Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old

Review of “Spurs” by Todd Robbins: Halloween Countdown

17) “Spurs” by Todd Robbins

Plot:

In early 20^th-century France, Jacques Courbé is a dwarf who performs in Copo’s Circus, riding his “gallant charger”—a dog—St. Eustache, like a knight of old. The crowd laughs and throws orange and banana peels at him, for he is a parody of the circus bareback horse riders.

Only by dreams does Courbé tolerate this job. He sees himself elsewhere, a knight in shining armor winning the hands of fair maidens.

A new bareback rider joins the circus, the tall, beautiful, graceful, and daring Mlle. Jeanne Marie. She and her mare, Sappho, are a delight to watch. Courbé falls in love. He hates her partner, the “swarthy,” herculean Simon Lafleur, with black eyes and hair that glistens “with grease, like the back of Solon, the trained seal.”

St. Eustache, however, dislikes Jeanne Marie from the start. He growls at the sight of her.

Courbé knows his love is hopeless and stays silent until he inherits a country estate from his uncle. His proposal surprises Jeanne Marie, to say the least. He asks if she is laughing at him.

“I am not laughing,” Jeanne Marie managed to say. “You have taken me by surprise. I never thought, I never even guessed—”

“That is well, mademoiselle,” the dwarf broke in. “I do not tolerate laughter. In the arena, I am paid to make laughter; but these others pay to laugh at me. I always make people pay to laugh at me.”

He then promises her the country estate, with servants and a carriage.

Well, that’s a horse of a different color. Jeanne Marie stops laughing. As she later explains to Simon, she won’t actively work to become a widow, but the little guy could have an accident.

At the wedding, Jeanne Marie sets Jacques on her shoulders and carries him out.

Simon says, “You are strong as an ox, and he is only a marmoset; still I will wager a bottle of Burgundy that you set him down by the roadside.”

“I swear that I could carry my little ape from one end of France to the other!” Jeanne Marie says.

Something changes in M. Jacques Courbé.

Thoughts:

This horror story contains no supernatural elements. The author evokes horror through the various sideshow performers, such as “Griffo,” the giraffe boy, or Mlle. Lupa, who has an unsettling liking for meat and resembles a wolf in more than just the physical. “I have a sense of humor and sharp teeth,” she tells the guests at the wedding reception. “Let the erring hand not stray too near!”

However, the true horror lies in how people treat each other. “There can be no genial companionship among great egoists who have drunk too much,” the narrator tells the reader as an introduction to the wedding feast. The horror goes beyond mere squabbling or obnoxious drunks.

It goes without saying that one should always listen to the warnings of one’s animals.

This horror story is not bad, but it is sad. I’m on the fence about recommending it. It is relatively short, so it’s not a big time investment, but it is an unhappy tale.

This story can be read and listened to here: PseudoPod 653: Spurs | PseudoPod (1:04:34)

Bio: Todd Robbins (legal name Clarence Aaron Robbins) (1888-1949) was an American short story writer and novelist of horror and mystery. His 1917 novel The Unholy Three was filmed in silent and sound versions, both times with Lon Chaney (not Lon Chaney, Jr, who played the wolfman). The short story “Spurs” was adapted into the 1932 film Freaks, which later developed a cult following. He lived on the French Riviera and refused to leave during the Nazi occupation. He spent time in a concentration camp.

Title: “Spurs”
Author: Todd Robbins (1888-1949)
First published: Munsey’s Magazine, February 1923
Length: short story

Review of “The Shining Pyramid” by Arthur Machen: Halloween Countdown

16) “The Shining Pyramid” by Arthur Machen

Plot:

The Welshman Vaughn visits Dyson, an occult investigator in London at the turn of the 20th century. The two have met before.

Vaughn mentions an unfortunate girl, Annie Trevor, who disappeared while walking a couple of miles to a relative’s house. Locals say the fairies took her. The rural Welsh are as bad as the Irish when it comes to such nonsense, Vaughn says.

Dyson asks about possible lovers? Or undermined areas she could have fallen into? Vaughn denies all this. He thinks it’s more likely the girl fell prey to a foreign sailor who ran from his ship (It’s always the foreigners).

But there’s something else on Vaughn’s mind. Maybe it’s nothing. He describes finding flints arranged in a series of particular patterns on his walks. Could this be thieves signaling to each other to break in and steal some expensive dinnerware he owns? Some of those pieces date from the reign of Charles II, you know.

Dyson asks to see one of the flints.

Vaughn shows him one.

It’s—it’s an arrowhead like the ones he’s seen in museums around the world! They are of “vast antiquity” and “quite peculiar.” Now there’s something. Yeah! Let’s go catch a train to—where is it you are from in Wales again?!

Thoughts:

A possible murder and conspiracy to commit domestic break-in and theft? YAWN! But ancient arrowheads? Oh, cool.

Dyson is independently wealthy. He does not take “cases” for money, or out of concern for the parties involved. He accepts them when they seem interesting.

More mysterious signs follow that seem at first unrelated to the flints. But Dyson knows better. Not all of Dyson’s initial guesses are correct, and he plays a lot of his correct ideas close to his vest. The reader is offered glimpses, but not enough to make sense of everything until the horrific reveal.

Frankly, I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, it is an interesting little mystery to solve. Some of it is see-it-coming. Parts of the first chapter tell the reader the solution. On the other hand, I detect an undercurrent of misogyny. Perhaps people who have read the story will tell me I’m exaggerating, but I don’t think I am.

Dyson’s robust sense of his superiority to other human beings is part of the problem. An equal-opportunity coldness runs through him. If I decline to invite him to dinner, it would hardly hurt his feelings; he’d have more important things to do.

If I hesitate to recommend it, it is not because it’s a bad story so much as because it’s a not-quite-pleasant experience. So, in the case of this story, caveat lector.

This story can be read here:

This story can be listened to here: (50:33)

Bio: Arthur Machen was the pen name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones (1863-1947). The son of a clergyman, Machen was a Welsh translator, actor, and author. Among his best-known works are “The White People” and “The Three Imposters.” “The Great God Pan” was his first major success. His 1914 short story, “The Bowmen,” gave rise to the Angel of Mons urban legend.

Title: “The Shining Pyramid”
Author: Arthur Machen (legal name Arthur Llewellyn Jones) (1863-1947)
First published: The Unknown World, May 15, 1895
Length: novelette
Series: Dyson

Review of “The Portrait” by Margaret Oliphant: Halloween Countdown

15) “The Portrait” by Margaret Oliphant

Plot:

Our hero, Philip Canning, tells the reader that he lived with his father at The Grove, a Queen Anne-style place, “a large old house in the immediate neighborhood of a little town,” that is being torn down as he writes to make way for townhouses.

Philip’s mother died during his birth, and aside from a motherly maid, Mrs. Weir, he grew up in a house without a woman. Morphew, the butler, looked after his and his father’s needs.

After school, he went abroad for work, but returned after seven or eight years “invalided,” in bad health and in poor spirits, “disappointed with my first trial in life.”

While he and his father weren’t close, they got along well enough. Philip didn’t have to make a living, but he was bummed that at thirty, he was hanging around the house. His father, at seventy, was hanging around the house, too, but he was busy. A lot of mail made its way to the house.

One day, a life-size portrait of a lovely young girl arrived. Mr. Canning Senior explained that it was from a cousin of Philip’s mother, with whom he did not get along. The cousin had recently passed away and willed the painting to Philip’s father.

The two of them hang it on a wall in a drawing room that hasn’t been used much. It gave the appearance that she might step off the painting into the room.

Philip’s father explains the young lady is Philip’s mother. This didn’t occur to Philip. The reader has probably been shouting it at him.

Later, when Philip is reading alone in his room, he feels his “heart leap.” He has no idea what’s going on, but some unseen force is leading him to his father in his library. Once he gets there, his heart calms down, but he can’t explain what bringing him to the library.

Thoughts:

This is a slow burn of a tale. Even after the fire is lit, it mostly smolders. After reading about Philip’s early life, perhaps one-third of the way through the narrative, when the heart-leaping starts, the reader is told something to the effect of, “And here is where my story begins.”

The story is told with sadness and a request for compassion for the less fortunate, especially family members, even if your own life is not ideal.

While this is not a long piece, I think many 21st-century readers, particularly those not used to Victorian literature, will find it a slog. It is a while before something interesting happens, and even then, it’s more confusing than interesting.

I found the story long and the ending predictable, but not unpleasant. It was a nice, easy read, but the length may put off most readers.

This story can be read here:

This story can be listened to here: (1:46:36)

Bio: Mrs. Margaret Oliphant’s (1828-1897) literary output totals nearly two hundred works, including novels, short fiction, and various articles. She cranked them out, in part, to pay the bills.

She lost her husband to tuberculosis (then referred to as “consumption”). Three of their six children died before reaching adulthood. Oliphant outlived even those who did. She also supported an alcoholic brother, Willie, and another brother, Frank, after his bankruptcy, in addition to various nieces and nephews.

Her early novels include a sensation novel, Salem Chapel. Later in life, she wrote supernatural stories. Most of her work reflects her Scottish heritage and her religious reverence, as well as the personal tragedies she suffered.

Happily, she developed a close relationship with the Blackwoods of Blackwood’s Magazine, who would at times offer her assignments in addition to publishing her short stories and serialized novels.

Title: “The Portrait”
Author: Margaret Oliphant (1828-1897)
First published: The Open Door, and the Portrait: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen, 1881
Length: novelette

Review of “Passing of a God” by Henry S. Whitehead: Halloween Countdown

14) “Passing of a God” by Henry S. Whitehead

Plot:

Gerald Canevin is an American writer living in the Virgin Islands. While visiting his friend, Dr. Pelletier of the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, he hears the story of the doctor’s patient, Arthur Carswell. The 45-year-old American Carswell sought treatment two years earlier in Port-au-Prince for an abdominal tumor diagnosed in the States. The doctors in the States told him it was fatal, so he’s not expecting a miracle.

Dr. Pelletier and Canevin discuss spirit possession and the Haitian idea of demigods, “like Ogoun Badagris, Damaballa, and others taking up residence for a short time in some devotee.” Canevin pushes him to get to the point.

Dr. Pelletier says Carswell spent about seven years in the interior of Haiti and got to know Haitians. When he came to Pelletier’s clinic, he appeared fit, although there seemed to be a bit of flabbiness about him. His fingers and thumbs appeared swollen and looked sore, as though a string had been wound around them. He then shows Dr. Pelletier the protrusion on his belly. It hasn’t given him much trouble until recently. Is there anything to be done?

The doctor describes the tumor as about the size of a man’s head. After taking X-rays, Dr. Pelletier agrees to remove the growth surgically.

But the growth turns out to be something completely unexpected.

Thoughts:

On the one hand, this is a nice and creepy little tale, even if told in a comfortable, safe room, long after the events have concluded. On the other, it relies on mythical voodoo practices, “devilish deities” among Haitians, that the author doesn’t necessarily understand or wish to take time to investigate.

While there are things to recommend this little tale—humor in Canevin’s impatience, and the doctor’s dithering over which cigarette to choose, for example—this one did not click with me. The ending isn’t a surprise, the buildup is much longer than it needs to be, and the twist is more of a gross-out than a shock, IMseldomHO.

I couldn’t find a text version of this story.

This story can be listened to here: (45:26)

Bio: Henry S. Whitehead (1882-1932) was an American writer and clergyman. He served as an Episcopalian Archdeacon in the Virgin Islands. He drew upon the local folklore for many of his short stories, particularly those involving Gerald Canevin, who was, whaddya know, a writer and a church-going Christian. He was a friend and a correspondent with H. P. Lovecraft, with whom he collaborated on two short stories.

Title: “Passing of a God”
Author: Henry S. Whitehead (1882-1932)
First published: A Dead of Night, 1931
Length: short story
Series: Gerald Canevin

Review of “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka: Halloween Countdown: Halloween Countdown

13) “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka

Plot:

Gregor Samsa wakes up to find himself transformed into some form of vermin. This doesn’t provoke the panic that one might think. Gregor has more important things on his mind—first, he has to get out of bed, and that’s difficult to do with a domed back and a bunch of little legs.

He’s late! Did he sleep through his alarm? He has to get up and get to the train. He can’t risk losing his job. His aged parents and little sister depend on him.

His father and his sister talk to him from the next rooms, telling him what time it is. He knows. He struggles to get out of bed. He struggles to stand upright.

Is that the doorbell? Did the office really send someone to check on him? Oh, how will he get out of this?

The head clerk? Oh, why did it have to be the head clerk? He’ll be right there—doesn’t anyone understand him?

His father tells Gregor’s mother and sister to go for a locksmith.

Now he struggles to unlock the door—he no longer has opposable thumbs. He usually locks his door at night. He takes the key in his mouth and tries to turn it. This is difficult, for he no longer has teeth. He harms himself doing this, for liquid runs down his mouth.

He sees the head clerk, who says only, “Oh,” puts his hand over his mouth, and backs away. His mother sits down. His father stares at him with hostility.

Gregor speaks, trying to assure the head clerk that he will be down in a moment. He loves his job. Before he’s finished, the clerk has vanished.

Thoughts:

Greater minds than mine have spilled much ink and sent untold electrons into cyberspace analyzing this story. Does it have to do with Kafka’s difficult relationship with his father? The struggle of the artist in an uncaring world? The world’s disregard for the working man? Sure. Whatever. Maybe. I dunno. I doubt I can add much to those discussions.

As a reader, I initially got a feeling of humor. In the original language, the description of the “monstrous vermin” that poor Gregor finds himself to be is “ungeheueres Ungeziefer”—nice and alliterative.

Who hasn’t gotten up late, slept through an alarm, or worse, dreamed of getting up late and a series of frustrations that conspire to prevent you from even getting to work or school? The dreams only cease when the alarm goes off, or better still, when you wake up fifteen minutes before the alarm goes off.

Not too many people wake up to find they can’t get out of bed because they’ve physically transformed into a bug.

Popularly, Gregor is depicted as a cockroach, but from the reading, it sounds more like a beetle, or maybe a ladybug. He speaks in what appears to him to be a normal voice, but no one understands him. This, too, is like a frustrating nightmare. His sister Grete arranges food for him—for a while.

He was proud of his role as family breadwinner, even though he hated his job, despite what he told others. Now that he can no longer work, his parents and his sister must find some source of income. They take in boarders, but that doesn’t work well with Gregor in the house. He can’t leave or go anywhere else that would be more convenient for those around him.

The family loves and cherishes Gregor when he provides for them. When they must provide for him, they revile him. He is unworthy of their caretaking. In disgust, his father throws an apple at him, which lodges in his carapace. Oddly, Gregor accepts this treatment. He doesn’t like it, but he doesn’t rebel against the way his family treats him.

The horror is not that he is inexplicably changed into something ugly, unproductive, that needs to be cared for, and something that cannot communicate with his family. The horror lies in how quickly his family views one of their own as disposable. Furthermore, Gregor accepts his family’s verdict and comes to see himself as disposable.

I can recommend this story to anyone who isn’t bothered by indeterminate, not necessarily happy endings. It is short and can easily be read in a single sitting.

This story can be read here:

This story can be listened to here:

Bio: Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a German-speaking Czech born in Prague, a city then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He trained as a lawyer and took a job at an insurance company. In general, his writing deals with absurdity, bureaucratic black holes, and alienation. “Kafkaesque,” drawn from Kafka’s writings, depicts a situation that is confusing as if by design, nightmarishly complex, and with no clear way out. It often involves bureaucracy or government officials.

Kafka’s best-known works include Der Prozess (1925; The Trial) and the story Die Verwandlung (1915; The Metamorphosis).

Kafka died in obscurity, having instructed his friend and literary executor, Max Brod, to burn all his writings at his death. Brod defied Kafka’s directive and edited and published many of Kafka’s writings after the latter’s death. Many of Kafka’s known writings were published posthumously.

Title: “The Metamorphosis”
Author: Franz Kafka (1883-1924)
First published: 1937 (English), originally “Die Verwandlung.” Die Weißen Blätter: Eine Monatsschrift, vol. 1, #10 (October 1915) (German)
Length: novella

Review of “The Master of Hollow Grange” by Sax Rohmer: Halloween Countdown

12) “The Master of Hollow Grange” by Sax Rohmer

Plot:

Jack Dillon arrives at Hollow Grange seeking rest and quiet while a storm is brewing. He’s recovering from a war wound. No one appears to greet him. He tells the taxi driver to leave his baggage at the gate and walks up the winding, confusing drive to the gloomy house.

He senses that he’s crossed into fairy. Is this the front door? When he sees a young woman snoozing on the couch, he dubs her Sleeping Beauty.

She lets him in, obviously expecting him. Her name is Phyrné, and Jack finds her beautiful.

“How I envy Hypereides!” he said.

“A blush quickly stained the lovely face of Phyrné, and the roguish eyes were lowered, whereby penitent Dillon, who had jested in the not uncommon belief that a pretty girl is necessarily brainless, knew that the story of the wonder-woman of Thespiæ was familiar to her modern namesake.

‘I am afraid,’ declared Phyrné, ‘that you are very wicked.’”

Bummer for Jack! He’s not dealing with an empty-headed pretty little thing, but someone who understands the insult he’s dealt her.

The arrival of his host, Dr. Kassimere, saves him from further foot-in-mouth disease. Dr. Kassimere welcomes him as the son of a friend. Jack finds his appearance repulsive and compares it to the Egyptian god Thoth. As something of a doctor, he can help our hero recover from his (unspecified) war wound in peace.

Dr. Kassimere spends most of his day in scientific research in his lab, but never discusses what he’s researching. Hmmm… it must be black magic or something equally nefarious.

Phyrné is Dr. Kassimere’s adopted daughter. Her father was Louis Devant, a famous Paris cartoonist, who died penniless in 1911.

While in a local watering hole called the Thresher Inn, Jack hears that Dr. Kassimere has had other young men as guests. They’ve died or disappeared mysteriously. The local parson won’t talk to Dr. Kassimere. Hmmm… it must be black magic or something equally nefarious.

The bar patron tells our hero: “[Parson] spoke about them heathen women livi’ on an island—sort of female Robinson Crusoes, I make ‘em out, I do—as saves poor shipwrecked sailors from the sea and strangles of ‘em ashore.”

Is he saying Phyrné is a Siren?

What does that matter? Jack flies back to Hollow Grange, now madly in love with her. He will ask Dr. Kassimere for her hand. (Hint to Jack: talking to the lady involved increases the chances of a happy outcome).

Thoughts:

This tale makes for a great little adventure, but unless I’m being dense, some things don’t add up. I understand why Jack would fall in love with Phyrné—he’s lonely, in a strange place, and she’s beautiful as well as intelligent—but what does she see in him? He’s insulted her, assumed she was stupid, and, in general, been a jerk to her. He doesn’t court her. She should fall for him because he’s wonderful?

Why doesn’t the evil Dr. Kassimere object? Well, truth be told, he’s got plans. You know, black magic or something equally nefarious.

I had fun with this odd, puzzling little story, but there’s a lot that’s left unexplained. The little lady simply falls in line because that’s what little ladies do, especially the pretty ones, you know. I’m being a little unfair; our hero does get a chance to play knight in shining armor, but the damsel in distress never gets to hear the details. No need to trouble her pretty little head, you know.

I can recommend it despite its flaws. It is fun.

This story can be read here:

This story can be listened to here: (37:17)

Bio: Sax Rohmer (legal name: Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward) (1883-1959) was a UK stage lyricist, journalist, and author. He created the character Fu Manchu and wrote fourteen works based on the evil mastermind, beginning with the 1913 The Mystery of Fu Manchu. Early in his career, he wrote lyrics for the music halls and some mysteries. He served in the First World War.

Title: “The Master of Hollow Grange”
Author: Sax Rohmer
First published: The New Magazine, June 1918
Length: short story

Review of “Man-Size in Marble” by Edith Nesbit: Halloween Countdown

11) “Man-Size in Marble” by Edith Nesbit

Plot:

Newlyweds Jack and Laura find a cottage in the country at a fantastic price (uh-oh) and move in. It was once part of a larger house, but with a little work and a couple of trips into town, they have the perfect place for Jack to paint and Laura to write her little verses.

It’s near a centuries-old church. Along with its ancient interior, there are two knights in armor in effigy laid out near the altar.

Jack and Laura hire Mrs. Dorman “to do” for them because they’re helpless in matters of housekeeping.

After three happy months of married life, Jack comes back from visiting their neighbor, an Irish doctor, to find Laura weeping. Mrs. Dorman wants to leave. When will they find time to work if they have to do the housework?

Jack talks to Mrs. Dorman, who remains adamant about leaving. Her daughter is ill. Her daughter is always ill.

When Jack presses her about leaving, Mrs. Dorman says the knights in the church were evil men. They’re only in the church because their families had money. On October 31—this coming Friday—they sit up and walk to their old house, the cottage where Jack and Laura are living. No one wants to be in their path.

Jack is annoyed, but thinks Mrs. Dorman wants nothing more than a few days off. He acquiesces and allows her to come back the following week.

She leaves, and Jack and Laura spend a couple of days living as the other half does. Laura even manages some edible steak and potatoes.

Friday night, Halloween night, Jack steps out for a pipe. He goes for a walk and hears footsteps. He goes to the church to see the knights so he can tell Mrs. Dorman they stayed put.

They aren’t there.

He dashes back toward the cottage and Laura, but runs into the Irish doctor, who is out late on a call. Seeing how frantic Jack is, the doctor takes him back to the church. The two effigies are right where they always are, but something is wrong.

Thoughts:

On the one hand, this is a creepy little story. The ending, however, is visible from a couple of miles away.

A few other things occurred to me while reading this. First, Laura is a shrinking violet. Jack finds her in tears when she hears Mrs. Dorman will be leaving them. Oh, no! They’ll have to do the housework themselves for a whole week! How will they ever have time to do their artwork?

They make do while she’s gone for a couple of days. Jack doesn’t tell her what’s really going on with Mrs. Dorman because it’s silly, and he doesn’t want to try his little wife’s nerves.

Yet, she turns out to be made of sterner stuff than the reader is led to believe. In the time they’re in the cottage, she also brings in the most money, writing stories from Mrs. Dorman’s tales. What makes her act so dependent?

While I found the tale not without merit, it also annoyed me. And it is primarily sad. I’m on the fence about recommending this one.

This story can be read here:

This story can be listened to here: (34:05)

Bio: British author Edith Nesbit Bland (1835-1915) is now best known for her several children’s book series: the Bastable series, the Psammead series, and the House of Arden series, among other children’s books.

She wrote children’s tales of adventure, fantasy, and magic, as well as more realistic stories. Her best-known works include The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), The Wouldbegoods (1901), The Revolt of the Toys, What Comes of Quarreling (1902), and The Railway Children (1906).

Additionally, she wrote fiction for adults and poetry.

She and her husband, Hubert Bland, were among the founders of the Fabian Society, a democratic socialist organization that still exists. It attracted people such as George Bernard Shaw, a friend of the Blands. Its goal is to slowly bring about lasting social change rather than through sudden radical change or revolution. Nesbit and her husband edited the Society’s journal, Today, and entertained friends and colleagues at their home.

Title: “Man-Size in Marble”
Author: Edith Nesbit
First published: Home Chime, December 1887
Length: short story

Review of “His Unconquerable Enemy” by W. C. Morrow: Halloween Countdown

10) “His Unconquerable Enemy” by W. C. Morrow

Plot:

Our hero performs “a difficult surgical operation on one of the women of a great [unnamed] rajah’s household.” In return, the rajah invites him to stay at his palace for as long as he likes.

The rajah is a man of “noble character,” but “possessed a sense of cruelty purely Oriental in contrast to the indolence of his disposition.”

A male servant in the household, named Neranya, loves his master. In a fit of anger, he fatally stabs a dwarf. As punishment, the rajah has Neranya’s arm severed with an ax. (YIKES) The axman does such a poor job that the narrator has to surgically sever the stump to preserve Neranya’s life.

When he’s feeling better, Neranya tries to stab the rajah with his remaining arm—another poor choice on his part. Things go downhill for Neranya from there.

Thoughts:

Not long after finishing the first page, I realized I first read this story during the dark ages, long before the internet, in some anthology that included an introductory note praising the imagination of writers of yesteryear and wondering how anyone could forget such an ingenious tale. I was a lot younger then and thought I was about to enjoy an overlooked gem.

Sometimes, there are reasons gems are overlooked. I remember being repulsed by the whole thing from beginning to end and thinking that it could go on being forgotten.

On the one hand, the author shows skill in building tension every step of the way. On the other, the poor, punished servant is a pitiful character, whose fate is uncomfortable to read about on several levels—even if he is a murderer.

While it’s tricky to judge an old work by present-day standards, I can say unequivocally that I found the piece annoyingly steeped in Orientalism, coupled with an ICK factor that repelled me. The rajah is a man of character, but also of indolence and cruelty. His servant loves him, but he’s hot-tempered, due to probable “Malay blood in his veins.”

I didn’t like this story any more on the second reading years later in my cynical old age than I did the first time around decades earlier in my wide-eyed innocent youth, though I can now appreciate its craftsmanship. Just the same, I would have to say it is an unqualified never mind. There are so many better stories to read.

This story can be read here:

This story can be listened to here: (19:39)

Bio: W. C. (William Chambers) Morrow (1854-1923) was an American writer, journalist, playwright, and teacher. He was born in Selma, Alabama, to a slave-holding family. After the Civil War and Reconstruction, his family owned and ran a hotel. He moved to California in 1879, where he submitted stories to The Argonaut and The San Francisco Examiner. Ambrose Bierce admired his writing and his 1899 essay, “To Train a Writer.” Roughly half a dozen stories were re-published (posthumously) in Weird Tales.

Title: “His Unconquerable Enemy”
Author: W. C. (William Chambers) Morrow (1854-1923)
First published: The Argonaut, March 11, 1889
Length: short story

Review of “The Haunted and the Haunters” by Edward Bulwer-Lytton: Halloween Countdown

9) “The Haunted and the Haunters” by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Plot:

The unnamed narrator of this story is happy to hear of a haunted house in London that no one seems to be able to spend more than a night or two in. A friend of his recounts how he and his wife booked rooms for a week, but neither could stay in the place after the third night. His friend is vague about exactly what bothered him. He spoke only of “an undefinable terror… whenever we passed by the door of a certain unfurnished room.”

Our hero takes his servant F— and his dog (oh, just put a red shirt on the poor wee beastie!) and engages the house.

The owner, Mr. J—, who has recently returned from service abroad and inherited the house, warns him that no one, not even he, is comfortable in it. Most people flee in terror after a single night. Later, they cannot say what terrified them. No two parties tell the same story. The narrator and his servant can’t say no one warned them.

The dog has more sense than either of the humans and begs to be let out the front door the moment the company crosses the threshold. They talk him into staying. As soon as the humans settle in for the evening, chairs start moving of their own accord, just like they’re not supposed to.

His servant runs past him in terror, begging him to flee. The front door slams shut, and our hero is alone.

Thoughts:

This may sound like slapstick, but it is in deadly earnest. It reflects the mid-19^th-century interest in spiritualism, as well as ancient beliefs in hauntings by evil and wronged people. But it also blathers on about “scientific” notions of the true nature of spirits. They are not supernatural per se, but are human in origin and should therefore be something one can deal with.

Our hero finds letters that hint at dark things, without giving too many details. Later, the candles dim—along with the fire in the fireplace—someone takes the letters, and he witnesses a series of violent and tragic vignettes play out almost as if he were in a theater. He is powerless, but he refuses to give in to fear.

The author goes on—and on— in places. When trying to account for things like furniture moving on its own, he reasons that there must be a human—a medium, perhaps—behind the phenomena, similar to the way people influence others through mesmerism. The human would have extraordinary capabilities, but he would be a human, not a supernatural entity. This is philosophy, not superstition.

Many things are involved. As a good old-fashioned Victorian novel that wants to rise above all that medieval nonsense and still play with the occult, this tale might strike the modern reader as a bit much. When I first read it as a kid and again some years ago, I didn’t care for it. I admit, it takes some effort to work through, but it’s not irredeemable. It is, however, quite sad.

This story can be read here:

This story can be listened to here:

Bio: Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) was an English politician and popular English author and writer in his day. Among his books are Pelham, The Last Days of Pompeii, and Godolphin. He contributed many common phrases to everyday speech: “The pen is mightier than the sword” and “the great unwashed.” His greatest contribution (ask Snoopy) is perhaps the opening to his 1830 novel, Paul Clifford: “It was a dark and stormy night.”

Title: “The Haunted and the Haunters; or, the House and the Brain”
Author: Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton (legal name: Sir Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton) (1803-1873)
First published: Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, August 1859
Length: novelette

Review of “The Gateway of the Monster” by William Hope Hodgson: Halloween Countdown

8) “The Gateway of the Monster” by William Hope Hodgson

Plot:

Upon his return, Carnacki, the occult detective, invites Dodgson (the narrator, whose name curiously resembles the author’s), along with their friends Arkright, Jessop, and Taylor, to dinner. They expect him to regale them with another tale of his strange adventures.

Once they’ve finished dinner, Carnacki launches into his tale, with no interruption from the small audience:

A man he’ll call Anderson asked him to investigate a haunting at his home. When Carnacki arrives, he finds that Anderson can’t come (what?) but that Peter, the butler, will answer his questions. Peter’s worked there for twenty years.

According to the story, one of Mr. Anderson’s ancestors was found strangled in the Grey Room with his wife and child at some indeterminate time in the past. Now, the door to the Grey Room slams loudly all night long, even though the butler knows he’s locked it. In the morning, the bedclothes are on the floor.

Carnacki wasn’t born yesterday. He asks Peter to unlock the room. The butler stands on the threshold, trembling in fear and begging Carnacki to conclude his business with all dispatch. Real danger lurks in this room after dark. Carnacki pooh-poohs the terrified man’s concerns and runs “baby ribbons” over doors, windows, mirrors, the fireplace, and the floor, “sealing” the ends. This will tell him if any material being enters the room and how it got in.

As they’re leaving, Carnacki places his card over the keyhole. No one gets in the easy way. Carnacki also seals the doors on the five rooms between his and the Grey Room.

It’s late now, and the two men turn in.

Before long, the slamming begins. Carnacki gets up to investigate, but finds he can’t get beyond his room, as if some force is holding him back.

In the morning, Peter arrives with coffee, surprised to see Carnacki among the living. The two examine the Grey Room. The seal on the door is broken, but Carnacki’s card over the keyhole remains in place. The bedclothes lie scattered on the floor. None of the baby ribbons has been disturbed.

Carnacki has everything removed from the room except the bed, then examines the room but finds nothing suspicious.

Hmmm… It’s time to get serious.

He goes into town for supplies.

Thoughts:

This was initially published, along with four other Carnacki stories, in The Idler in 1910, introducing the character of Carnacki the Ghost Finder. There is humor alongside horror and dabbling in the occult. Carnacki is adept at setting up protective pentagrams inside circles. The pentagrams and circles are not without their fumblings, however.

In this particular instance, he uses a cat as a canary in a coal mine. A dirty trick. May its ghost haunt him.

The storytelling lends an air of a guy talking to a bunch of guys after dinner, with a bit of alcohol involved. Carnacki entertains his buddies (and the reader) with tales of his adventures, but he is not above poking a little fun at himself. After all, this is supposed to be a good yarn. If Carnacki looks silly for a moment or two, that’s okay. He’ll emerge triumphant.

I enjoyed going along for this ride, though there are a couple of weak spots with respect to credibility. Why would Mr. Anderson ask for Carnacki’s help and then not be available? How could Peter stand twenty years of nightly door-slamming and little sleep without losing his marbles? The first sight of the monster is more strange than scary, and its explanation is a bit of a stretch.

All that aside, I liked this tale. It’s chilling, but doesn’t take itself too seriously.

This story can be read here:

This story can be read and listened to here: (55:30)

Bio: William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) ran away to sea at a young age and spent nine years as a merchant marine. His experiences at sea affected his writing and poetry. His occult detective, Carnacki, through the force of science, often found rational explanations for odd phenomena—but not always. The short story “Voices in the Night” is regarded as one of his strongest. H. P. Lovecraft praised his novel The Borderlands—conditionally. Hodgson was killed in battle at Ypres in 1918.

Title: ”The Gateway of the Monster”
Author: William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918)
First published: The Idler, January 1910
Length: novelette
Series: Carnacki