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| The Globe & Mail, 8 December 1917 |
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Alain Robbe-Grillet’s The Voyeur
2 hours ago
07 December 2017
06 December 2017
'Halifax in Ruins' by Stanley Burton Fullerton
Verse for the one hundredth anniversary of the Halifax Explosion by Stanley Burton Fullerton of Amherst, Nova Scotia. A carpenter by trade, the poet enlisted the month before his forty-seventh birthday. He was serving overseas at the time of the disaster.
Halifax in Ruins
It was on the sixth of December,
The Day I never forget,
When steaming up our harbour,
Came that Fatal Ship.
Then came the sound of fire
What ever can it be?
It is on board that fatal ship,
Loaded with that dangerous T.N.T.
Then came the roars like thunder,
What ever can it be
Some thought it was the Germans
From far across the sea.
Then came a flash like lightning,
That swept over our town,
And crumbled up our buildings,
And played them to the ground.
Then came the sound of weeping,
And goals from everywhere.
My God! It is so dreadful to see
Our loved ones perish there.
Then thousands came from everywhere,
To help those loved ones in despair,
My God, To see that dreadful sight,
With bodies strewn along the streets that night.
Such sights that were seen, can never be told
From the ones that were rescuing those poor wounded souls.
Weeping and crying came from everywhere,
And mothers offered up to God their favourite prayer.
The lights went out, the streets were dark,
And groans were heard from every part.
Helping hands came from every where,
To rescue those who were suffering there.
They toiled all night till break of morn,
And then came down that dreadful storm.
And willing hands that worked so fast,
Rescued those poor souls at last.
Doctors and nurses came from everywhere,
Dressed the wound of the sufferers there.
In homes of comfort they were placed,
With smiling courtesies on their faces.
The undertakers came from everywhere,
And washed and dressed those who perished there.
Into their coffins they were laid,
And taken to the resting place.
The tale of the rescuers can hardly be told,
Of the brave ones, who worked in the storm and the cold.
They worked night and day and never gave up,
Till the bodies were taken from under the stuff.
Here's to Capt. Harrison, who was thoughtful in mind,
He saw there was danger in the ship that was moored.
So he cut her adrift and steamed out of the bay,
And sailed her to safety, where no danger lay.
Now we come to the Steamer, that was ruined that day.
Her anchor stock was blown two and a half miles away
Even box cars were blown across the wide waves,
And her big guns were carried 'way out in the bay.
Now she is gone and will sail never more,
Her big iron plates are all over out shores.
The game will be remembered for long years to come,
The great wreck and ruin and sadness she done.
Now our people are cared for in huts everywhere,
And their homes that were ruined, will soon be repaired.
And they will be placed in their homes once more,
And dwell by the harbour in peace ever-more.
Thanks to our Government, who thoughtfully responded
Sending the needed with every-thing wanted.
In money and food stuffs that hastily came,
To those who were homeless and deserving of same.
Even Australia responded to the call,
And sent us their gold from that far off land.
To those who were suffering from that dreadful day
And helped to build up their homes that were blown away.
And even dear England with her troubles at hand,
She sent us assistance to built up the land
We'll never forget what she has done,
And always be true to her. As true as the Sun.
Here's to the Star Spangles Banner that waves in the breeze,
That stands for Liberty, over land and seas.
For the help they gave in our time of need,
And binds fighter the friendship for so noble a deed.
When the word was flashed across the line.
That a helping and was needed.
How nobly the call was answered,
From those true friends across the seas.
They sent us relief in abundance,
It came from every-where.
To comfort our homeless loved ones.
That were so sadly in despair.
Half of our town is lying in ruins,
And our buildings are badly smashed.
But President Wilson says to build them up again
And they will send over the cash.
Here's to that good old Union Jack,
And to the Allies that are it'd defenders.
We thank the Star Spangled Banner
For the help that they rendered.
The Union Jack and Stars and Stripes,
I pray will always wave together,
God bless them for evermore,
And our Maple Leaf Forever.
"Halifax in Ruin" appeared in the Fullerton's sixteen-page chapbook Poems (1918). It can be read in its entirety here, through the Internet Archive.
Note: "SGT. S.B. FULLERTON" is incorrect; in fact, the poet never rose above the rank of private. Let's just say it was a printer's error.
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30 November 2017
RIP NCL: A Multinational Reacts to a Eulogy
It has been a month since the publication of "For All Its Faults," my essay on the death of the New Canadian Library (CNQ 100).
The response was immediate. Penguin Random House replaced its NCL webpage, featuring Jane Austen, Herman Melville, Edith Wharton, W. Somerset Maugham, and T.S. Eliot, with this:
It's an improvement, I suppose.
"For All Its Faults" is now available online – gratis – at the CNQ website. It can be accessed through this link.
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27 November 2017
Winning with the Erotic W.E.D. Ross
Congratulations go to Eric Wilkinson, winner of last week's contest for a copy of The Dusty Bookcase. Eric's name was drawn from those who correctly guessed that Lust Planet – and not Airport Nurse, Arctic Nurse, Backstage Nurse, Bermuda Nurse, Front Office Nurse, Hotel Nurse, Night Club Nurse or even Operating Room Nurse – was the W.E.D. Ross book read for my next Canadian Notes & Queries Dusty Bookcase column.
Ross's second and final work of erotica, how could I resist? Sure, his first, The Case of the Naked Diver tempted, but Lust Planet promised a combination of erotica and science fiction!
I give something of the column away in writing that it may be the last W.E.D. Ross book I ever read.
The issue featuring my review – number 101! – will be coming out in the New Year. In the meantime, enjoy this cover image of the 1963 first edition of Ross's pseudonymously published Backstage Nurse. I find it strangely compelling.
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20 November 2017
Win a Copy of The Dusty Bookcase!
Part of this past weekend was spent writing a new Dusty Bookcase column for the next issue of Canadian Notes & Queries. This time out I'm reviewing a book by W.E.D. Ross, Canada's most prolific novelist. The man is known to have written at least 358 novels, most of which were published under pseudonyms like Rose Dana, Rose Williams, Ruth Dorset, Olin Ross, and Jane Rossiter. As "Marilyn Ross" he penned thirty-two Dark Shadows tie-ins, including:
The book I reviewed for CNQ is not Barabas, Quentin and Dr. Jekyll's Son, but it is one of W.E.D. Ross novels below.
In the spirit of the season, I'm giving away a copy of my new book, The Dusty Bookcase, to a lucky person who guesses correctly the title that is the subject of my next column. Send me the title via email – the address is in my Blogger profile – and, if correct, I'll enter your name in a draw. The contest closes Sunday at midnight. The winner will be announced next Monday.
Bon chance!
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13 November 2017
Twenty-three Centuries of Freaky Fridays
Grandma's Little Darling
Stephen R. George
New York: Zebra, 1990
320 pages
Horror hasn't much figured here, yet the genre dominated my adolescent reading. James Herbert was my favourite author; there was something in the rhythm to his work – one chapter focusing on horror, the next on sex, then back to horror, then sex – that appealed. One particular passage from his second novel, The Fog, was read over and over. I would blush in revealing which one.
Other novelists of those awkward teenage years included Max Ehrlich (The Reincarnation of Peter Proud), Frank De Felitta (Audrey Rose), Stephen King (Carrie), Colin Wilson (The Space Vampires), Christopher Isherwood (Frankenstein: The True Story), Peter Benchley (Jaws), Richard Woodley (It's Alive), Arthur Herzog (The Swarm), Jeffrey Konvitz (The Sentinel), John Farris (The Fury), John Russo (Night of the Living Dead), David Seltzer (The Omen), and Joseph Howard (Damien: Omen II). I'm tempted to include The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson... but, you know, it's a true story.
We Canadians were slow to capitalize on the horror paperback craze. The first to make repeated stabs was Michael Slade with Headhunter and Ghoul, but these were published in the mid-eighties, by which the market had begun to wane and my interest had vanished. The decade was almost over when Stephen R. George, appeared on the scene. His debut novel, Brain Child, was published in 1989, as were his second (Beasts) and third (Dark Miracle). The following year saw Dark Reunion and Grandma's Little Darling, a novel I bought for its cover illustration. A riff on Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (Whister's Mother), it had me thinking that the novel might be set in nineteenth-century New England or Victorian London.
I was wrong.
Deepening lines calling for desperate measures, she visits the wizard Yashim. "I want to become young again," says she. "I want the life my daughter is about to have."
On the condition that he be granted access to Prince Riamon's court – "I long for the company of men." – Yashid casts a spell that will make it so mother and daughter switch bodies. On what would have been her wedding day, Maline awakens in horror to find herself in her mother's body, being caressed by her father.
Prince Riamon is pleased because his new wife, though clearly a virgin, exhibits "expertise in the bedchamber." True, every once in awhile he wonders about his young wife's mature ways... but, you know, "expertise in the bedchamber." Besides, the prince is exhausted.
Lamena’s downfall comes when she betrays Yashim. Concerned that the wizard will blab, she has him banished from the court. As might be predicted, this causes Yashim to do the very thing she sought to prevent. The wizard tells Riamon that his bride’s body is occupied by his mother-in-law, adding that Lamena is now able to leap from body to body.
The two search the palace, ending up in the common room of all the prince’s wives. There they find Maline – or the body of Maline – foaming at the mouth. Lamena has moved on!
“Wizard, you have brought evil to this place, and you shall pay for it,” says the prince. To be safe, he has his other wives taken to the courtyard, where they are soaked in pitch and set alight. Having fled to the body of a newborn girl, Lamena hears their screams.
This is all part of a prologue lasting less than six pages. It’s a lot to take in, though readers are afforded more than enough chance to catch their breaths in the sluggish pages that follow.
Recently widowed, Grandma has suffered a stroke or something that has left her not quite right. What really happened is that Lamena has taken over her body… and now has her sights set on Nora!
"BE AFRAID, NORA… BE VERY AFRAID!"
Because I no longer read horror novels, and don’t remember much of those tackled in my teens, my criticisms may be unfair:
- Prologue aside, the first half of the novel is slow and repetitious; the horrific is pretty much limited to old lady smells;
- Lemena aside, the characters – Nora Harris, Dr Gibson, the Millers, and the Johnsons – are as unique as their surnames;
- Cheryl’s live-in boyfriend just happens to be the editor of Unnatural Journal, a newsletter devoted to the paranormal.
Because I'm all about being fair, credit is due the author in setting the climax in the shopping court of Minneapolis’s IDS Centre (which looks to be a special kind of hell).
There's also a bit of a twist ending. George gives a few too many hints in advance, but it is interesting. The most intriguing part of the novel comes mid-point with the revelation that Lemena had been found out a century earlier – resulting in the murders attributed to Jack the Ripper.
Seems a brilliant idea for a novel. Has it been written?
As I say, I no longer read horror novels.
Favourite passage:
She kept thinking of Nora. Of the girl, trapped inside that old woman’s body. Of the thing inside Nora’s body.Bonus:
Oh, God, what a story.
Even if others did not believe her, she could not leave the situation as it was. She owed it to Nora to do something.
The question was what?
Object and Access: A cheap mass market paperback with raised gold foil. Sadly, the cover illustration is uncredited.
Library and Archives Canada has a copy, but that's it as far as our libraries are concerned. Those looking to purchase a copy will find five listed for sale online beginning at US$7.50. The second cheapest is listed at US$11.52. The remaining three copies range in price from US$52.43 to US$134.45. Needless to say, condition is not a factor.
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11 November 2017
A Poet Remembers Fallen Great War Poets: McCrae, Langstaff, Trotter, Seeger and Kilmer
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| John Douglas Logan 1869 - 1929 RIP |
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| The New Apocalypse and Other Poems of Days and Deeds in France T.C. Logan Halifax: T.C. Allen, 1917 |
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