Intruders: New Weird Tales

by A.M. Burrage

During the first four decades of the twentieth century, Alfred McLelland Burrage (1889–1956) was one of the most prolific British writers of short popular fiction. There was scarcely a mainstream weekly, fortnightly, or monthly magazine whose pages did not, at one time or another, feature his name.

His specialty was the light-hearted love story, but his fame today rests on his tales of the supernatural. His talent in this direction was recognised by many, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and M. R. James.

INTRUDERS is the first of Ash-Tree Press's series collection together the bulk of Burrage's supernatural fiction. Of the twenty-six stories in this volume, only three had seen bookform publication prior to this edition.

Genres: Horror

237 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1995

About the author

Alfred McLelland Burrage (1889-1956) was a British writer. He was noted in his time as an author of fiction for boys which he published under the pseudonym Frank Lelland, including a popular series called "Tufty". Burrage is now remembered mainly for his horror fiction.

Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Canavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

✭✭✭

“Wine of Summer” (1928) ✭✭✭
“The Bargain” (1934) ✭✭✭½
“Portrait of an Unknown Lady” (1935) ✭✭✭
“Top Floor Back” (1928) ✭✭✭
“‘Orders from Brigade’” (1930) ✭✭✭½
“The Intruder” (1923) ✭½
“By the Looe River” (1915) ✭½
“The Man on the Corner” (1937) ✭✭✭
“The Pace Maker” (1923) ✭✭
“Footprints” (1912) ✭✭✭
“The Spanish Captain” (1930) ✭✭
“Passenger on the Eleven-Ten” (1941) ✭✭✭½
“In the Waters under the Earth” (1933) ✭✭✭
“The Lady of Graeme” (1914) ✭✭✭
“The Box in the Attic” (1929) ✭½
“The Caricature” (1926) ✭✭
“The Sisters of Changton Margery” (1931) ✭✭✭✭
“The Breaking of the Spell” (1915) ✭✭½
“The Lovers” (1922) ✭✭½
“House o’ Dreams” (1930) ✭✭✭✭
“The Chalk Pit” (1913) ✭✭✭
“The Lady of the Chateau” (1919) ✭✭✭
“Miss Jessica” (1924) ✭✭✭
“The Last of the Kerstons” (1912) ✭✭
“Corner Cottage” (1960) ✭✭✭
“Fellow Mortals” (1932) ✭✭✭½

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The weakest of the Jack Adrian-edited Ash Tree Press compilations of Burrage's ghost stories, but only by virtue of the overall quality of the stories - the fact that Adrian managed to gather these yarns together makes this a must-have book. All but two or three of the stories have never been reprinted from their original magazine appearances. Many feel like a writer learning his trade and others are better written but still feel rather throwaway, the work of a penny-a-liner happy with a first draft in order to earn his wage. Burrage was famously prolific. For Burrage fans these are still worth reading, of course, and there are a number of much more accomplished stories and some alarming spooks, including a rampaging phantom apeman and a vengeful spirit which foces one man to murder another. It's impossible not admire Burrage's style at its best and he's the master at finding new ways to introduce the action so as to add authenticity.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

We know A.M.Burrage as one of the most prolific authors in the genre that is broadly classified as supernatural horror. But the main reasons behind his success was not his prolific nature, but the consistent qulaity that he maintained across so-many stories over decades. In this collection alone we find short & taut stories capable of raising the hair behind one's neck, stories that are simply delightful because of their gentle humour, and stories that are poignant & reminiscent of love, loss, death and sorrow. The stories are really good, and I would definitely like to come back to them again, when the evening becomes stormy and the house becomes lonely. Recommended.

[Bill Barnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is what I thought of this book when I read it 13 years ago:
***
OK, I've just read INTRUDERS: NEW WEIRD TALES, and I'm here to
announce that you are *all* right. "Always good, seldom spectacular"
does indeed apply to the first ten stories or so, which all satisfy
but lack that certain something that makes a story a favorite. But
the meat of the collection is sandwiched in the middle (appropriately
enough): with "In the Waters Under the Earth" Burrage throws a bone
(heh-heh) to the creature fan (e.g. me). The following four tales are
the most macabre in the book: "The Lady of Graeme" (akin to
Blackwood's "The Camp of the Dog", but with a much different ending),
"The Box in the Attic" (a cousin of "The Waxwork"), "The Caricature",
and the most disturbing of all, "The Sisters of Changton Margery",
which would make a great Tales from the Crypt episode, if they ever
produced a story about interwar Englishmen on a walking tour (how
likely is THAT?) The remainder of the stories tend toward the
sentimental, especially "House o' Dreams", but are quite fine
nonetheless, with one glaring exception: "Corner Cottage" seems very
carelessly written. Burrage makes the same point over and over, even
using the same phrases; this must've been a throwaway written in great
haste. The plot is okay, not much different from the entries in the
first half of the book, but the delivery is unfortunate. Still, just
one clinker in a batch of 26-- and the 26 being pleasantly varied in
setting-- is a great achievement, and I look forward to reading the
rest of the series.
***
(I never did get around to reading the other books before selling them out of financial necessity, but SOON I will read them in their new ebook incarnations.)