David Pickering

Great introduction to some classic authors of of supernatural fiction. Some are well known--Bram Stoker ("The Judge's House"), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ("Playing with Fire"--actually a weak and rather odd story), Robert Louis Stevenson (the classic "The Body Snatcher") , and Edgar Allan Poe (a personal favorite--"The Tell-Tale Heart'); others are beloved by readers more deeply familiar with the genre--Sheridan Le Fanu, M.R. James ("The Haunted Doll's House"--not his best story in my opinion) show more and William Hope Hodgson.

I really enjoyed the inclusion of Henry James and Guy de Maupassant. While I certainly was familiar with the fact that they wrote supernatural fiction (James' novella The Turn of the Screw for example) I found "The Romance of Old Clothes" (James) and "The Hostelry" (Maupassant)to be stand-outs in this collection. Both stories have a psychological element (like Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart") that take them well beyond the genre and are quite disturbing.

I also enjoyed Fanu's "Narrative of the Ghost of a Hand" which played on a particular fear of mine that I have had since watching the movie "Asylum" as a kid. I am convinced that Fanu didn't write a bad story. "Gateway of the Monster" is my first Carnaki story and moved Hodgson way up on my TBR pile. Absolutely fantastic.

"The Business of Madame Jahn"(Vincent O'Sullivan) and "The Shadow of a Shade" (Tom Hood) both stand out as classic examples of the horror/revenge tale sub-genre. The ending of "Madame Jahn" will definitely give you a chill.

4 stars show less

Market Hampden's local dentist goes up in a tree. No one knows why he climbs it. He refuses to come down. This comical short story was supposed to be part of a series that apparently never developed. It's really a shame because I may never know what happened in the teaser thrown out by the final paragraph. I enjoyed the setting and would really love to read more stories set there.

Read a dictionary? Can't imagine it? Well, this is more of an encyclopedia than a dictionary, with longer entries on some of the superstitions, while others just refer you back to an earlier (or later) entry. For the most part, it's interested, though in places it becomes repetitive and sometimes deals with things that are just ho-hum. Still, it's a good read, though not a quick one. Plan on some time for getting through it.

This is an A-Z of football which combines the usual references - British clubs (also many non-league & international sides), national teams, players, managers, grounds & competitions - with a wealth of historical anecdotes and background information on the beautiful game. It's a kind of 'Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable' of football, in its comprehensiveness & regard for the game's phraseology. Here you'll find 'Soccer War' (between El Salvador & Honduras), 'Eton Wall Game', 'Roy of the show more Rovers' and 'fanzine'. Coverage spans the entire history of the game. One flaw is that each & every minor national team is dismissed as having 'yet to make much impact on international competition' - but the rest of the book is so good I am happy to forgive this quirk! show less