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Post by burlveneer on Apr 23, 2007 19:02:49 GMT -5
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Post by Gloomy Sundae on Apr 25, 2007 14:44:25 GMT -5
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - Tales from the Shadows (Kimber, 1986)
Run for the Tunnel
Night Sister
Acquiring a Family
Shades of Yesterday
The Passing of an Ordinary Man
The Carrier
Long, Long Ago
The Rational Explanation
Clavering Retreat
The Man on the Frame
Acquiring A Family: On the death of an uncle, 53 year old Miss Celia Watson inherits his lovely home and enough money to ensure she can live out her life in comfort. Life would be perfect were it not for her loneliness: "She should have had children if only their production had not necessitated a rather revolting physical function." How delightful for her, then, that this house is haunted by five ghost infants who gradually reveal themselves to her until they're all gathered around her bed. But the Reverend Rodney knows something of the spectral brood's sinister history, and his well-meaning intervention sets in motion a dreadful chain of events ....
Introducing this story in Years Best Horror XV (1987), the late, great Karl E. Wagner wrote: "Like Robert Bloch, Chetwynd-Hayes frequently mixes horror with humor, as anyone who has read or seen The Monster Club will attest. However, I don't think Acquiring A Family will leave you laughing."
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Post by burlveneer on May 24, 2007 14:19:58 GMT -5
I've started in on this one; while I haven't found anything fantastic yet, neither has there been anything awful. In fact, "Run for the Tunnel", about the disappearance of a wife, and "The Passing of an Ordinary Man," about the disappearance of a husband, make perfect, contrapuntal companion pieces. The former is romantic, while in the latter RCH puts forth his more antagonistic view of marriage. In the former the mystery is solved; in the latter, the solution is revealed to one character, but not to the reader. Whether RCH chose not to reveal the secret as a matter of tasteful restraint or because he couldn't actually come up with an explanation is a matter for debate, but whatever the reason he did end up with a story a notch or two above his usual on this point alone.
"Acquiring a Family" felt familiar, and I still don't know if I read it years ago in the Year's Best Horror volume, or if the ending shares a device with another RCH story from a paperback collection. I'll take a stab at it and guess it's "No One Lived There" from The Unbidden. Not bad either way, and possibly one of his best.
More after I read the rest.
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Post by Gloomy Sundae on May 25, 2007 5:27:37 GMT -5
Very glad that you're tackling this particular collection, Burl, as its one of several I don't have, and I can't see me rectifying that in the near future!
Another vote for Acquiring A Family in the RCH Hall of Fame. Clearly, not all of his best work was published pre-1980 as I so nonchalantly stated a few months back. We really must start thinking about drawing up some best and worst of RCH threads.
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Post by burlveneer on May 31, 2007 15:18:58 GMT -5
Still working on this one because I can't seem to finish "Long, Long Ago"--I can't read more than a few pages of it without falling asleep. Don't know if I'm only trying to read when I'm already sleepy, or whether the story is that soporific. It may take me a few more days to get through the remaining eleven pages!
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