SHADOWS AND SILENCE

Octavo, original cloth in dust wrapper. x + 343 pp; 600 copies printed. Cover artwork by Jason van Hollander. A fine copy in a fine dust wrapper, as new. The Ghost Story, in its many guises, continues to thrive, despite being written off many times over the past half-century, perhaps most notably by H. R. Wakefield, one of the masters of the genre, who wrote in 1961: 'I believe ghost story writing to be a dying art.' Wakefield could not have been more wrong; and the rich legacy of such writers in the genre as Wakefield himself, M. R. James, and Robert Aickman, who were all able to hint at horror rather than spell it out, is apparent in the twenty-five stories in Shadows and Silence. There is horror here in abundance, which clearly demonstrates that the example given has been followed by the present day practitioners whose work appears in this volume. Of the seventeen stories which appeared in the first Ash-Tree Press anthology, Midnight Never Comes, in 1997, no less than fifteen received honourable mentions in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. That success has provided added impetus to ensure that the stories in this volume live up to the quality of their predecessors. The twenty-five stories in Shadows and Silence encompass an even wider range of themes, showcasing the versatility of the supernatural story. The ghost story is alive, well, and ready to face the challenges of the future. CONTENTS: 'The Rag-and-Bone Men' by Steve Duffy; 'The Last of Mr Benjimen' by Rick Kennett; 'Mr Justice Delaney' by John Morrow; 'The Fairhaven Phantom Train' by Jessica Amanda Salmonson; 'The Man in the Blue Mercedes' by Frances Oliver; 'The Graveyard' by Donald Tumasonis; 'The Slow Fall of Dust in a Quiet Place' by Steve Rasnic Tem; 'Tourist Trap' by Barbara Roden; 'The Witness Tree' by Steve Burt; 'Frosted Glass' by Jane Jakeman; 'Spider' by John Pelan; 'The Counsels of Night' by Ron Weighell; 'No Strings' by Ramsey Campbell; 'The Mummers' by Paul Finch; 'Which, Being Translated, Means' by Cooper Renner; '"Excuse Me . . ."' by John Whitbourn; 'The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter' by Michael Chislett; 'The Other Side of the Bay' by Nick Di Martino; 'Wolferton Hall' by James Doig; 'Littler' by Hugh B. Cave; 'One Over the Twelve' by Clive E. Ward; 'The Chapel of Unrest' by Steven Volk; 'The Last Reel' by David G. Rowlands; 'The Spirit Mirror' by Keris McDonald; 'Mr Dark's Carnival' by Glen Hirshberg. ----------------- Review by Stefan Dziemianowicz for All Hallows 26 Barbara and Christopher Roden couldn't have released this splendid follow-up to their 1997 anthology, Midnight Never Comes, at a more propitious time. As trend spotters in fantastic fiction know, the horror field is undergoing another of its tectonic shifts. After two decades of playing second fiddle to novel-length fiction, the short horror tale (and in particular the supernatural horror tale) is back in vogue. What's more, anthologies that refuse to cram their contents into thematic straitjackets are on the rise-and the best of them are being published by the specialty press. Shadows and Silence is a fine example of why this should be. It is a visually attractive book, showing Ash-Tree's usual high production standards through a four-colour Jason van Hollander dustwrapper that is not only vivid and eye-catching, but the equal of any weird jacket design adorning publications by other specialty and trade houses. The contents are commensurate with the book's physical appeal. In their introduction the editors imply that the stories for this volume began coming in shortly after the completion of Midnight Never Comes, and the three-year interval clearly gave them time to be selective in their picks. The percentage of memorable stories in this anthology is higher than in most-possibly even than for Midnight. Though the list of contributors features some familiar names, more refreshing yet is the proportion of names that will be recognised by only the most studious reader of magazines and.…