FORGOTTEN BOOKS: TWELVE FOR OCTOBER

Here are some more books -- an even dozen this time -- that can be prime reading fot this Halloween month:

• "Eugene Ascher" (Harold Ernest Kelly),There Were No Asper Ladies.  An unusual vampire story.  The first of the Lucan Carolus occult detective stories.  a hard-tofind paperback from Britain's Mitre press, first published in 1943 and reprinted in 1947.  (Copies of the first edition have been listed at $750.)  The second edition was published in 1947 or 1948 (records are scant; some remainders were shipped to America, but many book distrubutors were on strike then).  Two further editions appeared, both under the title To Kill a Corpse. first in 1959 from World Distributors, then in 1965 from Consul Books.  To say it is difficult to find is an understatement.  I'm still looking for a copy.
• John Blackburn, Children of the Night (1966).  The small English voillage of Dunstonhome has been the scene of mysterious tragedis, dating back to the 1300s, when a set of Christian heretics known as the Children of Paul were involved in a bloody massaacre.  Mining disasters, railway accidents, shipwrecks, and other terrible happenings have taken their toll.  Now, a string of suspicious deaths have locals on edge.  Blackburn was the author of 28 thrillers and was called "today's master of horror" by the Times Liteerary Suppliment.  His best-known book was probably The Scent of New-Mown Hay.
• Fredric Brown, The Miond Thing (1961),  A figitive from another world takes possession of mind afet mind in an attempt to find one that will help him get home.
• John Dcikson Carr, The Burning Court (1937).  The master of the locked room impossible crine melds a contemporary crime with wirchcraft with stunning results.  A classic.
• John Collier, Fancies and Goodnights (1965).   A collection of fifty short stories, many taken from the author's previous collections Presenting Moonshine and A Touch of Nutmeg,  The stories range from light fantasy to outright horror.  Winner of the first International Fantaasy Award and an /Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.
• Charrles G. Finney, The Circus of Dr. Lao (1935).  A very special circus with very special animals and displays.  You p[robably have never reaad anything like this witty, penetrating, and sometimes scary novel.  Be sure to check out the book's appendix.
• Edward Gorey, Amphigory. (1972).  A colletion of fifteen short illustrateed books first published between 1953 and 1965 by Gorey.  Strange beasts, doleful children, murderous happenings, Edwardian weirdness...all as only Gorey could present them.  Contents ionclude The Unstrung Harp, The Listing Attic, The Doubtful Guest, The Object Lesson, The Bug Book, The fatal Lozenge, The Hapless Child, The Curious Sofa, The Willowdale Handcar, The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Insect God, The West Wing, The Wuggly Ump, The Sinking Spell, and The Remembered Visit.  And be sure to check out Amphigorey Too (1975),  Amphigory Also (1983), and Amphigorey Again (2006).
• Russell Greenan, It Happened in Boston? (1968).  An unreliable narrator's goal in life is to meet God and destroy Him.Paranoia abounds and we are not to sure what really happened in Boston.  A brilliant look at the nature of art and madness.
• Shirley Jackson, The Road Through the Wall (1948).  A mainstream novel.  Jackson's first book, and a terrifying loook at suburbia.  Did the outcast teen bluidgeon to death the three-year-old girl who was beloved by entire neighborhood?
• Alexander Lsing, The Cadaaver of Gideon Wyck (1934).  In a small maine town, the brilliant and cruel Dr. Gideon Wyck perfroms an unnecessary oamputation on one of his patients, who now complains that black devils are trying to steal his soul.  All further editions until 2016 of this noted weird novel were bowdlerized.
• George Lanning, The Pedestal (1966).  There's an object lesson here:  never buy something impulsively at an auction.  George and Eleanor bought the ix-foot pedestal they thought would look good in their living room.  "Soon thereafter clicking scraping, thudding noises were heaard in the darkness of the night and scratches were found on the well-polished floor.  Soon the nocturnal noises would darken the lives of the Baydens with a hellborn horror neither could have imagined."
• Joe R. Lansdale, Riders of the Worm and Such (1995).  Weird western graphic novel featurng bounty hunter Jonah Hex from DC Comics.  Hex fights a Cthuloid monsster and giant man-eating worms under the control of the Autumn brothers -- two creatures born after an ancient Planarian worm raped a human woman.  Buckle yourselves in for a wild ride:  this is stange as only Lansdale could make it.  Art by Tim Truman.

I'll return with a further list of October books next week.