I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that I love a good ghost story. Lately, I have especially been enjoying discovering the works of many of the talented female authors who flourished during the golden age of ghost stories but have since gone largely unrecognized. Which is why I was devastated to learn that the small publisher who introduced me to many of these authors will be shutting their doors: Handheld Press, the small UK house who brought us Women’s Weird volumes I and II, The Outcast and the Rite, From the Abyss, The Unknown, Strange Relics, and so much more have announced that they are done publishing as of this summer. But they made sure to go out with a bang. One of their last titles was The House of Silence: Ghost Stories 1887–1920 by E. Nesbit, with an introduction by Melissa Edmundson, which came out in May. Nesbit’s stories were among my favorites that I first encountered in Women’s Weird and in my sporadic reading since, so I was thrilled when Handheld announced they’d be doing an entire collection of her ghost stories. And I was not disappointed! Continue reading Review of The House of Silence—E. Nesbit’s Ghost Stories
Tag: Handheld Press
Review of The Unknown—Algernon Blackwood Stories and Essays
Even the most celebrated of classic ghost story writers could use a bit of a boost to their visibility these days. British author Algernon Blackwood was essentially a celebrity in the early twentieth century. Revered for his contributions to the ghost story and weird fiction genres, he became a household name toward the end of his life when he shared his stories through popular radio and early television broadcasts. Today, he is best known for two stories in particular, “The Willows” and “The Wendigo.” But these two tales are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his prolific career of both fiction and nonfiction writing that spans almost half a century. Publisher Handheld Press and editor Henry Bartholomew seek to introduce a wider audience to the breadth of Blackwood’s talents with a new collection, The Unknown: Weird Writings, 1900–1937, which came out last week. Continue reading Review of The Unknown—Algernon Blackwood Stories and Essays
Review of From the Abyss—Overlooked Weird Fiction
Ghosts, murderers, doppelgangers, and cave bears! What more could you want in a collection of weird fiction? From the Abyss: Weird Fiction, 1907–1945, edited by Melissa Edmundson, has all these things and more! This collection of strange and supernatural stories by early twentieth-century writer D. K. Broster came out earlier this month from Handheld Press. It follows after The Outcast and The Rite in being yet another illuminating spotlight on an overlooked author of weird fiction. Continue reading Review of From the Abyss—Overlooked Weird Fiction