The Canal and Other Weird Stories

These enthralling tales of occult horror, fantasy and romance form an important historical record of the emergence of a prominent female author in the speculative genre. Published by Weird Tales and other well-known magazines of the period spanning the later 1920s to the mid-’50s, Everil Worrell achieved notable success in a field dominated by male authors and editors. Set in obscure locales that span the globe, with characters in turn engagingly skilled and noble, and horrifyingly unpleasant or evil, these meticulously researched forays into a broad spectrum of myth, magic, medicine and science are classic archetypes of their age that are well worth the perusal of contemporary readers. A trapped vampire released in an unwitting act of kindness … Two bitter rivals in an aeroplane race that founders on the coast of Africa—and one desperate wager … A hospital where neither the treatment nor the doctor who administers it are what they seem … A young witch encounters her tormentor in life after life … Tendrils of an ancient religion reach out in malevolence from the other side of the world … These are some of the marvelous stories generated by Everil Worrell’s magnificently unique imagination. From S. T. Joshi’s introduction: ► The work of Everil Worrell—which has never before been collected within the covers of a book—is a distinctive contribution to weird fiction. As perhaps the leading female writer for Weird Tales during the 1920s and 1930s, she may have set the stage for such later authors as Mary Elizabeth Counselman and Margaret St. Clair. But it would be too limiting to categorize Worrell as merely a woman writer of talent: although her tales focus on personal relationships and the fluctuating emotions of female characters of notable complexity and fascination, she also utilized venerable weird scenarios in innovative ways to make them accessible to a contemporary audience. “The Canal” and “Norn” stand out as her masterworks, but every tale in this volume has substantial merits, ranging from their smooth-flowing prose to their delicacy of character development to their powerful supernatural climaxes. The reading public has waited far too long for her variegated tales to be assembled, but now we can all appreciate her many virtues as a writer and assess the place she occupies in the weird fiction of her time. ◄ COONTENTS Introduction by S. T. Joshi 1. Leonora • (1927) • short story 2. The Canal • (1927) • novelette 3. From Beyond • (1928) • short story 4. The Elemental Law • (1928) • novelette 5. Vulture Crag • (1928) • novelette 6. The Rays of the Moon • (1928) • short story 7. An Adventure in Anesthesia • (1929) • short story 8. The Gray Killer • (1929) • novelette 9. Light-Echoes • (1930) • short story 10. The Key and the Child • (1930) • short story 11. None So Blind • (1931) • short story 12. Norn • (1936) • novelette 13. The Hollow Moon • (1939) • novelette 14. Hideaway • (1951) • novelette 15. Once There Was a Little Girl ... • (1953) • novelette 16. I Loved Her with My Soul • (1953) • novelette 17. Call Not Their Names • (1954) • novelette 18. The White Gull • (1955) • short story Bibliography [i.e. Sources] About the Author • essay by S. T. Joshi About the Editor • essay by S. T. Joshi