In which Carla explores a favorite horror author of Victorian England, and finds an marvelous polymath, an LGBTQ icon, and a woman who rescued ancient Egypt and explored terra incognita.

Show Notes:

Story read: “The Phantom Coach”, Amelia B. Edwards

Recommended Reading:

• The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Amelia B. Edwards 
• Crocodile on the Sandbank (Amelia Peabody no. 1) by Elizabeth Peters

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/62851.Amelia_B_Edwards

Referenced episodes:

• 32: What the Dickens
• 47: Victorian Christmas: The Goblin and the Paw

Sources:

Egypt Exploration Fund: https://www.ees.ac.uk

Historic England: Amelia’s gravesite

University of Pennsylvania: 1 and 2

Brown University

historyswomen.com

 

 

 

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There Might Be Cupcakes Episode 58: Terra Incognita | Amelia B. Edwards, Victorian horror author, polymath, genius, explorer of the world, and self-taught Egyptologist. She not only wrote horrifying stories, she rescued ancient Egypt’s treasures from ruin and desecration. And she is an

As I was not yet writing reviews when I read this book, I don't have reviews for each of the short stories included in this anthology. So here are my ratings; if I ever reread the book, I intend to add reviews.

★★★☆☆ The Tapestried Chamber by Sir Walter Scott
★★★☆☆ The Phantom Coach by Amelia B. Edwards
★★☆☆☆ Squire Toby's Will by J.S. le Fanu
★★★☆☆ The Shadow in the Corner by M.E. Braddon
★★★★★ The Upper Berth by F. Marion Crawford
★★☆☆☆ A Wicked Voice by Vernon Lee
★★★★☆ The Judge's House by Bram Stoker
★★★★☆ Man-Size in Marble by E. Nesbit
★★★☆☆ The Roll-Call of the Reef by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
★★☆☆☆ The Friends of the Friends by Henry James
★★★☆☆ The Red Room by H.G. Wells
★★★☆☆ The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs
★★★★☆ The Lost Ghost by Mary E. Wilkins
★★☆☆☆ 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' by M.R. James
★★★★☆ The Empty House by Algernon Blackwood
★★★☆☆ The Cigarette Case by Oliver Onions
★★★☆☆ Rose Rose by Barry Pain
★★☆☆☆ The Confession of Charles Linkworth by E.F. Benson
★★☆☆☆ On the Brighton Road by Richard Middleton
★★☆☆☆ Bone to His Bone by E.G. Swain
★★☆☆☆ The True History of Anthony Ffryar by Arthur Gray
★★☆☆☆ The Taipan by W. Somerset Maugham
★★☆☆☆ The Victim by May Sinclair
★★★☆☆ A Visitor from Down Under by L.P. Hartley
★★★☆☆ Fullcircle by John Buchan
★★★★☆ The Clock by W.F. Harvey
★★★☆☆ Old Man's Beard by H. Russel Wakefield
★★★☆☆ Mr. Jones by Edith Wharton
★★★★☆ Smee by A.M. Burrage
★★☆☆☆ The Little Ghost by Hugh Walpole
★★★☆☆ Ahoy, Sailor Boy! by A.E. Coppard
★★★☆☆ The Hollow Man by Thomas Burke
★★☆☆☆ Et in Sempiternum Pereant by Charles Williams
★★★☆☆ Bosworth Summit Pound by L.T.C. Rolt
★★★☆☆ An Encounter in the Mist by A.N.L. Munby
★☆☆☆☆ Hand in Glove by Elizabeth Bowen
★★★☆☆ A Story of Don Juan by V.S. Pritchett
★☆☆☆☆ Cushi by Christopher Woodforde
★★★☆☆ Bad Company by Walter de la Mare
★★★☆☆ The Bottle of 1912 by Simon Raven
★★★☆☆ The Cicerones by Robert Aickman
★★☆☆☆ Soft Voices at Passenham by T.H. White

Guest post. Rayne Hall – for BookLikes.

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I enjoy reading short horror stories, especially those that send shivers down my spine without gross violence and gore. Two authors whose subtle, suspenseful horror I admire are Amelia Edwards and Edgar Allan Poe.

THE PHANTOM COACH: COLLECTED GHOST STORIES by Amelia Edwards, Edited by Richard Dalby

Amelia Edwards (1831-1891) travelled widely in an era when few women had the chance to explore much of the world outside their homes, and her travel experiences inspired many of her stories. Her skilful descriptions (for example, a moor landscape covered in deep snow with a storm approaching, an old coach with its mould-crusted leather fittings) evoke the locations and create a spooky atmosphere.

The scenery and the weather are so vivid that I feel I’m trapped in a snowstorm in an English moor,hiking on a dusty road in southern Germany, or climbing a rugged path in the Swiss Alps.

She creates suspense by placing the main character into an unfamiliar environment and isolating them from their friends and all sources of support, so they face the unfamiliar danger alone.

Often, the boundaries between the natural and the supernatural are fluid, and the main character (and the reader) cannot be certain where one ends and the other begins. It all feels very real.

To the modern reader, the beginnings may feel slow. Like many Victorian authors, Amelia Edwards leads the reader gradually into the plot, and there's a lot of set-up before the story begins. But unlike other Victorian authors, Edwards does this in a suspenseful way, showing how the character moves farther and farther away from safety and into danger.

I like it a lot.

Two collections contain stories by Amelia Edwards, both with similar titles: “The Phantom Coach and other Stories” by Amelia Edwards is cheaper, but “The Phantom Coach. Collected Ghost Stories” edited by Richard Dalby has more stories. Confusingly, various book-selling websites list the author with different name variations, e.g. Amelia B. Edwards or A. Blandford Edwards.

COMPLETE TALES AND POEMS by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe’s stories grab with their intensity and don’t let go. They thrust the reader into the darkest corners of the human psyche. While reading, I feel I’m inside the narrator... and with Poe, that’s an uncomfortable place to be.

The first horror fiction I ever read was at the age of fourteen, in a booklet of Poe stories - A Descent into the Maelström, The Pit and the Pendulum – and I was hooked on the genre. Later, I discovered more of his stories, and have never forgotten them. The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death and The Raven are my all-time favourites.

Poe’s horror is psychological rather than physical. The stories shock and stir, but they don’t gross out. The author also wrote mystery stories of the type we would nowadays call ‘whodunnits’ but those are too long-winded for most modern readers’ tastes.

Poe’s horror tales and dark poems have been reprinted and republished many times in various collections under different titles. “The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe” is available as a free ebook in several volumes. “The Complete Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe” has only the tales, but with annotations by editor M. Mataev. “Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales and Poems” is a low-priced ebook with all of Poe’s fiction.

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Both authors have influenced my own horror writing, Poe with his dark intensity and Edwards with her atmospheric creepiness.

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Follow Rayne Hall's blog on BookLikes: raynehall.booklikes.com