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Post by lobolover on Nov 17, 2008 22:11:39 GMT
LBL Review # 10:At a Winters Fire,Bernard Capes (1899)
Having come across Capes' name in the out of print title directory at Ash Tree Press (hoping to find some PD title online),I didnt realise that shortly afterwards I would download "An Eddy on the Floor" from the Literary Gothic.Having done so,I read this story with amazement.
Yes,at first I didnt apreciate it,while reading,because I didnt quite read it corectly- having checked the section, I was sure it wasnt reminscent of my horrible early days of experimenting with writing era idea at all, which was a major personal block-thankfully,it wasnt for long.
The rest of the tale was quite vivid and quite satisfied me in alot of acords.
Then one day I saw "At a Winter's fire" by Bernard Capes downloadable.I did download it.The contents ran as follows:
THE MOON STRICKEN
JACK AND JILL
THE VANISHING HOUSE
DARK DIGNUM
WILLIAM TYRWHITT'S "COPY"
A LAZY ROMANCE
BLACK VENN
AN EDDY ON THE FLOOR
DINAH'S MAMMOTH
THE BLACK REAPER
A VOICE FROM THE PIT
THE MOON STRICKEN ,the very first story is a great start,and its very vivid -of course when a writen story you enjoy comes into your face and ridicules your very own personal belief by stating it as something over pompously arrogant and vile,it must be good to not leave a biter aftertaste.
The second story,JACK AND JILL,reminded me a bit of W. Clark Rusell's "The Frozen Pirate",which I stil need to finish reading.It had potential for some good scenes,however the instant one such apears , salvation arrives and the tale ends-I thought that "The Pale Ape" by M.P.Shiel was rushed (incidently,I like that one alot)
The third story,THE VANISHING HOUSE,is supernatural,however its way to rushed again and before something even remotely interesting happens,it ends.
DARK DIGNUM:Why do all the stories I know,featuring graveyards slowly crumbling into the sea and being described as such very powerfully,coming from more or less recognised writers of the weird and strange,have to be sub par or mediocre tales without any other point of value?E.F.Benson's "The dust cloud" is just like that, becoming a rhapsody over a car and featuring the silly device of a ghost car-calle me a purist, but a real weird tale that features a car AS PART OF THE WEIRD has never been writen.Oh it can be, but it musnt be in this form.DARK DIGNUM is like that too.It doesnt have a car, of course,but it also becomes very dubious when the story has a dead man half sticking from the ground throwing chunks of marble down at someone from a hill.Unintentional comedy at its worst.
WILLIAM TYRWHITT'S "COPY":Ah,a very good one here. This tale miuxes up time,place and identity in a sort of hereditery guilt/asault sort of way-it shows how a place can be the entrance to something horrible.
A LAZY ROMANCE:not a weird tale by any means,so well leave it out of this review.
BLACK VENN:a good tale-doesnt feature anything strcictly supernatural, but theres stil the question:how does the old man know?
AN EDDY ON THE FLOOR:An excelent story-imagine,lets say "The upper Berth" by Crawford set in a prison.
DINAH'S MAMMOTH:Not bad,not as greast as the best of this colection, but stil quite fine.
THE BLACK REAPER:A good story-I'd prefer if "The moonstricken" would have been chosen for the Ash Tree Press title story,but oh well.
A VOICE FROM THE PIT:A very short,working story-it works as the last story,a kind of diferent aproach to "The Moonstricken"- the first one saw,whereas this one....
Overall,a fine colection,only if "Jack and Jill" would have been more fleshed out, it would be wonderfull.
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