Post-pulp Reprints Review

Two John Glasby collections from Wildside Press

This will be one of three postings on U.K. author John S. Glasby (1928-2011). Glasby, surprisingly, had two parallel careers. After graduating from college, he had a long career as a research chemist and mathematician. At the same time, he was an author of several hundred works in a variety of genres. He wrote westerns, romance, crime, spy, science fiction, and war stories.

The Lonely ShadowsBut my interest here is in his supernatural stories, which were often inspired by the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. He wrote several short stories and a few novels along these lines. In recent years, there have been collections published by several different publishers. Thankfully with no overlap in stories.

Glasby also wrote four authorized Golden Amazon novels, following the originals by John Russell Fearn. I will get to those as I work through that series.

From Wildside Press, there are two collections: The Lonely Shadows and The Dark Boatman, both out in 2012 and both with the subtitle “Tales of Horror and the Cthulhu Mythos”. They have the same short bio on the author. I have no idea who edited these.

The Lonely Shadows has five stories, one original to this collection. In “The Lonely Shadows” (1962), a solicitor visits his client, who has not left the house his father left him over 40 years prior. With the help of a local doctor, now he will learn, to his regret, why. In “The Seventh Image,” a man who has been trying to fight dark magic tries to dissuade a friend from attending a party thrown by the worst of the dark mages. What will be the friend’s fate?

In “Shirley’s Ghost” (2005), a man comes to a small village in Cornwall in search of local legends. And gets one in the matter of a fisherman whose wife was mysteriously killed on a fishing trip. Now he is somehow haunted by her ghost which prevents him from dying at sea. But why and for how long?

The last two stories are Cthulhu mythos tales, both dealing with Innsmouth.

First is “Undersea Quest” which originally appeared as “The Quest for Y’ha-nthlei” (2005). I have no idea why the name changed. This has confused the indexers at ISFDB who don’t know this. If you are familiar with Innsmouth you know the Federal government raided the town and also sent a submarine to blow up the reef where the Deep Ones resided. There were three reports written by three agents, but they have been keep hidden until now. So this story gives those reports, which includes the submarine and its mission to the Deep Ones city, Y’ha-nthlei.

“Innsmouth Bane” (2005) is set in the early 1800s, it tells of Innsmouth as it starts to struggle and how Obed Marsh brought the Deep Ones to Innsmouth, taking control and making it the Innsmouth we know.

The Dark BoatmanThe Dark Boatman has five stories. First up is the title story, originally from 1989. A man is informed of the passing of his uncle and his inheritance of the family mansion in Cornwall. He is the last of a long family line, but there seems to be a mystery over his family. As he delves into things, he sees records of births and marriages, but nothing about any recorded deaths. His uncle is not buried in the family mausoleum. No one is. What is the strange fate that will befall him at the end?

In “Aunt Amelia” (2008), a man is invited by his aunt, who he hasn’t seen in years, to come live with her. She is strangely unchanged since last he saw her. And her servant is mysteriously gone. He learns the servant went crazy and was committed a few years prior. He sees strange things with her aunt, and soon learns the truth, to his horror.

In “That Deep Black Yonder” (1967), set in the 1930s, a man moves into an abandoned mansion on the Devon coast. He learns of its long and sinister past going back to the eighth century. As he delves further into it, he is confronted by its secret — the strange sub-human being who lives beneath it — before he flees.

“Dust” (1967) is also set in the 1930s, with our main character going to live with his uncle in a remote mansion. This time it’s because his uncle needs his help regarding a sinister house in the area. After the owner disappeared, others also disappeared there. And in looking into it, sinister things are connected to that location going back centuries. A tale of cosmic horror, there is something there that consumes. The title will make sense by the end.

The last story, “The Keeper of Dark Point” (1996), is set on the Devon coast, in the vicinity of Dark Point lighthouse. Here a man is in search of his brother, who moved there to do research. But whatever that research is, the locals don’t like it or him. What is it that has he uncovered? Who or what is the Keeper of Dark Point? And what happens when our protagonist comes face to face with him?

Despite the subtitle “Tales of Horror and the Cthulhu Mythos,” none of these stories are explicitly part of the Cthulhu mythos. There is no mention of any of Lovecraftian entities, no books, etc. Their atmospheres are similar, but that’s not enough to be part of the mythos. Seems like someone was being a bit lazy with the labeling. All the stories are good, and some of them are clearly Lovecraftian in style and cosmic horror. I enjoyed them all, but was annoyed by the false labeling.

Both of these are nice introductions to the supernatural fiction of this author. Be advised that some of his works appear as by John Glasby and some by John S. Glasby, so you’ll need to search under both names to find his works. But several are readily available on Amazon. These are all enjoyable reads.

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