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darkling_talesI recently enjoyed a collection of ghost stories called The Sorceress In Stained Glass, edited by Richard Dalby (yes, him again! Though this should be the last of his anthologies I review in a while...) The book only had one print run in 1973 and is apparently rare, which is a shame, as it represents Dalby at his best as an excavator of forgotten gems and a hunter of fine but obscure authors. Apart from one story all the stories first saw light of day between 1910 and 1950 - make of that what you will! The subject matter is resolutely supernatural - no gore or psychological jiggery-pokery here ;) Out of the sixteen tales, a few are outstanding.
The title story, by the Scottish author Lewis Spence, begins the collection in style. I've only recently heard of Spence thanks to the inclusion of his story 'The Horn of Vapula' in that Ghosts and Scholars collection I mentioned a while back, but while I quite enjoyed that story 'The Sorceress in Stained Glass' is way better. It's hugely atmospheric and deals with a haunted chapel on the north-east coast of England and the old English practise of 'tying up the wind' in knots of rope (to be released later for purposes good or evil!) The ambience of the moonlit chapel with the winds raging in the night outside is unforgettable. The beauty of the story's title was actually what drew me to part with my cash in this case, and I don't regret it, as I believe Spence's tale alone justified the expenditure!
M R James' 'A Vignette' comes next in order of interest, I think. This story had only ever appeared in a magazine before Dalby found it, so its appearance here was something of a scoop at the time, and it's a lot better than some of James' late, 'forgotten' material (some of which may well have been forgotten for a reason.) By James' standards, it's oddly personal, dealing as it does with a hazy reminiscence of a terrifying childhood experience as enigmatic as it was brief. It's rather creepy to think that it's based on a 'true story', especially when it was the last story James finished before he died! Or maybe I'm just getting overexcited.
Next, I pounced on an unread story by a great favourite of mine, H Russell Wakefield. 'And He Shall Sing...' transports the reader to the urbane (and somewhat annoying) world of a 20s London publisher, a world the author himself inhabited as a young man. Sadly, that doesn't seem to have made this tale of a copyright dispute from beyond the grave any more lifelike, and the stereotyping of Asian characters is outrageous, even for the time! Plus it's as predictable as they come. On this showing, I recommend readers new to Wakefield stick with the old favourites, such as 'Old Man's Beard' or 'The Red Lodge'.
The inclusions from E.F.Benson ('The Other Bed') Le Fanu ('The Child That Went Away With the Fairies'), and A.M. Burrage ('Footprints') are likewise disappointing in varying degrees, though the only real let-down in this collection is an unfunny comic ghost story by Ambrose Bierce. And for every disappointment, there's at least an equal amount of pleasant surprises. I came to William Hope Hodgson's 'The Stone Ship' rather cautiously, half-fearing it would be one of the long-winded marine epics filled with impenetrable sailor's jargon that Hodgson sometimes penned, but once you get past the first few pages of sailorese you are rewarded by one of the most jaw-droppingly weird (and creepy) tales ever to rise out of the sea. The narrator's claim that all the events taking place can be explained by science unusually does nothing to rob the story of its wonder or fear. There's also a good Flaxman Low story in here, 'The Story of The Moor Road', which might interest some of you here!
So a good number of established ghost story writers feature in this collection, usually represented by lesser-known works. But there is also a scattering of quality stories by total unknowns (or so they seem to me at any rate!) The best of these tales are E.K.Allan's 'The Round Graveyard' (a resolutely modern tale of an age-old evil), N Dennet's 'The Menhir' (written in an enthusiastic though slightly awkward style, with some nice meaty subject matter for fans of pagan horror), and George Benwood's 'The Interrupted Honeymoon', a snappy account of soul transference in the manner of one of the classier Tales of the Unexpected episodes. And finally J.A. Hopson's shocker 'The House With No Road' is probably the scariest story in the book, despite the competition from prestigious established writers!
While readers are unlikely to see The Sorceress in Stained Glass appear on the shelves of Waterstone's or Blackwell's any time soon, it may be possible to dig up other stories by some of the authors featured, either in anthologies or part of single-author collections. So if you don't feel inclined to fork out the money for a copy of this book, hopefully this little overview of the delights it contains can at least serve as a sort of 'jumping-off point' in the hunt for little-known (if not exactly new) talent in the field.
The title story, by the Scottish author Lewis Spence, begins the collection in style. I've only recently heard of Spence thanks to the inclusion of his story 'The Horn of Vapula' in that Ghosts and Scholars collection I mentioned a while back, but while I quite enjoyed that story 'The Sorceress in Stained Glass' is way better. It's hugely atmospheric and deals with a haunted chapel on the north-east coast of England and the old English practise of 'tying up the wind' in knots of rope (to be released later for purposes good or evil!) The ambience of the moonlit chapel with the winds raging in the night outside is unforgettable. The beauty of the story's title was actually what drew me to part with my cash in this case, and I don't regret it, as I believe Spence's tale alone justified the expenditure!
M R James' 'A Vignette' comes next in order of interest, I think. This story had only ever appeared in a magazine before Dalby found it, so its appearance here was something of a scoop at the time, and it's a lot better than some of James' late, 'forgotten' material (some of which may well have been forgotten for a reason.) By James' standards, it's oddly personal, dealing as it does with a hazy reminiscence of a terrifying childhood experience as enigmatic as it was brief. It's rather creepy to think that it's based on a 'true story', especially when it was the last story James finished before he died! Or maybe I'm just getting overexcited.
Next, I pounced on an unread story by a great favourite of mine, H Russell Wakefield. 'And He Shall Sing...' transports the reader to the urbane (and somewhat annoying) world of a 20s London publisher, a world the author himself inhabited as a young man. Sadly, that doesn't seem to have made this tale of a copyright dispute from beyond the grave any more lifelike, and the stereotyping of Asian characters is outrageous, even for the time! Plus it's as predictable as they come. On this showing, I recommend readers new to Wakefield stick with the old favourites, such as 'Old Man's Beard' or 'The Red Lodge'.
The inclusions from E.F.Benson ('The Other Bed') Le Fanu ('The Child That Went Away With the Fairies'), and A.M. Burrage ('Footprints') are likewise disappointing in varying degrees, though the only real let-down in this collection is an unfunny comic ghost story by Ambrose Bierce. And for every disappointment, there's at least an equal amount of pleasant surprises. I came to William Hope Hodgson's 'The Stone Ship' rather cautiously, half-fearing it would be one of the long-winded marine epics filled with impenetrable sailor's jargon that Hodgson sometimes penned, but once you get past the first few pages of sailorese you are rewarded by one of the most jaw-droppingly weird (and creepy) tales ever to rise out of the sea. The narrator's claim that all the events taking place can be explained by science unusually does nothing to rob the story of its wonder or fear. There's also a good Flaxman Low story in here, 'The Story of The Moor Road', which might interest some of you here!
So a good number of established ghost story writers feature in this collection, usually represented by lesser-known works. But there is also a scattering of quality stories by total unknowns (or so they seem to me at any rate!) The best of these tales are E.K.Allan's 'The Round Graveyard' (a resolutely modern tale of an age-old evil), N Dennet's 'The Menhir' (written in an enthusiastic though slightly awkward style, with some nice meaty subject matter for fans of pagan horror), and George Benwood's 'The Interrupted Honeymoon', a snappy account of soul transference in the manner of one of the classier Tales of the Unexpected episodes. And finally J.A. Hopson's shocker 'The House With No Road' is probably the scariest story in the book, despite the competition from prestigious established writers!
While readers are unlikely to see The Sorceress in Stained Glass appear on the shelves of Waterstone's or Blackwell's any time soon, it may be possible to dig up other stories by some of the authors featured, either in anthologies or part of single-author collections. So if you don't feel inclined to fork out the money for a copy of this book, hopefully this little overview of the delights it contains can at least serve as a sort of 'jumping-off point' in the hunt for little-known (if not exactly new) talent in the field.
