Michel Parry

In conventional detective fiction a supernatural element is usually introduced as a ruse, but in these stories various psychic sleuths are confronted by eerie mysteries whose solutions arise from their supernatural aspects. Many of these occult detectives - such as Dennis Wheatley's Neils Orsen, and E. and H. Heron's Flaxman Low - were based on actual persons. W. H. Hodgson's sleuth, Carnacki, applies scientific principles to occult techniques. Arthur Machen's "The Shining Pyramid" offers what may be the most intriguing use of cryptography after Poe's "The Gold Bug."

The lonely moor, the hapless human being, the mournful blood-freezing howl that presages the approach of the dark beast, the great hound's appearance, black as sin, with eyes like hot coals and jaws slavering to close on the pulsing throat: as Michel Parry says, the scene strikes a primordial chord deep within our racial memory - as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle well knew, when he made this scene central to the ever-popular Hound of the Baskervilles. The perennial fascination of the terrible confrontation between hound and human is reflected in the sixteen excellent stories brought together here, stories of diverse dogs with but one thing in common: their bite is very much worse than their bark. There are dogs in this collection that are creatures of pure evil, and there are dogs which are the terrible instrument of vengeance. There are dogs, too, whose loyalty survives the centuries, notably in the collection's most chilling tale, by that master of the occult, H. P. Lovecraft. Not all the tales are terrifying. Saki (H. H. Munro), for instance, deploys a wickedly satirical humour, and there's an element of pure magic in Fritz Leiber's tale. Again Agatha Christie's contribution has a decidedly Science Fiction connotation. It all adds up to a splendidly varied collection.

128p. ; 20cm

CONTENTS: Michel Parry Introduction – An Age In Horror R. H. Barham – A Singular Passage In The Life Of The Late Henry Harris, Doctor In Divinity James Grant – The Phantom Regiment G. P. R. James – A Night In The Old Castle William Mudford – The Forsaken Of God Catherine Crowe – The Monk’s Story Amelia B. Edwards – The North Mail Elizabeth Gaskell – The Old Nurse’s Story Charles Dickens – The Signalman

Deals with futuristic time in England when men turned against machines. Grades 6-8.