Customer Reviews

Tales from a Gas-Lit Graveyard (Dover Mystery, Detective, & Other Fiction)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This Dover edition is an unabridged reprint of the edition published in 1979 by W. H. Allen, London, and contains the following short stories.

The Haunted Station by Hume Nesbit
The Hour and the Man by Robert Barr
Nut Bush Farm by Mrs. J. H. Riddell
The Man Who Coined His Blood in Gold by J. H. Pearce
The Shrine of Death by Lady Dilke
The Black Veil by Lady Dilke
The Ways of Ghost by Ambrose Bierce
The Fever Queen by K & H Prichard
The Permanent Stiletto by W. C. Morrow
The Houseboat by Richard Marsh
Dame Inowslad by R. Murray Gilchrist
The Mountain of Spirits by Anonymous
The Golden Bracelet by Anonymous
The Tyburn Ghost by The Countess of Munster
Remorseless Vengeance by Guy Boothby
The Green Bottle by Bernard Capes
An Eddy on the Floor by Bernard Capes

The collection, largely based on conventional Victorian ghost story formula, comes from the contemporary magazines or books of collected short stories, and many of them were originally published around the late 19th century in England or America. The collection starts with `The Haunted Station' in which an escaped convict in Australia experiences a weird thing or two in a deserted house in the middle of nowhere in Down Under, and ends with a tale about a mysterious cell in prison. None of them might not be as scary as, say, W. W. Jacobs' anthology favorite `The Monkey's Paw', and Barr's story belongs to another genre such as `cruel tales' by some French writers, but the distinct taste of Victorian ghost stories is always there in this selection.

The writers are not all second-rate, as you might think. Look carefully, and you will find some familiar names like Ambrose Bierce (his four `stories' here are actually urban legend like reports on the strange episodes that really happened. At least, so they claim). Richard Marsh is, and will be, known as the writer of `The Beetle' while Guy Boothby is famous for his unique creation for the arch-villain Dr. Nichola. These biographical things are provided by the editor Hugh Lamb for those who are interested in the historical background.

Not all are bone-chilling stories, I must say, and some of them are rather impossible by today's standard (of medicine, read the story of stiletto for instance); some are awfully predictable, and some, though given good ideas, miss the chance to develop them. But for those who like reading old-fashioned macabre tales, and who can ignore the obvious flaws, the collection would be a nice choice to read at night.

Anticipation of this book did not fulfill my expectations. Though a devotee of Victorian ghost stories and novellas, this collection is one of the bottom of the victorian barrel as to horror & tales of terror. Some authors become unknown shortly after their demise, this is not necessarily a bad thing. For many especially during the 19th century were vailant authors that wrote to scratch out a living, but who for the most part were uninspired by the gothick muse. Many of the tales in this collection are of a melodramatic "penny dreadful" quality from that era. A memorable tale of terror should grab the reader within a few pages and hold them until the last word. Again, many of these stories made me feel like required college reading of minor Victorian authors. My conclusion...let these dead authors rest in peace, unless your are a student of 19th century literary minutiae.