A couple of years ago I ran across some used copies of the Lord of the Rings trilogy at a used bookstore for a buck apiece. They were the fifth Ballantine edition published in 1988: I bought them, because my older copies were falling apart at the seams. They were taped together along the spines …
From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of SLEEPY HOLLOW, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. A drowsy, dreamy influence seems …
For years the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “As It Happens” program has broadcast Alan Maitland’s reading of Frederick Forsyth’s “The Shepherd” on or about Christmas Eve. Here’s the story behind the tale: Forsyth created this original work as a Christmas gift to his first wife Carrie after she requested a ghost story be written for her. …
All the ghost stories I’ve been publishing links to on Facebook came from The Haunted Looking Glass, originally published forty or fifty years ago. It’s a collection of ghost stories selected and illustrated by Edward Gorey. The full table of contents with links to the stories on the web can be found in this 2009 …
Three years ago I wrote about a bit of Harry Potter fan fiction I’d discovered somehow. I was mightily impressed by these sentences in Chapter Two: Three thousand years of resolving big complicated things into smaller pieces, discovering that the music of the planets was the same tune as a falling apple, finding that the …
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bateman, USA, an historian, has been writing a brief day-by-day history of the Battle of Gettysburg, which took place 150 years ago this week. It’s told in the vernacular and it’s very interesting. If you’ve seen the movie Gettysburg you’ll be familiar with Chamberlain and his Maine volunteers at Little Round Top, …
Proving that nothing is new under the sun, here’s Ogden Nash grousing about aging: When you roll along admiring the view, And everyone drives too fast but you; When people not only ignore your advice, But complain that you’ve given it to them twice; When you babble of putts you nearly holed, By gad, Sir, …
I’ve found the texts for all the stories in The Haunted Looking Glass except “A Visitor from Down Under,” by L. P. Hartley, so I’m going to put links to them in one place. Of course, since they’re horror stories, link rot may set in. ALGERNON BLACKWOOD, “The Empty House” W.F. HARVEY, “August Heat” CHARLES …
Most 20th-century horror films seem to relish the gore. I don’t think anyone would suggest that “Saw” or “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” were subtle. August Heat is different. I read the final sentence and had to re-read it to really recognize what W. F. Harvey had just done. It’s wonderful.
If ever there were an example of the adage “Be careful what you wish for,” The Monkey’s Paw is it. It tells the tale of an artifact brought to England from India by a member of the British Army when his tour ended. Legend has it that its owner gets three wishes. There’s an artful …