The Second Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories #2

by Robert Aickman

* Robert Aickman "Introduction"
* Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "Playing With Fire"
* Edith Nesbit "Man-Size in Marble"
* Robert Hichens "How Love Came to Professor Guildea"
* Elizabeth Bowen "The Demon Lover"
* Sir Max Beerbohm "A. V. Laider"
* Edgar Allan Poe "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"
* Lord Dunsany "Our Distant Cousins"
* Robert Aickman "The Inner Room"
* Perceval Landon "Thurnley Abbey"
* John Metcalfe "Nightmare Jack"
* Ambrose Bierce "The Damned Thing"
* Edith Wharton "Afterward"

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Author of: close to 50 "strange stories" in the weird-tale and ghost-story traditions, two novels (The Late Breakfasters and The Model), two volumes of memoir (The Attempted Rescue and The River Runs Uphill), and two books on the canals of England (Know Your Waterways and The Story of Our Inland Waterways).

Co-founder and longtime president of the Inland Waterways Association, an organization that in the middle of the 20th century restored a great part of England's deteriorating system of canals, now a major draw for recreation nationally and for tourism internationally.

Grandson of author Richard Marsh.

Reviews

[Josephine (Jo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this book in 1966 and I enjoyed reading it again now. I think that the traditional ghost story does not really age. It does not matter if you dislike historical or modern stories, because the focus is not so much on the time as the fear of the person experiencing the 'haunting', people and their fears stay much the same through history.
I found it sad that most of the writers of the stories in this book are now dead, some of my old favourites. The stories were mostly really good except for Our Distant Cousins, which was not in my opinion of the right genre for the book, too far fetched.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual for this one, I skipped over all the stories that I'm already familiar with due to them being well-anthologised. These were MAN-SIZE IN MARBLE, THE FACTS IN TH CASE OF M. VALDEMAR, THURNLEY ABBEY, THE DAMNED THING and AFTERWARD, all solid or excellent tales, but ones I know very well from previous encounters.

PLAYING WITH FIRE sounds ridiculous on paper, but Conan Doyle does a fine job here of summoning up a spooky séance atmosphere and letting rip with a ferocious climax. Robert Hichens tackles a very different approach in HOW LOVE CAME TO PROFESSOR GUILDEA, a realistic and psychological portrayal of madness and a haunting which may or may not be real. Meanwhile, THE DEMON LOVER sees Elizabeth Bowen writing about a tragic love affair with a disturbing coda.

Sir Max Beerbohm's A.V. LAIDER has some unfortunate racism but otherwise is quite subtle and effective, character-based and evocative of its setting. Lord Dunsany's OUR DISTANT COUSINS is very different, an outer-space adventure reminiscent of Wells. THE INNER ROOM sees Robert Aickman writing about a haunted doll's house with an unusual climax; as usual, it's a bit overwritten but has a neat premise to it. Finally, John Metcalfe's NIGHTMARE JACK tells a good old-fashioned story of exotic revenge, but the effect is somewhat spoilt by it being written in vernacular.

[Steve Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd put this collection slightly ahead of the previous with four of the twelve being good to very good. The best are Robert Hichens 'How Love Came To Professor Guildea' (long, but always gripping and atmospheric tale of a man haunted by something that his parrot can see - very good); Poe's often printed 'The Facts In The Case Of M.Valdemar' (weird story of a man is put into a trance on his death bed); Robert Aickman's 'The Inner Room' (as with much of Aickman, this one makes you think as to what is actually going on - parents buy their daughter a strange doll's house that doesn't open); and Ambrose Bierce's 'The Damned Thing' (straightforward tale of a creature - possibly from another dimension - murdering in a remote landscape).

Of the other eight stories, I'd say five are pretty poor, and three ok.

[Des Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote this in my Fontana review above: “… the bringing of all these stories together in one volume possibly being Aickman’s most singular and dangerous achievement?!”

The detailed review of this book under my name is too long or impractical to post here, and the above is one of its observations.

[Matt Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this years ago. It was a very good collection (still is I assume).