Le Visage Vert no. 28, February 2017

I've been too busy to study deeply the latest issue of Le Visage Vert, even to the point of being remiss about calling attention to its publication some months ago.  So here's a belated notice.  Ordering details can be found here (scroll down), and a full table of the contents of this issue here. The lead story is by  Perceval Landon, "Thurnley Abbey". Lafcadio Hearn is represented with an article (from 1875) on spirit photographs.   François Ducos contributes a study of the occult detective in France, 1930-1960. There are some older materials by Kirby Draycott and Gustave Guitton, as well as contemporary stories by Jean-Pierre Chambon and Achillèas Kyriakìdis. All in all another fine issue.

 The Kirby Draycott story is additionally given in its original English, as "The Clock Face of Schaumberg", in a supplementary booklet, reprinted from The Royal Magazine, November 1898, with the intriguing original illustrations. The story concerns a sixteenth-century historical figure, Goetz of the Iron Hand, who wore an iron prosthetic after losing his right arm in battle.  Michel Meurger contributes an article about the historical Goetz, to complement the fictional treatment by the mysterious Draycott, about whom very little is known beyond his authorship of a small number of tales. 

The above is from the opening pages of the supplementary booklet.  The illustration shows the interesting use to which a clock tower is put in the story
 

Le Visage Vert issue no. 21

My apologies for the late notice, but I do want to spread the news that issue number 21 of Le Visage Vert came out late last year. As always, it's a beautiful production. Writers represented range from the older John Bedoit (1829-1870), Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), Marcel Schwob (1867-1905), Richard Marsh (1857-1915), and Bodo Wildberg (1862-1942), to the contemporary Nicholas Royle (b. 1963). The Hearn story is from Kwaidan. The Schwob story is from The King in the Golden Mask.  Richard Marsh's tale, "The Mask", includes illustrations from its appearance in The Gentleman's Magazine, December 1892 (the story was later collected in Marvels and Mysteries). Nicholas Royle's story, "The Lure", is translated from it's appearance in The End of the Line: An Anthology of Underground Horror (2010), edited by Jonathan Oliver. Michel Meurger contributes a long essay "Le Secret du masque", setting up the major theme for the issue. To order, visit this website and scroll down to find the issues of Le Visage Vert. Recommended.