Arthur Machen - The Terror

[dem bones]

Arthur Machen - The Terror (Fantasy Classics #1, Flamingo, 1973: Originally Duckworth, 1917)

John Pound

"Here again is a point of interest, that as the terror deepened the general public co-operated voluntarily, and, one would say, almost subconsciously, with the authorities in concealing what they knew from one another."

Huge body-count notwithstanding, this is as sedate a When Animals attack!/ nature is revolting novella as you're likely to get. It begins shortly after the outbreak of the Great War with the strange death of Western-Reynolds, an experienced pilot whose plane is brought down by a kamikaze pigeon squadron. Shortly afterwords, several factory workers lose their lives in an alleged "explosion" at a munitions works, although there is no damage to the building, and an eyewitness insists the victims looked as though they'd been "bitten to pieces". Nobody links the two incidents, until the gentlemen of the Porth Club, including Dr. Lewis, Mr. Remnant, and our narrator, Ned - get to exchanging notes and theories. Meirion, a small community in Western Wales, has seen more than it's fair share of mysterious disappearances and bizarre murders in a very short space of time, including the slaughter of an entire family on their own doorstep, and the death of a woman evidently chased over a quarry by homicidal sheep. A countrywide Government imposed news blackout in relation to these events has the locals panicked that a rural Jack the Ripper walks among them, but Mr. Remnant scoffs at such absurd claims. It's glaringly obvious who is to blame - the Hun! Either they've developed some dastardly 'Z-ray' of unspecified purpose, or they're operating from a subterranean Germany, long encamped beneath various strategic points, from which they can release an infernal gas designed to turn our wildlife against us! Dr. Lewis, who is too polite to call an acquaintance a raving lunatic, thinks it has something to do with an eerie, glowing cloud he briefly glimpsed in the trees ....

Further instances of animals behaving badly briefly evade the censor. Six formerly docile horses stampede at a barracks, maiming several and killing two. A father and son inexplicably drown on non-treacherous marshland, possibly the victims of a turtle. What has got into the animal kingdom, and why are the authorities so keen to hush up the matter?

Just 38 pages remain (of 96) for the pigs to get involved.

[dem bones]

.... which they don't. Cows, porpoise, bees, rats, moths - they're all in on it, but our porcine pals evidently have better things to do or, like dogs, they've remained faithful to their "masters." After the madness at Treff Loyne Farm, which sees a cottage besieged until the family and lodger within die of thirst, the Terror passes just as suddenly as it came, leaving Ned and Dr. Lewis to mull over the why of it all. Their conclusion: it's the outbreak of war. The animals, fearful that man has abdicated from responsibility and now seems set on destroying the planet, have briefly staged a revolt out of sheer Terror. Machen signs off with an apocalyptic, some might say, prophetic warning.

"They have risen once they might rise again."

Arthur Machen - Tales Of Horror And The Supernatural: Vol 2 (Panther, 1975)

Bruce Pennington

The Novel Of The Black Seal
The Novel Of The White Powder
The Bowmen
The Happy Children
The Bright Boy
Out Of The Earth
N
Children Of The Pool
The Terror

Blurb:
Voyages down into the fathoms of evil.

Here are nine blood-blanching chillers by the famed authority on evil and the occult - Arthur Machen. A longtime student of the powers of the supernatural he spins his tales of horror with a bizarre quality certain to ensnare any reader's mind. These stories show Arthur Machen's craft and precision as a teller of tales - his language evokes dark, lingering vibrations from the ancient world. It is a frightening world where fiendish spells suffocate unsuspecting souls ...

[cauldronbrewer]

Oct 1, 2015 11:45:31 GMT dem bones said:

Arthur Machen - The Terror (Fantasy Classics #1, Flamingo, 1973: Originally Duckworth, 1917)


"Here again is a point of interest, that as the terror deepened the general public co-operated voluntarily, and, one would say, almost subconsciously, with the authorities in concealing what they knew from one another."

Huge body-count notwithstanding, this is as sedate a When Animals attack!/ nature is revolting novella as you're likely to get.

I love that cover, but this is not one of Machen's better stories.