| "REAL VISION IS BEING ABLE TO SEE
THE INVISIBLE" Jonathan Swift |
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MAY 2012
We're deighted to announce the launch of the
first two titles in our Supernatural range
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A PAD IN THE STRAW by CHRISTOPHER WOODFORDE
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SHOP |
A PAD
IN THE STRAW
CHRISTOPHER WOODFORDE
With a Preface by
Giles
Woodforde
Now Available
Format:
Jacketed Hardback
Limited to 200 copies
ISBN:
978-1- 908274-09-0
Publication: 05
May 2012
Price: £17.50
Now Available
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Something Amiss!
A
PAD IN THE STRAW was first published fifty years ago in 1952. Long out
of print, this new edition retains Lord David Cecil's Foreword to the
original volume but now includes a Preface specially written by the
author's son, Giles Woodforde, and an Afterword by Richard Dalby -
making it the definitive edition of this oft-admired collection of
'strange tales for the connoisseur'.
“We soon discovered that Dr Woodforde had a natural flair for
storytelling, especially weird and mysterious ones involving the
supernatural,
subtly different to the typical ghost story. So frightening were some
of these
stories that they found us burrowing even deeper into our beds. Before
we left
the school we implored him to write down the tales."
"It is now being reissued alongside its earlier
‘companion’ volume, W. J. Wintle’s Ghost Gleams
which was
similarly written and recited to a group of eight boys who appreciated
good
spooky tales in the late evenings, a treat we all relish!" (From
Richard
Dalby's Afterword updated from the original article "Writers
in the James Tradition Number 11" in Ghosts & Scholars 14 but now
updated.)
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"In
these stories, villains generally take the shape of devils.
These are a light-hearted contradiction of
the popular theory that Evil is a disembodied myth; they are very real. In
"Sacrilege at St. George's," for instance, a respectable church-going
spinster suddenly assumes beak and bristles and vanishes with a blast of hot
air.
The author does not intend his demons to
point a moral issue; they do not bear unrepentant sinners away. They are simply
material facts, like tables and chairs, to be accepted with perfect equanimity
by the characters. Some of the best stories have the compelling power of a
dream. Whilst one is under their spell it seems to be quite in order that a
child should turn into a stone statue and that a jar should inflict a severe
bite upon its owner. It is, therefore, only on reflection that one perceives
the author's power of fantasy, though as a distinguished antiquarian he may
have borrowed some of his ideas from English folklore.
Further originality is achieved by the
contrasting of old and new. In "The ‘Doom’ Window at Breckham" sundry
devils from a medieval scene of the Last Judgment cheerfully derail a train and
are even snapped by an enthusiast's camera. There is a similar contrast between
the somewhat old-fashioned style of narration and the liveliness of the
conversation." — Alcuin
[In addition to A PAD IN THE STRAW Christopher Woodforde certainly wrote a further five supernatural
stories. Alas, for the time being at least, those stories have disappeared.
According to the author's son, following the original publication of A PAD IN THE STRAW the
idea, it seems, was to publish a second selection, but that idea foundered
because it would have needed at least ten more stories to produce a viable
book.
Should these five ‘vanished’ stories ever come to light we will publish them
in a slim, separate, limited edition volume.] |
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GHOST GLEAMS by W. J. WINTLE
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GHOST GLEAMS
W. J. WINTLE
With
an Introduction
by Richard Dalby
Format:
Jacketed Hardback
Limited
to 200 copies
ISBN: 978-1-908274-10-6
Publication: May
2012
Price:
£17.50
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“These tales make no claim to be anything
more than straightforward ghost stories. They were written in answer to
the
insistent demand, “Tell us a story!” from eight bright boys whose names
stand
on the dedicatory page; and they were told on Sunday nights to the
little group
crouching over a wood fire on a wind-swept island off the Western
shore.
They were so fortunate as
to meet with
approval from their rather critical audience. Truth to tell, the
gruesome ones
met with the best reception. Boys like highly flavoured dishes. But the
tales
are not all tragic—far from it!
They now go forth to face
a wider audience: they
will be fortunate if they find a kinder one.”
From the Foreword by W. J. Wintle.
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Future Titles (all with new introductions):
THE
NIGHT WIND HOWLS by FREDERICK COWLES
THE COMING OF THE FRIARS by AUGUSTUS JESSOP
THE COLLECTED
GHOST STORIES OF ROSEMARY TIMPERLEY
WHISPERS AT MIDNIGHT
by Daniel Noakes
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