Joseph Shearing (1885–1952)
Author of The Bishop of Hell and Other Stories
About the Author
Works by Joseph Shearing
The House by the Poppy Field: A Ghost Story for Christmas (Seth's Christmas Ghost Stories) (2023) 31 copies
William, by the Grace of God: A Novel on William the Silent, Prince of Orange Nassau (Volume 2) (1916) 18 copies, 1 review
The angel of the assassination. Marie-Charlotte de Corday d'Armont, Jean-Paul Marat, Jean-Adam Lux: a study of three di (1935) 11 copies
The Triumphant Beast 5 copies
William Hogarth the Cockneys Mirror 4 copies
Cambric Tea 3 copies
The Gilt Mask 2 copies
Gruselige Weihnacht überall. Klassische Horror- und Geistergeschichten: Von Dickens, Lovecraft, Bowen, Harvey u.v.m. (2025) 2 copies
The circle in the water 2 copies
Beltarbet's Pride 2 copies
Trumpets at Rome 2 copies
Stinging Nettles 2 copies
The Folding Doors 2 copies
Royal Pageantry 2 copies
Brave employments 2 copies
Bagatelle and Some Other Diversions 2 copies
The Scandal of Sophie Dawes 2 copies
Dark Ann and other stories 2 copies
The Golden Roof 2 copies
The abode of love 2 copies
Kecksies [short story] 1 copy
The Housekeeper 1 copy
The Masterpiece 1 copy
There Are More Things 1 copy
Peach-Coloured Plumes 1 copy
Out of Season 1 copy
Fleur Ange 1 copy
Miss Modernity 1 copy
The Cabriolet 1 copy
The Match-Maker 1 copy
Duchy Kobiet 1 copy
The Bishop of Hell 1 copy
The Camp Outside Namur 1 copy
The Burning of the Vanities 1 copy
The Aristocrat 1 copy
The Cup of Chicory Water 1 copy
The Macedonian Groom 1 copy
The Prisoner 1 copy
The Yellow Intaglio 1 copy
The Polander 1 copy
Twilight 1 copy
A Woman of the People 1 copy
Defeat 1 copy
A Poor Spanish Lodging 1 copy
A Biography 1 copy
Two Mistakes 1 copy
The King's Son 1 copy
The Breakdown 1 copy
Violante 1 copy
The Soul of Jeannie Duncan 1 copy
The Pink Shawl 1 copy
A Proposal of Marriage 1 copy
Roccoco 1 copy
Child of Chequer'd Fortune 1 copy
Boundless Water 1 copy
Tumult in the north 1 copy
Nightmare 1 copy
Ze hebben mijn graf gevonden 1 copy
Five winds : a romance ... 1 copy
The Man with the Scales 1 copy
The devil's jig 1 copy
Mr. Tyler's saints 1 copy
Nightcap and Plume 1 copy
Cuckoo Pint 1 copy
Jacqueline 1 copy
The Gifts of the Dead 1 copy
The Quack 1 copy
Castles in the Air 1 copy
I Dwelt in High Places 1 copy
The Presence and the Power 1 copy
Orange blossoms 1 copy
Some Famous Love-Letters 1 copy
The Pleasant Husband 1 copy
No Way Home 1 copy
Seven Deadly Sins 1 copy
The Follies of Youth 1 copy
The Knot Garden 1 copy
The Harper's Stories 1 copy
The Third Estate 1 copy
The Stolen Bride 1 copy
Nell Gwyn - A Decoration 1 copy
Associated Works
Queens of the Abyss: Lost Stories from the Women of the Weird (2020) — Contributor — 153 copies, 4 reviews
Weird Women: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers: 1852-1923 (2020) — Contributor — 108 copies, 2 reviews
Christmas Ghosts: Seventeen Great Ghost Stories in the Christmas Tradition (1987) — Contributor — 46 copies
Women's Weird 2: More Strange Stories by Women, 1891-1937 (Handheld Classics) (2020) — Contributor — 40 copies
Mistresses of Mystery: Two Centuries of Suspense Stories by the Gentle Sex (1973) — Contributor — 34 copies, 1 review
The Uncertain Element: An Anthology of Fantastic Conceptions — Contributor — 1 copy
The Big Book for Girls — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Campbell, Gabrielle Margaret Vere (birth name)
- Other names
- Long, Gabrielle Margaret Vere
Preedy, George R.
Winch, John
Paye, Robert
Campbell, Margaret
Bowen, Marjorie (show all 7)
Shearing, Joseph - Birthdate
- 1885-11-01
- Date of death
- 1952-12-23
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Slade School
- Occupations
- novelist
biographer
horror writer
children's book author
short story writer - Short biography
- Marjorie Bowen was the principal pen name of Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long, née Campbell. She was born on Hayling Island, Hampshire, England, and had a difficult childhood. Marjorie did not go to school, but was self-educated in libraries and museums. She published her first novel, The Viper of Milan: A Romance of Lombardy, in 1906 at age 21, and thereafter was the family breadwinner. She was married twice: her first marriage took her to Italy, where she lived during the years of World War I.
- Nationality
- UK (birth)
- Birthplace
- Hayling Island, Hampshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
- Place of death
- London, England, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- England, UK
Members
Discussions
THE DEEP ONES: "Kecksies" by Marjorie Bowen in The Weird Tradition (June 2021)
Reviews
An excellent collection of tales by an early twentieth century writer. Ms. Bowen was also a historical novelist, and she set all but two of these stories in the past. She had a gift for creating people who were often more frightening than the supernatural element.
The best tales, to my taste, were: "The Fair Hair of Ambrosine," a grim tale of fate; "The Crown Derby Plate," which showed a deliciously nasty sense of humor; "Elsie's Lonely Afternoon," a Katherine Mansfield-ish tale with a nasty show more twist; "The Bishop of Hell," with the most despicable of her rakehell villains; "The Scoured Silk," a tale that any reader of true crime stores knows is not impossible; and "Kecksie," a masterpiece so enjoyably depraved that I was surprised she could publish it even in the 1920s. show less
The best tales, to my taste, were: "The Fair Hair of Ambrosine," a grim tale of fate; "The Crown Derby Plate," which showed a deliciously nasty sense of humor; "Elsie's Lonely Afternoon," a Katherine Mansfield-ish tale with a nasty show more twist; "The Bishop of Hell," with the most despicable of her rakehell villains; "The Scoured Silk," a tale that any reader of true crime stores knows is not impossible; and "Kecksie," a masterpiece so enjoyably depraved that I was surprised she could publish it even in the 1920s. show less
These short stories are often of a historical nature and vary pretty widely in their content, from outright hauntings to uncanny events to the merely disturbing. Some were outstanding ("The Scoured Silk" is one of the most interesting and unsettling stories of my acquaintance, and I really liked the Lovecraftian overtones of "Florence Flannery") while others didn't really do it for me (a "meh" goes to "The Bishop of Hell," "The Fair Hair of Ambrosine," and "The Avenging of Anne show more Leete").
Bowen's language is excellent, her atmosphere satisfying, and her variety enjoyable. She's conversant with 18th-19th century Gothic tropes but updates them or plays with them in interesting ways. I don't know why I didn't rate this book a bit higher, but for me the ratio of excellent stories wasn't quite high enough. It was definitely an enjoyable read, though. show less
Bowen's language is excellent, her atmosphere satisfying, and her variety enjoyable. She's conversant with 18th-19th century Gothic tropes but updates them or plays with them in interesting ways. I don't know why I didn't rate this book a bit higher, but for me the ratio of excellent stories wasn't quite high enough. It was definitely an enjoyable read, though. show less
“The Bishop of Hell and Other Stories” isn’t likely to persuade you to sleep with the light on, but every so often you may experience a few shivers.
While there’s no full-blown horror here, we do have some quality tales filled with an eerie atmosphere and suspense. Most stories have a good twist and all are vividly told.
I think setting them in the 1800s or earlier adds to the supernatural feel. The characters can’t just flick on an electric light or grab a mobile phone to ring the show more police. They have to deal with the unknown, usually in the dark.
Of the nine tales, only two disappointed me. “The Fair Hair of Ambrosine” lacked narrative engagement, and as it went on, the ending became predictable. “Mr John Proudie” has moments of intrigue, but I found the ending anticlimactic.
My favourite stories were “Florence Flannery” and “The Crown Derby Plate”. The latter has one of the most unexpected twists at the end.
“Florence Flannery” has brilliant atmospheric scenes, superb characterisation, and is engaging from start to finish. An aspect to this could’ve come across as laughable, but the author handles it so well that it’s creepy and – in a supernatural sense – believable. Setting it in 1800 makes it much more appealing.
A very good collection. show less
While there’s no full-blown horror here, we do have some quality tales filled with an eerie atmosphere and suspense. Most stories have a good twist and all are vividly told.
I think setting them in the 1800s or earlier adds to the supernatural feel. The characters can’t just flick on an electric light or grab a mobile phone to ring the show more police. They have to deal with the unknown, usually in the dark.
Of the nine tales, only two disappointed me. “The Fair Hair of Ambrosine” lacked narrative engagement, and as it went on, the ending became predictable. “Mr John Proudie” has moments of intrigue, but I found the ending anticlimactic.
My favourite stories were “Florence Flannery” and “The Crown Derby Plate”. The latter has one of the most unexpected twists at the end.
“Florence Flannery” has brilliant atmospheric scenes, superb characterisation, and is engaging from start to finish. An aspect to this could’ve come across as laughable, but the author handles it so well that it’s creepy and – in a supernatural sense – believable. Setting it in 1800 makes it much more appealing.
A very good collection. show less
I’m a big fan of the Wordsworth Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural series, but the Marjorie Bowen anthology, The Bishop of Hell & Other Stories, is one entry in the series that I really struggled to get through. Most of these twelve stories are predictable, pedestrian tales, of little style, substance, or atmosphere. As I was reading, each story had an air of familiarity in some way or other. It was an odd feeling; and then each time I suddenly realized that Bowen is repeating herself show more with her thematic strokes: multiple stories of self-fulfilling prophecy, of unhappy marriages, of womanizing cads, of murderous revenge; and a pair of stories that both begin by basically saying that “this strange tale that follows needed to be stitched together from various sources...”. It’s just a bit off-putting, and perhaps an indication that the author did not have a lot of fresh ideas and therefore lifted from her prior work. Ultimately it says that the weird fiction genre was not a strong suit in her literary output.
While most of the stories barely moved the needle for me, there were a few that were compelling: (1) “Elsie’s Lonely Room” - A sad story about a little girl’s miserable life, with an even sadder gut-punch ending; (2) “The Adventure of Mr John Proudie” - Strange visitors one night intrude on the mundane life of a meek apothecary, who then witnesses some ghastly occurrences. The story is actually rather tame, but it is suspenseful and well-paced, and titling it an “adventure” playfully underscores just how unremarkable Mr John Proudie’s life actually was. (3) “The Scoured Silk” - an excellent horror story in which young Elisa Minden, soon to be wed to the older Humphrey Orford, becomes frightened and suspicious as her fiancé displays some unusual quirks, particularly with regard to his first wife, who died under mysterious circumstances some twenty years earlier. show less
While most of the stories barely moved the needle for me, there were a few that were compelling: (1) “Elsie’s Lonely Room” - A sad story about a little girl’s miserable life, with an even sadder gut-punch ending; (2) “The Adventure of Mr John Proudie” - Strange visitors one night intrude on the mundane life of a meek apothecary, who then witnesses some ghastly occurrences. The story is actually rather tame, but it is suspenseful and well-paced, and titling it an “adventure” playfully underscores just how unremarkable Mr John Proudie’s life actually was. (3) “The Scoured Silk” - an excellent horror story in which young Elisa Minden, soon to be wed to the older Humphrey Orford, becomes frightened and suspicious as her fiancé displays some unusual quirks, particularly with regard to his first wife, who died under mysterious circumstances some twenty years earlier. show less
Lists
Ghosts (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 198
- Also by
- 64
- Members
- 1,514
- Popularity
- #16,986
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 32
- ISBNs
- 147
- Languages
- 5
- Favorited
- 1