N S Ford

Tag: M R James

  • Review of ‘Holy Ghosts: Classic Tales of the Ecclesiastical Uncanny’ edited by Fiona Snailham

    An enjoyably hair-raising collection of supernatural stories set in churches or relating to monks, priests, etc. There is something particularly frightening about evil acts taking place in sacred sites, which as the editor points out in the introduction, are places of sanctuary where you should be protected, not at risk of harm. The stories I was most impressed with are marked with asterisks.

    Book cover showing creepy carvings.

    ‘The Sexton’s Adventure’ by Sheridan Le Fanu – a gravedigger in an Irish town is pursued by the spectre of his former drinking buddy.*

    ‘The Parson’s Oath’ by Mrs Henry Wood – slow-burn unmemorable tale with too many characters.

    ‘The Poor Clare’ by Elizabeth Gaskell – long rambling story of Catholics and curses.

    ‘A Story Told in a Church’ by Ada Buisson – creepy gothic story told by a governess while barricaded into a church.*

    ‘In the Confessional’ by Amelia B Edwards – grim tale of murderers, hauntings and madness in Rhineland.*

    ‘Man-Size in Marble’ by E Nesbit – sad and spine-chilling story of newlyweds who fall victim to a legend of an ancient church.

    ‘The Face of the Monk’ by Robert Hichens – a sinful man discovers he has a monk doppelganger and develops religious mania.*

    ‘An Evicted Spirit’ by Marguerite Merington – the spirit of a young woman attends her own funeral and observes her grieving family.

    ‘The Duchess at Prayer’ by Edith Wharton – a story set in Italy which was very descriptive and long-winded.

    ‘The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral’ by M R James – I skipped this because I never enjoy M R James’ stories.

    ‘The Cathedral Crypt’ by John Wyndham – a couple locked in a creepy church witness a dreadful act, with a horrifying twist.*

    I was disappointed that I’d already encountered E Nesbit’s story before, as it was included in another volume of the same series, Weird Woods. I don’t think any story should be used more than once, regardless of how good it is.

    Published in 2023 as part of the British Library’s ‘Tales of the Weird’ series.

  • Review of ‘Weird Woods: Tales from the Haunted Forests of Britain’ edited by John Miller

    This book has zero scare factor. The title is also a little misleading, as not all of the stories are about haunted forests. I enjoyed the other British Library Tales of the Weird collection that I’ve read, Evil Roots, much more than this one.

    The collection has a general introduction and contains 12 stories, each with a spoiler-free mini introduction. I liked that the stories all had real settings around Great Britain and some of them had that ‘sitting around a merrily crackling fire on a winter’s evening’ atmosphere associated with traditional ghost stories. However, the only pieces which really stood out for me were those by Edith Nesbit and Algernon Blackwood. One of the good things about collections like this is that authors who were popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries but have since become obscure are now being presented to us for rediscovery, so it was interesting to read some of these authors for the first time.

    ‘The Whisper in the Wood’ by Anon is a terrifically gothic story of a father and son.

    ‘Man-Size in Marble’ by Edith Nesbit – cautionary tale of why we should heed old legends.

    ‘The Striding Place’ by Gertrude Atherton – didn’t enjoy the writing style or the ending.

    ‘The Man Who Went Too Far’ by E F Benson is Dorian Gray-esque and intensely wordy.

    ‘An Old Thorn’ by W H Hudson – didn’t quite understand this one.

    ‘The White Lady of Rownam Avenue’ by Elliot O’Donnell – traditional ghost story presented as truth.

    ‘Ancient Lights’ by Algernon Blackwood is an amusing story of a forest which deals with trespassers.

    ‘The Name-Tree’ by Mary Webb – feminist tale of a cherry tree.

    ‘The Tree’ by Walter de la Mare is very wordy and is about a fruit merchant.

    “He Made a Woman” by Marjorie Bowen – strange tale of scientists and magicians.

    ‘A Neighbour’s Landmark’ by M R James is long-winded with an underwhelming ending.

    ‘N’ by Arthur Machen has a good concept but took many pages to reach it.

    In summary, this collection was disappointing for me but I’d recommend it if you’re looking for folklore stories about trees and nothing frightening.

    Published in 2020.

  • Review of ‘Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic’ edited by Daisy Butcher

    Villainous vines, odious orchids and terrifying trees run riot through this creepy collection. They are almost as frightening as the amount of alliteration I used in that sentence! The coincidence of the editor’s name is quite odd. The theme of this book is scary plants – or as classier persons say, the botanical gothic. This is the first of the British Library Tales of the Weird series that I’ve read but the format is the same as the Science Fiction series.

    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.