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Post by dem on Apr 21, 2008 6:27:07 GMT
E. Nesbit - In The Dark (Equation, 1988) Selected and Introduced by Hugh Lamb.Man-Size In Marble
Uncle Abraham's Romance
From The Dead
The Three Drugs
The Violet Car
John Charrington's Wedding
The Pavilion
Hurst Of Hurstcote
In The Dark
The Head
The Mystery Of The Semi-Detached
The Ebony Frame
The Five Senses
The Shadow.
Bibliography and Acknowledgements. "Why do I go on living? You see there is the child. It is four years old now, and it has never spoken and never smiled." Not exactly The Railway Children is it? The above are the concluding lines to one of Nesbit's entirely cheerless horror stories, of which there are more than you might think. It concerns a love-triangle involving Oscar, Elvira and Ida, a wicked lie, catalepsy, a premature burial and an appalling mistake with soul-destroying consequences. Her two most famous stories John Charrington's Wedding (the groom declares that he'll be at the church on time, even if he has to come back from the grave to do so - oh, dear) and the sadistic Man-Size In Marble in which two statues destroy a blameless girl, must rank alongside Dickens' The Signalman as amongst the most anthologised ghost stories of all time. Lesser known, The Pavilion is a grim vampire plant outing in which the scheming Thesiger falls foul of his own dark designs after learning the secret of the blood-drinking creepers. In Uncle Abraham's Romance, the narrator - "I was always lame and the girls used to laugh at me" - meets a beautiful woman in a churchyard one night and continues to rendezvous with her amidst the gravestones on subsequent evenings. Comes the hour when she tells him: "If you come back before the new moon I shall meet you here as usual. But if the new moon shines on this grave and you are not here - you will never see me again." Abraham discovers a miniature of his girl and learns that she is Susannah Kingsworth - a hundred years dead. Half-crazed by this terrible revelation, he falls into a fit and misses the appointment. Yet another heartbroken Nesbit character with only a lifetime of regret to look forward to. ***** ripperThere are some crackingly grim tales in there, Dem. As you say, Man-Size in Marble is very popular with anthologists, and it is the first Nesbit short I read. Richard Dalby has included a few of her tales in his anthologies, including the ultra creepy The Shadow, which I rate highly. Characters in Nesbit's short pieces just don't live happily ever after. Ashtree did their own volume of Nesbit's stories. Sad to say, though, that her short supernatural fiction is vastly overshadowed by The Railway Children in the eyes of the general public. ***** demonik Yep, The Shadow's another winner, Rip. I just read it last night, probably for the first time in a decade. She was excellent at creating doom-laden atmospheres.  Richard Sparks The Equation book is a souped-up version of the earlier, E. Nesbit's Tales Of Terror(Methuen, 1983: Magnet, 1985), also edited by Lamb but with a titchy introduction and just the seven stories: Man-Size In Marble
The Three Drugs
The Violet Car
John Charrington's Wedding
In The Dark
The Five Senses
The Shadow.***** E. Nesbit - The Power Of Darkness: Tales Of Terror (Wordsworth, 2006) Introduction - David Stuart Davies
Man-Size In Marble
Uncle Abraham's Romance
From The Dead
The Three Drugs
The Violet Car
John Charrington's Wedding
The Pavilion
Hurst Of Hurstcote
In The Dark
The Head
The Mystery Of The Semi-Detached
The Ebony Frame
The Five Senses
The Shadow
The Power Of Darkness
The Haunted Inheritance
The Letter In Brown Ink
The House Of Silence
The Haunted House
The Detective We seem to have arrived at this collection in installments. First Hugh Lamb edited the disappointingly flimsy (seven stories) E. Nesbit's Tales Of Terror for Magnum in 1983, then expanded it as the far more satisfying In The Dark (1988). Powers Of Darkness reprints all fourteen stories from In The Dark in exactly the same running order, then hits you with a bonus six pack and a decent introduction, making this the true must have modern day collection of Nesbit's ghost and horror stories. Nesbit name her first ghost story collection Grim Tales and, fortunately for us, they are, none more so than the supremely miserable From The Dead wherein we discover why the narrator has cause to make angst-ridden utterances like "I have never been so happy. I shall never be happy any more, I hope." Man-Size In Marble: Brenzett village. The church houses two statues commemorating wealthy knights of evil repute. Local legend has it that these huge marble figures rise from the slab at eleven on Halloween and walk abroad. The narrator and his timid wife Laura, whose house is built on site of the brothers' once home, are about to discover if there's any truth in this laughable old wives tale. John Charrington’s Wedding: Brixham. The village belle May Forster, finally gives in to the persistent John Charrington and accepts his marriage proposal. It is clear to all the villagers that she’s loved him all along, and as for John, “My dear, I believe I should come back from the grave if you wanted me.” Which, as it turns out … Come the wedding day and, while the best man kicks his heels at the station awaiting Charrington’s return from a mercy dash to a sick relative, the wedding goes ahead and a terrified May is hustled into the carriage by her corpse groom as the bells sound the death knell … The Head: Derbyshire. Lost en route to an interview with music hall legend Tottie de Vere, promoter Morris Diehl stops at a remote house and begs shelter for the night. His host, April Vane, gives the appearance of being an octogenarian, but in reality he's merely 43 years old, prematurely aged by the bitter tragedy which saw the woman he loved burnt to death while her husband lolled drunk in the gutter. Vane is obsessed with the event to the point of having built a scale model of the village commemorating the incident with little figures indicating where the locals stood at the time of the blaze. Diehl recognises it as a work of genius and brings Vane back to London with a commission to build a life-size replica of his masterpiece. This he does, but with one chilling improvement .... ***** John ProbertThis is a cracking little book of really grim stories told with such genteel elegance that at times it feels a bit like Jane Austen Goes to Hell. I'm about two thirds of the way through & it almost makes me want to read The Railway Children to see if there's any evidence of the same morbid style. And, presumably because of that book's reputation, the Borders bookshop where I live is stocking Nesbit's horror collection in the children's section!
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Post by Johnlprobert on Apr 21, 2008 13:22:24 GMT
Apparently E Nesbit had a rather miserable married life, which could explain her bleak style. I did finish the book, by the way, and can heartily recommend it.
And that copy is still in the children's section of my local Borders
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Post by redbrain on Apr 21, 2008 17:40:48 GMT
The Power of Darkness is one of quite a number of really cracking collections issued by Wordsworth at very low prices. Others include:
May Sinclair: Uncanny Stories
Wilkie Collins: The Haunted Hotel & other stories
Henry James: Ghost Stories of Henry James
Charles Dickens: Best Ghost Stories
Rudyard Kipling: Strange Stories
Marjorie Bowen: The Bishop of Hell & other stories
I also saw one of the stories of R H & A C Benson, but (when I saw it) was in too much of a rush to buy it. Must look out for that
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Post by wordswortheditions on Oct 27, 2008 13:48:20 GMT
The Power of Darkness is one of quite a number of really cracking collections issued by Wordsworth at very low prices. Others include: May Sinclair: Uncanny StoriesWilkie Collins: The Haunted Hotel & other storiesHenry James: Ghost Stories of Henry JamesCharles Dickens: Best Ghost StoriesRudyard Kipling: Strange StoriesMarjorie Bowen: The Bishop of Hell & other storiesI also saw one of the stories of R H & A C Benson, but (when I saw it) was in too much of a rush to buy it. Must look out for that You can find the Wordsworth Mystery & Supernatural series on Amazon. We've currently got over 50 titles in the series, with another 10 being published in the new year, including The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton. You can check out our upcoming titles on our website: www.wordsworth-editions.com/We welcome suggestions for new titles, the only requirement is that the books have to be out of copyright (70 years from the author’s death), as we would struggle to make them available for £2.99 if we have to pay royalties. Please feel free to email us with any suggestions  |
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Post by dem on Oct 27, 2008 15:19:01 GMT
We welcome suggestions for new titles, the only requirement is that the books have to be out of copyright (70 years from the author’s death), as we would struggle to make them available for £2.99 if we have to pay royalties. That '70 years after the author's death' is proving a headache! I'd dearly love to see at least one representative of The Creeps and Not At Night series' from the 'twenties and 'thirties back in print, but some of the authors are so obscure even a bibliophile of Mike Ashley's stature probably doesn't have any info on them! So do you need a definite date of death before you can consider a reprinting a particular story? In the case of the Not At Night's, many of the stories were published (almost) simultaneously in Weird Tales, which, presumably opens up a whole new can of worms (although I note you have reprinted works by Lovecraft and Howard that appeared in the magazine)! All these questions! I bet you're well pleased you joined now! |
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 28, 2008 8:48:03 GMT
A few titles that might interest you (though I suspect you know of them already) are Vathek by William Beckford, which is a short but enjoyably insane book, and The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis, which is just as insane but longer, of course. William Harrison Ainsworth is another writer I would love to see reprinted. His Lancashire Witches and The Elixer of Life would be great additions to any list. I recently came across a very old, much battered copy of his Tower of London, which has some brilliant illustrations in it.
I'm sorry now I didn't know you also published a copy of The Beetle, having just bought the over-priced and not particularly attractive Penguin version.
It's a pity you need to stick to the seventy years after the author's death stitpulation, though I appreciate the important cost savings this means - and at £2.99 per volume that's obviously an essential - as there are a number of excellent present day writers whose stories only ever appear in collections brought out by the small press. Most of them are used to earning virtually nothing for these collections, though, and some would possibly not be bothered about whatever remuneration they got, however tiny, if there was the possibility of reaching a wider public than the miniscule numbers the small press can normally reach. Beggars can't be choosers these days, when most mainstream publishers have such a complete lack interest in bringing out short story collections from anyone other than Stephen King.
In the meantime, keep up the good work. It's much appreciated!
David
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Post by wordswortheditions on Oct 28, 2008 9:16:24 GMT
A few titles that might interest you (though I suspect you know of them already) are Vathek by William Beckford, which is a short but enjoyably insane book, and The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis, which is just as insane but longer, of course. William Harrison Ainsworth is another writer I would love to see reprinted. His Lancashire Witches and The Elixer of Life would be great additions to any list. I recently came across a very old, much battered copy of his Tower of London, which has some brilliant illustrations in it. I'm sorry now I didn't know you also published a copy of The Beetle, having just bought the over-priced and not particularly attractive Penguin version. It's a pity you need to stick to the seventy years after the author's death stitpulation, though I appreciate the important cost savings this means - and at £2.99 per volume that's obviously an essential - as there are a number of excellent present day writers whose stories only ever appear in collections brought out by the small press. Most of them are used to earning virtually nothing for these collections, though, and some would possibly not be bothered about whatever remuneration they got, however tiny, if there was the possibility of reaching a wider public than the miniscule numbers the small press can normally reach. Beggars can't be choosers these days, when most mainstream publishers have such a complete lack interest in bringing out short story collections from anyone other than Stephen King. In the meantime, keep up the good work. It's much appreciated! David Funny you should say that... The Monk is penciled in for publishing in August 2009, as is Vahtek! I'll pass on your other suggestions, thanks for the input! |
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Post by dem on Oct 28, 2008 9:41:48 GMT
A 'Mystery & the Supernatural' edition of The Monk! Modern editions of Ainsworth would be most welcome, although you'd face the same problem with The Lancashire Witches as Varney .... Granada reprinted it as a paperback in 1983 - it runs to over 700 pages. NEL crammed the The Elixir Of Life into a mere 122. Windsor Castle just tops 300, so they would be viable.
Some more, and these will require some detective work on the part of your researchers!
Bernard Capes. Hugh Lamb edited a selection of his stories as The Black Reaper for Equation in the late 'eighties, but there are several more scattered here and there, at least four of which have since been exhumed in other anthologies. Once forgotten, Capes is now highly regarded in ghost story circles. Even Robert Aickman rated him, although he was often kinder to long-dead authors than contemporary ones.
Dick Donovan (J. E. Preston-Muddock): another favourite of Hugh Lamb's who reprints several of her melodramatic and sometimes quite nasty horrors over his anthologies. Most are from his (sometimes 'her' collection, Tales Of Terror, (1899). Who knows how it would sell - i'm not sure he has a fan base - but i'd certainly buy it and the completists would have to have it!
* With regard to the 70 year rule. Are you sure about Marjorie The Bishop Of Hell Bowen? *
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 28, 2008 11:01:18 GMT
]
Merry coincidence David. I was just thinking of Vathek and Elixer of life. I used to have an old foursquare edition of these - I think it was the two titles together - used to be very common in the second hand bookshops but never see it nowadays.
You draw attention to a great problem for the unsung heroes of the genre. Its just perhaps a truism that some of the avante garde authors of the small press are by definition either ahead of their time or appealing to a small market or simply unlucky. The bad news is that its likely to stick that way and the good news, albeit of no benefit to them whatsoever, is that they will probably be done by Wordsworth in another 70 years.
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 28, 2008 11:13:09 GMT
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 28, 2008 11:14:59 GMT
That was, of course, the title I meant, not Tower of London at all. Tsk tsk! Thanks Dem.  David |
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Post by dem on Oct 28, 2008 12:04:31 GMT
That was, of course, the title I meant, not Tower of London at all. Tsk tsk! Well, he did write one called The Tower Of London too, but not having read it, I can't say if it had any 'supernatural' content? Windsor Castle, from what I remember, pits Herne the Hunter and his woodland corpse army versus Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn! It's pitched somewhere between the penny dreadful pulp of Sweeney Todd, or the String of Pearls and the more 'literary' approach of Wilkie Collins. If I didn't already have roughly 200 books on the go just now, I'd be very tempted to have a rematch with it, see if it was still as enjoyable the second time ..... Oh, and another suggestion. Wordsworth have already published G. W. M. Reynold's Wagner The Werewolf - maybe Faust: A Romance to keep it company? |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 28, 2008 12:11:12 GMT
Thanks for your support and sympathy folks. It is possible I can salvage something. I certainly hope so. If nothing else I'm prompting you all to back up |
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Post by lobolover on Nov 13, 2008 22:18:50 GMT
Apparently E Nesbit had a rather miserable married life, which could explain her bleak style. I did finish the book, by the way, and can heartily recommend it. And that copy is still in the children's section of my local Borders Irony at its finest. Riley:Vathek is nice,but is truly and monumentaly eerie at the very end.Ainsworth "Auriol or the elixir of life" is a personal favourite of mine, though it pisses me off to no end that it ends without a conclusion. Wordsworth-but that doesnt concern things printed before 1923, right? If so,Id have a sugestion-a cheap reprint of Marion Foxes " Ape's face" ,I think 1916,would be luminary-its a very interesting book from the look of things.Only reprint since 1916 has been Ash tree press,with their infernal prices atached. One more idea would be a rather obscure ,but recomended book- " A Musical reformation"by John A. Cone- www.violetbooks.com/REVIEWS/jas-cone.htmlMr(s) Salmonson herself said this colection is actualy very near th level of W.C.Morrow himself. If not,theres at least one tale that would be realy good to bring up somewheres- "" My Escape from Suicide" regards a similar young man -- perhaps the same man, there is an autobiographical tone to some of these tales -- who discovers the creepy reason there has been a rash of inexplicable suicides in San Francisco, & barely escapes the fate of so many others who encountered the weird Dr. Kurtz." "The other tales are at least Decadent, being accounts of moral corruption. The title story outlines a noble dream of redemption in the mind of a man who afterward drinks himself into oblivion . "His Week Off" recounts opening salvos of a possibly romantic encounter that soon dwindles into unutterable delusion. "A Spoiled Story" is a tale of terror in old Hawaii, but which resolves into a lie." I think theres lots of things sugestible. Also-anyone know where I could find Nesbit's story "The head" online,or at least knows the year/place of original publication? |
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Post by nathanieltapley on Mar 1, 2010 16:27:51 GMT
I read this recently, and was really blown away by it. The power and vigour of a lot of the writing surprised me (I disagree with JLP that it's genteel, I think it's quite visceral and a lot of it's as near the knuckles as anything from the period), as well as the truly grotesque horrors she conjures up.
The Three Drugs and The Haunted House are particularly appropriate for their pulpish content, although the rest include vampiric plants, revenge beheadings, and The House of Silence, which is truly, truly creepy.
I recommend this collection very highly.
"Does talking help? Are you sure? Doesn't it open the old wounds wide till the blood squirts out of them? Don't you wish afterwards that you'd held your silly tongue? Aren't you ashamed, and afraid, and sick with yourself for every word that has passed your lips about her?"
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