GHOSTS & SCHOLARS 9 (1987)
Tony Patrick - The Ash TreeEditor - Rosemary Pardoe
Assistant Editors - David Rowlands (Fiction) & Maureen Porter (Reviews)
A Haunted Library Publication
CONTENTS –
"Echoes From The Abbey" by Sheila Hodgson
Monty James reflects on the dangers of accepting invitations from acquaintances whose motives may not be as honourable as one might wish. In particular, there was the Christmas he spent at an out of season boarding school on the invitation of a former pupil of his who had now become headmaster. The school itself is next to a ruined abbey, where the monks went to extreme lengths to conceal their treasure. Can it be those same long gone monks who now whisper and chant amongst the ruins?
Sheila Hodgson adapts her own 1984 radio play, featuring M.R.J. as the lead, one of several Jamesian pastiches she wrote inspired by the essay "Stories I Have Tried To Write". In this case, the inspiration is, "There may be possibilities, too, in the Christmas cracker, if the right people pull it, and if the motto which they find inside has the right message on it. They will probably leave the party early, pleading indisposition; but very likely a previous engagement of long standing would be the more truthful excuse."
Sheila Hodgson's Jamesian stories were later collected in the Ash Tree Press volume, "The Fellow Travellers and Other Stories".
"Maresfield" by A.F. Kidd
It does not take the artist, Mr Howard, long to regret picking the apparently picturesque spot known as Maresfield to build his dream house. First come the accidents that bedevil the building work but, worse, are the bad dreams that follow when the house is complete. And when guests refuse to remain for any length of time and Howard becomes convinced that he is not alone in his empty house, what his friend, Richards, uncovers about the history of "Mares Field" does not make happy reading.
Another of "Chico's" stories that was later collected in "Summoning Knells and Other Inventions"; I quickly regretted reading this particular story after midnight on a night when my wife was visiting her parents and I was alone in the house.
"Jamesian Notes & Queries"
The first edition of a column which is still running in the Ghosts & Scholars Newsletter to this day. The first note is on "A Quotation from J.S. Le Fanu" by Victor H. Warren, referring to a long-standing misprint in "The House by the Churchyard" which was quoted by M.R.J. in "Some Remarks on Ghost Stories".
"Endor" by John Alfred Taylor
A series of diary extracts reveal how a husband's honeymoon present to his young bride of an antique travel desk conceals a hidden 'treasure' of a set of hieroglyph-inscribed tiles. And, when the bride finds herself going into trances while handling the tiles, and when a lurking figure makes its presence felt, the notorious Julian Dement, "who is supposed to have been a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn and an ally of wicked Mr Crowley" is asked for his opinion.
“Writers In The James Tradition No.6 – R.H. Malden" by Roger Johnson
Introduction to Richard Henry Malden (1879-1951), who came to know MRJ at Cambridge and went on to write the highly regarded collection, "Nine Ghosts", as well as authoring a number of historical and theological works.
"Some Thoughts on the Supernatural Writings of J.S. Le Fanu and M.R. James" by Albert Power
Article examining similarities and affinities between the works of M.R.J. and the writer he considered "stands absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories"; focussing on 'Ominous Subtlety', 'The Needlessly Severe Turn of the Screw' and 'Oblique, Yet Concise, Descriptive Style'.
"A Warning To The Curious, Part Two" by David Rowlands
Continuing the series of articles designed as a guide to which books and authors G&S readers may wish to seek out when looking to collect other works in a Jamesian vein. E.F. Benson and A.M. Burrage are two covered in this edition.
Reviews -
"The Ghost Stories of M.R. James" selected and introduced by Michael Cox
"M.R. James: 'Casting The Runes' and Other Ghost Stories" edited by Michael Cox
"A Warning To The Curious: The Ghost Stories of M.R. James", selected and introduced by Ruth Rendell
"The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories" selected by Michael Cox and R.A. Gilbert
"Supernatural Tales" by Vernon Lee
"Supernatural Sleuths" edited by Peter Haining
"The Tale of an Empty House, and Other Ghost Stories" by E.F. Benson; edited by Cynthia Reavell, introduction by Susan Hill
"The River Runs Uphill" by Robert Aickman
"L.T.C. Rolt: A Bibliography" compiled by Ian Rogerson and Gordon Maxim, with the assistance of Sonia Rolt; edited & introduction by Mark Baldwin
"A Demon Close Behind" by Leslie Halliwell
"Dark Encounters" by William Croft Dickinson
"The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural" edited by Jack Sullivan
(Also received: "M.R. James: An Informal Portrait" by Michael Cox – "The second Book of After Midnight Stories" edited by Amy Myers)
ILLUSTRATIONS-
Tony Patrick (Front cover)
Allen Koszowski
Alan Hunter
Colin Langeveld
Ros Calverley
