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British Library Tales of the Weird
From the Depths: And Other Strange Tales of the Sea
From atop the choppy waves to the choking darkness of the abyss, the seas are full of mystery and rife with tales of inexplicable events and encounters with the unknown.
In this anthology we see a thrilling spread of narratives; sailors are pitched against a nightmare from the depth, invisible to the naked eye; a German U-boat commander is tormented by an impossible transmission via Morse Code; a ship ensnares itself in the kelp of the Sargasso Sea and dooms a crew of mutineers, seemingly out of revenge for her lost captain…
The supernatural is set alongside the grim affairs of sailors scorned in these salt-soaked tales, recovered from obscurity for the 21st century.
In this anthology we see a thrilling spread of narratives; sailors are pitched against a nightmare from the depth, invisible to the naked eye; a German U-boat commander is tormented by an impossible transmission via Morse Code; a ship ensnares itself in the kelp of the Sargasso Sea and dooms a crew of mutineers, seemingly out of revenge for her lost captain…
The supernatural is set alongside the grim affairs of sailors scorned in these salt-soaked tales, recovered from obscurity for the 21st century.
Kindle Edition
First published August 30, 2018
About the author
Mike Ashley
262 books117 followersMichael Raymond Donald Ashley is the author and editor of over sixty books that in total have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Chatham, Kent.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
December 15, 2023
3.75 stars
"...the sea is another world and one of which we should be wary."
Another collection from the British Library Tales of the Weird, this time based on the seas and oceans and those who sail on them. There are fifteen in all and the focus is on lesser known writers. The only ones I was aware of were William Hope Hodgson and Elinor Morduant. The editor took these stories mainly from magazines of the period. The settings are mainly late Victorian and early to mid twentieth century. There are some of the usual tropes: abandoned ships, ships seeking revenge, a couple based around the Sargasso Sea, one with a sea monster, haunted ships, more revenge and some that are variously bizarre and inexplicable.
The standard does vary. There is one about spiritualism which is truly awful. There are three which do stand out. Devereux’s last smoke is a classic ghost story written by Izola Forrester, allegedly the grand-daughter of John Wilkes Booth. No Ships Pass by Eleanor Smith is a variant on an afterlife story which is quite interesting. It is also quite striking that this story has a very similar plot to the TV series Lost (although written in the 1930s). The best story in the book is the oddest: The Soul Saver by Morgan Burke and that one is bizarre. Watch out for the psychotic parrot in the first story!
"...the sea is another world and one of which we should be wary."
Another collection from the British Library Tales of the Weird, this time based on the seas and oceans and those who sail on them. There are fifteen in all and the focus is on lesser known writers. The only ones I was aware of were William Hope Hodgson and Elinor Morduant. The editor took these stories mainly from magazines of the period. The settings are mainly late Victorian and early to mid twentieth century. There are some of the usual tropes: abandoned ships, ships seeking revenge, a couple based around the Sargasso Sea, one with a sea monster, haunted ships, more revenge and some that are variously bizarre and inexplicable.
The standard does vary. There is one about spiritualism which is truly awful. There are three which do stand out. Devereux’s last smoke is a classic ghost story written by Izola Forrester, allegedly the grand-daughter of John Wilkes Booth. No Ships Pass by Eleanor Smith is a variant on an afterlife story which is quite interesting. It is also quite striking that this story has a very similar plot to the TV series Lost (although written in the 1930s). The best story in the book is the oddest: The Soul Saver by Morgan Burke and that one is bizarre. Watch out for the psychotic parrot in the first story!
June 14, 2021
No Ships Pass by Lady Eleanor Smith ★★★★½
The intro was correct, this story, written in the early 1930s, could have been the basis for Lost. Imagine a smaller cast that could not die. Madness!
The Floating Forest by Herman Scheffauer ★★★★☆
You could read it as vengeance or fate, but either way the imagery was beautiful.
The Black Bell Bouy by Rupert Chesterton ★★★★☆
The most believable, and unexpectedly brutal, sea haunting story of the bunch. It was easier for me to ascribe malevolent personality to a wandering dark metallic ball than a ship. Undoubtedly due to:
The Soul-Saver by Morgan Burke ★★★½☆
With shades of Steven King, Burke delivers paranormal horror ahead of his time.
Held by the Sargasso Sea by Frank H. Shaw ★★★½☆
While the anthropomorphic magical ship might be unbelievable, it felt real. The decades of devotion between Chisholm and The Swordfish make the ending more than possible, they make it right.
From the Depths by F. Britten Austin ★★★½☆
I was hooked from the map! There was an Indiana Jones quality to the accidentally discovered mysterious map. And dun-dun-dun, is the captain secretly German?!?! Gasp, lol. What followed diminished to a weak vengeful ghost story and a sad ending.
Sargasso by Ward Muir ★★★☆☆
For an epistolary short sea-monster-mystery story, that was a bit of alright. Hey, there was a tentacle.
Tracked: A Mystery of the Sea by C.N. Barham ★★★☆☆
“The vessel have been run down by a passing steamer, which, because merchants look on time as being of greater value than life, had inhumanely left it’s wretched victims to perish.”
These days it’s massive cargo vessels hitting whales. Bastards.
The Murdered Ships by James Francis Dwyer ★★★☆☆
A bit of a second u-boat story, a bit of a cursed pearls story, and a lot of an anthropomorphic ghost ships story. The beginning was clumsy but it ended neatly.
Devereux’s Last Smoke by Izola Forrester ★★½☆☆
A vengeful newlywed comes back to crush his wife’s happiness. The sad thing was, she thought only the best of him.
The Ship of Silence by Albert R. Wetjen ★★½☆☆
Excellent first line and premise, unfortunately this was twenty pages of tension signifying nothing.
From the Darkness and the Depths by Morgan Robertson ★★½☆☆
The author sounded more interesting than his presented work. This was a forgettable sea monster story that I skimmed neared the end.
The Ship That Died by John Gilbert ★½☆☆☆
Not much of a story here. We are never told why the ship’s metal melted, why it haunted the world, why it made sure there were no survivors.
The Mystery of the Water-Logged Ship by William Hope Hodgson DNF
I fell asleep twice trying to get into this.
The High Seas by Elinor Mordaunt DNF
Animal abuse, bullying, and it was heading to rape. Hard pass.
I completed 13/15 stories that averaged 3.15 stars. I will keep it at three stars because there was one outstanding gem and an effort to include lost female British authors.
May 16, 2019
https://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/201...
What great, great fun, appealing to my love of old pulp fiction and the supernatural.
This book marks my second foray into the British Library Tales of the Weird series. It is my favorite kind of ahhh-time compilation, a mix of horror, ghostly tales, the supernatural, and pure unadulterated pulp, with stories ranging from 1891 to 1932. There are a few entries here written by authors already known to me: William Hope Hodgson, F. Austin Britten, Elinor Mordaunt, Morgan Robertson and Lady Eleanor Smith, but for the most part, it seems that Ashley has put together the work of a number of writers I'd never heard of. Such is my joy in reading these tales -- not only are they fun, dark, and in some cases, actually hair-raising frightening, but they've been rescued from the depths of obscurity to be enjoyed all over again.
It is perfect for anyone who loves old pulp, the supernatural, and in some cases, straight-up horror stories. I am so grateful to Mike Ashley for putting this volume together and bringing these tales to light. In his introduction, he says that this book is probably not the best thing to read on a cruise, but I can see myself at night, tucked up safely in bed somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, reading it in the dark with only a book light and letting my imagination run completely wild. If the rest of the British Library Tales of the Weird series is as good as this one and Glimpses of the Unknown: Lost Ghost Stories, I will be a very happy camper when they finally arrive.
recommended for lovers of tales of yesteryear. You will not be disappointed.
What great, great fun, appealing to my love of old pulp fiction and the supernatural.
This book marks my second foray into the British Library Tales of the Weird series. It is my favorite kind of ahhh-time compilation, a mix of horror, ghostly tales, the supernatural, and pure unadulterated pulp, with stories ranging from 1891 to 1932. There are a few entries here written by authors already known to me: William Hope Hodgson, F. Austin Britten, Elinor Mordaunt, Morgan Robertson and Lady Eleanor Smith, but for the most part, it seems that Ashley has put together the work of a number of writers I'd never heard of. Such is my joy in reading these tales -- not only are they fun, dark, and in some cases, actually hair-raising frightening, but they've been rescued from the depths of obscurity to be enjoyed all over again.
It is perfect for anyone who loves old pulp, the supernatural, and in some cases, straight-up horror stories. I am so grateful to Mike Ashley for putting this volume together and bringing these tales to light. In his introduction, he says that this book is probably not the best thing to read on a cruise, but I can see myself at night, tucked up safely in bed somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, reading it in the dark with only a book light and letting my imagination run completely wild. If the rest of the British Library Tales of the Weird series is as good as this one and Glimpses of the Unknown: Lost Ghost Stories, I will be a very happy camper when they finally arrive.
recommended for lovers of tales of yesteryear. You will not be disappointed.
August 22, 2018
I happened upon this delightful collection of creepy, eerie, and downright weird short stories of the sea by accident.
I love the sea, I love the thought that we as a race still know hardly anything about it. What lurks in its depths, how creatures survive in the dark abyss, and most of all how monsters, ghosts, and superstitions seem to multiply because of its secrets.
Mike Ashley has compiled a fantastic collection of fifteen short stories from the 20th century. I was pleasantly surprised that I hadn't heard of any of the authors and now hope to find more from their wickedly twisted minds.
These stories range from large sea creatures who can decimated entire ships, to dead men's souls appearing in white mice, to ghost ships, floating islands, defiant ghosts, and such twisted tales that you sometimes wonder how could anyone think that sailing over the sea was a good idea at all.
Brilliant collection of authors from a variety of backgrounds (all with some form of sea-fairing knowledge), including two female authors (whose stories leave the reader without a definitive solution to the narratives). A common theme, which I love to read, is that of the Captain's love of their ship; you cannot have strange tales of the sea without one or two twisted, compassionate, or ignorant Captains appearing.
I would suggest this collection to anyone who loves a good horror kick, people who love the sea, and anyone who wants to question what they think they know about sailing and all its dangers. Fantastic book to get you thinking about what lies beneath the waves when you're at the beach or on a ship.
I love the sea, I love the thought that we as a race still know hardly anything about it. What lurks in its depths, how creatures survive in the dark abyss, and most of all how monsters, ghosts, and superstitions seem to multiply because of its secrets.
Mike Ashley has compiled a fantastic collection of fifteen short stories from the 20th century. I was pleasantly surprised that I hadn't heard of any of the authors and now hope to find more from their wickedly twisted minds.
These stories range from large sea creatures who can decimated entire ships, to dead men's souls appearing in white mice, to ghost ships, floating islands, defiant ghosts, and such twisted tales that you sometimes wonder how could anyone think that sailing over the sea was a good idea at all.
Brilliant collection of authors from a variety of backgrounds (all with some form of sea-fairing knowledge), including two female authors (whose stories leave the reader without a definitive solution to the narratives). A common theme, which I love to read, is that of the Captain's love of their ship; you cannot have strange tales of the sea without one or two twisted, compassionate, or ignorant Captains appearing.
I would suggest this collection to anyone who loves a good horror kick, people who love the sea, and anyone who wants to question what they think they know about sailing and all its dangers. Fantastic book to get you thinking about what lies beneath the waves when you're at the beach or on a ship.
January 26, 2022
What a highly enjoyable book! This collection features a wide variety of stories in various styles, and all of them were tales I likely would never have encountered otherwise. This anthology brings together stories that are lesser-known, even obscure, and presents them with a brief introduction about each author. I would have preferred a bit more information in the introductions, or at least the year that each story was first published, but that is minor. These are terrific yarns, and they reflect a voice and a cadence that are not often used in modern storytelling. For want of a better way of putting it, they feel old-timey. Taken together, the stories evoke the sea, not just with their subject matter, but with their mood; one can almost hear the ship's bell, feel the spray, taste the salt. As with most anthologies, I found some stories to be more enjoyable than others. There was one that I found too disturbing to finish. But most of them were fun, and even the less enjoyable ones still contributed to the overall feeling created by placing these tales together in a volume. Collectively, they create an atmosphere that is at turns brooding, terrifying, serene, and beautiful—just as is the sea itself.
November 3, 2020
Gruselgeschichten aus den Tiefen des Meeres mag ich ganz besonders gern. Ich hätte mir bei dieser Sammlung aber noch mehr Abwechslung gewünscht, die meisten Storys spielen dann doch (verständlicherweise) auf Deck und es geht um verschollene Schiffe. Ich hatte ehrlich gesagt mehr Meeresungeheuer erwartet. Außerdem habe ich gemerkt, dass mein Bord-Vokabular sehr klein ist und mich manche Beschreibungen deshalb verwirrt und gelangweilt haben.
Empfehlenswert fand ich: Wetjens The Ship of Silence (Geisterschiff), Muirs Sargasso (über die Sargassosee), Chestertons The Black Bell Buoy (Geisterboje) und Smiths No Ships Pass (Inselsetting).
Empfehlenswert fand ich: Wetjens The Ship of Silence (Geisterschiff), Muirs Sargasso (über die Sargassosee), Chestertons The Black Bell Buoy (Geisterboje) und Smiths No Ships Pass (Inselsetting).
January 14, 2019
Closer to 3.5/5. Collection of weird tales involving the sea. These were originally written in the last years of the 19th century and first three decades of the 20th. These consisted of unexplained and often bizarre happenings.
The ones I liked best:
"The ship of silence": a ship with no one on board except a parrot who calls out what has happened to the ship through the years, especially how it met its end.
"Held by the Sargasso Sea": ship caught in tentacles of seaweed mass in the Caribbean and how it breaks free.
"The floating forest": a derelict ship overgrown with vegetation.
"The ship that died": a ship that weakens and comes apart little by little. On board, the captain's wife and family wait for death.
"The Black Bell Buoy": the ghost of a murdered man seeks revenge, using an old rusted buoy.
"The high seas": concerning two brothers who hate each other going to sea and the girl whom they both love. A storm arises...
"No ships pass": A castaway finds himself on an island that travels the world picking up shipwrecked sailors. These people are here until eternity, will recover from any illnesses or wounds, and cannot escape.
The ones I liked best:
"The ship of silence": a ship with no one on board except a parrot who calls out what has happened to the ship through the years, especially how it met its end.
"Held by the Sargasso Sea": ship caught in tentacles of seaweed mass in the Caribbean and how it breaks free.
"The floating forest": a derelict ship overgrown with vegetation.
"The ship that died": a ship that weakens and comes apart little by little. On board, the captain's wife and family wait for death.
"The Black Bell Buoy": the ghost of a murdered man seeks revenge, using an old rusted buoy.
"The high seas": concerning two brothers who hate each other going to sea and the girl whom they both love. A storm arises...
"No ships pass": A castaway finds himself on an island that travels the world picking up shipwrecked sailors. These people are here until eternity, will recover from any illnesses or wounds, and cannot escape.
June 20, 2021
✭✭½
“The Ship of Silence”, Albert R. Wetjen (1932) ✭✭✭½
“From the Darkness and the Depths”, Morgan Robertson (1913) ✭✭½
“Sargasso”, Ward Muir (1908) ✭✭✭½
“Held by the Sargasso Sea”, Frank H. Shaw (1908) ✭✭
“The Floating Forest”, Herman George Scheffauer (1909) ✭✭
“Tracked: A Mystery of the Sea”, C. N. Barham (1891) ✭½
“The Mystery of the Water-Logged Ship”, William Hope Hodgson (1911) ✭✭½
“From the Depths”, F. Britten Austin (1920) ✭✭✭
“The Murdered Ships”, James Francis Dwyer (1918) ✭✭✭
“The Ship That Died”, John Gilbert (1917) ✭½
“Devereux’s Last Smoke”, Izola Forrester (1907) ✭✭✭½
“The Black Bell Buoy”, Rupert Chesterton (1907) ✭✭½
“The High Seas”, Elinor Mordaunt (1918) ✭½
“The Soul-Saver”, Morgan Burke (1926) ✭✭✭
“No Ships Pass”, Lady Eleanor Smith (1932) ✭✭✭✭
“The Ship of Silence”, Albert R. Wetjen (1932) ✭✭✭½
“From the Darkness and the Depths”, Morgan Robertson (1913) ✭✭½
“Sargasso”, Ward Muir (1908) ✭✭✭½
“Held by the Sargasso Sea”, Frank H. Shaw (1908) ✭✭
“The Floating Forest”, Herman George Scheffauer (1909) ✭✭
“Tracked: A Mystery of the Sea”, C. N. Barham (1891) ✭½
“The Mystery of the Water-Logged Ship”, William Hope Hodgson (1911) ✭✭½
“From the Depths”, F. Britten Austin (1920) ✭✭✭
“The Murdered Ships”, James Francis Dwyer (1918) ✭✭✭
“The Ship That Died”, John Gilbert (1917) ✭½
“Devereux’s Last Smoke”, Izola Forrester (1907) ✭✭✭½
“The Black Bell Buoy”, Rupert Chesterton (1907) ✭✭½
“The High Seas”, Elinor Mordaunt (1918) ✭½
“The Soul-Saver”, Morgan Burke (1926) ✭✭✭
“No Ships Pass”, Lady Eleanor Smith (1932) ✭✭✭✭
January 31, 2020
Overall, a pretty good anthology. Completely my aesthetic - weird early 20th century stories about the sea. It started pretty strongly, but got a bit lost halfway through, and the stories felt a bit same-y. Also, a lot of them weren’t that scary. Maybe they were more so in their contemporary period, but they were more atmospheric if anything, and after so many years, some felt a bit trope-y. Still, not bad, and all of them were a nice length to dip into. It was also nice to see some female writers in it. I thought I’d put a breakdown of them, in order of how much I enjoyed them.
1. The Ship of Silence (Albert R Wetjen) - One of the stories which were genuinely eerie, maybe because I read it at night with creepy ambient music on haha. Really liked the arc of the abandoned ship, and the mystery of how it came to be derelict. It had an innovative and interesting ending, and remained ambiguous enough to be quite unsettling.
2. Sargasso (Ward Muir) - One of my favourites. I loved the arc of the ship becoming stuck in weed, and the effect of that on the crew, slowly going mad and turning mutinous. Add in a sea monster and I am in. Also inspired a new story of mine.
3. Black Bell Buoy (Rupert Chesterton) - Another story about a man being haunted by what he did at sea, but has an interesting twist at the end and has a good control of its plot and arc. Really liked the powerful image of the buoy going around the sea, chiming its bell.
4. No Ships Pass (Lady Eleanor Smith) - A pretty strong story, most intriguing for its look into the staleness and cosmic dread of immortality, on an isolated island. The characters were a bit lacklustre. Like Sargasso, it would have been great as a longer story.
5. From the Depths (F Britten Austin) - Actually pretty intriguing, about a former German WW1 Captain being haunted by his victims. The climax was quite gripping and intense too.
6. Floating Forest (Herman Scheffauer) - I can’t remember too much about this plot-wise but there was a really evocative image of a woman standing on a burning deck as the ship went down, and a really nice arc of a deliberately destroyed ship, swamped in reeds, bringing down others.
7. Held by the Sargasso Sea (Frank H Shaw) - An interesting story again about thick Sargasso weed, this time with quite a poignant ending about a ship returning to a dying captain.
8. Soul Saver (Morgan Burke) - Not afraid of its weirdness, which was good. I liked the concept of the Captain harbouring dead men in the form of white mice. A bit underdeveloped, though, which was a characteristic of a few of these stories.
9. From the Darkness and the Depths (Morgan Robertson) - One of those early 20th century stories which loves to talk about new developments in science and technology, this time about early modern photography. Sometimes, that makes it feel a bit outdated but this was combined with a nice bit of action, if a bit anticlimactic.
10. The Mystery of the Water-Logged Ship (William Hope Hodgson) - I love William Hope Hodgson, and this had a nice, atmospheric build-up again about a derelict ship. The climax was a bit of a let-down though. Not as good as the Ghost Pirates, his brilliant sea ghost story!
11. The Ship that Died (John Gilbert) - Quite an intriguing concept, about a dissolving ship, but didn’t really have the plot to bring it to life.
12. High Seas (Elinor Mordaunt) - A good climax, but more of a melodrama about two brothers who hated each other, and based around a kind of cliche and boring romance too.
13. Devereux’s Last Smoke (Izola Forrester) - More of a traditional ghost story that felt a little outdated.
14. The Murdered Ships (James Francis Dwyer) - I can’t actually remember this one, so that says a lot.
15. Tracked (CN Barham) - Meh. More of a treatise on clairvoyance than anything else.
1. The Ship of Silence (Albert R Wetjen) - One of the stories which were genuinely eerie, maybe because I read it at night with creepy ambient music on haha. Really liked the arc of the abandoned ship, and the mystery of how it came to be derelict. It had an innovative and interesting ending, and remained ambiguous enough to be quite unsettling.
2. Sargasso (Ward Muir) - One of my favourites. I loved the arc of the ship becoming stuck in weed, and the effect of that on the crew, slowly going mad and turning mutinous. Add in a sea monster and I am in. Also inspired a new story of mine.
3. Black Bell Buoy (Rupert Chesterton) - Another story about a man being haunted by what he did at sea, but has an interesting twist at the end and has a good control of its plot and arc. Really liked the powerful image of the buoy going around the sea, chiming its bell.
4. No Ships Pass (Lady Eleanor Smith) - A pretty strong story, most intriguing for its look into the staleness and cosmic dread of immortality, on an isolated island. The characters were a bit lacklustre. Like Sargasso, it would have been great as a longer story.
5. From the Depths (F Britten Austin) - Actually pretty intriguing, about a former German WW1 Captain being haunted by his victims. The climax was quite gripping and intense too.
6. Floating Forest (Herman Scheffauer) - I can’t remember too much about this plot-wise but there was a really evocative image of a woman standing on a burning deck as the ship went down, and a really nice arc of a deliberately destroyed ship, swamped in reeds, bringing down others.
7. Held by the Sargasso Sea (Frank H Shaw) - An interesting story again about thick Sargasso weed, this time with quite a poignant ending about a ship returning to a dying captain.
8. Soul Saver (Morgan Burke) - Not afraid of its weirdness, which was good. I liked the concept of the Captain harbouring dead men in the form of white mice. A bit underdeveloped, though, which was a characteristic of a few of these stories.
9. From the Darkness and the Depths (Morgan Robertson) - One of those early 20th century stories which loves to talk about new developments in science and technology, this time about early modern photography. Sometimes, that makes it feel a bit outdated but this was combined with a nice bit of action, if a bit anticlimactic.
10. The Mystery of the Water-Logged Ship (William Hope Hodgson) - I love William Hope Hodgson, and this had a nice, atmospheric build-up again about a derelict ship. The climax was a bit of a let-down though. Not as good as the Ghost Pirates, his brilliant sea ghost story!
11. The Ship that Died (John Gilbert) - Quite an intriguing concept, about a dissolving ship, but didn’t really have the plot to bring it to life.
12. High Seas (Elinor Mordaunt) - A good climax, but more of a melodrama about two brothers who hated each other, and based around a kind of cliche and boring romance too.
13. Devereux’s Last Smoke (Izola Forrester) - More of a traditional ghost story that felt a little outdated.
14. The Murdered Ships (James Francis Dwyer) - I can’t actually remember this one, so that says a lot.
15. Tracked (CN Barham) - Meh. More of a treatise on clairvoyance than anything else.
June 21, 2021
Giving a anthology 3 stars is always a bit of a cop-out I think, but this had very few 4 or 5 star reads in it, and too many 2 and 2.5 star reads. Still, I enjoyed most of the stories, and I loved that the editor, Mike Ashley really tried to dig out some unknown works and lesser known authors. A few more sea-beasties would have pushed it over to a four for me, but then it really isn't an ode to Cthluhu, more to the sea and her sailors.
A definite must for lovers of adventure on the high seas, and land-lubbers alike.
A definite must for lovers of adventure on the high seas, and land-lubbers alike.
November 4, 2021
As always it's a mixed bag, but this one seemed to have more duds than the other British Library Tales of the Weird collections I've read so far. The good stories are definitely still worth a look in, especially The Ship of Silence (big Return of the Obra Din energy), From the Darkness and the Depths (definitely stealing the plot for some future RPG), and The Floating Forest (overly gothic in the best possible way). The Soul Saver, No Ships Pass, From the Depths and The Murdered Ships have some neat ideas, but a lot of the other stories are sort of middling, and both The High Seas and Held by the Sargasso Sea are pretty dire.
September 20, 2020
Although this anthology is fairly hit-and-miss, editor Mike Ashley is to be applauded for his detective work in digging up these obscure tales from the brink of extinction. The best stories approach the greatness of a Hodgson or Wells, but even the worst bring a distinctly pulpy pleasure.
September 26, 2023
2 1/2⭐️ Rating. Some of the stories were interesting and kept my interest while others were hard to understand due to the old way of writing. I did keep that in mind (this being written quite awhile ago) as I was reading but found I was using the book as a filler instead of an actual reading material. This is all on me and not the content.
January 4, 2023
plenty of inspiration to never leave dry land again.
2.5/5
2.5/5
February 4, 2021
As usual, a very good anthology from the British Library Tales of the Weird collection.
Individual ratings:
The Ship of Silence *****
From the Darkness and the Depths *****
Sargasso ****
Held by the Sargasso Sea ***
The Floating Forest ****
Tracked: A Mystery of the Sea *
The Mystery of the Water-logged Ship ****
From the Depths *****
The Murdered Ships ***
The Ship that Died **
Deveroux’s Last Smoke ***
The Black Bell Buoy ****
The High Seas ****
The Soul-saver **
No Ships Pass ****
Individual ratings:
The Ship of Silence *****
From the Darkness and the Depths *****
Sargasso ****
Held by the Sargasso Sea ***
The Floating Forest ****
Tracked: A Mystery of the Sea *
The Mystery of the Water-logged Ship ****
From the Depths *****
The Murdered Ships ***
The Ship that Died **
Deveroux’s Last Smoke ***
The Black Bell Buoy ****
The High Seas ****
The Soul-saver **
No Ships Pass ****
October 16, 2019
8- I admit I had not fully read the description on the back of the book before buying it, because as someone who loves the ocean and all that lives within it, a collection of ocean based weird tales and horror stories had immediate appeal. It turned out that this collection had stories from the ‘pulp’ age of storytelling, from the end of the 19th century op to halfway the 20th century. Luckily for me this was the time when unironical adventure stories could still be written, ghost stories that just try to chill the reader. On the other hand: there were a couple of stories here that for a modern reader felt too predictable (containing tropes that then probably felt fresh but have become clichés in our day and time). Also these fast writing authors (some writing a novella in a day) didn’t skimp on the adjectives and the descriptions were sometimes a bit overwrought. But when one adjusts to these differences in style, this is a very enjoyable collection. Some of the stories were too slight to me, simple ghost stories or a ship caught by the Sargasso weeds. They had great atmosphere, but didn’t really surprise me or give me something to think about. Luckily there were also some stories that were better than the rest, that felt modern in a way, in the care that was taken to build up the mystery, in the characters that felt like real people and in a twist that did stop me in my tracks and made me shiver. From the Darkness and the Depths lacked a really transgressive ending, but had a science fictional atmosphere with a monster from the depths hunting the sailors on a half-flooded ship. I liked it. I suspected I would like the story by William Hope Hodgson, but the conclusion of his tale felt a little pat to me. I did shiver reading F. Britten Austins ‘From the depths’ about the crew of a ship receiving messages in morse code on the location where in the Great War a German U-boat sank a passenger ship. One of the best stories is ‘The Black Bell Buoy’ by Rupert Chesterton, where the secret of the Buoy in question turns out to be real grisly. A great story with building suspense. Another treat is the well written story by Elinor Mordaunt (who goes to show that women were among the pulp authors of those days, and maybe wrote the best stories of them all). ‘The high seas’ is a story of biblical proportions about two brothers fighting over the same girl, brought together on the same ship … I did also like ‘The Soul-Saver’ by Morgan Burke, but it was not really clear to me what the end signified. That was a bit of a letdown after a great build-up. The best in the collection and a great way to end this book was Lady Eleanor Smith’s ‘No ships pass’. This would not have been amiss in a more modern collection of short stories, because it still felt fresh. A sailor washes up on a tropical island where he meets someone from the sunken Titanic and a pirate captain from the 18th century … The editor compares the story to the TV-series ‘Lost’. Also once again a chilling conclusion. In conclusion: I had a great time reading this, but one has to appreciate the stories from the pulp decades and not expect too many modern sensibilities here.
February 17, 2021
Seems like the stories that were picked for this collection, probably indicative of the period as a whole were based around scary things that happened to sailors that they COULD feel the ripples of in their daily life, like "what if I die at sea and don't get a christian burial" or "some ships really do vanish without a trace, that could totally happen to me". The stories don't have villains at all really, or adversaries other than the ocean so I guess that's realistic, but I don't know if I'd call this horror.
There were two stories in this one that really grabbed me, the first being one of the stories about Sargasso, which is a floating algae in the Atlantic that can tangle up boat rudders and propellors, but the author imagines huge swathes of it as far as the eye can sea, from which it's impossible to escape, and any attempt to cross it you just get sucked under and drowned. I genuinely enjoyed that one, it really captured a feeling of increasing stress and impending doom. The second I liked, which was just fun was one about an invisible creature thrown up onto a ship during a storm which kills the crew one by one. Obviously written before people had a proper grasp of biology or just animals in general, but fun anyway, it's a good spooky romp.
I know you shouldn't really simplify stories and try to boil them down to their essence because that's dumb like the people who say "lord of the rings is just people walking for three book", but I feel like a lot of these stories CAN be boiled down to something not all together that exciting. Like "I saw a ship and then it vanished", or "I saw a light on deck like somebody smoking but there wasn't anyone there".
Something I do think was interesting though is that when I think of nautical stories, a lot of the ones I've read are set in the age of sailing ships, and the stories in this collection are written from the late 1800s to the early 1900s so while the style is still archaic to me, the content of the stories in terms of setting and technology feels a lot more modern than other spooky sailor stories I've read. You could tell me some of these stories were set in the 1980s and I'd have no way to dispute it.
One thing that ticked me off to no end was the format in which almost EVERY story seemed to be layed out. The story opens with somebody saying to somebody else "I heard this really cool story" or "something spooky happened to me", and then tells the story. Like the narrator had to be a real person who had an audience and we just got to watch from the side. WE'RE THE AUDIENCE BUDDY. Just tell the story to the reader oh my god. Do they think that the "overheard conversation" thing makes the stories more believable or lends them credibility or something? Yeah I hate that. Every time a story started with that, I was like AAAARGH.
There were two stories in this one that really grabbed me, the first being one of the stories about Sargasso, which is a floating algae in the Atlantic that can tangle up boat rudders and propellors, but the author imagines huge swathes of it as far as the eye can sea, from which it's impossible to escape, and any attempt to cross it you just get sucked under and drowned. I genuinely enjoyed that one, it really captured a feeling of increasing stress and impending doom. The second I liked, which was just fun was one about an invisible creature thrown up onto a ship during a storm which kills the crew one by one. Obviously written before people had a proper grasp of biology or just animals in general, but fun anyway, it's a good spooky romp.
I know you shouldn't really simplify stories and try to boil them down to their essence because that's dumb like the people who say "lord of the rings is just people walking for three book", but I feel like a lot of these stories CAN be boiled down to something not all together that exciting. Like "I saw a ship and then it vanished", or "I saw a light on deck like somebody smoking but there wasn't anyone there".
Something I do think was interesting though is that when I think of nautical stories, a lot of the ones I've read are set in the age of sailing ships, and the stories in this collection are written from the late 1800s to the early 1900s so while the style is still archaic to me, the content of the stories in terms of setting and technology feels a lot more modern than other spooky sailor stories I've read. You could tell me some of these stories were set in the 1980s and I'd have no way to dispute it.
One thing that ticked me off to no end was the format in which almost EVERY story seemed to be layed out. The story opens with somebody saying to somebody else "I heard this really cool story" or "something spooky happened to me", and then tells the story. Like the narrator had to be a real person who had an audience and we just got to watch from the side. WE'RE THE AUDIENCE BUDDY. Just tell the story to the reader oh my god. Do they think that the "overheard conversation" thing makes the stories more believable or lends them credibility or something? Yeah I hate that. Every time a story started with that, I was like AAAARGH.
June 22, 2022
i wasn't very sure i would like this as the majority of the sea jargon is quite foreign to me. regardless, there were several very, very good short stories in this collection, even they sometimes felt a little repetitive.
favourites include: 'the ship of silence' by albert r. wetjen, 'sargasso' by ward muir, 'the floating forest' by herman scheffauer, 'the mystery of the water-logged ship' by william hope hodgson, 'from the depths' by f. britten austin, 'devereux's last smoke' by izola forrester, 'the soul-saver' by morgan burke and 'no ships pass' by lady eleanor smith.
favourites include: 'the ship of silence' by albert r. wetjen, 'sargasso' by ward muir, 'the floating forest' by herman scheffauer, 'the mystery of the water-logged ship' by william hope hodgson, 'from the depths' by f. britten austin, 'devereux's last smoke' by izola forrester, 'the soul-saver' by morgan burke and 'no ships pass' by lady eleanor smith.
September 10, 2019
More like a 3.5 because it has the usual collection problem - meaning that the stories are of varying quality / depth, something that is hardly surprising considering this collection contains works by 15 different authors. The stories themselves are entertaining, though, the overall arrangement of the collection definitely works, and the sheer creativity of early 20th century maritime (science) fiction is amazing.
(Longer review to follow.)
(Longer review to follow.)
September 2, 2021
Solid collection. A lot of good and okay stories, a couple great ones as well as some duds. The best stories were the two Sargasso ones, From the Darkness and the Depths, the Black Bell Buoy, No Ships Pass and From the Depths (ghosts using Morse code!). I absolutely loved The Floating Forest – so dramatic, so Gothic, so epic! As is par for the course for the covers of these Tales of the Weird editions, this one looks fantastic too!
Edit: My friend pointed out that women are underrepresented in horror and similar genres, so here are the depressing stats for this anthology:
15 stories, 3 female authors, arguably 2 female protagonists (who both die for a man)
Edit: My friend pointed out that women are underrepresented in horror and similar genres, so here are the depressing stats for this anthology:
15 stories, 3 female authors, arguably 2 female protagonists (who both die for a man)
May 2, 2021
As with most books of short stories some are amazing and some meh 😑
Looking forward to reading more of this series because I really like how they are putting together these anthologies.
Looking forward to reading more of this series because I really like how they are putting together these anthologies.
Read
April 29, 2024From the Depths was my favorite, but they were all great!
November 30, 2018
FROM THE DEPTHS AND OTHER STRANGE TALES OF THE SEA is one of the excellent new horror anthologies put out by the British Library. This one's a collection of sea-themed ghost and horror tales, culled from the pages of various early 20th century magazines and journals, none of which I've encountered before, which is always a good thing.
Albert R. Wetjen's THE SHIP OF SILENCE is a typical story to act as an opener. It's about a derelict with a strange and mysterious history. It's all the creepier for not having any of the strangeness explained. Morgan Robertson's FROM THE DARKNESS AND THE DEPTHS carries on that trend, with a half-flooded ship haunted by a very nasty monster which proceeds to chow down on unsuspecting crewmen. Ward Muir's SARGASSO is a traditional effort in which a ship is stranded in the Sargasso Sea and prone to strange beasts, while Frank H. Shaw's HELD BY THE SARGASSO SEA takes the same topic but delivers a much more realistic fable in which mutineering crewmen are the antagonists.
THE FLOATING FOREST sees Herman Scheffauer sees various supernatural things going on at sea, but was a bit overwrought for my tastes, the writing too hurried. C.N Barham's TRACKED: A MYSTERY OF THE SEA mixes clairvoyance with some nautical mystery, but is too slight to really draw you into the story. Next up is one of my all-time favourite authors, William Hope Hodgson, whose MYSTERY OF THE WATER-LOGGED SHIP sees him venturing into dark fantasy rather than the horror he's best known for. It's imaginative stuff for sure. F. Britten Austin's title-lending story, FROM THE DEPTHS, is a post-war bit of spookiness in which a German U-boat captain finds the spirits of his drowned victims coming back for revenge.
THE MURDERED SHIPS, by James Francis Dwyer, is another story of vengeance at sea, wonderfully written with a maximum of suspense and tension throughout; the story of the mutineering crew is sinister indeed. John Gilbert's THE SHIP THAT DIED is brief, almost anecdotal, but memorably bizarre at that. Izola Forrester's DEVEREUX'S LAST SMOKE is a simple ghost story that happens to have a nautical backdrop, while the best story in the collection is THE BLACK BELL BUOY by Rupert Chesterton. This one has it all: a love triangle gone wrong; a sea monster, murder, a ghostly inanimate object and a grisly climax. Wonderful stuff.
Elinor Mordaunt's THE HIGH SEAS offers a saga-style story, epic in scope, of brotherly hatred on par with that of Cain and Abel. Morgan Burke's THE SOUL-SAVER is a less impressive effort about a skipper whose obsession with white mice has a dark origin. NO SHIPS PASS is the final story in the anthology and by Lady Eleanor Smith; it tells of a shipwreck survivor washing up on a limbo-style desert island inhabited by a Titanic survivor, among others. More fantasy than horror, but still enjoyable.
Albert R. Wetjen's THE SHIP OF SILENCE is a typical story to act as an opener. It's about a derelict with a strange and mysterious history. It's all the creepier for not having any of the strangeness explained. Morgan Robertson's FROM THE DARKNESS AND THE DEPTHS carries on that trend, with a half-flooded ship haunted by a very nasty monster which proceeds to chow down on unsuspecting crewmen. Ward Muir's SARGASSO is a traditional effort in which a ship is stranded in the Sargasso Sea and prone to strange beasts, while Frank H. Shaw's HELD BY THE SARGASSO SEA takes the same topic but delivers a much more realistic fable in which mutineering crewmen are the antagonists.
THE FLOATING FOREST sees Herman Scheffauer sees various supernatural things going on at sea, but was a bit overwrought for my tastes, the writing too hurried. C.N Barham's TRACKED: A MYSTERY OF THE SEA mixes clairvoyance with some nautical mystery, but is too slight to really draw you into the story. Next up is one of my all-time favourite authors, William Hope Hodgson, whose MYSTERY OF THE WATER-LOGGED SHIP sees him venturing into dark fantasy rather than the horror he's best known for. It's imaginative stuff for sure. F. Britten Austin's title-lending story, FROM THE DEPTHS, is a post-war bit of spookiness in which a German U-boat captain finds the spirits of his drowned victims coming back for revenge.
THE MURDERED SHIPS, by James Francis Dwyer, is another story of vengeance at sea, wonderfully written with a maximum of suspense and tension throughout; the story of the mutineering crew is sinister indeed. John Gilbert's THE SHIP THAT DIED is brief, almost anecdotal, but memorably bizarre at that. Izola Forrester's DEVEREUX'S LAST SMOKE is a simple ghost story that happens to have a nautical backdrop, while the best story in the collection is THE BLACK BELL BUOY by Rupert Chesterton. This one has it all: a love triangle gone wrong; a sea monster, murder, a ghostly inanimate object and a grisly climax. Wonderful stuff.
Elinor Mordaunt's THE HIGH SEAS offers a saga-style story, epic in scope, of brotherly hatred on par with that of Cain and Abel. Morgan Burke's THE SOUL-SAVER is a less impressive effort about a skipper whose obsession with white mice has a dark origin. NO SHIPS PASS is the final story in the anthology and by Lady Eleanor Smith; it tells of a shipwreck survivor washing up on a limbo-style desert island inhabited by a Titanic survivor, among others. More fantasy than horror, but still enjoyable.
May 4, 2024
3.5 stars
Because I love the sea and everything adjacent, this was one of the Weird Tales collections I was most excited about. Well, it wasn't as exciting as I had hoped. The maritime lingo wore me out and the stories started bleeding into each other, but the good news is that a less interesting Weird Tales collection is still worth the read. Not so surprisingly, I enjoyed the action-packed sea creature stories the least, because I've always been partial to ghost ships.
Favorites:
No Ships Pass (1932) by Lady Eleanor Smith:
Echoes of Lost. I don't think I can say more without giving spoilers, but if you remember how the show ended, you know what I mean.
The Floating Forest (1909) by Herman Scheffauer:
Creepy, but also beautifully written and has gorgeous imagery.
Devereux’s Last Smoke (1907) by Izola Forrester:
A classic ghost story of revenge. Nothing revolutionary, but one of the best in this group.
Because I love the sea and everything adjacent, this was one of the Weird Tales collections I was most excited about. Well, it wasn't as exciting as I had hoped. The maritime lingo wore me out and the stories started bleeding into each other, but the good news is that a less interesting Weird Tales collection is still worth the read. Not so surprisingly, I enjoyed the action-packed sea creature stories the least, because I've always been partial to ghost ships.
Favorites:
No Ships Pass (1932) by Lady Eleanor Smith:
Echoes of Lost. I don't think I can say more without giving spoilers, but if you remember how the show ended, you know what I mean.
The Floating Forest (1909) by Herman Scheffauer:
Creepy, but also beautifully written and has gorgeous imagery.
Devereux’s Last Smoke (1907) by Izola Forrester:
A classic ghost story of revenge. Nothing revolutionary, but one of the best in this group.
September 17, 2018
A well-chosen selection of uncanny and disturbing sea stories. I read this to start off some research into Nautical Gothic, and was not disappointed. I'm fascinated by the number of odd monsters and derelicts that make up the bulk of the "creepy" parts of these tales. I'm really interested in how these stories seem to focus on dangerous parts of the ocean (like the Sargasso Sea or the Straits of Magellan) that caused a great number of lost lives and lost ships. But more than that, it's curious how the number of stories about wooden vessels and haunted ships seems to increase towards the turn of the 20th century. Maybe it's just this particular book, but it seems like with the publication of sea-focused magazines and the advent of iron-clads and steamers, authors focused their attention on old-timey ships as the locus of fear.
January 14, 2024
From the Depths and Other Strange Tales of the Sea (2017, ed: Mike Ashley) heralded the start of a book series that, seven years later, is showing no signs of slowing down. It’s the British Library’s #TalesoftheWeird series, soon to be approaching fifty titles. Although they’ve recently expanded into resurrecting old novels, the series is predominantly scouring old magazines looking for tales on themes and anthologising them.
As should be clear from the title, From the Depths is nautical in theme, and gives us a chance to reassess long forgotten writers who wrote stories in this field. My personal opinion is that when stories are selected to meet a brief then we can expect some hits and some misses, and that’s what we find here. Though some of these stories are over a hundred years old, we should cut them some slack: they may have been more impactful in their day.
The editor has selected a good range of stories, with sea monsters and hauntings and more unusual flexes of imagination. The opener, The Ship of Silence (1932) by Albert R. Wetjen holds up well, giving us a tale tinged with Lovecraft. After a potted history of abandoned ships, a la Mary Celeste, we board an empty vessel that is without her crew but shows clear signs of a struggle and an emaciated parrot is the only witness to the unusual events.
Herman Scheffauer’s The Floating Forest (1909), an atmospheric phantasia that leans on Poe, is another highlight. Without monsters or anything truly supernatural, it explores the human drama around a ship, but really follows the life of the ship itself. And what images it delivers with arguably the most evocative prose in the collection. But the collection’s pole star, to my mind, is Morgan Burke’s The Soul-Saver (1926), an uncanny tale of an itinerant skipper and his alleged ability to capture dead men’s souls, which are manifested in the bodies of white mice.
Ashley’s selection seems designed to find stories that feature similar ideas but produce different results. Frank H. Shaw’s Held by the Sargasso and Ward Muir’s Sargasso, both published in 1908, are chalk and cheese in their treatment of the Sargasso Sea. One has seaweed trap a ship with devastating results while the other looks to mutiny for its drama. In similar pairings, sea monsters and ghosts come with various treatments.
Sadly, Tracked: A Mystery of the Sea (1891) by C.N Barham, about using clairvoyance to locate wrecks, is a bit of a stinker by modern sensibilities. And the collection’s 1920 title story, about a ship searching for wartime’s sunken vessels is so telegraphed that you don’t need to be the previous story’s psychic to see its reveal coming. I also found the deep dive into Willam Hope Hodgson’s oeuvre, The Mystery of the Waterlogged Ship (1911), ultimately disappointing for explaining its central conundrum.
Some of the stores go heavy in their nautical jargon, especially when dealing with pre-steam ships, which may be distracting to some. But many of these writers experienced life at sea and it adds authenticity to their accounts. Three stories by women hold their own in this crew of old salts, although Izola Forrester’s Devereux’s Last Smoke (1907) is arguably too traditional a ghost story to offer something truly weird.
Ashley suggests the volume’s closer, Lady Eleanor Smith’s No Ships Pass (1932) could have been an influence on the TV show Lost. It’s clear to see where he’s coming from in a story about men from different times marooned on a mysterious island that they can’t seem to escape. Regardless, it’s a perfect choice to end the collection as its characters are locked into a tropical Twilight Zone and their predicament continues long after the last page has been turned.
As should be clear from the title, From the Depths is nautical in theme, and gives us a chance to reassess long forgotten writers who wrote stories in this field. My personal opinion is that when stories are selected to meet a brief then we can expect some hits and some misses, and that’s what we find here. Though some of these stories are over a hundred years old, we should cut them some slack: they may have been more impactful in their day.
The editor has selected a good range of stories, with sea monsters and hauntings and more unusual flexes of imagination. The opener, The Ship of Silence (1932) by Albert R. Wetjen holds up well, giving us a tale tinged with Lovecraft. After a potted history of abandoned ships, a la Mary Celeste, we board an empty vessel that is without her crew but shows clear signs of a struggle and an emaciated parrot is the only witness to the unusual events.
Herman Scheffauer’s The Floating Forest (1909), an atmospheric phantasia that leans on Poe, is another highlight. Without monsters or anything truly supernatural, it explores the human drama around a ship, but really follows the life of the ship itself. And what images it delivers with arguably the most evocative prose in the collection. But the collection’s pole star, to my mind, is Morgan Burke’s The Soul-Saver (1926), an uncanny tale of an itinerant skipper and his alleged ability to capture dead men’s souls, which are manifested in the bodies of white mice.
Ashley’s selection seems designed to find stories that feature similar ideas but produce different results. Frank H. Shaw’s Held by the Sargasso and Ward Muir’s Sargasso, both published in 1908, are chalk and cheese in their treatment of the Sargasso Sea. One has seaweed trap a ship with devastating results while the other looks to mutiny for its drama. In similar pairings, sea monsters and ghosts come with various treatments.
Sadly, Tracked: A Mystery of the Sea (1891) by C.N Barham, about using clairvoyance to locate wrecks, is a bit of a stinker by modern sensibilities. And the collection’s 1920 title story, about a ship searching for wartime’s sunken vessels is so telegraphed that you don’t need to be the previous story’s psychic to see its reveal coming. I also found the deep dive into Willam Hope Hodgson’s oeuvre, The Mystery of the Waterlogged Ship (1911), ultimately disappointing for explaining its central conundrum.
Some of the stores go heavy in their nautical jargon, especially when dealing with pre-steam ships, which may be distracting to some. But many of these writers experienced life at sea and it adds authenticity to their accounts. Three stories by women hold their own in this crew of old salts, although Izola Forrester’s Devereux’s Last Smoke (1907) is arguably too traditional a ghost story to offer something truly weird.
Ashley suggests the volume’s closer, Lady Eleanor Smith’s No Ships Pass (1932) could have been an influence on the TV show Lost. It’s clear to see where he’s coming from in a story about men from different times marooned on a mysterious island that they can’t seem to escape. Regardless, it’s a perfect choice to end the collection as its characters are locked into a tropical Twilight Zone and their predicament continues long after the last page has been turned.
Read
July 5, 2023The very first volume in the British Library Tales Of The Weird series, which five years on is fast closing in on its 40th release. Including one collecting coast ghost stories, which is really more what I was after when I bought this one, but as is my way I still insisted on only reading these near to the sea, albeit never actually on or in it, which would have been the better fit. Still, that vast canvas does mean it can go well beyond the imprint's usual meat and drink of ghost stories; there are a lot of strange things out there in the deep waters, so going in on any individual piece, there's not that same comforting sense of knowing roughly what's coming. Or at least there shouldn't be; sometimes the sequencing does the book no favours at all, with the two stories of the Sargasso following one on the other's heels. Similarly, there are two consecutive tales in which a long-trapped vessel is released by upheavals and finds her captain again at the last, and putting The Ship That Died right after The Murdered Ships is just perverse.
Still, considered in isolation there are certainly more hits than misses. F. Britten Austin's title story is among the highlights, likewise Lady Eleanor Smith's No Ships Pass; the latter pretty much does Lost 70 years earlier, in 30 pages instead of a solid week's viewing, and without so many traumatised employees. And the editor isn't wrong to single out the peculiarity of Morgan Burke's The Soul-Saver, with its little white mice... But even in the makeweights there's always some small reminder of the lost romance of seafaring, some little quirk of language - we still think of wearing jerseys, but not guernseys, and I swear I saw the word 'barkentine' more often here than in the rest of my life to date. Not to mention that gorgeous Harry Clarke frontispiece.
Still, considered in isolation there are certainly more hits than misses. F. Britten Austin's title story is among the highlights, likewise Lady Eleanor Smith's No Ships Pass; the latter pretty much does Lost 70 years earlier, in 30 pages instead of a solid week's viewing, and without so many traumatised employees. And the editor isn't wrong to single out the peculiarity of Morgan Burke's The Soul-Saver, with its little white mice... But even in the makeweights there's always some small reminder of the lost romance of seafaring, some little quirk of language - we still think of wearing jerseys, but not guernseys, and I swear I saw the word 'barkentine' more often here than in the rest of my life to date. Not to mention that gorgeous Harry Clarke frontispiece.
December 20, 2023
skipped many a pages and dnf :( i bought this book bc i love the sea and esp horrors based on the sea etc, i love the mystery of the ocean and its creatures, so i did assume it would be horror stories about similar topics. instead its a series of stories moreso abt mysteries during sea life, ships etc. i got so bored of the start of every story (which there are many) starting off w page upon page describing ships n just got bored of having to read that over n over again for like a page or two per story relating to any kind of mystery, most of which were also rather mundane. some were better than others. prob not a good book to choose after i just finished treasure island as i think im just sick of hearing about ships for the foreseeable future LOL.
if youre someone who is way more into stories about ships than i am, maybe youll enjoy it more than i did. im a lil disappointed i paid almost a tenner tbh oof. my favourite book/series about ships by far has been the liveship trilogy by robin hobb, and no other book has came anywhere close to being as interesting as she made ship life to be
if youre someone who is way more into stories about ships than i am, maybe youll enjoy it more than i did. im a lil disappointed i paid almost a tenner tbh oof. my favourite book/series about ships by far has been the liveship trilogy by robin hobb, and no other book has came anywhere close to being as interesting as she made ship life to be
December 13, 2023
To be fair, the first I read in this series was Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic, which was described by one reviewer as being one of the best in this set and also became a favourite and my favourite anthology overall.
In other words it had to follow that one.
There were some stories I liked, a few I loved, and I think it ended strong. But most of these stories didn't do anything for me, and many of them actually bled into each other. I don't know why, it could have the selection itself and the order the stories were in. There were some stand out stories but I will say six I felt positive feelings towards, and the rest....
I am disappointed, but it could also be me as a reader. But as someone who actively looks for good nautical tales, I was sad this one didn't work for me.
In other words it had to follow that one.
There were some stories I liked, a few I loved, and I think it ended strong. But most of these stories didn't do anything for me, and many of them actually bled into each other. I don't know why, it could have the selection itself and the order the stories were in. There were some stand out stories but I will say six I felt positive feelings towards, and the rest....
I am disappointed, but it could also be me as a reader. But as someone who actively looks for good nautical tales, I was sad this one didn't work for me.
December 15, 2021
For several reasons, this book has meant a lot to me. Not only are there terrific stories within, all ably introduced by the editor, but this book reintroduced me and reinvigorated my love for early 20th and late 19th century weird fiction. It also prompted me to start a podcast where we explore these stories one by one, and book by book. That in turn reconnected me to an old friend, and helped establish a friendship with another new acquaintance. This book has been good to me. I hope it will be good to you.
Stand out stories for me were: “Sargasso,” “The Floating Forest,” The Mystery of the Water Logged Ship,” and “No Ships Pass.”
If you like podcasts, I’d encourage you to check out Whiskey and the Weird, season one is all about this book.
Stand out stories for me were: “Sargasso,” “The Floating Forest,” The Mystery of the Water Logged Ship,” and “No Ships Pass.”
If you like podcasts, I’d encourage you to check out Whiskey and the Weird, season one is all about this book.
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