Oh, dear listener, we are so buried under review copies and books of interest that we resort to the tactics of madness. Rather than wait, we’re going to highlight four new publications before we’ve even finished reading them. Ugly Little Things, by Todd Keisling; the Sherlock Holmes special from Mystery Weekly; the Weirdbook Annual, and The Dollkeeper by Rob Martin.

We picked these four for the variety they offer, and have started all of them, with high hopes. Here’s the information you might want to ponder if you’re looking for something to read, and there are Amazon UK and US links at the end of each section. No lurcher room today, sadly…

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1) FOR THE DARK AND HORROR FANS

Ugly Little Things: Collected Horrors

By Todd Keisling

A new one on us, but the reviews so far have been good – a collection of dark tales.

“The eleven stories in Ugly Little Things explore the depths of human suffering and ugliness, charting a course to the dark, horrific heart of the human condition. The terrors of everyday existence are laid bare in this eerie collection of short fiction from the twisted mind of Todd Keisling, author of the critically-acclaimed novels A Life Transparent and The Liminal Man.

“Travel between the highways of America in ‘The Otherland Express,’ where a tribe of the forsaken and forlorn meet to exchange identities. Witness the cold vacuum of space manifest in the flesh in ‘The Darkness Between Dead Stars.’ Step into the scrub of rural Arizona and join Karen Singleton’s struggle to save her husband from a cult of religious fanatics in ‘When Karen Met Her Mountain.’ Visit the small town of Dalton in ‘The Harbinger’ and join Felix Proust as he uncovers the vile secrets rooted at the heart of Dalton Dollworks. And in the critically-acclaimed novella ‘The Final Reconciliation,’ learn the horrifying truth behind the demise of the rock band The Yellow Kings.

“With an introduction by Bram Stoker Award-winner Mercedes M. Yardley and illustrations by Luke Spooner, Ugly Little Things will be your atlas, guiding you along a lonely road of sorrow, loss, and regret. This is going to hurt—and you’re going to like it.”

“Todd Keisling is a born storyteller, drawing the reader into artfully constructed narratives that scout the darker end of the literary spectrum with skill and bravado. A pleasure to read, his stories linger well after the last page has been turned. Excellent stuff.”

John Langan, Bram Stoker award-winning author of The Fisherman

From Crystal Lake

http://amzn.eu/2ZuOIPW

http://a.co/acCtFwc

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2) FOR THE CLASSIC & DETECTIVE FANS

Mystery Weekly October 2017

Edited by K Carter

C F Carter’s Mystery Weekly, which produces weekly updates and a monthly print/Kindle issue, came to our attention last year with its special Sherlock Holmes edition, which was most enjoyable. So we are fortunate enough to have a copy of this year’s similarly Holmesian double-issue  October special, and so far it looks good. We may report in more depth later, but here’s the round-up:

Contents

Vincent W. Wright “The Pastiche: A Sherlockian Necessity” Ever considered writing Sherlockian pastiche? Here are some thoughts to ponder.

Michael Mallory “The Adventure of the Lyceum Theatre Curse” At the request of Bram Stoker, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate the deadly occurrences plaguing a production of Macbeth.

Ralph E. Vaughan “London After Midnight” Roger Sherrington replaces Dr John H Watson to provide invaluable assistance to Sherlock Holmes in a monster-god investigation.

David Gibb “Hercule Poirot’s Birthday” In this Agatha Christie pastiche, Hercule Poirot’s birthday dinner is interrupted by an inconvenient homicide.

Eric Cline “The Adventure of the Very Quiet American” Sherlock Holmes must discover who murdered a man. But first, he must discover who murdered a pig.

John Hearn “The So-Called Yoga Instructor” The part-time yoga instructor at an active retirement community is murdered in a fellow resident’s apartment.

John Longenbaugh “The Mechanical Detective” In a Victorian London substantially different from the one we know, no consulting sleuth is as extraordinary as Ponder Wright, the mechanical detective. Yet even his wits are tested by a murder where the suspects are all automatons.

Bruce Harris “Who Made Sherlock’s Clay Pipe?” At long last, the maker of Sherlock Holmes’s clay pipe is revealed.

From Mystery Weekly

http://amzn.eu/haBw0kx

http://a.co/3kkkkKN

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3) FOR THE WITCH, WEIRD AND FOLK HORROR FANS

Weirdbook Annual #1

Edited by Douglas Draa

Another special to grab. Weirdbook the quarterly magazine of weird fiction edited by Douglas Draa, is upping its game, as they say, with its first annual, entirely themes around witches. 250 pages of witchery, with twenty one stories within, plus eleven poems on the theme.

As greydog has one of his Mamma Lucy hoodoo stories in the Weirdbook Annual, here’s a quick taster of the conjure-woman as she walks the strange world of 1920 Eastern America, and faces some very human problems as well as some witchery ones:

“A long night coming,” said the Dark Man. He stood easy on the edge of a field, red earth between his toes as he sucked on a piece of sugarcane.

Mamma Lucy didn’t hold much with visions. And as visions went, this wasn’t greatly encouraging her. She didn’t recognize the place her left eye was seeing. A great field spread across the valley bottom, and that field was sown with fingers, knuckle-end in the deep soil. Most were black fingers, waving without a breeze, though here and there a white one grew. Some had cracked, hard-worked nails, and some had none at all. Near to where she stood, one finger had died where it was planted; a crow was tearing strips of rancid flesh from the small, pale bones.

“How long?”

The Dark Man pushed back his straw hat.

“Long as a mule kicks; long as cane is sweet.”

She reached across the floor of the lean-to shack and took up the largest candle, her grip marking the soft wax.

“Don’t you game me now, boy,” she said, a husky rattle in her throat. “This ain’t New Orleans, and I ain’t one of your mamaloi, Sant-eria ladies, liftin’ their skirts when you come callin’.”

“Maybe I forget, sometimes. Long time since we talked.”

She loosened her grip on the candle.

“True enough. Ain’t been need to find you, is all. Lord knows, don’t rightly ’member askin’ for you this time.”

“Pender County,” he said. “They’ll be needing you there, by and by.”

She ran memories across the candle flame, through the scorch of hyssop burning in the bowl at her side. The name would come.

“Might’ve just said that.”

“I might.” He leaned on the sugarcane, now a bent stick with a silver head. His crumpled suit was brown, red, or maybe neither, and though he was taller than oaks, it fitted him well enough. “But I don’t get to speaking with so many folk these days. It’s all kerosene, steel and burned rubber at the crossroads. Every soul in a hurry, always in a hurry.”

He tipped his red straw hat, and her milk-and-honey eye twitched in its socket.

The vision was gone, and she was where she’d been. Four plank walls and a broken roof. A place for the night, and straw to rest her bones on. She licked finger and thumb to snuff the candle, and then it came to her.

North Carolina. That was the place…

The Witch of Pender, John Linwood Grant

Contents

Thou Shalt Not Suffer, by Matt Neil Hill
No Holds Bard, by Adrian Cole
Laying The Hairy Book, by Josh Reynolds
Here Is Where Your Proud Waves Halt, by Erica Ruppert
Vicious Circles, by Paul Dale Anderson
Assorted Shades of Red, by Franklyn Searight
Strange Days in Old Yandrissa, by John R. Fultz
Fertility Rites, by Glynn Own Barrass
The Witch’s Heart, by Rachel Bolton
Hag Race, by Andre E. Harewood
Best Friend Becky, by Wayne Faust
The Rat in the Rabbit Cage, by Ashley Dioses
Two Spells, by Neva Bryan
Pulled Over, by Paul Spears
The Witch of Skur, by L.F. Falconer
Cat and Mouse, by Duane Pesice
Last of the Ashiptu, by Paul Lubaczewski
Firestorm, by Richard H. Durisen
The Witch of Pender, by John Linwood Grant
The Nora Witch, by Brandon Jimmison
The Broken Witch, by Scott Hutchison

We’re not very clued up on recent weird poetry, so don’t usually cover that. And Ashley Dioses, better known as a weird and dark poet, has cheated by submitting short fiction. Shocking! For enthusiasts, here’s the line-up:

The Desert Rose Inn, by Maurits Zwankhuizen
The Ballad of Blighted Marsh, by David F. Daumit
The Witch-Queen, By S. L. Edwards
A Witch’s Work is Never Done, by Lori R. Lopez
Oracle Bone Script, by Frederick J Mayer
Halloween Witch, By K.A. Opperman
Remembering the Peculiar Effects from the Sugar Witch’s Goblin-Brew,
by Clay F. Johnson
Sea Witch, by Vonnie Winslow Crist
Little Youkai at the Witch House, by Chad Hensley
Mother Persephone, by Oliver Smith
A Warlock Slips Into My Dreams, by Darla Klein

From Wildside Press (the regular quarterly Weirdbook is now also available).

http://amzn.eu/0ag8yHT

http://a.co/elpxQpK

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4) FOR THE WEIRD AND LITERARY FANS

The Dollkeeper

By Rob Martin

This is a fascinating novella, which we have now finished, but will be reading again before we make any more detailed comments. Containing elements of magical realism, fable and personal tragedy, it is both an easy and a difficult read – the prose flows between vivid imagery and moving, intimate emotion.

After her autistic daughter chases a butterfly over the mountainside, young Annaka exiles herself to a wilderness of guilt and shame. But when it returns a year later, the butterfly draws her from her solitude and into the shadows of her past. There she meets The DollKeeper—the mysterious guardian of a nursery deep beneath the earth, where the children are beginning to gather their crayons and colour in the void.

80% of the profits earned from The DollKeeper will be donated to the Easter Seals* charity. Art by Russell Smeaton.

*Easter Seals is a US non-profit disability organisation which addresses the needs of individuals and families throughout the lifespan – from inclusive child care to respite care – in order to help people “reach for their full potential.”

From Electric Pentacle Press

http://amzn.eu/8GYMwX3

http://a.co/fKrTmOG

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We hope you find something of interest in there, and look forward to seeing you in a couple of days…

Today, not the stories but features on the supernatural writers themselves. Strange are the strands of websites. A week or so ago we published Lurchers Triumphant: The Secret Index, in the hope of linking together related articles from all over greydogtales. This time we’re mentioning a wide range of traditional creators of weird and ghostly stories, our classic chillers, so why not see who we picked, and read up on them?

As with lurchers and longdogs, there are references to early supernatural authors scattered all over the site, but the features below have a more substantial element of the classic chillers in them. And those who aren’t mentioned below are perhaps as surprising as those who are.

In general, there are loads of sites which cover M R James, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen, Ambrose Bierce, E F Benson and many other resonant names. Whole swathes of verbiage consider these folk, and we have little to add at the moment. William Hope Hodgson we deal with regularly and separately.

We confess an interest in less well known writers, or in writers who had a peculiarly broad output and who are not always feted for their supernatural works.

And some have foxed us so far, known or forgotten. H R Wakefield, for example, wrote a number of excellent ghost stories, but every time we wrestle with his output as a whole, we end up in a hole, reading too many of his weaker tales. Maybe later. We also thought about adding D H Lawrence, but some of his ‘ghost’ stories are fairly badly delivered, so he never joined our classic chillers.

One who might have joined the list is Henry S Whitehead, who we have mentioned in passing, but he deserves a new post of his own one day. He edges into the zone of those writers associated with the H P Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith era, and Weird Tales, so we’re hanging on to him. Everil Worrell only just squeaked in, being a major Weird Tales player, on the strength of pieces such as her unusual old-style vampire story, ‘The Canal’.

Others must join us eventually – Perceval Landon, L T C Rolt, Oliver Onions, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and more – but we have a wish list. Saki (H H Munro) would probably top that, along with Daphne Du Maurier.

For reference, two of our favourite classic chillers, apart from Saki and M R James, are E G Swain and Jerome K Jerome – for very different reasons. Both are featured below.

Jerome’s satirical essay on the link between Christmas Eve and ghost stories, and his ruthless listing of the types of traditional story, is a must-read:

“After him comes the young man who woke up with a strange sensation in the middle of the night, and found his rich bachelor uncle standing by his bedside. The rich uncle smiled a weird sort of smile and vanished. The young man immediately got up and looked at his watch. It had stopped at half-past four, he having forgotten to wind it.

“He made inquiries the next day, and found that, strangely enough, his rich uncle, whose only nephew he was, had married a widow with eleven children at exactly a quarter to twelve, only two days ago.

“The young man does not attempt to explain the circumstance. All he does is to vouch for the truth of his narrative.”

Told After Supper

By the way, three specific stories from H R Wakefield, E F Benson and Jerome K Jerome are covered in our feature here:

http://greydogtales.com/blog/five-mountains-madness-third-twin/

Our thirteen features form a backward list, covering some twenty authors and ending in our piece on Sir Andrew Caldecott, who we believe has been overlooked far too often.

MOST POSTS CONTAIN LINKS TO WHERE YOU CAN PURCHASE OR OTHERWISE DOWNLOAD THE AUTHORS’ WORKS.

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THIRTEEN CLASSIC CHILLERS

13) Out of the Silence with Bessie Kyffin-Taylor

http://greydogtales.com/blog/out-of-the-silence-with-bessie-kyffin-taylor/

An almost unknown author these days, with one particularly outstanding story, Bessie Kyffin-Taylor (d.1922).

12) Shiela Crerar, Clay-Corpses & Psychic Investigation for Girls

http://greydogtales.com/blog/shiela-crerar-clay-corpses-psychic-investigation-girls/

Ella M. Scrymsour (1888-1962), whose supernatural sleuth in Scotland is quite fun.

11) Jerome K Jerome, Ghosts and Dystopias

http://greydogtales.com/blog/jerome-k-jerome-ghosts-dystopias/

Master of drollery and the sly dig, Jerome K Jerome (1859-1927).

10) Worrell and Ward – Vampire Women Go Fishing

http://greydogtales.com/blog/worrell-ward-vampire-women-go-fishing/

A somewhat forgotten weird and speculative writer, Everil Worrell (1893-1969).

9) Edith Wharton Hears a Whooo!

http://greydogtales.com/blog/edith-wharton-hears-whooo/

Not just Edith Wharton (1862-1937), but two other supernatural writers, Mary E Wilkins Freeman (1852-1930) and Katharine Elizabeth Fullerton Gerould (1879-1944).

8) Edith Nesbit – Mother of the Dead

http://greydogtales.com/blog/e-nesbit-mother-dead/

Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) hardly needs an introduction, but is more widely known for her children’s stories.

7) The History of Women in Horror 1: A Man Explains

http://greydogtales.com/blog/history-women-horror-1-man-explains/

Perambulations around Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851), and other early writers, including those of the Gothic persuasion.

6) Sneerwell & Verjuice: The School for Weird Fiction

http://greydogtales.com/blog/sneerwell-verjuice-school-weird-fiction/

Some mutterings on the nature of weird and supernatural fiction which lead to a mention of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-73).

5) M R James and his Friend in the Fens

http://greydogtales.com/blog/m-r-james-friend-fens/

A tribute to the background of the marvellous Mr Batchel stories by E G Swain (1861-1938), and a touch of Swain’s acquaintance M R James (1862-1936)

4) Forever New: Women in Supernatural Fiction

http://greydogtales.com/blog/forever-new-women-supernatural-fiction/

Amanda DeWees’ excellent essay for us on some classic female supernatural writers, including Mrs. [Margaret] Oliphant (1828-1897), and Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

3) All Saints’ Eve: Some Seasonal Scares

http://greydogtales.com/blog/all-saints-eve-some-seasonal-scares/

Exploring the stories of Amelia B Edwards (1831-1892).

2) Casting the Prunes: Flaxman Low Triumphant

http://greydogtales.com/blog/casting-the-prunes-flaxman-low-triumphant/

A substantial but not entirely straight-faced look at the fascinating occult detective Flaxman Low, the product of mother and son team Kate O’Brien Ryall Prichard (1851-1935) and Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard (1876-1922)’

1) Not Exactly Ghosts

http://greydogtales.com/blog/not-exactly-ghosts/

The clever and sometimes delightfully dry stories of Sir Andrew Caldecott (1884 – 1951), mentioned above.

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NOTE: You can also find all sorts of classic supernatural articles and works at the very enjoyable site run by Michael Kellermeyer, Oldstyle Tales Press.

https://www.oldstyletales.com/

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And that’s our thirteen classic chillers. Do stay tuned over the next few months as we add to the list.

Here’s a curiosity which we couldn’t fail to mention – an iconic British secret agent, a book which could only be produced under a maple leaf, and two authors who went on a Lovecraftian mission to break the boundaries. We have exclusives from those authors, Edward M Erdelac and Willie Meikle, and another from publisher Neil Baker. Captain Canuck rules, in our coverage of Bond Unknown, a new MI6 and Mythos double novella from April Moon Books in Oshawa, Ontario.

Our knowledgeable listeners will immediately go, “Oh, Oshawa!”, knowing that this was the birthplace of Albert William Tucker (1905-1995), who, in the fifties, put the final name and form to what is now known as the Prisoner’s Dilemma:

Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of communicating with the other. The prosecutors lack sufficient evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge. They hope to get both sentenced to a year in prison on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the prosecutors offer each prisoner a bargain. Each prisoner is given the opportunity either to: betray the other by testifying that the other committed the crime, or to cooperate with the other by remaining silent. The offer is:

• If A and B each betray the other, each of them serves 2 years in prison
• If A betrays B but B remains silent, A will be set free and B will serve 3 years in prison (and vice versa)
• If A and B both remain silent, both of them will only serve 1 year in prison (on the lesser charge)

But that doesn’t really have anything to do with today’s feature. So we’ll turn to the publisher and the authors to give you the inside story…

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The Name’s Bond. Neil Bond

A publisher’s tale

The journey to get Bond Unknown into the hands of the people who matter was as nerve-racking as a ski chase on a toboggan run. I first heard about Bond entering the public domain in Canada back in January 2015, and I recklessly posted a missive on Facebook along the lines of ‘Next from April Moon Books – James Bond vs. Cthulhu!’ My outburst was partly in jest as I was already swamped with trying to get my fledgling press off the ground, but the response was huge, and I suddenly realized I had to make a go of it, or die trying.

The legal situation was still quite murky, so I surreptitiously stretched out feelers to authors I already knew, and who I thought could have a good stab at a Bond story set in the Mythos. As I began to discuss the concept with the authors, a number of tenets came to the fore, including the films, which were off-limits. Bond may have been fair game, but the settings, gadgets and original characters from the films were still heavily trademarked. That was not an issue though, as I had already decided that I wanted stories based on Fleming’s original novels. I reminded the authors that these stories were not ‘pastiches’ or ‘deconstructions’ – they had to be written with due reverence for the originals. Other than that, the sky(fall) was the limit. I would allow Lovecraftian twists, supernatural elements, even straight adventures in the classic mold. Everyone got very excited.

Then, I hit obstacle after obstacle as I realized I would not be able to crowdfund the book as Kickstarter and Indiegogo wanted nothing to do with it. Then print on demand was off the table as I could not use Amazon at all – nor were digital versions allowed due the unenforceability of cyber borders. So, I would be paying for everything, including a limited print run, out of my puny, small-press pockets. I would have to wait until I could afford to take the risk.

Bond Unknown became my most high profile ‘on again, off again’ project, and I truly felt awful for the authors who were chomping at the bit. A couple of them went ahead with typical writerly pigheadedness and churned out stories – and I enjoyed reading these unique takes on a beloved character. Ultimately though, Ed and Willie’s contributions emerged as the front-runners for the first book, with several more tales waiting in the wings in hope of more editions. Having worked with them before, I knew what Ed and Willie were capable of, and they had nailed my vision for the book. I had my stories, next up, I needed artwork.

I’m no stranger to a bit of design myself, but I needed something special for the cover, and I reached out to Mark Maddox, whose covers for Little Shoppe of Horrors and Screem Magazine are some of the best I’ve seen. He immediately leaped at the opportunity and we hammered out a composition (although the final, gloriously eldritch image is all Mark’s design). I then turned to an illustrator who has constantly delighted me, M Wayne Miller, and he took a look at the stories before turning in a pair of stunning illustrations. His rendition of Bond is extraordinary in the way that it captures the essence of Bond without specifically referencing any actor or previous images.

All the pieces were in place, I just needed to make my move. Another year passed. What held me back? Funds? Fear? Francisco Scaramanga? A little of each (except, perhaps, the nipple-heavy hitman).

In a moment that might be considered the antithesis of a nail-biting climax, I scraped together the budget, grew a pair, and pulled the trigger. The result is a stack of boxes in the basement that is taller than my daughter, containing 200 copies of a book that I am hugely proud of, that I cannot sell outside of Canada. It’s the kind of risky move that would make Le Chiffre’s eye bleed but, as they say in O-branch, you only live once.

Neil Baker

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Dry, With a Scots Twist

Willie Meikle Reminisces

I came to Bond early. I was taken to see Goldfinger way back in ’64 when I was only six and our local cinema didn’t enforce age rules. It made an impression. I even had the gold Corgi car with ejector seat and everything.

Fast forward a year or so, and I was down the front row with my pals for Thunderball, and for a few weeks after that the world was all jet packs, spearguns and trying to hold our breath in the swimming pools in the local river.

After that I saw every film in the week of release for many years, read the books until the paperbacks fell apart, and was generally a Bond fanboy, even after my disappointment when Connery gave way to Moore. I persevered through Moore’s sillier movies, and was rewarded with a return to my Bond with Dalton. I read the books some more, read the authorised sequels, and then…

I lost touch with the man for a time. Brosnan didn’t do it for me — too much like Moore’s sillier escapades for my liking, and after Goldeneye, I thought I was done with Bond.

Time passed, I rarely gave Bond a thought, then Casino Royale came along, and suddenly the years had been rolled back, and I was back in fanboy heaven again with my Bond.

I’ve mostly loved the Craig years despite some quibbles and grumbles over the direction the stories have taken, and seeing Bond return to Skyfall and the old house on the moor was a personal highlight.

When Neil asked me if I’d like to do a weird Bond story, it was that Scottish connection that came to mind, and the early Bond, Commander Bond, that I drew my inspiration from.

Skyfall also took Bond back to London, and that’s another ever present in my life and imagination, from the swinging ’60s, through a myriad of spy books and movies up to the present day, but also back to Holmes and the Ripper and beyond into the mists of time.

I worked in the old city for almost ten years, and walked past St. Paul’s Cathedral on many occasions. The memory came back to me when I was considering the big end set piece for my story and… here it is.

INTO THE GREEN is a synthesis, of my love for Bond, Scotland, spy movies, London, and weird cults in old, and new, temples.

Willie Meikle

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Erdelac Royale

Edward M Erdelac pokes at some star spawn

I came late to Bond.

The first Bond movie I can remember seeing was Live And Let Die on TV with my parents, probably when I was about four or five. While I loved Tee Hee with his mechanical arm and the creepy 7up guy in the top hat and 007 running along the tops of alligators, the mushy stuff made me leave the room. From bits and pieces I saw of Roger Moore’s iteration over the years, I grew up dismissing Bond as some kind of romance series.

It wasn’t till I was about twenty years old and caught GoldenEye on home video at a friend’s place that I got heavy into Bond. It was Tina Turner’s killer track that I think sold me on it, combined with Brosnan’s bungie jump infiltration of that Russian facility and subsequent dive and Cessna escape in the beginning. No doubt the hours of delirious fun my friends and I got playing Nintendo’s classic GoldenEye shooter (Oddjob was soon disallowed) played its part too.

Suddenly, in my 20’s, I was on a Bond kick. I went back and watched the rest of the series (suffering through three quarters of the goofy Adam West-like Roger Moore years) in anticipation of Tomorrow Never Dies, and when I was out of movies, I picked my dad’s moldy old college copies of the Ian Fleming paperbacks and discovered the hard edged, pulpy, literary Bond, only barely hinted at in a few of the Connery movies (and maybe a bit in the two Dalton outings).

So finally Tomorrow Never Dies comes along…and people’s heads are popping through the floors of fighter planes, a helicopter chops up a marketplace, Michelle Yeoh is not getting the facetime I wanted to see, and I’m sitting in the theater seeing more Roger Moore than Fleming, Connery, Dalton, or the underappreciated Lazenby.

My torrid love affair with all things Bond lasts about as long as Viviene Michel’s.

Though I keep the fires smoldering with rewatches of my favorites, it’s eleven years before it’s fully rekindled with Casino Royale. Even then I’m a bit unsure. I don’t want a repeat of the second date disaster I had with Pierce Brosnan. I know at this point most of you are thinking that’s exactly what happened, but here I have to state a controversial opinion; I loved Quantum of Solace, from the gangsta opening theme song to the last shot of Vesper’s necklace in the Russian snow. This outing, more than any Bond movie since From Russia With Love, conjures for me the scarred, no-nonsense, kill or be killed paperback 007 for me. Skyfall’s really, really great, but it’s kind of a Batman movie. And don’t even ask me what I thought of Spectre.

So when Neil put out the call for Bond Unknown, I knew I positively had to shove aside whatever I was doing and turn something in, particularly for my Dad, whose books offered me a glimpse at his younger self and who continues to enjoy the character, and for my son, who kicked my butt a few times in GoldenEye Reloaded and thrills to the music and the cars of the movies the same as I do.

For my contribution, MINDBREAKER, I wanted to explore the damaged Bond of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. In the opening of MWTGG, Bond attempts to kill M., having been brainwashed by Russian agents in the wake of his taking revenge on Blofeld for the murder of his wife Tracy. MINDBREAKER’s Bond is still trying to bury his wife, still dealing with the lingering effects of Russian reconditioning. I wanted to explore that brief blank spot of his career. Who turned Bond into an assassin against M, and how does 007’s ability to bounce back from that mental conditioning make him peculiarly suited to facing the preternatural threats of the Lovecraftian Mythos when a shadowy subsection of MI6 comes calling?

Well, that’s a pretty cool answer. It involves Bond’s pedigree, Simone Latrelle, John Dee, a nod to Dennis Wheatley, a relic from an antediluvian war, Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign, the Unione Corse, the Star Spawn, and a whole lot of other stuff I hope will appeal to fans of both Fleming and Lovecraft.

Ed Erdelac

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You can only obtain Bond Unknown in print, and only directly from April Moon Books.

https://www.aprilmoonbooks.com/bond-unknown

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See you soon…

A skull is a box in which we keep our memories. Except that only a few of us tie it up with ribbons, and it usually makes little noise. Until it becomes a screaming skull, of course. A few weeks ago we stood before a four hundred year old group portrait of three women, Frances, Margaret and Katherine Griffiths. The painting dominates its surroundings, and Katherine Griffiths dominates the painting. Unlike her sisters, her dress has been re-rendered in dead black, and her presence has never left her beloved home. Neither has her skull, except for brief and unhappy moments.

Today we explore a few different manifestations of the screaming skull, including the famous tale by F Marion Crawford, and generally potter about a bit, as we do. Before we do, have a quote from an account of an account of an account, to which we’ll return later below.

“…the skull was that of a negro servant who had lived in the service of a Roman Catholic priest, and there were dark hints of a murder. The negro had declared before his death that his spirit would not rest unless his body were taken to his native land and buried there. On his burial in the Bettiscombe churchyard, the haunting began; fearful screams proceeded from the grave; strange sounds were heard all over the house, and the inmates had no rest until the body was dug up. Subsequent attempts to dispose of it were followed by similar results.”

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THE BURTON AGNES SCREAMING SKULL

Burton Agnes, the home of Katherine Griffiths (known as Anne), is a magnificent Elizabethan house in the Yorkshire Wolds. The present house was built nearby in 1601–10 by Sir Henry Griffith, 1st Baronet, after he was appointed to the Council of the North. His daughter Frances Griffith, heiress of the estate, married Sir Matthew Boynton, Governor of Scarborough Castle. It’s also one of the most well-known settings for a ‘screaming skull’ legend. As it lies within the uncanny Wold Newton Triangle, and thus directly within our ancestral hunting grounds, we have to mention it.

The story is that Anne had watched the building of the new house and could talk and think of nothing else; it was to be the most beautiful house ever built. When it was almost finished Anne went one afternoon to visit the St. Quintins at Harpham about a mile away, but near St. John’s Well was attacked and robbed by ruffians. She was brought home to Burton Agnes but was so badly hurt that she died a few days afterwards.

Sometimes delirious, sometimes sensible, she told her sisters that she would never rest unless part of her could remain in ‘our beautiful home as long as it shall last’. She made them promise that when she was dead her head should be severed and preserved in the Hall forever, and to pacify her, the sisters agreed. However when Anne died, she was buried in the churchyard.

Then the ghost walked and scared the life out of everybody. Remembering Anne’s dying words, the sisters took counsel with the vicar and eventually agreed that the grave should be opened. The skull was brought into the house and so long as it was undisturbed, the Hall was peaceful and untroubled. Many attempts have been made to get rid of it. Once it was thrown away, another time it was buried in the garden, but always the ghost walked with tremendous noise and upheaval. The skull is still in the house, built into one of the old walls, probably in the Great Hall. Nobody knows for sure just where it is but now she can watch over ‘her beautiful home’.

Burton Agnes Hall

In addition to the legend of Anne Griffiths, Burton Agnes Hall has grounds which include beautiful gardens, an interesting church, and substantial parts of a Norman manor house, built in 1173 by Roger de Stuteville.

Unusually, the site has been in the hands of the same family since that time, passing through various branches, and is still inhabited by the line.

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Bettiscombe Manor

“Students of ghost lore and haunted houses will find the foundation of the foregoing story in the legends about a skull which is still preserved in the farmhouse called Bettiscombe Manor, situated, I believe, on the Dorsetshire coast.”

F Marion Crawford, footnote to ‘The Screaming Skull’

The other most commonly mentioned ‘real life’ example of the screaming skull is usually Bettiscombe Manor in Dorsetshire. We won’t bore you with the general outline – it’s more interesting to go back to our Edwardian Arcane theme, for there are two excellent related pieces for the curious reader and/or historian of the supernatural.

For the readers of scary tales, there is the story written by American writer F Marion Crawford (1854-1909), probably better known for his story ‘The Upper Berth’. ‘The Screaming Skull’ was written in 1908, and published posthumously in 1911, in the collection Uncanny Tales, also known as Wandering Ghosts.

Crawford’s version, although he states his inspiration as Bettiscombe Manor, concerns neither the type of haunting from Bettiscombe, nor that from Burton Agnes. Instead it involves a retired seaman, a history of domestic unrest by the previous occupants of his house, and one long evening where he addresses a fellow mariner who has come to stay with him. It seems rather extended at points, and yet at the same time it’s a slow builder. It has a clever notion in that the story, and the narrator’s standpoint, develop substantially during the relating of it. And it  is a screaming skull, of sorts, though it has other tricks…

For historians of the supernatural and folklorists, we are fortunate in that there is a full account of an investigation made into the Bettiscombe screaming skull, published very shortly after Crawford died. The writer was an English fellow named John Symonds Udal (1848–1925).

Udal was a cricketer, antiquarian, author, lawyer and judge, and quite a chap. He held government office in Fiji for many years, and later served as Chief Justice of the Leeward Islands*. He wrote:

“At a farmhouse in Dorsetshire at the present time, is carefully preserved a human skull, which has been there for a period long antecedent to the present tenancy. The peculiar superstition attaching to it is that if it be brought out of the house the house itself would rock to its foundations, whilst the person by whom such an act of desecration was committed would certainly die within the year. It is strangely suggestive of the power of this superstition that through many changes of tenancy and furniture the skull still holds its accustomed place ” unmoved and unremoved! “

Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society Vol 31, 1910

* The Leeward Islands were Antigua, Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla and Dominica.

In what might tip us into M R James territory, Udal studied Dorset folklore, customs, and traditions, and became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1901. He would certainly have made a suitable MRJ protagonist.

And there is a curious Dorset and Leewards Islands link. During his time as Chief Justice, Udal was shown a memorial on Nevis to John Pinney, son of Azariah Pinney, formerly of Bettiscombe. On the basis of this, he concluded that the Bettiscombe Skull was that of one of Pinney’s slaves. Finding a reference in an old register of slaves on the Pinney estate to “Bettiscombe”, he concluded that the skull belonged to a slave named Bettiscombe, who must have been brought to England when or before the Nevis estates were sold.

Most entries then add that this theory, which Udal published in the Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries, was disproved long after Udal’s death. However, what Udal said in his original account includes the following:

“Upon one of these subsequent visits I, with others, made a careful examination of the skull; and we were inclined to doubt whether it was that of a negro at all, but as the generally received opinion is that it is I will say no more upon that point. The skull was by no means a large one; the forehead certainly was low but not receding. The upper half of the cranium only was preserved, the lower jaw being missing.”

If Udal was persuaded, it was by weight of hearsay, local legend, and a fascination with the Pinney connection, as more than once in the records he states his doubts. Eventually, he burrows into a long examination of the question of Azariah Pinney, who appears to have been transported as a ‘white slave’ after the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685. Yes, it all gets very complicated, so we’d better leave it to the really curious. You can read the entire, detailed 1910 piece by Udal here:

http://archive.org/details/proceedings31dorsuoft/

NOTE: Crawford, in his fictitious version, avoids the slave angle, but retains certain elements, including the skull being kept in a hatbox, and the fact that the lower jaw was missing.

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A Film at which to Scream

F Marion Crawford’s story was ‘sort of’ adapted for the screen – though the film never credited him. Probably best. The Screaming Skull is a 1958 black and white horror film, produced by John Kneubuhl, T. Frank Woods, and John Coots, directed by Alex Nicol, that stars John Hudson, Peggy Webber, Russ Conway, and Nicol.

It’s a bad movie, in that sort of way which means you can quite enjoy it, and it has moments of being creepily atmospheric. This is delightfully enhanced by the warning at the start. An opening voice-over states that a free burial will be provided to anybody who dies of fright while watching the film. This, we assure you, is not very likely.

In the film, there is a similarly domestic background to it all, with the skull supposedly being that of Marion, the first wife of John Hudson’s character. Yep, Marion. An unsubtle reference to the source of some of their ideas? So in the film you have:

• the first wife who died of an ‘accident’
• a wealthy second wife who has spent some time in an asylum
• a developmentally disabled gardener
• a self-portrait by Marion which resembles the 2^nd wife’s mother?
• unexplained screaming noises
• an actual skull

And so much more. Technically, you might be better sticking to the original story, however.

Or, for more literary relaxation with a screaming skull, you can download the Wandering Ghosts collection by F Marion Crawford for free here:

https://archive.org/details/wanderingghosts00crawrich