Today (September 24) there are several birthdays of note (waves at John Kessel), but I want to focus on two of them.  The first is a little-known British writer, Charles Birkin (1907-1985).  The other, and this is an exception to my unwritten rule of focusing on dead writers in these birthday posts, is David Drake (b. 1945).

“Is There Anybody There?”
The Smell of Evil
Valancourt
Paper $15.99
Ebook $6.99

Charles Birkin edited a series of horror anthologies in England in the 1930s.  These often contained stories he had written. I first became aware of Birkin when Midnight House published a couple of collections of his work in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Birkin’s stories tended more to focus on the horror of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man rather than on supernatural phenomena.  Today’s story is something of an exception.  His work often featured conte cruels, and today’s story can certainly fall under that category.

“Is There Anybody There?” tells the story of a pair of spinsters who’ve retired and bought a small house in an English village only to discover it has a reputation of being haunted. The setting seems to be sometime in the 1950s based on dates given in the story, specifically the date given when a former tenant murdered his wife.  That happened at the end of the first world war.

Charles Birkin

The main character begins to hear and then see manifestations of the events leading up to the murder but doesn’t say anything to her roommate because the roommate has no patience for that sort of thing.  Then the roommate takes a trip to visit family on a long weekend.  That’s when things take a turn for the sinister.

“Is There Anybody There?” is a traditional story that achieves its effects more from atmosphere than anything else.  There’s definitely a twist at the end.  I thought I could see what was coming, then on the last page, Birkin pulled the rug out from under me.  I’d only read one or two of Birkin’s stories before this one.  Valancourt has reprinted two of his collections, including this one.  I’ll be reading more of them.

“The Red Leer”
Night and Demons
Baen
Trade paper $13.00
Mass market paper $7.99
Ebook $6.99

I’m making an exception to the practice of only focusing on dead writers in these birthday posts because David Drake is one of our most accomplished practitioners.  He’s known mainly for his military science fiction and space opera, Hammer’s Slammers and the Lt. Leary series being prime examples.  In the realm of fantasy, he’s written some epic fantasy that has been well received.

What might not be as well known is his work at shorter lengths, especially in the subgenres of weird and dark fantasy.  His interest in these areas goes back to the 1970s when he and Karl Edward Wagner founded Carcosa Press.

Night & Demons is an expanded version of Balefires, which was published by Night Shade about five years prior.

“The Red Leer” is a short tale about two farmers and what they dig up in a Native American burial mound.  The narrator, Deehalter, shares the farm he and his sister inherited from their father.  He’s single, but his sister and her husband Kernes have several kids.  Kernes is a jerk who isn’t nearly as good a farmer as he thinks he is.

Kernes wants to dig up a burial mound on the property that Deehalter wants left alone.  Kernes insists, in spite of the fact that this is against the law.  He’s jealous of the skull Deehalter has that was passed down to him from his grandfather.  Deehalter isn’t going to let Kernes rob the mound without getting a cut himself, although he had a bad experience as a kid when he messed with the mound.

David Drake

Kernes gets his skull.  It’s not hard to guess that’s all he gets.  There are some things that should not be disturbed.  This particular mound and its unusual contents fall in that category.

“The Red Leer” isn’t the greatest story, but its Drake, so it’s still better than a lot of what’s out there.  It falls short only in comparison to some of David Drake’s other work. I still enjoyed the story quite a bit.  Drake based the setting and characters on the farms and farmers he knew growing up in Iowa.   Deehalter isn’t your protagonist from Central Casting.  He’s got his faults and flaws.  After all, he helped rob a mound when he knew it would be a bad idea.

If you’ve not read David Drake’s shorter works, give them a try.  He’s a fan of dark fantasy and sword and sorcery and is definitely worth checking out.

Postscript:  There won’t  be a birthday post tomorrow, but I do want to point out that tomorrow if the birthday of Charles Maturin (1782-1824).  Maturin was the author of the early Gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer.  I’ve been dipping into it for the past couple of years when I’ve had a spare hour or two, but I’m still got the last 15% or so to read according to my Kindle.  There will be a review.  If I had realized Maturin’s birthday was tomorrow, I would have finished it sooner.