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Post by dem bones on Oct 19, 2007 10:23:04 GMT
Ronald Holmes (ed.) - Macabre Military Stories (Leo Cooper, 1979) Introduction
Washington Irving - The Bold Dragoon
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch - The Roll Call of the Reef
Barbara Softly - Master Ghost & I
John Galt - The Black Ferry
B W Saville - Apparitions
James Grant - The Phantom Regiment
Captain George Eliot - The Copper Bowl
Arthur Machen - The Soldiers' Rest
C E Montague - A Trade Report Only
Robert Bloch - The Living Dead
Seabury Quinn - And Give Us Yesterday
Evan Hunter - The Scarlet King
Robert Sheckley - The Battle It was only while revamping the Vault *ahem* "site" recently that I noticed the names 'Ron Holmes', 'Ronald Holmes' and 'Ronald E. Holmes' were turning up with some frequency and sure enough they are all one entity, the author of Witchfinder General (Herbert Jenkings, 1966, Pan 1968) also responsible for The Legend Of Sawney Beane (Muller, 1975: Mews, 1976), Witchcraft In British History and, as editor, Macabre Railway Stories (Star, 1983). Not a bad track record by any means. Now, one of my more bashful correspondents has alerted me to this collection which I'd not previously heard of and bloody good it looks too. The only C. E. Montague story I've ever read is The First Blood Sweep in Wheatley's Century Of Horror - the jaded Tommies take bets on which of them will be the next to be killed. If Trade Report Only is anything like as anguished and bitterly cynical that's another incentive to track down a copy. The Seabury Quinn is a non-De Grandin, one of the better ones as I recall, although these tend to be mildly sensible and are best avoided if you're looking for more in the tradition of The House Of Horror. Bloch's The Living Dead has been resurrected several times, once as Underground (the ever reliable Mr. Haining up to his old tricks) and The Copper Bowl is one of the vilest Weird Tales/ Not At Night torture fests for rat lovers. Anyway. Does somebody have a copy? What's the Montague story like?
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Post by dem bones on Dec 4, 2023 9:52:38 GMT
Sixteen years later .... Ronald Holmes [ed] - Macabre Military Stories (Leo Cooper, 1979) Blurb: This collection of spine-chilling stories will be irresistible to those who like their ghosts in a military setting. Each story turns on some aspect of military history such as the Battle of Culloden or the Napoleonic Wars, often with fascinating details of the period.
Many of the contributors - Arthur Machen, Robert Bloch, Arthur Quiller-Couch and Washington Irving - are well-known names on both sides of the Atlantic and need no introduction but the rare, almost-forgotten works of John Galt, James Grant and B. W. Savile will be welcomed by the collector and bring pleasure to the new reader.
The range and diversity of the plots and settings produced by these Captains of Terror make this a memorable collection of exciting, enjoyable and frightening tales. Unattributed artist ( Angela Lewer ?) : ( Fiery Particles, 1923). An eerily silent garden in France during the Great War with the rival units unable to discern one another through the mist and smoke. A ghastly shriek in the night suggestive of a man tortured beyond endurance further unnerves the Brits — one of whom, Toomey, an Irish Catholic, breaks cover to retrieve a terrified stray dog from no mans land. The men aren't happy about this, suggesting the devil Hun have doubtless infected the poor thing with plague fleas. To make matters worse, Toomey is blamed for losing a sack of tea. Meanwhile GHQ are demanding a report on the enemy's strength. The General offers £5 to the first man to bring him a German soldier, dead or alive, within 24 hours. Toomey sees an opportunity to make amends and a few bob in the process ..... |
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Post by dem bones on Dec 5, 2023 9:52:51 GMT
Captain George Eliot - The Copper Bowl: Weird Tales, Dec. 1928: By Daylight Only 1929: Pan Book of Horror Stories, 1959). Lieutenant Andre Fournet's terrible dilemma. Betray the flag, or witness fiancé Lily slowly eaten alive by a trapped and starving rat. In his introduction, Holmes informs; "Reginald Smith wrote, in a study of horror stories, "... undoubtably the most effective and gruesome and sickening tale to appear during the entire history of Weird Tales, or anywhere else for that matter." Once read, never forgotten Chinese torture porn. Arthur Machen - Soldier's Rest: London Evening News, October 20, 1914: Peter Haining [ed], The Nightmare Reader, 1979). Patriotic supernatural Great War fiction (see also same author's The Bowmen, Drake's Drum, The Monstrance, etc). St. Michael is so moved by the courage of a dead Tommy that he joins the conflict on the side of the British.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 5, 2023 20:11:27 GMT
Barbara Softly - Master Ghost and I: (Barbara Ireson [ed], Haunting Tales, 1978: Chetwynd-Hayes [ed] 10th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, 1974). Disowned by his family for refusing to join the church, John Knapton, a young Captain in Cromwell's New Model Army, unexpectedly inherits a house in the West Country from Uncle Nathaniel Dodd, a staunch Royalist. One year built, the house is already shunned locally as "haunted". Mallett the gardener warns Knapton against moving in as "we don't hold with soldiers in these parts," which certainly proves the case. Knapton is ultimately grateful for the intervention of the ghost. Robert Sheckley - The Battle: ( If, Sept. 1954). It was the last battle. The cavalry was ready. The air arm was ready. The troops were ready, Metal shining, relays renewed, energy reservoirs charged. Television for the world was ready .... Was there anything not ready?. Armageddon. A winner takes all decider in the Sahara desert. Aided by the world's greatest military minds, Supreme General Fetterer marshals our massed automatic robot armies versus Satan's hordes ...
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Post by dem bones on Dec 7, 2023 13:45:11 GMT
John Galt - The Black Ferry: (Andrew Picken [ed], The Club Book, 1831 (as The Book of Life; Peter Haining [ed]. Clans of Darkness, 1971; Mary Danby [ed]. Realms of Darkness, 1975). When Mary Blake falls pregnant, lover Ralph Nocton reluctantly does the right thing by her before enlisting to fight in India directly after the wedding. We don't hold much hope for a long marriage and so it proves when, crossing the river during a storm, Nocton loses his rag and throws her over. Fourteen years on from the 'tragedy, a soldier in poor health arrives at the ferry house seeking a room. Rev. Bourchier Wrey Savile - Apparitions [excerpt] : ( Apparitions: A Narrative of Facts, 1874). Authentic ghost stories. Heard But Not Seen. American War of Independence. When Major Blomberg is shot down on the battlefield, his ghost entrusts two of the regiment to fulfil a last request on their return to England. They duly secure a hidden box of deeds beneficial to the late Major's son and heir. Seen But Not Heard. Cape Breton, Canada, October 1785. Wynyard's ghost appears before two officers at the precise moment of his death in England. The spectre asks that they go gently when breaking the sad news to his soldier brother. The Siege of Lucknow. 15 November 1857. Sepoy Mutiny. Ghost of a scarred and bloody Captain German Wheatcroft crosses the ocean, appears to wife in England as he expires, fatally wounded by a shell fragment, four thousand miles away.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 7, 2023 15:33:56 GMT
John Galt - The Black Ferry "Who is John Galt?" |
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Post by dem bones on Dec 19, 2023 6:40:41 GMT
Ah, very good! (had to look it up). James Grant - The Phantom Regiment: ( The Phantom Regiment, or Stories of Ours, 1856). Ewan MacEwan, a retired grenadier in the 26th regiment, fast regrets renting a room to a gnarled war veteran. The old timer - of terrible gimlet eye and wooden leg - gleefully recalls his enthusiastic participation in the massacre of Charles Stuart's men on Culloden Moor under the command of The Duke of Cumberland, despised thereafter as 'the Butcher,' MacEwan's father among his victims. The Highlander is stuck with his ghoulish lodger until the anniversary of the rout, whereupon the phantom regiment return to take him home to Hell. Evan Hunter - The Scarlet King: ( Manhunt, Dec 25, 1954). Invalided home from Korea after witnessing a colleague sliced in half by a Mongol assassin, he moves into his brother's temporarily vacant apartment beside the park. Tragically, post-War it takes very little to trigger his psychosis, and the little girl upstairs won't quit playing that god-damned piano .... |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 19, 2023 23:05:01 GMT
Ah, very good! (had to look it up). Took you some time, too! |
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