We liven up our social distancing by finishing off the Benson boys, with Fred’s How Fear Departed From the Long Gallery.  Dirty Dick gets his comeuppance for a murderous deed, but can the ghosts of his victims be laid to rest?

Trigger warning for gratuitous violence against children.  And yes, we do mean it this time!

Thank you again to the fabulous Richard Crowest of the ‘Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson’ podcast for giving us permission to use extracts from his reading of this story in the episode. You can find out more about Richard, including his E.F. Benson and ‘Short Stories by Saki’ podcasts, at www.corvidae.co.uk.

• Text of How Fear on Gutenberg, as part of Fred Benson’s collected ghost stories.  We covered EF Benson’s Negotiatum Perambulams in Episode 70.
• E.F. Benson (wikipedia) Wikipedia has a good summary of E.F. Benson’s life, including links to information on his fascinating family.
• Life of E.F. Benson by Brian Masters (AbeBooks.co.uk) Brian Masters’ excellent biography of Benson is a must-read for those interested in learning more about Benson.
• A long review of How Fear on Tor.com, including  speculation on the fate of Colonel Blantyre’s member.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This episode Mike and Will grab their guidebook, pack their bucket and spade and head off for a terrifying trip to sunny Cornwall in E.F. Benson’s ‘Negotium Perambulans’.

Big thanks to Richard Crowest of the ‘Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson’ podcast for giving us permission to use extracts from his reading of this story in the episode. You can find out more about Richard, including his E.F. Benson and ‘Short Stories by Saki’ podcasts, at www.corvidae.co.uk.

Show notes:

• E.F. Benson (wikipedia)
  Wikipedia has a good summary of E.F. Benson’s life, including links to information on his fascinating family.
• Life of E.F. Benson by Brian Masters (AbeBooks.co.uk)
  Brian Masters’ excellent biography of Benson is a must-read for those interested in learning more about Benson.
• Visible and Invisible by E.F. Benson (isfdb.com)
  Negotium Perambulans originally appeared in Hutchinson’s magazine, and was later anthologised in this volume, along side such other Benson classics as ‘And the dead spake…’ and ‘The Horror Horn’.
• ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Something-or-Other: E.F. Benson’s “Negotium Perambulans”’ (tor.com)
  This article contains some interesting insights into this story and its the influence it may have had on H.P. Lovecraft.
• ‘Negotium Perambulans’ by Loneanimator (deviantart.com)
  This illustration from Loneanimator does a great job of capturing the horrifying climax of this story.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Mike is off on his honeymoon at the moment, so in lieu of a full episode Will provides a reading of and short commentary on an M.R. James essay ‘Ghosts – Treat them Gently!‘ which was originally published in the Evening News on 17 April 1931.

In the essay Monty talks about what ingredients he thinks go to make up a really successful ghost story, and gives an insight into the supernatural fiction he rates most highly.

Links

• The ‘Not at Night’ series
• Society for Psychical Research
• Mr Wardle’s Fat Boy
• Sheridan Le Fanu
• William Harrison Ainsworth
• The Lancashire Witches (Novel by above)
• E.F Benson
• Algernon Blackwood
• A. M. Burrage
• Walter de la Mare
• H. Russell Wakefield
• Margaret Oliphant
• Lanoe Falconer

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS