacefully go about their transgressions. Very entertaining, almost Mervyn Peake's Mr. Pye in miniature. The more I read about this 'God' character the crueller He seems.
Brian Moore - The Sight: (Joseph Hone [ed.], Irish Ghost Stories, 1977). Benedict Chapman is admitted to Hospital for a minor operation. The Doctor assures him the mole on his back is benign, but Chapman's housekeeper, Mrs. Leahy, claims to be cursed with precognition and knows a condemned man when she sees one.
Lawrence Mathews - The Death Of Arthur Rimbaud: (Canadian Fiction, Spring 1975). A stranger who claims to be the famous poet takes residence in a remote farm near a small rural town. When asked if he's the Arthur Rimbaud, he concedes as much, confiding that stopped ageing at thirty and faked his death to cash in an insurance policy; the alleged loss of both legs was a similar contrivance. The nosey townsfolk take exception when he dismisses his poetry as "shit" and demand an explanation. Instead he offers to stand as their MP on a wild manifesto that might have been contrived by Screaming Lord Sutch. Which is when they decide he's a Commie and vote to murder him. Truly inspired.
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