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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Feb 3, 2023 15:14:04 GMT
There is something disturbing about the English Fens, with its flat expanses stretching away into the distance, it seems unnatural. Of course the modern Fenlands are mostly drained, but they were once marshes, prone to flooding, and also home to many saints, hermits, and religious places. Fens are found all around the world, particularly in Northern climes. Grendel, the monster in Beowulf, is a fen dweller (in Scandinavia). Place your fen tales here.  This is Ely Cathedral, built originally on an island in the Fens. |
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Post by humgoo on Feb 3, 2023 16:21:41 GMT
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Post by Shrink Proof on Feb 4, 2023 7:54:02 GMT
"Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk" by Frank Cowper:- Of these I particularly liked Christmas Eve On A Haunted Hulk by Frank Cowper. It stood out a bit from the rest in that the way the story develops seemed more modern. The narrator goes off to spend Xmas with a friend who has recently been appointed curate of a Fenland parish; bleak, flat, marshy and isolated. He goes off duck shooting on his first full day (Xmas Eve) but without success as the ducks are all miles away. He finds a dinghy and paddles out onto a mere in the hope of getting within shooting range of the fowl. After a while he comes across an abandoned hulk beached on a mudbank in the middle of the mere. He decides to scramble aboard and hole up there, using it as a hide from which to shoot. Having done so, the dinghy breaks free and drifts off, leaving him marooned on the wreck as night falls and rain sets in. Failing to attract attention by firing all his ammunition, and miles from anywhere, he has no option but to spend the night under cover below deck. Then he starts to hear footsteps & the sound of something heavy being dragged across the boards... This one's highly atmospheric, probably given more authenticity because Cowper was both a sailing fanatic (he also wrote novels & non-fiction that were sailing themed) and also a pre-Raphaelite painter of some standing in his day. The other more modern aspect to it is that, in contrast to the traditional Victorian/Edwardian approach, nothing is ever really explained. There's none of the "he was killed exactly 100 years ago in this very room" stuff here. |
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Feb 4, 2023 14:42:24 GMT
I'm interested in both Gordon and Cowper. Cowper should be easy to track down, but I can't find The House on the Brink (which interests me the most out of his books) on my online book provider, or at the archive.
I wonder what Cowper thought of the great industrial rivers of the North, on his voyages around the coast.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Feb 4, 2023 15:51:10 GMT
I'm interested in both Gordon and Cowper. Cowper should be easy to track down... You can find the Cowper tale right here. |
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Feb 4, 2023 20:53:25 GMT
I'm interested in both Gordon and Cowper. Cowper should be easy to track down... You can find the Cowper tale right here.Thank you. |
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