Amy Myers - After Midnight Stories #4
Apr 15, 2007 9:22:02 GMT -5
Post by Gloomy Sundae on Apr 15, 2007 9:22:02 GMT -5
Amy Myers (ed.) - The Fourth Book of After Midnight Stories (William Kimber, 1987)
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - Regression
Brian Lumley - Dead On Time
Elizabeth Foust - Edna’s Good Fortune
J. C. Trewin - Good Night, Good Night!
Jean Stubbs - An Evening At The Cromers’
Janet S. Goldfinch - The Stockingers
John Whitbourn - Roots
Barbara Joan Eyre - Jessica
Derek Stanford - The Masque
Mary Williams - Three Of Us
Fred Urquhart - Lillie Langtry’s Silver Cup
Joan Rees - Enchanting Cottage
Frances Stephens - Mountain Men
Alma Priestley - Gowks
Patricia Daly - Narcissus
Ross McKay - The Woodshed Door
"The last great series of anthologies in our field was The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories and its successors. Nothing since has matched it for sustained quality. The After Midnight series makes a bold try but ... The overall impression given by this volume is one of bland insipidity. Not that there's anything actually bad here, and the writing is of uniformly high quality, but even Brian Lumley's Dead On Time is well-written and predictable hackwork without a sign of his usual quirky efferevescence. With a very few honourable exceptions the rest of the stories offer nothing that merits the "after midnight" tag.
Thank goodness, Chetwynd-Hayes, in Regression has produced a tale with a real punch. The chance to change your past and avoid a tragedy would be a great thing, wouldn't it? David Masters thought so, but it didn't turn out like that. The Woodshed Door by Ross McKay is a satisfactory account of an anomaly in a family's history and its remarkable explanation. In Three Of Us, Mary Williams makes an unusual venture into the territory that Robert Bloch has made his own, producing an effective story of psychosis. Better than any of these is Barbara Joan Eyre's Jessica, which is that rare thing, a completely satisfactory short-short ghost story.
Best of all, though, is Roots by John Whitbourn, one of his Biscombe Tales. Here is genuine imagination, producing real atmosphere and a premise to turn the reader's notions about British legend upside-down. Whitbourn promises to be the most exciting new writer in our field for a long time. For including two of the Biscombe Tales in her anthologies, Amy Myers deserves our thanks. Still, five lumps of gold hardly justifies the issue of an otherwise played out vein."
- Roger Johnson, The Ghost Story Society Newsletter #3, June 1989.
Mary Williams - Three Of Us: Cornwall. Mrs. Tilly Twist has a morbid hatred of mirrors; every time she catches sight of herself she sees three versions of Mrs. Twist. When the latest boarder at Blossom Cottage buys her an antique looking glass from the despised Mrs. Polcarnes, the third image cuts the girls throat - just as she had the previous lodgers. A neat variation on Robert Bloch's Lucy Comes To Stay
Barbara Joan Eyre - Jessica: On Christmas Eve the friends gather around the fire to swap ghost stories. Noel's tale of the beautiful girl who haunts him - she drowned during their engagement - ensures a terrible holiday for his appalled audience; "She's everywhere, following me and watching me - I get no peace - I can't stand it any longer - what does she want?"
Brian Lumley - Dead On Time: Northern Ireland. The mother of a bomb victim commits suicide, swearing "As God is my witness, I'll get the murdering devil who did this to my baby - in this world or the next." Sean, having planted his latest device behind a pile of bricks is followed by a woman in a grey raincoat who wishes to return him something he left behind ...
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - Regression: David Masters decides to end his life. While waiting for his overdose to kick in, he wonders: "If I had a choice of a hereafter, which one would I choose?" Ruling out Heaven, Hell and the ghost world, he decides he'd like to return to the time when he was happiest. When he regains consciousness, he is back at his old school desk in 1936. To his horror, he realises that within a week his father will die under the wheels of a runaway lorry. Perhaps, though, he's been given a second chance to prevent the tragedy?
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - Regression
Brian Lumley - Dead On Time
Elizabeth Foust - Edna’s Good Fortune
J. C. Trewin - Good Night, Good Night!
Jean Stubbs - An Evening At The Cromers’
Janet S. Goldfinch - The Stockingers
John Whitbourn - Roots
Barbara Joan Eyre - Jessica
Derek Stanford - The Masque
Mary Williams - Three Of Us
Fred Urquhart - Lillie Langtry’s Silver Cup
Joan Rees - Enchanting Cottage
Frances Stephens - Mountain Men
Alma Priestley - Gowks
Patricia Daly - Narcissus
Ross McKay - The Woodshed Door
"The last great series of anthologies in our field was The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories and its successors. Nothing since has matched it for sustained quality. The After Midnight series makes a bold try but ... The overall impression given by this volume is one of bland insipidity. Not that there's anything actually bad here, and the writing is of uniformly high quality, but even Brian Lumley's Dead On Time is well-written and predictable hackwork without a sign of his usual quirky efferevescence. With a very few honourable exceptions the rest of the stories offer nothing that merits the "after midnight" tag.
Thank goodness, Chetwynd-Hayes, in Regression has produced a tale with a real punch. The chance to change your past and avoid a tragedy would be a great thing, wouldn't it? David Masters thought so, but it didn't turn out like that. The Woodshed Door by Ross McKay is a satisfactory account of an anomaly in a family's history and its remarkable explanation. In Three Of Us, Mary Williams makes an unusual venture into the territory that Robert Bloch has made his own, producing an effective story of psychosis. Better than any of these is Barbara Joan Eyre's Jessica, which is that rare thing, a completely satisfactory short-short ghost story.
Best of all, though, is Roots by John Whitbourn, one of his Biscombe Tales. Here is genuine imagination, producing real atmosphere and a premise to turn the reader's notions about British legend upside-down. Whitbourn promises to be the most exciting new writer in our field for a long time. For including two of the Biscombe Tales in her anthologies, Amy Myers deserves our thanks. Still, five lumps of gold hardly justifies the issue of an otherwise played out vein."
- Roger Johnson, The Ghost Story Society Newsletter #3, June 1989.
Mary Williams - Three Of Us: Cornwall. Mrs. Tilly Twist has a morbid hatred of mirrors; every time she catches sight of herself she sees three versions of Mrs. Twist. When the latest boarder at Blossom Cottage buys her an antique looking glass from the despised Mrs. Polcarnes, the third image cuts the girls throat - just as she had the previous lodgers. A neat variation on Robert Bloch's Lucy Comes To Stay
Barbara Joan Eyre - Jessica: On Christmas Eve the friends gather around the fire to swap ghost stories. Noel's tale of the beautiful girl who haunts him - she drowned during their engagement - ensures a terrible holiday for his appalled audience; "She's everywhere, following me and watching me - I get no peace - I can't stand it any longer - what does she want?"
Brian Lumley - Dead On Time: Northern Ireland. The mother of a bomb victim commits suicide, swearing "As God is my witness, I'll get the murdering devil who did this to my baby - in this world or the next." Sean, having planted his latest device behind a pile of bricks is followed by a woman in a grey raincoat who wishes to return him something he left behind ...
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - Regression: David Masters decides to end his life. While waiting for his overdose to kick in, he wonders: "If I had a choice of a hereafter, which one would I choose?" Ruling out Heaven, Hell and the ghost world, he decides he'd like to return to the time when he was happiest. When he regains consciousness, he is back at his old school desk in 1936. To his horror, he realises that within a week his father will die under the wheels of a runaway lorry. Perhaps, though, he's been given a second chance to prevent the tragedy?