What was this ghost story collection? Also seeking recommendations
November 18, 2024 11:35 AM Subscribe
Several years ago, on a long-borked laptop, I downloaded a wonderful Edwardian ghost story collection by a woman writer...who was she? What was this collection? Also seeking obscure ghost story collection recommendations, with caveats.
First, the Edwardian ghost story collection: it had some kind of preface which talked about how the high and palmy days of classic ghost stories by women were often considered to end with WWI, but that this was incorrect and that WWI had a large presence in subsequent ghost stories. I feel like this was more a small press or specialist book.
These stories were all by the same woman. One of them had something to do with a soldier who died in the war and I feel like another had something to do with shoes. I read the collection once, thought it was terrific, but never re-read it and therefore remember little except that I thought it was good. The writer is not well-known, so it's not, eg, Edith Nesbit or Vernon Lee - I'm pretty familiar with their work.
Second, recommend me some more obscure collections of old ghost stories - let's say stories written before 1950. I got very into old ghost stories in the pandemic, so I've read the Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories, the Valencourt Christmas ghost story collections and collections of ghost stories by the better-known writers like Charlotte Riddell, MR James and F Marion Crawford.
(If you love old ghost stories, read The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton - you will not regret!)
In general, I think I'm looking for small press and specialist books, collections of stories that are not as heavily anthologized. I like the kind of ghost story where there's not a lot of gore. My ideal ghost stories are Vernon Lee's "A Phantom Lover", "Afterward" by Edith Wharton and "Oh Whistle and I'll Come To You My Lad" by MR James.
First, the Edwardian ghost story collection: it had some kind of preface which talked about how the high and palmy days of classic ghost stories by women were often considered to end with WWI, but that this was incorrect and that WWI had a large presence in subsequent ghost stories. I feel like this was more a small press or specialist book.
These stories were all by the same woman. One of them had something to do with a soldier who died in the war and I feel like another had something to do with shoes. I read the collection once, thought it was terrific, but never re-read it and therefore remember little except that I thought it was good. The writer is not well-known, so it's not, eg, Edith Nesbit or Vernon Lee - I'm pretty familiar with their work.
Second, recommend me some more obscure collections of old ghost stories - let's say stories written before 1950. I got very into old ghost stories in the pandemic, so I've read the Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories, the Valencourt Christmas ghost story collections and collections of ghost stories by the better-known writers like Charlotte Riddell, MR James and F Marion Crawford.
(If you love old ghost stories, read The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton - you will not regret!)
In general, I think I'm looking for small press and specialist books, collections of stories that are not as heavily anthologized. I like the kind of ghost story where there's not a lot of gore. My ideal ghost stories are Vernon Lee's "A Phantom Lover", "Afterward" by Edith Wharton and "Oh Whistle and I'll Come To You My Lad" by MR James.
Not Edwardian, but you might like Elizabeth Jane Howard's Three Miles Up and Other Strange Stories. I think three of the stories were originally published in We Are for the Dark, which was a 1951 collaboration between Howard and Robert Aickman.
posted by betweenthebars at 1:57 PM on November 18, 2024
posted by betweenthebars at 1:57 PM on November 18, 2024
Wikipedia has a women horror writers page with a list of 83 names, each of which is a link to an article about that writer, if that might jog your memory a bit.
posted by jamjam at 2:17 PM on November 18, 2024
posted by jamjam at 2:17 PM on November 18, 2024
Now I'm wondering if the anthology you're thinking of is The Second Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories (1966), edited by Robert Aickman, and the story about the soldier is "The Demon Lover" by Elizabeth Bowen.
posted by betweenthebars at 2:19 PM on November 18, 2024
posted by betweenthebars at 2:19 PM on November 18, 2024
E. Nesbit has some collections of ghost stories. Many are available at Project Gutenberg for free.
Elizabeth Gaskell also has a collection called Curious, If True and The Grey Woman and Other Tales. I haven't read both, so can't speak to their horror potential. But I just finished her Wives and Daughters and kinda love her writing. But I tend to like Victorian and Edwardian writers anyway.
E.F. Benson shows up pretty often in a couple of horror story podcasts I listen to. And ISTG I did not know until 10 mins ago that he is the same person who wrote the Mapp and Lucia stories!
posted by Archer25 at 3:17 PM on November 18, 2024
Elizabeth Gaskell also has a collection called Curious, If True and The Grey Woman and Other Tales. I haven't read both, so can't speak to their horror potential. But I just finished her Wives and Daughters and kinda love her writing. But I tend to like Victorian and Edwardian writers anyway.
E.F. Benson shows up pretty often in a couple of horror story podcasts I listen to. And ISTG I did not know until 10 mins ago that he is the same person who wrote the Mapp and Lucia stories!
posted by Archer25 at 3:17 PM on November 18, 2024
Handheld Press has Women's Weird Col. 1 & Vol. 2. They're not all ghosts stories, but they're fun collections and may help you find who you were looking for.
posted by edencosmic at 3:24 PM on November 18, 2024
posted by edencosmic at 3:24 PM on November 18, 2024
She's too early to match your specific request, but it might be worth checking out Margaret Oliphant if you haven't stumbled across her; Scottish author who wrote many supernatural and ghosty tales, with a couple collections to explore.
You might also peruse https://twitter.com/RomGothSam (sorry for the Twitter link, they don't seem to have other social media but here's their linktree for other options), both as a possible resource to identify your lost book and as a fantastic recommender of many obscure old ghost and supernatural stories, many available free online!
posted by hilatron at 5:43 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]
You might also peruse https://twitter.com/RomGothSam (sorry for the Twitter link, they don't seem to have other social media but here's their linktree for other options), both as a possible resource to identify your lost book and as a fantastic recommender of many obscure old ghost and supernatural stories, many available free online!
posted by hilatron at 5:43 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]
The reference book Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction exploded my TBR list in the most delightful way. Maybe you will find your Edwardian ghost story collection mentioned, or at least find some new (old) reading material. They cover a ton of writers from the 17th century up through the 21st -- focusing on the 40-ish authors named in the table of contents but with quite a few other names sprinkled throughout -- and often cite specific collections and anthologies (original printings, reprints, and modern collections alike) to look for.
posted by alyxstarr at 9:18 PM on November 18, 2024
posted by alyxstarr at 9:18 PM on November 18, 2024
As ever, may I recommend W.W. Jacobs (1863 – 1943) who wrote not only The Monkey's Paw. There is an anthology.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:18 AM on November 19, 2024
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:18 AM on November 19, 2024
Response by poster: Unfortunately no soap so far, although I do follow RomGothSam and in retrospect I wonder if I found this book on their recommendation. It's so galling - there was a really interesting other book associated with it about women and the supernatural and WWI and I had bookmarked that, and then my laptop died.
I'm not thinking of "The Demon Lover", although that is a reminder that there's a lot of Elizabeth Bowen I haven't read. This story was much more on the vague-and-misty-recollections-in-a-country-house-in-the-autumn-with-a-fire-burning-and-it's-sad Edwardian side. The vibe was a bit (speaking of Margaret Oliphant) like "The Lady's Walk". Melancholy, that's the word I want. I'm a sucker for melancholy.
I believe I read We Are For The Dark and some of it was too scary. I often find Robert Aickman too scary. Really, after the war, once god is good and dead, ghost stories start to get too scary for me unless they're a bit pastiche. Once it gets into sorcery and the bleak triumph of evil, I start to feel that I can get the latter, at least, in the news. I get too depressed thinking about, eg, that woman who gets trapped for eternity on the stairs in the evil dark tower.
posted by Frowner at 7:00 AM on November 19, 2024 [1 favorite]
I'm not thinking of "The Demon Lover", although that is a reminder that there's a lot of Elizabeth Bowen I haven't read. This story was much more on the vague-and-misty-recollections-in-a-country-house-in-the-autumn-with-a-fire-burning-and-it's-sad Edwardian side. The vibe was a bit (speaking of Margaret Oliphant) like "The Lady's Walk". Melancholy, that's the word I want. I'm a sucker for melancholy.
I believe I read We Are For The Dark and some of it was too scary. I often find Robert Aickman too scary. Really, after the war, once god is good and dead, ghost stories start to get too scary for me unless they're a bit pastiche. Once it gets into sorcery and the bleak triumph of evil, I start to feel that I can get the latter, at least, in the news. I get too depressed thinking about, eg, that woman who gets trapped for eternity on the stairs in the evil dark tower.
posted by Frowner at 7:00 AM on November 19, 2024 [1 favorite]
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