Sarban (1910–1989)

John William Wall ('Sarban') was primarily a British diplomat in the Near East who wrote few books in his lifetime. He writes beautifully and crafts his stories in an unrushed manner with such breadth of detail about all subjects and intelligence and love of language. You cannot rush through these stories. They build slowly, beginning with a geographic setting, a very long introductory windup, and only when everyone is tucked into their chosen places, he begins to tell The Story. There are show more usually comfy chairs, a fire and drinks involved and you absolutely feel as though you are in the room, too. My favorite in this book is A Christmas Story, but the journey of the story is the point as much or more than the ending. I only wish he had written more, but he was a perfectionist, as you will see. I can't imagine a contemporary fiction writer that could match his talent. They have just the right amount of supernatural slant to make them odd and compelling. show less

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3107725.html

The only thing I knew of this novel before reading it was that it has a “Hitler Wins” scenario. I hadn't realised that the framing narrative is set shortly after WW2 in our timeline, but the protagonist recounts a story of breaking out of a PoW camp in Germany and getting somehow zapped forward to a different mid-21st century where the Allies were defeated. It's a very short book, and the key point is that the future Nazis have bred genetically show more modified young men to hunt women through the woods for sport. This is, needless to say, a really icky set-up, and I think the best point of the novel is that it doesn't especially dwell voyeuristically on the ickiness, but on the practicalities of getting the hero and his young female ally out of immediate danger. (Defeating the system isn't an option.) Even so, there are a number of loose ends, and I can't agree with those who rate it among the greats. However, I'm glad to have read it. show less

The story of a British naval officer, WWII prisoner of war, finding himself hunted like a fox by hounds in a future where the Third Reich triumphed. What else to say?

The Nazis victorious makes for a nice background rewriting of history (eg WWII renamed 'War of German Rights', Adolf Hitler hailed as the 'Immortal Spirit of Germanism'...) but, the book being nearly all about a human hunt, don't expect too much food for thought here! Sure, it's very vivid and thrilling, and the brutality and show more sheer cruelty of the Nazis after him is terrifying and chilling. There's a few things over-the-top I personally found hard to believe (eg cat-women and game-girls, really?!) although, considering the behaviours of some gauleiters and einsatzgruppen in Eastern Europe, one may wonder if reality wouldn't have surpassed fiction...

All in all then, 'The Sound of His Horn' is simple and straightforward, yet tense and edgy enough to grip you for a nice read. That's not bad, but that's pretty much it. show less

Sarban - Ringstones and Other Curious Tales
Another book from 1951 and another delightful discovery. Sarban was the pen name of author and diplomat John William Wall. He only published three books during his lifetime and he wrote in the fantasy genre. He is described in the Encyclopedia of Fantasy as "a subtle, literate teller of tales, conscious of the darker and less acceptable implications that underline much popular literature." I take form this quote a subtle, literate teller of tales show more because his prose is excellent and his storytelling leads the reader on to conclusions that leave much to the imagination. The bit about the darker less acceptable implications is also pertinent because there is an underlying sexual almost erotic feel to some of these stories which hark back to a Victorian era of innuendo hidden by acceptable good taste.

The story RIngstones is of novella length and takes place mainly on the English Yorkshire moors and like all the other stories it features a story within a story. The first person narrator meets with his friend Piers Dubourg an archeologist at the start of a walking tour. Piers asks him to read a manuscript that he has received yesterday from one of his former students Daphne Hazel, which he finds a little disturbing. Daphne has opted to become a physical trainer rather than an academic and during the summer holidays she accepted a post as an English tutor to three foreign children who were under the care of a Doctor Ravelin who lived on an isolated estate (Ringstones) on the Yorkshire Moors. The manuscipt tells her story of her first meeting with the boy Numan who is strangely seductive and has some power over the two girls Marvan and Ianthe. Daphne feels challenged by Numan and there is physical contests between the two, running, tree climbing, wrestling challenges. Numan never sets foot outside of the estate and Daphne is drawn into the circle of the three adolescents along with Katia, a Polish maid whose English is almost undecipherable. Towards the end of the Summer holidays Daphne feels claustrophobic in the little foreign community and takes herself off on a walking expedition to the nearest village, but becomes lost and exhausted and thinks she sees Numan in the distance with some other people. On her return to RIngstones she is a little feverish and has a weird dream in which she is back in Roman times and Numan is intent on yoking her up to a chariot to drive him across a crowded colonnade. Here the story ends and Piers and his friend think that Daphne is in some sort of trouble and travel to RIngstones on a rescue mission.

Calmahain is an equally good story. Two adolescents a boy and a girl play a game which they call Journey, where they separately forage around a large garden then meet up to tell each other a story about what they have discovered. Ruth's elaborate and detailed tale is about a voyage to a strange land where she meets a slave girl who begs her for help. Martin's story is not so adventurous, but he is fascinated by Ruth's tale and she asks him if he can build a boat so that she can travel to the town of Aguavildir to rescue the slave girl. Martin sets to works using tools purloined from their guardians the Maples. Mr Maples has no time for childish games and in a fit of temper smashes the boat. Martin undeterred says he will make a better boat and borrows tools from their neighbour Mr Leadbetter who is astonished by Martin's skills as a woodworker and his attention to detail. It is war time in England and the Maples live in Hull which is coming under attack from the German Luftwaffe; bombs are falling around them, Mr Leadbetter is building an air raid shelter, but Martin continues working to build his boat which is finally afloat on the little stream that runs through the garden...............

There are three other tales. "Christmas story" takes place in Jedda where a group of ex-pats organise a carol service around the town. They always end up at the house of a retired Russian diplomat and the vodka flows. The Russian tells a story of a desperate journey in Alaska where two friends battle to survive intense frozen conditions, relying on a small hunting party of indigenous men who seem to be hunting bison. In The Khan we are in Tabriz (Iran) and an engineer tells a story of a woman who is in an abusive relationship with a project manager and takes solace when she is given a bear cub to look after. Rumours of the woman preferring the bear to her husband become common place and when the bear is released in the wild the woman leaves to search for him in the desert. Capra is a murder mystery story told by a travelling salesman in Cairo, when he unexpectedly meets a rather pedantic man from his past who is now married to a beautiful young woman. He hears a story of how the pedant who fancies himself as a hunter is lured to Greece in search of wild goats by a handsome young man, who is fascinated by his young wife. A garden party involving the young man dressed as the god Pan provides a suitable climax.

All these stories are mysterious, understated, but rich in prose that are the very essence of magical realism. In Ringstones and Calmahain Sarban has produced two stories that linger in the memory and the other three shorter tales are not too far behind. Tall stories, travellers tales whatever you like to call them they are worked though with care and attention and so 4 stars. show less