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Post by dem on Feb 27, 2010 20:38:48 GMT
That bit about Ethel marriott watson is brilliant  He must have had fun making that up. "...few and far between"indeed! I know researchers tend to get a bit annoyed at Mr. Haining's fluid way with author attributions and dates, and the *ahem* occasional minor embellishments that inform such classic 'non-fiction' titles as The Legend And Bizarre Crimes Of Spring Heeled Jack and The Mystery & Horrible Murders Of Sweeney Todd are almost as notorious as the subjects themselves, but I can't help but love him for it! Read three of the shorter pieces earlier (God alone knows what strange fantasy biography PH would have built around a mystery man named Edward Wheatley!) Edward Wheatley - The Haunted Pool: A Tale Of The Blue Mountains: brief but effective minor gem featuring another beautiful femme fatale and another disappointed prospector. For Bob Smith, the realisation has just sunk in that there's no gold in this valley, so to get some relief from the scorching sun, he takes a dip in the stream thinking what an ideal dwelling place it would be for a water-nymph. He's spot on - and she attempts to drag him to his doom. Or at least, that's the way Bob remembers it. His brother has a more rational, if no less troubling explanation. Edward Dyson - The Accursed Thing: Old Bob Norrid wedged in the mineshaft, cornered by a monstrous, anaconda-like black streak of death! Henry Lawson - The Third Murder: A New South Wales Tale: " ... tales of convicts being flogged to death and women being murdered formed a harmonious background to the house's history." The long vacant Lenton House, scene of at least two brutal slayings, is locally believed to be haunted. The narrator and his friend resolve to spend a night there and, sure enough, they're greeted to a grisly murder show ... |
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Post by dem on Mar 9, 2010 18:53:40 GMT
Thanks Dem My favourite is probably the longish "Mystery of Major Molineux", a forgotten gem in my opinion. Mine too, and I take your point about the comparison with Dr. Jekyl & Mister Hyde. I rate both but perhaps Clarke's is the most horrific in that he really has done nothing to deserve such an awful fate. Marcus Clarke - The Mystery Of Major Molineaux: New Norfolk. When beautiful young Beatrice Rochford is badly injured in a riding accident, there's nothing for it but to carry her inside gloomy Castle Stuart and risk the wrath of its reclusive owner, Major Molineaux. Far from being a misanthrope, the Major is kindly, highly intelligent and thoroughly decent, so why does he insist on locking himself away in the dark for the duration of every Thursday? As Beatrice's health gradually recovers over the following weeks, so her would-be husband, Dr. Julius Fayre, gains the Major's confidence, even to the point where he's allowed to enter the cell with him on the dreaded night. But we're reminded throughout the forty-plus pages that the episode ends tragically, and so it proves. This and The White Maniac have been my favourites so far. as mentioned, it's by far the longest story in the book, but there's plenty of incident to keep you going, including a splendid face at the window moment, and the climax is only the start of the really horrible content (autopsy fans, you're in luck). also found myself looked forward to the next fleeting encounter with old Bagally, the ex-convict turned super-lugubrious valet! Ernest Favenc - A Haunt of the Jinkarras: Told in journal form. The narrator and his loyal friend Jackson successfully locate a ruby field in a gorge along the MacDonnell Range, but instead of making away with the treasure, our man will insist on exploring the surrounding caves. Legend has it that a degenerate tribe of subterranean tailed folk haunt the region .... Rosa Campbell Praed - The Bunyip: Camped beside the swamp, the men recount stories of the Bunyip, a terrible water-serpent credited with supernatural powers whose cry is said to resemble that of a child or a woman in pain. The men hear a cry in the darkness, very similar to that of a child or woman in pain! Could it be ...? Loved the ending and bonus mark for references to a pub named The Coffin Lid. Fergus Hume - A Colonial Banshee: Queensland, New Zealand. Narrator Mr. Durham befriends Irish Émigrés Michael and Nora Maguire, recently arrived from Australia in search of a more hospitable climate for his worsening consumption. Their fellow hotel guests are up in arms about a stray dog howling in the night but Nora knows better - it's the family banshee, travelled across the ocean to signal his doom. Mr. Durham, being a rationalist, scoffs at her ridiculous spook stories .... until a spectral mist seeps through his keyhole and he finds himself eyeball to sunken eyeball with Bridget the Banshee .... Richard Dalby included Hume's excellent The Sand-Walker in The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories: Volume 1 |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Feb 3, 2013 14:16:49 GMT
I hugely enjoyed Australian Ghost Stories (I do agree that Australian Weird Tales would have been a better title). All of the stories were new to me except for Watson's classic "The Devil in the Marsh." For me, the high points were Mary Fortune's "The White Maniac" and the outback-flavored Favenc pair, followed by "The Cave" (with its highly original ghost), "The Mystery of Major Molineux," "The Bunyip," and "Hallowe'en" (hard to believe Deamer was 19 when she wrote that). I could go on, really--I enjoyed them all, except maybe "Sea Voices" (a bit poetical for my tastes, though I can see that it added to the diversity of the selection).
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Post by jamesdoig on Feb 3, 2013 20:24:36 GMT
I hugely enjoyed Australian Ghost Stories (I do agree that Australian Weird Tales would have been a better title). All of the stories were new to me except for Watson's classic "The Devil in the Marsh." For me, the high points were Mary Fortune's "The White Maniac" and the outback-flavored Favenc pair, followed by "The Cave" (with its highly original ghost), "The Mystery of Major Molineux," "The Bunyip," and "Hallowe'en" (hard to believe Deamer was 19 when she wrote that). I could go on, really--I enjoyed them all, except maybe "Sea Voices" (a bit poetical for my tastes, though I can see that it added to the diversity of the selection). Thanks CB - much appreciated. I'm still waiting for werewolf anthologists to pick up "Hallowe'en," but none have yet - and I guess "Major Molineaux" falls into that category too. Robert 18-B and Richard Dalby used "The White Maniac" for Vintage Vampire Stories, plus a couple of others from Australian Gothic. Someone should get around to doing collections by Grimshaw and Dwyer - Mike Ashley wrote a piece on Grimshaw for the Book and Magazine Collector several years ago, and I was thinking he would do it, but I don't think he has yet. I see what you mean about "Sea Voices," but Quinn was a pretty famous poet in his time and the shark monster thing he evokes seemed uniquely Australian - most people live on the coast and sharks are always on your mind at the beach. |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jan 23, 2022 20:44:13 GMT
I just reread Mary Fortune's brilliant "The White Maniac: A Doctor's Tale." I now feel it is a critique of modern interior-decoration trends.
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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 24, 2022 19:50:56 GMT
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Post by dem on Jan 24, 2022 20:10:36 GMT
Any news on the Wildside Australian Gothic reprint, James? They seem to have slowed down on the Weird Tales facsimiles of late.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 24, 2022 21:58:52 GMT
I'm quite intrigued by this book! What a cool thread about it. Hope the reprint happens!
cheers, Hel.
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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 25, 2022 7:33:07 GMT
Any news on the Wildside Australian Gothic reprint, James? They seem to have slowed down on the Weird Tales facsimiles of late. I did drop John Betancourt a line not long ago, but didn't get a response. I'm sure he'll get onto it in his own time - I think he had a fall last year and that put him out of action for a while. |
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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 25, 2022 7:37:12 GMT
I'm quite intrigued by this book! What a cool thread about it. Hope the reprint happens! Well, to be honest, anthologies of early horror fiction are often a bit hit and miss - I'd say it's more fun finding the stories then reading them. Some are surprising good, though, and hold up pretty well. |
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Post by dem on Jan 25, 2022 11:11:29 GMT
I did drop John Betancourt a line not long ago, but didn't get a response. I'm sure he'll get onto it in his own time - I think he had a fall last year and that put him out of action for a while. Ah, in that case I hope he's OK. Please pass on my best if/ when next you are in contact. As to Australian Ghost Stories, it's my favourite of all the Wordsworth's, certainly the most influential in that, aside from the vintage Antipodean ghost & horror stories, it alerted the likes of me to Horwitz paperbacks, Frank Bernier artwork, and a rich pulp history I'm not sure so many of us were aware of. That was a good time. |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jan 25, 2022 19:29:25 GMT
I even acquired Wildside's THE MARY FORTUNE MEGAPACK. It was $1.05. |
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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 25, 2022 22:52:01 GMT
Let's hope it's worth it. |
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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 25, 2022 22:54:34 GMT
Ah, in that case I hope he's OK. Please pass on my best if/ when next you are in contact. He mentioned it in the Wildside Press newsletter - it slowed things up before Christmas, but it looks like they're back to normal. Those Weird Tales facsimiles are really good - nice production values and well packaged. |
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Post by dem on Jan 26, 2022 11:03:21 GMT
Ah, in that case I hope he's OK. Please pass on my best if/ when next you are in contact. He mentioned it in the Wildside Press newsletter - it slowed things up before Christmas, but it looks like they're back to normal. Those Weird Tales facsimiles are really good - nice production values and well packaged. There's a Wildside Press newsletter? Seriously, how do I subscribe? |
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He must have had fun making that up. "...few and far between"indeed!
