Plot:Mr. Nuttel’s doctors have recommended that he get rest for his nerves. With letters of introduction from his sister, he visits people she knows better than he does. He stops one day at the Sappleton residence. Mrs. Sappleton is late in meeting him, so her “very self-possessed” fifteen-year-old niece speaks to him, letting him knowContinue reading “Review of “The Open Window” by Saki”
Category Archives: Halloween Countdown
Review of “Negotium Perambulans” by E. F. Benson: Halloween Countdown
Plot: The narrator describes an isolated fishing village he was sent to when he was ten, “a small boy, weak and sickly and threatened with pulmonary trouble.” He slept not in the house but in a “shelter” in the backyard of his uncle, the local vicar, and spent his days wandering. His uncle taught himContinue reading “Review of “Negotium Perambulans” by E. F. Benson: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Moonlit Road” by Ambrose Bierce: Halloween Countdown
Plot:The following things happened: Joel Hetman returned from a trip at an unexpected time and used the back door without disturbing anyone. He chased what appeared to be a prowler into the woods, who got away. His wife, Julia, was strangled to death in her bedroom. He summoned his nineteen-year-old son, Joel, Jr., home fromContinue reading “Review of “The Moonlit Road” by Ambrose Bierce: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “Master of Fallen Years” by Vincent O’Sullivan: Halloween Countdown
Plot:Augustus Barber works in a paper-box manufacturing business in London. The narrator is at pains to tell the reader how ordinary, if commonplace, Augustus is. He doesn’t read anything outside of newspapers and shows no interest in anything spiritual or metaphysical. After falling ill to the point that he was expected not to recover, BarberContinue reading “Review of “Master of Fallen Years” by Vincent O’Sullivan: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Marble Hands” by Bernard Capes: Halloween Countdwon
Plot:Our hero rides his bike with his friend Heriot to the churchyard. Heriot wants him to check something out but doesn’t want to see it himself. Our hero soon finds what he’s looking for—a grave with no headstone or inscription. A beveled marble curb encloses a graveled area. In the graveled area stand two marbleContinue reading “Review of “The Marble Hands” by Bernard Capes: Halloween Countdwon”
Review of “The Wolf-Man” by Erckmann-Chatrian: Halloween Countdown
Plot:Around Christmas time in the year 18—, our hero Fritz lies fast asleep at the Cygne in Fribourg in the Black Forest when someone awakens him, telling him: “I have good news for you; I am going to take you to Nideck, two leagues from this place. You know Nideck, the finest baronial castle inContinue reading “Review of “The Wolf-Man” by Erckmann-Chatrian: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “Luella Miller” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: Halloween Countdown
Plot:The only person alive who remembers Luella Miller is Lydia Anderson, now eighty years old. She never thought Luella was pretty, though her husband Erastus worshipped the ground she walked on. Luella came to teach school but didn’t do much of the teaching. The work was left to one of the older girls, Lottie Henderson,Continue reading “Review of “Luella Miller” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “Lot No. 249” by Arthur Conan Doyle: Halloween Countdown
Plot: Jephro Hastie, a student at “Old College” at Oxford, is visiting with his friend, medical student Abercrombie Smith, in the latter’s third-floor turret room. Hastie warns him about the student in the room below his, Edward Bellingham. “There’s something damnable about him. My gorge always rises around him. I should put him down asContinue reading “Review of “Lot No. 249” by Arthur Conan Doyle: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Kit-Bag” by Algernon Blackwood: Halloween Countdown
Plot: The successful defense of John Turk, a client of the great Arthur Wilbraham, KC, brings the barrister no joy. His private secretary, Johnson, is glad to be rid of the case. Despite the verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, he agrees with the general sentiment that few men were more deserving ofContinue reading “Review of “The Kit-Bag” by Algernon Blackwood: Halloween Countdown”
Review of “The Haunted Chair” by Richard Marsh: Halloween Countdown
Plot: As Mr. Philpotts walks into the smoking room of the club, he hears, “Well, that’s the most staggering thing I’ve ever known!” The narrator hints that the actual comment was not quite so tame. The speaker, Mr. Bloxom, stands in front of his chair, looking around. He asks Mr. Philpotts, “Did you see him?”Continue reading “Review of “The Haunted Chair” by Richard Marsh: Halloween Countdown”
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 