Shadow Plays

by Reggie Oliver

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Egaeus Press is very pleased to announce the publication of its first book, Shadow Plays, by the very excellent Reggie Oliver: A lavish, nocturnal entertainment in which the author presents ten of his early supernatural tales as well as a previously unpublished two act play, concerning, amongst other things, the writer M.R. James. The complete contents run as follows:

Preface
Beside The Shrill Sea
Miss Marchant's Cause
The Boy In Green Velvet
The Golden Basilica
The Dreams Of Cardinal Vittorini
The Time Of Blood
The Constant Rake
The Skins
The Blue Room
Bloody Bill
Love Unknown - A play in two acts

A new preface, as well as new introductions to each of the pieces are provided by the author.


Shadow Plays is a lithographically printed, 352 page sewn hardback with printed endpapers. It is limited to 250 copies.

352 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2012

About the author

Reggie Oliver is a stage actor and playwright. His biography of Stella Gibbons was praised as “a triumph” by Hilary Spurling in the Daily Telegraph, his play Winner Takes All, was described as “the funniest evening in London”, by Michael Billington in The Guardian, and his adaptation of Hennequin and Delacour’s Once Bitten opened at the Orange Tree Theatre in London in December 2010.

He is the author of four highly-praised volumes of short fiction: The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini (Haunted River 2003), The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler (Haunted River 2005), Masques of Satan (Ash Tree 2007), and Madder Mysteries (Ex Occidente 2009). His stories have appeared in over 25 anthologies and, for the third year running, one of his stories appears in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, the most widely read and popular of contemporary horror anthologies.

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reggie Oliver is one of the undisputed modern masters of horror, and one must remain indebted to the Egaues Press for collecting some of his most-difficult-to-find stories in the form a nice & comfortable hardcover volume, that is under review. The factors that distinguish this particular book are as under: -

1. It contains 5 stories each from the first two collections of Reggie Oliver’s stories, and since individually these volumes are impossible to find unless one is willing to pay obscene amounts to second-hand retailers, these stories would have otherwise remained into the realm of “unread” for many-many lovers of ghost or supernatural stories.
2. It contains a new preface, describing Oliver’s theatrical roots, as well as individual prefaces to each of the stories, describing their origin, and all written by the author himself. These small vignettes themselves were utterly fascinating, as you would note while you read them.
3. It contains a new play, in two acts, where the principal characters are M.R. James, A.C. Benson, James Mcbryde, Oscar Browning, and Gwendolen Grotrian. Although every one of these characters are real, and the events & setting are based on rock-solid foundation of truth & actuality, through the fictional wordplay we get to know a world (and of feelings) that had passed away, and yet continue to hold us in its thrall. Some might find the subject of the play controversial (it HAD been a subject that had created storm in many web-based groups couple of years back), but I found it to be closer to truth than Oliver’s previous attempt (A Warning to the Antiquary).

The contents of this book are: -

(*) Preface.

1) Beside The Shrill Sea
2) Miss Marchant’s Cause
3) The Boy in Green Velvet
4) The Golden Basilica
5) The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini
6) The Time of Blood
7) The Constant Rake
8) The Skins
9) The Blue Room
10) Bloody Bill
11) Love Unknown (PLAY)

Since most of these stories have become cult-classics, I would not try to summarise them, except for stating two things: -
I. Although they are the author’s favourite stories (a claim that he backs up by relying on critical opinion as well) I believe that he has committed the cardinal error that every other author has made. How can you omit “The Evil Eye”, “The Seventeenth Sister” or “Lapland Nights”, when thinking about some of Reggie Oliver’s best (and the most terrifying) stories? But perhaps the author had tried to illuminate his roots in this collection, rather than terrifying us.
II. Can we also have a collection of the drama-s that he has written?

Highly recommended, and get it soon!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a superb collection, both in content and physical appearance. As well as eleven previously published -- but often hard to find -- stories, there is the play Love Unknown, original to this volume. This is a witty and often moving look at M.R. James and some of his friends, and especially his relationship with his closest friend James McBryde. Love Unknown reminded me of Tom Stoppard's heartbreaking play about A.E. Housman The Invention of Love (1997).

[John Hepple · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am really reviewing the final story in the collection; 'Love Unknown' as I have encountered the other tales in previous (excellent) collections by Mr Oliver.
It is indeed a very entertaining play, full of clever wordplay and a rather unique setting (I wont spoil it for those who haven't read).

Reggie Oliver can truly do no wrong!