Shirley Jackson's dark powers are back at work from beyond the grave

Garlic in Fiction, a new collection from the late master of shocking but subtle horror, is due next year. I'll be watching out for it, and so should you

The sun is shining, the skies are clear, Easter eggs are melting on windowsills up and down the land but I'm going to be shutting myself inside the darker side of life this weekend, after learning that there's a new collection of works by the late Shirley Jackson in the pipeline. The New York Times tells us that the collection, Garlic in Fiction, has been edited by two of her children, and drawn mostly from Jackson's papers at the Library of Congress - ranges from stories to drawings, lectures and pieces of non-fiction.

According to the acquiring editor at Random House, "these pieces are just as strong as her well-known work". According to her children, they are "gems". "We believe the fiction is important, the lectures are inspiring, and the other writings and drawings show various aspects of her wit and humour," they said in a statement to the NYT.

"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood ands tone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone."

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