"Squire Toby's Will", "Schalken the Painter", "Madam Crowl's Ghost". My beginning steps into Le Fanu's world continue. All three stories contain masterful, ecstatic writing. At times he is so detailed and lush in his descriptions that the scary borders on the humorous, like the old madame with her wig. But when reflecting a little deeper on it, one realizes that it's actually terrifying.


The is a wonderful film called The Queen of Spades. The old lady in that film is identical (although not evil) to Madame Crowl, especially in her room with all servants and candles surrounding her. Le Fanu's presentation of her is perhaps even better than in the film, however that is possible. The Queen of Spades was based on some old story by Alexander Pushkin. I think that story inspired Le Fanu, or else the filmmaker must have read Le Fanu's story.

Yes, Le Fanu has written some great stuff! Green Tea is my favorite tale of his--truly terrifying. The Familiar is also very good. And don't miss the classic vampire tale Carmilla! There are other good ones, I know--just can't remember off the top of my head :)

... I hear the call of de la Mare. I must get back to him. He seems one of the best sources for opening up the senses to expanded horizons.

I'm still not familiar with de la Mare. Where should one start with his work?

K_A_Opperman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm still not familiar with de la Mare. Where
> should one start with his work?


"Seaton's Aunt" perhaps? The titles mentioned by Lovecraft in "Supernatural Horror in Literature" are often listed elsewhere, so I guess those are among his best stories.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 19 Jan 12 | 05:06AM by Knygatin.

Not necessarily, though most of them are quite good (and some are among his best). You might look for The Collected Tales of Walter de la Mare, edited by Edward Wangeknecht, for a start. Though not complete, it does have a hefty selection of his stories. This would at least give you enough of a sampling to find whether or not he is to your taste....

For those who haven't had the pleasure, Barry Hughart wrote three magical and mysterious stories about an arcane, ancient China that never was but should have been. "Bridge of Birds", "The Story of the Stone" and "Eight Skilled Gentlemen". The plot inventiveness and amazing characterization equal Jack Vance's best work in the "Dying Earth" cycles and Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser" tales. But there is a darker, more ominous skein that rivals CAS' best eerie works ... think "Genius Loci", the "Devotee of Evil" and "The Hunters from Beyond" ... that literally had me sleeping with the lights on for a week. What draws me back to them over and over again is the magnificently subtle humor and compassion for our shared human condition that doesn't pretend that 'heroes' are always shining knights of chivalry or that we don't share more than a few traits of the 'villains'.

Amazon is offering the Kindle version of his "Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox" trilogy for just $9.99 which is ridiculously underpriced for the value. If no one else does it, and if the ghastly SOPA/PIPA abominations aren't voted into law, I may just have to create a tribute web site for Barry Hughart's under appreciated works someday.

I read the last two Master Li novels last year, trying to drag it out for as long as possible because I knew that when I was done, that would be it. (Hughart originally envisioned seven volumes, but apparently incompetent publishers soured him.) Marvellous, magnificent, fun -- highly recommended!

Subterranean Press offers a very handsome hc of all three novels, autographed.

metsat00 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For those who haven't had the pleasure, Barry
> Hughart wrote three magical and mysterious stories
> about an arcane, ancient China that never was but
> should have been. "Bridge of Birds", "The Story
> of the Stone" and "Eight Skilled Gentlemen". The
> plot inventiveness and amazing characterization
> equal Jack Vance's best work in the "Dying Earth"
> cycles and Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Grey
> Mouser" tales. But there is a darker, more
> ominous skein that rivals CAS' best eerie works
> ... think "Genius Loci", the "Devotee of Evil" and
> "The Hunters from Beyond" ... that literally had
> me sleeping with the lights on for a week.

Sounds interesting. I have never heard of him. I only knew of Ernest Bramah, who also wrote about a China that never was, and also have been compared to Jack Vance. I have two of his books, Kai Lung's Golden Hours and
Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat, as well as the story "The Transmutation of Ling", all quite enjoyable.

Aloha Knygatin,
Thanks for the heads up, I'm going to track down copies of Ernest Bramah's works. Mahalo,

Sandor Szabo

jdworth Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Knygatin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > As a sidenote, film director Ingmar Bergman made
> a
> > movie called Through a Glass Darkly (no
> relation
> > to Le Fanu, as far as I know). In an interview
> he
> > described why the Biblical passage says "glass
> > darkly". In the old days mirrors were not made
> of
> > glass. They were made of polished metal, and
> only
> > gave a cloudy unclear image of the viewer. Thus
> > "glass darkly".
>
>
> While mirrors were usually made of metal (though
> people could also see their reflections in pools
> and the like), this does not mean they were
> necessarily capable only of a cloudy or unclear
> image. I've seen some polished brass mirrors which
> gave a very decent reflection. This is also
> apparently the case with a later passage, from 2
> Corinthians 3:18: "But we all, with open face
> beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
> changed into the same image from glory to glory,
> even as by the Spirit of the Lord".
>
> However, such mirrors certainly could deliver a
> cloudy, uncertain reflection, especially if they
> were "corrupted" in some way (tarnished, spotted,
> warped, etc.)... which may (possibly) also be a
> part of what the evangelist meant there: the
> world, according to the Christian view, being
> "fallen", the mirror in which we view things is
> itself distorted, flawed, perhaps even diseased.

Gentlemen, you bring out the Biblical Translator in me - the passage does not refer to a mirror as in "Alice" but to a window - the early glass in the 16th and 17th century was commonly cloudy because they had not learned to put a lid on the pot, and ashes got into the mix - it was indeed in the 17th century when some bright lad got the idea that they might get clear glass by this simple procedure. The term is also used for mirror - however distinctions must be made - the brass reflectors if made without contour are very highly and accurately reflective - I would also add that translations from the KJV, due to many alterations of meaning, are often unreliable - see Psalm 119 verse 151 - similar problems occur throughout the effort to bring texts which may have as many a three antecedent languages behind them into focus - for example "en" in Greek is translated both "in" and "on" - as in, the Holy Spirit fell "on" Him - and the Holy Spirit was in them - one old professor of mine warned against "prepositional" theology - it is, however, in the Corinthian passage, "through" the glass - I had the privilege of working specifically on 1st Cor. 13-14 as a Grad Student under Dr. C.H. Dodd, senior editor for the "New English Bible" - academically still the best English translation, though not the prettiest -

I stand corrected. Thank you for the above information; most helpful!

Perhaps I should add to my part in the discussion, to do Ingmar Bergman justice, that "Through a Glass Darkly" is an incorrect translation of the original Swedish title for the film. Translated word for word, it would have been called "Such as in a mirror", but that doesn't ring well in English so the producers used the other title. And I am not sure that Bergman actually mentioned the Bible in the interview.

Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia on the film:

"The title is from a biblical passage (1 Corinthians 13) in which seeing through a glass darkly refers to our understanding of God when we are alive; the view will only be clear when we die. The Swedish title literally means As in a Mirror, which is how the passage reads in a 1917 Swedish translation of the Bible."

[en.wikipedia.org])

I recently had a very vivid dream which I thought would make a good short story in the Jamesian tradition. I now wonder whether it isn't a story I read many, many years ago which has suddenly resurfaced. It starts in the library of an elderly gentleman who is showing me an antique Chinese wooden box of intricate design, something like an outsize tea caddy. The sides are full of little doors and windows. He opens one of the doors at random and inserts a chess piece, closes the door, and then manipulates the box like a seven-a-side Rubik cube. Nothing happens. He repeats the procedure. Again nothing happens. I seem to sit there for hours until at last an unidentifiable object of great age emerges from another door. "It's always the same," he says. "You never get back what you put in, and sometimes you get nothing at all."
In the extensive grounds of the house is a wooden summer-house built in obvious imitation of the Chinese box by a previous owner of both house and box (who had mysteriously disappeared). Nobody ever entered the summer-house as it had an evil reputation. It was rumoured that anybody who went in never came out again, although people were sometimes glimpsed peeping through the windows with frightened expressions on their faces. I entered the summer-house, and there the dream ended.
Has anybody come across a similar story or can I have a go at writing it without incurring the accusation of plagiarism?

Knygatin wrote:
"I wonder about Robert Aickman. I can't find any texts online, and the book editions are quite expensive."

Others have pointed out that certain collections can be found quite inexpensively online, "Cold Hand in Mine" and "Painted Devils" are the most likely canididates as books saw book club editions in the US(PD was only ever produced as a book club edition) and CHiM has seen been through more than one paperback publication.

However there are currently 3 Aickman collections available in print (well in PoDness in truth) from the quality mainstream UK publisher Faber (http://www.faber.co.uk/author/robert-aickman/). These are part of their excellent Faber Finds series which is dedicated to making forgotten books available today. I have not seen the aickman editions, but I do have a number of their TF & JC Powys reprints from the series. They are not the cheapest pbs, the Aickman volumes come in at £12-£14, but they are available both via Amazon (in the uk at least) and direct from the publisher. If ordering from the publisher you might have to wait a few weeks for delivery as these are PoD, however amazon may well have a stock available.


The three Aickman volumes are:

Cold Hand in Mine
The Wine-Dark Sea
The Unsettled Dust

CHiM is a reprint of one of the original collections. The Wine-Dark Sea was originally a posthumous selection introduced (and IIRC chosen) by Peter Straub and published in the US. This volume was subsequently published in abridged form as a pb in the UK by Mandarin. The Three stories dropped from the Madarin tWDS resurfaced in their follow up selection "the Unsettled Dust" alongside 5 stories from Sub Rosa. The current Faber Finds edition of tWDS is a reprint of the shorter UK version, not the US original.

Cheers - Chris



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 20 Jan 12 | 10:57AM by cw67q.