The Spirit of the Place and Other Strange Tales

SYNOPSIS

If the title of Elizabeth Walter’s short story collection, The Spirit of the Place and Other Strange Tales, doesn’t foreshadow her ominous nature, then her narratives certainly will. They’re filled with the spirits of the past, wronged and ripped from their bodily vessels long before they deserved such ingratitude. But anything that points to life after death is a good thing, isn’t it? In Walter’s writing this is left up to the reader to determine. Her characters may operate under a certain moral code, but that doesn’t mean they’re free of a past that may have other intentions.
       Take “The Drum” and “The Sin-Eater” as examples of pasts wronged that receive their retribution. It can never be outrun and when it finds you, come hell or high water, the weight of that injustice will be far too great a burden to carry whether you’re innocent or guilty. As the saying goes, the Lord works in mysterious ways.
       In Walter’s personal favorite, “Davy Jones’s Tale”, two cousins form an ostensibly unbreakable bond when one is left parentless through tragedy. But years later when under great duress at sea, fighting for their lives, we find out that sacrifice is a hero’s lament and there are no heroes here. Only the dead and their vengeance for the living.
       There’s also the revelation that Jennifer in “The Traveling Companion” receives upon her trip home by train. She is accompanied by a man for the long passage following an accident that took her lover’s life. Though she finds the refuge and comfort she seeks, she also learns more about herself from this stranger than she would ever wish to know.
       The title story, “The Spirit of the Place”, and “The Mist” feature seemingly ordinary exchanges between characters whose paths crossed by chance. But nothing should ever be dismissed as pure chance or coincidence when the spirit world is alive and well, manifesting itself in this world to pass on knowledge that would have otherwise been lost to the grave.
       And then there’s “The Thing” and “The Spider” that carry the horror torch of yore. But the true horror here isn’t in the unnamed entity or giant spider that petrify their victims. It’s the psychological torture that often amounts to a greater harm than the physical danger it poses. Avoid at all costs if you suffer from severe bouts of acrophobia or arachnophobia.
       We’re intertwined with the spirit world more than we’d like to believe. For the better and sometimes for the worse. This is clear in Walter’s work. She gives voice to the dead because their presence in this world is ubiquitous, whether we choose to accept it or not. So perhaps the only measurable horror here is in its devout skepticism.
       This hardcover edition of all of Elizabeth Walter’s short stories includes an introduction by Dave Brzeski with photographs and old book covers. This is an essential collection of some of the most well written ghost and horror stories you’ll ever read. You won’t want to miss one!

EDITION INFORMATION

• Limited to 400 numbered copies.
• Includes an introduction by editor Dave Brzeski.
• Dustjacket and frontispiece illustrations by Alice Zilberberg.
• Patterened, colored endpapers.
• Top-edge stain.
• Ribbon marker, head and tail bands, bound in Brillianta black cloth.
• Full dustjacket illustration pasted down on front board.
• Smyth-sewn binding.
• Book size 6 × 9 inches.
• Number of pages: 728.
• Published August 2022.
• ISBN 978-1-61347-306-1.