Hadji List
Dwayne Olson
"13 Neglected Masterpieces of the Macabre" by R.S. Hadji:
1. BASIL NETHERBY by A.C. Benson
2. BURY HIM DARKLY by John Blackburn
3. THE DARK CHAMBER by Leonard Cline
4. THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE by Hanns Heinz Ewers
5. THE SHINY NARROW GRIN by Jane Gaskell
6. CHILDREN OF THE BLACK SABBATH by Anne Hebert
7. NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND by Gordon Honeycombe
8. TALES OF THE UNEASY by Violet Hunt
9. A BOOK OF BARGAINS by Vincent O'Sullivan
10. THE HOLE OF THE PIT by Adrian Ross
11. RANDALL'S ROUND by Eleanor Scott
12. THE ACCURSED by Claude Seignolle
13. MEDUSA by E.H. Visiak
Since several of these books keep getting cited on other threads I
thought it might be nice to post Bob's novel and collection list from TZ
Magazine for reference purposes. Books were listed without commentary
both for copyright reasons and also because a number of these I haven't
read myself (and so cannot produce commentary of my own without lying
through my teeth).
Bob's other lists were "Most Terrifying Horror Stories", "Supreme
Masters of Weird Fiction", and "Worst Stinkers of the Weird".
DHO
John Pelan
Olson) wrote:
>And now for something completely different.....
>
>"13 Neglected Masterpieces of the Macabre" by R.S. Hadji:
Ah, the premise of this list makes it a little harder to quibble with
than Karl's, as Bob isn't necessarily ascribing "greatness" to any of
these volumes...
>
>1. BASIL NETHERBY by A.C. Benson
Haven't read this in a very long time, so I might not do it justice...
I'll get back to it at some point.
>2. BURY HIM DARKLY by John Blackburn
An excellent book! Blend of SF elements with horror/suspense. It's not
my favorite Blackburn, I'm more partial to DEVIL DADDY and FOR FEAR OF
LITTLE MEN, but there's certainly no question that Blackburn is
underappreciated. That Blackburn was never a best-seller has always
baffled me a little. In many respects, I think he was ahead of his
time as far as marketing went. Were he writing today, I suspect that
he'd have his books displayed right next to Koontz at the grocery
stores and airports. For those not familiar with him, Blackburn was
in essence, writing X-Files thirty years before there was such a
program.
>3. THE DARK CHAMBER by Leonard Cline
Fantastic send-up of the gothic genre. Perhaps the second mention of
this book in two days will be sufficient to troll Doug into discussing
it at length. ;-)
>4. THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE by Hanns Heinz Ewers
I think I discussed this elswhere and mentioned that I feel Alraune
just slightly edges this out as Ewers best novel. However, I certainly
wouldn't dispute that Ewers is sadly neglected today.
>5. THE SHINY NARROW GRIN by Jane Gaskell
Okay, this book infuriates me. I've been looking for a copy ever since
the TZ issue came out with Bob's list. Anyone have an extra? I'm
sitting here with the checkbook in easy reach. It can't be THAT
scarce...
>6. CHILDREN OF THE BLACK SABBATH by Anne Hebert
*sighs* it's in the to-be-read stack, (and has been for a couple of
years, I really should get to it...)
>7. NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND by Gordon Honeycombe
Tremendous book. In the hands of lesser writer, this would have been
merely grotesque. Honeycombe manages to make the situation poignant
and horrifying aat the same time. An interesting riff on the "be
careful what you ask for" plot of "The Monkey's Paw".
>8. TALES OF THE UNEASY by Violet Hunt
The world needs a new edition of "The Best Supernatural Tales of".
Hunt's strong suit is a sense of place so vivid that the settings of
her stories lend an air verisimilitude to them that makes them even
more compelling. Definitely an unjustly negelected author.
>9. A BOOK OF BARGAINS by Vincent O'Sullivan
God bless Jessica Salmonson and David Tibet for giving us MASTER OF
FALLEN YEARS! An amazing prose stylist, and everything as a writer
that lesser talents like Stenbock could only dream about being. It's
sad that O'Sullivan only produced a small body of work, but what he
did manage is wonderful stuff.
>10. THE HOLE OF THE PIT by Adrian Ross
A remarkable period piece. Were it not so readily available in UNCANNY
BANQUET, it would be near the top of the list of novels to reprinted
by Midnight House. I will never forgive myself for not buying Ramsey's
copy of the book when I had a chance to.
>11. RANDALL'S ROUND by Eleanor Scott
A delightful little collection, it remains one of my favorite Ash-Tree
titles. Scott shares wwith Edward Lucas White the characteristic of
using dreams (nightmares) as the inspiration for her tales. The
quality of the stories is very high, with at least two of them worthy
of inclusion on any list of all-time greats in the genre.
>12. THE ACCURSED by Claude Seignolle
Oh dear, another "to be read".
>13. MEDUSA by E.H. Visiak
Flawed, yes. Brilliant, also yes. Sadly neglected, (as is all of
Visiak's fiction), we hope to remedy that situation next year.
Cheers,
John
paghat
>
> >10. THE HOLE OF THE PIT by Adrian Ross
>
> A remarkable period piece. Were it not so readily available in UNCANNY
> BANQUET, it would be near the top of the list of novels to reprinted
> by Midnight House. I will never forgive myself for not buying Ramsey's
> copy of the book when I had a chance to.
Adrian Ross apparently wrote other fiction, since he was already regarded
"a prolific author" before he switched his career to musical plays. Since
I've not encountered him in books I have to assume these earlier works are
in unindexed magazines. His most common work of ficiton, co-authored with
Mary E. Ropes, a novel of Alexander III of Russia, was ON PETER'S ISLAND
(1901). Perhaps HOLE is the only fantasy, I wouldn't know; who has checked
to be certain what the rest consists of? If even one more short novel of
interest could be uncovered, then doing an edition of HOLE OF THE PIT
along with the second work might do the trick. And even UNCANNY BANQUET
has gotten a little hard to find by now. Under his own name, Arthur Reed
Ropes, he published a collection of poetry EVEN SO COME (1904). If two or
three or these were supernatural, that'd be SOMEthing to add, plus finding
someone to write a detailed essay of his life & career, which is not too
poorly documented though mostly you encounter bits about him reading about
the theater of his day.
-paghat
Douglas A. Anderson
> >3. THE DARK CHAMBER by Leonard Cline
>
> Fantastic send-up of the gothic genre. Perhaps the second mention of
> this book in two days will be sufficient to troll Doug into discussing
> it at length. ;-)
John, you're trying again, but didn't my post (after the last mention)
appear to the newsgroup? Not as long as I bet you wanted, but....
Anyway, me server was having problems when I sent it and it came back to me
four times, so I'll copy it here again:
John, I know your trying to bait me into waxing rhapsodically about Cline, I
who worship at the altar of Leonard! The Dark Chamber was on someone's list
in the old Twilight Zone piece-- was it on R. S. Hadji's or T.E.D. Klein's?
I'd be interested to know whether they had it listed as supernatural or not,
being that I view it as non-supernatural-- in fact, as a modern (1920s)
novel, of characters who might inspire legends of werewolves, vampires,
witches and ghosts, using tropes of the Gothic (mad scientist, his
witch/vampiress wife, the ghostly daughter, the I'm-not-Egor-I'm-Igor
servant, all set in a crumbling mansion named Mordance Hall), with the
author's tongue slightly in his cheek. Still as a sustained performance of
hovering gloom, written in the beautiful language of a musician, it is
unsurpassed. I turn the soap-box over to others now....
Doug
Douglas A. Anderson
> >
> > A remarkable period piece. Were it not so readily available in UNCANNY
> > BANQUET, it would be near the top of the list of novels to reprinted
> > by Midnight House. I will never forgive myself for not buying Ramsey's
> > copy of the book when I had a chance to.
>
> Adrian Ross apparently wrote other fiction, since he was already regarded
> "a prolific author" before he switched his career to musical plays. Since
> I've not encountered him in books I have to assume these earlier works are
> in unindexed magazines.
Wasn't it Richard Dalby who recently revealed that the story "By One, by
Two, and by Three", credited to "Stephen Hall", was actually by Ropes? That
would be one to add to the book, and I wonder if there are other "Stephen
Hall" pieces out there in unindexed magazine land....
Doug
Jim Rockhill
John Pelan <jpe...@cnw.com> wrote:
>
>>And now for something completely different.....
>>
>>"13 Neglected Masterpieces of the Macabre" by R.S. Hadji:
>
>Ah, the premise of this list makes it a little harder to quibble with
>than Karl's, as Bob isn't necessarily ascribing "greatness" to any of
>these volumes...
>>
(Snipped here and there with the utmost reluctance)
>
>>2. BURY HIM DARKLY by John Blackburn
>
>An excellent book! Blend of SF elements with horror/suspense. It's
not
>my favorite Blackburn, I'm more partial to DEVIL DADDY and FOR FEAR
OF
>LITTLE MEN, but there's certainly no question that Blackburn is
>underappreciated. That Blackburn was never a best-seller has always
>baffled me a little. In many respects, I think he was ahead of his
>time as far as marketing went. Were he writing today, I suspect that
>he'd have his books displayed right next to Koontz at the grocery
>stores and airports. For those not familiar with him, Blackburn was
>in essence, writing X-Files thirty years before there was such a
>program.
>
I agree. Quite a chilling little novel - sort of a cross between
"Count Magnus" and Quatermass. Why is his work so blasted hard to
find? Not that I would find it that difficult, but Blackburn could run
circles around Koontz' work.
>
>>3. THE DARK CHAMBER by Leonard Cline
>
>Fantastic send-up of the gothic genre. Perhaps the second mention of
>this book in two days will be sufficient to troll Doug into
discussing
>it at length. ;-)
>
Yes, Doug. Please. A piece on Cline's novel, GOD HEAD, would also be
very welcome. I am very fond of several regional ghost stories by
August Derleth, but his dumbed-down rip-off of the plot of THE DARK
CHAMBER for one of his so-called posthumous collaboration with
Lovecraft, a mind-numbing horror by the name of "The Survivor," is one
of the greatest disservices to another work of fiction I know. READ
the book!
>>4. THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE by Hanns Heinz Ewers
>
>I think I discussed this elswhere and mentioned that I feel Alraune
>just slightly edges this out as Ewers best novel. However, I
certainly
>wouldn't dispute that Ewers is sadly neglected today.
>
Having lucked into a copy of this book locally late last year, I have
to say that "slightly edges" is far from the dispraise it might appear
to be considering what a remarkable book ALRAUNE is. The Mahlon Blaine
illustrations are also terrific.
>
>>7. NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND by Gordon Honeycombe
>
>Tremendous book. In the hands of lesser writer, this would have been
>merely grotesque. Honeycombe manages to make the situation poignant
>and horrifying aat the same time. An interesting riff on the "be
>careful what you ask for" plot of "The Monkey's Paw".
>
I thought the opening of this was very slow, but the final portion
along the beach is magical and well worth the time spent earlier.
>>8. TALES OF THE UNEASY by Violet Hunt
>
>The world needs a new edition of "The Best Supernatural Tales of".
>Hunt's strong suit is a sense of place so vivid that the settings of
>her stories lend an air verisimilitude to them that makes them even
>more compelling. Definitely an unjustly negelected author.
>
And when ARE we going to see a new collection of her work, for
goodness' sake?
>>9. A BOOK OF BARGAINS by Vincent O'Sullivan
>
>God bless Jessica Salmonson and David Tibet for giving us MASTER OF
>FALLEN YEARS! An amazing prose stylist, and everything as a writer
>that lesser talents like Stenbock could only dream about being. It's
>sad that O'Sullivan only produced a small body of work, but what he
>did manage is wonderful stuff.
>
I agree very nice and MASTER OF FALLEN YEARS is a beautiful book.
>>10. THE HOLE OF THE PIT by Adrian Ross
>
>A remarkable period piece. Were it not so readily available in
UNCANNY
>BANQUET, it would be near the top of the list of novels to reprinted
>by Midnight House. I will never forgive myself for not buying
Ramsey's
>copy of the book when I had a chance to.
>
I hope, as Jessica has stated, that there might be more work hidden
away in magazines, that might justify a reissue of this novel.
>
>>11. RANDALL'S ROUND by Eleanor Scott
>
>A delightful little collection, it remains one of my favorite
Ash-Tree
>titles. Scott shares wwith Edward Lucas White the characteristic of
>using dreams (nightmares) as the inspiration for her tales. The
>quality of the stories is very high, with at least two of them worthy
>of inclusion on any list of all-time greats in the genre.
>
I like Scott's work a great deal, but except for "Celui La" do not
find that she translates her dreams into fiction as successfully as
White.
>
>>12. THE ACCURSED by Claude Seignolle
>
>Oh dear, another "to be read".
>
I just found a copy of this last month after hunting for it since this
list first appeared. It will probably take me a year to find time to
read it, though.
>
>Cheers,
>
>John
P.S. Between my server sending me odd selections from the postings at
this ng and Google taking much longer than 3-9 hours to reveal them,
it is becoming damn difficult to follow what is going on here some
days.
Christopher & Barbara Roden
>
> Wasn't it Richard Dalby who recently revealed that the story "By One, by
> Two, and by Three", credited to "Stephen Hall", was actually by Ropes?
That
> would be one to add to the book, and I wonder if there are other "Stephen
> Hall" pieces out there in unindexed magazine land....
>
purchased a letter from M. R. James. 'The Hole of the Pit' was dedictated to
Monty, and was published by James's publisher, Arnold, in 1914. 'Adrian
Ross' was the pseudonym of Arthur Reed Ropes, who was at King's College from
1882, and who likley came across MRJ very often. However, MRJ never
identified 'By One, By Two, or By Three' as being by Ropes, though he was
sent a copy by W. H. Hutton, Dean of Winchester, in 1924. In Cross's letter
[all this comes from a private correspondence with Richard Dalby, by the
way], MRJ comments: '. . . there are no tricks of style that I can pitch
upon. No, I must give it up: but I have enjoyed this story very much..
Richard Traced publication to TEMPLE BAR, and traced Repes's identity
through combing the WELLESLEY INDEX, based on original TEMPLE BAR ledgers
and records.
Richard's been trying to persuade me to put the two stories together into
one volume, though I've felt it a little close to UNCANNY BANQUET to
actually do anything definite just yet. UNCANNY BANQUET, however, though it
had US circulation through being remaindered here, doesn't seem to be overly
common these days (Ramsey tells me that there was no specific U.S. edition:
it was the UK Little Brown edition that was remaindered). One day soon,
perhaps . . .
CR
Christopher & Barbara Roden
'By One, By Two, and By Three', as by Stephen Hall, was included by Dalby in
his TWELVE GOTHIC TALES (Oxford, 1998). At that time, he had not made the
identification.
CR
Mark Dillon
Jim Rockhill wrote:
> I am very fond of several regional ghost stories by
> August Derleth, but his dumbed-down rip-off of the plot of THE DARK
> CHAMBER for one of his so-called posthumous collaboration with
> Lovecraft, a mind-numbing horror by the name of "The Survivor," is one
> of the greatest disservices to another work of fiction I know.
A truly infuriating piece, I agree. But even worse, to my mind,
is Lin Carter's "posthumous collaboration" with Clark Ashton
Smith (!), "The Light from the Pole," which appeared in the first
Zebra issue of WEIRD TALES (and can be read, in all its self-complacent
splendour, at http://members.nbci.com/eldritchdark/ ).
Carter butchers the original draft of "The Coming of the White Worm"
in an ill-begotten *sequel* to that story. By the slime of Rlim
Shaikorth, why? Why?!?
> Between my server sending me odd selections from the postings at
> this ng and Google taking much longer than 3-9 hours to reveal them,
> it is becoming damn difficult to follow what is going on here some
> days.
I sympathize -- but then again, in a newsgroup as steadily focussed
as this one, nothing you have to say will ever be considered "out of
date."
Mark Dillon
Quebec, Canada
Douglas A. Anderson
> Jim Rockhill wrote:
>
> > I am very fond of several regional ghost stories by
> > August Derleth, but his dumbed-down rip-off of the plot of THE DARK
> > CHAMBER for one of his so-called posthumous collaboration with
> > Lovecraft, a mind-numbing horror by the name of "The Survivor," is one
> > of the greatest disservices to another work of fiction I know.
Actually, Jim, it's "The Ancestor" and it was first published in THE
SURVIVOR AND OTHERS (1957). I was written in 1954, and sent to Dorothy
McIlwraith for Weird Tales, which had the good taste to go under before
publishing such crap.
Some years ago when I sent Cline's daughter a copy of the Derleth story,
she was absolutely appalled.
Mark Dillon wrote:
> A truly infuriating piece, I agree. But even worse, to my mind,
> is Lin Carter's "posthumous collaboration" with Clark Ashton
> Smith (!), "The Light from the Pole," which appeared in the first
> Zebra issue of WEIRD TALES (and can be read, in all its self-complacent
> splendour, at http://members.nbci.com/eldritchdark/ ).
>
> Carter butchers the original draft of "The Coming of the White Worm"
> in an ill-begotten *sequel* to that story. By the slime of Rlim
> Shaikorth, why? Why?!?
You should count yourself truly lucky if you've only encountered one of
these Carter-Smith posthumous collaborations. There are several others, one
of which is most appropriately entitled "The Utmost Abomination". And
Carter wrote a number of Smith pastiches on his own, and planned others,
intending to assemble them in his own Book of Eibon.
Doug
Jim Rockhill
Perhaps these should all be collected into a book some day with the
title THE UTMOST ABOMINATIONS. We could then gather at a pier and
pitch them into the sea.
Jim
Mark Dillon
Jim Rockhill wrote, in reply to Douglas A. Anderson:
>> You should count yourself truly lucky if you've only encountered one of
>> these Carter-Smith posthumous collaborations. There are several others, one
>> of which is most appropriately entitled "The Utmost Abomination". And
>> Carter wrote a number of Smith pastiches on his own, and planned others,
>> intending to assemble them in his own Book of Eibon.
>>
>> Doug
> Perhaps these should all be collected into a book some day with the
> title THE UTMOST ABOMINATIONS. We could then gather at a pier and
> pitch them into the sea.
>
> Jim
But... that would be dumping toxic waste!
Mark Dillon
Quebec, Canada
Jim Rockhill
You are right. I should have thought of that! What. . have . . I . . done!!!