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Scallion Stone
Local English legends are woven into five horror tales including The Propert Bequest, The Wine-glasses at Hagthwaite Hall, and The Scallion Stone
- GenresHorror
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 9, 2017
British churchman and academian Canon Basil A. Smith followed in the tradition of M. R. James by writing supernatural stories. Some interesting moments but Smith sometimes lets his plots get a little too complicated. Readable but not memorable. Downright frustrating at times- I kept wanting to poke the author and say "Get ON with it- we don't need yet ANOTHER secret door in this library, it already has TWO!"
March 8, 2025
Smith, Canon Basil A. - The Scallion Stone
Likely a collection that could have been published by Ash Tree Press, except that Whispers put it out in 1980.
Smith was a churchman, who wrote strictly for himself, though he permitted his friend, Russell Kirk, to read them.
Kirk was instrumental in assembling this collection, even writing the introduction.
Although some critics fashion Smith into the M. R. James sphere, I find him more in the pulp chamber.
Most of the stories, five of them, feature professors, or rectors, or collectors, usually an assortment of the three, as well as some sort of ruins and unsettling rumors.
The last story, "The Propert Bequest," pulls out the stops with secret doors, mechanical stained glass windows, and bitter rivals.
Publisher Stuart Schiff even ponied up for illustrations by Stephen Fabian, who was absolutely on fire in those days.
A lot of fine line work, with figures in silhouette that recalls Steranko.
Likely a collection that could have been published by Ash Tree Press, except that Whispers put it out in 1980.
Smith was a churchman, who wrote strictly for himself, though he permitted his friend, Russell Kirk, to read them.
Kirk was instrumental in assembling this collection, even writing the introduction.
Although some critics fashion Smith into the M. R. James sphere, I find him more in the pulp chamber.
Most of the stories, five of them, feature professors, or rectors, or collectors, usually an assortment of the three, as well as some sort of ruins and unsettling rumors.
The last story, "The Propert Bequest," pulls out the stops with secret doors, mechanical stained glass windows, and bitter rivals.
Publisher Stuart Schiff even ponied up for illustrations by Stephen Fabian, who was absolutely on fire in those days.
A lot of fine line work, with figures in silhouette that recalls Steranko.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews