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From Beyond the Grave and Other Stories
A collection of R. Chetwynd-Hayes's short stories, including The Elemental, The Birth, The Jumpity-Jim, The Wanderer, and more.
- GenresHorror
187 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
About the author
R. Chetwynd-Hayes
139 books59 followersRonald Henry Glynn Chetwynd-Hayes aka Angus Campbell.
Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes was an author, best known for his ghost stories. His first published work was the science fiction novel The Man From The Bomb in 1959. He went on to publish many collections and ten other novels including The Grange, The Haunted Grange, And Love Survived and The Curse of the Snake God. He also edited over 20 anthologies. Several of his short works were adapted into anthology style movies in the United Kingdom, including The Monster Club and From Beyond the Grave. Chetwynd-Hayes' book The Monster Club contains references to a film-maker called Vinke Rocnnor, an anagram of Kevin Connor, the director of From Beyond the Grave.
He won the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement for 1988, and the British Fantasy Society Special Award in 1989.
Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes was an author, best known for his ghost stories. His first published work was the science fiction novel The Man From The Bomb in 1959. He went on to publish many collections and ten other novels including The Grange, The Haunted Grange, And Love Survived and The Curse of the Snake God. He also edited over 20 anthologies. Several of his short works were adapted into anthology style movies in the United Kingdom, including The Monster Club and From Beyond the Grave. Chetwynd-Hayes' book The Monster Club contains references to a film-maker called Vinke Rocnnor, an anagram of Kevin Connor, the director of From Beyond the Grave.
He won the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement for 1988, and the British Fantasy Society Special Award in 1989.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 21, 2011
This is a borderline 3-star rating.
I had a lot of goodwill towards Chetwynd-Hayes when I cracked open this slim volume with its obscure Amicus anthology-film tie-in cover. I've enjoyed several anthologies that he edited, especially the wonderfully creepy Welsh Tales Of Terror. I've also enjoyed some of his own stories.
But this collection, like a 60s/70s British horror film, tends towards the hokey yet endearing rather than the enduringly terrifying. For a collection released in the 70s, it draws so much on traditional supernatural story tropes that I found myself wondering whether, in the balance, the splatterpunks didn't actually do the genre more good than harm by updating the genre's terms of enfearment. And for all that literary snobs find fault with Lovecraft's prose or some of his worldviews, his brand of cosmic horror gave a genre that was largely absorbed in revenants of the past a chilling new forward- and outward-looking focus.
Which is not to say that there aren't some genuinely horrific moments in here, shot through with a kind of black humour that feels both dated and charming despite being a little hammy, a lot like British sex-comedies from the same era. The best story here is 'The Birth' a truly weird and creepy story of post-mortal rebirth and parasitism that loses its punch at the last moment with a descent into 'came the dawn' cliche. 'The Jumpity-Jim' most vividly evokes a vintage Hammer Horror wit its vaguely historical feel and stock melodrama characters, but it has some great weird visuals, ruined by a predictable ending. 'The Labyrinth' is another story that telegraphs too many of its intentions and goes for a cheap creep-out ending despite some very fine moments and a wonderful central conceit of a house that is somehow a living, evil thing. 'A Time To Plant - A Time To Reap' is shot through with the inept sex-comedy side of things which is a shame because it also contains some of the most macabre moments in this collection. There's a case to be made for humour in horror being a way to offset the horrific element and throw it into stark relief, but Chetwynd-Hayes' humour is not especially sharp or edgy. 'Someone is dead' is a psychic detective story right out of the pages of Hodgson or Blackwood, but without that instinct for the really weird that made their forays into this genre so effective. It also suffers from an excess of puerile sexual humour. 'The Elemental' is a slight, slight story of possession with a telegraphed ending. 'The Wanderer' is a ghost story that more or less works; but again all the sex-farce aspects reduced the savour of the tale for me.
On the basis of this collection, my assessment of Chetwynd-Hayes is that he was conceptually a holdover from the Victorian era of horror stories that riff off the classic ghost story, spiritualist concepts and traditional monsters. Added to this are attempts to be with-it and knowingly humorous about sexual matters. On the plus side, he had a genuine flair for disquieting transformations and macabre consequences.
I had a lot of goodwill towards Chetwynd-Hayes when I cracked open this slim volume with its obscure Amicus anthology-film tie-in cover. I've enjoyed several anthologies that he edited, especially the wonderfully creepy Welsh Tales Of Terror. I've also enjoyed some of his own stories.
But this collection, like a 60s/70s British horror film, tends towards the hokey yet endearing rather than the enduringly terrifying. For a collection released in the 70s, it draws so much on traditional supernatural story tropes that I found myself wondering whether, in the balance, the splatterpunks didn't actually do the genre more good than harm by updating the genre's terms of enfearment. And for all that literary snobs find fault with Lovecraft's prose or some of his worldviews, his brand of cosmic horror gave a genre that was largely absorbed in revenants of the past a chilling new forward- and outward-looking focus.
Which is not to say that there aren't some genuinely horrific moments in here, shot through with a kind of black humour that feels both dated and charming despite being a little hammy, a lot like British sex-comedies from the same era. The best story here is 'The Birth' a truly weird and creepy story of post-mortal rebirth and parasitism that loses its punch at the last moment with a descent into 'came the dawn' cliche. 'The Jumpity-Jim' most vividly evokes a vintage Hammer Horror wit its vaguely historical feel and stock melodrama characters, but it has some great weird visuals, ruined by a predictable ending. 'The Labyrinth' is another story that telegraphs too many of its intentions and goes for a cheap creep-out ending despite some very fine moments and a wonderful central conceit of a house that is somehow a living, evil thing. 'A Time To Plant - A Time To Reap' is shot through with the inept sex-comedy side of things which is a shame because it also contains some of the most macabre moments in this collection. There's a case to be made for humour in horror being a way to offset the horrific element and throw it into stark relief, but Chetwynd-Hayes' humour is not especially sharp or edgy. 'Someone is dead' is a psychic detective story right out of the pages of Hodgson or Blackwood, but without that instinct for the really weird that made their forays into this genre so effective. It also suffers from an excess of puerile sexual humour. 'The Elemental' is a slight, slight story of possession with a telegraphed ending. 'The Wanderer' is a ghost story that more or less works; but again all the sex-farce aspects reduced the savour of the tale for me.
On the basis of this collection, my assessment of Chetwynd-Hayes is that he was conceptually a holdover from the Victorian era of horror stories that riff off the classic ghost story, spiritualist concepts and traditional monsters. Added to this are attempts to be with-it and knowingly humorous about sexual matters. On the plus side, he had a genuine flair for disquieting transformations and macabre consequences.
February 13, 2017
1st Read: January 26, 1997 - February 1, 1997
This book didn't keep me interested long enough with its short stories. For just when a story had grabbed me, it was over and the next one had started. Not a good book at all in my opinion.
This book didn't keep me interested long enough with its short stories. For just when a story had grabbed me, it was over and the next one had started. Not a good book at all in my opinion.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews