The Valancourt Books of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories #2
Fifteen more chilling tales of Yuletide terror, collected from rare Victorian periodicals
Following the popularity of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843), Victorian newspapers and magazines frequently featured ghost stories at Christmas time, and reading them by candlelight or the fireside became an annual tradition. This second volume of Victorian Christmas ghost stories contains fifteen tales, most of which have never been reprinted. They represent a mix of the diverse styles and themes common to Victorian ghost fiction and include works by once-popular authors like Grant Allen and Eliza Lynn Linton as well as contributions from anonymous or wholly forgotten writers. This volume also features a new introduction by Prof. Allen Grove.
“At first I was aware only of a bluish, misty, phosphorescent light, and then a ghastly terror, that froze the very blood in my veins, seized me, for suddenly I saw rise up out of the inky darkness the form of a man—the eyes of a hideous red, fixed on mine with a look of hate ...” - Coulson Kernahan, “Haunted!”
“As I stood in breathless horror, unable to stir a limb, the figure raised its arm, a skeleton hand emerged from the heavy folds of the cloak, and touched my elbow. A scorching pain shot through me, I uttered a shriek——” - Emily Arnold, “The Ghost of the Treasure-Chamber”
“Again that shudder passed through his body, and again he unwillingly met the glance of those diabolical eyes upon the scroll. Horror of horrors! was the face alive, or was he going mad?” - Anonymous, “The Weird Violin”
Fifteen more chilling tales of Yuletide terror, collected from rare Victorian periodicals
Following the popularity of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843), Victorian…
‘What are the possibilities of my strength? That is a thought I have never had before. What if some morning as the old woman stood at the head of the staircase she were suddenly to feel a weight thrusting against the back of her legs? What if she were to lunge forward, grasping at the air, striking her thin skull against the edge of a stair? What would become of me if she were found unmoving at the bottom of the stairway?’
Such are the thoughts of Baxter, a sociopathic bull terrier on the hunt for the perfect master, as he contemplates the demise of his first victim. The basis for the acclaimed 1989 film Baxter, Ken Greenhall’s utterly chilling and long-unobtainable Hell Hound (1977) has earned a reputation as a lost classic of horror fiction. This first-ever reissue includes a new introduction by Grady Hendrix.
Cover illustration by Henry Petrides
‘What are the possibilities of my strength? That is a thought I have never had before. What if some morning as the old woman stood at the head of the staircase she were suddenly…
“If you were to go into your bedroom tonight – perhaps by candlelight – and sit quietly before the large mirror, you might see what I have seen. Sit patiently, looking neither at yourself nor at the glass. You might notice that the image is not yours, but that of an exceptional person who lived at some other time...”
The image in the mirror of fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Cuttner is that of the fey and long-dead Frances, who introduces Elizabeth to her chilling world of the supernatural. Through Frances, Elizabeth learns what it is to wield power – power of a kind that is malevolent and seemingly invincible. Power that begins with the killing of her parents...
First published in 1976, Ken Greenhall's debut novel Elizabeth is a lost classic of modern horror fiction that deserves rediscovery. This edition includes a new introduction by Jonathan Janz.
“If you were to go into your bedroom tonight – perhaps by candlelight – and sit quietly before the large mirror, you might see what I have seen. Sit patiently, looking neither at…
One of the preeminent writers of weird fiction, Robert Aickman is celebrated for his unsettling and often ambiguous "strange stories," but he once wrote that "those, if any, who wish to know more about me, should plunge beneath the frivolous surface of The Late Breakfasters," his only novel, originally published in 1964.
In The Late Breakfasters, young Griselda de Reptonville is invited by Mrs. Hatch to a house party at her country estate, Beams (which, incidentally, is haunted). There, amidst an array of eccentric characters and bizarre happenings, she will meet the love of her life, Louise. But when their short-lived relationship is cruelly cut short, Griselda must embark on a quest to recapture the happiness she has lost.
Never before published in the United States and long unobtainable, Aickman's odd and whimsical novel is joined in this omnibus volume by six of his finest weird tales (three of them making their first-ever American appearance): "My Poor Friend", "The Visiting Star", "Larger Than Oneself", "A Roman Question", "Mark Ingestre: The Customer's Tale", and "Rosamund's Bower", as well as a new introduction by Philip Challinor.
One of the preeminent writers of weird fiction, Robert Aickman is celebrated for his unsettling and often ambiguous "strange stories," but he once wrote that "those, if any, who…
The Valancourt Books of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories #1
The first-ever collection of Victorian Christmas ghost stories, culled from rare 19th-century periodicals
During the Victorian era, it became traditional for publishers of newspapers and magazines to print ghost stories during the Christmas season for chilling winter reading by the fireside or candlelight. Now for the first time thirteen of these tales are collected here, including a wide range of stories from a diverse group of authors, some well-known, others anonymous or forgotten. Readers whose only previous experience with Victorian Christmas ghost stories has been Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol will be surprised and delighted at the astonishing variety of ghostly tales in this volume.
“In the sickly light I saw it lying on the bed, with its grim head on the pillow. A man? Or a corpse arisen from its unhallowed grave, and awaiting the demon that animated it?” - John Berwick Harwood, Horror: A True Tale
“Suddenly I aroused with a start and as ghostly a thrill of horror as ever I remember to have felt in my life. Something—what, I knew not—seemed near, something nameless, but unutterably awful.” - Ada Buisson, The Ghost’s Summons
“There was no longer any question what she was, or any thought of her being a living being. Upon a face which wore the fixed features of a corpse were imprinted the traces of the vilest and most hideous passions which had animated her while she lived.” - Walter Scott, The Tapestried Chamber.
The first-ever collection of Victorian Christmas ghost stories, culled from rare 19th-century periodicals
During the Victorian era, it became traditional for publishers of…
On a split of land cut off by the Gulf, three Victorian summer houses stand against the encroaching sand. Two of the houses at Beldame are still used. The third house, filling with sand, is empty...except for the vicious horror which is shaping nightmares from the nothingness that hangs in the dank, fetid air.
The McCrays and Savages, two fine Mobile families allied by marriage, have been coming to Beldame for years. This summer, with a terrible funeral behind them and a messy divorce coming up, even Luker McCray and little India down from New York are looking forward to being alone at Beldame.
But they won't be alone. For something there, something they don't like to think about, is thinking about them...and about all the ways to make them die.
On a split of land cut off by the Gulf, three Victorian summer houses stand against the encroaching sand. Two of the houses at Beldame are still used. The third house, filling…
Three supernatural novellas by Robert Westall, hailed as the finest British author of ghost stories since M.R. James, collected together for the first time.
BLACKHAM’S WIMPEY
Why should three successive crews flying a Second World War bomber – Blackham’s Wimpey – be driven to madness, despair, even death, though the plane returns from each mission without a scratch?
‘A writer of disturbing brilliance’ – Times Educational Supplement
THE WHEATSTONE POND
Too many deaths, too many suicides. It was more than coincidence. The Wheatstone Pond was a killer. When it’s drained, antique dealer Jeff Morgan gets interested, hoping there’ll be a few valuable wrecks of model boats down there. He isn’t prepared for the horror he will
find instead . . .
‘Gutsy and energetic, grippingly plotted’ – Guardian
YAXLEY’S CAT
Sepp Yaxley vanished seven years ago, and no one has seen him since. Rose and her children Tim and Jane thought his vacant cottage, alone by the marshes, seemed like the perfect place for a holiday adventure. But that was before they decided to find out what happened to old Yaxley. Before they started to find strange things in the garden. Before the neighbors began to act weird. Before Yaxley’s cat came back . . .
Three supernatural novellas by Robert Westall, hailed as the finest British author of ghost stories since M.R. James, collected together for the first time.
Ruined in the stock market crash of 1929, Selden Seaforth is on the verge of homelessness and starvation when he gets a lucky an old school friend, Ormond Ormes, hires him to catalogue the collection of rare books in the library at the mansion of Ormesby.
The mansion has a reputation for being haunted by ghosts, but Seaforth quickly finds out that ghosts are the least of his the house is also inhabited by a bizarre family of madwomen, not to mention possibly vampires, werewolves, and the undead....
Easily one of the strangest horror novels ever published, J.U. Nicolson's Fingers of Fear (1937) is also notable for its inclusion on Karl Edward Wagner's list of the top thirteen supernatural horror novels of all time. This unabridged reprint features the original rare dust jacket art.
Ruined in the stock market crash of 1929, Selden Seaforth is on the verge of homelessness and starvation when he gets a lucky an old school friend, Ormond Ormes, hires him to…
Three teenage boys, the sole survivors of a shipwreck, find themselves marooned on a deserted island in the South Pacific. With little more than a telescope and a broken knife, the youths must find food and shelter and learn to survive. But though the coral island is a tropical paradise, full of natural beauty and exotic fruits and wildlife, dangers and adventures abound: sharks, pirates, and even bloodthirsty cannibals!
Three teenage boys, the sole survivors of a shipwreck, find themselves marooned on a deserted island in the South Pacific. With little more than a telescope and a broken knife,…
Alex Hamilton’s contributions to the famous Pan Books of Horror Stories series quickly secured his reputation as one of the best and most original writers of macabre tales of his generation. Beam of Malice (1966), his first collection, features many of his finest and most unsettling tales and showcases his unique and unusual imagination. In these stories, Hamilton does not rely on ghosts, the supernatural, or the standard machinery of horror fiction in order to induce his chills. Instead, he focuses on ordinary people whose lives are suddenly and inexplicably interrupted by bizarre, disturbing, and sometimes deadly occurrences.
Alex Hamilton’s contributions to the famous Pan Books of Horror Stories series quickly secured his reputation as one of the best and most original writers of macabre tales of his…
Philip and Margaret Waverton and their friend Roger Penderel are driving through the mountains of Wales when a torrential downpour washes away the road and forces them to seek shelter for the night. They take refuge in an ancient, crumbling mansion inhabited by the strange and sinister Femm family and their brutish servant Morgan. Determined to make the best of the circumstances, the benighted travellers drink, talk, and play games to pass the time while the storm rages outside. But as the night progresses and tensions rise, dangerous and unexpected secrets emerge. On the house's top floor are two locked doors; behind one of them lies the mysterious, unseen Sir Roderick Femm, and behind the other lurks an unspeakable terror. Which is more deadly: the apocalyptic storm outside the house or the unknown horrors that await within? And will any of them survive the night?
Benighted (1927), a classic 'old dark house' novel of psychological terror, was the second novel by J. B. Priestley (1894-1984), better known for his classics The Good Companions (1929), Angel Pavement (1930) and Bright Day (1946). The basis for James Whale's 1932 film The Old Dark House, Benighted returns to print for the first time in fifty years. This edition includes the unabridged text of the first British edition, a new introduction by Orrin Grey, and a reproduction of the rare jacket art of the 1927 Heinemann edition.
Philip and Margaret Waverton and their friend Roger Penderel are driving through the mountains of Wales when a torrential downpour washes away the road and forces them to seek…
Gerard Sorme thinks the key to a more meaningful life lies in an expansion of human consciousness, and he believes that one way to expand it is through sexual experiences. He sets out to record in diary form his sexual encounters with various women: the middle-aged Gertrude, her teenage niece Caroline, and Diana, the wife of a mad composer determined to adapt Varney the Vampire into an opera. But Sorme finds his beliefs and ideas challenged when he meets the fascinating and dangerous Caradoc Cunningham, who seems to possess occult powers and who has developed his own methods of expanding consciousness through drugs, orgies, and black magic. And when Cunningham is targeted by his enemies, fellow occultists who he believes are directing the powers of evil spirits at him, Sorme will find himself caught up in Cunningham’s peril, culminating in his participation in a bizarre and frightening ritual. . . .
First published in 1963, Man Without a Shadow explores Wilson's philosophy in the form of a black magic thriller that draws on inspirations as diverse as the writings of Aleister Crowley and Montague Summers, Huysmans's Là-bas, and the ‘penny dreadfuls’ of Thomas Prest. This 50th anniversary edition includes the unabridged text of the first British edition and a new introduction by Wilson scholar Colin Stanley.
Gerard Sorme thinks the key to a more meaningful life lies in an expansion of human consciousness, and he believes that one way to expand it is through sexual experiences. He sets…
Two prisoners of war make a daring escape from their captors, fleeing across a hostile and alien terrain towards safety across the border, more than four hundred miles away. Equipped only with the few supplies they are able to steal and with nothing to fall back on but their courage and determination to survive, MacConnachie and Ansell suffer almost unimaginable horrors as their bodies are pushed by heat, hunger, and exhaustion to the limits of endurance. And all the while, they are pursued on foot by enemy soldiers and from above by a black helicopter hovering in the sky, menacing . . . and waiting.
A thrilling, page-turning story of perseverance in the face of almost certain death, Figures in a Landscape (1968) was shortlisted for the inaugural Booker Prize and filmed in 1970 by celebrated director Joseph Losey. This edition features a new introduction by Craig Russell and a reproduction of the iconic jacket art by Tom Adams.
Two prisoners of war make a daring escape from their captors, fleeing across a hostile and alien terrain towards safety across the border, more than four hundred miles away.…
It would be hard to imagine a novel more quietly terrifying than this sunlit nightmare of a book.' - Robert Baldick, Daily Telegraph
'[A]s profound as anything put out by names like Graham Greene, Patrick White and the rest. This establishes Thomas Hinde as one of our finest and most individual novelists. A superb book - deep, rapid, thrilling, disturbing.' - Anthony Burgess
'The cleverest book I have read this year . . . a macabre high comedy by an author whose lynx-eyed social observation is matched by his power to bring forth nightmares in broad daylight.' - Irving Wardle, The Observer
The hero of Thomas Hinde's classic of paranoia is Harry Bale, a married father of two with a house in the suburbs and a penchant for gardening. Affable and mild-mannered, he is to all outward appearance perfectly ordinary. No one-not even his wife-knows what he is really up to. Harry is awaiting a call from his superiors on the radio transmitter hidden beneath the attic floorboards. There are signs the call will come soon: he has begun to receive sinister messages by letter and telephone, and he thinks he has uncovered a monstrous conspiracy involving his neighbours. But when one day the call finally does come and Harry receives his deadly assignment, nothing will ever be the same again. . . .
Frightening in its implications and darkly humorous in its execution, Thomas Hinde's thriller The Day the Call Came (1964) earned rave reviews on its initial appearance but has been long out of print. This edition features a new introduction by Ramsey Campbell and the original jacket art by Victor Reinganum.
It would be hard to imagine a novel more quietly terrifying than this sunlit nightmare of a book.' - Robert Baldick, Daily Telegraph
"These stories say something meaningful, as well as relate an anecdote. They are not only examples of narrative skill, but exhibitions of social truth." - Saturday Review
"Priestley is one of the finest and most popular storytellers of the last hundred years. We are now aware many of his stories have a prophetic quality." - Dame Margaret Drabble
"[H]ighly readable and provocative." - Sunday Herald (Sydney)
J. B. Priestley (1894-1984) was a versatile and prolific novelist and playwright, but in The Other Place (1953), he shows an unexpected talent, proving himself a master of the weird tale. In "The Grey Ones," Mr. Patson visits a psychiatrist after he becomes convinced that a race of demons masquerading as men are plotting the overthrow of the human race . . . but what if he's not insane? In "Guest of Honour," a banquet speech becomes a horrifying affair when the keynote speaker realizes his audience is made up of monstrous and menacing creatures. "The Leadington Incident" recounts the disturbing experience of a Cabinet minister who suddenly perceives that though the people around him move and talk as though alive, they are all actually just animated corpses or sleepwalking zombies. The nine tales in this collection are strange, fantastic, and often unsettling, and they represent Priestley at his best.
This 60th anniversary edition, the first reprinting of The Other Place in more than forty years, includes a new introduction by Priestley scholar John Baxendale. Priestley's classic novel of psychological terror, Benighted (1927), is also available from Valancourt Books.
"These stories say something meaningful, as well as relate an anecdote. They are not only examples of narrative skill, but exhibitions of social truth." - Saturday Review…
A young family receives a surprise when old Uncle Ian dies and leaves them a cottage in north Wales. For Ian’s nephew and his wife Ann, it seems a stroke of incredible good fortune, enabling them to leave their life in the city for a newfound freedom in the remote seaside cottage. There’s just one catch. Uncle Ian’s will has an unusual condition: the couple must care for his pet cormorant or forfeit the bequest. The will’s provision seems harmless enough at first, but when their young son Harry develops a strange fascination for the increasingly sinister and malevolent bird, they soon find that Uncle Ian’s gift may not be a blessing, but a curse.
A young family receives a surprise when old Uncle Ian dies and leaves them a cottage in north Wales. For Ian’s nephew and his wife Ann, it seems a stroke of incredible good…
"The story has a nightmarish excitement and maintains a brilliant pace . . . the best of its kind this season." - Detroit News
"[S]pine-chilling . . . a far-reaching plot linking the horror camps of the Nazis, the frozen wastes of Russia and the work of British Secret Intelligence. . . . [T]his is 'must' reading for horror fans." - Calgary Herald
"I began to read: and then read and read and read." - John Creasey, Books of the Month
"Good, insomniac science-fiction." - Listener
With a plot featuring Cold War intrigue, Nazi mad scientists, and a pandemic that threatens to destroy humanity by mutating people into fungoid monsters, it is not hard to see why A Scent of New-Mown Hay (1958) became a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic and an instant science-fiction classic. After a British ship's crew and a remote Russian village are wiped out in mysterious and horrible fashion, General Charles Kirk of British Foreign Intelligence sets out to investigate. As the plague spreads to England, Kirk's frantic search leads him from the desolate tundra of Russia to the ruins of a Nazi camp, the site of unthinkable wartime atrocities. But who is responsible? Is it a Soviet experiment gone horribly wrong, the work of a depraved madman, or something else entirely? And can it be stopped?
In this, his first and still best-known novel, the prolific John Blackburn (1923-1993) introduced the formula he was to employ so successfully in his career, seamlessly blending mystery, horror, and science fiction to create a thrilling bestseller that readers found impossible to put down. This edition, the first in more than thirty years, includes a new introduction by Prof. Darren Harris-Fain and a reproduction of the scarce original jacket art by Peter Curl.
"The story has a nightmarish excitement and maintains a brilliant pace . . . the best of its kind this season." - Detroit News
