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Post by dem on Jan 9, 2009 13:40:15 GMT
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - Tales From The Other Side (Kimber, 1983: Tor, as The Other Side, 1988)  David Mann
Woodwork - 1850
Bricks And Mortar - 1969
Loft Conversion - 1980
Labour-Saving Devices - 2000Blurb: Time cannot stop the terror
For centuries, Clavering Grange has been a focus for evil. Whether cursed manor house, blasted heath, or modern housing development, the Grange is stalked by ghosts and demons, by an evil that never dies, merely sleeps - and soon rises to strike again!
Kepple thinks he can master the spirit of the Grange, tame its evil to his will. An innocent child will be his sacrifice, will bind the demon to him forever.
And so it is - but it is Kepple, not the demon, who is bound, Kepple who will serve forever in horrible darkness.
Only the blood of another child can close the occult circle and set Kepple free.[/color] Great to see him back in paperback, even if "They tell me my books are too subtle for the American market. Pyramid did three and said 'our critics think you're too English' - whatever that means." Woodwork - 1850: Try to forgive me if any harm befall either you or your sister, but I am controlled by a force that is hungry for life. Possibly, I have ascended to the highest peak of insanity, for at this moment I am convinced that even the total destruction of two young creatures would be a small price for the prize I seek." Clavering Grange, Kent: The sixteen year old Stephen Sinclair and his sister Catherine are sent to stay with their guardian-grandmother Elizabeth Lady Sinclair, who will preside over the property until Stephen is 21. Lady Sinclair tends to Catherine's education, Stephen is tutored by the likable, booze-fueled Mr. Brownlow who has more than a passing interest in the macabre history of the Grange. From the first, the youngsters are affected by a particularly cold spot in a room where an ancestor, Lady Cynthia, reputedly shot herself rather than be forced into an arranged marriage. Catherine, who is genuinely psychic, even hears sobbing noises. Both of them hate the room, but grandma is keen to exploit the girls gift. It becomes evident that the sinister forces in the woodwork of the Grange are taking the old girl over .... Mr. Brownlow realises that Lady Elizabeth is out to use the body of her granddaughter as a receptacle for the unbound spirit of Cynthia and, together with Stephen and the cockerney coachman Clare, they conspire to have the girl smuggled off the premises. But there's a traitor in the camp and soon the terrified Catherine is bound to a chair with the ghost of Cynthia sat on her knee ... and sinking into her body. Chetwynd-Hayes is an old hand at these Upstairs, Downstairs extravaganzas, and this is a confident start to the book with several skeletons unearthed - one literally - and an exciting climax. Hints of a Clavering vampire clan, too. At just short of 100 pages, this would probably have made for a decent stand-alone Lancer Gothic romance. Brick And Mortar - 1969: "Godfrey, what has come over you? Please remember who you are. Who I am."
His eyes slowly acquired a bright gleam, then he reached out, slid his finger over the top of her dress and ripped it down to the waist. Then he said after emitting a soft chuckle: "I always wanted to do that."The Kepple story referred to in the blurb and it's a good thing he dates it because, other than a passing reference to Sir Stephen from the previous story dieing of fright at the age of sixty-five, you've no other indication that we're out of the nineteenth century. Kepple drifts into the village and takes a room at the Old Rectory, home to Mrs. Brown and her obligatory beautiful daughter, Clover. The Grange is by now a desolate ruin, due for demolition (which is how Rosemary and William come to purchase The Door in Cold Terror), but Kepple is determined to commune with the spirits before the bulldozers get to work. He is an energy vampire, possessed of extraordinary mental powers that enable him to read others' minds and subject all around him to his will. Clover soon discovers that her mother, chinless wonder of a boyfriend and even the family doctor who's tried to help her are all under his influence, as she would be if he didn't have other uses for her. Perhaps his editor advised RCH to sex this one up some as, not only does he treat us to more mild bondage fun and games, he even works in a rape (made all the more uncomfortable to read by virtue of who's written it: it's very small beer when compared to a GNS gang-bang but even so ... ). By removing a chain from around the neck of the staked skeleton we met briefly in Woodwork, Kepple unleashes all the ghosts of the Sinclair dead ..... before somebody upsets a lantern, as people have a habit of doing in this kind of story. The Grange is razed to the ground and "a neat estate of highly desirable semi-detached houses" are built on the site: Clavering Retreat. Yet another spurious book by the versatile Baron Von Holstein is name-checked: Ye Historie Of Clavering Grange (translated by Arthur M. Cooper, Grimms of Zurich, 1638)
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Post by andydecker on Jan 9, 2009 17:46:14 GMT
The Tor covers of the time really look all the same.  |
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Post by dem on Jan 9, 2009 22:05:48 GMT
And that ghastly embossed lettering! God, how I detested that trend in paperback publishing. And it's often a bastard to scan, too.
Anyway, not that anyone in their right mind would find any of this of interest, but i seem to recall our next novella, Loft Conversion - 1980 is something of a novelty item in that on this occasion, RCH plagiarises ..... himself! Unless i was hallucinating the first time i read it, Loft ... is actually one of his greatest hits, The Jumpity-Jim, with a new cast of characters and a less bonkers/ irritating title?
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jan 9, 2009 22:52:25 GMT
There's one RCH story where the hero falls through a crack in the dimensions and ends up in a society where The Unbidden is the Bible. He attends a service and the reading is 'Why Don't You Wash? Said the Girl with 100000 Pounds & No Relatives'. And then RCH reprints that story in its entirety within the story.
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Post by dem on Jan 10, 2009 10:41:04 GMT
There's one RCH story where the hero falls through a crack in the dimensions and ends up in a society where The Unbidden is the Bible. If you come across that one again your lordship, please let me know the title! I'm guessing it's from one of the Kimbers or maybe Tales Of Fear and Fantasy 'cause i'm sure i'd have remembered a story like that! Right, to Loft Conversion - 1980, and despite minor carping above, it's still a personal favourite (maybe we should try and RCH top ten. i'm sure there are - oh, at least two people on the planet interested). As mentioned, the old pile has been demolished, several brand new homes have been built along Sinclair Drive, but there's still one reassuringly gloomy blot on the landscape, the ugly edifice known as Strange Haven, home to wealthy businessman Septimus Starkley and Winifred, his invalid, attic-ridden wife. The more things change, the more things stay the same and although this is 1980 (i.e., the world of Public Image Ltd, Joy Division, P. Furs, Killing Joke and the mighty Martian Dance), Mr. Starkley is still very much the master of all he surveys and doing his best to achieve a Victorian ambiance. To this end he employs a housekeeper, Martha Catford (all false-jollity and somewhat sinister of aspect: reputedly the master's bit on the side), a plump, back-chatting parlormaid named Susie and a personal secretary, of whom there have been four to date, the latest being our heroine, twenty-year-old Juliet Dickens, the unworldly daughter of some Reverend gent. Juliet is given a downstairs room to share with Susie who tells her that in the three years she's lived and worked at Strange Haven, she's not once set eyes on Mrs. Starkley (although she often hears her agonised screams in the night) and only Mrs. Catford is allowed to attend her. Also, Juliet's predecessor Cathy, disappeared in the night without a bye or leave, although Susie suspected it had something to do with the nasty set of scratches raking her back. The new girl suspects her room-mate is only trying to frighten her, but she's not long been in the house when she gets her first unpleasant surprise: as she's relaxing in the shower, Mrs. Catford deliberately barges in on her and it's not lost on Juliet that the housekeeper seems to have an unhealthy interest in her rear view ... Juliet's prowess with a typewriter impresses Mr. Starkley hugely - how stupid the previous girl friday's must have been, thinks Juliet, smugly - but as her first day on the job draws to a close: "Well now, I don't think we need concern ourselves with any more tonight, unless .... unless you would care to help me with a small experiment." uh-oh .... To be continued ... |
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jan 10, 2009 17:16:50 GMT
I looked for that story last night Dem & I can't find it. Which of course means an evening of sitting with all my RCHs piled around me as I go through them all thoroughly.
My copy of Tales from the Other Side is a horrible ratty William Kimber ex-library one which probably prejudiced me against it when I read it first. I don't really remember Loft Conversion but it obviously needs a re-read.
My top ten RCH stories coming up!
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Post by dem on Jan 10, 2009 17:46:32 GMT
Well that's two of us at then. Wow, his could be quite possibly the most comprehensive study ever undertaken by man! Loft Conversion is certainly among my contenders, although i suppose i should re-read The Jumpity Jim before deciding between 'em (yes, as suspected, they are extremely similar). Anyway, that little "experiment" Septimus Starkley mentioned did not involve chasing Juliet around the room with a feather duster and a strawberry gateau after all. It seems his father was a scientist who invented an 'aptitude testing' machine (though it's only too late Justine discovers what she has the perfect aptitude for). Staring into the misted glass, she has a terrifying vision. "Something moved on the nearest tree: a small, long-legged something that dropped to the ground and went bounding down the valley in great, effortless jumps. It looked like a cross between a deformed monkey and a monstrous spider ..." Mr. Starkley makes all manner of sympathetic noises but it's clear he's overjoyed when the badly shaken girl relates what she's seen, telling her she's one in a million and even giving her a promotion upstairs. At the master's request, Juliet makes herself beautiful in a daring backless evening gown and presents herself for a celebratory dinner, little realising that their guest is none other than Mrs. Starkley. Why, she's simply gorgeous! Oh wait - I didn't notice that. "All this beauty was ruined by the grotesque hump that swelled out in a gradual curve from the small of the back to just above the shoulder. The weight, or perhaps, the ungainly bulk of this awful deformity, made it impossible for Mrs. Starkley to stand upright, and she stooped almost double ...." Juliet, moved almost to tears at this woman's suffering, offers to do anything she can to help, and in so doing seals her terrible fate. To give away the ending would be dastardly, but let's just say it's been a long time since I enjoyed a Chetwynd-Hayes story as much as this one. When he was bad he was the very worst moments in Moving Day but when he was good, he was very good indeed. My copy of Tales from the Other Side is a horrible ratty William Kimber ex-library one which probably prejudiced me against it when I read it first. I just put in a search for the cover of the Kimber Tales From The Other Side. Didn't find a match but i came across this very rudimentary version of the deceased RCH tribute site which i'd forgotten all about! Loughville |
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jan 10, 2009 21:23:19 GMT
Found it! It's Prometheus Chained in Ghosts From the Mist of Time. I wasn't looking closely enough last night. And sure enough, the whole of 'Why Don't You Wash...' gets reprinted in the middle of the story! RCH also namechecks his stories 'Birth', 'Labour Saving Devices', 'Outside Interference' and 'Kamtellar' - in fact there's a little asterisk referring you to that volume.
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Post by dem on Jan 21, 2009 21:20:55 GMT
Found it! It's Prometheus Chained in Ghosts From the Mist of Time. I wasn't looking closely enough last night. And sure enough, the whole of 'Why Don't You Wash...' gets reprinted in the middle of the story! RCH also namechecks his stories 'Birth', 'Labour Saving Devices', 'Outside Interference' and 'Kamtellar' - in fact there's a little asterisk referring you to that volume. Ah yes, Labour-Saving Devices - 2000, the final thrilling episode in Tales From The Other Side sees RCH donning his Nostradamus head and foretelling what life will be like seventeen years in the future ... It's 2000 and there have been some big changes since Juliet acquired her instant hunchback and ran screaming into the night. There's no longer any such thing as marriage: women take "live ins", the relationship instantly annulled when either party tires of the other. Very few people work and those who do are on a three day week: those who don't enjoy an equally luxurious lifestyle thanks to an extraordinarily generous benefits system. Really, no-one need do much of anything they don't wish to on account of their high-tech labour saving devices which is why they spend much of their time slumped before the multi-channel "wall-telly". Anyway, Strange Haven has finally been demolished and a row of houses built on the site, one of which belongs to Madeline Bayswater. Madeline, mother of little Jason, is on to her third live-in, Gerald, but she's already bored with the pompous git, so Bert Wadley from QUIK TELLY SER picks a particularly opportune moment to call. Hardly can he confirm that he's "connected the loft aerial to an underground pilbeam rod" than she pounces. But as they're going about it on the bed, Madeline complains that she can feel another body underneath her. Bert thinks he's picked a "right loony" here, until he tries to pull her free of the mattress. Bert gallantly scarpers, but Madeline embarks on a sexual relationship with the ghost who gradually takes on human form .... It's Kepple, that vampire bastard from the second story, returning in installments, and soon he has Madeline and the wretched Gerald completely under his spell. Now nothing can stop him claiming the body of young Jason's as his own .... I dunno, maybe i'm mellowing or something, but i actually enjoyed Tales From The Other Side. Unfortunately, that makes it increasingly likely that it will be Tales From The Hidden World next unless i can turn up a Hamlyn nasty overnight ....  |
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