Product Description

Here together for the first time in one volume are the twenty five spooky stories created by Sir Andrew Caldecott in two collections the 1940s: "Not Exactly Ghosts" and "Fires Burn Blue". Caldecott, who only turned to fiction after retiring from the civil service, allowed his lifelong fascination with the supernatural full reign in these simple yet remarkably disturbing stories. Taking his inspiration from the master of the ghost story, M. R. James, who chilled by implication rather than by gory description, Caldecott created believable but unsettling scenarios which effectively produce a sense of unease in the reader. The mundane becomes horrific; the everyday is unnerving; and the commonplace is frightening. At last these rare forgotten gems are available once more to stir the imagination and chill the blood.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #462754 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

Good Jamesian stories
This collection of weird tales, written in his retirement by a former colonial Governor of Hong Kong and Ceylon, are highly entertaining without attaining the level of the author's model, M.R. James. Fans of the latter will know what to expect: understatement, preference for suggestion over the explicit, an blandly urbane tone which renders sudden intrusions of horror all the more effective--all those things the modern Gore Masters neither appreciate nor understand.

If Caldecott's horrors tend to be a little tame alongside those of James, he nevertheless produced some effective stories. "Christmas Re-Union" is apparently the best known, but I find myself leaning to those which are set in the fictional British colony of Kongea, where Caldecott is able to draw on his own background for local colour: "Grey Brothers" is particularly fine, with its portrait of an Englishman gone native, who acquires some very ghastly allies among the jungle fauna; the story is at first almost humorous, and finally disturbing, in the best Jamesian manner. "Light in the Darkness" (a nicely ironic title) is also very good, as it tells of the unpleasant consequences of attempting to debunk a native cult.

Of the non-Kongea stories, I'd perhaps pick "His Name was Legion": structurally the story is a bit of a mess, but some very nasty moments, and some even nastier *verse* make up for that. All in all, a very worthwhile (and very inexpensive) treat for fans of sophisticated supernatural fiction.

But Quite Frightening
As someone who has been reading and re-reading Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories for thirty years, mid-20th century writer Andrew Caldecott was quite a discovery. Admittedly, he has the descriptive formal style of much older writers, but once he had set the scene, he usually gets up to an intense encounter.

I had difficulty starting the first story in the collection because it begins with such a detailed picture of a garden, but found that by the end of the story, I was hooked. Caldecott's stories are set in rural England or a far east English colony. Some seem formulaic, but probably from being copied by less talented writers in the sixty years since the books were first published. There is a good deal of variety in length and point of view in the stories. Don't overlook the dry British humor when it occurs.

Several stories are set in one village in England, and same characters returns in several re-castings as he gently skewers village stereotypes.
The fact that Andrew Caldecott was a shining star of the colonial machine makes one want to read and re-read his stories about the colonies for political implications. In several stories, he suggests that Europeans who disregard local taboos are bound to become victims.

Autoepitaphy is a fascinating story, and is an example of stories in which Caldecott includes verses, often prefacing them with a reason why the poems are so bad. Several stories deal with writers, writing, and the identification of "true" authors.

Yes, they are not exactly ghosts, but his characters are haunted and you will be drawn in.

I hope that the book, which is temporarily unavailable, stays in print for a good while. Wordsworth's edition is a relative bargan, since it includes the collected stories of Andrew Caldecott.

If I had to describe him quickly I would say that he is the son of Kipling and brother of Mary Stewart.

The Crimsom Blind & Other Ghost Stories
Great book to read during a rainy night
near the hearth.
Very enjoyable Victorian reading!