Although I’m not a huge fan of the Holmes stories, I enjoyed the Basil books, which are charmingly illustrated by Paul Galdone (the covers are updated illustrations by David Mottram). The titles are Basil of Baker Street, Basil and the Cave of Cats (originally Pygmy Cats), Basil in Mexico, Basil in the Wild West and Basil and the Lost Colony. They were originally published between 1958 and 1982. The narrator is Dr David Q Dawson (the equivalent to Watson), except for part of one book where he is kidnapped and the narration is taken over by Basil. I like how the mouse world is so sophisticated and the humans have no idea. Basil manages to foil the plots of his nemesis, Professor Ratigan (the equivalent to Moriarty), but the villain always escapes, leaving the series open for further adventures. Indeed, three more were written by Cathy Hapka a few years ago and published with covers to match the original five.

In summary, these are great short reads which are worth tracking down.

I felt that Lovecraft’s story was kind of spoilt by a footnote from the editor which tells us that Lovecraft was a notorious racist. He was singled out, as two or three of the other stories contained racist references and were not given footnotes. Most authors of ‘classic’ works would have held views considered unacceptable today and if we are to continue enjoying these works, we need to separate the art from the artist. These authors lived a long time ago, those were the views they would have held, please allow us to enjoy their work.

Here are the stories included in the book:

‘The Star’ by H G Wells is a stunning and terrifying story – one of his best – about a new star threatening to collide with the Earth.

‘A Martian Odyssey’ by Stanley Weinbaum is an adventurous and action-packed story of alien encounters on Mars.

‘The Diamond Lens’ by FitzJames O’Brien is a strange obsessive tale of microbiology and spiritualism, from an author I hadn’t heard of before.

‘Micromégas’ by Voltaire is a philosophical journey, which I appreciated rather than enjoyed.

‘The Mortal Immortal’ by Mary Shelley is a sorrowful story of alchemy and immortality with tones of her novel The Last Man.

‘A Tale of the Rugged Mountains’ by Edgar Allan Poe is a story of psychics and time travel, quite frightening as you’d expect from Poe.

‘The Automaton Ear’ by Florence McLandburgh is a very unusual and dark story of scientific obsession and mental illness, from another author I hadn’t heard of before.

‘The Tachypomp’ by Edward Page Mitchell is a mathematics themed story which I didn’t enjoy, although it does have an amusing tone.

‘The Colour Out of Space’ by H P Lovecraft is one of his most disturbing tales, although not one of my favourites, as it becomes repetitive towards the end.

‘To Hermann Stoffkraft, Ph.D., A Paradoxical Ode (After Shelley)’ by James Clerk Maxwell is a poem, which I didn’t really get and wasn’t sure why it was included, as the only poem in a collection of ‘stories’.

‘The Horror of the Heights’ by Arthur Conan Doyle is an exciting and sinister tale about what awaits aviators who fly too high.

‘Sultana’s Dream’ by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain is an early feminist utopian story which has interesting ideas but not much plot.

‘A Psychological Shipwreck’ by Ambrose Bierce is more supernatural than sci-fi and I didn’t have much opinion on it.

‘The Door in the Wall’ by H G Wells is a cleverly symbolic story which will make you think.

Thank you to the publisher Pan Macmillan for the advance copy via NetGalley. The book will be published on 21st June.

There are 14 stories in this collection. I only disliked 2 of them, so that makes this book a winner. I’d only read one of them before. They all date from the late 19th century to the early 20th. Some of the authors are well-known, others more obscure. The introduction was quite interesting but strangely had no mention of The Day of the Triffids. I ended up skipping the mini introduction to each story as they were thin on biographical details but had spoilers in them! There are some line drawings of plants included, which are nice but I don’t feel they are necessary. Here are the stories, with asterisks by the ones that impressed me the most:

‘Rappaccini’s Daughter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne – a melodrama of poison and passion in Padua.

‘The American’s Tale’ by Arthur Conan Doyle – American western with a lot of dialect, which I didn’t enjoy.

‘Carnivorine’ by Lucy H Hooper – horror story about the mixing of animal and vegetable kingdoms in Italy.

‘The Giant Wistaria’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman – feminist ghost story, which I’d previously read.*

‘The Flowering of the Strange Orchid’ by H G Wells – an entertaining narrative which engages with Darwinism and colonialism.*

‘The Guardian of Mystery Island’ by Edmond Nolcini – a yarn of fishermen, treasure and a devil-plant.

‘The Ash Tree’ by M R James – creepy tale of witchcraft in a country house.

‘A Vine on a House’ by Ambrose Bierce – mysterious goings-on in rural Missouri.

‘Professor Jonkin’s Cannibal Plant’ by Howard R Garis – sci-fi b-movie romp about a man-eating pitcher plant.

‘The Voice in the Night’ by William Hope Hodgson – dark and eerie, probably the grimmest tale in the collection.*

‘The Pavilion’ by Edith Nesbit – a tale of female rivalry and reputations.

‘The Green Death’ by H C McNeile – unenjoyable country house murder mystery.

‘The Woman of the Wood’ by Abraham Merritt – a startling piece of eco-fiction.*

‘The Moaning Lily’ by Emma Vane – fascinating story of botanical obsession.*

If we look at this collection with our ‘lit crit’ spectacles on, we’d say that the frequency of carnivorous plants being associated with females in these stories is evidence of the male fear of the threat to patriarchy posed by female power and sexuality. If we take these spectacles off, we’d say that this a very entertaining book which is perfect for the spooky season.

First published in 2019.

‘The Black Veil’ by Charles Dickens. A sombre tale of poverty and crime in London.

‘The Withered Arm’ by Thomas Hardy. Tragedy, sympathetic characters, country traditions and the inescapable workings of fate ensure this is a classic Hardy story of Wessex.

‘The Terribly Strange Bed’ by Wilkie Collins. Set in Paris, this is a creepy and amusing cautionary tale about gambling.

‘The Bottle Imp’ by Robert Louis Stevenson. A variety of exotic South Pacific locations, the fear of going to hell and an Aladdin-style fairy tale make this a memorable and unusual read.

‘The Red-Headed League’ by Arthur Conan Doyle. A rather dull Sherlock Holmes story.

‘The Stolen Bacillus’ by H G Wells. An entertaining collision of Wells’ social fiction and science fiction.

‘The Squire’s Story’ by Elizabeth Gaskell. I had to skip this one. I don’t wish to read about a man who whips children and hunts foxes.

‘The Journey to Panama’ by Anthony Trollope. The intriguing possibility of romance aboard a steamship.

‘The Sphinx without a Secret’ by Oscar Wilde. More of a symbolic tale than a story with a plot.

‘The Judge’s House’ by Bram Stoker. A creepy story about a rat-infested haunted house.

‘The Necklace’ by Guy de Maupassant. The perils of wanting to keep up appearances are demonstrated in this excellent tale with an ironic twist.

‘The Kiss’ by Anton Chekhov. A shy military officer is kissed in a case of mistaken identity and then simultaneously realises he wants romance and that everything is pointless.

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Disturbing and thought-provoking, this story is a portrait of a woman suffering from postnatal depression and is also a feminist classic.

‘Juke Judkins’ Courtship’ by Charles Lamb. An unmemorable yet vaguely amusing tale about a man with a sense of entitlement.

‘One Dollar’s Worth’ by O Henry. A fake coin causes trouble in a Wild West town.

The selection of stories is hit and miss. The star of the collection is ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’. However, its more modern tone doesn’t really match the other stories. Three of the stories are about hanging in some way, which I thought was too much. Only two of the stories are by female authors. I would have appreciated knowing when the stories were first published. It also annoyed me that the name David Stuart Davies is prominent on the cover and he has written the introduction, plus introductions to each story, yet nowhere in the book are we told who he is and what qualifies him to select fifteen stories out of the thousands produced in the nineteenth century.

I expect that all of these stories can be downloaded for free from the internet, but I prefer to read classics in print. Considering this book cost about £1.99 or so, it’s a decent collection of stories. It’s a pity that whoever wrote the blurb added an extra ‘l’ to Gilman’s name and that in the introduction, Chekhov is spelt both with and without the ‘h’.

First published in 2000 by Wordsworth Editions.