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Post by dem on Dec 21, 2021 11:21:39 GMT
But won't you struggle: "Should I get the book just for that particular story?" Of course, but, appearances perhaps to the contrary, I'm not a completist. It would be nice to be able to afford the whole run, nicer still to have space to accommodate them, but I can't/ don't so next best thing is to try get hold of those of most interest to me. I don't really need many of the single-author selections, and would likely struggle with Dangerous Dimensions, so they're not too high up on wants-list-that-knows-no-sanity. At least two pre- Tales of the Weird BL's are also of Vault interest. Lost in a Pyramid and Silver Bullets. |
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Post by dem on Dec 22, 2021 9:50:02 GMT
 Moira Vincent-Smith: ( London Mystery Magazine, Dec. 1956). Johnnie Geddes, who blames Christmas for all the world's evils, founds a Society for its abolition. The obsession gets the better of him. Johnnie is committed to an asylum where he's given a job sweeping leaves from the drive, as that seems to keep him occupied. Each December 25th while flesh and blood Johnnie goes about his work, his ghost - who loves the holiday - spends the day with their aunt. Margery Lawrence - The Man Who Came Back: ( The Sphere, Nov. 1935). Colonel and Lady Garrison are lauded for their amusing Christmas parties and this years proves no exception. Among the guests, Madame Esperanza, the famous medium, who has agreed to conduct a seance. Newlywed Dr. Ned and Ida Playfair are given fair warning by spirit guide 'Sekhet' that it would be better they give the sitting a miss. "If you've a secret in your life - if you've something to hide, or if you've done something - well, that you don't like to look back on - then if so, I'd find some excuse not to join in this circle." "Absurd!" counters the sneering Ned, who has no patience with these phony psychics nor the credulous fools who encourage them. Until .... Both stories feature in Richard Dalby's Mystery for Christmas, but I never got around to The Man Who Came Back which is very worth reading, not least for a creepy dramatic occurence early in the seance ... |
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Post by dem on Dec 28, 2021 11:59:43 GMT
Hugh Walpole - Mr. Huffam, A Christmas Story: (The Strand, Dec. 1933). Piccadilly, some time after WWI. Tubby Winsloe saves a stranger from walking in front of a car. Against his better nature, Tubby, having taken an inexplicable shine to the fellow, invites him back to Berkley Square and the family mansion. Initially unwelcome, 'Mr. Huffam,' who is evidently afflicted with terminal joviality, effortlessly charms all comers — even Mallow, the moribund butler, and Mrs. Spence, a dyed in the wool fascist, are won over. As Walpole astutely reminds us; "It is well known that good-humoured, cheerfully and perpetually well-meaning people are among the most tiresome of their race," yet somehow this truism does not apply to the mysterious guest. Before you know it, Lord and Lady Winsloe have opened their doors to all the little poor children, for the greatest Christmas party ever! And Tubby pulls the fair Diana. Who is this terrible man? As if Christmas isn't depressing enough! Why doesn't he leave us alone?
Almost unique in that even I guessed Mr. Huffam's true identity quite early in story.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 28, 2021 12:45:49 GMT
Almost unique in that even I guessed Mr. Huffam's true identity quite early in story. I have a strong suspicion myself. And I have not even read the story! |
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 28, 2021 18:37:19 GMT
Huffam was one of Charles Dickens's middle names.
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Post by dem on Dec 29, 2021 13:34:35 GMT
James Turner - A Fall of Snow: (Staircase to the Sea, 1974). Orlik's farm, E. Anglia, Christmas, 1922. Fifteen-year-old Nicky, injured in a toboggan accident, experiences vivid premonition of the murder of Helen Simpson, the chirpiest of the maids at Sir James Andrews' manor house, from whom he'd received a first, thrilling kiss the previous night. New to me, and liked it a lot.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Mar 24, 2022 17:54:05 GMT
The Ghost Slayers: Thrilling Tales Of Occult Detection ed. Mike Ashley (due 24th March).  Blurb: Occult or psychic detective tales have been chilling readers for almost as long as there have been ghost stories. This beguiling subgenre follows specialists in occult lore – often with years of arcane training – investigating strange supernatural occurrences and pitting their wits against the bizarre and inexplicable. With tales featuring the most prominent psychic detectives such as William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki, the Ghost Finder and Algernon Blackwood’s Dr. Silence, this new collection also includes rare and never-before-reprinted cases investigated by the likes of Flaxman Low, Cosmo Thor, Aylmer Vance and Mesmer Milann. Has anyone seen the full table of contents for this? British Library seems to have followed their usual pattern of publishing an appealing-looking anthology without making it easy for anyone to find out what's in it. |
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Post by humgoo on Mar 25, 2022 13:06:39 GMT
The Ghost Slayers: Thrilling Tales Of Occult Detection ed. Mike Ashley (due 24th March). Has anyone seen the full table of contents for this? British Library seems to have followed their usual pattern of publishing an appealing-looking anthology without making it easy for anyone to find out what's in it. Just for you, friend Brewer (hush!): Kate and Hesketh Prichard - The Story of the Moor Road
Algernon Blackwod - A Psychical Invasion
William Hope Hodgson - The Searcher of the End House
Claude and Alice Askew - The Fear
Bertram Atkey - The Valley of the Veils of Death
Dion Fortune - The Death Hound
Moray Dalton - The Case of the Fortunate Youth
Gordon Hillman - Forgotten Harbour
Joseph Payne Brennan - In Death as in Life |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Mar 26, 2022 13:28:12 GMT
Just for you, friend Brewer (hush!): Kate and Hesketh Prichard - The Story of the Moor Road
Algernon Blackwood - A Psychical Invasion
William Hope Hodgson - The Searcher of the End House
Claude and Alice Askew - The Fear
Bertram Atkey - The Valley of the Veils of Death
Dion Fortune - The Death Hound
Moray Dalton - The Case of the Fortunate Youth
Gordon Hillman - Forgotten Harbour
Joseph Payne Brennan - In Death as in LifeThank you! I've read the stories by Blackwood (John Silence), Hodgson (Carnicki), Askew & Askew (Aylmer Vance), Fortune (Dr. Taverner), and Hillman (I forget the detective's name in that), but I don't think I've run across the ones by Atkey, Dalton, or Brennan (I see that his story is a Lucius Leffing tale; I've read parts of that series, but not this entry). |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Apr 10, 2022 19:29:48 GMT
Here's another one, due for release in April and already listed for pre-order on Am*z*n (along with the other 3 above) - The Night Wire & Other Tales Of Weird Media - ed. Aaron Worth.  Blurb - A mysterious radio signal reports cosmic doom from an otherworldly location. Photography and X-ray evidence suggests there may be some truth to a sculptor’s claim that he has created a god. A spectral projection sows terror amid the flickering light of the cinema. From the whispering wires of the telegraph and ghostly images of the daguerreotype to the disembodied voices of the phonograph and radio, the new technologies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries gave their users miraculous new powers – and new nightmares. After all, if Graham Bell’s magical device could connect us with loved ones a half a world away, what was to stop it from reaching out and touching the dead – or something worse? Tracing this fiction of fear from the 1890s to the 1950s, this new collection brings together the best tales of haunted or uncanny media from classic – and unjustly neglected – writers of the supernatural. This is due for release in a few days. Humgoo, have your mystical sources revealed the table of contents yet? |
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Post by dem on Apr 13, 2022 18:47:58 GMT
This is due for release in a few days. Humgoo, have your mystical sources revealed the table of contents yet? Publication now set back to May 19. Like you, I'm well curious as to the contents. |
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Post by humgoo on Apr 17, 2022 16:52:46 GMT
Humgoo, have your mystical sources revealed the table of contents yet? No luck! The security has apparently been upped since last time. They certainly guard their TOCs jealously. What stories will it have, I wonder? "Photography and X-ray evidence suggests there may be some truth to a sculptor’s claim that he has created a god" sounds promising. "The Confession of Charles Linkworth" will probably be there? I hope "The Case of Vincent Pyrwhit" won't! |
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Post by Dr Strange on Apr 17, 2022 22:55:19 GMT
The Night Wire & Other Tales Of Weird Media - ed. Aaron Worth. Blurb - A mysterious radio signal reports cosmic doom from an otherworldly location. Photography and X-ray evidence suggests there may be some truth to a sculptor’s claim that he has created a god. A spectral projection sows terror amid the flickering light of the cinema. From the whispering wires of the telegraph and ghostly images of the daguerreotype to the disembodied voices of the phonograph and radio, the new technologies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries gave their users miraculous new powers – and new nightmares. After all, if Graham Bell’s magical device could connect us with loved ones a half a world away, what was to stop it from reaching out and touching the dead – or something worse?
Tracing this fiction of fear from the 1890s to the 1950s, this new collection brings together the best tales of haunted or uncanny media from classic – and unjustly neglected – writers of the supernatural.This is due for release in a few days. Humgoo, have your mystical sources revealed the table of contents yet? No luck! The security has apparently been upped since last time... "Photography and X-ray evidence suggests there may be some truth to a sculptor’s claim that he has created a god" sounds promising. I am pretty sure that is "Benlian" by Oliver Onions (from Widdershins, 1911). The title story is by HF Arnold (from Weird Tales, Sept. 1926). Both can be found online.
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Post by andydecker on Apr 18, 2022 9:40:53 GMT
Hugh B. Cave's Death Watch (Weird Tales, 1939) would be a fitting tale.
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Post by dem on Apr 18, 2022 12:47:24 GMT
Humgoo, have your mystical sources revealed the table of contents yet? No luck! The security has apparently been upped since last time. They certainly guard their TOCs jealously. What stories will it have, I wonder? "Photography and X-ray evidence suggests there may be some truth to a sculptor’s claim that he has created a god" sounds promising. "The Confession of Charles Linkworth" will probably be there? I hope "The Case of Vincent Pyrwhit" won't! I am pretty sure that is "Benlian" by Oliver Onions (from Widdershins, 1911). The title story is by HF Arnold (from Weird Tales, Sept. 1926). Both can be found online. Hugh B. Cave's Death Watch (Weird Tales, 1939) would be a fitting tale. ... Wallace West's The Phantom Dictator would suit ... |
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