Mark Valentine

I'll give it four stars because the writing is so good. I'm not a big fan of paranormal detectives, Carnacki by William Hope Hodgson coming to mind, but the stories here are varied enough to make the entire volume interesting. At times The Connoisseur is almost incidental. Some are simply old fashioned ghost stories.

I probably read this too fast. A proper appreciation would be a savoring of each story with a gap between readings. I tend to start out short story collections this way but end up blazing through the second half of the book when I become impatient to finish.… (more)

A collection of previously (except for one) published, but mostly difficult to find anymore Valentine stories. Full of Jamesian/Aickmanesque subtlety (except for one horrorific story that is overtly Lovecraftian), some set in prior times and some set in contemporary times. Others however are really out of time, difficult to define any period quite.

These stories really project the range of Valentine's talent for the weird short story. They are set off in five sections that connect the stories thematically within the section although even within each section the outcome is almost always varied and unexpected.

Valentine is not generally a shocker, these are more stories of unease or just plain strangeness, some could be seen as wry allegories. These are "classic" but not dated stories.

The prose is always intelligent and metaphorically complex.

It would be counterproductive and unfair to summarize or even list any of these stories since they are all relatively short. You'll just have to find out for yourself.

I think this is still in print from Swan River Press in Dublin but the edition is limited to 400 copies so it won't last forever. Mine came with a little card with the jacket art signed by Valentine. Oh, and the hardcover art is beautiful as well but it is not cloth bound.… (more)

The book contains material mainly from Mark Valentine’s early writing years; specifically, there are ten occult detective stories and six others (also supernatural in hue). The main protagonist’s name is Ralph Tyler; he is apparently based on classic occult detectives like John Silence (Algernon Blackwood’s) and Carnacki (William Hope Hodgson’s), with some twists (like him not having a wealth of resources, connections and influence). Unfortunately I have just a passing contact with John Silence (and none whatsoever with Carnacki), so I cannot really make any comparisons. Still, the detective friend and companion's first person narration obviously brings into mind Sherlock and Watson. The stories’ setting is mostly pre-internet, late 20th century English rural suburbia, small villages and countryside, with a strong emphasis on the remnants of tradition.

Mark Valnetine’s lyrical language may be ornate and baroque but on the same time it is very much enjoyable, eloquent and in the end feels modern – it does not put a toll on the reader. The same goes for the structure of the stories – they are well-paced, offering enough lore to satisfy yet not so much to weigh down the narration.

As aforementioned, the first story (St Michael & All Angels) dissolves any notions about the subtlety of the supernatural – it is very real, even for most of Tyler’s clients. Unfortunately, this particular piece of fiction is not the book’s strongest, reading a lot like a trite ghost story. But the situation is rapidly improved from the next one (The Folly) forwards with the discarding (or even inversion at certain points) of some common (ghost story) tropes. With Ralph Tyler the supernatural is rarely seen as a one-dimensional adversary; occasionally it does not even fall to the category of a curiosity riddle (a thing common with the Other in detective fiction) though the investigation obviously tends to have an intellectual aspect. The supernatural is approached quite empathically, as something that can be interacted and reasoned with, as something deserving of communication attempts. The entities themselves are revealed to be multi-layered and dynamic (see the exemplary The Hermit’s House), the uncanny integrated in the setting and never reduce to thrill fodder. From ancient gods to spirits from the Far East and genius loci, these pages contain well-crafted aspects of the other-than-human.

As for the detective, despite his intellectual mien and emotional modesty, he does not discard emotion. And how could he, being well-versed in occult both theory- and practice-wise? Also, he seems to have a rather strong moral compass, which does not always align with the socially expected. In several of the stories he does not strive to drive away or make the supernatural “move forward,” but rather to intertwine it with the (human and/or geographical environment. This embracing of the Otherness is more than welcome.

The genre’s trappings are not completely absent. Despite his somewhat unpolished image (from the decrepit attire to his beloved foul-smelling cigarettes) Ralph Tyler retains at his core several of the characteristics of the quintessential detective: he is male, cool-headed, relies on intellect (though thankfully this intellect is not only the pure rationality of Sherlock but rather a love of knowledge and the wisdom stemming from it, with the unavoidable deduction thrown in); his first response to a new case is going to the library and he is obsessed with mental exercises in the form of board games. His house is the archetypal sanctuary where the team retreats to ponder, as well as a symbol of the detective’s love of reclusiveness. When facing the supernatural Ralph Tyler is cool-headed and modest, perhaps a tad too much. There is also the typical infuriating silence concerning any hypotheses and ideas about the situation before each case’s resolution (a literary need perhaps, but still something that has not aged well). Moreover, his friend, the nameless narrator, is rather caricature-ish, personifying up to a degree the voice of common sense and the common man (having for instance an inherent fear of abnormal situations and a seemingly magical distaste for taking initial, especially as far as investigation is concerned).

Finally, the six last (non-Tyler) stories read as interesting supernatural fiction. Of special note is Tree Worship, which unravels the hollowness of modernity’s obsession with security, control and individual isolation, as well as the compartmentalization of age groups, leading to an exultation of Nature in a most pagan way.

Despite embracing the environmental and aesthetic trappings of the detective and ghost-story genres, Herald of the Hidden breaks away with them at crucial points (there is more than a hint of imperialist anthropology critique in The Guardians of the Guest Room, and an ecological ethos permeates many of the stories) in an innovative and fresh (if not modern) way, all the time retaining the essence of a cozy candle-flame read.

Full review here: https://industriesofinferno.github.io/books/2020/06/05/herald-of-the-hidden.html… (more)