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Post by cauldronbrewer on Aug 4, 2021 23:56:46 GMT
I've already ordered my copy of Crawling Horror. Hope you'll be kind enough to share your thoughts on it all at a later date. So I just realized that I posted my thoughts on a few of these stories in the wrong thread. Copied and pasted below, with more to follow... I cracked open Crawling Horror last night, and so far so good. I'd somehow never read Poe's "The Sphinx." The story starts off strong with a standard Poe setup (people retreating in the face of a plague--in this case, a cholera outbreak in New York), follows with portentous talk of omens, and then serves up a giant death's head moth (as depicted on the cover). Too bad about the ending. A. G. Gray jnr. - The Blue Beetle: A Confession: ( The Train: A First Class Magazine, Jan. 1857). A death tick beetle falls into a liquid solution prepared by a would-be Victor Frankenstein, promptly embarks on a killing spree from London to the wilds of Northumberland. Taking inspiration from Mary Shelley's tragic monster, the scarabaeus selects its victims from those dearest to the now suicidally repentant alchemist. Had never heard of this story before. I am so happy to have had opportunity to read it! As the story notes point out, Gray's "The Blue Beetle: A Confession" is almost like a miniature insect-themed Frankenstein. It features a beautiful but poisonous cerulean beetle and was well worth reviving. A solid selection by the editors. Jane G. Austin - After Three Thousand Years: ( Putman's Monthly, July 1868). This is much more like it. Millard Vance returns from an Egyptian jaunt with a gift for Miss Marion Harleigh, who had requested he bring her "some personal ornament from the mummy of a princess." He has outdone himself with a necklace of golden scarabaei. The enclosed parchment explains the jewellery is not only cursed but poisoned, so fortunate indeed that Vance is informed of the translation before Marion can wear it. She puts it away in a drawer but never quite forgets about it. Some months later, and Marion has played so hard to get that Millard believes she hates him and turns to her cousin, Juliette, for sympathy. Marion catches them together. The curse works its evil ... Anon - The Mummy's Soul: ( The Knickerbocker, May 1682). Three thousand years hence, a new life. Set in [then] present day Thebes. Historically significant as the first known fiction to concern a mummy curse. It's also remarkably grim. Have only synopsised events to a point so as not to entirely ruin it. Fred excavates a sarcophagus from a sealed alcove in a recently discovered tomb. His guide swears to watching the mummy's spirit fly away on release and Fred has to concede he thought he saw something similar, but, of course, 'ghosts' are for numbskulls and simpletons. The mummy, unravelled, is a particularly hideous specimen. Embalmed alongside her, a fly six inches in length, which Fred takes home to England. His wife, Annie, is fascinated by the insect but fearful it will somehow do her terrible injury. One evening Fred leaves a saucer of ammonia and ether unattended in his laboratory. The fly dutifully drops into the liquid and returns to life! Meanwhile, Annie is stricken by a mystery wasting illness. Fred awakens in the night to find himself caressing the exact replica of the ghastly, shrivelled woman in the tomb ... Austin's story features a deadly scarab necklace that hooks its claws--literally--into a love triangle. It's entertaining, but the "The Mummy's Soul" is even better. In the first few pages, the anonymous author gives us a tomb-specter, a mummy that disintegrates into dust, a curse, and a vase that contains a beautiful yet hideous fly. A mishap brings the embalmed insect back to life, and it proceeds to turn the victims of its bloody bite into living--or, rather, slowly dying--mummies. When the protagonist finally catches the fly, something even wilder happens. Dr. Day et al. unearthed a treasure in this one, and I'm grateful to the editors for bringing it back to the light of print. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Aug 5, 2021 0:07:15 GMT
H. G. Wells - The Moth: ( Pall Mall Gazette, March 1895). A bitter feud between entomologists Hapley and Pawley consumes their every waking hour for over two decades until the older party dies. Thereafter Hapley is persecuted by a moth only he can see until his behaviour becomes so erratic he is carted off to an asylum. I'm not sure what it says about me that I liked the part about the entomologists' scholarly feud more than the haunting-by-moth. Wells clearly wrote with the benefit of experience when it came to the former. Oliver Schreiner - A Dream of Wild Bees: ( The Woman's World: Vol II, 1889). African bees bring gifts for the child of an expectant mother, though she may only choose one from health, wealth, fame, love, talent or enlightenment. Short fairy tale/ fable, no "insect horror" involved, but am delighted with Crawling Horror for the two mummy stories, The Blue Beetle: A Confession and even The Wicked Flea. I had the exact same reaction--more of a fairy tale than a weird tale, but at least it's only a few pages long and doesn't detract from the overall excellent lineup. Christopher Blayre [Edward Heron-Allen] - The Blue Cockroach: ( The Purple Sapphire & other Posthumous Papers. 1921). The attractively coloured insect arrives in the 54 year old Professor's life via a bunch of bananas bought at Covent Garden Market, The toxins released in its bite release long repressed affections toward Pamela, the nearest thing he's ever had to an old flame. Alas, the effect wears off before their dinner date is over. Whimsical, slight, not really my thing. Again, Dem has summed up my reaction perfectly. Warning [especially for CB: I've no wish to ruin it for you]. Contains Spoiler.  Andrew Brosnatch... J. U. Giesy -The Wicked Flea: ( Weird Tales, Oct. 1925). Riproaring Story of a Flea That Grew to Gigantic Size. Irked at daughter Nellie and fiance for making fun of his latest pet theory, Professor Xenophon Xerxes Zapt force-feeds beef and multi vitamins to a flea until it bloats to such monstrous proportion as to shatter it's glass container. 'Pulex' roams the street, chasing a dog and biting a young woman before a stage Irish policeman shoots him dead. Not great, humour likely dated at time it was written, but, for me, story fails to live down to its minor infamy on grounds that it is not in same mind numbing dull league as same author's Ashes of Circumstance. I agree that this is hardly the abomination its reputation suggests--I found it more readable than many of the 1925 Weird Tales stories I've sampled lately. It's not funny, but it's painlessly silly. I was actually enjoying it until the Irish police officer with the dreaded phonetic dialogue hijacked the proceedings. |
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Post by dem on Aug 6, 2021 5:46:16 GMT
I agree that this is hardly the abomination its reputation suggests--I found it more readable than many of the 1925 Weird Tales stories I've sampled lately. It's not funny, but it's . I was actually enjoying it until the Irish police officer with the dreaded phonetic dialogue hijacked the proceedings. "painlessly silly" is spot on. I approached the story pretty much wanting it to be wretched, but it really isn't. We've not (yet) had the October 1925 reprint, but I'd not be surprised if it includes lesser work than The Wicked Flea. It seems only rarely did the readers get shirty about a particular story — the only other one from early years springs to mind being The Loved Dead, but that seems to have attracted as much praise as it did criticism. |
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