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Post by Michael Connolly on Oct 11, 2021 10:27:40 GMT
I've just re-read "The Twelve Apostles". It more than owes a lot to "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas". It's a blatant rip-off! However, it is differently structured than the original and contains many new touches that make it superior to the more-anthologised "Celui-La", itself a rip-off of "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'". Here's a funny thing. I've always thought that the cover for the 1929 edition of Randalls Round looks like it was drawn by Alan Hunter who contributed many illustrations to Ghosts & Scholars. The cover I originally used does not come up on this computer so I've replaced it with this facsimile version.  |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 10, 2021 0:17:48 GMT
Randalls Round: Nine Nightmares by Eleanor Scott (British Library Tales of the Weird, 16 Sept. 2021).  I started Randalls Round a few days ago, and I've read four stories so far. I thought "The Tree" and "'Will Ye No' Come Back Again?'" were only okay, but I enjoyed "Randalls Round" and "The Twelve Apostles" quite a bit. The former has an evocative folk horror feel to it, as editor Aaron Worth points out. As for latter... The plot of Scott's The Twelve Apostles owes a lot to The Treasure of Abbot Thomas by M.R. James. However, as I read the Scott story first, and I didn't know what was going to happen, the ending gave me a real jolt. As a result, it is my favourite of Scott's stories. Borrowed plot or not, the ending does carry a good jolt. My favorite of hers so far, too. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 13, 2021 17:53:23 GMT
These guys are picking good collections to reprint. Randalls Round is worth a read although it isn't as good as Rolt's Sleep No More (which I saw on a shelf in Waterstones, Glasgow yesterday). Celui la gets all the praise usually and is a fine read until the cop out ending which undermines the entire story (Grrrrr  ). My favourite is the Wickermanesque title story which some others find under-developed, but I think leaves just the right amount unsaid. The folks at British Library made an excellent choice in reprinting Randalls Round. Of the nine "official" Eleanor Scott stories, I'd rank "The Twelve Apostles," the title story, and "Celui-Là" as the top three (in that order). Three other stories--"The Cure," "At Simmel Acres Farm," and "The Old Lady"--have their moments but seem a bit underdeveloped. The final three--"The Room," "The Tree," and "'Will Ye No' Come Back Again?'"--didn't make much of an impression on me. Not a bad average. "The Cure" might also be a fit for the Norse terrors thread. If Scott did write the two N. Dennett tales, then she had an impressive range. Whereas the Randalls Round stories follow a more restrained style in the vein of M. R. James or E. F. Benson, "Unburied Bane" and "The Menhir" would be at home in Weird Tales with their lurid descriptions and breathless ellipses. And I mean that as praise. I'd read the former in Richard Dalby's Tales of Witchcraft and the latter in his The Sorceress in Stained Glass, but they both warranted a second visit. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 14, 2021 17:27:35 GMT
One final thought about Randalls Round: "The Cure" features a character named Murky Glam. I'm stealing that as my stage name if I ever start a darkwave band.
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). My favourite is the Wickermanesque title story which some others find under-developed, but I think leaves just the right amount unsaid.