Literary Horror discussion

I'm in, I might have to wait til next week to start but I'm here.

yeah, I haven't either.

I've read the first couple of stories in the collection. I'll post more later, but my initial reaction is that while these aren't terrible stories, nor are they great ones. The publisher's blurb describes the tales as being "in the mode of" M. R. James. This is a misleading comparison.

Some initial impressions on the Henry C. Mercer collection, November Night Tales.

A couple of general points. First, as I mentioned before, the publisher’s blurb for this collection refers to the stories as being “in the mode of” M. R. James. Perhaps because I’m so thoroughly familiar with James, I tend to focus more on differences than similarities, but this comparison strikes me as just plain wrong. When considering the evolutionary timeline of the ghost story, I see James as more of an early modern writer. In contrast, Mercer seems to be looking backward; although published in the first part of the 20th century, the tales in his collection could (to my eye, at least) have easily been written in the mid-1800s. Specifically, they seem much more rooted in the Gothic and Romantic traditions of the ghost tale. (Mercer even has this fixation on castles that I would guess has as much to do with its iconic status as Gothic trope as with the author’s general architectural interests.) Second point — check out the introduction. It’s by Cory Amsler, the vice-president of the Mercer Museum. Mercer was an archeologist with rather wide-ranging interests that encompassed both architecture (specifically including tile-making) and writing. Amsler’s descriptions of the contents are pretty clear-eyed. He identifies some of the main themes that were of interest to Mercer. And while he doesn’t exactly characterize the work as amateurish, he doesn’t overpraise either. (At one point, Amsler notes that the publication of this book seemed to have been an item on Mercer’s “bucket list”.) Personally, I don’t find Mercer to be a terrible writer, but neither is he a great one. He does have his share of stylistic quirks. (For example, he seemed not to distinguish between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses, using commas in either case. On the other hand, this is a practice I see more frequently in early 19th and 18th century texts.)

“Castle Valley” ✭½

(view spoiler)[The basic plot of this story might summarized thusly: The narrator, Charles Meredith, is at a crossroads in his life career-wise, needing to choose between a career in politics (which would, we are told, necessitate the compromise of his ideals [“sell my soul to the Devil”]) or architecture (cast here as the more artistically and morally pure of the two alternatives). The narrator, after much inner turmoil, eventually opts for the latter course. Some of this turmoil involves supernatural goings-on that include a tormented ancestor (with initials H. M., the same as the author) and visions of a castle. Little of the supernatural stuff makes sense and, frankly, the story might have been better off without it.

Amsler notes the parallels here between Meredith and Mercer. Mercer, similar to his fictional creation, “eschewed a career in law to pursue a more creative path”. (hide spoiler)]

“The North Ferry Bridge” ✭½

(view spoiler)[An oddball story with lots of Gothic trappings (mad scientists, moldering and decaying sites, wildly improbable encounters and discoveries, etc.). I thought that this comment — “the danger to society involved in the freedom of a genius, unrestricted by any inborn principle” — could have been written a century earlier by Shelley. (hide spoiler)]

ok I'm buying mine today and should start on it sometime this weekend.

I'm only 5% in but I like the story so far. Pryor seems to know a thing or 2 about scrying and crystals and stuff. I think I'd like to be his friend.

6% (view spoiler)[ they have a powwow doctor?! how awesome is that!!! (hide spoiler)]

I finished Castle Valley. I give it 3.5 stars. I'll read your spoilers later Canavan. I wish GR's would fix the app so we could read them on our phones & tablets. I liked the story and I can see the m.r. James reference. Hopefully you will like the others more.

the north ferry bridge- I give 3 stars. it was kinda predictable but (view spoiler)[ the rats were gonna eat the uncle's face off?! I didn't expect that! (hide spoiler)]

Latasha, writing about “Castle Valley”, noted:

they have a powwow doctor?! how awesome is that!!!

I admit that I pretty much bleeped over the term when I read the story, never having heard it before. I suppose I took it as some sort of slang word that was in vogue when Mercer wrote the story, but a look on Wikipedia shows that it has an older etymology and a much more specific meaning than the ambiguous one that I had ascribed to it. The name (as expected) has a Native American origin, but the folk magic that it describes is a curious amalgam that has roots in a number of European religions that were all present in the Pennsylvania area during the early 1800s. Mercer, who spent most of his life in Pennsylvania, would no doubt have been familiar with the term.

Latasha wrote:

the north ferry bridge- I give 3 stars. it was kinda predictable but (view spoiler)[the rats were gonna eat the uncle's face off?! I didn't expect that! (hide spoiler)]

This idea returns in a slightly different form in “The Blackbirds”.

Some thoughts on “The Blackbirds”.

Wow, this story is all over the place. Like “The North Ferry Bridge” it’s jam-packed with odd coincidences, strange goings-on, storms, appearances and disappearances, etc., etc. Some brief, spoilery notes:

(view spoiler)[
1. The story is far too long for what it’s trying to do. It might have been more effective had it been shorter (without all the wanderings from Point A to B to C then back to B…).

2. There’s nothing really supernatural going on here. And, really, depending on the interpretation you adopt, nothing particularly horrific either, although Mercer might disagree with that assessment.

3. Mercer devotes a fair amount of time detailing the country in which the story’s events take place. There is so much specificity (not all of it necessary) that I couldn’t help but think that the fictional settings had real-life counterparts.

4. Why is this story entitled “The Blackbirds” when one of the central images is the vulture, not the blackbird?
(hide spoiler)]

✭

lol yeah, I agree with that 4th point.

A few brief comments on “The Wolf Book”.

Probably the best story encountered to this point, although a bit on the ordinary side. (view spoiler)[Given the title, it comes as no surprise to the reader that this turns out to be a werewolf story, laden with all the usual trappings: peasants, Gypsies, warnings and imprecations, mysterious artifacts, prescient dreams, etc. (hide spoiler)]

Disconnected thoughts:

1. More castles, this time the ruined fortress at Golubacz.

2. As with previous stories, one gets the strong sense that the author is making use of personal experiences in his detailed descriptions of the environs. (Mercer first traveled to Europe in 1870.) I’m not sure about all of the places used in the story, but Golubacz actually exists. (One source describes it as the focal point of numerous military contests between the Ottomans and Hungarians, hence Mercer’s comment on “race hatred”.) And there really was a Baron Franz von der Trenck. The followed is lifted from his Wikipedia article:

Trenck earned most of his fame during the War of the Austrian Succession, as the leader and commander of a unit of pandurs, or paramilitary troops in the Austrian army which specialized in frontier warfare, guerrilla tactics and surprise hit-and-run actions, into which he recruited mostly Croatian mercenaries, experienced fighters from the Austro-Ottoman border. The Pandur soon became infamous for the atrocities they committed on the civilian population, some actions deemed brutal even by the standards of the day.

3. Mercer goes to some trouble to (view spoiler)[intertwine the werewolf myth with another one, that of the Golden Fleece. If there was some deeper or more elegant purpose to this mixture, I missed it. (hide spoiler)]

4. Mercer inconsistently employs a literary device I tend to see more often in 18th century works — redacting the names of persons and places. The way Mercer uses the device makes me think he didn’t really understand the reason why authors originally employed it.

5. As with earlier stories, the author shows a preoccupation with the role of coincidence.

✭✭✭

I'm going to be traveling this week, so hopefully I'll have time to finish the last few stories in this month's selection and post something to the group. I hope the negative views that I posted to date haven't dissuaded others from participating.

The wolf book
I loved the start of the story. I recently tried to read cold heart canyon and the beginning in the monastery was the best part. So when this started out like that I was like yay! The story wasn't bad I just thought the protagonist made horrible decisions. Maybe it's where I'm more cautious, idk, but I do heed people's warnings & no one in books (or movies) ever does. Ugh people really!!

The dolls castle
I liked this story. I liked that we still had questions unanswered at the end. 3.5 stars.

lol.

I didn't either.

Quick thoughts on the last three stories in the Mercer collection.

I thought “The Dolls’ House” (which features the same James Carrington from “The Blackbirds”) was one of the better stories written by Mercer. It may be the best story from a pure plot standpoint. If it had been a bit more focused and Mercer had been able to bring to bear a bit more skill it might have managed to be very good tale. I rather liked the bleak ending, somewhat uncharacteristic of Mercer. Unfortunately, like other Mercer stories, this one is far too long and is cluttered with irrelevant and pointless sidetracks that seem designed to irritate the reader.

After a somewhat promising start, “The Sunken City” proved to be very hard to wade through. Again, far too long for a rather desultory pay-off. A fair amount of Gothic atmosphere, but not much supernatural going on in this story. Ditto for “The Well of Monte Corbo”, another story having to do with archeological discovery.

“The Dolls’ House” ✭✭✭
“The Sunken City” ✭½
“The Well of Monte Corbo” ✭✭