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Post by cauldronbrewer on Sept 7, 2020 23:54:10 GMT
Rounding out Glimpses of the Unknown is "The Treasure of the Tomb," by F. Britten Austin. The story does have a strong Indiana Jones feel: not only does it take place in the Middle East between the two world wars, it also features a lost treasure, a cursed inscription, ancient carvings, and the skeletal remains of a would-be tomb raider. In true Indiana Jones style, {Spoiler}
the heroes survive but don't get to keep the treasure. All told, the anthology has a strong hit-to-miss ratio, especially given that editor Mike Ashley limited himself to previously unpublished tales. Personal favorites include "Ghosts," "The House of the Black Evil," and "The Treasure of the Tomb," but almost all the stories warranted reprinting ("The River's Edge" being the clearest exception). |
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Post by dem on Sept 8, 2020 8:44:09 GMT
Thanks for the commentary, CB. Not sure if I read The Treasure of the Tomb, so that's one for this evening. In the meantime, via the miracle of the am*z*n 'look-inside' feature, here's the Into the London Fog line-up. Elizabeth Dearnley [ed.] - Into the London Fog: Eerie Tales from the Weird City (British Library Tales of the Weird. 2020)  Cover design by Maurico Villamayor: illustration Enrique Bernardou
TEMPLE: Violet Hunt - The Telegram
REGENT’S PARK: Lettice Galbraith - In the Séance Room
KENSINGTON: Elizabeth Bowen - The Demon Lover
MAYFAIR: Rhoda Broughton - The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth
SOHO: Thomas Burke - War, an extract from London In My Time
THE STRAND: Virginia Woolfe - Street Haunting
HOLBORN: Claude McKay - Pugilist vs Poet, an extract from A Long Way from Home
STOKE NEWINGTON: Arthur Machen - N
WHITECHAPEL: Marie Belloc Lowndes - The Lodger
WATERLOO: Sam Selvon - My Girl and the City
CRYSTAL PALACE: Edith Nesbit -The Mystery of the Semi—Detached
VAUXHALL: Charlotte Riddell - The Old House in Vauxhall Walk
PUTNEY (AND BLOOMSBURY): E. F. Benson -The Chippendale Mirror
PECKHAM: Anonymous - Spring—Heeled JackBlurb: 'Outside, where the air was foggy, the square was noiseless, save for an occasional hoot of a motor passing into the streets. By degrees I found the light growing rather dim, as if the fog had penetrated into the room...'
As the smoky dark sweeps across the capital, strange stories emerge from the night. A séance reveals a ghastly secret in the murk of Regent's Canal. From south of the Thames come chilling reports of a spring-heeled spectre, and in Stoke Newington rumours abound of an opening to another world among the quiet alleys.
Join Elizabeth Dearnley on this atmospheric tour through a shadowy London, a city which has long inspired writers of the weird and uncanny. Waiting in the hazy streets are eerie tales from Charlotte Riddell, Lettice Galbraith and Violet Hunt, along with haunting pieces by Virginia Woolf, Arthur Machen, Sam Selvon and many more. |
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Post by dem on Sept 10, 2020 8:35:18 GMT
Rounding out Glimpses of the Unknown is "The Treasure of the Tomb," by F. Britten Austin. The story does have a strong Indiana Jones feel: not only does it take place in the Middle East between the two world wars, it also features a lost treasure, a cursed inscription, ancient carvings, and the skeletal remains of a would-be tomb raider. In true Indiana Jones style, {Spoiler}
the heroes survive but don't get to keep the treasure. Read Treasure ... last night and it is indeed very IJ down to the booby-trapped cavern. Wasn't too keen on the ending at first, but it's since grown on me. F. Britten Austin - The Treasure of the Tombs: ( The Strand, Jan. 1921) After the Great War, Major Ogilvy accompanies two young pilots, Jefferson and Franks, back to a mountain range beyond the Mesopotamian Desert to ransack three sarcophagi loaded with gold bars. A skeleton lying across the raised lid of the one forced open casket gives warning that you loot this sacred cavern at their peril. The hieroglyphics on the stone roughly translate as: "I Sarchon, King of Kings, son of Nimrod, lying in this tomb, say, come not to open this tomb. He who shall remove the stone that covers me shall die and in the grave find not repose, neither shall the sun shine upon him or his kindred know his fate." Superstitious twaddle, of course. And the eerie moaning from within the rock walls are a mere auditory illusion. The curse does its stuff. |
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Post by dem on Oct 2, 2020 8:20:09 GMT
I'm not sure that all of these stories would be regarded as 'lost' by Vault readers, but a very impressive line-up for this latest addition to the series Mike Ashley [ed.] Queens of the Abyss: Lost Stories from the Women of the Weird (British Library, Oct. 2020) Mike Ashley - Introduction
Mary E. Braddon - A Revelation
Marie Corelli - The Sculptor's Angel
Edith Nesbit - From the Dead
Frances Hodgson Burnett - The Christmas in the Fog
Marie Belloc Lowndes - The Haunted Flat
Alicia Ramsey - A Modern Circe
May Sinclair - The Nature of the Evidence
Marjorie Bowen - The Bishop of Hell
Greye La Spina - The Antimacassar
Sophie Wenzel Ellis - White Lady
G. G. Pendarves - The Laughing Thing
Lady Eleanor Smith - Candlelight
Jessie Douglas Kerruish - The Wonderful Tune
Margaret St Clair - Island of the Hands
Mary Elizabeth Counselman - The Unwanted
Leonora Carrington - The Seventh Horse
Story Sources Blurb: It is too often accepted that during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it was the male writers who developed and pushed the boundaries of the weird tale, with women writers following in their wake – but this is far from the truth.
This new anthology presents the thrilling work of just a handful of writers crucial to the evolution of the genre, and revives lost authors of the early pulp magazines with material from the abyssal depths of the British Library vaults returning to the light for the first time since its original publication.
Delve in to see the darker side of The Secret Garden author Frances Hodgson Burnett and the sensitively-drawn nightmares of Marie Corelli and May Sinclair. Hear the captivating voices of Weird Tales magazine contributors Sophie Wenzel Ellis and Greye La Spina, and bow down to the sensational and surreal imaginings of Alicia Ramsey and Leonora Carrington. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 2, 2020 13:29:17 GMT
Yup, that's going to be my next read, I think.
I'm also probably going to get the latest Valancourt anthology (Book of Horror Stories Vol 4, due for release on 13th Oct), and here's the contents for that -
The Family at Fenhouse (1860) by Eliza Lynn Linton
The Gentleman from America (1924) by Michael Arlen
The Coffin Procession (1925; trans. 2020) by Felix Timmermans
Time-Fuse (1931) by John Metcalfe
The Fury (1936) by Robert M. Coates
Rain and Gaslight (1945; trans. 2020) by Hubert Lampo
Remember Your Grammar (1974) by Simon Raven
A Scent of Mimosa (1975) by Francis King
The Other Room (1982) by Lisa Tuttle
'Happy Birthday, Dear Alex' (1965) by John Keir Cross
Vivid Dreams (2020) by Elizabeth Engstrom
Let's Make a Face (2020) by John Peyton Cooke
Conversations with the Departed (2020) by Steve Rasnic Tem
Rain (2020) by Garrett Boatman
The Poet Lewis Bowden Has Died (2020) by Stephen Gregory
Blurb:
"Since 2005, Valancourt Books has unearthed and republished almost 500 lost and neglected works from the 1760s through the 2000s, and now for this long-awaited fourth volume of the acclaimed Valancourt Book of Horror Stories series, the editors of Valancourt Books are proud to present 15 more great horror tales — all by Valancourt authors — from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. This volume features five brand new stories that have never appeared elsewhere, two rare foreign stories translated to English for the first time, and eight more scarce and seldom-seen tales.
The stories in this volume will take you inside the vivid dreams of a woman who can kill in her sleep; to the set of a reality show where contestants may be transformed into specimens of beauty—or into freak show monsters; to a hotel where guests are besieged by a powerful hurricane—and by something even more terrible and deadly. You will read of the bizarre and macabre adventures of a man seeking a skeleton in 1960s London as a gift for his medical student cousin—and his quest's shocking outcome. You will learn how a simple grammar mistake can lead to a terrible and untimely end for a traveler in Venice.
These are strange, sinister, and scary stories, by turns suspenseful, horrific, and darkly humorous. Featuring a lineup of rarely reprinted classic tales together with new stories destined to become future classics, this collection is a horror anthology like no other."
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Oct 2, 2020 15:52:55 GMT
I'm not sure that all of these stories would be regarded as 'lost' by Vault readers, but a very impressive line-up for this latest addition to the series. Agreed on both counts. Looking at the Weird Tales regulars, I've read the stories by La Spina, Ellis, St. Clair, and Counselman elsewhere, but I've never seen the Pendarves one reprinted anywhere. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 6, 2020 10:16:16 GMT
Queens of the Abyss arrived yesterday and I've read the first two stories (both new to me), but didn't think much of either -
Mary E. Braddon - A Revelation (The Misletoe Bough, Xmas 1888). A British army officer serving in India is haunted by ghostly visions of an old friend that he hasn't seen or heard from in years. He returns to Blighty, with trusty batman in tow, to get to the bottom of things. All very Victorian and genteel, with a resolution that depends on a ridiculous coincidence.
Marie Corelli - The Sculptor's Angel (Nash's Magazine, Dec 1913). This one is even worse. An artistic monk with a guilty secret is given the job of carving an angel by his Abbot. Over the top, flowery language, with almost every spoken sentence ending in an exclamation mark, dollops of Christian mysticism, God moves in mysterious ways, etc.
I hope this doesn't turn out to be one of those anthologies where the only stories that I enjoy are the ones I've read before.
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Post by dem on Oct 6, 2020 10:31:03 GMT
Queens of the Abyss arrived yesterday and I've read the first two stories (both new to me), but didn't think much of either - Mary E. Braddon - A Revelation (1888). A British army officer serving in India is haunted by ghostly visions of an old friend that he hasn't seen or heard from in years. He returns to Blighty, with trusty batman in tow, to get to the bottom of things. All very Victorian and genteel, with a resolution that depends on a ridiculous coincidence. Marie Corelli - The Sculptor's Angel (1913). This one is even worse. An artistic monk with a guilty secret is given the job of carving an angel by his Abbot. Over the top, flowery language, with almost every spoken sentence ending in an exclamation mark, dollops of Christian mysticism, God moves in mysterious ways, etc. I hope this doesn't turn out to be one of those anthologies where the only stories that I enjoy are the ones I've read before. I vaguely remember The Sculptor's Angel from Richard Dalby's Ghosts for Christmas - seem to have quite enjoyed it. I'm just a big softie at heart. Made a start on Daisy Butcher's Evil Roots last night - the lesser known (to me) stories in that one have been pretty lively. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 7, 2020 19:38:40 GMT
Edith Nesbit - From The Dead (Illustrated London News, 8th Sept 1892). Only a few months into a very happy marriage, a man learns that his wife "forged" the letter that led to him breaking his previous engagement to another woman. In a fit of anger, he tells her that he wants nothing more to do with her and walks out of the house. It's immediately clear to the man himself that it is really just his pride that has been hurt, and that he loves his wife very much. So, after a stroll along the beach to gather his thoughts, he returns home to ask her forgiveness. Of course, his wife has gone. Months pass, during which the man has ceaselessly searched for any sign of where his wife could be, until he receives a telegram from her telling him that she has been staying with a family at a remote farmhouse in rural Derbyshire, and that she is dying. He rushes off to her, but by the time he arrives she is already dead. This is only the first shock that the man will have to deal with that night... One I've read before, but I am very happy to have had an excuse for reading again. Deliciously miserable and very creepy, I am sorely tempted to set aside Queens of the Abyss for a bit and just re-read some more Nesbit.
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Post by dem on Oct 7, 2020 19:52:45 GMT
Edith Nesbit - From The Dead ( Illustrated London News, 8th Sept 1892). Only a few months into a very happy marriage, a man learns that his wife "forged" the letter that led to him breaking his previous engagement to another woman. In a fit of anger, he tells her that he wants nothing more to do with her and walks out of the house. It's immediately clear to the man himself that it is really just his pride that has been hurt, and that he loves his wife very much. So, after a stroll along the beach to gather his thoughts, he returns home to ask her forgiveness. Of course, his wife has gone. Months pass, during which the man has ceaselessly searched for any sign of where his wife may have gone, until he receives a telegram from her informing him that she has been staying with a family at a remote farmhouse in rural Derbyshire, and that she is dying. He rushes off to her, but by the time he arrives she is already dead. This is only the first shock that the man will have to deal with that night... One I've ready before, but I am very happy to have had an excuse for reading again. Deliciously miserable and very creepy, I am sorely tempted to set aside Queens of the Abyss for a bit and just re-read some more Nesbit. "Deliciously miserable and very creepy" is right! It's still my favourite of her morbid masterpieces. Comparing their last lines, it's possible A. M. Burrage had some familiarity with From The Dead when he came to write One Who Saw. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 8, 2020 18:49:03 GMT
Frances Hodgson Burnett - The Christmas in the Fog (Good Housekeeping, Dec 1914). The "Romantick Lady" decides to spend some time in New York and sets sail on a liner from Liverpool two days before X-mas. Unfortunately the ship runs into thick fog in the Mersey and is forced to just sit around waiting for it to clear. There are emigrants from all over Europe travelling in steerage, including many children. The "Romantick Lady" decides to have a whip round among the wealthier passengers and crew to give these children some X-mas money to take into their new lives in America. People are surprisingly generous, and the money is distributed among the children on X-mas day. The fog then lifts and the ship continues on its journey. The "Romantick Lady" wonders if she did the right thing, or has she perhaps created a bunch of spongers who will now always have their hands out expecting others to provide for them? The End.
I have no idea what this story is doing in this book - Mike Ashley maintains that "while not overtly supernatural" it is a "strange tale", but I don't see it. What I do see is a waste of a perfectly good fogbound ship full of Eastern European peasant-folk heading for the New World - What, there's not a single vampire or werewolf among the lot of them? Not even a little one? Maybe the fact that it first appeared in Good Housekeeping is all you really need to know.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 8, 2020 19:28:05 GMT
The "Romantick Lady" wonders if she did the right thing, or has she perhaps created a bunch of spongers who will now always have their hands out expecting others to provide for them? Brr! Works for me. |
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Post by humgoo on Oct 9, 2020 11:18:51 GMT
I have no idea what this story is doing in this book - Mike Ashley maintains that "while not overtly supernatural" it is a "strange tale", but I don't see it. Ah, yet another head-scratching, have-I-missed-something or, in short, Our-Distant-Cousins moment! Love it! |
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 9, 2020 12:42:57 GMT
The "Romantick Lady" wonders if she did the right thing, or has she perhaps created a bunch of spongers who will now always have their hands out expecting others to provide for them? Brr! Works for me. Actually, maybe there is something slightly chilling about this ostentatiously wealthy "Lady" very publicly doing "good works" for others to see and admire her for - while privately contemplating whether it would be preferable to just leave the poor people to sort themselves out, survival of the fittest and all that. It seems Burnett wrote a few of these stories featuring "The Romantick Lady" for Good Housekeeping and they are supposed to be "semi-autobiographical". |
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 10, 2020 13:44:11 GMT
Marie Belloc Lowndes - The Haunted Flat (The Grand Magazine, Aug 1920). Benevolent ghost plays Cupid. Disappointing.
Alicia Ramsey - A Modern Circe (The Novel Magazine, Dec 1919). A story set in rural southern Italy, the narrator is an Englishwoman wintering in warmer climes after an illness. "Handsome rogue" Ferdinando, who is betrothed to her maid Margeurita, acts as her guide as she explores the local countryside on a donkey. One day they encounter "The Mad Virgin of the Hills", a strange woman who (according to the locals) lures men with her laughter and then "turns them into dogs". When "The Mad Virgin" sets her sights on Ferdinando as her next victim, the narrator helps to save both him and Margeurita. This story (according to Ashley, never reprinted) starts off well but the ending is a massive anticlimax, somehow managing to explain everything and nothing, while also writing off the southern Italians as "a primitive race". I suspect some Freudian influence.
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