“The Twilight Hour - Celtic Visions From The Past”

by Simon Marsden

Format: Hardback, 128 pages

Publisher: Little, Brown. 2003

If you are a fan of the horror genre (and if your not you may be on the wrong blog!) then I am sure you will be familiar with the work of Simon Marsden. There is a good chance you may never have heard of him but you will know his work. Sir Simon Marsden is the foremost photographer of gothic, fantastic and supernatural places in the UK (probably the world) and his work has adorned book, magazine and even album (that’s CD kids) covers for the likes of Cormac McCarthy, Phil Rickman and the delightful pop combo Cradle Of Filth.

This collection brings together some of Marsden’s iconic photography with extracts from classic celtic supernatural literature from the likes of Arthur Machen, W.B.Yeats, Bram Stoker and Edgar Allan Poe. What makes Marsden’s style unique is his preference to shoot on black and white infra-red film, followed by hours of post processing in a darkroom. This creates a unique atmosphere in his photography, producing a grainy, black and white image where vegetation is rendered in pale (almost white) tones and the blue sky takes on a dramatic dark and brooding appearance.

Within this collection are some of Marsden’s most famous shots including such magnificent works as Gothic Window, Castle Barnard pg 119, Eccelscreig House pg 69 and Duntulm Castle pg 26. You can see many examples of Simon Marsden’s work at his website here and I would urge everyone to try and get hold of a copy of this book.

The images in this book truly transcend the average illustration and imbue the text with an atmosphere completely in tune with the tone of the stories. Here the Photographs and text work together to create fully formed pieces of art. Marsden’s own experience of the supernatural means he is not purely working at a technical level here but is truly exploring “another dimension - a spirit world”. As an aspiring amateur photographer I can only stare in awe at the technical and aesthetic skill required to create these images, to succeed on page after page is testament to a truly great artist and one I highly recommend you check out.

Rating 5 out of 5

“Fantasy & Science Fiction”

Ed by Gordon Van Gelder

Format: Paperback, 242 Pages

Oct/Nov 2008 Issue

Congratulations to Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine on their 59th Anniversary Issue, that’s right 60 years of publishing which adds up to 1000’s of speculative fiction short stories and articles. This issue is an all-star anniversary Issue and I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy. This is a magazine which I have read occasionally in the past, it’s often hard to find in the UK (as are most speculative fiction mags) but on the basis of this copy it’s well worth seeking out (of course you can make life easy by subscribing here).

The first thing that strikes you is the excellent cover image “New Beginning” by Max Bertolini, it may be called new beginning but to me it epitomises the traditions of SF, harking back to the best of Astounding Stories and the likes but without being old fashioned, much like the entire magazine as it turns out.

The content is the usual mix of short stories (14 of them), book reviews and news along with movie reviews and an excellent science article (Rocks In Space) and all this for the $5.99 cover price. Of course, as with any short story collection there is going to be variation in quality, genre, length and style and this is no exception and of course your preference will undoubtedly be different from mine but I can almost guarantee there will be something here you will like, the range is so broad I can’t believe any speculative fiction fan wouldn’t find something that would delight them here.

My favourites ranged from “Inside Story” by Albert E. Cowdrey which somehow managed to combine the pathos of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath with an excellent and in places very funny mystery tale. “Private Eye” by Terry Bisson a risque love story with a twist was intriguing and “Sleepless Years” by Steven Utley absorbing. These reflect my taste to some extent being more traditional but for way out experimental speculative fiction try “Days of Wonder” by Geoff Ryman or ”Dazzle Joins The Screenwriters Guild” by Scott Bradfield both of which are bizarre reading experiences but memorable ones!

Of course there is one name here that will probably sell loads of copies of the magazine all on it’s own, yes folks the master… Robert Reed! Oh and there is some guy called Stephen King in there who’s story, “The New York Times At Special Bargain Rates” suggests he might have some talent for writing.

So congratulation to F&SF on reaching this milestone and may they continue to expand all our horizons for years to come, on the evidence of this issue both in terms of quality and variety (not to mention sheer volume) the magazine has a bright future and at least one new subscriber.

Rating 4 out of 5

“In A Glass Darkly“

By Sheridan Le Fanu

Format: Paperback, 272 pages.

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions, 2007.

What are the chances of two horror novels being reviewed in the space of a couple of weeks with titles based on 1 Corinthians 13 (”For now we see through a glass, darkly”), kind of slim, but that’s the kind of joined up thinking you get at Highlanders Book Reviews (or pure jammy fluke as they say round these parts!). Perhaps what’s more fascinating is that without Sheridan Le Fanu’s misquote it is highly unlikely that we would have ever arrived at Bill Hussey’s Through A Glass Darkly (review here) despite the 136 year gap, let me explain.

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer who, during the 19th C, was one of the founders of the written ghost story. For a more detailed biography have a look here or here but bear in mind this was a writer who directly influenced both M.R. James (master Victorian Ghost story writer) and Bram Stoker (more on vampires shortly!). This was a contemporary of Dickens, Browning, The Brontes and Stevenson who has largely been forgotten by the wider public so it’s great to see this collection back in print (raises glass to Wordsworth Editions yet again!).

In A Glass Darkly is a collection of 5 stories, each with a different supernatural bent but all loosely connected by the patient notes of a certain Dr Heselius who tries to explain the cases, generally using fairly bizarre pyschopathology. The stories are as follows :-

• Green Tea - About…..well, green tea really, oh and a monkey of course!
• The Familiar - A ghost from the past, Jacob Marley style.
• Mr Justice Harbottle - Payback time for the hanging judge.
• The Room In Le Dragon Volant - No dragons but a sting in the tail.
• Carmilla - An everyday story of lesbian vampirism!

So, as you can see a wide range of stories, some of which work better than others. The Room In Le Dragon Volant is perhaps the least successful and also the least supernatural, It’s also the longest. The Familiar and Mr Justice Harbottle are the most traditional and Green Tea is frankly just a bit mad. The true standout for me however is Carmilla, the story which is thought to have inspired Stoker to write Dracula and which also inspired the Hammer films The Vampire Lovers (based directly on the story) and it’s sequels Lust For A Vampire and Twins Of Evil (thank you Mr Le Fanu!). The descriptive writing in this passage is superb :-

" The glade through which we had just walked lay before us.
At our left the narrow road wound away under clumps of
lordly trees, and was lost to sight amid the thickening
forest.  At the right the same road crosses the steep and
picturesque bridge, near which stands a ruined tower which
once guarded that pass; and beyond the bridge an abrupt
eminence rises, covered with trees, and showing in the
shadow some grey ivy-clustered rocks.

  Over the sward and low grounds a thin film of mist was
stealing like smoke, marking the distances with a
transparent veil; and here and there we could see the river
faintly flashing in the moonlight.

  No softer, sweeter scene could be imagined.  The news I
had just heard made it melancholy; but nothing could disturb
its character of profound serenity, and the enchanted glory
and vagueness of the prospect. "

Of course It’s not all like that, the writing is often of the stilted and dense style which we associate with Victorian literature and as such can often be hard work (I wouldn’t recommend this as bedtime reading) but that comes with the territory for writing that is 140 years old, stick with it and you will be rewarded with  a glimpse of the very foundations of the modern horror story.

Rating 3 out of 5

P.S. You may find a different cover on the new editions of this collection at Wordsworth Edition Have updated it with a slightly more Gothic, slightly less cross-eyed owl as shown below :-

“ Read By Dawn, Volume 3“

Edited by Adele Hartley

Format: Paperback, 246 pages

Publisher : Bloody Books, 2008

One of my formative experiences in becoming a fan of horror fiction was the annual delight of the Pan Book of Horror Stories (for a wee bit of history on this fantastic collection and a glimpse at it’s gory covers have a look here). For a short period in the sixties and seventies this established itself as an outstanding collection of new and published authors and I for one have sadly missed it. It’s great therefore to see a new name as a contender for the Pan crown, that name, Read By Dawn.

This collection, now in its 3rd year, was established to tie in with “Dead by Dawn” the Edinburgh Horror film festival (details here). The film festival has firmly established itself as Scotland’s premier horror film festival since it’s inception in 1993.

Read By Dawn Vol 3 is a collection of 28 short stories by new and published authors and whilst it lacks any really big names it doesn’t suffer as a result. The quality of the stories throughout is top notch and the selection covers just about every gory crevice of the horror genre’s warped and twisted mind you could think of.

As always with a range of stories this diverse, favourites will vary, but just to mention a few of my own:-

• Sonny Boy by Vanessa H Reid - The story of a gruesome family reunion.
• What Will Happen When You are Gone by Jeffory Jacobsen - Watch out for cats next time you are house hunting
• In The Cinema Tree With Orbiting Heads by Kek-W - Simply bizarre story about living in a tree.
• The Devil’s Tavern by Alison J. Littlewood - Classic revenge ghost story.
• Tinsel by Fraser Lee - A slightly different Christmas story.

These are just a few highlights from this excellent collection. Given the diversity of stories on offer ranging from gore to gothic and supernatural to sexy, I have no doubt that your selection of highlights may differ, but I am sure that you will agree, that in terms of overall quality there can be few collections that are as good as this one in the horror genre today. With 28 stories on offer and nearly as many contributing authors I fully expected to be disappointed by at least some of these stories but I can honestly say I enjoyed every single one. Editor Adele Hartley has done a superb job in creating a collection as consistent and entertaining as this one whilst ensuring the full range of tastes is catered for.

Here’s hoping Dead by Dawn’s success and festival curator Adele Hartley’s excellent efforts to compile a definitive annual collection of new horror short stories meet with the success they deserve and can establish Read by Dawn as a worthy successor to the Pan collection. I for one will be looking forward to next years efforts, and the next, and the next…..

Rating 4 out of 5

“The Right Hand Of Doom & Other Tales Of Solomon Kane“

By R. Howard

Format: Paperback, 208 pages.

Publisher : Wordsworth Editions, 2007

Solomon Kane is one of the least known and strangest of Robert E Howard’s characters and that makes him to my mind one of the most fascinating. This collection of 10 short stories and 3 poems will shed some light on Solomon Kane but as outlined by M.J.Elliot in the excellent introduction, Kane will always remain an enigma. He is shortly, however, going to become a much better known enigma as a trilogy of movies are currently in production. You can get a good introduction to the character (and the movies) from the director Michael Basset here. You can also see a short film made of one of the poems in this collection “The Return Of Sir Richard Grenville” here.

Essentially Kane is a puritan who roams the land in the 17th century, actively seeking out adventures and generally taking on all comers. He dishes out vengeance with sword, rapier and pistol and no sinner is safe from his wrath. Describing himself as a “fulfiller of Judgement” or a “vessel for gods wrath” it is clear that religion has a major part to play in his life but at one stage he is even said to have pagan tendencies and certainly seems to have little of the compassion or mercy associated with his religion.

This intense hatred for all things dark and occult leads Kane to many confrontations and whilst his motivation is never explained, his fundamentalism is clearly a major factor. It will be interesting to see how the films create a new backstory to explain Kane’s zealous attitude.

These tales however were less concerned with character motivation than creating good adventure stories. Many appeared in the Weird Tales issues in the late twenties and early thirties and have all the pulp requirements of foreign adventure, nasty bad guys and a bit of bodice ripping (although Kane clearly doesn’t indulge in any of that nonsense!).

The tales range from pure ghost stories in “Skulls In The Stars” and “Rattle Of Bones” to Indiana Jones style adventure in “The Moon Of Skulls”. A few are quite bizarre such as ” Wings in the Night” and there is a marvellous voodoo versus vampire tale in “The Hills Of the Dead”.

If they have a flaw, and a few do, it’s in the style of the writing and particularly the dialogue. Howard attempts to recreate the 17th century dialogue of a Devonian Puritan which comes across as a biblical pirate! Howard may well have achieved accuracy (it was a bit before my time) but the stilted dialogue does not help the flow of the stories. The tenth story is only a fragment “Deaths Black Riders” of what sounds like a fascinating idea.

I don’t believe this collection has the depth or overall quality of the other Howard collection “The Haunter Of The Ring” which I reviewed here but Solomon Kane is such an interesting character it is definitely worth a read and as always with Wordsworth Editions the price is hardly likely to put you off. So impress your friends before the film comes out and explore the mysterious life of Solomon Kane for yourself.

Rating 3 out of 5

“The Haunter Of The Ring &
Other Tales”
by Robert E Howard
Format : Paperback, 397 pages
Publisher : Wordsworth Editions

£2.99, that’s just £2.99 or 3.77 euros or 5.96 dollars, what else could you buy for £2.99 that would thrill you, shock you, amuse you and generally entertain you for a good 5-10 hours (suggestions to the usual address!). Seriously £2.99, now you may have noticed that this blog is by Highlander and that’s a slight clue that I may be Scottish and you could imply that I am tainted with that Scottish racial stereotype of being careful with money, after all we all know- “Copper wire was invented by two Scots fighting over a penny” or that ” A Scotsman never buys an address book, he scores out the people he doesn’t know in a telephone directory.” Well there is a certain element of truth in that but its not just me, even when I took this book to the till the assistant, she had to ask for help as there was clearly a problem with the price (”£2.99 that can’t be right”). So I think we can safely say this book is cheap, as cheap as wee Jock MacCheap from 29 Cheap Street, Cheaptown, in fact. Three cheers then for Wordsworth editions, not only have they avoided the cynical trap of publishing out of copyright material and charging a tenner for it, they have also decided to publish out of print material by key figures in the supernatural genre thereby keeping the genre’s legacy alive, why if I had a hat it would be off right now!

Robert E Howard was a fascinating character. Of course, most people who have heard of him (and that’s probably the vast minority) immediately think of Conan. Not only do they think of Conan but they think of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the 1982 film (trashy but fun) what they don’t think of is the man who single handedly invented the sword and sorcery genre, a man who was mates with H P Lovecraft, a bookish boy who became a leading prizefighter or a man who achieved this in a short lifespan of 30years before committing suicide whilst watching his mother die.

Howard was a leading light in the pulp magazines, such as Weird tales, of the 1930’s along with many of his contemporaries (can you imagine visiting the newsagent to pick up the latest issue with all new stories by Howard, Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith !!) and perfected the art of short story writing in the process. Wordsworth editions have picked up many of these short stories and crafted this collection, all with a supernatural twist. We, therefore, get early Conan tales, Cthulhu mythology tales, Ghost stories, Indiana Jones style adventure tales and sheer trashy adventure crammed into the 400 pages of this book.

To my mind the stories which succeed best are those which draw on Howards extensive knowledge of Celtic/Pictish mythology (The Cairn On The Headland) or those he wrote whilst corresponding with Lovecraft and which add to and enrich the Cthulhu mythos (The Children of The Night) but there are several which cross over such as The Black Stone which contain elements of both. There are weaknesses, clearly the stories were written with a pulp market in mind so whilst they read easily, several are pretty shallow, there are also some uncomfortable racial and sexist comments which in our “pc” world would be unacceptable but when the stories work they are brilliant, the sacrifice scene in “The Black Stone” for example even 76 years after publication can still shock.

The books’ true strength is in revealing the depth of Howards talent (and importance) and as a starting point for the reader wanting to enjoy the Howard that exists beyond Conan and reassess one of the founding fathers of the modern genre. Oh and did I mention its £2.99 !!!!!!

Rating 4 out of 5