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Anyone interested in kicking off a short story buddy read? I need something to get my reading year going! We did M.R. James last year. I suggested Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu previously. But, I am COMPLETELY open to suggestions.

Sounds good. Thanks for bringing up the topic!

So did the group end up reading Joseph Le Fanu? If not, can we read Carmilla?

I've already read that one. I was thinking about one of his collections of short stories.

I've just read Carmilla with another group, and it's an interesting one. If this goes ahead, I'd be happy to chip in on the discussion!

Ken wrote:

Anyone interested in kicking off a short story buddy read? I need something to get my reading year going! We did M.R. James last year. I suggested Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu previously. But, I am COMPLETELY open to suggestions.

I’m up for it, Ken. Either Le Fanu or some other author.

Is anyone up for Uncle Silas? It's one of my classic horror challenge books. If not, that's cool too.

Charlene wrote: "Is anyone up for Uncle Silas? It's one of my classic horror challenge books. If not, that's cool too."

Sure!

uncle Silas sounds good!

Uncle Silas sounds fine to me, although I feel compelled to point out that we would be veering away from Ken's original notion of a short story read.

We could read fast....

Jon wrote:

We could read fast....

I’m not trying to rock the boat. I’m pretty easy �� I’ll follow whatever the consensus is. But just to be clear, speed or time aren’t the issues I was getting at. I think what Ken had in mind was a short story collection, as in the two previous group reads he led, the first for Hodgson and the more recent one for James.

If it's too long, that's cool. Too be honest, I saw the La Fanu and remembered Silas was on my challenge and I blurted it out, without thinking of the length. I'm game for whatever. :)

Canavan wrote: "Jon wrote:


We could read fast....


I’m not trying to rock the boat. I’m pretty easy �� I’ll follow whatever the consensus is. But just to be clear, speed or time aren’t the issues I was getting..."

So, we keep looking for a short story.....and we have a choice for a future classic novel buddy read.

No problem as far as I can see.

Uncle Silas is good.

Uncle Silas it is. Let us know when you want to start.

I think you could approach Le Fanu the way you did M.R. James.

Pick a collection and read through it.

Or start with Camilla. It is a stand alone novella.

The James read was fun! I did putter out on that around the third collection of stories. They started to sound all the same to me. I set it aside for now, but do plan to finish them all at some point.

Well, I was thinking Uncle Silas. But, it looks like there may be more interest in the short stories. How about we tackle "The Purcell Papers"? It is in three volumes, each with four short stories of about 20 - 25 pages in length. We can start on Monday.

The Purcell Papers:

Vol 1

The Ghost and the Bone-Setter (first published January 1838)
The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh (March 1838)
The Last Heir of Castle Connor (June 1838)
The Drunkard's Dream (August 1838)

Vol 2

Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess (November 1838)
The Bridal of Carrigvarah (April 1839)
Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter (May 1839)
Scraps of Hibernian Ballads (June 1839)

Vol 3

Jim Sulivan's Adventures in the Great Snow (July 1839)
A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family (October 1839)
An Adventure of Hardress Fitzgerald, a Royalist Captain (February 1840)
The Quare Gander (October 1840)
Billy Maloney's Taste of Love and Glory (June 1850)

/topic/show/...

Cool. Thanks!

It looks like the Le Fanu buddy read is either winding up or falling apart. Anyone interested in another short story buddy read? I am open to suggestions.

Ken wrote:

It looks like the Le Fanu buddy read is either winding up or falling apart. Anyone interested in another short story buddy read? I am open to suggestions.

I'm currently finishing up Reggie Oliver's Flowers of the Sea (2013) and a few stories by M. P. Shiel (whose style I always struggle with), but should be good to go by next Monday. (Sorry again for backing out of the Le Fanu read.)

What do you suggest we read?

Ken queried:

What do you suggest we read?

I can try and post some very tentative suggestions later today or tomorrow (or respond to any suggestions by others). The last two reads have involved authors whose works were in the public domain. Are folks more comfortable with that constraint?

I just always assumed that most titles deemed "classic horror" would fall in public domain. But, don't let that limit suggestions.

Ken wrote:

I just always assumed that most titles deemed "classic horror" would fall in public domain. But, don't let that limit suggestions.

The cut-off (date-wise) for what is considered "classic" is, of course, pretty arbitrary. I was sorta thinking of sticking with stuff written before 1930 or 1940 (a span of time which unfortunately includes material still covered by copyright). But in looking at Danielle's "charter", she specifies anything written before the 60's! Needless to say, any suggestions I make will be accompanied by notes on availability.

A few tentative suggestions in response to Ken’s request for ideas. (I would imagine that some of these names have been considered before.)

1. Randalls Round , Eleanor Scott (1929).

Eleanor Scott was the pen name of Helen M. Leys. As far as I know this relatively obscure collection of stories is all she ever wrote. I say obscure, but its reputation has risen in the past few decades thanks to the efforts of various ghost story enthusiasts. The stories have been described as having a slightly Jamesian flavor. The contents are summarized .

The down-side to this nomination is that the work is still in copyright in most places. Oleander Press last year released a paperback and a cheap ($5) Kindle edition; see . In addition, Ash-Tree Press released a hardback edition some years ago (now long out of print), but they have more recently released electronic versions ($7) for the Kindle (available at Amazon ) and for epub readers (available for purchase from the publisher’s web site ).

2. The Room in the Tower and Other Stories, E. F. Benson (1912)

The title story is probably well known to most ghost story fans and can be found in numerous locations on the web. The collection as a whole ought to be freely available as it has long been out of copyright in most places, but I was only able to find the stories on the Gutenberg Australia site where they are freely available under the title Collected Stories as a text or HTML download. Included are all of the stories found in the original 1912 edition with the exception of “The Thing in the Hall��. The Gutenberg collection also includes a few stories not found in the 1912 collection. (The contents of the 1912 collection is summarized .) Additionally, a Kindle version exists for $10 (see ), but I’m not familiar with the publisher, nor have I been able to verify the contents of this particular edition.

3. Hauntings and Other Fantastic Tales , Vernon Lee (1890).

Quite a few afficiandos rank this collection very highly, although I strongly suspect that readers who prefer their ghosts more straightforward and traditional will find Lee (actually the the pseudonym of British writer Violet Paget) tough going. This work is in the public domain; I found free versions on Project Gutenberg (see ) and on Amazon (see ).

4. The Three Imposters, Arthur Machen (1895).

I was trying to think of a story collection by Machen that would be readily available and this one popped into my brain, although it’s more of an episodic novel with embedded stories than a true story collection. The two stand-out stories are "The Novel of the Black Seal" and "The Novel of the White Powder��. Its available on Project Gutenberg.

5. Something by Algernon Blackwood. Six of the John Silence stories are, for instance, to be found on the Project Gutenberg site �� see .

All just suggestions, of course.

I've read none of those. So, I will have to defer to someone with a preference one way or another. They all sound good to me.

May just be me and you! What do you want to read?

I am still reading the Purcell Papers, volume 3. I'm halfway through, so I shouldn't be long in finishing.

Of the ones listed above, I am most interested in reading some Algernon Blackwood. I have a classic horror challenge going on this year-it's just a challenge I made for myself and this book:

is on there.
It's no big deal if you guys choose to go with something else.

Charlene wrote: "I am still reading the Purcell Papers, volume 3. I'm halfway through, so I shouldn't be long in finishing.

Of the ones listed above, I am most interested in reading some Algernon Blackwood. I have..."

I've read The Willows, which is the first story in that collection. That was a very atmospheric read. While it was worth reading, if the rest of Blackwood's works are as slow going as that one, I might have trouble making it through 200+ pages.

No biggie, like I said. When you guys decide what you're reading, I will see then if I can join in. :)

Blackwood is fine by me. As to Ken’s point, I re-read “The Willows�� every 4 or 5 years and, while I agree with the general consensus that it’s at the very least a minor masterpiece, I do find the introductory portion slow going. I don’t recall any of Blackwood’s other stories being quite that tough to wade through, but may be mis-remembering.

Does Charlene’s link point to the Bleiler-edited collection of Blackwood tales (see )? The way Amazon’s listings collapse over multiple editions, it’s sometimes a bit hard to tell. If we settle on Blackwood, could someone print out a list of the stories to be covered? Much of Blackwood’s output can be found on-line. See for example.

It looks like they both have the same content. I'm not sure it's exactly the same edition.

Charlene wrote:

It looks like they both have the same content. I'm not sure it's exactly the same edition.

Thanks, Charlene. As you might imagine, I don’t care so much about the edition as the contents. If it comes down to Blackwood, I imagine I’ll probably read the stories on-line.

I think I'm ready for some short stories. Anyone object to starting at the top of Canavan's list with Randalls Round by Eleanor Scott?

Ken asked:

I think I'm ready for some short stories. Anyone object to starting at the top of Canavan's list with Randalls Round by Eleanor Scott?

I’m certainly okay with that (or any other suggestion for that matter). I just finished a story collection, so I can start whenever you or others are ready.

How about a Saturday start? Something for the weekend?

Ken asked:

How about a Saturday start? Something for the weekend?

Saturday's fine with me.

I'll set up a thread.