FORGOTTEN BOOK: INTO THE SILENCE

 Into the Silence by Basil Copper  (1983)

It is the end of 1929 and Warren (if he was given a first name, I missed it) has arrived in the village of Pentarth.  The location of Pentarth is kept deliberately vague; I had assumed it to be somewhere in Cornwall, but a single sentence about two-thirds through the book dispelled that notion.  Warren is a professional photographer and artist, as well as a surveyor; he has a moderate reputation for photographs and drawings made on various expeditions throughout the world.  He has been hired by a Professor Deems, a world renowned scientist (of what, we are not told; the deliberate vagueness throughout the book lends to the novel's atmosphere) who is attempting a major and secret project that involves tunneling deep into the ground.  Parker, Warren's predecessor, left the project suddenly and unexpectedly and Warren was hired to continue the work recording the project's progress.

About the project:  the tunnel runs deep into the ground, then takes a right angle and slowly descends through hard granite until it is well under the sea.  The end object of the tunnel is known only to Deems, who has an uncanny knowledge of where he is heading.  A monstrous piece of equipment called the Challenger Three is actually a submarine sized vehicle that can easily hold seven men and is outfitted with specially designed drills.  Deep in the tunnels there are shadows seen quickly out of the corner of the eye, then quickly vanishing -- large hulking shadows, then, later, fast-moving impressions of giant octopus-like creatures and large snakes.  Eventually, the granite runs out and the Challenger Three is plummited into a surry-like, bottomless ocean of mud and slime, still headed for its unknown destination.  Deems will only say that his ultimate goal will be of the greatest importance to the scientific world.

All of that is a separate plot thread that mostly takes place later in the book.  Back to the beginning.  Warreen's train had been delayed and he arrived at Pentrath station late; the coach that was to have picked him up had left hours earlier.  Warren then walked about a half-mile through the bitter cold to the town and the Blue Boar Inn, where Warren was to stay.  Arriving at the inn, he bumps into a familiar-looking man rushing to leave.  Warren is convinced the man is the exact likeness of a rector he had known in childhood while living in a small village not far from Pentrath, but the man had died twnty years before, in 1909, and Warren had attended the funeral with his father.  But the man Warren had bumped into appeared no more than 70 years old, while the rector from his youith would have been about 90 had he lived.  Still, the similarity preyed on Warren.  We soon learn that the man Warren had bumped into was the rector of Pentrath and was named Oswick  Streeter and had a little finger missing from one hand; the man from Warren's youth was also named Oswick Streete, and he to had a little finger missing from his hand.

There was also an odd atmosphere of menace about Penrath.  Warren made the acquaintance of the local librarian, Pamela Gordon, who told him that over the past few years, many locals had suddenly left the village, selling their homes and businesses to what she called "the aliens" -- outsiders who had no desire to become part of the community.  There had also been a number of strange deaths.

In visting the local church graveyard, Warren met the sexton, John James, a man who both appeared afraid of Rector Streeter and who hinted at strange goings-on.  James agreed to meet Warreen at the inn later that evening to explain.  He never appeared.  The next day Warren learned that James was dead; a grave that he was digging had collapsed on him and suffocated him.  Warren also found a cryptoc note indicating that Deems and Streeter were both involved in some type of mysterious activity.

Later, Warren and Pamela Gordon broke into the Streeter mausoleum in the cemtery at Castle Madoc, the village where Warren had been raised.  The vault that was supposed to hold the body of the dead Oswick Street was empty, but on the nearby floor was that manfled and ravaged body of Parker, Warren's predecessor at Deems's tunneling operation.

Also of note was K4, the designation of a bright red "star" that had appeared in the sky a few years earlier; the star -- although still bright -- appeard to be dying and would be extinquished soon. There was also an ancient story of a large meteor that hadf struck the area in the distant past.  At first warren thought the meteor would have something to do with the tunneling project, b ut the meteor could not have embedded itself in the earth as deep as the tunnel was going.

Into the Silence is a leisurely, atmospheric, Gothic-inspired adventure that channels, among others, H. P. Lovecraft, M. R. James, and British and Celtic folklore.  For a brief while, it looked as though Copper had jumped the shark, but he skillfully managed to weave all the threads together into a quiet and typically Briitish cosmic tale of horror.

Basil Copper (1924-2013) is probably best-known for his stories continuing the adventures of Solar Pons, the detective created by August Derleth in honor of Sherlock Holmes.  Also in the mystery field, Copper wrote 52 novels about Los Angeles tough guy P.I. Mike Faraday, which were told in the first person with a British syntax.  He was also noted for his stories of the macabre, which led him to be given the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Horror Convention in 2010.  His six horror and horror-related novels (The Great White Space, The Cruse of the Fleers, Necropolis, Into the Silence, The House of the Wolf, and The Black Death) share an quiet atmospheric Gothic touch and are all highly recommended.

Into the Silence has never been reprinted since its original 1983 appearance as a Sphere paperback in 
Britain.  A quick check with Abebooks shows prices ranging from $60.00 to over $380.00.  Yikes!