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One of the books I received this Christmas was FLOATING STAIRCASE (2011) by Ronald Malfi. This story is told in first person by Travis Glasgow, a writer who has just moved with his wife Jodie into a lake house near his brother’s family. The relationship between Travis and his brother is difficult due to a tragic accident during their childhood and the proceeding years spent struggling to cope. While still children, Travis’ younger brother drowned in a lake near their house. Travis has blamed himself ever since

The lake near their new house has an unusual feature. A staircase ascends out of the center of the water. A young boy, who lived in the house before Travis moved in, disappeared while playing on this floating staircase. When Travis begins to witness signs the house is haunted by a child’s ghost, he becomes obsessed with uncovering exactly what happened to the boy. This obsession further strains his relationships with his family. His wife worries he’s descending into a despair similar to what he’d gone through in the past which nearly lead to their divorce. His brother shares her concern and balks at having the results of his department’s original investigation challenged

Parallels between the boy’s case and that of what happened to his younger brother years before, drives Travis relentlessly forward. The search for what happened at the house before he moved in takes him down a perilous path into the depths of his soul to find the answers he seeks.

I generally avoid novels written in the first person because I thinks it’s tough to pull off for an extended piece, but it can be done well. Graham Masterton’s PREY did an outstanding job of it, and this novel did as well. It maintains the right feel throughout, and the voice used is never distracting. This novel contains an intriguing mystery, a variety of interesting characters, and some good supernatural happenings. I would have preferred more supernatural elements than were present, but that’s probably just because I’m a hopeless supernatural junkie. Overall it was a good, fast paced read that kept the pages turning.

Review by Matt Cowan

It’s good to see Hammer get back into the horror business.  While restoring many of their classic films for Blu-Ray, and producing a new film titled Boneshaker, Hammer is also releasing a number of novels through Random House.

The first, titled The Greatcoat, was written by Helen Dunmore and will be released February 2nd.

This one sounds like paranormal romance –  a woman finds an old RAF greatcoat inside a cupboard of the house her and her family recently moved into.  From the Hammer site:

One cold winter night when her husband is out on call, Isabel finds an old RAF greatcoat in the back of a cupboard that she uses to help keep warm. Once wrapped in the coat she sleeps and is beset by dreams. She wakes to hear a knock at her window, and to meet for the first time the intense gaze of a young Air Force pilot, handsome and blue-eyed, staring in at her from outside.

His name is Alec, and his powerfully haunting presence both disturbs and excites Isabel. Her initial alarm soon fades, and they begin a delicious affair. Isabel gets lost in Alec and starts to question what is real and what is not.

It will be interesting to see what other novels are released.

Wordsworth reprints several classic story collections by great horror writers of the past.  One such collection, IN GHOSTLY COMPANY by Amyas Northcote, was suggested to me by Amazon due to some previous purchases.  It mentioned him as similar to M.R. James, who is a favorite of mine.  I received it for Christmas this year and read it straight through.  The Introduction by David Stuart Davies that begins the book gives some background on Northcote.  Not an easy task, I’m sure, due to the obscurity of this writer.  Born in 1864, his father was Sir Stafford Northcote, lord of a manor and powerful politician.  I found it interesting Amyas attended Eton College the same time as M.R. James, although it is unknown if the two ever met.  This collection of ghost stories was his only published work.  It came out in 1921.  Unfortunately, Amyas died just eighteen months after its publication, making it difficult to promote and relegating him to obscurity.  He might have been forgotten altogether if Montague Summers hadn’t included one of the stories, “Brickett Bottom”, in his influential SUPERNATURAL OMNIBUS (1931).  It makes me wonder how many great writers have become lost to time because of similar circumstances.  While I wouldn’t put Amyas Northcote on the same level as M.R. James, I did enjoy these stories.  “Brickett Bottom”, “In the Woods”, “The Steps” and “The Governess’s Story” were personal favorites of mine.

1- “Brickett Bottom” (1921) – A vicar’s daughter spies a house on her way home she hadn’t noticed before.  Her nearsighted sister is unable to see it.  They plan to visit the following day, but the nearsighted sister injures her foot and can’t go.  When the other goes alone, she fails to return.

2- “Mr. Kershaw and Mr. Wilcox” (1921) – A business arrangement between two neighbors sours, leading to dark consequences in this tale of subtle supernatural underpinnings with a twist ending.

3- “In the Woods” (1921) – A lonely 17 year old girl finds herself enthralled by the woods near her home.  She spends her spare time there and begins to view the trees as her only friends.  She yearns to learn their mysteries and begins to sense the area observing her.  As she slips further from normal life to become more in tune with the woods, she starts to feel that although the woods have great beauty, it also hides powerful evil.

4- “The Late Earl of D.” (1921) – A solicitor witnesses a phantom reenactment of a violent crime.   

5- “Mr. Mortimer’s Diary” (1921) – The diary of a man found dead under bizarre circumstances tells of his being haunted by a diabolical ghost.

6- “The House in the Woods” (1921) –Two men are forced to spend the night in a secluded house in the woods.   

7- “The Steps” (1921) – A young woman is haunted by the approaching footsteps of a man whose love she spurned.  

8- “The Young Lady in Black” (1921) – An artist is approached by a young woman in black who implores him to paint her portrait but is unable to sit for him longer than a half hour.  He encounters her a few times afterwards, each under strange circumstances.

9- “The Downs” (1921) – A man traveling through downlands at night finds himself accompanied by a mysterious stranger.

10- “The Late Mrs. Fowke” (1921) – A man secretly follows his wife on one of her journeys out of town to find her partaking in occult activities.

11- “The Picture” (1921) – A girl becomes enthralled by the portrait of a dead Count in a manor house.

12- “The Governess’s Story” (1921) – A governess keeps hearing someone running and opening a window from a room above her every night.  These unearthly footfalls are tied to a grim family secret.

13- “Mr. Oliver Carmichael” (1921) – A man enters a shop to buy a handkerchief and meets an unattractive, female clerk.  When their eyes meet, he is filled with an inexplicable dread.  From that point on, he is haunted by her and begins to feel evil growing in his soul as it is tormented each night as he sleeps.  

Here’s the Amazon listing for this collection: http://www.amazon.com/Ghostly-Company-Mystery-Supernatural-Tales/dp/1840226439/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326598677&sr=1-1

Reviewed by Matt Cowan

Hey Everybody, if you read my review of Mark Justice’s short story collection LOOKING AT THE WORLD WITH BROKEN GLASS IN MY EYE, you can now get it for just $3.99 for your kindle! http://www.amazon.com/Looking-World-Broken-Glass-ebook/dp/B006U1R5HY/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325874998&sr=1-3

You can read my review by following the link: http://vintagehorror.com/2011/08/looking-at-the-world-with-broken-glass-in-my-eye-by-mark-justice/

Our 5th annual Christmas Horror Stories list includes tales by six of my all-time favorite writers. William Hope Hodgson is the only one missing from that list.  Each of these authors is a true master of the horror genre.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in any of these stories, and if you want more suggestions, follow the links below to the previous Christmas Horror Story articles featured here at Vintage Horror:

December 2007: http://vintagehorror.com/2007/12/ghosts-of-christmas-past/

December 2008: http://vintagehorror.com/2008/12/more-christmas-horror-tales/

December 2009: http://vintagehorror.com/2009/12/christmas-weird-tales-continue-2009/

December 2010: http://vintagehorror.com/2010/12/christmas-horror-stories-4-2010/

1. “The Dead Sexton” by J. Sheridan LeFanu (1871) – A sinister stranger arrives in the small town of Golden Friars shortly after the discovery of a body in the church bell tower around Christmas time.  The deceased man died attempting to rob the church.  The devious stranger arrives on an eerie steed looking to obtain the corpse for unknown purpose.
2. “Between the Lights” by E.F. Benson (1912) – Friends gather to celebrate Christmas at Everard Chandler’s house.  After a day filled with Billiards and playing hide and seek, the members of this party gather around the fireplace to tell each other ghost stories.  Everard’s is the most unsettling, however, as he recounts a disturbing vision he had the previous Christmas Eve, and the strange being he later encounters.  This story balances both festive and eerie atmospheres perfectly.  A prime example of what I’m looking for in a Christmas-themed horror story.  Here’s a snippet of Benson setting the scene where Everard is beginning to tell his story. “The room still remained in dubious darkness except for the sudden lights disclosed on the walls by the leaping flames on the hearth, and there was wide field for conjecture as to what might lurk in the dim corners.  Everard moreover, who had been sitting in the bright light before, was banished by the extinction of some flaming log into the shadows.  A voice alone spoke to us, as he sat back in his low chair, a voice rather slow but very distinct.”
3. “Transition” by Algernon Blackwood (1913) – A man embarks on a bizarre and nightmarish journey home to his family with a bundle of newly purchased Christmas presents for them.
4. “An Appearance and a Disappearance” by M.R. James (1919) – Told in the form of letters written from one friend to another, the writer laments that he cannot attend their usual Christmas gathering because he is looking into the disappearance of his uncle.  The man tells of a disturbing dream he had involving a dark version of the famous Punch and Judy puppet show.  His terrifying nightmare proves to be more than just a meaningless dream.
5. “Someone in the Lift” by L.P. Hartley (1955) – A boy and his family are spending the holidays in a hotel.  The lift (elevator) has a see-through bared door.  The boy is the only one who keeps seeing a tall figure when the lift moves into view.  His mother becomes concerned with this fixation and asks his father to talk to him about it.  He does so by suggesting the figure in the lift is possibly Father Christmas.  This is a very short but good classic tale of holiday horror.
6. “The Christmas Present” by Ramsey Campbell (1969) – A young student joins a group of festive partiers at an establishment without being invited.  Feeling obliged by the holiday, they invite him to continue to revel with them as their party moves to a house.  The student gives the homeowner a wrapped present but tells him not to open it until midnight.  As the group walks to the house, they notice the power going out behind them and strange shadows moving from a recently moved graveyard.

I hope you’ll give some of these stories a read around the Christmas tree to recapture the lost tradition of telling ghost stories during this festive season.  There’s something about the rich history and tradition of Christmas that begs for a little eerie seasoning.

Merry Christmas,

Matt Cowan

A few years back I did an article here about Algernon Blackwood featuring 8 of his stories (“The Empty House”, Keeping His Promise”, “A Case of Eavesdropping”, “The Kit Bag”, “The Whisperer”, “The Other Wing” and “The Valley of the Beasts”).  That article can be found at: http://vintagehorror.com/2009/02/algernon-blackwood/.  Luckily, there’s plenty more of his tales out there, so this month we’ll look at a few more.

1-“The Wood of the Dead” (1906) – A man traveling through a town encounters a mysterious older gentleman who speaks lyrically of the area.  The older man tells him to come to a place he calls “The Wood of the Dead” later that night, and he will teach him something of his purpose for being there.  This older man, who has an aura of secret knowledge about him, vanishes when the traveler isn’t looking.  When he asks the maid about the mysterious man and his “Wood of the Dead”, she tells him of the strange history attached to both.

2-”A Suspicious Gift” (1906) – A poor, but generous, journalist is visited by a strange man who says he’s been sent to deliver 100 thousand dollars to him from someone who wishes to remain anonymous.  This mysterious benefactor says he’s doing so because the benefactor is aware of his great need for it.  All is not as it at first appears in this crime oriented story.

3-“Wendigo” (1910) – This novella is a masterpiece of setting and atmosphere.  A group goes into a Canadian forest to hunt.  The descriptions of the vast wooded wilderness are tremendous, as is the creeping sense of dread that something ominous lays in wait ahead.  The trouble starts when the group splits up.  A strange odor is the precursor to a force that seeks to overwhelm them.  Here is a brief example of Blackwood’s ability to set a scene.  “Deep silence fell about the little camp, planted there so audaciously in the jaws of the wilderness.  The lake gleamed like a sheet of black glass beneath the stars.  The cold air pricked.  In the draughts of night that poured their silent tide from the depths of the forest, with messages from distant ridges and from lakes just beginning to freeze, there lay already the faint, bleak odors of coming winter.  White men, with their dull scent, might never have divined them; the fragrance of the wood fire would have concealed from them these almost electrical hints of moss and bark and hardening swamp a hundred miles away.”  A truly eerie story of horror set amongst the vastness of nature.

4-“The Transfer” (1912) – A different take on the vampire tale.  A man, who somehow seems to absorb the energy, ideas and prosperity of those around him to his own benefit, comes across a mysterious dead spot of ground.  The dead spot is also hungry, and the two forces are drawn into conflict with each other.

I have a guest blog featured over at the BMJ2K site.  I list 13 of my favorite short horror stories.  The list ranges in dates from 1851 to 2001.  You can find it at http://bmj2k.com/2011/11/25/spotlight-matt-cowan/ .  Hope you enjoy it.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving,

Matt Cowan

Burn, Witch, Burn!, or Night Of The Eagle as it was released in Britain, is a 1962 film based on the novel Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber.  Leiber’s 1943 story was then adapted for the screenplay by Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson and George Baxt. Alright.  Those are some recognizable names. You expect good things from recognizable names.  I won’t go in to the individual achievements of the three screenwriters here, suffice it to say you’d think something they’d worked together on would be mind-blowingly great.   If you’d like to continue thinking that way, don’t watch this film.  Or, better yet, watch it and explain to me what I missed because my opinion doesn’t seem to match with those who should know.

From the wikipedia article:

The New York Times called Night of the Eagle “quite the most effective ‘supernatural’ thriller since Village of the Damned” and perhaps the “best outright goose-pimpler dealing specifically with witchcraft since I Walked with a Zombie…in 1943.” and noted:

Simply as a suspense yarn, blending lurid conjecture and brisk reality, growing chillier by the minute, and finally whipping up an ice-cold crescendo of fright, the result is admirable. Excellently photographed (not a single “frame” is wasted), and cunningly directed by Sidney Hayers, the incidents gather a pounding, graphic drive that is diabolically teasing. The climax is a nightmarish hair-curler but, we maintain, entirely logical within the context.

Are we talking about the same movie here?  Even while putting aside my 2011 horror sensibilities, there are no frights in this movie.  It is seldom even weird.  It’s just kind of, well, up until the very end you could have replaced the allusions to witchcraft with another man, and had the ‘wife gets caught seeing another guy on the side’ kind of domestic melodrama.  But I’ve gotten ahead of myself.

The movie opens with a black screen, and the distinctive voice of Paul Frees offering a few words to ward off the evil that may be attached to what we’re about to see.  I fear his words may have worked too well: not only was there a disappointing lack of evil, but Mr. Frees seems to have chased away any notion of having a good time while watching it as well.

The story starts in the classroom, where psychology professor Norman Taylor is teaching his class about superstition, and the supernatural.  Norman, being a learned man of science, doesn’t believe in any of it and tells the class all that is required to defeat the powers of the supernatural are four words, “I do not believe”.  We’ll see about that Norman.

After learning his wife Tansy has been practicing witchcraft behind his back to assist his career, and protect him from harm, Norman demands she collect all her witchy accoutrements (dead spiders, vials of graveyard dirt, animal skulls, bells) and together they burn it all in the fireplace.  Here’s when things start going south for old Norman Taylor.

After dodging a few close calls of various natures, Tansy becomes convinced Norman is in physical danger, especially since she is no longer practicing her protective magic.  It turns out there are other witches running around, and Tansy takes action.  Will they be able to defeat the forces of evil?  Will Norman ever believe in the supernatural?

Who cares?

Burn, Witch, Burn! is an 87 minute wait.  The opening spell cast by Paul Frees had me hopeful, but it was all going down the slide in slow motion from there.  There are no scares here, and even those interested in witchcraft will be let down by the lack of any of that classic imagery.  No pointy hats, no cauldrons, no mention of spells (other than the opening), nothing.  The only thing tied to a stake and threatened here was my patience.  In fact, there may have been more witchcraft performed in Bell, Book, And Candle.  You know, that romantic comedy with Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak?

Maybe things were too subtle here for my taste.  Or, maybe there was just nothing there.  This is a horror movie for those who don’t like horror movies.  It’s a ‘thriller’ that revolves around the nature of belief with a sprinkling of the supernatural.  There’s nothing wrong with that if it’s what you’re after, but I’m still trying to figure out how they filled an hour and a half with it.