Blackwood and Buchan Anthologies
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darkling_talesI've been meaning to post my thoughts on these two anthologies for a while, so here goes!
The Magic Mirror, edited by Mike Ashley, is part of the excellent Equation Chillers series devoted to uncovering obscure gems from otherwise well-known authors. It is sub-titled Lost Supernatural And Mystery Stories by Algernon Blackwood, and is divided into five parts: "The Early Years", "The Novels" (or rather, extracts thereof), "Radio Talks" and "Later Stories". I've always found Blackwood to be a very uneven author, and there are quite a few tales in this collection which suffer from his flaws of excessive cynicism and borderline misogyny. Some of the stories are tinged with savage humour, though the 'savage' part gets the upper-hand in a way that is not always pleasant to behold. Lovers of his pagan horror may also be a touch disappointed to note the preponderance of urban crime stories too.
However, there are some real treats in this anthology as well, especially among his later stories. My favourite was the excellent "Roman Remains", which has nothing to envy Machen at his best, and the similarly pagan but far more gentle "At A Mayfair Luncheon". His early story "The Kit-Bag" is very good too, though as I've seen it anthologized twice before it hardly counts as a rare treasure! I was also intrigued by the snippets of his novels, some of which surprised me in their almost sentimental treatment of childhood and its dreams. I am especially keen to get hold of his novel "The Centaur" (which deals with evolutionary throwbacks to long-gone, magical times when the mythology of the Greeks was made flesh), after reading the extract "The Call Of The Urwelt". I would say this collection is a must for Blackwood fans!
For a more detailed description of the tales in the book, visit the late, great Rbadac's commentary on the Violet Books website.
Supernatural Tales is a recent John Buchan collection edited by Jim Greig. Though he is mainly known nowadays for his gripping spy novels, Buchan has written some of the very best ghost stories in literature, and like Blackwood is an absolute master of pagan horror. Buchan has an almost unparalleled genius for capturing the spirit of a landscape; in fact, this collection focusses on those among Buchan's stories which deal with the mingled evil and beauty of Nature, from the rugged, remote moors of Scotland to a spirit-ridden Cotswold manor house in the heart of a dark wood. While the book contains a few duds (and more than its share of period racist imperialism!) no lover of Machen or Blackwood should miss "The Watcher By The Threshold" (a terrifying tale of possession), "The Wind In The Portico"(where the hero becomes a touch too curious about the local legacy of the Romans) or the wistful, achingly sad story of strange old gods "The Grove Of Ashtaroth".
In fact,the stories in this collection seem to have been chosen for their common theme of mysticism and the lost worship of ambiguous gods and elementals driven into hiding by the two-pronged onslaught of Christianity and science, as well as their moving evocations of the countryside. Perhaps unsurprisingly, possession in various forms appears again and again. Greig makes this clear in his scholarly introduction, which is crammed with references to the ancient mythology that inspired Buchan, and is divided into sections like "The Mystical", "The Sacred Grove" and "Dual Personality". I can't recommend this book highly enough, even though it contains fewer purely horrific stories than some Buchan anthologies I have read. And for those of you who can't afford the book, many of the stories are available on the Horrormasters Buchan page!
I'll finish off with a reminder to all those of you who have the British channel BBC4: Tonight at ten there's a repeat of last year's M R James adaptation A View From A Hill, and tomorrow there's a documentary at ten, M R James: The Corner Of The Retina, followed by a new adaptation of Number 13! And this year I actually have digital, I'm so excited! See here for more details on the BBC4 James season.
The Magic Mirror, edited by Mike Ashley, is part of the excellent Equation Chillers series devoted to uncovering obscure gems from otherwise well-known authors. It is sub-titled Lost Supernatural And Mystery Stories by Algernon Blackwood, and is divided into five parts: "The Early Years", "The Novels" (or rather, extracts thereof), "Radio Talks" and "Later Stories". I've always found Blackwood to be a very uneven author, and there are quite a few tales in this collection which suffer from his flaws of excessive cynicism and borderline misogyny. Some of the stories are tinged with savage humour, though the 'savage' part gets the upper-hand in a way that is not always pleasant to behold. Lovers of his pagan horror may also be a touch disappointed to note the preponderance of urban crime stories too.
However, there are some real treats in this anthology as well, especially among his later stories. My favourite was the excellent "Roman Remains", which has nothing to envy Machen at his best, and the similarly pagan but far more gentle "At A Mayfair Luncheon". His early story "The Kit-Bag" is very good too, though as I've seen it anthologized twice before it hardly counts as a rare treasure! I was also intrigued by the snippets of his novels, some of which surprised me in their almost sentimental treatment of childhood and its dreams. I am especially keen to get hold of his novel "The Centaur" (which deals with evolutionary throwbacks to long-gone, magical times when the mythology of the Greeks was made flesh), after reading the extract "The Call Of The Urwelt". I would say this collection is a must for Blackwood fans!
For a more detailed description of the tales in the book, visit the late, great Rbadac's commentary on the Violet Books website.
Supernatural Tales is a recent John Buchan collection edited by Jim Greig. Though he is mainly known nowadays for his gripping spy novels, Buchan has written some of the very best ghost stories in literature, and like Blackwood is an absolute master of pagan horror. Buchan has an almost unparalleled genius for capturing the spirit of a landscape; in fact, this collection focusses on those among Buchan's stories which deal with the mingled evil and beauty of Nature, from the rugged, remote moors of Scotland to a spirit-ridden Cotswold manor house in the heart of a dark wood. While the book contains a few duds (and more than its share of period racist imperialism!) no lover of Machen or Blackwood should miss "The Watcher By The Threshold" (a terrifying tale of possession), "The Wind In The Portico"(where the hero becomes a touch too curious about the local legacy of the Romans) or the wistful, achingly sad story of strange old gods "The Grove Of Ashtaroth".
In fact,the stories in this collection seem to have been chosen for their common theme of mysticism and the lost worship of ambiguous gods and elementals driven into hiding by the two-pronged onslaught of Christianity and science, as well as their moving evocations of the countryside. Perhaps unsurprisingly, possession in various forms appears again and again. Greig makes this clear in his scholarly introduction, which is crammed with references to the ancient mythology that inspired Buchan, and is divided into sections like "The Mystical", "The Sacred Grove" and "Dual Personality". I can't recommend this book highly enough, even though it contains fewer purely horrific stories than some Buchan anthologies I have read. And for those of you who can't afford the book, many of the stories are available on the Horrormasters Buchan page!
I'll finish off with a reminder to all those of you who have the British channel BBC4: Tonight at ten there's a repeat of last year's M R James adaptation A View From A Hill, and tomorrow there's a documentary at ten, M R James: The Corner Of The Retina, followed by a new adaptation of Number 13! And this year I actually have digital, I'm so excited! See here for more details on the BBC4 James season.
