This will be one of at least 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 using several pen names. He wrote westerns, romance, crime, spy, science fiction, and war stories.
My interest here is in his supernatural stories, which were often inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythos. Here, Glasby wrote several short stories and a few novels. In recent years, there have been collections and novels from several publishers. Thankfully, there’s little or no overlap in stories.
He 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 Ramble House/Dancing Tuatara Press, we have two collections: The Brooding City and Other Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos and Beyond the Rim and Other Tales of Cosmic Horror, both out in 2015.
These were edited by John Pelan, who provides the intro to both volumes. The author bio here seems similar to the ones in the Wildside collections. These books are #57 and #61 from Dancing Tuatara, for those that care.
Brooding City contains 13 stories, eight of which appear for the first time in print here. I found it strange how many unpublished works Glasby apparently had. The reprinted works come from two issues of Crypt of Cthulhu, #67 and #71, devoted to his works.
“Beyond the Peaks of Nightmare,” after mentioning several interesting scientific expeditions, focuses on a second Miskatonic University expedition to Antarctica. While retracing the journey of the prior one, they plan on pushing further into the mountain ranges.
An expedition to a pre-human city is the focus of “The Brooding City,” which was mentioned in the prior story. After reading a rare tome that tells of a journey to this city in deepest Africa, a new expedition heads there, with disastrous results for some.
An Egyptologist and his assistant are pulled into a trip to an ancient temple in “The Disturber of Everness.” In this work, Glasby introduced both his own ancient tome, the Book of K’yog and an Old One, Aqxaroth, the Disturber of Everness.
After all the stories set in foreign lands, “The Cedwald Heritage” is set on the Cornish coast. A man returns to his ancestral lands that his family left some 400 years prior. He plans on rebuilding the manor house and living there, but there are sinister stories tied to his family. Are they true? What will he discover?
A similar story is found in “The Dweller in the Gulf.” Here, a New Englander is informed that he has inherited a manor in Cornwall. He knows that his ancestor left England a few hundred years ago. But when he travels to take over the manor, he finds that the locals aren’t too keen on him being there. Then he discovers a letter from his deceased relative, which asks him to take on a task related to the “dweller.” Will he do so, and what will happen when he does?
A writer looking for a place to write notices a secluded house in “The House on the Rim.” But he is told the prior owner went insane 20 years prior, and there are rumors the house is linked to a warlock who mysteriously disappeared. But the man insists on living there. What does he discover, and will he have the same fate as his predecessor?
In “The Kh’yrog Tablets,” a young man inherits a fortune and a mansion on the Cornish coast from his grandfather. But with a few provisos. One is that he must live there, not sell it. And if he has no male issue, the whole house (and mausoleum) must be torn down. Looking into it, he finds that his great-grandfather had brought several large tablets from a newly risen island in the South Atlantic back home. What are they for? Are they to seal the Old Ones? And what are the strange semi-human figures that seem to be watching him and the mansion?
Strangely, “The Shadow Over Redforde” is actually set in the same location as “The Cedwald Heritage,” but there is no connection. A man is contacted by his cousin, who is going there to research certain strange legends, and asks him to join him. When he arrives, people say they don’t know anything about the man. Looking around, he is soon confronted and told his cousin was “taken,” and if he wants to avoid this, he should leave. And he wasn’t taken by anyone local. Will he discover what happened to his cousin, and will he share his fate?
A man who has been researching things man should avoid is contacted by a strange man in “The Ring of the Hyades” after he tries a potion that takes him to Hyades and may have brought him to the attention of Azathoth. Visiting the strange man, they actually travel to a strange place and retrieve a ring. This begins a series of events that may cost the man his life.
A country doctor is contacted by an old friend from college in “A Shadow From the Aeons.” His friend was always pretty strange, delving into various occult matters. He believes he has proof that all the ancient documents he has found that point to pre-human races and the like are all true! He is about to embark on a trip to Ponape to find the final proof. What will come of this?
A man asks a private investigator to look for his missing brother in “The Stone of Mogroth.” His brother is another believer in the various pre-human civilizations and travels the world looking for proof. Among his collection are the fragments of the Kh’yrog tablets recovered after the events of that story. He apparently went to the town of Redforde, the location of two prior stories, but only the events of the second are hinted at. The investigator runs into a reporter there, looking into local legends. What will they find, and will they share the same fate as others? We get another new Old One: Morgroth, Stealer of Minds.
In “The Undying Ones,” a retired professor approaches an estate agent to purchase a certain house that has been abandoned for 50 years. Per his research, it was the center of a cult that worshipped Yeb and Nub, the twin children of Shub-Niggurath. Once he purchases it, he starts his research, looking for the entrance to the cellar he knows is there, and recording the strange sounds coming from below. The estate agent fears he will go too far, and when he rushes there, accompanied by two policemen, what does he find?
Finally, in “A Whisper From the Aeons,” we have another man obsessed with studying the occult past. We are told of the chain of events that led to whatever happened to him, with his delving into the past in search of knowledge of the pre-human races and civilizations, and the gods they worshipped. This included trips to distant lands in Africa, South America, and more. And his last trip to Australia, where he brought back a large block of rock, which seems to have contained something. Was this what led to his demise?
Beyond the Rim has eight stories, two of them unique to this collection.
First up, we get “The Weird Shadow Over Innsmouth,” which, yes, is a sort of sequel to the original Innsmouth story. This is set two years after the original story, and follows a reporter from Ohio here investigating Innsmouth who has a family connection to Arkham. And to his horror, he learns of an even stronger familial tie he has to Innsmouth.
The next is also tied to Innsmouth, “Return to Y’ha-nthlei,” which focuses on a young man who was abandoned as a child in Boston but was adopted. But he has strange dreams and is a bit unusual. After his adopted father passes, and being an adult, he travels to the South Pacific in search of something. Returning home several years later with several unusual items and photos, he just seems to get stranger. He soon moves to Innsmouth and, under the care of a psychologist, by hypnosis, he is regressed to past lives. What will be the result? Y’ha-nthlei is the name of the Deep One’s city off Innsmouth. I’m not sure if Glasby named it. And we hear of another forbidden text, the Xhanggh Fragments. And we get a Dr. Winston Armitage as well.
In “Mythos,” a trio of professors from an unnamed university mount an expedition to Easter Island. One hopes to find evidence of an earlier civilization. Finally, he learns of legends of the Old Ones who still “live” today. But what will be the result of this discovery?
We are back in Cornwall in “The Dweller in Darkness,” set in Torpoint, or more likely a fictional Torpoint that is near Kingsbridge. A researcher had gone there, looking into things, such as a mansion from a family named De Vernis. Our main character has come looking for him, only to be told no outsider has visited in a year, and to return to Kingsbridge. But, of course, our hero does not, delving into things, such as who the De Vernis family was up to. Will he find what happened to his associate, and if so, will he share his fate?
Still in Cornwall, in “Spectre Over Torsands,” we have a writer of weird fiction looking into local legends and traditions in the area who takes possession of a house in Torsands, a fictional town near Falmouth. This house was apparently owned by a man who dabbled in the dark arts. In checking out the house, the writer finds the rooms have a strange geometry and is able to discover the man’s workshop, with various occult tomes like the Zegrembi Excerpts and the Book of Ezron, among others. Continuing to investigate, he learns too late that the sorcerer isn’t quite gone.
In another piece set in Innsmouth, “Devil Reef” tells of another who comes to the village and reef, though his purpose is different from others. He has heard of the gold that has been coming from Innsmouth and hopes to find the source. Which he does, but then so much more.
Set in modern times, in “The Old One,” an archaeologist at a minor American University stumbles upon a strange book in a used bookstore. The book is based on the Book of K’yog, and lets of an alien race who came to Earth long ago, built a city, Yuth, and later left, taking Tsathoggua with them. He contacts the book’s owner’s grandson, from whom he gets a bundle of letters written to the man in the 1930s. The letters detail the efforts of several men looking for the location of Yuth. With hints that it may be connected to the Bimini Road in the Bahamas. Then the archaeology department he works for is going to mount an expedition to one of three locations, one being Bimini. He works to make sure that is where they go. Will they find this lost city, and if they do, what will happen?
In what seems to be a prelude to his Dark Armageddon trilogy, “Beyond the Rim” finds archaeologist Dr. Trevelyan pulled into a search for evidence of the “Great Old Ones,” ancient beings defeated long ago and imprisoned by the Elder Gods across the universe, by Dr. Raymond Kirby. But are the stars changing that will allow them to return? They are currently working to find the location of the ancient city of Yrrhh, left behind by the being who fled to the 10th planet: Yuggoth. If they succeed, then what?
Both of these volumes are great, with a lot of great Cthulhu mythos stories. Now, there is a bit of repetitiveness in how many of the stories are laid out, which is understandable when you realize they were meant to be read in magazines with stories by others, not all read at once. I did like that a few made hints and references to other stories. Glasby seems to use the Cornish coast in the 1930s as his local place for his Lovecraftian tales.
Check out these and the collections from Wildside Press as well. Be advised that his books appear under both “John Glasby” and “John S. Glasby,” so you’ll have to search under both names. I do wish someone would tell what works were planned for the unpublished Arkham House collection of his stories.
If you are not familiar with Ramble House, they do offer you a slight discount and free shipping if you order directly through them, then from Amazon. Go to their website for more on this. And check out their other works as well.
