INTRODUCTION
Being a webpage dedicated to classic ghost &
supernatural fiction, its authors, and writings about the genre--both
serious and otherwise...
Herein you will find vintage
fiction by John
Kendrick Bangs, W.W. Jacobs, Émile Erckmann &
Alexandre
Chatrian, Algernon Blackwood, and
the ubiquitous Anonymous, along with many rarities
not previously available on
the internet. My emphasis always will be upon Victorian, Edwardian, and early
Twentieth Century era short stories and novels, generally
within the time frame of 1840-1930.
“RESURRECTION”
That
is how I saw a ghost--if it was ghost. It was dead,
anyhow.
--F.
Marion Crawford, "The Upper Berth" from
Wandering Ghosts (1911)
Late
3/08:
Thank you to Morgan for her very clever new banner
for the Spooks website. If you need a talented artist
for your own website or publication, please drop her
a line. I knew she was a good choice, after I'd seen
some of her earlier work, such as "Light"
and "My
Beautiful Black Valentine."
Her main art page links from those pages, and her contact
information may be found there.
3/08:
Finally, after many idle promises over the past year
or so, I have updated this website rather substantially.
I have added ten new works of fiction to the Library
and have updated the Radio Room. There's quite a bit
of new weird tale material taken from Victorian- and
Edwardian-era popular fiction magazines, including Pearson's,
Harmsworth Magazine (and its successor, the London
Magazine), and the obscure Black Cat Magazine.
As an added bonus, four of these tales include all of
the original periodical illustrations. I'd like to add
many more of these illustrations during future updates.
In my home library, I have all of the original E. &
H. Heron "Flaxman Low" magazine stories from
Pearson's, and, over the next year, I intend
to add the remaining eleven (with their original artwork)
to the Spooks site, at the rate of one per month. Also,
during the past month, I discovered a never-before-reprinted
Richard Marsh story, that appears to be a continuation
of his short story collection, Curios, with the
same characters of Tress and Pugh. This story did not
appear in that collection. I will try to have this rare
discovery available on this site within the next
month.
To
update general news about this site, in late 2007,
I was very pleased to receive a request from French
translator, author, and musician Gérard Dôle to
use the "Goddess of Death" illustrations from
the Royal Magazine found on this website in a
new translation from English to French of William Hope
Hodgson's Carnacki stories. "Goddess
of Death" is regarded as being the prototype for
the adventures of the famous occult detective, and this
is the first time this historically important tale has
appeared in French. As of February 2008, the new edition
of Carnacki:
le chasseur de fantômes went
to press, and, when I was in receipt of my own
copy, I thought it was a beautifully done volume.
Finally,
I'd like to thank Vault of Evil: British Horror Anthology Hell!
for prominently featuring the Spooks website for over
a year. Thank you very much, gentlemen.
10/07:
Updates are coming soon, including several original
periodical stories, with their vintage illustrations.
Also, I will be including much never-before-reprinted
material.
“A
PLEASING TERROR”
3/06:
The Nunkie Theatre Company once again presents Robert
Lloyd Parry as he gives one-man performances
of stories by M.R. James, "Canon Alberic's Scrapbook"
and "The Mezzotint." To better lend proper
atmosphere to the tales, these performances will take
place in three actual medieval era churches in Cambridgeshire,
England: St. Peter's on Castle Street, All Saints' on
Jesus Lane, & St. John's in Duxford.
To
quote one local paper regarding the last of Mr. Parry's
presentations around Christmas of last year:
"Robert Lloyd Parry restores the charm
and pleasure of the original tales with his excellent and convincing storytelling… He held the audience in the palm of his hand
throughout… and when his voice dropped to a whisper, [we] leaned forward so as
not to miss a word of the terror that was being unfolded… ."
--Cambridge
Evening News, December 8, 2005.
There
will be five performances in all, which have been scheduled
for March 17th, 18th, 24th, 25th, and 26th. Anyone near
Cambridge, England, may wish to seek tickets for these
soon, as they likely will sell out quickly. For more
details, you may click here,
or visit the Nunkie
Theatre website.
“GHOSTS
FOR CHRISTMAS”
“None
of us chaps goes to Manor after sundown," he repeated.
--H.
Russell Wakefield, "Blind Man's Buff" from
Old Man's Beard: Fifteen Disturbing Tales (1929)
Turns
out that they do. Despite the quiet status for this
website over the last few months, I received a few dozen
very nice notes in my e-mail box from visitors who enjoyed
their explorations in the old hall here. I also found
that I'd had some fascinating visitors. I thought I
might mention two of them.
First,
there was Mark
Edward,
who was kind enough to link this small site as one of
his favorites. Having watched Mr. Edward perform his
very accomplished illusions on national television more
than once in the past (most notably with Penn &
Teller), I valued his high marks for the contents here.
He's most celebrated for his knowledge of spiritualism,
mediums, and for his own mediumistic stage magic and
debunking of deceptive practices. He shares my respect
for and long interest in the life and work of the great
Harry
Houdini.
Next,
there was Professor
Petre Petrov,
expert in Slavic languages at the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Petrov used my Red Laugh text on this site
in teaching his seminar course, "Madness and Madmen
in Russian Culture." In honor of the good professor,
I have added another classic tale of Russian insanity
to my library, "The Scarlet Blossom" by Wsewolod
Michailovich Garshin. To my knowledge, this has not
been reprinted in English since its first translated
appearance in 1917.
Now
that Christmas has almost come again, I've decided to
follow the time-honored Victorian-Edwardian custom of
bringing anyone who cares to read them a few elegant
ghost and weird tales. We no longer have All the
Year Round, or Belgravia, or Pearson's
on the newstand, but perhaps this little cyberspace
library and a roaring fireplace in your own home can
evoke some of the same cozy yet disquieting atmosphere
for reading.
As
a matter of fact, I have a few of those old periodicals,
complete with the original illustrations, available
now in the library. You'll find a tale from an 1899
edition of Pearson's, another tale from the 1904
edition of The Royal Magazine, and yet another
from The Yellow Book of July 1895. I also have
a number of new accompanying stories, many of which
have either never appeared on the internet previously
or that have never been reprinted in any format. One
particularly pleasant surprise was Harle Oren Cummins's
Welsh Rarebit Tales. I hope to have some more
of his grisly Bierce-like tales online eventually.
Finally,
I hope you will forgive a bibliophile his indulgence.
I recently bought a "new" bookcase, manufactured
by Arturo Barzi of Buenos Aires during the 1920's, and
I'm rather proud of it. There's a picture of it
below, and, fortunately, I purchased this old beauty
at a heavily discounted price, not much more than a
modern oak case without glass panels would cost.
That's
all for now. Unfortunately, I still suffer from some
health-related issues that slow up my updates for the
website, but I will continue in the future, as I am
able. I trust you will let me know if you have enjoyed
any of the contents here or have found them useful in
any way.
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