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Book Review: Carnacki: The Watcher at the Gate by William Meikle

 

Carnacki: The Watcher at the Gate by William Meikle, illustrations by M. Wayne Miller

Ghost House, Dark Renaissance Books, 2015

ISBN: 9781937128753

Available: Hardcover, new and used. Currently out of print.

Carnacki: The Watcher at the Gate collects twelve original short stories by William Meikle, with William Hope Hodgson’s supernatural detective at the center. Each story centers on a dire situation: an imperiled individual calls upon the unusual expertise of Carnacki to get to the bottom of the occult goings-on and expertly banish the evil back to the Outer Darkness.

A few of the stories that are particularly well-written incorporate another Hodgson character, Captain Gault. These are some of the most interesting tales of the collection. While Carnacki is a great character, Captain Gault adds a bit more panache to the atmosphere. In “Captain Gault’s Nemesis”, the captain is carrying cursed cargo below decks of his ship, and Carnacki has to deal with the problem. In “The Blue Egg”, Carnacki is a guest aboard Captain Gault’s ship, and witnesses the effects a sliver from a rare gem has on the captain and crew. Everyone who is near it wants to possess it, and its power grows day by day.  In “The Gray Boats”, a strange fog emanating from two abandoned Navy ships destroys everything in its wake, including flesh and bone.

An admirable trait of Carnacki’s is that when children come to him with matters of the occult, he takes them seriously, investigates, and inevitably finds that the issues are real. In “The China Doll,” Lord Atwell of Belgravia calls on Carnacki to investigate his youngest daughter’s room, as she thinks it is haunted. When he is alone in her room, he discovers the china dolls are whispering. His investigation leads him to the manufacturer’s facilities, where it turns out that the manufacturer has a unique problem with the curing oven. In “The Black Swan,” a young girl arrives at Carnacki’s residence, distraught and pleading for his help, regarding a large black bird she thinks lives in her closet. He travels with her to her home, where, after a few minutes of terse conversation, her father relates the story of the black swan in the basement.

In addition to being a friend to the seafaring Captain Gault and children, Carnacki is popular among political figures. In two stories, he comes to the aid of a young Winston Churchill. He also helps the Home Secretary in an investigation of an occult ritual gone wrong.

Other exciting stories await the reader. Having recently revisited one of the original Hodgson books, I can attest that Meikle’s writing is in keeping with the overall tone and atmosphere of Carnacki’s adventures, and I appreciate that, as well as his blending in of the realm of eldritch horror.  The inclusion of horrific entities tormenting humanity and threatening to either kill us or drive us insane is a nice touch, and fit in well with the overall feel of the Carnacki stories. This is a great read that will appeal to readers young and old. Recommended.

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Posted on June 5, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: Flowers in a Dumpster by Mark Allan Gunnells

Flowers In A Dumpster by Mark Allan Gunnells

Crystal Lake Publishing, 2015

ISBN 9780994679321

Available: print, Kindle ebook

Flowers in a Dumpster contains seventeen short stories, each presenting a provocative investigation of human nature, specifically regarding what happens when hope is gone. Several stories stand out to me.

In “Past Lives,” the world is a very different place after a supervirus ravaged the United States, wiping out a large percentage of the population. A struggling family reluctantly takes in a wayward stranger, one who proves to be all too familiar and a reminder of the lies told by the leader of the free world. This was a very striking story.

“Welcome” and “Welcome Back” both focus on Steve and Al, a couple that gets stranded and end up trapped in a strange house. In the first story, the couple head to the first house they see to call for help. They are greeted by a frantic woman, practically dragged inside, and told a fantastic story about her family being trapped in the house for two years. Now that Steve and Al have arrived, the small family can finally escape. But what of Steve and Al? “Welcome Back” is a continuation that takes place five years after the couple became trapped in the mysterious house. I think the most interesting aspect of the stories is watching how each of the men deal with the stress of their situation. It’s truly heartbreaking.

The shortest story of the collection, “The Support Group,” is probably my favorite in this book, and is one of the most powerful. “The Support Group” personifies various cities around the world that are festooned with parasites. They are desperate to rid themselves of their problem, but no one is willing or able to go as far as one did, one who succeeded.

Two other stories that I found to be gripping are “Similar Interests” and Land of Plenty.” The former is a unique take on the serial killer story. It is told through the perspectives of two serial killers. The latter tells of a small but prosperous community that keeps its population in check using an unorthodox method of control.

A few of the stories, while intriguing, didn’t quite deliver. One such story, “The Locked Tower,” dealt with a man obsessed with gaining access to a forbidden tower in a building at his old college. He’s thwarted at every turn by university administration and security, among others. What he discovers falls flat to me, but others may find it to intriguing.

These are just a handful of flowers you can find in this collection. If you want a stories of a visceral nature, pick up this collection. You won’t be disappointed. Recommended.

Contains: body horror, gore, sex, abuse

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on April 28, 2016 by , Reply

Women in Horror Month: Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and The Wind in the Rose-Bush

 

Mary Wilkins Freeman

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman was born on October 31st, 1852 (a great birthdate for a writer of ghost stories) and died March 13, 1930. . She lived during a time when supernatural writing by women flourished, and she was one of the best. She’s been mentioned in the company of Edith Wharton and Henry James, and won the American Academy William Dead Howells Gold Medal. Described primarily as a writer of naturalism, and particularly of regionalism (as were many women writers of the time, including Sarah Orne Jewett) she excelled at creating supernatural tales that took place in the most ordinary of places and situations, in families and small communities where women’s work is never done. Her stories, mostly told through dialogue or by first person narrators, are unsettling because of what isn’t being said. In her story “The Shadow on the Wall”, which takes place in the aftermath of a death in the family, three sisters are desperately trying to block out the creepiness in the room they are working in, and one sister says to another “Don’t speak! I won’t have it!” That’s about as overt as Wilkins-Freeman’s undercurrents of fear and dread ever get. Willful ignorance, dependent behavior, pride, and guilt, especially on the part of women, all appear in Wilkins-Freeman’s stories, and it’s so often what she doesn’t say that really creeps in to stay with you.  In “The Wind in the Rose-Bush”, Rebecca Flint, who has traveled to collect her recently orphaned niece, cannot get a straight answer from anyone about where her niece actually is; in “Luella Miller”, an unreliable  narrator tells us a terrifying story of a woman who literally drains the life out of anyone who helps her.

Wilkins Freeman only wrote about a dozen supernatural stories, and collected six of them into a single volume, The Wind in the Rose-Bush, but it is more than worth your while to seek out her New England ghost stories of haunted women. There’s absolutely no reason not to, since you can read them for free.

For audiobooks of many of her supernatural stories, click here

To download a free ebook of  The Wind in the Rose-Bush, her collection of supernatural stories. click here

If you want all of her work collected together, Amazon sells The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, which includes her novelettes.

For much more detail on her life, click here or seek out Brian Stableford’s entry on her in the St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost, and Gothic Writers at the reference desk of your local library.

 

 

Posted on February 6, 2016 by , Reply
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