Frederick Cowles (1900-1948)

[demonik]

Frederick Cowles' first commercial sale appears to have been The Headless Leper (Swinton & Pendlebury Public Library Bulletin, Dec. 1931) which added a horrored-up Jamesian touch to Nightmares (1933). Sadly, it was to be his only contribution to the series.

Cowles was derivative, and not only of M. R. James, though Death In The Well owes much to The Treasure Of Abbot Thomas and The Cadaver Of Bishop Louis is virtually Jamesian pulp. The House On The Marsh is modelled on E. F. Benson's The Sanctuary and the brilliant Eyes For The Blind a gruesome variation on Roger Pater's A Porta Inferi. Horror movies weren't safe, either: The Vampire Of Kaldenstein - the Lugosi Dracula in minature - even audaciously steals the immortal "I don't drink ... wine" - and Princess Of Darkness is hardly a million miles removed from Dracula's Daughter.
That said, Cowles brings something unique to the party, and for those who've yet to encounter his work, you're in for a treat.

The Fear Walks The Night collection was prepared before his death, but Cowles couldn't find a publisher as, apparently, there "wasn't enough interest" in horror stories at the time. Hugh Lamb also drew a blank when he tried for posthumous publication in the 'seventies, so satisfied himself with spreading out the bulk of the contents over his excellent anthologies. It finally seemed as though there'd been a breakthrough when it was announced that Fear Walks The Night would be the ninth book published in the Equation Chillers series in 1989. The series died with book eight. Finally, Richard Dalby edited and introduced an edition for the Ghost Story Press in 1993 which sold out prior to publication. Like his earlier books, and The Complete Supernatural Stories, this collection now exchanges hands at insane prices. It is to be hoped that a Robinson or Grafton get in on the act and give us a budget-price Omnibus.

Bibliography

Frederick Cowles - The Horror of Abbot's Grange (Muller, 1936)

The Horror of Abbot's Grange, The House on the Marsh, Room for One, The New Inn, Terrible Mrs. Greene, The Mandarin's Chair, The Castle in the Forest, The Bell, One Side Only, Guardians of the Dead, The Unfinished Tower, The Headless Leper, The Pink Columbine, Passenger From Crewe, The Ring, Eyes for the Blind, Treasure Trove, The Limping Ghost, The Thing From the Sea, The Haunted Church.

Frederick Cowles - The Night Wind Howls (Muller, 1938)

Rendezvous, The House of the Dancer, Wood Magic, Twisted Face, June Morning, The Witch-Finder, The Florentine Mirror, The Vampire of Kaldenstein, Lavender Love, The Mask of Death, King of Hearts, Voodoo, The Little Saint of Hell, Confession, The Lamasery of Beloved Dreams, The Cadaver of Bishop Louis, Out of the Darkness, The Lover of the Dead, The Caretaker, Gypsy Violin, Death in the Well, Retribution, Lady of Lyonnesse, Rats.

Frederick Cowles - Fear Walks the Night (Ghost Story Press, 1993)

Includes the entire contents of The Horror of Abbot's Grange and The Night Wind Howls plus:

Fear Walks The Night, Punch And Judy, The Florentine Chest, Variety Show, Princess Of Darkness, Death Of A Rat, The Echo Of A Song, The House In The Forest, Goosefeather Bed, Christmas Eve, Three Shall Meet, Lisheen, Voodoo Drums, The Strange Affair At Upton Stonewold, Gypsy Hands, The End Of The Lane, Twilight.

Frederick Cowles - The Night Wind Howls: The Complete Supernatural Stories (Ash-Tree Press, 1999)

Includes the entire contents of The Horror of Abbot's Grange, The Night Wind Howls and Fear Walks the Night.

Anthology Appearances

For reprints of particular stories, your best bet is to look out for any of the following anthologies if you can find any of them at reasonable prices:

Richard Dalby - Dracula's Brood (includes "Princess Of Darkness")
Richard Dalby & Rosemary Pardoe - Ghosts & Scholars ("The Strange Affair At Upton Stonewold")
Michel Parry - The Rivals Of Dracula ("The Vampire Of Kaldenstein")
Michel Parry - 2nd Mayflower Book Of Black Magic Stories ("The Witch-Finder")
Michel Parry - 5th Mayflower Book Of Black Magic Stories ("The House On The Marsh")
Hugh Lamb - Wave Of Fear ("Terrible Mrs. Greene")
Hugh Lamb - Star Book Of Horror #1 ("Punch & Judy")
Hugh Lamb - Cold Fear ("The House In The Forest")
Hugh Lamb - Return From The Grave ("Death In The Well")
Hugh Lamb - Forgotten Tales Of Terror ("The Cadaver Of Bishop Louis")
Hugh Lamb - The Thrill Of Horror ("Eyes For The Blind")
Hugh Lamb - The Man Wolf & Other Horrors ("The Horror Of Abbot's Grange")
Hugh Lamb - A Taste Of Fear ("Three Shall Meet")

"The Horror Of Abbot's Grange" is also included in Mary Danby's "16th Fontana Book of Horror Stories" and "Realms Of Darkness"
"The Vampire Of Kaldenstein" is also included in "The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales"

[Calenture]

This is taken from my comments on The Star Book of Horror No. 1. One of the two or three best stories in the book, editor Hugh Lamb tells in his introduction how Cowles published two collections in the M R James tradition before his death in 1948.

This previously unpublished story was given to Lamb to read by Cowles' widow. Walking down a peaceful English country lane, the narrator encounters 'Professor' Jack Smith, an alcoholic Punch and Judy man, who proceeds to tell him a story of an adulterous betrayal, murder, and revenge reaching out from the grave.

The Professor wheels his show around the countryside in a barrow, a 'corfin on wheels,' but lately has been made nervous by the little dog which he sees repeatedly beside the barrow, knowing that the dog is dead, killed by him at the time of the murder when he buried it and his former friend in a damp cave by the sea. Very creepy stuff.

[demonik]

Terrible Mrs. Greene:"I hate him. I detest his nice manners and I loathe his silly verses. But I shall never let Reginald go. In life and death he is mine to do with as I like, for my mind has his in subjection."

St. Endeth, Cornwall. Friends of the affable poet Reginald Greene are stunned and ultimately appalled by his choice of bride. Mrs. Greene is a piggy-eyed, bloated slob of a woman with a working interest in black magic and witchcraft. When a young lady, one of her disciples, went insane and committed suicide in the stone circle nearby, it was widely held among the villagers that she drove the girl to take her life.

One bitterly cold winter, Mrs. Greene catches pneumnia and dies, much to the relief of Reginald. His joy is premature - soon the familiar flabby, ring-festooned fingers are materialising in the house and the bell by her bedside is summoning him again. Finally, she tires of toying with him, and Cowles sets about delivering a fittingly creepy ending.

Death In The Well: How Professor Rutter of St. Emeran's College, Cambridge met his death in Austrian Tyrol, 1929, as narrated by his youthful assistant, John Evans.
Despite the pleas of the custodian of St. Dichul's Monastery, Rutter disinters the corpse of a long dead - but strangely well preserved - black magician to discover that the key to a treasure trove is sat in the mouth of the severed head. The Professor descends the well unaware that he's being 'watched' the while by a headless monk in a black robe ...

Princess Of Darkness: Now we're in Budapest, and the clutches of the 400 year old Transylvanian Princess Bessenyei, so no prizes for guessing she's a full on vampire with all the trappings. Wherever she goes, she leaves a trail of dead lovers in her wake until Harry Gorton, an English diplomat, teams up with his occultist friend Istvan Zichy join forces against her. A marvelous pulp romp with a suspenseful climax, and it's possible you won't double guess the ending.

The Horror Of Abbot’s Grange: Seeking whom he may devour. God frustrate him always.

Ritton. Michael and wife Joan lease the Grange which has remained untenanted for so long that the present Lord Salton has it earmarked for demolition. Terms are agreed with the agent who is insistent on one point: should they wish to visit the chapel - closed these three hundred years - they must do so only during the day and on no account allow the door to be unlocked between dusk and daybreak.
It transpires that the chapel houses the tomb of William, the first Lord Salton (1501-97), a Cistercian monk who dabbled in black magic and was dismissed from the Abbey. He was given his title in return for informing against the Abbot and his holy brethren which saw seven of them executed, and there’s an impressive portrait of him hanging under the stairs. The artist was clearly a conscientious man: he’s even painted in the guy’s fangs.

Come the housewarming party and, of course, some fool just has to nose around the chapel. A blood-curdling laugh and - William Salton is free!

Child sacrifice, dead party-goers, a haunted portrait and a vampire with Tod Slaughter tendencies. This is Cowles at his most pulpy, cliched and unutterably entertaining. And, God help me, he even slips in some Jamesian touches.

The House On The Marsh:
"For God's sake, sir .... let's get away from this place. The house is full of flies, there's a ghost in the library, and there's dead men in the pond."
Norfolk: Slade inherits the house from his Uncle Richard, a man with a dreadful reputation locally whose library is filled with obscure black magic texts. Slade was a child when last he saw him and recalls only that "he had an unpleasant way of fondling me on every occasion." When Richard died, the Priest was unable to bury him with full rites on account of a church invasion by monstrous flies. The dead man's journal reveals the lengths he was prepared to go to in pursuit of eternal life.
This reads like M. R. James' Lost Hearts reworked by a pulp author and is, of course, utterly brilliant fun.

The Witch-Finder: Madingley, East Anglia. Master Hugh Murray, a contemporary of the infamous Matthew Hopkins, falls into the clutches of Alice Lane and her mother old Margaret Bell. But how can that be? The one he recently tortured and gibbeted, the other he tortured and burnt at the stake five years ago. Now he's safely strapped to the rack the two get to work. Needless to say they show him as much mercy as he did them in this revolting six pager.

Non-Jamesian.

Eyes For The Blind: "I shuddered. Who had not heard of John Dangerfield? This monster had been convicted of the most vile crimes. His mania was to attack unsuspecting persons, often children, and gouge out their eyes. He had blinded five people in this manner ...."

Sydney Jackson, a young medium, holds a seance at a haunted castle in Ecclefain where a black magician had been blinded and killed in 1694 after a grave-robbing, eye-plucking spree. Guess who he becomes possessed by?