Supernatural Tales

  I received a review copy of The Water Bells from the author.  This new collection  contains one tale from ST 59, 'Fire and Stick', which I'm sure readers will agree is a first-rate tale of the strange and disturbing. In total TWB offers fifteen stories, and all are of the same high calibre. The illustrations, as astute folk might have noticed, are by Odilon Redon, and are well suited to the tales. Charles Wilkinson's world is an odd one, a liminal but very British domain. It lies, I think, somewhere between Aickman and de la Mare with a strong dash of M.R. James.  A recurring them here is the solitary or somewhat awkward individual - usually male - who finds himself a fish out of water. Thus Theo Dodds who, having 'done nothing with his life for three years', is sent to care for a dying relative in 'Absent Below the Lip'. The title more than hints at horrors to come as Theo discovers - far too late - just what his uncle was and did. 

  Another poetry pamphlet from the laureate of the fens, Pete Cox. This one contains a handful of works on a mysterious medieval outfit founded by one Hugh Bardolph. The guild 'oversaw the construction and consecration (in 1235) of the so-called Dean's Eye' - a rose window in Lincoln Cathedral. Among other things... The first poem deals with the imps of Lincoln and their role in the earthquake of 1185. Apparently 'their interference had been deduced/By mages skilled in ancient scrying art'. Which was a good thing, as 'holy magics' could be 'unloosed' on the little blighters. The imps turned to gargoyles. Serves 'em right. 'Hugh Bardolph and the Dragon' is a nice anecdote about the eponymous chap in his youth, arriving at court with what he claimed was the head of a dragon. Dinosaur fossil? Perhaps. As the poem reveals, Henry II and his advisors were not mugs. Hugh admits it's a fair cop... 'I found the skull among the rocks and sa...