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Post by Dr Strange on May 17, 2022 12:55:24 GMT
24 Glasshouse, Glasshouse Estate: The longest story in the collection, which fills in some of Nakata's backstory. Nakata and fellow PhD student Wardle devise an experiment to test the Stone Tape idea using a newly built and never occupied house in the Glasshouse Estate. Initial results are fairly positive, but this is not enough for Wardle who wants to take things one step further by arranging for a terminally ill man to die at the property - with tragic consequences for all involved. I really liked the idea behind this, but couldn't quite suspend my disbelief enough to get over the fact that no university research ethics board would ever have approved Wardle's proposal.
Stack's Farm, Trough of Bowland: We finally learn who Tidyman is and why he is paying Nakata to carry out his current research. Tidyman is a lawyer representing a man accused of murder, who's defence is that his actions were caused by the paranormal experiences he was subjected to at Stack's Farm. Improbably, the judge in charge of the case allows Nakata, Tidyman, and the prosecuting lawyer to take the jurors on a late-night coach trip to visit the scene of the crime. Again, nice idea - but I think it plays too fast-and-loose with "social reality" (i.e what would or would not be permitted to happen as part of a criminal trial), which bugs me more than it probably should.
I'd recommend this collection to everyone - most people probably won't be as annoyed as me with the issues I have with these last two stories. Nakata is a great character, and Unsworth does an excellent job of taking the "Stone Tape" trope in directions I haven't seen before.
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Post by dem on May 18, 2022 17:40:54 GMT
The Black Shuck paperback edition ends on a later story, The Terrible Deaths of the Ghosts of the Westmorland, first published in the collection Diseases of the Teeth (Black Shuck, 2016) Simon Kurt Unsworth - Quiet Houses (Black Shuck, 2019; originally Dark Continents, 2011) Nakata: University Office
The Elms, Morecambe
Nakata: Train and beyond
The Merry House, Scale Hall
Nakata: University Office
Beyond St. Patrick's Chapel, Heysham Head
Nakata: Meeting Room 1
The Ocean Grand, North West Coast
Nakata: Under Great Moore Street, Manchester
The Temple of Relief and Ease
Nakata: Tidyman's Office
24 Glasshouse, Glasshouse Estate
Nakata: Curtin's Office
Stack's Farm, Trough of Bowland
Nakata: Public Gallery, Courtroom 2
The Terrible Deaths of the Ghosts of the WestmorlandBlurb: Nakata’s ghosts won’t stay dead ...
A chambermaid’s seemingly innocent request is granted, an act of kindness that has dire consequences for a guest ...
An unearthly light in an abandoned bungalow resolves the mystery of a missing child ...
An invitation to a clifftop graveyard leads to a harrowing chase by things that remain unseen ...
In an abandoned hotel, work is underway to upgrade the building but something is stalking the residents ...
There is a hidden agenda to paranormal researcher Richard Nakata’s investigations into these houses. A commission that witnesses cattle lowing in the cow-sheds of Stack’s Farm long after they’ve been slaughtered, and a reckoning in the showhouse of 24 Glasshouse as he and his colleagues pay the price for creating their own ghost ...
Simon Kurt Unsworth reinvents the classic English ghost story with a portmanteau collection that takes the haunted house genre and makes it scream ... quietly.
The houses are quiet, it’s the residents who are screaming. |
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Post by Dr Strange on May 18, 2022 18:42:45 GMT
The Black Shuck paperback edition ends on a later story, The Terrible Deaths of the Ghosts of the Westmorland, first published in the collection Diseases of the Teeth (Black Shuck, 2016) I've got that collection as well, though I don't remember anything about it now. |
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Post by dem on Sept 20, 2022 15:47:34 GMT
Took the advice of Doctors Proof and Strange and nabbed a copy (the Black Shuck reissue).
Nakata: University Office: Richard Nakata places a newspaper advertisement, "Do you live in a haunted house ...?" to run for a fortnight. Sifting out the time wasters and well-meaning "I heard this from a friend" types, within a day of the ad's appearance he has three respondents seem worth pursuing. The first of whom Nakata arranges to meet at a seafront café.
The Elms, Morecambe: Nakata interviews Wisher, haunted around the clock by a chambermaid in white blouse and dark skirt whose despairing presence sucks the joy from any room she enters. She's not left him since he surrendered before her pitiful "Can I turn your sheets, sir?" while staying a weekend at the Elms for his daughter's wedding.As though to confirm Wisher's story, a pall of misery falls over the café, as though the clientele are afflicted by a contagious misery.
Nakata: Train and beyond: Next a railway journey to Manchester to meet Mr. Crosby, who left the blunt answerphone message "My son disappeared." Crosby isn't for hanging around and once he's handed Nakata an envelope stuffed with photocopied sheets, far as he's concerned, their business is concluded. We also learn that Nakata's investigation is being financed by a client named Tidyman.
The Merry House, Scale Hall: "Since the 1960s, fourteen young children have disappeared from Scale Hall." A Xerox of the letter Crosby received from his married son, terrified for his little boy, Dominic's safety after a girl from the same school vanished. During the hunt for Sandra Cahill, with every adult in Torrisholme under suspicion, he was walking the dogs at night when he saw a light on in Merry Hall, a crumbling, long abandoned bungalow with overgrown greenhouse. Concern for the missing kids lured him inside ...
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Post by Shrink Proof on Sept 21, 2022 11:19:48 GMT
Took the advice of Doctors Proof and Strange and nabbed a copy (the Black Shuck reissue). Hope you enjoy it. A weird coincidence you getting the book - I've just acquired Mr Unsworth's "Strange Gateways", which seems to ba another hopeful collection. |
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Post by dem on Sept 21, 2022 13:13:54 GMT
Took the advice of Doctors Proof and Strange and nabbed a copy (the Black Shuck reissue). Hope you enjoy it. A weird coincidence you getting the book - I've just acquired Mr Unsworth's "Strange Gateways", which seems to ba another hopeful collection. All good so far. Must be more of a traditionalist than I thought, as it's the chambermaid story that most got to me. Nakata: University Office: "It's a place where things have happened, where people say that they've seen things and had things done to them .... its well known in the area even though people don't like talking about it." As a rule, Nakata simply doesn't do anonymous tip-offs, but in this instance, the alleged haunting is local, and a sixth sense tells him it just might be worth pursuing. Beyond St. Patrick's Chapel, Heysham Head: Nakata is kicking himself for a fool — the place isn't "haunted", it's simply a very beautiful spot! However, the further he walks from the churchyard, the researcher has cause to change his mind, as he becomes horribly aware of six invisible entities stalking him through the wet grass. This atmospheric piece had me thinking of John Wyndham's Close Behind Him though Unsworth's unseen ones are confined to a stretch of coastal cliff. A little more of the backstory. It was Tidyman placed the newspaper ads. Having spent much of the past week deleting nuisance messages, Nakata is not entirely happy with the choice of publications. Commentary also references Amy — a woman dear to the investigator, who is almost certainly no longer of this world — and a challenging investigation of the Glasshouse Estate, which convinced Tidyman that Nakata was the man for this job. |
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Post by helrunar on Sept 21, 2022 15:59:54 GMT
Intriguing. Thanks to all of you for this thread.
H.
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Post by weirdmonger on Sept 21, 2022 16:05:03 GMT
I have reviewed Unsworth’a fine collections in detail in the past, if anyone is interested in seeking them out.
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