Book Review: "Glimpses of the Unknown" ed. by Mike Ashley

Full Title: Glimpses of the Unknown: Lost Ghost Stories edited by Mike Ashley

"...a ghost story can work on several levels ranging from the unnerving tingle of the unknown, to that hauntingly evocative atmosphere of something strange or uncertain."

Another one of those anthologies that I love is on the books for today. The British Library Tales of the Weird is filled with great surprises and though I have actually read this one before, I thought I would give it another go as there seems to be a lot going on between me and this series as of yet. Recently, I had been trying to get back into anthology reads as I read a lot of novels - short stories (especially ghost stories) are always welcome as a bit of difference. It's nice to litter your longer reading with shorter reading and it's nice to think that there is so much more to discover in the world of literature when you find a text called lost stories. I was more than excited to rediscover a classic.

The book begins with an introduction where we are told that not all ghost stories need to terrify us, but need to present us with something that we know is not possible and make it possible. It is meant to unsettle us rather than scare us witless. This, I can honestly say is better than simply scaring us as the 'fright factor' of a ghost is not really as prominent as the way a ghost may create a feeling of dicomfort and unease instead. There are stories within this anthology that I enjoyed more than others because of their feelings of unease and honestly, I believe I liked it all a lot more than the first time I read it.

The opening story was very weird - called On the Embankment by Hugh E. Wright it creates a strange sense of unease by using nothing but an empty seat. This is a seat on the Embankment that is always empty for some strange reason and so, the narrator goes to find out why as 'Fate' had apparently sent him in that direction. The story that follows of the empty seat is alarming, unpleasant and uncomfortable to say the least. It is the perfect story for a late night of little sleep.

Another story that I enjoyed was called Phantom Death by Huan Mee (which was actually a collaboration between two brothers writing under the pseudonym). The story is about a man who becomes obsessed with a painting which shows a strangely dressed Russian man only to meet this man in real life despite the painting showing an event happening about a hundred years before the beginning of the story. He becomes more and more enthralled, but also taken aback by what this Russian man says to him until things grow into murder. Or do they? A perfect story of Victorian Madness that borders upon the obsession stories of the era like Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde with a painting that seems impossible like The Picture of Dorian Gray - this one has got to be my favourite story of the whole anthology.

The last story I will mention in detail is called The House of the Black Evil by Eric Purves. This story is probably the anthology's most original and is about a postman who claims that a house is nothing but black past the front door. Dramatic and atmospheric, it presents a strange and inconsolable weirdness to the reader with a man who has quite an ordinary job encountering something entirely extraordinary. It is one of those stories that sticks to you and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

All of these stories were really great in their own way, including The River's Edge which is another one I loved about a man's rationalisation between what is real and what is not when he sees a woman blankly rescue a child from drowning in the river. A classic set of ghost stories which are between weird and uncomfortable and both, they each have their own individual tone. It was quite nice reading so many different styles in one book and I really do wish there is a second part to this coming out soon - who knows what we could discover in literature next...