Glimpses of the Unknown

I picked this up at random quite a while back as I liked the cover and the concept of revisiting never before republished supernatural stories of the early 20th century.

This is part of a larger overall series that the British Library is publishing, old supernatural tales in volumes with great covers of which I’ve picked up several and still have those to look forward to.

Yes, look forward to as this volume of eighteen short stories is highly varied and a great read. It fit my need for a volume of short stories to have by the bed so I can actually finish something every evening before going to sleep and what better to send you to sleep than spooky supernatural horrors.

Starting with the ghostly presence of the ’empty seat’ in On The Embankment, all the way through to an almost Lovecraftian tale of Mesopotamian treasure seeking in The Treasure of the Tombs, all the stories were well paced with great characterisation as a short story should have.

I found all of the stories strong in their own fashion but my favourite was the above mentioned The Treasure of the Tombs, set in Mesopotamia where ex-servicemen from Britain try to steal from the tombs but find it impossible due to supernatural guardians.

I don’t actually have much space on my bookshelves for ‘keepers’ anymore but this is going to be one as all the stories are fast, fun, and frightening and well worth a read late at night.