Rosemary Gray – Irish Ghost Stories

Rosemary Gray (ed.) – Irish Ghost Stories   (Wordsworth editions, 2011)

Michael Banim – The Rival Dreamers
William Carleton – The Three Wishes
Daniel Corkery – Eyes Of The Dead
A. E. Coppard – The Gollan
Francis Marion Crawford – The Dead Smile
Thomas Crofton Croker – Master and Man
Thomas Crofton Croker – The Legend of Knockgrafton
Thomas Crofton Croker – The Haunted Cellar
Thomas Crofton Croker – Legend of Bottle Hill
Thomas Crofton Croker – Daniel O’Rourke
Jeremiah Curtain – The Blood-Drawing Ghost
Jeremiah Curtain – St Martins Eve
Anonymous – The Witch Hare
Gerald Griffin – The Brown Man
Douglas Hyde – Teig OKane and the Corpse
Joseph Jacobs – The Field of Boliauns
Hermine Kavanagh – Darby OGill and the Leprechaun
Patrick Kennedy – Hairy Rouchy
Patrick Kennedy – The Ghosts and the Game of Football
J. Sheridan Le Fanu – The Watcher
J. Sheridan Le Fanu – The Spectre Lovers
J. Sheridan Le Fanu – An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street
J. Sheridan Le Fanu – Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess
J. Sheridan Le Fanu – Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter
J. Sheridan Le Fanu – The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh
J. Sheridan Le Fanu – The Dream
J. Sheridan Le Fanu – A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family
J. Sheridan Le Fanu – Narrative of the Ghost of a Hand
D. R. McAnally Jr. – The Sexton of Cashel  
D. R. McAnally Jr. – The Defeat of the Widows
D. R. McAnally Jr. – The Henpecked Giant
D. R. McAnally Jr. – The Leprechaun
Dorothy Macardle – The Prisoner
Letitia Maclintock – Far Darrig in Donegal
Letitia Maclintock – Jamie Freel and the Young Lady
William Maginn – A Vision of Purgatory  
George Moore – A Play-House in the Waste
Rosa Mulholland – The Ghost at the Rath  
Rosa Mulholland – The Living Ghost
Forrest Reid – Courage
Charlotte Riddell – Hertford O’ Donnells Warning  
Charlotte Riddell – The Last of Squire Ennismore
Bram Stoker – The Judges House
Traditional – Daniel Crowley and the Ghosts
Traditional – John Reardon and the Sister Ghosts
Oscar Wilde – The Canterville Ghost

many thanks to caradini for providing the table of contents

David A. Riley interview & Other news

dear reader

a very infrequent proper blog-type post/ news update. E. London has been hit by a devastating vintage horror & supernatural anthology famine hence lengthy silences. been amusing myself with hamlyn nasties and giant preying mantis extravaganzas to keep my hand in. also, the Vault forum is still as hugely popular with everyone as ever and we’ve a tasty interview with David A. Riley who’ll tell you all about ‘The Curse of Beyond‘!

what else? Paperback Fanatic 15 is out now, we understand that The Seventh Black Book Of Horror is on the horizon (plan is to have publication coincide with FantasyCon whenever that is), Wordsworth continue to expand on their exquisite Mystery & The Supernatural series and we hope to have some EXCITING NEWS about Interzone books very shortly!

finally, a thank you to whoever it was kindly *ahem* ‘voted’ for Vault in the BFS awards. in all honesty, we had enough grief over all that nonsense last year, hence immediate quiet withdrawal from field. but the thought was much appreciated by the core guys.

love,
demonik/ gloomy sundae

Rosemary Gray – Gripping Yarns

Rosemary Gray (ed.) – Gripping Yarns (Wordsworth Special Editions, 2008)

Anonymous – One Night Of Horror
————- The Pipe
————- The Puzzle
————- The Closed Cabinet
————- The Alibi
Stacey Aumonier – Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty
————- A Source Of Irritation
————- Where Was Wych Street?
Harold Auten – a Fight To The Finish
Etienne Barsony – The Dancing Bear
Jorgen Wilhelm Bergsoe – The Amputated Arms
Ambrose Bierce – The Moonlit Road
————- A Tough Tussle
————- A Jug Of Syrup
————- The Middle Toe Of The Right Foot
————- John Bartine’s Watch
Algernon Blackwood – a Silent Visitation
————- The Wood Of The Dead
————- A Suspicious Gift
————- Skeleton Lake : An Episode In Camp
George Brame – On The Belgian Coast
John Buchan – The Wind In The Portico
————- The Loathley Opposite
George Washington Cable – The Young Aunt With White Hair
Egerton Castle – The Baron’s Quarry
Wilkie Collins – The Dream Woman
Joseph Conrad – The Secret Sharer
————- A Smile Of Fortune
————- The Black Mate
A. R. Cooper – With The Foreign Legion In Gallipoli
Stephen Crane – Manacled
————- An Illusion In Black And White
————- Twelve O’Clock
F. Marion Crawford – By The Waters Of Paradise
Guy De Maupassant – The Wreck
————- The Terror
John Charles Dent – Gagtooth’s Image
Thomas De Quincey – The Avenger
Arthur Conan Doyle – A Foreign Office Romance
————- The Striped Chest
————- The Croxley Master
————- The New Catacomb
————- The King Of The Foxes
————- The Green Flag
————- The Lord Of Chateau Noir
————- The Three Correspondents
————- The Debut Of Bimbashi Joyce
————- The Doings Of Raffles Haw
Arthur Elck – The Tower Room
A. J. Evans – Exploits Of The Escaping Club
J. S. Fletcher – The Lighthouse On Shivering Sand
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman – The Shadows On The Wall
E. W. Hornung – The Wrong House
————- The Rest Cure
————- A Bad Night
————- The Spoils Of Sacrilege
Bernard Severin Ingemann – The Sealed Room
Maurus Jokai – Thirteen At Table
Rudyard Kipling – My Own True Ghost Story
————- Bubbling-Well Road
————- At The End Of The Passage
————- The Return Of Imray
————- The City Of Dreadful Night
Leoplod Lewis – A Dreadful Bell
Jack London – Siwash
————- The Man With The Gash
————- Where The Trail Forks
Anselme Marchal – Hoodwinking The Germans
Ferenc Molnar – The Living Death
Frank Norris – A Memorandum Of Sudden Death
————- The Ghost In The Crosstrees
Fitz-James O’Brien – My Wife’s Temper
David Phillips – At A Sap-Head
William Pittinger – The Locomotive Chase In Georgia
A. O. Pollard – I Charge!
Saki – Sredni Vashtar
————- The Hounds Of Fate
Mary Shelley – The Mortal Immortal
Robert Louis Stevenson – The Pavilion On The Links
————- The Sire de Maletroit’s Door
Anthony Trollope – The Man Who Kept His Money In A Box
Edgar Wallace – The Lone House Mystery
————- The Dark Horse
————- Clues
————- Romance In It
————- A Certain Game
————- The Swift Walker
————- Nine Terrible Men
————- The Sickness-Mongo
Edith Wharton – A Bottle Of Perrier
————- The Lady’s Maid’s Bell
————- The Bolted Door
John Taylor Wood – Escape Of General Beckinridge
Walter Wood – How Trooper Potts Won The V.C. On Burnt Hill
E. D. Woodhall – Secret Service Days

Blurb
For those who sometimes long to escape the strictures of modern life or to inject a little more drama and excitement into their workday world, the remedy could be the collection of stories you hold in your hand. Here for the taking are tales of high adventure and low intrigue from masters of the genre like John Buchan and Robert Louis Stevenson, classics of crime and detection from veteran thriller writers like Edgar Wallace and Arthur Conan Doyle, spine-chillers from the pens of Ambrose Bierce and other purveyors of suspense and horror, and true accounts of courage and survival from heroic and intrepid individuals caught up in the rigours and insanity of war or battling against the elements on gruelling expeditions of discovery and exploration. Between the covers of this crowded volume, Wordsworth Editions has assembled from the work of famous, less well-known and totally unsung writers a treasure trove of rattling good yarns to fire the imagination, chill the blood and perhaps awaken (or reawaken) the spirit of adventure in any reader who dares to plunge in!

Wordsworth Editions: Best publisher of the 00’s?

As far as i know they’ve never even been shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award but Wordsworth editions have my nomination for publishers of the decade. The good news is, the good work will continue just as soon as 2010 is upon us with a reprint of James Malcolm Rymer’s Varney The Vampyre in January followed by the James Doig edited anthology, Australian Ghost Stories, the following month.

Blurb
Murderous ghosts, horrific curses and monstrous beings haunt an unforgiving landscape into which travelers stray at their peril. Journey through the dark byways of Australia’s Gothic past in the rare stories gathered in this memorable new collection. Work by acclaimed Australian writers such as Marcus Clarke, Henry Lawson and Edward Dyson appears alongside many lesser-known authors such as Beatrice Grimshaw, Mary Fortune and Ernest Favenc. Many of the stories collected here have never been reprinted since their first publication in 19th and early 20th century periodicals and showcase the richness and variety of the Australian ghost and horror story.

James Doig provides an authoritative introduction full of fresh insights into Australian Gothic fiction with detailed biographical notes on the authors represented.

my pick of those i’ve read to date would include:

M. G. Lewis – The Monk
Mark Valentine (ed) – The Werewolf Pack
David S. Davies (ed.) – The Sexton Blake Casebook
Marjorie Bowen – The Bishop Of Hell
Anonymous – Sweeney Todd
E. Nesbit – Powers Of Darkness
George W. M. Reynolds – Wagner, The Werewolf
William Fryer Harvey – The Beast With Five Fingers
David Blair (ed.) – Gothic Short Stories
Dennis Wheatley – The Devil Rides Out

Happy Christmas and thanks for such a great selection, Derek and skeleton staff!

Wordsworth Collection Of Irish Ghost Stories

Anonymous – The Wordsworth Collection Of Irish Ghost Stories (Wordsworth, 2005)

Sheridan Le Fanu – Green Tea
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Familiar
Sheridan Le Fanu – Mr Justice Harbottle
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Room In Le Dragon Volant
Sheridan Le Fanu – Carmilla
Sheridan Le Fanu – Madam Crowl’s Ghost
Sheridan Le Fanu – Squire Toby’s Will
Sheridan Le Fanu – Dickon The Devil
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Child That Went With The Fairies
Sheridan Le Fanu – The White Cat Of Drumguinnol
Sheridan Le Fanu – An Account Of Some Strange Disturbances In Aungiers Street
Sheridan Le Fanu – Ghost Stories Of Chapelizod
Sheridan Le Fanu – Wicked Captain Walshawe Of Wauling
Sheridan Le Fanu – Sir Dominick’s Bargain
Sheridan Le Fanu – Ultor de Lacy
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Vision Of Tom Chuff
Sheridan Le Fanu – Stories Of Lough Guir
Michael Banim – The Rival Dreamers
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Spectre Lovers
Thomas Crofton Croker – The Haunted Cellar
Thomas Crofton Croker – Legend Of Bottle Hill
Patrick Kennedy – The Ghost And The Game of Football
Jeremiah Curtin – The Blood-Drawing Ghost
Jeremiah Curtin – St. Martin’s Eve
William Maginn – A Vision Of Purgatory
Gerald Griffin – The Brown Man
Gerald Griffin – The Dilemma Of Phadrig
Shan F. Bullock – Th’ Ould Boy
Letitia Maclintock – Far Darrig In Donegal
Letitia Maclintock – Jamie Freel And The Young Lady
James Berry – The Adventures Of Foranan O’Fergus, The Physician
William Carleton – Moll Roe’s Marriage, or The Pudding Bewitched
William Carleton – The Three Wishes
Bram Stoker – The Judges House
Francis Marion Crawford – The Dead Smile
Oscar Wilde – The Canterville Ghost
Charlotte Riddell – Hertford O’Donnell’s Warning
Charlotte Riddell – The Last Squire Of Ennismore
Douglas Hyde – Teig O’Kane And The Corpse
Daniel Corkery – Eyes Of The Dead
A. E. Coppard – The Gollan
George Moore – A Play-House In The Waste
Rosa Mulholland – The Ghost At The Rath
Forrest Reid – Courage
Dorothy Macardl – The Prisoner
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Watcher
Sheridan Le Fanu – Passage In The Secret History Of An Irish Countess
Sheridan Le Fanu – Strange Event In The Life Of Shalken The Painter
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Fortunes Of Sir Robert Ardagh
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Dream
Sheridan Le Fanu – A Chapter In The History Of A Tyrone Family
Cecil Francis Alexander – The Legend Of Stumpie’s Brae
Traditional – Daniel Crowley And The Ghosts
Traditional – John Reardon And The Sister Ghosts
Anonymous – The Witch Hare
Traditional – Donald And His Neighbours
Patrick Kennedy – Hairy Rouchy
Thomas Crofton Crocker – The Legend Of Knockgrafton
Thomas Crofton Crocker – Daniel O’Rouke
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – About The Fairies
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – Satan As Sculptor
Hermine Kavenagh – Darby O’Gill And The Leprechaun
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – The Defeat Of The Widows
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – The Henpecked Giant
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – The Leprechaun
Thomas Crofton Crocker – Master And Man
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – How The Lakes Were Made
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – Taming The Pooka
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – The Sexton Of Cashel
Joseph Jacobs – The Fields Of Boliauns

Blurb:

With a word of warning to those of nervous a disposition, Wordsworth presents this spellbinding collection of chilling Celtic tales of the macabre, all drawn from the rich and varied literary tradition of a culture long enchanted by things supernatural, ‘a land where ghosts and ghost-seers are so common’. Featuring the imaginative writing of such towering masters of the genre as Sheridan Le Fanu, Bram Stoker, Patrick Kennedy, Thomas Crofton Croker and George Moore, this volume of ghoulish masterpieces from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is an encapsulation of the arcane lore, magical landscape and fantastic creativity of the Irish. Don’t attempt to read these horrifying tales alone in an empty house. Your blood will run cold as the unreal becomes real and the impossible all too possible. Indelible images will possess your imagination and haunt your dreams. Make sure all the lights are on and the doors are bolted.

Thanks to mattofthespurs for suggesting this one!

Sheridan Le Fanu – Uncle Silas

Sheridan Le Fanu – Uncle Silas (Wordsworth Editions, 2009)

Introduction by Kathryn White

“I thought I saw a human face, about the most terrible my fancy could have called up, looking fixedly into the room. The face gazed towards the bed, and in the imperfect light looked like a livid mask, with chalky eyes.’

Master of the ghost story genre M.R. James commented that the, ‘final terrific murder-scene and escape can hardly be forgotten’ by those who have read Uncle Silas.

Neither does the opening disappoint. As the November winds wail in ivied chimneys we are drawn into a Victorian Gothic atmosphere of menacing, sombre gloom and ebony shadows. Sheridan Le Fanu leaves us in no doubt that we are in for a feast of exciting drama, luring us into the intensely claustrophobic world of the nineteenth century sensational novel.

Le Fanu is amongst the top-notch exponents of the creepy, the criminal and the oppressive. In this tale of the orphaned teenage heiress Maud Ruthyn, fearing for her life at the hands of her sinister uncle, he has created a rattling good plot with the depth of a social novel and the power of high romance.

Rosemary Gray – Scottish Ghost Stories

Rosemary Gray (ed.) – Scottish Ghost Stories
We have to hand it to Wordsworth editions – they’re playing a blinder with their budget ‘Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural’ series and they have the prestigious Vault Publisher of the Year sewn up without us even bothering to vote on it (although we love Robinson too)!  Here’s one  to look forward to early in  2009 !

Rosemary Gray - Scottish Ghost Stories

Due for Publishing February 2009 – ISBN 9781840221688
The Glen Mutchkin Railway – Professor Aytoun
Summer Weather – John Buchan
The Oasis in the Snow – John Buchan
No Man’s Land – John Buchan
The Far Islands – John Buchan
The Wetcher by the Threshold – John Buchan
The Outgoing of the Tide – John Buchan
Skull Skerry – John Buchan
A Cry Across the Black Water – S.R. Crockett
‘The Heather Lintie’ – S.R. Crockett
The Story of Euphemia Hewit – James Hogg
The Mysterious Bride – James Hogg
‘Mary Burnet’ – James Hogg
The Brownie of the Black Haggs – James Hogg
Ticonderoga – Andrew Lang
The Haunted and the Haunters – Lord Lytton
The Old Nurse’s Story – George MacDonald
The Haunted Major – Robert Marshall
Old Lady Mary – Margaret Oliphant
A Little Pilgrim – Margaret Oliphant
The Open Door – Margaret Oliphant
The Library Window – Margaret Oliphant
The Portrait – Margaret Oliphant
The Tapestried Chamber – Sir Walter Scott
Wandering Willie’s Tale – Sir Walter Scott
My Aunt Margaret’s Mirror – Sir Walter Scott
Ticonderoga: A Legend of the West Highlands – Robert Louis Stevenson
Markheim – Robert Louis Stevenson
Thrawn Janet – Robert Louis Stevenson
The Body-Snatcher – Robert Louis Stevenson
Olalla – Robert Louis Stevenson
The Ghost of Craig-Aulnaic – Anonymous
The Doomed Rider – Anonymous
The Weird of the Three Arrows – Anonymous
The Laird of Balmachie’s Wife – Anonymous
Michael Scott – Anonymous
The Haunted Ships – Anonymous
Glamis Castle – Local Records

Back and up for trouble!

READING IS FUN!

Note almost supernaturally gratuitous use of Bettie Page-style photo. Another devious demonik ploy to grab your "attention"!

illustration: Chrissie Demant

*yawn* is it time to do some more work on WordPress already? It only seems like six months since I sat down and made myself comfy  …

Actually, i’ve not been putting my feet up much at all really! i’ve been kept busy on the Vault forum which leaves me with no time to keep things ticking over on here!

Well, that’s about to change! I need a break from those fiends for a while, so i’ve made an attempt to update all these lapsed wordpress blogs. Don’t tell anyone i’m here!

You’ve maybe noticed that the majority of new books covered on here belong to the Robinson’s Mammoth series. Well, among those recently published under that imprint is one of my very favourite books of 2008. I speak, of course, of Peter Haining’s posthumous Mammoth Book Of True Hauntings which I recommend to fans of ‘real’ ghost stories and ‘News of the Screws’ press clippings as an ideal Christmas present for yourself (because if you read books, you probably haven’t any friends to buy it for you)! Also – Wordsworth Editions. This small team has been responsible for reissuing many rare gems in their superlative Mystery & The Supernatural series at ridiculously low prices. You really should get into them in a big way!

Anyhow; i’ve added news of the BFS Christmas shindig and the revamp of Thinking Man’s Crumpet along with details of three of the aforementioned Mammoths so that should keep you going for now!

Also, i’ve deleted the Vault Newsdesk sub-blog because there’s never any news, ever! “All” the posts should have transferred across except the really useless ones.

News of Paperback Fanatic relaunch when I hear it!

And now i’ve said such rotten things about our forum, stap me if someone good hasn’t joined! Wasn’t it ever so ….

Mark Valentine – The Black Veil

Mark Valentine (ed.) – The Black Veil And Other Tales of Supernatural Sleuths (Wordsworth Mystery & the Supernatural, July 2008)

 

Introduction – Mark Valentine

Robert Eustace & L.T. Meade – The Warder of the Door
E. & H. Heron – The Story of Sevens Hall
William Hope Hodgson – The Gateway of the Monster
Arthur Machen – The Red Hand
Allen Upward – The Haunted Woman
Robert Barr – The Ghost with the Club-foot
Vernon Knowles – The Curious Activities of Basil Thorpenden
Donald Campbell – The Necromancer
L. Adams Beck – Waste Manor
John Cooling – The House of Fenris
Mark Valentine – The Prince of Barlocco
Colin P. Langeveld – The Legacy of the Viper
Mary Anne Allen (Rosemary Pardoe) – The Sheelagh-na-gig
A.F. Kidd – The Black Veil
R.B. Russell – Like Clockwork
Rosalie Parker – Spirit Solutions

The Gateway of the Monster… The Red Hand… The Ghost Hunter

To Sherlock Holmes the supernatural was a closed book: but other great detectives have always been ready to do battle with the dark instead. This volume brings together sixteen chilling cases of these supernatural sleuths, pitting themselves against the peril of ultimate evil. Here are encounters from the casebooks of the Victorian haunted house investigators John Bell and Flaxman Low, from Carnacki, the Edwardian battler against the abyss, and from horror master Arthur Machen’s Mr Dyson, a man-about-town and meddler in strange things. Connoisseurs will find rare cases such as those of Allen Upward’s The Ghost Hunter, Robert Barr’s Eugene Valmont (who may have inspired Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot) and Donald Campbell’s young explorer Leslie Vane, the James Bond of the jazz age, who battles against occult enemies of the British Empire. And the collection is completed by some of the best tales from the pens of modern psychic sleuth authors.

Thanks to Alan Frackelton for providing the contents of both this and The Wolf Pack!

Mark Valentine – The Werewolf Pack

Mark Valentine (ed.) – The Werewolf Pack (Wordsworth Editions, June 2008)

 

Introduction – Mark Valentine

Captain Frederick Marryat – The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains
Sir Gilbert Campbell – The White Wolf of Kostopchin
Count Stenbock – The Other Side
B. Fletcher Robinson – The Terror in the Snow
Mrs Hugh Fraser – A Werewolf of the Campagna
Andrew Lang – The White Wolf
Andrew Lang – The Boy and the Wolf, or The Broken Promise
F.J. Harvey Darton – William and the Werewolf
Barry Pain – The Undying Thing
Saki – Gabriel-Ernest
Saki – The She-Wolf
Bernard Capes – The Thing in the Forest
Vasile Voiculescu – Among the Wolves
Ron Weighell – The Shadow of the Wolf
Steve Duffy – The Clay Party
Gail-Nina Anderson – The Tale Untold
R.B. Russell – Loup-garou

Blurb:

The wolf has always been a creature of legend and romance, while kings, sorcerers and outlaws have been proud to be called by the name of the wolf, it s no wonder, then, that tales of transformation between man and wolf are so powerful and persistent. This original collection offers some of the greatest, rarest and most unusual werewolf stories ever. From the forests of Transylvania to the ordered lawns of an English country estate, here are all the classic aspects of the tale. You will encounter shadows that lope under the moon, chilling howls, family curses, crimson feasts, the desperate chase and the deathly duel. But you will also find the werewolf in less expected guises as an adversary for Sherlock Holmes, as a myth of the Wild West, and as a figure restored to its origins in folk and fairy tales. With an informative introduction by Mark Valentine that follows the traces of the werewolf in literature, and its links to Dracula, Jekyll & Hyde, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, this superb collection will make you fear the full moon.

Another welcome addition to the Mystery & Supernatural series. Mark Valentine’s judicious selection is a neat mix of the classic, the downright obscure and the contemporary. This one will sit nicely against Brian J. Frost’s wonderful Book Of The Werewolf (Sphere, 1973)!