A Midwinter Entertainment

by Mark Beech (Editor), Alison Littlewood, Mark Valentine

An entertainment consisting of 288 pages; dedicated to short, yellowish days and long nights, to heavy curtains and the cracks and pops of burning logs, to frost-encroached byways and sturdy old inns, to skeletal trees and hungry black birds; and to the ghosts of Ernest Nister & Ernest Dowson.

Featuring many curious pieces, including several newly written stories (amongst them a brand new Connoisseur tale by Mark Valentine & John Howard), a smattering of rarely collected obscurities, a couple of never before translated artefacts and much more.

The full contents are as follows...

Meet Me at the Frost Fair by Alison Littlewood
The Monkey & Basil Holderness by Vincent O’Sullivan
A Matter of Fact by Marion Fox
The Ruddy-Cheeked Boy (A Tale in Homage to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Snow-Image’) by Sheryl Humphrey
Drebbel, Zander & Zervan by Ron Weighell
Second Master by Mark Valentine
Window Widows by Avalon Brantley
The Secret by Anatole Le Braz (first English translation, by George Berguño)
The Longing for Which by Sara Rich
Barefoot Withouten Shoon by Tina Rath
A Winter’s Night by Arthur Symons
How Shall Dead Men Sing? (The Supernatural Affair of Lord Alfred Douglas & Oscar Wilde) by Nina Antonia
Better Than Borley Rectory by Jane Fox
The Harmony of Death (A Pianist's Most Terrible Experience) by Havelock Ettrick
Il va neiger... by Francis Jammes (first English translation, by George Berguño)
The Celestial Tobacconist by Mark Valentine & John Howard
Finvarragh by Nora Hopper
From the Mouth of Mad Pratt by Ross Smeltzer
In St. James’s Park by Hubert Crackanthorpe
Aut Diabolus Aut Nihil by X.L.
Somewhere snow by Jonathan Wood

Genres: Horror, Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published November 24, 2016

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very solid little collection with a seasonal theme and authorship spanning roughly 120 years of publication. A few misses here and there with some very noteworthy hits, as well. Plus one or two tales which I chose to skip on this read-through with the intent of fleshing out my working knowledge of the talents they were paying homage to (Oscar Wilde in one and MR James in another).

Of particular note for me were the opening story by Alison Littlewood and the late (and dearly missed) Avalon Brantley's wind-blown tale of horror and vengeance in the bleak Scottish winter.

The highlight of the collection for this reader, however, was the genuinely moving "Barefoot Withouten Shoon," a positively wonderful fairy tale that hit all of the right marks for me and prompted two immediate re-reads and a failed audio narration because I still haven't managed to get through the two closing pages without choking up during the read. Your mileage certainly may vary, but this tale was a perfect centerpiece to the entire collection as far as I'm concerned.

The cover and endpaper art are phenomenal, as expected of Egaeus Press. The interior illustrations are simple, concise, and non-specific, but fit the themes of the book quite well.

All in all a great collection to dig into while enjoying a bleak December night before the fireplace with a cat at your feet, a cuppa at your side, and a briar pipe close at hand.

[Chris Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fine publication from Egaeus Press. The stories within were quite fitting to the title, and the craftsmanship of the book, the artwork inside, etc., was superb. A nice addition to my collection.

[Patrick.G.P · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful and delicate collection of curious tales and supernatural pieces, A Midwinter Entertainment is an excellent winter anthology. From ghostly tales set to the Frost Fair at the Thames to Mark Valentine’s insights into the various Masters of Mysteries for Queen Victoria, and a fascinating piece on Oscar Wilde and Alfred Douglas’s turbulent relationship, this collection had a bit of everything to snuggle up with in front of the fireplace a cold winters eve.

[William Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A satisfying compendium of tales in a wonderfully produced book from Egaeus Press.
Editor Mark Beech certainly has a discerning eye for the most talented authors he can find, and any book of stories which includes offerings by such notables as Mark Valentine, Ron Weighell and John Howard is a book worth tracking down. This is a limited edition of just 400 copies, but if you can locate a copy, do yourself a favor and obtain one.