Ghostly Encounters

Susan Dickinson (ed)

Armada Lion

A year or so ago I read another anthology edited by Susan Dickinson called Ghostly Experiences which was a very fine read that boasted a beautifully drawn cover. Both books were taken from a single hardcover volume called 'The Restless Ghost'. It would seem that that other volume hogged the limelight as it is a vastly superior set to this but that isn't to say there's little to recommend here.

Opening the proceedings is indeed Leon Garfield's, 'The Restless Ghost' which tells of a prank that leads to unexpected consequences of fear and redemption in a story where the innocuous illustrations belie the truly terrible fate facing it's prankster protagonist.

Up next is a staple of these anthologies, W.W. Jacobs' 'The Monkey's Paw' where greed and wishes are shown to be unfortunate bedfellows, particularly for your offspring.

L.P. Hartley is an author that I've encountered a few times and who has yet to grab me. I thought his 'Feet Foremost' would be the one to finally do so as it's a nicely desperate and tense haunted house story that keeps you on tenterhooks right up until it falls apart in it's finale.

W.F. Harvey

 'August Heat' by W.F. Harvey on the other hand has a suitably creepy premise that is absolutely nailed at the end in a manner that reminded me of those 'Tales of the Unexpected' episodes where it's shown that you can't cheat fate.

'The Return of the Native' by William Croft Dickinson is a supernatural revenge tale that is entertaining enough but is a little too breathless in it's headlong charge to the end to be wholly satisfying. It's followed by 'Coincidence' by A.J. Alan (a Bletchley Park cryptogrtapher during WWII) which has a fun little idea at it's heart and is realised well but is a tad too obvious to really satisfy.

The ubiquitous M.R. James tale is up next with 'The Rose Garden'. For me one of his weaker stories that never really manages to build into the genuinely creepy atmosphere he was so accomplished at.

To end, the book leaves the realm of the supernatural altogether with Kenneth Wyatt's ghost dance tale 'Ghost Riders of the Sioux' which tells of two settler family's experiences around the time of the Sioux nations adoption of the Ghost Dance movement. It's an interesting read but entirely out of place here.

As I said earlier a mixed bag and certainly the poorer relation to the other volume but not entirely without merit.

Ghostly Experiences

Susan Dickinson (editor)
Armada Lion

Apart from having just about the most glorious cover art - by Antony Maitland - of any book I've ever bought this collection of supernatural tales turned out to be great fun. There are some fabulous authors behind that cover, a few of whom I know well and a couple I'd been looking forward to checking out.

This collection was originally published as half of  much longer anthology called both 'The Restless Ghost' and 'The Usurping Ghost' which was subsequently split into this and a second anthology called 'Ghostly Encounters' - which I've just noticed I have on my shelf waiting it's turn.  It's  lovely discovery because if it's half as good as this one then it'll be a good ride.

Opening proceedings is 'Feel Free' by Alan Garner wherein a young artist finds himself physically in harmony with the creator of an ancient Greek dish.  It's beautifully executed and straight off the bat a very unusual, sympathetic and human take on the idea of a haunting.

Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale is up next with a haunted house tale, 'Minuke', which felt like a home counties version of 'Poltergeist' and is very much in the modern day rural horror vein that he explored in shows such as 'The Stone Tape' and 'The Murrain'.

'Witches Bone' by the one author in the book I'd not heard of, W. C. Dickinson, followed on with a slightly silly tale about a wishing bone and the mayhem it leaves in it's wake.  It was entertaining enough in a 'Tales of the Unexpected' sort of way.

H. R. Wakefield's 'Lucky's Grove' is a dark and bloodthirsty little tale about a Christmas tree inadvisably transplanted from a grove of trees with a dark reputation.

Continuing the rural horror is H. P. Lovecraft's, 'The Moon Bog', as two Americans attempts to clear an Irish marsh lets loose entities who are otherwise inclined.#

Sheridan Le Fanu (here billed as J. S. Lefanu) is represented by what is by far the weakest story in the collection, 'The White Cat of Drumgunniol', with it's story of a cat that foreshadows death for a particular family.  It's not bad, it's just a bit of cliche.

I'd never read any Robert Louis Stevenson before so his 'The Bottle Imp' came as a very nice surprise as a couple desperately try to rid themselves of a malign magical bottle.  It's wonderfully constructed and I was almost cheering for them by the end.

Closing the book was a real treat, Joan Aiken's, 'The Apple of Trouble'.  It's light, funny, inventive and fully silly as two resourceful children attempt to rid themselves of the apple from the Garden of Eden, a cantankerous uncle and the three Furies (or Erinyes) who follow the apple around and exact vengeance on whoever is unfortunate to own it.  It's a joyous read and by the time I was halfway through I'd already made the decision to track down more in the series.

In all it's a great little collection filled with variety and invention featuring some great writers and stories written over at least a century that feel entirely at home in each other's company. 

The Owl Service

Alan Garner
(Armada Lion)

Something is scratching around in the attic above Alison's room. Yet the only thing up there is a stack of grimy old plates. Alison and her stepbrother, Roger, discover that the flowery patterns on the plates, when traced onto paper, can be fitted together to create owls-owls that disappear when no one is watching. With each vanished owl, strange events begin to happen around Alison, Roger, and the caretaker's son, Gwyn. As the kids uncover the mystery of the owl service, they become trapped within a local legend, playing out roles in a tragic love story that has repeated itself for generations... a love story that has always ended in disaster.

I've been wanting to give this one a read for a long time now but was waiting to find a nice old copy. I was finally able to track one down the other day (same edition as the one pictured) and jumped right in.

The story tells of a trio of teens and assorted adults in a house in a valley somewhere in mid Wales. The discovery of some old plates with drawings of owls on them links the three kids into an ancient story from the Mabinogion that has returned again and again to plague those of the valley.

It was an odd sort of read that left much unanswered - Why was Huw so respected in the village if he was simply one of the previous participants? Why had no one else spotted the fairly obvious solution to the problem?

There was little in the way of redemption at the end for the central characters and it made a nice change for it to be the more unpleasant of them to emerge as the hero.

An odd and intriguing book with a dark and uncompromising personality that leaves you feeling more than a little drained at the end.

Buy it here - UK / US

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