{"id":5730,"date":"2019-03-11T12:21:49","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T12:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/?p=5730"},"modified":"2019-03-11T12:21:49","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T12:21:49","slug":"glimpses-of-the-unknown-holmes-and-kombs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/glimpses-of-the-unknown-holmes-and-kombs\/","title":{"rendered":"Glimpses of the Unknown, Holmes and Kombs"},"content":{"rendered":"

A ghost with a club-foot, a lost E F Benson<\/strong> tale, a pioneering female journalist, the writing Barr brothers, the not-quite-first Sherlock Holmes parody, plus other curiosities. Join us, dear listener, in another journey into the past of weird and horror fiction. We were excited to discover, last year, that the British Library had begun to release a whole new series of supernatural publications. Some of these volumes offer an introduction to the writing of various Gothic and horror writers; others are built around a theme, or present rare and largely forgotten stories, a number of which of which have never been anthologised before. Huzzah! There\u2019s an outline schedule of planned releases at the end of this post, but today we visit their anhtology Glimpses of the Unknown, <\/em>and we add some of our usual supernatural and detective trivia\u2026<\/p>\n

\"glimpses<\/a><\/p>\n

Glimpses of the Unknown: Lost Ghost Stories (British Library Tales of the Weird Book 3)<\/em>, is edited by that veteran anthologist Mike Ashley<\/strong>. This also seemed appropriate to cover because we had some contact with Mike last year, when we received his blessing to re-publish his landmark article from the seventies (revised in the nineties) \u2018Fighters of Fear\u2019 in the anthology Occult Detective Quarterly Presents<\/em> (Ulthar Press). Here he turns his attention to lesser known supernatural short stories from the 1890s to the 1920s.<\/p>\n

One of the tasks facing any anthologist of late Victorian and Edwardian supernatural fiction is that many, many such stories were churned out for the periodicals, and many of them were mundane, featherweight, and sometimes downright dreadful. The vast majority of stories slumber with the last archived copies of the periodical they were first published in \u2013 they were never printed again, either in collections or anthologies.<\/p>\n

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The hunt through such dusty archives is something we\u2019ll be exploring in a later article on greydogtales, with anthologists Alastair Gunn, Tim Prasil<\/strong> and Johnny Mains<\/strong>, but along with the late Hugh Lamb<\/strong>, Mike Ashley has excellent credentials \u2013 he has a deep knowledge of the popular supernatural literature of the period, and extensive experience of delving deep. So Glimpses of the Unknown<\/em> is a must-have for lovers of these sorts of tales. Not because these are all perfect stories, but because of the range of themes and tropes which have been included – there are a few gems thrown in there as well \u2013 and the rarity of the stories included. We\u2019re going to pick out a few which particularly earn their keep, or have unusual elements\u2026<\/p>\n

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Glimpses of the Unknown Examined<\/h2>\n

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Let\u2019s get E F Benson<\/strong> out of the way. He\u2019s the most well-known author in the collection, these days, and has \u2013 to our mind \u2013 a chequered record in the ghost\/horror area, with a few outstanding stories, yes, but quite a lot of minor pieces (his non-supernatural Mapp and Lucia<\/em> tales are very entertaining, though). The only really unusual element here is that \u2018The Woman in the Veil\u2019 is a previously ‘lost’ Benson, which guarantees a look. It\u2019s basically a period murder mystery with a veiled ghost hanging around outside a country hotel, leading to the reconstruction of what really happened, and a touch of justice. Benson completists and enthusiasts will want it, but it doesn\u2019t linger greatly.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Missing Word\u2019 by Austin Philips<\/strong> is a far better story, a neat tale set in a telegraph office and referring back to something which happened fifteen years before. It\u2019s well written and very atmospheric, which lifts it above some of the others. Oddly enough, the premise brings to mind a certain tale of the \u2018clacks\u2019 towers in Terry Pratchett<\/strong>. Philips had a post office background, and it shows, in a good way.<\/p>\n

Eric Purves’<\/strong> \u2018The House of the Black Evil\u2019 is a story which relates to the occult and summoning practices, and although its final explanation is tolerable, the circumstances themselves elevate the tale. An ordinary house is found to be completely dark inside. Not just dark, but dark dark \u2013 utter blackness which defies any attempt to illuminate it. When the postman discovers that letters disappear into the blackness beyond the letter box, a group of local gentlemen dare to investigate. A grisly and unexpected discovery awaits in the pitch black rooms within…<\/p>\n

Philippa Forest\u2019<\/strong>s \u2018When Spirits Steal\u2019 is a welcome inclusion for a number of reasons. \u2018Philippa Forest\u2019 was the pseudonym of journalist and women\u2019s suffrage activist Marion Holmes<\/strong>, and this is one of her stories about a kind of occult detective\/psychic investigator, Peter Carwell. He is described as a \u201cBorderland expert\u201d by the narrator, a nice term for someone with an interest in psychic matters. Here they share an effective, rather tragic tale, of a village inn, a sleep-walking maid – and vengeance.<\/p>\n

Marion Holmes (n\u00e9e Milner, 1867-1943) is a fascinating character in her own right. She was born in New Wortley, Leeds, which is only a few miles from where the greydog<\/em> kennels are situated, and grew up near Barnsley, where her earliest memories were of miners begging for food. She first became involved in suffrage activism, serving as first as President of her local WSPU and doing time in Holloway. She later became a member of the National Executive of the WFL and co-editor of The Vote, first with Cicely Hamilton, then with Mrs T.P.O\u2019Connor. She was also a freelance journalist for 25 years, serving on the committee of the Society for Women Journalists.\u00a0 Pretty cool. (thesuffragettes.org)<\/p>\n

Back to the book. An additional pleasure was to find a story which echoes the emergence of weird fiction in these decades. \u2018Haunted\u2019, by Jack Edwards<\/strong>. This is one of the most interesting in here \u2013 a man is haunted by what is at first a glimmer, then a vaguely humanoid presence, and then\u2026 The story seems at first to be a typical ghost story, but builds to an unexpected ending which is open to a number of interesting interpretations. An odd tale altogether, well worth the read, and of interest to those outside the \u2018classic supernatural\u2019 reader circles.<\/p>\n

Two more are worth noting (yeah, it\u2019s a matter of personal taste, as always). Lumley Deakin<\/strong>\u2019s story \u2018Ghosts\u2019 is curious in that it include the presence of a repeat character of the author\u2019s \u2013 the mysterious urbanite Cyrus Sabinette. Deakin wrote a number of Sabinette stories:<\/p>\n