Mr. George and Other Odd Persons

by August Derleth, Stephen Grendon (Pseudonym)

HAVE YOU EVER

Felt an unseen presence?
Lived through the same moment before?
Felt a sudden chill when there was no draught?
Heard your name called when there was no-one near?
Known something would happen before it does?

The superb stories in this collection by August Derleth will confirm your worst fears.

He says in his introduction that they are among the best macabre tales he has written.

A superb collection of stories which rank among August Derleth's best tales of the supernatural - The New York Times

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction

239 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the Cosmic Horror genre, as well as his founding of the publisher Arkham House (which did much to bring supernatural fiction into print in hardcover in the US that had only been readily available in the UK), Derleth was a leading American regional writer of his day, as well as prolific in several other genres, including historical fiction, poetry, detective fiction, science fiction, and biography

A 1938 Guggenheim Fellow, Derleth considered his most serious work to be the ambitious Sac Prairie Saga, a series of fiction, historical fiction, poetry, and non-fiction naturalist works designed to memorialize life in the Wisconsin he knew. Derleth can also be considered a pioneering naturalist and conservationist in his writing

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augus...]

Reviews

[X · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars maybe, but it's a collection and as such is hard to judge as I liked some stories more than others. The stories were largely predictable, especially after the first few, but nicely written.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been reading these stories on and off for a few weeks now and have finally come to the end of this great collection. Not only were these some great tales of the supernatural and ghost stories, most of them were also very nostalgic taking place around the turn of the 20th century in small towns or villages. I found them all to be very enjoyable. As others have mentioned, many of these tales could have been episodes of The Twilight Zone. In fact, Mr. George was indeed adapted for television but not for Twilight Zone. It was made into an episode of Boris Karloff's Thriller . Thriller was a great anthology series from the early 60s and I remember several of the episodes scaring me half to death when I was a kid. In fact some of Derleth's stories were made into several thrillers. Overall, I highly recommend this one and I will be reading more of Derleth!

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! I am a big fan of Lovecraft and of course he and Derleth are often linked so I decided to try out this book of short stories. I was really charmed! Kind of like a cross between Capote (at his more creepy level) and Rod Serling. Very elegant and wonderful stories. He seems to have a penchant for child/revenge stories which I must admit I have a weakness for. Many of these stories would have made great Twilight Zone episodes. My one complaint is the racial stereotyping seen through out. One of my favorite stories "Balu" about a special black cat has much offensive stereotyping despite being a really fascinating story--and frankly it was not necessary to the story. I know these were written in a different time but it does trouble the reader. (at least this one...)Otherwise, no complaints--beautifully written and fun to read at that!

[Kitty Graves · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book last Christmas from my grandparents. It came in a huge lot of books but for some reason it became the first book I felt I needed to read out of them. My version of the book is different than the one here, so I don’t know if it had the same stories but to me it doesn’t matter. I loved all of the stories and could never pick a favorite but instead I am making this book one of my all time favorite books. It took me so long to read because of the time it was written in, people back then were very articulate compared with nowadays. I think I will look into more by the author.💚💚

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are three stories in here which I really like. Although something that put me off in almost all of these is the build up with a weaker ending. Many of the stories start off slow and brooding, building up a temse atmosphere and you can't wait to see what will happen in the end. Something does always happen, but it may not be what you were expecting or what I was hoping for. I almost felt a little let down.
I hated the ending but loved the rest of a story in which a man commits murder and then finds out that the man he killed was adept in the occult.
Another one involves a town who seems to be afraid of an old woman who plays with and takes care of her neighbours kids and who turns out to be a witch.
I loved the lost valley story about a man who makes frequent trips to a small town where he gets to know most of people, then one day he decides to travel there at a different date then usual. The coachmen are surprised at this and even try to get him to come back another time but he continues on. In the town, at night, he wakes up to noises outside. He sees most, if not all, the people of the town wearing cloaks and carrying torches and heading towards a train where tracks weren't laid out before. Just a little tale of the occult

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contrary to what’s been publicly against Derleth, these stories, weird tales in their own right, were well written. No literary pretense here. He wrote these for fun, and some good weird scares. No cosmic horror unfortunately, but take on the style of Tales From the Crypt. Usually, bad people often get their comeuppance. Like EC comics, there are moments of dark hilarity. As was said, Derleth wrote these for fun. Most definitively recommended.

[Rebecca I · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has some eerie tales in it. They are the kind of stories that are creepy and make you feel like someone is hiding in the closet, or under the bed. Some of them have things happening as if everything changes in the world after dark. Some will make you believe in curses on objects or believe in ghosts. I especially liked the one called "Bishop's Gambit".

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid stories of spooky scoundrels getting their comeuppance. None are standouts, but also, none are bad.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a long time coming. I bought When Graveyards Yawn in 1978 and have just got a round to reading it (2014). Whilst my life hasn't been impoverished by its previous absence, Derleth's collection of ghost stories is still a good one.

There aren't any overtly gruesome shocks, hints and suggestions being more Derelth's style, dictated, no doubt, by the mores of the time in which he was writing - the 1940s - and there is nothing of the cosmic horror of his literary hero, H.P. Lovecraft. What there is is a set of atmospheric stories dealing mainly with returns from "the other side". There is usually some malevolence, though often against a deservingly unpleasant victim. Endangered children, in particular, seem to be protected by the shades of the departed in Derleth's world, although youth is no guarantee of escape from a spectral slaying.

The first story, Mr George is probably the best of the bunch, but it's not a downhill ride from there, as there are plenty of other interesting tales. I liked the narrator's voice in The Man on B-17, told by the driver of a locomotive who seems oblivious to the supernatural element of his story, evident to the reader.

Dead Man's Shoes is an interesting WWI revenge story involving haunted boots, and The Tsantsa in the Parlour is a very well done supernatural murder plot.

I wasn't so keen on Parrington's Pool, which gave me more information on fly fishing than I felt I was in need of, but all of the other stories had something to commend them.

I think that my 9p investment 36 years ago has repaid itself.

[Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of horror stories that Derleth wrote for Weird Tales in the '40s. Fairly high quality pulp horror, though Derleth does have the unfortunate habit of recycling plots, with tales of posthomous revenge making up at least half the stories in this collection. Another prevalent element is that of loneliness, often that of a child who has lost an important parental figure. Derleth paints this quite skillfuly, so the air of sadness it lends to those stories feels more like a personal touch than a recylced trope. Only a story or two really achieve something novel enough to place them above quality pulp horror.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

*Mr. George --
Parrington's pool --
A gentleman from Prague --
*The man on B-17 --
Blessed are the meek --
Mara --
*The blue spectacles --
*Alannah --
Dead man's shoes --
The Tsantsa in the parlor --
Balu --
*The extra passenger --
The wind in the lilacs --
*Miss Esperson --
*The night train to Lost Valley --
Bishop's gambit --
Mrs. Manifold --
***
The lonesome place --2

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This collection of horror short stories was one of my dad's books, which I've seen on the bookshelves all my life, and finally got around to trying.

Read 'Mr. George' and 'Parrington's Pool', and started 'Mrs. Manifold', but just couldn't finish it, as I was frankly ... bored.