Cover and internal art for ST 60

 

Sam Dawson's cover and internal art for Steve Duffy's upcoming story 'Valparaiso'.

Definitely not AI-generated. 

ST will never use any form of AI content. 

A MIND TURNED IN UPON ITSELF: Writings on J.S. Le Fanu by Jim Rockhill (Swan River Press 2025)

 

Literary criticism is not everyone's cup of green tea, but this book is essential for anyone who loves the works of Sheridan Le Fanu. The bulk of the text consists of three introductions Jim Rockhill wrote for 1990s Ash-Three collections, now long out of print. Rockhill has updated what are very substantial essays, and added some extra matter pertaining to the author and his life. 

And what a life it was. The first essay, 'As On a Darkling Plain' covers the period 1814- 1861. On the face of it this seems a little odd, as Le Fanu died in 1873. But, as I read on, I came to realise that before the 1860s the author had occupied himself with a wide range of activities, of which writing was just one. Politics, the law, and family life all demanded his time and effort. He married, fathered four children, then in 1858 suffered the terrible blow of his wife's death. It was only then that Le Fanu took to writing full-time to pay off debts and provide for his offspring. 

Overall, the first essay is a good biographical piece and sets Le Fanu firmly in the context of a troubled society. The descendant of Protestant immigrants, Le Fanu was part of a privileged elite but also felt his position to be precarious. He flirted with nationalism and wrote sympathetically of the native Irish. But after the turbulence of the 1840s he retreated from the 'Young Ireland' movement that had attempted a full-on uprising. 

THE SILENT HOUSE AND OTHER STRANGE STORIES by Sophia J. Unsworth (Tartarus Press 2025)

I received the review copy pictured below from the publisher. I am, as always, impressed by the quality of the volume. Tartarus never lets you down - their books are built to last. The cover is simply entitled 'An Old House', a painting by Edith Abbott. I like it. 

Sophia J. Unsworth is a new writer - this is her first collection. However, as the biographical notes reveal, she is a late bloomer. A long-term resident of Tenerife, she recently retired from a career as a professional pianist and teacher. (You can listen to the author playing some pieces on this YouTube channel.) And the first story in the book concerns one of her areas of expertise: accompanying silent films. 

A MYSTERY OF REMNANT & OTHER ABSENCES by B. Catling (Swan River Press 2025)

 

'B. Catling, R.A. (1948-2022) was born in London. He was a poet, sculptor, filmmaker, performance artist, painter, and writer. He held solo exhibitions and performances in the United Kingdom, Spain, Japan, Iceland, Israel, Holland, Norway, Germany, Greenland, USA, and Australia. His Vorrh trilogy and novels Earwig and Munky have drawn much critical acclaim. He was also Emeritus Professor of Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford.'

I had never heard of B(rian) Catling when I received a review copy of this book, which comes with three intriguing postcards 'featuring photographs by Iain Sinclair and text by Alan Moore'. I was a little puzzled. So I did some Googling and YouTubing and discovered that Catling was a very significant figure in the UK arts scene. I feel slightly ashamed that his work passed me by, but I have tried to dispel some of my ignorance. This book certainly offers a good overview of some of the man's ideas and personal vision. 

Here, you will not find many conventional tales of the supernatural, but that's no bad thing. The last story, 'A Pendon Parva Ghost', is however a good example of an exploration of the genre from an unusual perspective. A pretentious professor escorts a party of guests to a museum containing a huge diorama of the Vale of the White Horse. There our academic shows off a bit, but is then chastened by an encounter with a woman who asks him to consider the concept of hauntings from a new angle. The story also contains a justifiable sideswipe at ghost hunter Harry Price. 

Catling is certainly not conventional in his approach to the supernatural. The story above begins with the infamous anecdote of William Buckland eating the mummified heart of Louis XIV. I don't know why this is included, but it fits somehow. And I daresay that is where the artistry lies. The same can be said for 'Further Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar', which begins with an account of Valdemar's fascination with Japanese culture. The story is a (sort of) sequel to Poe's original tale in which the unnamed mesmerist finds himself stigmatized for his antics and seeks refuge in an unlikely place. It is a compelling piece. 

'X Certify' is a fascinating meditation on horror, with ideas circling a central event in Catling's life. In 1959 he went to see Hammer's The Revenge of Frankenstein and then visited an uncle who had just undergone brain surgery. Not surprisingly, this double encounter left a lasting impression. Catling's erudition takes him effortlessly between 'high' and popular culture, referencing Goya and Jack Pierce, the make-up artist on James Whale's first Frankenstein movie. 

Indeed, one of the pleasures of this book is its unapologetic interest in serious ideas, coupled with a more playful interest in Fortean/paranormal phenomena. 'Vanished!' is a series of monologues from the Manx family who encountered Gef the legendary talking mongoose. 'April 6th 1744' recounts the mystic and inventor Swedenborg's first encounter with an angelic being while he earing at a London Tavern. The short play 'Ugler i Mosen' concerns a bog body and its debatable origins. It formed the nucleus of the 2005 film The Cutting (which I watched on YouTube and found deeply moving). 

A good read? For me, yes. Even the shortest items here have something to offer. Every inclusion is thought-provoking in the true sense of the term; not merely contentious for the sake of it, but seeking to share and explore hidden or neglected aspects of our world. After this, Catling may well haunt me. 

Issue 59 is now available in print-on-demand format

The 59th issue of the long-running magazine offers a wide range of stories by British and American authors. From an anecdote told in a Yorkshire hair salon to a worried academic wandering an East Anglian beach... from an art class in a US school to a place of the dead that may be nowhere... these stories take you to strange places where you will encounter weird phenomena. Ghosts? Yes, but things other than ghosts can be even more terrifying. People, for instance.

Contents: 'The Ingress' by James Machin 'The Eternal Woman' by Stephen Cashmore 'Pastepot' by Rex Burrows '…and the traces of his memory fade' by Victoria Day 'Fire and Stick' by Charles Wilkinson 'Heron' by Sarah LeFanu 'On Dunwich Beach' by Roger Luckhurst

Author Notes

Rex Burrows writes dark speculative fiction. His stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies including Weird Horror Magazine, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and Tenebrous Antiquities: An Anthology of Historical Horror. He can be found online at www.rexburrows.com.



Stephen Cashmore is a professional proofreader, editor and writer based in Ayr on the west coast of Scotland. He has two novels published by Sparsile Books, and a third book As They Grow Older: Spooky Storiesto Read Aloud is coming out in October 2025. Go to
stephencashmore.com to find out more; go to cashmoreeditorial.com and click on 'errata' if you'd like to be amused by some typos Stephen has noticed in publications over the years. None, of course, emanate from Supernatural Tales.



Sam Dawson is a journalist. His collection, Pariah & Other Stories, is published by Supernatural Tales.



Victoria Day lives in North Yorkshire with her family, two border terriers and many books. Her short stories have appeared in Nebula Press, The Ghastling, Sarob Press, Vault of Evil, Supernatural Tales, Side Real Press, Ghosts and Scholars, Hypnogoria, The Silent Companion, and the They’re Out to Get You anthology edited by Johnny Mains. Her one act play ‘Take What You Want’ was performed at the 2022 Nidderdale Festival. She has written reviews of supernatural short story collections for the Grey Dog Tales blog. Her comedic poem ‘The Ballad of Brave Sir Louis’ about one of her dogs was published in ‘Animal, Vegetable, Mineral’. Another, about her other dog, ‘A Dog’s Guide to Criminal Cats’ is to be found in ‘Flapping Doodles’. Both are published by Gibbon Moon Books and are edited by Rhys Hughes. Her novella Greven Hall: A Yorkshire Ghost Story published by Barnthorne Books is available on their website at https://www.barnthornpublishing.co.uk/product-page/greven-hall-by-victoria-day or via Amazon.



Sarah LeFanu is a biographer whose subjects include Rose Macaulay, novelist and occasional ghost story writer, and Rudyard Kipling and Arthur Conan Doyle, both masters of the uncanny. ‘Heron’ marks her first appearance in Supernatural Tales. Another story set on the watery moors of North Somerset was published in Swan River’s Uncertainties Vol 1, edited by Brian J Showers, and is reprinted in the British Library anthology Fear in the Blood: Tales from the Dark Lineages of the Weird, edited by Mike Ashley.



Roger Luckhurst is a writer and critic who lives in London. His most recent book is Graveyards: A History of Living with the Dead from Thames and Hudson.



James Machin is an editor, researcher, and writer who lives in Tring. Recent books include The Strange Stories of John Buchan (British Library Gilded Nightmares, 2025) and a new edition of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Stark Munro Letters (Edinburgh University Press, 2024). His short fiction has been published in The Shadow Booth and Weirdbook, as well as previously in Supernatural Tales.



Charles Wilkinson’s stories have appeared in Best Short Stories 1990 (Heinemann), Best English Short Stories 2 (W.W. Norton, USA), Best British Short Stories 2015 (Salt), in genre magazines/ anthologies such as Black Static, Interzone, Supernatural Tales, Bourbon Penn (USA), Shadows & Tall Trees (Canada), Chthonic Matter (USA) and Best Weird Fiction 2015 (Undertow Books, Canada). His collections of strange tales and weird fiction A Twist in the Eye (2016), Splendid in Ash (2018), Mills of Silence (2021) and The Harmony of the Stares (2022), appeared from Egaeus Press. One of his stories was recently chosen for an Ellen Datlow Best Horror anthology, and his short novel, Every Place Unlike Home is forthcoming from Zagava (Germany). He lives in Wales.

 

New issue - coming soon!

 

New stories by:

James Machin

Rex Burrows

Stephen Cashmore

Roger Luckhurst

Sarah LeFanu

Victoria Day

Charles Wilkinson

Cover by Sam Dawson

GHOSTLY QUARTERS by C.E. Ward (Sarob Press 2025)

Clive Ward is one of the veteran contributors to Ghosts & Scholars who can always be relied upon to produce fiction in the M.R. Jamesian tradition. His stories usually offer slow-burn hauntings rather than gut-punch visceral horror - though he does sometimes deliver that punch very effectively. There is often that 'slight haze of distance' MRJ valued. This new collection from Sarob displays all Ward's virtues in four novellas (or 'Quarters'), longer tales in which there is sufficient elbow room to let the uncanny bubble slowly to the surface.

The first story, 'Promenade Walk', concerns a Norfolk seaside town which has seen better days. The narrator recalls a series of visits, each one punctuated by revelations about a notorious local family. Many of the ingredients will be familiar to fans of ghost stories. There's a Punch & Judy show, a tumbledown Martello Tower, and a lighthouse where a lone keeper went insane. At times, I could almost smell the tang of sea air. A dark family history is revealed as the narrator revisits the same run-down souvenir shop, oddly fascinated by its shabby mysteries.