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Post by piglingbland on Mar 3, 2017 10:55:40 GMT
NEW FROM SHADOW PUBLISHING:
THE SPIRIT OF THE PLACE AND OTHER STRANGE TALES: THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF ELIZABETH WALTER.
Edited and with an introduction by Dave Brzeski. Cover artwork by Edward Miller. ISBN 978-0-9572962-5-1. Large size paperback 4to, 420 pages. For the first time, all of Elizabeth Walter's 31 short stories collected in one volume. Supernatural, eerie and uncanny tales from her collections Snowfall & Other Chilling Events (1965), The Sin Eater & Other Scientific Impossibilities (1967), Davy Jones's Tale & Other Supernatural Stories (1971), Come And Get Me & Other Uncanny Invitations (1973) and Dead Woman & Other Haunting Experiences (1975). Elizabeth Walter was a novelist, short story writer, translator and for thirty years from 1961 editor of the Collins Crime Club imprint, the highly regarded subscriber club. She was a very private person, but in his informative introduction, the book's editor, Dave Brzeski, has researched snippets of bibliographic information from her days with William Collins. In addition he discusses her writing and reviews the adaptations of her stories on television. Order from the website or Amazon:
Shadow PublishingAmazon UK
Email meAttachments:
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Post by dem bones on Mar 14, 2017 10:23:25 GMT
This book is an absolute monster! Have only read - and very much enjoyed - Elizabeth Walters' twelve anthologised stories ( Come And Get Me being a particular favourite), never an entire collection, so looking forward to getting stuck in over coming weeks. Dave Brzeski's introduction is excellent. Many thanks to David A. Sutton for kindly sending on a review copy! Elizabeth Walter - The Spirit Of The Place & Other Strange Tales: The Complete Short Stories (Shadow Publishing, 2017)  Edward Miller
Snowfall & Other Chilling Events
Snowfall
The New House
The Tibetan Box
The Island of Regrets
The Drum
The Sin-Eater & Other Scientific Impossibilities
The Sin-Eater
Dearest Clarissa
A Scientific Impossibility
A Question of Time
The Spider
Exorcism
Davy Jones's Tale & Other Chilling Supernatural Stories
Davy Jones's Tale
The Hare
In the Mist
The Lift
The Street of the Jews
Hushabye, Baby
Come and Get Me & Other Uncanny Invitations
Come and Get Me
The Concrete Captain
The Thing
The Travelling Companion
The Spirit of the Place
Prendergast
Grandfather Clock
Dead Woman & Other Haunting Experiences
Dead Woman
The Hollies and the Ivy
A Monstrous Tale
The Little House
Dual Control
Telling the Bees
Christmas Night |
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Post by Swampirella on Mar 19, 2017 17:53:21 GMT
This book is an absolute monster! Have only read - and very much enjoyed - Elizabeth Walters' twelve anthologised stories ( Come And Get Me being a particular favourite), never an entire collection, so looking forward to getting stuck in over coming weeks. Dave Brzeski's introduction is excellent. Many thanks to David A. Sutton for kindly sending on a review copy! Sigh...thanks to the Vault, another day, another book to buy!  I can actually remember that I've read "The Tibetan Box" and "The Hollies and the Ivy" and (I think) "The Island of Regrets". All very good, of course. |
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Post by dem bones on Mar 21, 2017 18:13:57 GMT
"And then the horrible thing happened ...." Five original collections compiled into one volume. This may take some time. Snowfall & Other Chilling Events (The Harvill Press, 1965) Hexed artifacts, a cursed island and a changeling baby. Five novellas of the cruel and marvellous. Snowfall: Driving from Swansea to Merthyr Tydfil on a business trip, Brian Bellamy, twenty-six, is caught in heavy snowfall on Brecon Beacons and forced to abandon his car. A signpost indicates that he is within two miles of the nearest village, but the blizzard grows so intense that Brian can barely see and his legs are all but numb with cold. That night he would surely have perished but for the intervention of a stranger who guides him at his remote house on the hillside. Just his luck the Good Samaritan, Dr. Iorworth Rees, is a madman. A madman who leaves no footprints in the snow. The Doctor's home is a museum of macabre artefacts, souvenirs of his many sojourns in Africa. "I'm so sorry. Did William frighten you?" he enquires when William flinches at sight of a human skull. The traveller explains that it was gifted him by a Witch-Doctor. It transpires that Rees is an anthropologist of some repute - Brian recalls reading something about him in the newspaper .... Unfortunately, not all of Rees' treasures were honestly acquired. A golden idol for one, stolen from voodoo cultists, which, he tactlessly lets slip, no white man can see and live. "They want it back and they want me with him." 'They' also demand a suitable offering, and what with Brian turning up out of the blue.... When Brian, delerius and frozen, reaches Pant-Glas the following morning it feels as though the worst is over. It's only just begun. The New House: Londoners John and Eileen Travis land their dream home in the country, a modern detached house on Pleasant Hill (formerly 'Gallows Hill') near Hindhead, an area once notorious for highwaymen. While digging the garden, John unearths a rotting skeleton. Best not to trouble Eileen with that particular grim discovery as, pregnant with their first child, she's understandably pretty fragile just now. Some nights later, Eileen is disturbed by the sound of a woman's cruel laughter. The police are called but there is no sign of an intruder. John learns from the home help that the locals avoid "Pleasant" Hill after dark. Sensing the Travis's have trouble on their hands, she gives notice on the spot. John learns from local historian Dr. de Witt that the last person to be executed on the hill was Thomasina Sampson, a twenty-two year old widow, gibbeted for stealing a loaf of bread. When Thomasina's husband became too ill to work, their landlord, Jarvis, offered her a stark choice. Either become his mistress or face eviction. She chose the latter. Old Mr. de Witt's advice to John is that he "find her a new home before she finds one herself." What with the birth of Sarah - funny how she looks nothing like her parents - John has neither time nor energy to spare on any alleged vengeful revenant, and Halloween is upon us before he even realises. Thomasina's ghost finds herself a new home .... The Tibetan Box: Events preceding the 'Double Tragedy at Throstle Cottage.' Alice Norrington returns from missionary work in Africa to care for Mary, her domineering, not especially pleasant sister, who has recently suffered a stroke. Mary is not best pleased that Alice has brought along her colleague, Miss Ellen Whittaker, but turns out Ellen has her uses, one of which is translating the inscription on an antique Mary acquired at a church jumble sale shortly before the attack. It was donated by Major Murphey in the wake of his wife's tragic and slightly bizarre death from Tetanus. Miss Whittaker nervously confirms that the Tibetan box bears a curse. It was the property of a powerful magician and any who possess it without rightful claim will die within a year! What are they to do? Alice's attempt to destroy it with a hatchet ends badly and, with her sister indisposed, Mary is free to treat the infinitely pliable Miss Whittaker as her personal skivvy. Should she ever tire of ordering her around, Alice can always resort to catty remarks about Ellen's dowdy appearance, particularly that awful hair which, on her insistence, the poor woman smears in this and that oil. Anything for the sake of peace while she concentrates on the best means of being rid of the box. Finally she has it. Fire! Yes, that should do the trick! Can't explain quite why, but I found this story reminiscent of Maurice Level's supremely miserable Night And Silence. Loved a bit of doom, did Elizabeth Walter. The Island Of Regrets: "We Bretons say it is a magic island. It grants the first wish you make when you set foot there, but grants it in such a way that you will wish it had not been granted. That is why it is called the Island of Regrets." Dora Matthews is having none of this "peasant superstition" and cons the locals into hiring a boat, dragging reluctant fiancé, Peter Quint, along for the ride. It's a whole lot of effort for little reward and leaves Dora feeling rather foolish. Legend has it that the island is home to an unseen race, though Dora and Peter turn up one human resident - a hopeless lunatic. When the pair return to Quimper they are ostracised as taboo. The patron of the Coq d'Or later lets on that there is always a madman living on the island although how they get there nobody knows. Back in England, the couples wishes are horribly granted ... The Ile des Regrets did not come by its name by chance. Four excellent stories on the spin suggest The Spirit Of The Place is going to be an extremely rewarding reading experience. |
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Post by Swampirella on Mar 21, 2017 18:24:53 GMT
"And then the horrible thing happened ...." Five original collections compiled into one volume. This may take some time. Snowfall & Other Chilling Events (The Harvill Press, 1965) Hexed artifacts, a cursed island and a changeling baby. Five novellas of the cruel and marvellous. Snowfall: Driving from Swansea to Merthyr Tydfil on a business trip, Brian Bellamy, twenty-six, is caught in heavy snowfall on Brecon Beacons and forced to abandon his car. A signpost indicates that he is within two miles of the nearest village, but the blizzard grows so intense that Brian can barely see and his legs are all but numb with cold. That night he would surely have perished but for the intervention of a stranger who guides him at his remote house on the hillside. Just his luck the Good Samaritan, Dr. Iorworth Rees, is a madman. A madman who leaves no footprints in the snow. The Doctor's home is a museum of macabre artefacts, souvenirs of his many sojourns in Africa. "I'm so sorry. Did William frighten you?" he enquires when William flinches at sight of a human skull. The traveller explains that it was gifted him by a Witch-Doctor. It transpires that Rees is an anthropologist of some repute - Brian recalls reading something about him in the newspaper .... Unfortunately, not all of Rees' treasures were honestly acquired. A golden idol for one, stolen from voodoo cultists, which, he tactlessly lets slip, no white man can see and live. "They want it back and they want me with him." 'They' also demand a suitable offering, and what with Brian turning up out of the blue.... When Brian, delerius and frozen, reaches Pant-Glas the following morning it feels as though the worst is over. It's only just begun. The New House: Londoners John and Eileen Travis land their dream home in the country, a modern detached house on Pleasant Hill (formerly 'Gallows Hill') near Hindhead, an area once notorious for highwaymen. While digging the garden, John unearths a rotting skeleton. Best not to trouble Eileen with that particular grim discovery as, pregnant with their first child, she's understandably pretty fragile just now. Some nights later, Eileen is disturbed by the sound of a woman's cruel laughter. The police are called but there is no sign of an intruder. John learns from the home help that the locals avoid "Pleasant" Hill after dark. Sensing the Travis's have trouble on their hands, she gives notice on the spot. John learns from local historian Dr. de Witt that the last person to be executed on the hill was Thomasina Sampson, a twenty-two year old widow, gibbeted for stealing a loaf of bread. When Thomasina's husband became too ill to work, their landlord, Jarvis, offered her a stark choice. Either become his mistress or face eviction. She chose the latter. Old Mr. de Witt's advice to John is that he "find her a new home before she finds one herself." What with the birth of Sarah - funny how she looks nothing like her parents - John has neither time nor energy to spare on any alleged vengeful revenant, and Halloween is upon us before he even realises. Thomasina's ghost finds herself a new home .... The Tibetan Box: Events preceding the 'Double Tragedy at Throstle Cottage.' Alice Norrington returns from missionary work in Africa to care for Mary, her domineering, not especially pleasant sister, who has recently suffered a stroke. Mary is not best pleased that Alice has brought along her colleague, Miss Ellen Whittaker, but turns out Ellen has her uses, one of which is translating the inscription on an antique Mary acquired at a church jumble sale shortly before the attack. It was donated by Major Murphey in the wake of his wife's tragic and slightly bizarre death from Tetanus. Miss Whittaker nervously confirms that the Tibetan box bears a curse. It was the property of a powerful magician and any who possess it without rightful claim will die within a year! What are they to do? Alice's attempt to destroy it with a hatchet ends badly and, with her sister indisposed, Mary is free to treat the infinitely pliable Miss Whittaker as her personal skivvy. Should she ever tire of ordering her around, Alice can always resort to catty remarks about Ellen's dowdy appearance, particularly that awful hair which, on her insistence, the poor woman smears in this and that oil. Anything for the sake of peace while she concentrates on the best means of being rid of the box. Finally she has it. Fire! Yes, that should do the trick! Can't explain quite why, but I found this story reminiscent of Maurice Level's supremely miserable Night And Silence. Loved a bit of doom, did Elizabeth Walter. The Island Of Regrets: "We Bretons say it is a magic island. It grants the first wish you make when you set foot there, but grants it in such a way that you will wish it had not been granted. That is why it is called the Island of Regrets." Dora Matthews is having none of this "peasant superstition" and cons the locals into hiring a boat, dragging reluctant fiancé, Peter Quint, along for the ride. It's a whole lot of effort for little reward and leaves Dora feeling rather foolish. Legend has it that the island is home to an unseen race, though Dora and Peter turn up one human resident - a hopeless lunatic. When the pair return to Quimper they are ostracised as taboo. The patron of the Coq d'Or later lets on that there is always a madman living on the island although how they get there nobody knows. Back in England, the couples wishes are horribly granted ... The Ile des Regrets did not come by its name by chance. Four excellent stories on the spin suggest The Spirit Of The Place is going to be an extremely rewarding reading experience. I've had the pleasure of reading the last two stories reviewed here and can't wait to read the first two and all the others. I'm in awe of your planned review of every story in this enormous collection. You may just need demonic help to do so  Not that I would know where you'd find any.... |
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Post by dem bones on Mar 21, 2017 19:52:48 GMT
Even if your copy took six months to arrive, you'd still finish long before me. The big plan is to take a breather between individual books, dip into an anthology or get on with some mag "reviews" to guard against Walter fatigue. My one slight concern was that Snowfall ... might be the exceptional The Island Of Regrets and support cast, but unless The Drum sees a drastic dip in form, that's not the case at all.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Mar 21, 2017 22:32:49 GMT
This looks like an absolute stormer. I now have so many things to read that I estimate I'll need to live to 149 years old to finish them...
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Post by Swampirella on Mar 21, 2017 22:50:52 GMT
This looks like an absolute stormer. I now have so many things to read that I estimate I'll need to live to 149 years old to finish them... I'll try to live at least that long to read the books on my list and to keep you company |
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Post by Shrink Proof on Mar 22, 2017 16:17:14 GMT
This looks like an absolute stormer. I now have so many things to read that I estimate I'll need to live to 149 years old to finish them... I'll try to live at least that long to read the books on my list and to keep you company A fine offer - thank 'ee kindly, ma'am. But that would only work if we have the same life expectancy. And a true gentleman never asks a lady her age.... |
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Post by dem bones on Mar 22, 2017 19:26:46 GMT
There was never the slightest danger of the author's form shooting over a cliff. This, Snowfall's final novella, is perhaps the cruellest of all.
The Drum: Until now, retired Colonel Henry Lawson's chief regret in life is falling in love with Cynthia. Chic, beautiful, Twenty years his junior, she's a prize trophy for sure, but seven years of marriage have taught him a harsh lesson - she will never be army wife material.
Today Cynthia prevails upon him to take her to Carringford Museum. Lawson is bored out of his skull until he sets eyes on a fine military drum dating from the Napoleonic wars. The old army discipline kicks in. He salutes. The drum beats a tattoo of its own accord!
A night out at the club. Lawson mentions his visit to the museum and is surprised that fellow ex-officers Syrett and Musgrave are au fait with both the drum and the grim legend attached to it. Back in the early nineteenth century, a drummer boy was flogged to death on the Colonel's orders for the pettiest offence. The lad swore that, henceforth, whenever a Colonel was about to die, the drum would beat with joy. Henry asks Musgrave how he should react if he were a Colonel and experienced the spectral tattoo. "I'd put my conscience straight" deadpans his friend, who has never seen eye to eye with Lawson over the business with young James Randall. That infernal old chestnut!
Henry Lawson won't have it that he did Randall a wrong. The boy was too soft to cut it in the Royal Wiltshire's. On learning Randall had run up a small poker debt he had no means of repaying, Lawson agitated to have him dismissed from the army. Whatever his colleagues think, he behaved in the interest of the Regiment. Cynthia's evident fondness for the milksop had no bearing on his actions! Even so, perhaps if he were to make a generous gesture toward the lad it might lift the curse ...
Musgrave warns against this as the very worst idea. Randall was all broken up at leaving the army under a cloud and cut his ties with everyone. Let sleeping dogs lie, man.
Now Henry Lawson has a new chief regret in life. Dismissing Musgrave's judicious advice ...
Moral. Never try to right a perceived wrong. It just makes everything worse.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 24, 2017 17:38:01 GMT
They've taken Julia away and we're all gonna send her flowers. The Sin-Eater: And Other Scientific Impossibilities (The Harvill Press, 1967) Have cut corners, revamped three synopses from elsewhere on the board, as it's not so long since I read The Sin-Eater in Van Thal's Lie Ten Nights Awake and The Spider has stayed with me since first acquaintance. In all honesty A Question Of Time has faded from memory, so will likely revisit at a later date. Dear Clarissa, A Scientific Impossibility, and Exorcism are new to me. The Sin-Eater: Some people are born unlucky and such a one is Londoner Clive Tomlinson, an architectural draughtsman, whose interest in medieval churches leads him to the obscure Welsh hamlet of Penrhayader. On leaving the church, he's prevailed upon by a demented old farmer to visit his bedridden son, Eddie. Clive does so under protest (the farmer, Evan Preece, has hold of his sketches of the rood-loft and seems reluctant to return them ). He enters the hovel and is ushered upstairs to stand at the very dead Eddie's bedside. Before he can leave, Mr and Mrs Preece implore him to break bread in the corpses presence as this will unburden Eddie of his sins. Back in civilisation ( The Red Lion, Carringford, to be precise), Clive is informed by Barnabus Elms, the local Johnny-no-mates, that Eddie was indeed a sinner: he'd spent half of his forty years in prison for the murder of wife, Elsie, after learning of her affair with rakish Dick Roper, only son of the local landowner. Clive is haunted by the "sin-eater" business. A year to the day, finds him back in Penrhayader. The Preece's are dead, the cottage derelict. Who can that be breaking in through an upper window ... Dear Clarissa: Pitch black comedy, told in a series of chatty letters from Julia to her elder sister. I prefer it even over the title story. After losing her baby in a fall downstairs, Julia is persuaded by husband Jim and big sister Clarissa to take a time out at Combe Tracy, a private hospital for "rest and mental recuperation" as the brochure delicately words it. Dr. Braceman, who knows stark raving mad when he sees it, assures Julia that she is well on the mend and her stay will be a brief one. Noting the patient's interests, he encourages her to research a history of Combe Tracy from its Priory roots. Julia is intrigued to discover that the hospital grounds are reputedly haunted by a ghost dating from the civil war. The story is that Dorothea Bellinger drowned alongside her lover in an attempted elopement. To encounter her ghastly spectre is to die! Clarissa's keen interest in this development comes as something as a relief because, between ourselves, sometimes I wonder if she really wants her little sister to recover! Silly, I know! Let's hope her belated show of concern has not come too late because there can no longer be any doubt that Dorothea's ghost walks again, as Julia is lured toward the lake by a beckoning figure among the yew trees .... Suspenseful climax is a total belter. |
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Post by dem bones on Mar 25, 2017 19:20:09 GMT
A Scientific Impossibility: Fourth down on the list in today's Times 'Deaths' column, Miles Crabstone, 55, Professor of Zoology at the University of --------------.
His colleagues are still reeling from the sad news when Crabstone breezes through the door with a "Sorry I'm late. It was difficult to get away."
The five man Publishing Committee of the Ecological Advisory Council have met to debate the merits of Dr. Rumford's ground-breaking if possibly hare-brained paper, Some New Factors Influencing Bird Migration. The late-comer is vehemently opposed to publishing such a travesty. Even as he presents extraordinary conclusive evidence of Rumford's chicanery, Crabstone vanishes one limb at a time ...
The committee pass a unanimous vote to reject Rumford's paper, and another never to divulge any information concerning their first-hand experience of supernatural phenomena because it is a scientific impossibility.
Lighter in touch than it's predecessors (though try telling that to Crabstone's widow). Dave Brzeski suspects it may have been written with TV dramatisation in mind.
The Spider: Bad enough that luvvy journalist Justus Ancorwen (he writes for a 'sixties equivalent of OK) recklessly embarked on a romance with virginal Isabel Bishop, even worse that she occupies the rooms below his. Now he's ended their affair it's seldom he can avoid her. Tonight Justus is almost grateful for her close proximity: a spider "big as a coal scuttle" is out for vengeance after he flushed one of its brethren down the sink. Justus can't abide spiders at the best of times, but this thing! Isabel mockingly wonders if it comes from Mars and generally uses the opportunity to humiliate him for his caddish behaviour. When a chastened Justus eventually braves his room the following morning, Isabel locks him in with his "imaginary" eight-legged friend ...
A Question Of Time: Art student Barney buys a portrait of a monk from a junk shop having recognised the subject as Father Furnival, “died in 1612, in prison - probably of torture - after being betrayed as he hid in the Priest’s hole”. Barney knows all this because he remembers his crucial role in Furnival's arrest ....
Exorcism: Simon Snipe's tragic demise in the gravel pit is duly recorded as accidental, the inevitable consequence of a fierce session in The Worrying Hound on New Year's Night. This is an especially pleasing verdict for his murderer, Benjamin Shrubsole. To add insult to injury, the widow Susanna wastes no time in remarrying. Small wonder that Snipe's ghost is soon making a nuisance of itself in the village, warning anyone who'll listen that, come the night of the next full moon, vengeance shall be his!
The gossip reaches Susanna who, blissfully unaware that her second husband killed the first, prevails upon young Rev. Gervase Fibbs to perform the ritual of exorcism.
It's quite possible the title is a cry for help as Elizabeth was evidently demoniacally possessed by Ron Chetwynd-Hayes while composing this one.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 13, 2017 20:38:04 GMT
Davy Jones's Tale & Other Chilling Supernatural Stories (The Harvill Press, 1971). Davy Jones's Tale: Porthfynnon, Pembrokeshire, 1970. Tonight marks the hundredth anniversary of the sinking of The Guiding Light during a gale. Mindful of the danger to his own men, the lifeboat commander reluctantly gave the order to turn back to shore, swearing to his dying day that he believed the beleaguered ship would survive the night. It didn't, and all but one of the crew were lost. The Captain of The Guiding Light has never forgiven the lifeboatmen their "cowardice", and this night seeks revenge on the present day crew. By a freak chain of events, Davy Jones, great-grandson of the original commander, is among the party who set out to assist a ship in distress along the same hostile coastline. Alongside him, Owen, his cousin and surrogate brother until Agnes came between them. This time there is no turning back. The rescue team come a cropper on treacherous rocks and all hands are thrown into the sea. Davy is caught by a giant wave and washed aboard the phantom ship to confront the ghastly spectres of the Captain, his wife and infant daughter. The captain assures the half-drowned Davy that he has been marked for survival, but should any of his fellow crewmen live to see the morning "I shall rise again down the centuries, as long as time endures." Elizabeth Walter invariably chose high impact stories to open each collection, and this is perhaps the bleakest. So many lives broken beyond repair. The Hare: A Cold War cloak and dagger espionage supernatural thriller located in the Brocken. I was so wondering when the author would get around to one of those. Veteran spy Karlheinz Ackermann has been sent to the Hartz Mountains tasked with delivering a high profile defector across the border. It seems straightforward, but can he trust his contact, the enigmatic Anna? When first they meet, she is having it off in the fields with Franz Bauer, a peasant from the local village. The following day, Bauer's body is found in the woods. His throat has been slit. Ackermann is interviewed by the police as the last person to have seen him alive. At their next rendezvous, Anna blithely admits to the murder, claiming she had no option as Bauer "saw her changing." Despite himself, Ackermann is utterly enchanted by the woman to the point of volunteering sensitive information about his work. Loose tongues cost lives in this game and should HQ learn of so alarming a lapse he's done for - it might be for the best that he put a bullet through his head right now. But duty compels him to complete his mission and he simply must see Anna one last time. How does the hare fit into all this? To reveal would be spoiler too cruel. In the Mist: As selected by R. Chetwynd-Hayes for 10th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories. Inexplicable occurrences have no business intruding on the ordered lives of Ralph and Mary Hesketh, a determinedly "normal" middle class couple from leafy Surrey. Lost in thick fog while driving across the Yorkshire Moors, Ralph stops to pick up a hitch-hiker, a pleasant looking young man in battered flying-kit. Ralph has a deep affinity for the air-force having been stationed at neighbouring Pickering during WWII. The passenger, who hints at having been shot down, requests a lift back to his base at RAF Hillingdale, which, the Heskeths are later to learn, fell into disuse twenty-five years ago. Honestly! Do a fellow a chap a good turn and he laughs behind your back! |
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Post by rawlinson on Apr 13, 2017 20:52:30 GMT
Snowfall: Driving from Swansea to Merthyr Tydfil on a business trip, Brian Bellamy, twenty-six, is caught in heavy snowfall on Brecon Beacons and forced to abandon his car. A signpost indicates that he is within two miles of the nearest village, but the blizzard grows so intense that Brian can barely see and his legs are all but numb with cold. That night he would surely have perished but for the intervention of a stranger who guides him at his remote house on the hillside. Just his luck the Good Samaritan, Dr. Iorworth Rees, is a madman. A madman who leaves no footprints in the snow. The Doctor's home is a museum of macabre artefacts, souvenirs of his many sojourns in Africa. "I'm so sorry. Did William frighten you?" he enquires when William flinches at sight of a human skull. The traveller explains that it was gifted him by a Witch-Doctor. It transpires that Rees is an anthropologist of some repute - Brian recalls reading something about him in the newspaper .... Unfortunately, not all of Rees' treasures were honestly acquired. A golden idol for one, stolen from voodoo cultists, which, he tactlessly lets slip, no white man can see and live. "They want it back and they want me with him." 'They' also demand a suitable offering, and what with Brian turning up out of the blue.... When Brian, delerius and frozen, reaches Pant-Glas the following morning it feels as though the worst is over. It's only just begun. That sounds like it'll stretch believability for me. Nobody goes to Merthyr Tydfil on a business trip. |
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Post by dem bones on May 7, 2017 10:15:20 GMT
"Every seven years we owe a human soul to Hell. It's not much really, for the continuance of our elfin world."
Just browsed the contents of the greatest hits collection In The Mist and Other Uncanny Encounters (Arkham House, 1979), as compliled by Elizabeth Walter herself (?). The Concrete Captain, The Sin-Eater, In The Mist, Come And Get Me, The Island Of Regrets, The Hare, and Davy Jones's Tale. It's a top-notch selection but truth is, I think you could argue a strong case for many stories that didn't make the cut, this next being high among them.
The Street Of The Jews: Affecting story of travel agent Michael Mayer, whose work takes him to Weselburg, Germany to inspect it's amenities before adding them to the company's holiday brochure. The local hoteliers are desperate to fleece rich English market and Mayer enjoys the full VIP treatment. Finding everything to his satisfaction, he's preparing a favourable report ... until he strays to a derelict slum tenement, Judengasse, and follows a terrified young woman inside a crumbling hovel. Intrigued and bewildered - where did the girl disappear to? - he requests information about this 'Street Of The Jews' but no-one other than the local halfwit will talk about it until his girlfriend invites him home to meet her family. It makes for a very uncomfortable evening.
The Lift: Another veteran spy falls foul of his paymasters and must now outrun his pursuers. His only hope is to reach the sanctuary of Dr. Godfrey's room in a London office block. But something is wrong with the lift. It repeatedly opens on a floor where filming of what appears to be a century-spanning costume drama is under-way. Three times he returns to the elevator and tries again. Three times he stumbles upon a different scene depicting betrayal by a woman. Has his own secret lover, Giannetta, learned of the wife in kids in Solihul and sold him out to the Bureau?
"Hushabye, Baby: Paul Braithwaite is six months old when his mother Sarah realises the appalling truth. Someone has stolen the child she gave birth to and switched it with a mentally defective dud! Sarah's suspicions are confirmed when she spots "her" Paul in another woman's pram. So begins Mrs. Braithwaite's persecution of tiny Mrs. Ann Forest, a widow recently moved into the town from a neighbouring village. The Police lend a sympathetic ear, husband Bob tries to placate her, but the reality is everyone thinks she's cracked. But then Bob pays a clandestine visit to Mrs. Forest's house to see the stolen infant for himself .....
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I can actually remember that I've read "The Tibetan Box" and "The Hollies and the Ivy" and (I think) "The Island of Regrets". All very good, of course. 
Not that I would know where you'd find any....
