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Where Shadows Gather
Sarob Press is delighted to announce the publication of Where Shadows Gather ~ a new collection of ghostly stories by Michael Chislett. Michael’s first Sarob Press collection, In the City of Ghosts, won the Dracula Society “Children of the Night” award and has long been out of print. This new bumper collection presents a further thirteen stories (five previously unpublished*), again mostly set in or around the author’s fictional London borough of Milford, and the ghost-strewn suburb of Mabbs End – although a couple of stories do venture overseas.
Ghosts, vampires, black magicians & other unusual terrors ... not everything is as it might, at first, seem to be, as darkness and light conspire to draw the reader in to where shadows gather, and the mist rises from the Thames, and creatures of the night walk and hunt, and haunt the foggy pathways and streets of the sinister city.
Stories: “Downriver*” “In the Garden*” “Only the Dead know Deptford” “Mara” “The Extras*” “The Subliminals” “Endor” “The Whistle Thing” “Redriff” “The Raggy Girl*” “The Coast Guard” “Those that Come from the Air” and “The Snow Queen*”
Ghosts, vampires, black magicians & other unusual terrors ... not everything is as it might, at first, seem to be, as darkness and light conspire to draw the reader in to where shadows gather, and the mist rises from the Thames, and creatures of the night walk and hunt, and haunt the foggy pathways and streets of the sinister city.
Stories: “Downriver*” “In the Garden*” “Only the Dead know Deptford” “Mara” “The Extras*” “The Subliminals” “Endor” “The Whistle Thing” “Redriff” “The Raggy Girl*” “The Coast Guard” “Those that Come from the Air” and “The Snow Queen*”
207 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2019
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August 22, 2019
*Full disclosure. I know Mike Chislett and published one of the stories within this book*
This is the second Sarob volume of Mike Chislett's tales collecting stories primarily published in the small press (such as Supernatural Tales) and covering a period from 2003- present including five new tales.
Like his previous volume, many of the stories are set in London, some recognizably so, others in the fictional areas of Milford and Mabbs End. We also venture to the Estonian coast and Transylvania.
Chislett has an interest in the interstitial of the city, underpasses, canal paths and the untamed (or abused) areas in the suburbs. In this respect one might draw parallels with Arthur Machen's London and the Matthews and Fletcher characters of 'The Extras' and 'The Snow Queen' might be a nod towards Dyson and Phillips of Machens 'Three Imposters'. But whereas Machen's tended to seek the spiritual in the streets perhaps the nearest to get to that is 'In the Garden' Chislett's protagonists tend to encounter beings more reminiscent of M. R. James revenants.
This is particularly so in 'The Whistle Thing' which is to all intents and purposes a retelling of the James tale set in contemporary London. This is perhaps the weakest tale of the book precisely for that reason, the bed-sheets of original being largely replaced by something equally ubiquitous. A few of the other tales {'Downriver' for example) also telegraph their endings a little too soon for my liking '.
However, the greater proportion of the stories work very well indeed. 'Redriff' and the wonderful 'The Raggy Girl' also take Jamesian motifs; signs and portents and curiosity to go where one knows one shouldnt but fully integrate into familiar the urban experience- who hasnt seen things scribbled on the free newspapers discarded on buses and trains? Who hasn't wandered around buildings scheduled for demolition which have a sinister reputation? Is the half-glimpsed tattoos really what you think you saw? The 'Raggy Girl' and the vile 'Dickens' of 'Those that Come from the Air' are perhaps the nastiest of these intrusions though the latter is, for myself, also the most moving of the tales in the book.
'The Snow Queen' begins with the familiar doll trope but rapidly slides into more interesting territory and the fox (now a familiar sight in London) appears in this and number of his tales with varying levels enigmaticness.
A number of characters appear in more than one tale either overtly (Mattews and Fletcher) or more subtly such as Axel Crescentius, the lead player in 'Endor'. 'Endor' is one of only two ('Mara' being the other) historical, nineteenth century, tales in the volume and concerns spiritualism. As I published this it is obviously wonderful, but then I would say that...
However, there are two caveats which prevented me from giving this four stars, one perhaps editorial and one literary. I think it would have been better to group those tales with same named characters, or similar themes, together. This would give the volume more cohesion and stop one flipping back to find which story they occurred in previously. A braver move might have been to change the names altogether and let each stand alone, as the geographical locale is enough to link them together.
The authorial issue is that of literary reference and humour. A number of the tales make fairly obvious reference to other writers and their stories or have in(ish)-jokes, for example in 'Redriff' there is a very obvious allusion to Jame's 'Casting the Runes' and another a character named Shadwell is linked to a well (Shadwell is a London district). I found them a distraction, not feeling amused by either my own or the authors cleverness. Perhaps more importantly this jarring 'nod to reader' took me out of the narrative flow of the tale which is a real pity.
At his best, Chislett is very good indeed. 'The Raggy Girl' and 'Those that Come from the Air' especially evocative and unnerving and among the short stories I have read so far this year.
It is good to see that Chisletts work is getting the recognition that it deserves and Sarob have done a good thing by collecting them.
This is the second Sarob volume of Mike Chislett's tales collecting stories primarily published in the small press (such as Supernatural Tales) and covering a period from 2003- present including five new tales.
Like his previous volume, many of the stories are set in London, some recognizably so, others in the fictional areas of Milford and Mabbs End. We also venture to the Estonian coast and Transylvania.
Chislett has an interest in the interstitial of the city, underpasses, canal paths and the untamed (or abused) areas in the suburbs. In this respect one might draw parallels with Arthur Machen's London and the Matthews and Fletcher characters of 'The Extras' and 'The Snow Queen' might be a nod towards Dyson and Phillips of Machens 'Three Imposters'. But whereas Machen's tended to seek the spiritual in the streets perhaps the nearest to get to that is 'In the Garden' Chislett's protagonists tend to encounter beings more reminiscent of M. R. James revenants.
This is particularly so in 'The Whistle Thing' which is to all intents and purposes a retelling of the James tale set in contemporary London. This is perhaps the weakest tale of the book precisely for that reason, the bed-sheets of original being largely replaced by something equally ubiquitous. A few of the other tales {'Downriver' for example) also telegraph their endings a little too soon for my liking '.
However, the greater proportion of the stories work very well indeed. 'Redriff' and the wonderful 'The Raggy Girl' also take Jamesian motifs; signs and portents and curiosity to go where one knows one shouldnt but fully integrate into familiar the urban experience- who hasnt seen things scribbled on the free newspapers discarded on buses and trains? Who hasn't wandered around buildings scheduled for demolition which have a sinister reputation? Is the half-glimpsed tattoos really what you think you saw? The 'Raggy Girl' and the vile 'Dickens' of 'Those that Come from the Air' are perhaps the nastiest of these intrusions though the latter is, for myself, also the most moving of the tales in the book.
'The Snow Queen' begins with the familiar doll trope but rapidly slides into more interesting territory and the fox (now a familiar sight in London) appears in this and number of his tales with varying levels enigmaticness.
A number of characters appear in more than one tale either overtly (Mattews and Fletcher) or more subtly such as Axel Crescentius, the lead player in 'Endor'. 'Endor' is one of only two ('Mara' being the other) historical, nineteenth century, tales in the volume and concerns spiritualism. As I published this it is obviously wonderful, but then I would say that...
However, there are two caveats which prevented me from giving this four stars, one perhaps editorial and one literary. I think it would have been better to group those tales with same named characters, or similar themes, together. This would give the volume more cohesion and stop one flipping back to find which story they occurred in previously. A braver move might have been to change the names altogether and let each stand alone, as the geographical locale is enough to link them together.
The authorial issue is that of literary reference and humour. A number of the tales make fairly obvious reference to other writers and their stories or have in(ish)-jokes, for example in 'Redriff' there is a very obvious allusion to Jame's 'Casting the Runes' and another a character named Shadwell is linked to a well (Shadwell is a London district). I found them a distraction, not feeling amused by either my own or the authors cleverness. Perhaps more importantly this jarring 'nod to reader' took me out of the narrative flow of the tale which is a real pity.
At his best, Chislett is very good indeed. 'The Raggy Girl' and 'Those that Come from the Air' especially evocative and unnerving and among the short stories I have read so far this year.
It is good to see that Chisletts work is getting the recognition that it deserves and Sarob have done a good thing by collecting them.
April 21, 2020
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher to review for Ghosts and Scholars magazine, where this review first appeared.
Where Shadows Gather, the new collection of uncanny stories by Michael Chislett, is a little different from other collections I have reviewed here.
To begin with, the stories are more of a unity than those other collections. Mostly set in and around London, in both real and fictions locations, they often explore the same themes - vanishing shadows, the immanence of both the past and present of London in the present day - and some feature some characters (such as the Faust-like Doctor Crescentius in Mara, Endor and The Coast Guard) or allow their protagonists to brush up against one another (Only the Dead Know Deptford/ The Extras). There are hints of connections to wider histories (as when, in Only the Dead..., we have detailed and repeated references to an earlier incident in Brighton).
These stories depart, somewhat, from the Jamesian 'several decades removed' trope, being mostly told in the present (even if set in the 19th century) and also often (though not always) featuring protagonists not ignorant of the occult (indeed who are sometimes practitioners of it) although there are also innocent victims who turn the wrong way on a foggy night or are beguiled by something seen across the water. Chislett has a formidable talent for making the ordinary sights, sounds and weather of London and especially its river seem extremely eerie, and I will be watching lout myself in future. Even the bright lights of Canary Wharf dim at time sin this volume.
Downriver is a perfectly sinister story in which a young couple, out for a walk downriver, encounter something that is is, on the surface, interesting and harmless. It's a lesson in how little hooks can be placed in the mind, calling the victim back later to a cruel fate.
In In the Garden we again, we see how even in the midst of safe, suburban London, one wrong step can take you somewhere unexpected, and far beyond help.
In Only the Dead Know Deptford, Thea, returning from work in the glitzy offices of Canary Wharf, goes wrong somewhere around St Nicholas's Church in Deptford (location for several of these stories) and is unable to find her way home. Or at least she can find the where of it but not the when. Pregnant with the past, the night seems alive and to have quite other intentions that she she does.
Mara introduces us to Doctor Crescentius (who Chislett informs us he has written about before), an exile in London from the 1848 "Year of Revolutions". Like Tim in In the Garden Crescentius finds an older, wilder side to London, but unlike him, he knows a little about such things and may be one step ahead of the forces he encounters.
The Extras is a more extended story, featuring two men, Fletcher and Matthews (they of the impliedly debauched Brighton trip mentioned above). At one level, it's two men who spend a lot of time in pubs discussed a lot of metaphysical twaddle. At another level, they are documenting London, taking photographs, which seem to have a... mutability... of their own. All manner of wonders emerge. Again, the pair are knowing - they speak of various supernatural tidings from different parts of the city - but that may not save them from falling victim. (This story is also notable for establishing that, perhaps, this version of London is not quite ours - there are references to a character with Ostrogothic ancestry, some unfamiliar country names, and so forth as well as links in to a Central European mythology involving witches and demons.
In The Subliminals we're now into full-fledged tampering with That Which Ought Not to be Known. Lant is some form of occult master ("the sceptical occultist") who - carefully - stands back from himself doing what he encourages his pupils to do. Now, those pupils seem to be paying the price. There is a tensely drawn, very eerie standoff here, all the more creepy for the stakes being obscure.
Endor, a somewhat longer story than many of the others here, again follows Crescentius who is however now in early 30s Germany. (is he some kind of wandering, eternal scholar, deathless and cursed?) Among dark references to book burning and a previously liberal friend having joined the Brownshirts and become a power in the town, Crescentius pursues knowledge - ignoring going on all around him - as he latches onto a woman with the talent of a medium and who is, it seems, able to contact an imprisoned spirit that promises Crescentius much... this is a gripping and dark story, replete with abuse and manipulation (one scene in particular sees Crescentius take advantage of his victim is a very physical, not spiritual, way) and also with nods to other aspects of this book (the power to steal shadows, the Ostrogothic origins of the mysterious "witch".
The Whistle Thing opens with Carla and Jago, a couple very much in love, finding a strange whistle in a park,. It may already be known to you as it was published in G&S 33. It is a fine story, riffing, of course, off MR James's "O Whistle..." but modernising the setting to Chislett's London and providing the somewhat too daring male protagonist with a shrewd female companion (I wonder how many of MR James's scholarly heroes would have benefited from that?) It's very atmospheric and also hoks into Chislett's wider mythology.
Jago may actually be more... knowing... that he lets on, as he's mentioned as one of Lant's associates in The Subliminals, alongside Redriff, who gets his own story, indeed a story named after him, in which he begins to receive messages, scrawled in red on discarded free newspapers or on Tube station whiteboards (very London). In the story we lear more about Haggerston and Mardyke from The Subliminals, and also a certain Morden whom Redriff consults for help with the perplexing messages. We also encounter the enigmatic Ms Hand (mentioned in The Extras). There's a slippery, claustrophobic sense about the commerce done between these stories, a sense that all these characters may know things, may know each other, but they can't escape, can't get out of the sticky amber that's entombing them. And so with Redriff.
The Raggy Girl is an effective weird and chilling story wherein a slum tenement is being demolished over the head of its supernatural resident. The story is notable for the sense of alienation given off by the narrator, Terry. Despite Raglan Mansions being slap bang in the middle of Milford Hiugh Street, opposite the station, Terry and his friend Danny experience a haunting in full daylight as the Girl pursues them from her disintegrating lair. Like many of the other stories here this is less in the end about what happens to an individual as about how the mundane and supernatural communities coexist and how people find their place in one or the other.
The Coast Guard is one of only two stories here (I think) not set in London though it has London connections as Fraukie, a young girl spending some time with her grandfather on the Baltic Coast, is a Londoner through and through and has made allies there - who help her when she's menaced by a local spirit. I felt this to be one of the most Jamesian stories in the collection - well, with sand dunes, a vengeful sport and an ancient book of lore, how could it not be?
Those That Come from the Air has a uniquely nasty air, the agitated spirit being bound up with stirring whorls of rubbish, crackling black plastic and all the detritus of modern life. It also features a truly horrible version of a demon, one referred to elsewhere in this collection but studied in detail here. Again fairly uniquely here, it has an element of redemption, which I strongly welcomed.
Finally, The Snow Queen gives us Fletcher and Matthews again, explicitly after the events of that story (and so, perhaps, shedding some light on the ending of The Extras). It's more of an encounter, perhaps, than a complete narrative but serves to round off the collection nicely.
Taken together the stories give much more of a sense of being part of a thematic whole than most collections. They're explicitly set in the same world and we see many of the same characters come and go. Each is though its own, more or less self contained, mystery - the collection doesn't amount to a unified story and the overall effect is therefore more "Isn't there a lot of weird stuff going on in London?" than "Ah, so that's what was behind it all!"
And there's nothing wrong with that.
Where Shadows Gather, the new collection of uncanny stories by Michael Chislett, is a little different from other collections I have reviewed here.
To begin with, the stories are more of a unity than those other collections. Mostly set in and around London, in both real and fictions locations, they often explore the same themes - vanishing shadows, the immanence of both the past and present of London in the present day - and some feature some characters (such as the Faust-like Doctor Crescentius in Mara, Endor and The Coast Guard) or allow their protagonists to brush up against one another (Only the Dead Know Deptford/ The Extras). There are hints of connections to wider histories (as when, in Only the Dead..., we have detailed and repeated references to an earlier incident in Brighton).
These stories depart, somewhat, from the Jamesian 'several decades removed' trope, being mostly told in the present (even if set in the 19th century) and also often (though not always) featuring protagonists not ignorant of the occult (indeed who are sometimes practitioners of it) although there are also innocent victims who turn the wrong way on a foggy night or are beguiled by something seen across the water. Chislett has a formidable talent for making the ordinary sights, sounds and weather of London and especially its river seem extremely eerie, and I will be watching lout myself in future. Even the bright lights of Canary Wharf dim at time sin this volume.
Downriver is a perfectly sinister story in which a young couple, out for a walk downriver, encounter something that is is, on the surface, interesting and harmless. It's a lesson in how little hooks can be placed in the mind, calling the victim back later to a cruel fate.
In In the Garden we again, we see how even in the midst of safe, suburban London, one wrong step can take you somewhere unexpected, and far beyond help.
In Only the Dead Know Deptford, Thea, returning from work in the glitzy offices of Canary Wharf, goes wrong somewhere around St Nicholas's Church in Deptford (location for several of these stories) and is unable to find her way home. Or at least she can find the where of it but not the when. Pregnant with the past, the night seems alive and to have quite other intentions that she she does.
Mara introduces us to Doctor Crescentius (who Chislett informs us he has written about before), an exile in London from the 1848 "Year of Revolutions". Like Tim in In the Garden Crescentius finds an older, wilder side to London, but unlike him, he knows a little about such things and may be one step ahead of the forces he encounters.
The Extras is a more extended story, featuring two men, Fletcher and Matthews (they of the impliedly debauched Brighton trip mentioned above). At one level, it's two men who spend a lot of time in pubs discussed a lot of metaphysical twaddle. At another level, they are documenting London, taking photographs, which seem to have a... mutability... of their own. All manner of wonders emerge. Again, the pair are knowing - they speak of various supernatural tidings from different parts of the city - but that may not save them from falling victim. (This story is also notable for establishing that, perhaps, this version of London is not quite ours - there are references to a character with Ostrogothic ancestry, some unfamiliar country names, and so forth as well as links in to a Central European mythology involving witches and demons.
In The Subliminals we're now into full-fledged tampering with That Which Ought Not to be Known. Lant is some form of occult master ("the sceptical occultist") who - carefully - stands back from himself doing what he encourages his pupils to do. Now, those pupils seem to be paying the price. There is a tensely drawn, very eerie standoff here, all the more creepy for the stakes being obscure.
Endor, a somewhat longer story than many of the others here, again follows Crescentius who is however now in early 30s Germany. (is he some kind of wandering, eternal scholar, deathless and cursed?) Among dark references to book burning and a previously liberal friend having joined the Brownshirts and become a power in the town, Crescentius pursues knowledge - ignoring going on all around him - as he latches onto a woman with the talent of a medium and who is, it seems, able to contact an imprisoned spirit that promises Crescentius much... this is a gripping and dark story, replete with abuse and manipulation (one scene in particular sees Crescentius take advantage of his victim is a very physical, not spiritual, way) and also with nods to other aspects of this book (the power to steal shadows, the Ostrogothic origins of the mysterious "witch".
The Whistle Thing opens with Carla and Jago, a couple very much in love, finding a strange whistle in a park,. It may already be known to you as it was published in G&S 33. It is a fine story, riffing, of course, off MR James's "O Whistle..." but modernising the setting to Chislett's London and providing the somewhat too daring male protagonist with a shrewd female companion (I wonder how many of MR James's scholarly heroes would have benefited from that?) It's very atmospheric and also hoks into Chislett's wider mythology.
Jago may actually be more... knowing... that he lets on, as he's mentioned as one of Lant's associates in The Subliminals, alongside Redriff, who gets his own story, indeed a story named after him, in which he begins to receive messages, scrawled in red on discarded free newspapers or on Tube station whiteboards (very London). In the story we lear more about Haggerston and Mardyke from The Subliminals, and also a certain Morden whom Redriff consults for help with the perplexing messages. We also encounter the enigmatic Ms Hand (mentioned in The Extras). There's a slippery, claustrophobic sense about the commerce done between these stories, a sense that all these characters may know things, may know each other, but they can't escape, can't get out of the sticky amber that's entombing them. And so with Redriff.
The Raggy Girl is an effective weird and chilling story wherein a slum tenement is being demolished over the head of its supernatural resident. The story is notable for the sense of alienation given off by the narrator, Terry. Despite Raglan Mansions being slap bang in the middle of Milford Hiugh Street, opposite the station, Terry and his friend Danny experience a haunting in full daylight as the Girl pursues them from her disintegrating lair. Like many of the other stories here this is less in the end about what happens to an individual as about how the mundane and supernatural communities coexist and how people find their place in one or the other.
The Coast Guard is one of only two stories here (I think) not set in London though it has London connections as Fraukie, a young girl spending some time with her grandfather on the Baltic Coast, is a Londoner through and through and has made allies there - who help her when she's menaced by a local spirit. I felt this to be one of the most Jamesian stories in the collection - well, with sand dunes, a vengeful sport and an ancient book of lore, how could it not be?
Those That Come from the Air has a uniquely nasty air, the agitated spirit being bound up with stirring whorls of rubbish, crackling black plastic and all the detritus of modern life. It also features a truly horrible version of a demon, one referred to elsewhere in this collection but studied in detail here. Again fairly uniquely here, it has an element of redemption, which I strongly welcomed.
Finally, The Snow Queen gives us Fletcher and Matthews again, explicitly after the events of that story (and so, perhaps, shedding some light on the ending of The Extras). It's more of an encounter, perhaps, than a complete narrative but serves to round off the collection nicely.
Taken together the stories give much more of a sense of being part of a thematic whole than most collections. They're explicitly set in the same world and we see many of the same characters come and go. Each is though its own, more or less self contained, mystery - the collection doesn't amount to a unified story and the overall effect is therefore more "Isn't there a lot of weird stuff going on in London?" than "Ah, so that's what was behind it all!"
And there's nothing wrong with that.
April 27, 2024
Chislett, Michael - Where Shadows Gather
Choice collection of outings from the always dependable Chislett.
As is often the case, many revolve around the curious.
An early example is found in “In The Garden,” when brother Tom, staying at his sister’s, spies a locked gate at the end of the garden. Three bolts, which he unlocks. Then a sturdy post, with some sort of writing on it, which he pulls from the ground so the fence can open freely. Next, like any curious soul, he steps through.
Two stories feature Fletcher and Matthews, similar to Machen’s Dyson and Phillips, who fancy themselves observers of the outré. Observers, not seekers.
Another pair of stories concern a small group of adepts. They do seek, and become, in turn, sought.
Much more in this diverse, enjoyable assortment of shadows and edges.
Choice collection of outings from the always dependable Chislett.
As is often the case, many revolve around the curious.
An early example is found in “In The Garden,” when brother Tom, staying at his sister’s, spies a locked gate at the end of the garden. Three bolts, which he unlocks. Then a sturdy post, with some sort of writing on it, which he pulls from the ground so the fence can open freely. Next, like any curious soul, he steps through.
Two stories feature Fletcher and Matthews, similar to Machen’s Dyson and Phillips, who fancy themselves observers of the outré. Observers, not seekers.
Another pair of stories concern a small group of adepts. They do seek, and become, in turn, sought.
Much more in this diverse, enjoyable assortment of shadows and edges.
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