Dark Shadows Fall

by Mark Nicholls

Dr Nicholls is the President and Librarian at St John's College, Cambridge – surely a terrific place to soak in the atmosphere of centuries and quietly dream up tales of delicious and rather pleasing terror. Previously published in Ghosts & Scholars, All Hallows, Supernatural Tales, Enigmatic Tales and Black Rose, this is Mark's first collection of ghost stories. Here are traditional tales, some Jamesian, some antiquarian, all ghostly and all dark and icily chilling.
Stories: “The Passing of Merchant Jan” “Vindicta” “Bones” “In Eastern Waters” “Another School Story” “No Man Pursueth” “Double Vision” “Mystery Solved” “A Family Communion” “What Comes in Threes” “The Female of the Species” and “The Way That All Things End”.
Afterword by Mark Nicholls. Illustrations by Paul Lowe.

Hardcover

First published April 1, 2011

Reviews

[Canavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

✭✭✭

“The Passing of Merchant Jan” (1998) ✭✭✭
“Vindicta” (1998) ✭✭½
“Bones” (2000) ✭✭✭
“In Eastern Waters” (1999) ✭✭✭
“Another School Story” (1996) ✭✭✭½
“No Man Pursuest” (2011) ✭✭✭½
“Double Vision” (2011) ✭✭✭
“Mystery Solved” (1997) ✭✭✭
"Family Communion" (2006) ✭✭
“What Comes in Threes?” (1998) ✭✭✭½
“The Female of the Species” (2011) ✭✭✭½
“The Way That All Thing End” (1999) ✭✭✭½

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing stories in the style of another author can be quite perilous (evident from the harsh criticism that authors of Sherlockian pastiches have to endure on a regular basis). In this collection, the author produces a mixed bag in the sense that a few stories are plain re-writes of Jamesian stories, a few are just Kiplinesque without that magic that one associates with him, and a few are truly outstanding and original pieces that develop upon some of the tropes of supernatural fiction and then produces original stuff which are classic "strange stories".

The contents are:

(*) Sources and Acknowledgements
1. The Passing of Merchant Jan: Mediocre story, with everything going predictably (not a very good start for the collection).
2. Vindicta: Good story, with the idea of 'Doppelganger' nicely reworked into a fast narrative.
3. Bones: Mediocre and too predictable Jamesian story.
4. In Eastern Waters: Attempt to do a revenge story in exotic locales, ends up as a poor cousin of ACD or Kipling's stories.
5. Another School Story: Very good, and a worthy successor to the eponymous story by M.R. James.
6. No Man Pursueth: Excellent and original story (follow-up to 'The Red Lodge': one may say, but HRW seems fresh after the Jamesian stuff read so far) that hadn't been published earlier.
7. Double Vision: Another original (not printed before), but not-so original in the sense that it is an Aickmanesque treatment of Doppelganger theme.
8. Mystery Solved: Very good story that is Jamesian in an original way.
9. A Family Communion: Kipling's shadow was all over this story, although it presented an intriguing finale.
10. What Comes in Threes: Very good story that comes straight out of A.M. Burrage's oeuvre.
11. The Female of the Species: Awesome! This singularly original story (not printed before) was truly great, and has left some eidetic images in my mind.
12. The Way That All Things End: Not good, a hotch-potch of eastern exotica and personal thoughts that was too disjointed to be enjoyable.

Overall, there are a few that I didn't like. Some that were good to very good. And a couple that were outstanding. Recommended.
7.