From Evil's Pillow [Hardcover]

Ye Contents of Ye Book:
"Amber Print"
"The Grey House"
"The Gossips"
"A Very Pleasant Fellow"
"Charon"

From ye Notes by S. T. Joshi in SIXTY YEARS OF ARKHAM HOUSE:
This volume by Copper (b. 1924)--a British writer introduced to Arkham House readers with his story in DARK THINGS (1971)--represents the first collection of his tales published in America; a previous volume, NOT AFTER NIGHTFALL (1967), had appeared in England. Adhering to the classic British tradition of weird writing, Copper is an authentic successor of Machen and M. R. James..."

I think it was the author's British manner that initially charmed me when I was a young chappie first reading this book--I have long been an intense Anglophile; but it is the fine writing and weird mystery of the tales that continues to haunt as one grows into an old geezer. There is an aesthetic and an intellect in this author's work that I find delicious, and his talent for creating a sense of foreboding is titanic. I seem to remember first reading "Amber Print" in a British pb edition of Peter Haining's delightful anthology, DOCTOR CALIGARI'S BLACK BOOK. I was living in Northern Ireland at ye time and was correspondent with Robert Bloch, and my new hobby was to buy anthologies of weird fiction in which Bob had a story. The story concerns a lethal print of DAS KABINETT DES DOKTOR CALIGARI, and it is, quite simply, one of the most effective horror stories I have ever read. Here is one of the tale's most effective paragraphs:

"The picture went dark and Mr. Carter almost exclaimed aloud when the first shots appeared; then followed the famous fairground sequence but as he had never seen it before. The picture glowed in its frame as though the long-dead characters could climb out and join the two men; the hues of the tinting joined and fused, dissolved and ran together again like living fire. It was diabolically clever photography and Mr. Carter could now understand fully why the film had been such a sensation on its first release: it was truly an incredible print and he could well realise why Mr. Blenkinsop should be so excited at its acquisition. But at the same time he felt vaguely uneasy as the surrealist sets glowed and wavered in the background of the scenes; it seemed too hot in the little theatre too and a thin trickle of sweat ran down his collar. He nearly dropped his wineglass at the first appearance of Werner Krauss as Dr. Caligari; that fine actor's soot-streaked features and carefully calculated gibbering and moving had never affected him so powerfully."

One of Copper's greatest gifts is his ability to weave a sense of uncanny unease with his writing. This is a really spooky book! And the man who wrote them comes across as extremely cultured and intelligent; indeed, rarely have I read fiction that seems as keenly sharp intellectually, yet in an unassuming way.

"The Grey House" and "The Gossips" are lengthy tales, novelettes, a form in which Copper is as successful as was Henry James.

The great news for Basil Copper fans is that P. S. Publishing, in England, is publishing two new volumes of the author's weird tales! This is cause for rich celebration!

I have always been beguiled by the strange jacket of this Arkham House book, featuring one of Frank Utpatel's coolest drawings. This is an excellent wee book of macabre fiction by a Master of the genre.

From Evil's Pillow, Basil Copper's first American (and first hardcover) collection, published by Arkham House, contains a decent selection of his weird tales. It begins with one of his very best, "Amber Print", about two film collectors who are terrorized by a remarkably strange copy of the classic silent movie The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari. The volume continues with two quite long stories of ghastly hauntings. A young couple move into "The Grey House", find they are not alone, face unspeakable evil. The climax of this one is especially vile. "The Gossips" are unusual statues brought to London from Sicily for museum exhibition. Contact with them brings only nasty tragedy, woven with peculiar mystery. As noted, those are long tales, which wander a bit, their significance, and the lurking menace, gradually creeping up on the reader. They reek of morbid atmosphere. The collection rounds off with two lesser stories, both thoroughly entertaining: "A Very Pleasant Fellow" is a darkly comical account of bitter revenge; "Charon", on the other hand, is a gentle, warm story of the supernatural, a fitting conclusion to the book.

I recommend this collection, especially to those not familiar with Basil Copper's works.