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Post by dem on May 12, 2021 20:04:41 GMT
Due on the 20th. Excellect selection for those new to the genre, mildly infuriating to those of us who've been around too long and own many of these several times over. Jen Baker [ed.] - Minor Hauntings: Chilling Tales Of Spectral Youth (British Library, May, 2021) Jen Baker - Introduction
Henry Glassford Bell - The Dead Daughter
Elizabeth Gaskell - The Old Nurse's Story
Ann M. Hoyt - The Ghost of Little Jacques
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps - Kentucky’s Ghost
Amelia B. Edwards - Was It an Illusion? A Parson’s Story
Charlotte Riddell - Walnut-Tree House: A Ghost Story
M. R. James - Lost Hearts
Marion Crawford - The Doll’s Ghost
Mary E. Wilkins - The Lost Ghost
Ellen Glasgow - The Shadowy Third
Bessie Kyffin-Taylor -Two Little Red Shoes
H. D. Everett - Anne’s Little Ghost
Margery Lawrence - The Curse of the Stillborn
Story Sources
Notes Daisy Butcher & Janette Leaf [ed's] Crawling Horror: Creeping Tales of the Insect Weird follows on 17 June. |
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Post by Dr Strange on May 12, 2021 22:06:43 GMT
Due on the 20th. Excellect selection for those new to the genre, mildly infuriating to those of us who've been around too long and own many of these several times over. Jen Baker [ed.] - Minor Hauntings: Chilling Tales Of Spectral Youth (British Library, May, 2021) Jen Baker - Introduction
Henry Glassford Bell - The Dead Daughter
Elizabeth Gaskell - The Old Nurse's Story
Ann M. Hoyt - The Ghost of Little Jacques
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps - Kentucky’s Ghost
Amelia B. Edwards - Was It an Illusion? A Parson’s Story
Charlotte Riddell - Walnut-Tree House: A Ghost Story
M. R. James - Lost Hearts
Marion Crawford - The Doll’s Ghost
Mary E. Wilkins - The Lost Ghost
Ellen Glasgow - The Shadowy Third
Bessie Kyffin-Taylor -Two Little Red Shoes
H. D. Everett - Anne’s Little Ghost
Margery Lawrence - The Curse of the Stillborn
Dammit - but there are a few that I don't recognize, which makes it even worse. Good cover design, though it took me a bit of working out. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 9, 2021 23:43:18 GMT
Due out next week (17th June) -  Blurb - 'Its long antennae waved inquiringly back and forth, its tiny eyes sparkled black with crimson points, and then it began to run. The Professor caught it in his hand as it toppled from the edge of the counter.
It bit him...'
A brush with a killer hornet turns a reverend's life on its head. A moth wreaks a strange vengeance on a bewildered entomologist. Bees deliver a supernatural dilemma to a mother-to-be. This new anthology offers a diverse collection of tales plucked from the long history of insect literature, with deadly encounters and classic hauntings alongside depictions of the six-legged as harbingers of news from the spirit world.
With expert notes on how each tale contributed to the development of insect portrayals in horror literature, Janette Leaf and Daisy Butcher are your field guides for some of the creepiest and crawliest accounts of insectoid horror from the minds of Edgar Allan Poe, E. F. Benson, Clare Winger Harris and Jane G. Austin.Can't find a contents list, but Google tells me the quote at the start of the blurb is from "The Blue Cockroach" by Edward Heron-Allen (as Christopher Blayre, The Purple Sapphire & Other Posthumous Papers, 1921). I expect the EF Benson will be "Caterpillars" (from The Room in the Tower & Other Stories, 1912) and the Clare Winger Harris is "The Miracle of the Lily" ( Amazing Stories, April 1928). And slated for 22nd July -  This could be an interesting development, if they start going down the geographically-themed route. Again, no contents list available, but here's the blurb - A mariner inherits a skull that screams incessantly along with the roar of the sea; a phantom hare stalks the moors to deliver justice for a crime long dead; a man witnesses a murder in the Cornish woods, only to wonder whether it was he himself who committed the crime.
Offering a bounty of lost or forgotten strange and Gothic tales set in Cornwall, Cornish Horrors explores the rich folklore and traditions of the county in a journey through mines, local mythology, shipwrecks, seascapes, and the coming of the railway and tourism.
With tales by horror luminaries such as Bram Stoker, Poe and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, this edition also features a host of underappreciated writers such as F. Tennyson Jesse and Margery Williams - said to be a strong influence on H. P. Lovecraft.I was thinking the cover for this one is maybe a depiction of Daphne du Maurier's "The Birds" - but that wouldn't be public domain yet, so probably not. |
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Post by helrunar on Jun 10, 2021 2:13:51 GMT
If somebody wrote a book in which two women named Janette Leaf and Daisy Butcher collaborated on editing classic horror tales, they'd be accused of trying to do a Ronald Firbank, updated to the 2020s. Reality is truly stranger than fiction.
The collections sound interesting. I gather from the reviews of previous numbers in the series that they've been something of a mixed bag or should that be haphazardly assembled clutch of all-sorts?
H.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Jun 10, 2021 6:56:17 GMT
The collections sound interesting. I gather from the reviews of previous numbers in the series that they've been something of a mixed bag or should that be haphazardly assembled clutch of all-sorts? H. Mixed bag is right. But each one I've seen has contained at least a couple of interesting items. A worthy project, I think. Good covers too. |
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Post by dem on Jun 10, 2021 7:06:13 GMT
If somebody wrote a book in which two women named Janette Leaf and Daisy Butcher collaborated on editing classic horror tales, they'd be accused of trying to do a Ronald Firbank, updated to the 2020s. Reality is truly stranger than fiction. The collections sound interesting. I gather from the reviews of previous numbers in the series that they've been something of a mixed bag or should that be haphazardly assembled clutch of all-sorts? H. They are very welcome, the one constant criticism from these quarters being an over-reliance on "classic" stories readily available in the public domain (and hundreds of anthologies). Cases in point, the two imminent releases promise stories by Bram Stoker, Poe, E. F. Benson, Mary Elizabeth Braddon ... Going by previous Tales of the Weird, the sadista sisters will also throw in two obscurities to tempt us gnarly old bastards. Dr. S. I think the 'Crawling Horrors' cover may have since been replaced. Whatever, we'll find out soon enough. |
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jun 10, 2021 7:18:50 GMT
The Birds is the final story in the Library of the Weird's Heavy Weather anthology, although knowing the series penchant for reprinting stories over and over I'm surprised it's not here as well. No doubt it will turn up again when they do 'Flying Terror' or something. The lack of an easily available contents lists is irritating and that's another reason I'm giving buying these volumes a rest for now. (That in response to Dr S's post above as the others didn't appear originally!)
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Post by dem on Jun 10, 2021 7:50:57 GMT
The lack of an easily available contents lists is irritating and that's another reason I'm giving buying these volumes a rest for now Without wishing to come on all "it's the illuminati!" (even though it is), do you think their seeming reticence to provide a TOC in advance of publication is a deliberate ploy: "Maybe people won't pre-order if they realise they already have most of/ all the stories" (in some cases, over and over). Or are we just getting on a bit? These might be a young person's first experience of Poe, Benson, du Maurier, etc, and they're tomorrow's audience. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 10, 2021 9:49:27 GMT
Without wishing to come on all "it's the illuminati!" (even though it is), do you think their seeming reticence to provide a TOC in advance of publication is a deliberate ploy: "Maybe people won't pre-order if they realise they already have most of/ all the stories" (in some cases, over and over). Very likely. Also, it's not too difficult to find many of the more "obscure" ones online, if you can be bothered to look for them before the physical book is available. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jun 10, 2021 11:33:59 GMT
They are very welcome, the one constant criticism from these quarters being an over-reliance on "classic" stories readily available in the public domain (and hundreds of anthologies). Cases in point, the two imminent releases promise stories by Bram Stoker, Poe, E. F. Benson, Mary Elizabeth Braddon ... Going by previous Tales of the Weird, the sadista sisters will also throw in two obscurities to tempt us gnarly old bastards. Dr. S. I think the 'Crawling Horrors' cover may have since been replaced. Whatever, we'll find out soon enough. That's my take. I've skipped a few of the books because I'd read almost all the stories, but I get that Stoker, Poe, Benson, and so on sell books to the broader audience of folks who are more casual fans of old horror fiction. There can't be too many of us who look at a table of contents and groan, "Not 'Good Lady Ducayne' again!" It's the eternal curse of anthologies. Like Dr. Proof says, the covers are also great. In the case of Crawling Horrors, I think the yellow cover with the caterpillars was a draft version and the blue one with the moth is the final version (though I like them both). Without wishing to come on all "it's the illuminati!" (even though it is), do you think their seeming reticence to provide a TOC in advance of publication is a deliberate ploy: "Maybe people won't pre-order if they realise they already have most of/ all the stories" (in some cases, over and over). Very likely. Also, it's not too difficult to find many of the more "obscure" ones online, if you can be bothered to look for them before the physical book is available. This theory crossed my mind, too. British Library makes it strangely difficult to find the TOCs--the publisher could easily post them on their website, or make them available to online booksellers, yet they don't. |
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jun 10, 2021 20:51:48 GMT
The lack of an easily available contents lists is irritating and that's another reason I'm giving buying these volumes a rest for now Without wishing to come on all "it's the illuminati!" (even though it is), do you think their seeming reticence to provide a TOC in advance of publication is a deliberate ploy: "Maybe people won't pre-order if they realise they already have most of/ all the stories" (in some cases, over and over). Or are we just getting on a bit? These might be a young person's first experience of Poe, Benson, du Maurier, etc, and they're tomorrow's audience. I'll confess I do often pause before commenting on such matters now (both literature and film) and wonder if it actually is just me 'getting on a bit'. I remember Ramsey Campbell bemoaning many years ago how the lack of a then-current reprint of W W Jacobs' The Monkey's Paw had meant an entire generation had missed out on it. Perhaps those of us with our shelves and pillowcases and coal cellars and garden sheds all stuffed with paperbacks should remember that 'the kids' won't know most of these stories. Mind you a contents list would also help the younger story seeker-outer as well! |
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Post by humgoo on Jun 11, 2021 3:35:57 GMT
I remember Ramsey Campbell bemoaning many years ago how the lack of a then-current reprint of W W Jacobs' The Monkey's Paw had meant an entire generation had missed out on it. Not to challenge Mr. Campbell's authority, but am a bit surprised to hear that "The Monkey's Paw" has ever been out of print. When was it exactly? The '90s? Isn't the story on the (secondary school?) syllabus? |
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Post by dem on Jun 11, 2021 8:41:47 GMT
Without wishing to come on all "it's the illuminati!" (even though it is), do you think their seeming reticence to provide a TOC in advance of publication is a deliberate ploy: "Maybe people won't pre-order if they realise they already have most of/ all the stories" (in some cases, over and over). Or are we just getting on a bit? These might be a young person's first experience of Poe, Benson, du Maurier, etc, and they're tomorrow's audience. I'll confess I do often pause before commenting on such matters now (both literature and film) and wonder if it actually is just me 'getting on a bit'. I remember Ramsey Campbell bemoaning many years ago how the lack of a then-current reprint of W W Jacobs' The Monkey's Paw had meant an entire generation had missed out on it. Perhaps those of us with our shelves and pillowcases and coal cellars and garden sheds all stuffed with paperbacks should remember that 'the kids' won't know most of these stories. Mind you a contents list would also help the younger story seeker-outer as well! Provided they're prepared to wait a week or two after the books are published, they'll likely be able to find the TOC's on here - we're very helpful like that. The Monkey's Paw, far as I'm aware, has never been out of print or anywhere close to it. I've one of Marvin Kaye's paving slab-size anthologies, Masterpieces .. of something or other in which he is overjoyed to feature this rarely-seen Bram Stoker story, 'Dracula's Guest.' It won't be long before those new to the genre will be sharing our anguished wails every time we open a book to find 'A School Story' is back to stalk us. |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 11, 2021 9:13:27 GMT
The Monkey's Paw, far as I'm aware, has never been out of print or anywhere close to it. It appears in Fraser and Wise's GREAT TALES OF TERROR AND THE SUPERNATURAL, so no, it has never been out of print. |
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jun 11, 2021 20:55:15 GMT
I remember Ramsey Campbell bemoaning many years ago how the lack of a then-current reprint of W W Jacobs' The Monkey's Paw had meant an entire generation had missed out on it. Not to challenge Mr. Campbell's authority, but am a bit surprised to hear that "The Monkey's Paw" has ever been out of print. When was it exactly? The '90s? Isn't the story on the (secondary school?) syllabus? Good question humgoo. I'll admit it could be from anything reaching back as far as the mid1980s. It just stuck in my memory. Oh, and a quick check of my own edition of Wagner and Wise reveals it to be the 1997 Modern Library printing that's still obtainable online. But that version *is* a US edition and so it wouldn't have been easily available to UK readers back then, or 'in print' in this country. In fact I seem to remember I got my copy from Barnes & Noble and lugged it back to the UK. |
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