John Linwood Grant writes occult detective and dark fantasy stories, in between running his beloved lurchers and baking far too many kinds of bread. Apart from that, he enjoys growing unusual fruit and reading rejection slips. He is six foot tall, ageing at an alarming rate, and has his own beard.
We’re back in action at old greydogtales, dear listener, with lots to come over the following months, but let’s get right in there today with exciting news from Occult Detective Magazine…
OCCULT DETECTIVE MAGAZINE IS PROUD TO PRESENT
A bumper new issue – over 100,000 words – featuring both unpublished stories and reprints new to the magazine’s pages, all generously offered by some terrific authors to promote the magazine. None of these tales have appeared in ODM before, and one or two are otherwise hard to find.
ODM #0 is completely FREE as a thank you to loyal readers over the last few years, and as a taste of what the magazine does for those not in the know.
This special issue includes stories by:
Mike Carey
Sam L Edwards
Joshua M Reynolds
Bev Allen
Paul Finch
Willie Meikle
E J Stevens
I A Watson
Jilly Paddock
John Linwood Grant
Mike Chinn
Adrian Cole
Rosemary Pardoe
Plus a host of non-fiction articles and reviews by G W Thomas, Tim Prasil, Dave Panchyk, and Dave Brzeski. With art by Autumn Barlow, Adam Benet Shaw and Enrique Meseguer.
ODM #0 is available at no cost now in pdf, epub and mobi formats (see below). A limited edition print edition may follow later.
And the next regular issue, ODM #8, will be out soon, with all-new tales of unwise investigations, eerie events and catastrophic encounters – plus the occasional victory for the occult detectives.
This issue will include:
Brandon Barrows – Angel Scales
Melanie Atherton Allen – The Voice on the Moor
Paul StJohn Mackintosh – Ghost Trainspotting
Uche Nwaka – Spirit Counsellor
Rhys Hughes – Memory Fumes
Robert Guffey – Committee of Mystery
Rebecca Buchanan – The Bones are Walking
D G Laredoute – Theatre of the Mind-Read
C L Raven – The Dead Shall Rise
Carsten Schmitt – Tahdukeh
Christina L White – Becoming Art Deco
I A Watson – Vinnie deSoth & the Saucer People
Plus the usual reviews, and interior art (so far) by Mutartis Boswell and Andy Paciorek.
And do come back soon for our usual range of strangenesses…
A rare and simple thing, today, dear listener, as we post an actual book review. Not a hoax. Not a rambling offshoot into weird stuff by Yours Truly, but an honest-to-gods piece on a new and unsettling novel – We Wait from Megan Taylor – by our regular guest reviewer Dave Brzeski (Spoiler: He really likes it).
“A novel well worth reading; in fact it genuinely rewards re-reading. Quite simply this is the best modern Gothic… the best haunted house story I’ve read in an awful long time.”
We Wait comes from Megan Taylor, the author of novels How We Were Lost, The Dawning and The Lives of Ghosts, and a short story collection, The Woman Under the Ground.
As it happens, Dave and I also had the pleasure of publishing Megan’s excellent short story ‘Exposing the Dead’ in Occult Detective Magazine #5 (then called Occult Detective Quarterly).
WE WAIT by Megan Taylor
Eyrie Press, paperback and Kindle
Review by Dave Brzeski
I’ve seen comments from more than one reviewer who compared this novel to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. It’s immediately obvious that they weren’t referring to the plot. There’s no group of characters actively investigating a haunted house here. I could also see some thematic similarities to Stephen King’s The Shining, but that would be equally misleading. This is very much its own book.
We Wait opens with an introductory passage in italics, which purports to be the whispering spirits of Greywater House, the country estate of Maddie’s family. There are several other such passages here and there as the story progresses, but despite this, the supernatural element here is handled with great subtlety, which benefits the book immeasurably.
Maddie is brought to stay with her Aunt Natalie at Greywater House, under a cloud due to events which occurred at her boarding school. She has been allowed to bring along her best friend, Ellie, who looks on it as a great adventure.
Things soon start to turn sour, even before they reach the house, as Ellie sees something that almost causes their car to crash – but there is apparently nothing there. The tone of the book from here on is tense and somewhat bleak, and it gets progressively more so. The skill with which Megan Taylor introduces all the players while hinting at their many secrets is quite extraordinary.
The aged, bedridden relative, confined to a room at the top of the house is a classic Gothic horror trope, but I’ve rarely seen it handled in such a skilled, and very unsettling manner as it is here. Aunt Natalie’s bedridden mother, who we rarely see, or hear from – in fact she doesn’t get a single line of dialogue, nor do we find out her name (Marcia) until fairly well into the book – absolutely creeped me out. The very thought of entering that room is instilled with a palpable feeling of dread.
Ellie isn’t only there to support her friend… she is also in dire need of a break. Her own mother is dying of cancer, which really doesn’t help her delicate emotional state. Naturally, whatever supernatural influence pervades the house finds in Ellie a prime target.
I need to make a confession here – I read this a while back, then attempted to write a review. I found it very difficult to encapsulate what I felt, so I abandoned it for a couple of months. Then I approached the book again, having decided to make notes as I went along this time. The trouble is, this is one of those books you want people to have read already, so you can discuss it without risk of spoilers, compare how you interpreted various events etc.
There’s so much I’d like to say about just the first part of this novel, but I find myself severely hampered by that sticky problem of spoilers. It is impossible, however, to not mention one aspect of the girls’ relationship, as it’s a central theme to the book. Let me just say that Aunt Natalie has her own reasons for disapproving, and the reaction of Maddie’s father, Hugo, when he returns at the end of the first part, is not pleasant.
Part Two, set thirty years earlier, concerns Natalie’s story when she was close to the same age as Maddie and Ellie, and as the secrets of her family are gradually revealed, we begin to see parallels. It’s a story of bigotry, jealousy and dark deeds, which the house has absorbed, and these echoes of the past are in danger of being repeated.
One of the more obvious such parallels is the scenario of another girl and her school friend at Greywater House. This time, it’s Natalie, and her friend Jessicawho are more or less in the same situation as Maddie and Ellie in the first part. This time we also have a younger Hugo, and their harridan of a mother.
The girl, Jessica, is the daughter of Marcia’s brother-in-law from his first marriage, which means she’s not even a blood relative. Marcia’s sister has basically dumped her stepdaughter on Marcia. Here, it’s the nature of Natalie and Jessica’s relationship that angers Marcia, and there’s no getting away from the fact that she is a bigot. She plots to separate the girls by having her rake of a son seduce Jessica. It becomes apparent over time that this is a very complex novel. It’s not just about bigotry over the girls’ sexuality, nor is it about the other dark secrets the characters are keeping hidden or the house’s malign influence. Everything feeds off of everything else.
In the third and final part, we come back to the present, and things rapidly come to a head. It’s not an easy read, if I’m honest. There’s a level of despair that becomes almost overwhelming. Don’t be discouraged by that, though. This is a complex novel well worth reading; in fact it genuinely rewards re-reading. Quite simply this is the best modern Gothic… the best haunted house story I’ve read in an awful long time. I’d go as far as to say it’s possibly one of the best, period.
Today, a classic mystery story you may not have read, ‘The Dead Hand’ (1902) by L. T. Meade & Robert Eustace. And why do we feature this? Because we have oft bemoaned the lack of female occult detectives and psychic investigators in the early supernatural canon, and because this particular tale is harder to find than many. As it is currently Women in Horror Month, it seemed especially appropriate to present this, which was co-authored by a woman, Elizabeth Thomasina Meade Smith (1844–1914), and which features Diana Marburg, one of only a tiny handful of classic female occult detectives.
In saying such, we bow to our scholarly colleague Tim Prasil, who would describe Marburg as a ‘divining detective’, in that she uses unusual techniques – mostly palmistry – to solve quite practical crimes and mysteries. That she is ‘modern’ rather than Gothic is a relief – in one story she discusses the relevance of fingerprint science and even employs it, placing her firmly in the new Edwardian world.
For enthusiasts of the supernatural/strange mystery field, the team of L. T. Meade & Robert Eustace offers many gems. More details of their work can be found in our longer article http://greydogtales.com/blog/master-madame-detectives-l-t-meade/ Therein you will also find a link to Tim’s Giving Up the Ghosts anthology, which includes the other two Marburg stories, as well as thirteen other tales of strange detectives from further period authors.
The Marburg tales are rather enjoyable, and it’s a shame there weren’t more. For your interest and pleasure, we have made a transcription of the original ‘The Dead Hand’, from Pearson’s magazine, 1902, and provided a downloadable pdf version. Any mistakes are probably ours.
Note that Marburg would be an interesting candidate for our forthcoming Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives III, coming from Belanger Books – details here:
(Being the First of the Experiences of the Oracle of Maddox Street)
By L. T. Meade & Robert Eustace
My name is Diana Marburg. I am a palmist by profession. Occult phenomena, spiritualism, clairvoyance, and many other strange mysteries of the unseen world, have, from my earliest years, excited my keen interest.
Being blessed with abundant means, I attended in my youth many foreign schools of thought. I was a pupil of Lewis, Darling, Braid and others. I studied Reichenbach and Mesmer, and, finally, started my career as a thought reader and palmist in Maddox Street.
Now I live with a brother, five years my senior. My brother Rupert is an athletic Englishman, and also a barrister, with a rapidly growing practice. He loves and pities me—he casts over me the respectability of his presence, and wonders at what he calls my lapses from sanity. He is patient, however, and when he saw that in spite of all expostulation I meant to go my own way, he ceased to try to persuade me against my inclinations.
Gradually the success of my reading of the lines of the human hand brought me fame— my prophecies turned out correct, my intuition led me to right conclusions, and I was sought after very largely by that fashionable world which always follows anything new. I became a favorite in society, and was accounted both curious and bizarre.
On a certain evening in late July, I attended Lady Fortescue’s reception in Curzon Street. I was ushered into a small ante-room which was furnished with the view of adding to the weird effect of my own appearance and words. I wore an Oriental costume, rich in color and bespangled with sparkling gems. On my head I had twisted a Spanish scarf, my arms were bare to the elbows, and my dress open at the throat. Being tall, dark, and, I believe, graceful, my quaint dress suited me well.
Lady Fortescue saw me for a moment on my arrival, and inquired if I had everything I was likely to want. As she stood by the door she turned.
“I expect, Miss Marburg, that you will have a few strange clients to-night. My guests come from a varied and ever widening circle, and to-night all sorts and conditions of men will be present at my reception.” She left me, and soon afterwards those who wished to inquire of Fate appeared before me one by one.
Towards the close of the evening a tall, dark man was ushered into my presence. The room was shadowy, and I do not think he could see me at once, although I observed him quite distinctly. To the ordinary observer he doubtless appeared as a well set up man of the world, but to me he wore quite a different appearance. I read fear in his eyes, and irresolution, and at the same time cruelty round his lips.
He glanced at me as if he meant to defy any message I might have for him, and yet at the same time was obliged to yield to an overpowering curiosity. 1 asked him his name, which he gave me at once.
“Philip Harman,” he said; “have you ever heard of me before?”
“Never,” I answered.
“I have come here because you are the fashion, Miss Marburg, and because many of Lady Fortescue’s guests are flocking to this room to learn something of their future. Of course you cannot expect me to believe in your strange art, nevertheless, I shall be glad if you will look at my hand and tell me what you see there.”
As he spoke he held out his hand. I noticed that it trembled. Before touching it I looked full at him. “If you have no faith in me, why do you trouble to come here?” I asked.
“Curiosity brings me to you,” he answered. “Will you grant my request or not?”
“I will look at your hand first if I may.”
I took it in mine. It was a long, thin hand, with a certain hardness about it. I turned the palm upward and examined it through a powerful lens. As I did so I felt my heart beat wildly and something of the fear in Philip Harman’s eyes was communicated to me. I dropped the hand, shuddering inwardly as I did so…
THE FULL STORY CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM US, FOR FREE, IN PDF FORM HERE:
Behind The Book of Carnacki: For many years my late friend Sam Gafford and I delved, quite unbeknownst to each other, into the life and works of writer William Hope Hodgson, one of the ‘uncles’ of 20th century weird fiction. Sam was in fact a leading scholar/expert on Hope Hodgson and his writings; I was a mere enthusiast. And as chance would have it, at around the same time as Sam began his studies, I had conceived of a cycle of strange stories which centred around the Edwardian era, with references – direct or in passing – to the world of Hope Hodgson’s occult detective, Carnacki the Ghost Finder. Not pastiches, but a development of period themes.
Valdemar (2011)
When Sam and I met on-line at last, we found that both of us had great affection for this character. Sam edited two anthologies of further Carnacki adventures (amongst other Hodgsonian publications) via his own Ulthar Press; I finally launched the series of loosely inter-connected stories called ‘Tales of the Last Edwardian’ (though I rarely write anything which features Carnacki directly). Our shared enjoyment of the character was also instrumental in us founding Occult Detective Magazine.
Sadly, Sam passed away too early, in 2019, but I was delighted last year when Belanger Books suggested following up the success of their Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives anthologies with one devoted entirely to Carnacki. So, everything you need to know is laid out below.
THE SHORT VERSION
THE BOOK OF CARNACKI
A Belanger Books Project, edited by John Linwood Grant
Core concept:5,000–10,000 word stories featuring William Hope Hodgson’s character Carnacki the Ghost Finder in a major role. Carnacki’s general behaviour and mannerisms should be canonical, much as in the original tales, though inventive and reasonable extrapolations from those are welcome. We may take a handful of stories with non-supernatural resolutions.
Also: For this particular book, we are interested in 3000–5000 word non-fiction articles relating to Carnacki and his world (see LONG VERSION below).
Your pitch must be accepted for your completed story or article to be read. See PITCH section below.
Pitch Deadline: 16 April, 2021.
Final Submission Deadline: 30 September, 2021.
Payment: Authors shall receive a payment of $100 or $50 plus 1% of the Kickstarter net profits, whichever amount is GREATER, and a paperback copy of the anthology. The Kickstarter will run March 2022, and publication of book is expected early Spring 2022.
You MUST put CARNACKI in the subject line of your pitch or query. Failure to do so may invalidate your submission; it may also get lost in general occult detective queries.
Reprints: We are open to the possibility of taking a small number of reprints, by negotiation. In order to receive full payment, and to increase reader interest, we would prefer that these were ‘refreshed’ or revised versions rather than straight, word-for-word reprints.
LONG VERSION
THE BOOK OF CARNACKI: THE PITCH
IF YOU DO NOT PITCH FIRST, WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONSIDER YOUR STORY/ARTICLE.
Why the pitch system? Because otherwise it’s possible to end up with loads of stories which are very similar, however well written, and thus loads of rejection letters. This allows us to open to everyone, but not be swamped by works we cannot use.
For The Book of Carnacki, we require short pitches – say one hundred to three hundred words – telling us about your planned story:
The period and general physical setting(s), e.g. London in 1905; a decaying Yorkshire farmhouse, just before WWI; a ruined castle in Scotland; Cornwall in 1899.
The sort of supernatural threat/mystery, e.g. classic ghostly appearances; physical monstrosities on the loose; madman possessed by something; cursed item, etc. Get us intrigued.
A hint of plot, to show you already have a story broadly in mind.
For non-fiction articles, give us an idea of your approach and focus.
If you’ve never pitched before, have a go at it, and we’ll tell you if you have something there which we think is worth pursuing. If you’ve done it before, you know the drill.
The authors of the most suitable pitches will be invited to write up a full submission for possible inclusion, so you’ll then have a further five months. No guarantees, but it means that you’re at least on the right lines; your work will get more attention and your chances will have gone up.
Thomas Carnacki as a key protagonist; a proper, authentic Hodgsonian Carnacki, in full character and with the traditional mannerisms.
A strong APPARENT supernatural, paranormal, occult, psychic or other abnatural element which is crucial to the story. We will consider a few ‘debunking’ tales, where a mundane explanation ensues, though we won’t take many of those.
An actual case/investigation – not Carnacki idling in his study, or buying fish for supper and thinking “I haven’t seen many ghosts lately”.
We do NOT want time-travel stories, alternate universes, alien Carnackis or steampunk. We probably don’t want Lovecraftiana, unless the latter is very clever, subtle and original, in which case we might have a glance. Draw on Hodgson’s ‘mythos’ for preference.
A FURTHER NOTE FOR WRITERS
The original six stories were published from 1910 onwards. Hope Hodgson does not mention calendar dates within the tales, so later writers have plenty of years with which to play. You can assume that Carnacki could have begun his work in the late 1880s, with a rather open end-point.
william hope hodgson
For the purposes of this anthology, and to fit with other related Belanger Books we will take the end-point to be the 1920s. So no stories set beyond 1929, please – unless you have a terrific and very imaginative take that you want to pitch. 1890 onwards, up to and including WWI and immediately after, is probably the sweet spot.
The obvious route is to pitch the outline of a Carnacki pastiche, in which the Ghost Finder investigates some strange, unlikely or horrifying event. A request for assistance by a puzzled acquaintance; a cry for help from a haunted soul, or a bizarre report in the newspapers. WE DO WANT THESE. However, the full range of possibilities includes:
Direct and absolutely canonical pastiches, as above
Strange tales taking Carnacki out of his usual zone – ‘weird fiction’
Tales of his early life, and/or why he became the Ghost Finder
Something relating specifically to his electric pentacle and scientific work (fiction or non-fiction)
Stories or articles on his status and activities in regard to his contemporary ODs (fiction or non-fiction)
Crossovers between Carnacki and historical figures/events
Something relating specifically to the ‘circle’ of four men to whom all the original stories were told.
A piece focusing on his cosmology/ theology and occultism (fiction or non-fiction)
Even a parody, if high quality
There were nine original Carnacki stories in total. The six stories published in Hope Hodgson’s lifetime can be read or downloaded for free here:
There are affordable paperbacks of all the stories available on Amazon, though beware of cheap editions which have poor editing. A number of these are in fact exploitative editions – they call themselves ‘Annotated’ to get round Amazon’s rules, but some, for example, simply COPY word for word (without proper editing or layout) the Wikipedia entry. Disrespectful and unoriginal – please do not swell their coffers.
The Casebook of Carnacki The Ghost-Finder (Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural), from Wordsworth, edited with an introduction by David Stuart Davies, is one of the more reliable editions.
If you need a better idea of what an occult detective might be, then check the page for Occult Detective Magazine, which covers the basics and provides other links:
It was perfectly possible in late Victorian, Edwardian and 1920s Britain to be active and respected whilst being a feminist, being Black, being LGBTQ+, or being restricted in physical ability (as just a few examples). And as far as including non-white characters, remember that between the turn of the century and 1920, there were probably 10,000 to 20,000 or more Black people living in Britain, often concentrated in areas such as London’s Canning Town. There also were many Indian and Chinese professionals, workers and students, visiting Africans, and so on. Respectful use of non-white characters is entirely appropriate (no token figures, though, please).
Whilst limited situational discrimination may occasionally be relevant in the context of the period – in order to reflect characters’ life histories or traumas – sexism, homophobia, racism etc. in general will not be accepted.
A LONGER NOTE ON THE CENTRAL CHARACTER
Why The Book of Carnacki? Many have wondered at the enduring nature of the character. The Carnacki tales were not the high point of his writing, in style or content; there had been characters who investigated strange and paranormal events before, and, to be honest, Hope Hodgson himself was never counted as part of the literary circles of the times. Yet Carnacki prospers. We have never had any doubts as to why.
Thomas Carnacki remains the first TRUE independent occult detective. Not a psychologist, mystic, doctor or intellectual; not a policeman or an arm of any agency, Lodge or ‘brotherhood’. An individual who repeatedly investigates reports of ab-natural events, and uses scientific and ordered methods in the process. One who sees each event, report or rumour as a case to which he must apply both logic and his knowledge of the ab-natural. And one who is more than willing to accept that many such events have a rational, non-supernatural explanation.
In many ways, we see him (and have even written of him) as the only occult detective of the period who might have received grudging acknowledgement from Sherlock Holmes himself – who would have been quietly satisfied with those cases where Carnacki proved that mere human perfidy was behind an apparent mystery.
And although some have questioned the sketchiness of Carnacki’s characterisation, here we have a man who admits fear, who expresses human doubts, who can laugh at his own misjudgements. Not the dry intellect or abstruse philosophies of his contemporaries, but traits of an inquisitive man trying to do his best under the circumstances.
He has no secret training from far-off monks, or natural gifts of psychic revelation; no skill at occult summonings or mastery over those beyond the Veil. He is reasonably intelligent, well-read, and willing to take risks. To augment those qualities, he has burrowed into physicists’ theories of vibrations and wavelengths; has learned the practical use of such devices as electrical apparatus and cameras, turning such use towards his occult detecting. Ellery Queen praised the character as a “ghost-breaker after Houdini’s own heart”.
We admire him for what he is, and especially for what he is not. Let Dr Silence pontificate on moral urges and spiritual alchemy; let Flaxman Low claim he knew the answer all along and then shoot everyone. Give us Thomas Carnacki, in a bit of a funk, but resolute, at our side.
For writers, the recent open call for pitches concerning the next volume of Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives (Volume III) can be found here:
“One could be forgiven for assuming Grant was a contemporary of Edwardian authors M.R. James and Arthur Conan Doyle. Each of the stories in this collection are utterly steeped in that bygone era, both in terms of setting and style.” Ginger Nuts of Horror
“Reminiscent of Saki’s stories, as a dry wit is mingled in with a singular dread. The dread is not only supernatural in nature, but also stems from the very reality that for many in the Edwardian age (and now) domesticity is a trap with teeth.” Turn to Ash
