Some Tartarus E-Texts

[joysilence]

Patrons (and critics) of the Tartarus Press will know that its luxurious hardback editions of great ghost stories old and new seldom come cheap! However, Tartarus has recently taken the uncharacteristic step of making some of its newer stories available on-line. The freebies aren't well advertised and despite visiting the site regularly I only stumbled on these links (buried in the News page) the other day! So here they are:

A Languid Eliogabalus Of The Tombs, by Rhys Hughes, a Welsh purveyor of odd tales in which the droll and the creepy intertwine. I'm not a massive fan of this subgenre of the weird tale, and tend to run a mile when presented with any story that can be described as a "romp", but I can't deny this one is engagingly written, and Michael Moorcock loves him to bits.

The Tattoist by Quentin S Crisp (not the Quentin Crisp though.) This is a story with a modern, grim setting, narrated in a less-than-elegant style by a gifted tattoo artist who becomes fascinated by a mysterious boy who asks him to tattoo what is obviously Death of the Endless on his arm. I found the depictions of the seedy world of provincial tattoo bars and grubby pubs full of vandals grown old almost unbearably depressing, and Crisp's articulacy and winning way with the poetic metaphor keep piercing the drab canvas of his hero's unconvincing slang in an awkward way, but it's still readable enough, with some very powerful themes.

Angharad by Jon Manchip White. Born in the 20s, White is the oldest author here by a long way, and his short story of a young disabled Welsh girl's obsession with the woods near her parents' cottage has a lovely Machenesque air (though there are also nods towards modern Welsh issues such as the preservation of the language.)

The Descent Of The Fire by Mark Valentine and John Howard. This story stars their paranormal investigator the "Connoisseur" and his younger assistant, and concerns the discovery of some strange goings-on in a lost Shropshire hamlet, centring on an unusual "finial" (which is something like a weather-vane.) I found the Connoisseur precious and annoying, with his olde-worlde speech and mannerisms, and the writing style is calculated to tug the strings of nostalgia maniacs longing for the days when everyone wrote like E F Benson. Neither does the tale work as a whodunnit - the pace and structure is all wrong - but the leisurely, slightly unconclusive way in which the mystery unfolds and the preoccupation with Greek myths did remind me of Machen stories like The Shining Pyramid. By no means a waste of time.

Vrolyck by Mark Samuels. This is an unnerving story that reminded me of Ramsey Campbell in its mixture of cosmic horror and urban decay, while benefiting from a more refined writing style. It also displays the Samuels' interest in the potential for supernatural evil of books and the written word, a theme previously explored in The White Hands. A very interesting story, though I may have slightly preferred The White Hands myself. Incidentally, Tartarus are retailing paperback editions of Samuels' anthology at £10 a pop (including P&P) from their website - at last, an affordable Tartarus book!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these stories!