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Afternoon of an Autocrat
This one is hard to find so you may have to haunt second hand book stores like me (or call around to save gasoline).
This one is hard to find so you may have to haunt second hand book stores like me (or call around to save gasoline).
I will only be doing a Norah Lofts book for October but there are 53 to chose from! However, only about 7 of her books are scary. Here are first lines from one of the scariest:
"On the third Saturday afternoon of October, in the year 1795, Sir Charles Augustus Shelmadine set out on what - though he naturally had no notion of it - was to be his last ride.
Stubbornly old-fashioned, he still ate his dinner at midday and made of the meal, as of everything he undertook, a thoroughly good job. The first pig-killing of the season had just taken place and the walnuts were at their best, thought the crop was poor this year; he had dined well, and as he proposed, this evening, to entertain some friends for cards and supper, that meal, usually a frugal affair of two or three courses, would be supplemented by as many again, so if he were to do justice to his own table some exercise was desirable.
As recently as eighteen months ago he would have made his round of the village on foot, but he had lately come to the conclusion that walking provoked his gout. Moreover, today he intended to make a visit to the cobbler's which was across the Stone Bridge on the other side of the Waste; his new boots, ordered three weeks ago, had not yet been delivered and it was clear that Amos Greenway needed a prod. So at half-past two his stout grey horse was brought to the door, and with some assistance from the mounting block, and some from the groom, he heaved himself into the saddle and set off along the avenue. It was a fine autumn day, golden and mellow with sunshine and with just that hint of chill in the air which was conducive to appetite. The chestnut leaves were sharp yellow and bright amber, the hawthorns crimson and bronze; the old man took, in the weather and the scene, a pleasure undiminished by the repetition of more than seventy years.
As he neared the gate Bessie Jarvey, the lodgekeeper's wife, broke off her work in the potato patch and hurried clumsily to throw open the gate for him."
Afternoon of an Autocrat
The Devil in Clevely:
"On the third Saturday afternoon of October, in the year 1795, Sir Charles Augustus Shelmadine set out on what - though he naturally had no notion of it - was to be his last ride.
Stubbornly old-fashioned, he still ate his dinner at midday and made of the meal, as of everything he undertook, a thoroughly good job. The first pig-killing of the season had just taken place and the walnuts were at their best, thought the crop was poor this year; he had dined well, and as he proposed, this evening, to entertain some friends for cards and supper, that meal, usually a frugal affair of two or three courses, would be supplemented by as many again, so if he were to do justice to his own table some exercise was desirable.
As recently as eighteen months ago he would have made his round of the village on foot, but he had lately come to the conclusion that walking provoked his gout. Moreover, today he intended to make a visit to the cobbler's which was across the Stone Bridge on the other side of the Waste; his new boots, ordered three weeks ago, had not yet been delivered and it was clear that Amos Greenway needed a prod. So at half-past two his stout grey horse was brought to the door, and with some assistance from the mounting block, and some from the groom, he heaved himself into the saddle and set off along the avenue. It was a fine autumn day, golden and mellow with sunshine and with just that hint of chill in the air which was conducive to appetite. The chestnut leaves were sharp yellow and bright amber, the hawthorns crimson and bronze; the old man took, in the weather and the scene, a pleasure undiminished by the repetition of more than seventy years.
As he neared the gate Bessie Jarvey, the lodgekeeper's wife, broke off her work in the potato patch and hurried clumsily to throw open the gate for him."
Afternoon of an Autocrat
The Devil in Clevely:
Hauntings is a collection of great short stories. Some of them are based on real hauntings in the Suffolk area.
Mod
Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Alice, I still want to try to read a Norah Lofts with you. I just keep forgetting to check when I go the library."
Thanks Lady Danielle. I hope you can find one. When you are up to it call your local second hand book stores and ask them what Norah Lofts they have. I just got a copy of Madselin that way.
Thanks Lady Danielle. I hope you can find one. When you are up to it call your local second hand book stores and ask them what Norah Lofts they have. I just got a copy of Madselin that way.
Mod
I'm glad I joined this group, I read a lot but usually not horrors!
Mod
I'm checking out Gad's Hall and Afternoon of an Autocrat from the library. Do you know which one we will be reading so I can get started?
Monique wrote: "I'm checking out Gad's Hall and Afternoon of an Autocrat from the library. Do you know which one we will be reading so I can get started?"
I still don't know but maybe Lady Danielle will let us know soon. I own both those books and have read them before so I can jump in at any point. So glad you are going to read them. Norah Lofts is my very favorite author and I adore Damask. Lady Shelmadine also gets my sympathy. I often think about her pheasants which I believe are from India??
I still don't know but maybe Lady Danielle will let us know soon. I own both those books and have read them before so I can jump in at any point. So glad you are going to read them. Norah Lofts is my very favorite author and I adore Damask. Lady Shelmadine also gets my sympathy. I often think about her pheasants which I believe are from India??
I've never read any of her stuff so I'm looking forward to finding out about a new author. And i do think you are correct about the pheasants, they are from India and I think they are related to peacocks.
Mod
Monique wrote: "I've never read any of her stuff so I'm looking forward to finding out about a new author. And i do think you are correct about the pheasants, they are from India and I think they are related to pe..."
A friend in India just sent me a picture of one and they are very different from what the pheasants here in ND and also in Suffolk that I saw there. I will see if I can copy and paste it and put it up for my picture so you can see how they look..hmm, maybe I can put the link here. I will try that first.
A friend in India just sent me a picture of one and they are very different from what the pheasants here in ND and also in Suffolk that I saw there. I will see if I can copy and paste it and put it up for my picture so you can see how they look..hmm, maybe I can put the link here. I will try that first.
Thanks Athira for this link:
These beautiful birds are not common here in Kerala. I have never seen one either. But I have seen them in pictures. They are really beautiful.
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/NDG/P...
These beautiful birds are not common here in Kerala. I have never seen one either. But I have seen them in pictures. They are really beautiful.
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/NDG/P...
Monique wrote: "I'm checking out Gad's Hall and Afternoon of an Autocrat from the library. Do you know which one we will be reading so I can get started?"
Hi Monique, Which one do you want to read as I have them both and we can get started?
Alice
Hi Monique, Which one do you want to read as I have them both and we can get started?
Alice
I'm picking up Afternoon of an Autocrat today from the library. I had to have it sent by Link+ so my time with the book is limited. Can we start with that one? I can get a jump on it tonight.
Monique wrote: "I'm picking up Afternoon of an Autocrat today from the library. I had to have it sent by Link+ so my time with the book is limited. Can we start with that one? I can get a jump on it tonight."
I would sure like to as its my favorite book. How far along are you?
Afternoon of an Autocrat
I would sure like to as its my favorite book. How far along are you?
Afternoon of an Autocrat
Hi Alice, I just finished the first section or book of the book. Lord Shelmadine has just been found dead on the Lady Road and his son Richard is leaving India. So far the theme seems to be death/change or death as a means of change. I'm going to need to look up some info on the issues surrounding "enclosure" to see how exactly that is playing out. I am planning to read the second section tonight with an eye to have the book finished by the end of the week. Sorry I'm not further along, but I was trying to finish up "Uncle Silas" and that was dragging.
Hi Monique,
I just changed my online handle to Lady Alice Rowhedge who appears in other Norah Lofts books. She rides a large black stallion and can "whisper" him. She is the one who causes the hauntings on the lower Road or maybe its the Lady's Ride. I will have to look again as maybe I have it wrong. The death of Sir Charles changes everything in the area.
I also found the idea of enclosures to be interesting. Norah Lofts discusses this in many of her books.
Oh, Uncle Silas is so scary. I read it a couple of years ago as someone on goodreads recommended it and I was a nervous wreck about what was going to happen to her.
I just changed my online handle to Lady Alice Rowhedge who appears in other Norah Lofts books. She rides a large black stallion and can "whisper" him. She is the one who causes the hauntings on the lower Road or maybe its the Lady's Ride. I will have to look again as maybe I have it wrong. The death of Sir Charles changes everything in the area.
I also found the idea of enclosures to be interesting. Norah Lofts discusses this in many of her books.
Oh, Uncle Silas is so scary. I read it a couple of years ago as someone on goodreads recommended it and I was a nervous wreck about what was going to happen to her.
Page 36 "Best cut through by the Lady's Ride and on to the Lower Road.
.......
Dark tales were told by winter fires concerning the Lower Road near Lady's Ride. Away back in the time of the Civil War it had been the scene of the last desperate gallop of Lady Alice Rowhedge, who had been convicted of witchcraft. There were very few people in six parishes who did not at least half believe that on certain nights, when the wind was high, she and the great black stallion, which had obeyed her like a dog, rode this way again.
It was, of course, a windery night; and possibly a branch had fallen, startling the sober horse and making it throw its rider."
.......
Dark tales were told by winter fires concerning the Lower Road near Lady's Ride. Away back in the time of the Civil War it had been the scene of the last desperate gallop of Lady Alice Rowhedge, who had been convicted of witchcraft. There were very few people in six parishes who did not at least half believe that on certain nights, when the wind was high, she and the great black stallion, which had obeyed her like a dog, rode this way again.
It was, of course, a windery night; and possibly a branch had fallen, startling the sober horse and making it throw its rider."
Cassie wrote: "I'm glad I joined this group, I read a lot but usually not horrors!"
Hi Cassie, So glad you joined us too. I hope you can find a Norah Lofts when you get a chance. They are not too scary at least for me. I cannot read Dracula!
Happy Thanksgiving.
Lady Alice
Hi Cassie, So glad you joined us too. I hope you can find a Norah Lofts when you get a chance. They are not too scary at least for me. I cannot read Dracula!
Happy Thanksgiving.
Lady Alice
In the Shadow of Dracula SC [Paperback]Amazon is pushing this one-Sounds promising: Here is their blurb-"As popular and influential as Bram Stoker's classic tale of nocturnal menace is, this 1897 novel did not invent vampire fiction, nor was it alone in feeding the Gothic fantasies of the Victorian period. IDW Publishing presents an expertly selected menu of outstanding vampire stories that either informed or benefited from Bram Stoker's hugely popular creation. These eerie tales of the undead - some 22 in all - form the core cannon of classic vampire literature. Chosen and introduced by celebrated literary scholar and author Leslie S. Klinger (The New Annotated Dracula), with illustrations by an array of noted horror artists, In the Shadow of Dracula brings to adventuresome readers stories of nocturnal terror that have lived in Stoker's shadow for too long. Authors include M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood, and Bram Stoker himself. Included are what's considered the first true vampire story 1816, as well the classic novella Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, the first vampire tale with a lesbian theme (it's been adapted to comics and film several times), and "The Family of the Vourdalak" by Aleksei Tolstoy (he's the cousin of the famous one), which gave Boris Karloff one of his greatest roles."
No ebook yet.
A free read from a classic author: William Hope HodgsonFree ebook download here:
http://www.manybooks.net/titles/hodgs...
Detective stories in which the great Thomas Carnacki investigates the supernatural using scientific tools, such as photography, and tools that are augmented by theories of the supernatural, such as the electric pentacle, which uses vacuum tubes to repel supernatural forces.
We at Pseudopod just did a reading of William Hope Hodgson's "The Voice In The Night" to celebrate our 250th episode! Check it out!
Hey, thanks. Also, congrats on 250 shows-tough to do in this day and age of here today and long gone by tomorrow. I did enjoy the renditon of The Shadow over Insmouth by BBC 4.
** CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS!!!**Ok, I have finished Afternoon of and Autocrat (The Devil in Clevely). I found the use of a Mithraic temple intriguing, but I couldn't figure out why it would be the perfect place to call up the devil. I would think that if you had the right accoutrements (which Mr. Mundford was in possession of)then where would be unimportant.
As for Damask, did she use her powers for evil? She definitely used them against the Fuller family, but I can see why she did.
All in all I didn't find this book particularly scary but that isn't much of a surprise since not much does scare me. Also, I could have really done without the reconversion of Damask at the end of the book.
Regardless, I did enjoy reading it and liked the style (modern writer using a style reminiscent of the Victorians), though like actual Victorian lit, it gets bogged down under that style.
I will be looking forward to eventually reading Gad's Hall and The Haunting of Gad's Hall but need a little break from Lofts's writing right now.
David wrote: "In the Shadow of Dracula SC [Paperback]Amazon is pushing this one-Sounds promising: Here is their blurb-"As popular and influential as Bram Stoker's classic tale of nocturnal menace is, this 1897..."
This sounds yummy! Um, bad choice of words . . .
Ran into this on You Tube and thought it was cute. My kids are grown and nearly grown so I am not familiar with the show.http://youtu.be/4_A2YUwJmpU
Mod
Yes thank you Alice! I am looking forward to reading Gad's Hall, etc. in a month or two. It looks like Lofts is out-of-print and that is why her stuff is so hard to find. I got mine through the public library though I had to used Link+ (a sort of inter library loan program in California) to track it down.
From Innsmouth Press- Last October features E. A. Poe articleshttp://www.innsmouthfreepress.com/?m=...
Okay, so I am more than half way done with this book Afternoon of an Autocrat and I am having a very difficult time with it as a whole. It really isn't holding my interest and I dont see why it is called horror? I feel more like I am reading a Bronte novel. It doesn't even feel like a Gothic Horror form of novel. I am plugging through, mostly because I hate to quit at anything, but really?
I should finish right under the October time line, but it is a forced march through it.
Classic Horror Lovers
Books mentioned in this topic
Afternoon of an Autocrat (other topics)Afternoon of an Autocrat (other topics)
The Devil in Clevely (other topics)
Afternoon of an Autocrat (other topics)
Afternoon of an Autocrat (other topics)
1. Afternoon of an Autocrat which is also titled The Devil in Clevely
2. Gad's Hall and The Haunting of Gad's Hall (often the 2 books come as one which is how my copy is)
3. Hauntings: is Anybody there?