The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler

by Reggie Oliver

A man buys a CD bearing the title The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler and finds himself dogged by a mysterious stranger. . . . A nun in eighteenth-century France acquires an inconvenient gift of prophesy. . . . An amateur dramatics group turns out to be something far more sinister. . . . An aristocrat tries to exploit a haunted room at his country seat, but has the tables turned on him by a member of the royal family. . . .
The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler is Reggie Oliver’s second collection of ‘strange stories’. It is now republished with new illustrations. Oliver’s characteristic wit, style, shrewd observation of humanity, and sense of place and time are all in evidence. He also has the simple gift of knowing how to tell a good story. As Glen Cavaliero says in his introduction ‘no one story is like another’, but they all point to the dark metaphysical currents that lurk beneath the surface of our daily lives.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, 20th Century, Fiction, 21st Century, Literature, Weird Fiction

359 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Reggie Oliver is a stage actor and playwright. His biography of Stella Gibbons was praised as “a triumph” by Hilary Spurling in the Daily Telegraph, his play Winner Takes All, was described as “the funniest evening in London”, by Michael Billington in The Guardian, and his adaptation of Hennequin and Delacour’s Once Bitten opened at the Orange Tree Theatre in London in December 2010.

He is the author of four highly-praised volumes of short fiction: The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini (Haunted River 2003), The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler (Haunted River 2005), Masques of Satan (Ash Tree 2007), and Madder Mysteries (Ex Occidente 2009). His stories have appeared in over 25 anthologies and, for the third year running, one of his stories appears in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, the most widely read and popular of contemporary horror anthologies.

Reviews

[Forrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know, I've always been more of a short story reader than a novel reader. Yeah, I'm that oddball. I'm also much more of a short story writer than I am a novel writer. Maybe it has something to do with attention spans. But I think I just like the brain-juicing rush I get from a really great short story, whether reading or writing. Cheap thrills? Maybe. But they're my cheap thrills!

Problem is, short story collections are really difficult to review. Say too much about each story and it's really easy to spoil things. Say too little about each story and your review becomes pithy. And only after reading the entire collection can one really assess the author's overall oeuvre (well, for that collection, at least) and it's sometimes difficult to go back and piece together what it is you think about the author's work without re-reading every story.

So I guess all I have to offer here are my notes on The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler and Other Stories, modified and elaborated on a tiny bit from my original notes, with a little summation at the end.

Before I dive in, though, please let me state for the record that Reggie Oliver is a magnificent stylist. Reading his work is easy. Not that the language is banal, not by any means. It just simply flows incredibly well. In both style and subject matter, M.R. James and an easier-to-understand Lord Dunsany come to mind as the best comparisons for Oliver's voice. But that is boiling things down too much. Olivers voices are rich and more widely varying than James and/or Dunsany. But the sheer ease-of-use to the reader make these stories smooth as silk. A dark, corrupted, sometimes terrifying silk, like a silk noose, but smooth, nonetheless.

Anyway, on to the stories:

The title story (and who could resist such an incredible title?) is a weird sort of weird. It's very moody, but not edgy, The narrator is a bit paranoid, but justifiably so. Still, his fears are a little unjustified, but this makes his flaws all the more critical to the story. I like this story a lot, but I don't know if I can place my finger on exactly why. And I like that lack of definition. It works to the point of 5 stars for me.

"Lapland Nights" is a very well-written story, but it has too many loose ends. I don't mind loose ends at all, but I came away from this story feeling like I was missing something fundamental that I should have found in the story. Re-scanning it, I found that it wasn't me, it was the story. I love the premise, plot, and characters, but feel like there is an impetus behind the plot turns that is too-well hidden. 4 stars.

"The Garden of Strangers" is a quiet tale about Oscar Wilde and suicide (a theme that recurs in Oliver's work). I can look past the pedantic (in a morally-corrupt way) nature of the story because it is so well written. 4 stars.

I made the mistake of reading "Among the Tombs" by firelight and a small, dim lamp, with the firelight by which I read flickering over my shoulder. Don't do this. Too creepy. Way too creepy. This story about possession and charity gone wrong got under my skin. I've still got the jibblies! 5-stars!

I found "The Skins" eerie enough but it lacked a needed touch of coherence. It sometimes felt like the plot elements were reaching for each other, but not quite touching. Unlike two of the main characters . . . 4 stars.

"The Sermons of Dr Hodnet" - now *this* is what I've been expecting. A twisted interpretation of Genesis 11:7 and a weird story that satisfies on all fronts. 5 stars for this one. More like this, please!

"Magus Zoroaster" puts a supernatural spin on what is, at it's heart, a tale of deep noir about doppelgangers and murder-mystery. 5 stars!

"The Time of Blood" was, well, bloody good. I was surprised by the ending, but it made all the sense in the world, in hindsight. I'm usually not as big on stories that begin with a pseudo-mythic framework, but this one worked well by the end. 5 stars.

A weird tale disguised as romance? Romance disguised as a weird tale? It doesn't matter. I loved it, and I am most explicitly not a fan of romances. "Parma Violets" drew me in and wrapped me up. 5 stars to this excellent story!

"Difficult People" provides a modern and slightly distanced riff on the themes of one of my favorite stories, "The Picture of Dorian Gray", but adds a murky layer of mystery to the whole thing, which twists it into new vistas of horror. 5 stars.

"The Constant Rake" is a dark story about an obscure play manuscript and its discovery by the narrator. The original author of the play had suffered losses at the hands of a rival and vowed to exact revenge. But revenge may be a long time in coming! This tale brilliantly weaves destinies and motives together in a satisfyingly gruesome way with a dash of the supernatural. I have been wowed by this 5 star story!

While I enjoyed the self-aware humor of "The Blue Room" (I laughed aloud twice), it seems out of character for this collection. I enjoyed it, but it lacked the gravitas that the rest of the collection has had so far. I get it: people want variety, and humor often serves as an adjunct to horror. Still, it seemed a little "twee" to me. 3 stars

"A Nightmare Sang" is one of the longer stories in this collection. A strange, esoteric tale of ecstasy, initiation, and entrapment. I was caught up in it, much as the protagonist was caught up in the acting troupe/cult that simultaneously served as his compliment and foil. The characterization is what stood out in this mystical, yet banal story. 5 stars!

"The Babe of the Abyss" has so . . . much . . . potential! It could have been twice as long to allow more character development, but as it stands, it felt cut short, with one of the character's info-dump explanations making it feel even more rushed and artificial. Dang it, that could have been a five-star story, but I have to give it 4 stars. I even considered 3, but the ending was a "good save".

"Bloody Bill" is a memorable piece, if for nothing but the imagery. The mood is cohesive and rather gray and the story held together thematically. Still, there was something missing - maybe another connection or two between the narrator, his friend, and the antagonist, expressed more clearly by events, objects, etc. This "looseness" kind of lost me. Still a 4 star story, though.

I thought "A Christmas Card" might be a pithy retelling, or a horrific twist on "A Christmas Carol," but I was completely and utterly wrong. And I've never been so glad to be so wrong in my initial impressions. It is a surprising tale of hope in the face of suicidal depression. Somber, but very much full of hope. A poignant ending story that I was not at all expecting, and which took my breath away, especially as the end piece in this collection. 5 very bright stars.

That's a solid 4.6 on average. Throw in the wonderful production values, even on my paperback edition (what, you didn't know you could buy some of Tartarus Press's titles in affordable paperback?), and you've got a solid five star book here. If you want some creepy, but without the gross, and some excellent writing featuring some memorable characters and even more memorable plot lines, go get yourself a copy!

[Doug Bolden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: Actual score would be more like 3.5, but Reggie Oliver nearly always warrants the rounding up.

Reggie Oliver is probably the greatest thing to happen to contemplative ghost(ly) stories since the passing of Robert Aickman, and if you were to rank the post-M.R. James masters it is pretty hard to imagine that any list would not feature him somewhere high up. He is a writer who succeeds in blurring the line between something mostly lost in our modern letters (a kind of Victorian/Edwardian gentleness to his haunts) and yet keeps a cheerful glint of modernity about him (both in setting, sometimes, and technology, but also in having a few nasty surprises along the way). He rarely runs when he can stroll. He rarely pounds when he can lightly knock. He rarely shouts when he can simply talk. He saves it up for the right moment, a moment that may or may not exist in any given story.

He is one of a small handful of writers that I consider on my instant purchase list, and I readily recommend him to those who like or can appreciate horror with a soft touch. However, to a degree, I have barely touched upon his earlier stuff (I think there are three of his collections, two now, I have not read, and they are all the earliest). I am trying to make up for this, as best I can.

This collection is not my favorite of his, despite its qualities. Partially, this is due to the fact that several of these stories - seven total - including some of the best, were reprinted in the collection Sea of Blood, which I had read prior. Certain motifs are a bit too heavily repeated* - cheap revenge, bashing of heads for petty reasons, academics barely responding to supernatural events or life-changes. The slow and steady hand is perhaps too slow and steady in places, pushing back the horror until pages of rather unemotional discourse have passed.

You can look at the eponymous story to see some of these flaws. "The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler" has a brilliant conceit: a man finds a (fictional, of course) CD collection of Hitler's symphonies. The liner notes treat it as no big deal. The music is middling, amateurish. It is a gateway into a strange possibility, a commentary on the fact that legit Hitler artwork exists, that we sometimes forgive monsters their terribleness when appreciating their creations (recent events in the film industry show this to be quite true). Yet, the need to take it from a strange nothing about a surreal find to a Reggie Oliver ghost story actually deprives it of focus. By the time a murder is worked into the plot, and the police investigation that follows, the simple joy of the horror of the conceit is muddied.

Other stories fare much better. "Time of Blood" is a bit marred by the banality of its prophecies, but the imagery is strong and the ending is perhaps the punchiest of the lot. "The Skins" is one of Oliver's best stories to dial home the real absurdist aspect of stagecraft with just a dose of supernatural horror. "Lapland Nights" is a surreal story about swapping elderly parents with strangers to get a (deserved) rest, ending with one of the goriest conclusions while containing some of the best actual spooks. "The Constant Rake" blends academic research into old plays with academic conspiracy (and a bit of mania). And, "The Blue Room" is largely a ribald joke, but one that works with just the right amount of the otherwordly. Though, as hinted before, all of these (along with the slightly too predictable to be good "Among the Tombs" (though it has its moments, for sure) and the too quiet "Bloody Bill" (which is slightly saved by the oddity of its implied outcome)) are in Sea of Blood, so are only partially a recommendation for this collection.

Those more unique to this collection (though no doubt have been published elsewhere) and are in the good to quite good range include "Difficult People," which touches upon the impact of art, "The Sermons of Dr. Hodnet," a fairly Jamesian tale without much surprise but still fun, and "A Nightmare Sang," about an egotistical playwright who gets a bit too involved with a cultish amateur troupe (the ending is a bit of a wink, for sure, including yet another head bashing, but the wink has its charm). "Parma Violet" is maybe too definite in attempting an abstract ending, but is in the upper tier of stories, here. Likewise, "Magus Zoroaster," tackles the issue of having too plain an ending by having two too plain endings, but the first 2/3s are fairly fascinating. The somewhat sappy "A Christmas Card" makes a bittersweet way to finish out the collection, but I am glad it is there.

Few of these stories I have mentioned are truly perfect (as you can tell from my review so far, the endings are often an issue), but the charm is there.

Of the poorer stories, the reasons they are poor varies. "The Garden of Strangers," an ode to Oscar Wilde that manages to nail Wilde's wit quite well, just sort of drifts off into the ether. The aforementioned "Complete Symphonies" suffers from being forced into a certain mode. I have already written my complaints about "Among the Tombs" and "Bloody Bill".

Perhaps the most problematic is "The Babe of the Abyss". Sure, it takes a bit to get going, and even then has not a lot of distance to travel, but my issue with it is a certain equation it makes between homosexuality and the horrors of war (both described, basically, as an innocent evil brought on by base desires...especially tasteless in that the war in question is World War II and the fight against Nazi Germany). In the story, it is perhaps the unwanted attention of an older man upon a younger that is the "innocent evil", but this is not how it is quite told. Oliver occasionally, like many ghost writers of his caliber, effects a mode of conservatism. A couple-three times in this collection there are remarks that border or cross homophobic tendencies or have certain dismissive attitudes towards women (strong women are a bit more devilish than strong men, while many women are basically ciphers left standing at their husbands' side). I am not ascribing these philosophies to Oliver, more to the slightly antiquated style he is emulating, but it does trigger some issues.

Still, the collection is good and there are nine or ten stories - the five from the paragraph about the Sea of Blood republication, along with "Difficult People," "A Christmas Card," "A Nightmare Sang," and perhaps "Magus Zoroaster" and/or "Parma Violet" depending on how the endings strike you - that are classic-status-worthy tales. Oliver's later works strike me as simply better, overall, but several of these stand equally with them.

Recommended, but perhaps start with Mrs. Midnight or Flowers from the Sea if you want to get into an Oliver collection.

* This, like several of the criticisms, is partially unfair in that these are elements true of Reggie Oliver through and through. He does play off several motifs - stagecraft, traveling bachelors, grief, quasi-comical metaphors directly spliced into the narrative, surrealist dream logic, art, academics - in all of his stuff. It is just in this collection some of the repeating beats feel a bit too repetitive, perhaps.

[Andy Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d been long putting this off. Short stories tend to get relegated on my tbr list, something I read before bedtime, and often over the course of several weeks. And that’s how I started with this, but it grabbed my attention, and though it does have one or two duffers, there are far more strong and entertaining stories than weak ones.

Oliver, who has steadily built a reputation in the discipline of weird fiction, clearly has the ability to fascinate and chill his readers, though remains somewhat underground, and better known as a playwright and actor.

His writing is a sort of MR James for the modern day, though I can taste Poe in there, and no doubt others will detect more influences.

An old boy of Eton himself, he sets the penultimate story, Bloody Bill, at the school. It’s certainly one of the best. He makes clear..

..best consumed by “those who are not disposed to be alarmed by its elitist implications”.

Though that distinction may be saved for the very last story, A Christmas Card, which has a Dickensian feel to it also, if you can imagine him at a particularly eccentric moment.

The 16 stories are not as disturbing as his influencers, but he provides a good scare quite frequently.


This is a great example of the sort of tremendous stuff that Tartarus Press put out, an indie-publisher in North Yorkshire. They are brave enough to put out some really off-the-wall stuff, and I’ve never regretted reading anything from them. Though the price of the luxuriously bound hard backs is steep, this ebook is at under £5, which I reckon is pretty good value.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think one's reaction to this will depend on what you're expecting. If you want a decent, Aickman-esque strange tale that leaves you wondering, there's several stories here right up your alley. Want something in the vein of a M.R. Jamesian chiller? Expect perhaps even more of this. That said, this is a fairly long book (too long?), with 16 stories it's likely you'll enjoy some of them.

But in terms of horror, Oliver rarely "goes for it," he tries to achieve more subtle effects. These stories are uneven with a few duds along the way, a few that really impressed me, and the rest by-and-large being OK but nothing too memorable. There's a few good ideas here which have a good set up, but just don't "come off" I thought, the title story being a good example.

There's a handful of great horror stories here, "Among the Tombs," "Difficult People" and "The Babe of the Abyss" are all excellent. "Lapland Nights," "The Skins," "A Nightmare Sang" and "Bloody Bill" are also worth a read, but of a lower calibre.

The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler - I liked the set up here, it has some promise, but in the end it didn't have much impact, and didn't make a lot of sense unfortunately. A man discovers a set of Hitler's symphonies on CD, and afterward is dogged by a strange man and suffers a series of tragedies.

Lapland Nights - This was a very strage, very Aickman-ish story. A vast improvement over the first story here, in my opinion, I liked it, it was unpredictable and left enough up to imagination, but wasn't overly vague. A woman taking care of her elderly mother gets involved in a program where carers for the elderly exchange so the other can have some time off. She takes on the care for a very strange old couple indeed.

The Garden of Strangers - OK story, nothing great here, mild ghost-allegory story. Oscar Wilde recalls visiting a park where many suicides have occurred with the intention to do himself in, but changes his mind after he's visited by the ghosts of several suicides.

Among the Tombs - This might be the best story here, it's a great, M. R. Jamesian story which surprised me considering the first three stories. This one has a real sense of evil about it, but kept subtle until the end. An old priest tells the story of a woman who opened up a home for ex-convicts to adjust back into society, and how one of these was possessed by an evil that drove her insane.

The Skins - This was a very odd, original idea that does "come off," and quite well. This one ends on a note that's both subtle and shocking, I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. A man working in a variety show theater becomes involved with a tap dancing couple, with a seemingly haunted pantomime horse.

The Sermons of Dr Hodnet - Good little M. R. James type horror story, in the vein of an "evil preist" tale. This was not as good as "Among the Tombs," however it's still a pretty nice one. A researcher uncovers the history of a controversial provost and preacher who became haunted after securing his position under dubious circumstances.

Magus Zoroaster - A clever little crime story, more interesting for it's plot than supernatural elements which are mild and at the margins. An actor is hired to star as a murdered art critic in a TV crime show special, getting him into deep trouble.

The Time of Blood - Not a bad story, but as a horror story it doesn't work for me, this is more an interesting example of a "found footage" type historical horror story, with the horror element being mild. A nun bleeds profusely during her menstrual periods and begins to prophesy horrible events.

Parma Violets - This story was OK, it's another Aickman-eque entry, left rather open-ended though and didn't really try to end with much. I'm not sure if there's much to figure out here, I think this one is just a bit of a dud. A woman is institutionalized after she marries a man with the masculine version of her first name, and her same surname when he mysteriously disappears.

Difficult People - Another story in the Aickman vein, but with a fairly original concept which is well-handled. Once again, a lot left rather open-ended. A painter is hired to paint a rich man's latest wife -- at first the buyer rejects it as being too menacing, but then he becomes fascinated with it's honesty about her nature.

The Constant Rake - I liked the general idea here, but didn't care for the execution. It could be more subtle, and it's too focused on following a rather predictable plot than giving us a lot of creepy details, which are mostly a side issue. After a man discovers a play and begins to research the author, he soon finds himself a hand of vengeance to the man, centuries later.

The Blue Room - A humorous story of supernatural sexual desire, predictable. A man uses a room in his ancestral mansion which induces sexual passion into people to his benefit.

A Nightmare Sang - This one didn't blow me away, but I liked it because it takes a more leisurely pace in setting up a good sense of place and an unsettling atmosphere, better than many of the shorter ones. A playwright vacations in a small seaside village and becomes involved with a group of amateur theater actors, who also happen to be a coven.

The Babe of the Abyss - This might be the only story in this collection that gave me a bit of a chill, it's definitely got a creepy scene in it. That said, the overall arc of the story, and the creepy element of it don't exactly meld together I thought. The dean of a college is dispatched to look at a haunted chalet which was left to the college by an ex-professor who resigned under a cloud of scandal.

Bloody Bill - This was a good weird story, yet again we don't know exactly what has happened, we know enough, but still have room to wonder. Some details are pretty chilling, reminds me a bit of the previous story "The Babe of the Abyss" and might have benefited by not being right after it. At a boys school an old master shows up who was demoted after nearly beating a boy to death. He's an old, but imposing figure and develops a strange relationship with one of the students.

A Christmas Card - An interesting variation on M. R. James' "Mezzotint" story I think, and feel-good way to end the collection. A man buys a Victorian Christmas card, and after committing suicide, finds himself inside the world of the card.

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reggie Oliver es un fantástico escritor, heredero de M.R. James, Robert Aickman, Lord Dunsany, o Edgar Allan Poe, entre otros. Están bien escritas y ambientadas. También se nota que el autor fue dramaturgo.

[Isidore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a less dazzling collection than The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini, but there are some splendid stories in it, and Oliver is consistently entertaining.

"Among the Tombs" defies the odds by making something genuinely disturbing out of the hackneyed subject of demonic possession; "The Babe of the Abyss" and "A Nightmare Sang" are also excellent, and the latter has some fine Jamesian moments.

In three pieces, "Lapland Nights", "The Skins", and "The Blue Room", Oliver tries his hand at the tricky business of combining the weird with (very black) humour, and does quite well. The first mentioned has something of the feel of Ramsey Campbell at his most paranoid, and the second makes amusing use of Oliver's theatrical background.

More predictably, Oliver showcases his gift for pastiche in a number of tales: "The Garden of Strangers" resurrects Oscar Wilde very convincingly, and elsewhere we have enjoyably plausible chunks of ersatz Restoration Comedy, 17th-century sermons, and so on. Occasionally one fleetingly wonders if Oliver has forgotten that his primary objective is to disturb the reader, but even the least compelling story in this collection is better written and more interesting than the entire oeuvres of some horror celebrities.

I'm no Aickman expert, but I sense his hand behind some of the more elliptical tales, such as the title story and "Parma Violets". Both are quite interesting, and the refusal to offer the reader easy explanations is very effective in the latter.

The concluding tale is a touching Christmas fable, slightly reminiscent of Russell Kirk, but without Kirk's mean-spirited didacticism.

Overall, I have the sense Oliver was exploring a variety of approaches to the weird in this collection, and some of his experiments are more successful than others. Happily, none are outright failures, and his intelligence and beautiful craftsmanship are everywhere apparent.

[Canavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

✭✭✭½

“The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler” ✭✭✭✭
“Lapland Nights” ✭✭✭✭
“The Garden of Strangers” ✭✭✭½
“Among the Tombs” ✭✭✭½
“The Skins” ✭✭✭
“The Sermons of Dr. Hodnet” ✭✭½
“Magus Zoroaster” ✭✭✭½
“The Time of Blood” ✭✭✭½
“Parma Violets” ✭✭✭½
“Difficult People” ✭✭✭
“The Constant Rake” ✭✭½
“The Blue Room” ✭✭½
“A Nightmare Sang” ✭✭✭½
“The Babe of the Abyss” ✭✭✭½
“Bloody Bill” ✭✭✭✭✭
“A Christmas Card” ✭✭✭

All stories published 2005 except for “The Skins” (2004).

[Mika Lietzen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, the title is awesome. Happily, so are the contents in Reggie Oliver's second collection of strange stories. Rooted firmly in the classic English ghost story tradition of M.R. James, E.F. Benson and others, Oliver's stories are storytelling at its best.

The tone is conversational, the writing witty and eloquent; appropriately, the narrators are often unreliable, usually completely unhinged. Consider the title story, where a man purchases a boxed set of the symphonies of Adolf Hitler at a record store, only to be fingered as a suspect in his wife's death. The events are almost certainly related, the most likely scenario being that the narrator has gone nuts from guilt.

No explanation is necessary, and the story offers only tantalising hints. Many of the stories leave the mystery slightly mysterious, offering barely a glimpse of something just beyond the veil. Now this can be somewhat frustrating at times, and a couple of the stories ( Parma Violets , Bloody Bill ) don't quite hold up to the others, feeling both heavy-handed and still completely baffling.

But mostly the delicate balance between what is told and what is left to imagination is perfect. Particular standouts are The Time of Blood , about a nun who can prophesy the future, and The Skins , about a horse costume in a variety act, a story that manages to be both funny and intensely creepy. A special mention must go to Oliver's illustrations, small miniature masterpieces that fit the style and mood of the collection perfectly.

Read my other reviews at mikareadshorrorfiction.wordpress.com

[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorites so far remind me of the best Aickman stories (the title story, "Lapland Nights", and "Parma Violets"), where events are simply presented and interpretations are left open. "Parma Violets" for example has only the barest hints of the crux of the narrative (the relationship between the uncle and the nephew); otherwise it seems totally thin and inconsequential.

I'm not so fond of the pieces where Oliver has more respect for horror conventions, like "The Time of Blood". The "payoff" is never that interesting to me. I enjoyed the exposition of "The Babe of the Abyss", but surely the explanations are unnecessary and ruined it for me. Why even have the "babe" at all? (I'm perfectly capable of enjoying stories with "ghosts" and "demons", but prefer not to see the "g" and "d" words. Ok James, this is another example of my pickiness.) Similar complaint with "A Nightmare Sang"; did we have to be told they're "witches"?

I have to say Oliver's understated and elegant prose is a pleasure, so different from many writers I've come across who are touted by fans of dark/weird fiction. And his drawings are really charming and work well with the text.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well-written collection of British ghost stories, that reminded me of the work of M.R. James and Robert Aickman.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We all carry our own shadows. They run by our side when we are young; they creep behind us when we are old; they sleep with us in the grave. We must learn to live and die with them.” - Reggie Oliver

I’ve known about Oliver for a while but and his reputation as a modern M.R. James but I foolishly put off reading his collections properly until this year but I’m so glad I finally did because his stories are not just absolutely brilliant but also far more readable than I ever expected and not trying at all. This absolutely exquisitely titled one is his second collection (or at least the second one that’s easily available, I know that there are some rarer expensive ones) and once again there is far more good than bad. There are a few that didn’t resonate as well with me. The Time of Blood and Christmas Card are highlights but even then the baseline quality is astonishingly high. I look forward to continuing to read further collections by Oliver in 2021. Ratings below (as usual these are for personal reference).

- Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler - 7
- Lapland Nights - 8
- The Garden of Strangers - 7
- Among the Tombs - 8
- The Skins - 7
- The Sermon of Dr Hodnet - 6
- Magus Zoroaster - 7
- The Time of Blood - 9
- Parma Violets - 7
- Difficult People - 8
- The Constant Rake - 3
- The Blue Room - 4
- A Nightmare Sang - 5
- The Babe of the Abyss - 7
- Bloody Bill - 8
- A Christmas Card - 9

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very exceptional writer. I try not to read all of his stories in each collection at once. This is one to savour.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally finished this book last night and was just completely blown away. More about it to come shortly, but whoa!

[Adrian Bloxham · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellently odd nasty short stories, really enjoyed this

[Bill Borre]

"Lapland Nights" - Jane contacts social services to set up a three week visit for her elderly mother in a foster household. At the end of the three weeks Jane's mother returns and it is Jane's turn to host the elderly couple that her mother had been staying with. They quickly prove to be obnoxious and Jane is relieved when the three weeks are up and they can be returned to their daughter but the daughter cannot be reached over the phone. Jane drives the couple back to the place she picked them up from and is shocked to discover an empty building. The story ends with the couple disappearing and it leads the reader into believing that Jane's mother had somehow been drained.

"The Sermons of Dr Hodnet" - Dr. Hodnet gives increasingly strange sermons which lead to his end when he runs toward the Devil at a bridge and is swept over the side.

"Among the Tombs" - A woman who runs a boarding house takes on the demonic possession of one of her tenants.

"Parma Violets" - Julia becomes institutionalized after her husband mysteriously disappears.

[Félix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lapland Nights alone is worth five stars along with the title and several others. Tales like The Blue Room, on the other hand, despite its promising approach (A room that causes sexual arousal to his occupants!) leave me, paradoxically, a bit cold.

[John Hepple · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think its possible not to be impressed by Mr Oliver. Superb storytelling and each tale has a satisfying conclusion. I look forward to his next collection.

[Jan Moens · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[George Neville-Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd like to live this book but some of the stories were just OK. Some, though, are great. The title piece is great.