Holdfast Compendium Series
The Holdfast Compendiums are public domain collections of folklore and fiction, mostly from the public domain.
The first Holdfast Compendium was published in 2023. You can get a copy on Amazon.
Thirteen stories are presented here from the golden age of the ghost tale, and the author has written a fourteenth, to avoid the superstitious number. Cursed artefacts feature heavily, as do haunted locales whose description in the opening scenes would be enough to deter all but the most foolhardy protagonist, which the stories have in plentiful supply. Their curiosity drives investigations into the supernatural, and the subsequent accounts are full of terror, madness, and lifelong regret. Read fine tales by Edgar Allen Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edith Nesbit, H. P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, Amelia Edwards, and others. Complete with 13 black and white illustrations, an Introduction, and reference notes to each tale at the end.
“Damnit, McKenzie”, said my wife, a sensible woman of some fifty-three summers. “You’re meddling with forces you cannot possibly comprehend. You know what these Victorian-era ghost stories are like. Once you start down that path, there’ll be no turning back. You’ll be ruined, man. Best to steer clear of the whole goddamned mess. Have another port, and forget the whole idea.”
“Nonsense,” I said. “There’s nothing to fear in the supernatural. Ghosts? Pshaw. That’s all just harum scarum. I’ll be perfectly all right...”
Thirteen stories are presented here from the golden age of the ghost tale, and the author has written a fourteenth, to avoid the superstitious number. Cursed artefacts feature heavily, as do haunted locales whose description in the opening scenes would be enough to deter all but the most foolhardy protagonist, which the stories have in plentiful supply. Their curiosity drives investigations into the supernatural, and the subsequent accounts are full of terror, madness, and lifelong regret. Read fine tales by Edgar Allen Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edith Nesbit, H. P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, Amelia Edwards, and others. Complete with 13 black and white illustrations, an Introduction, and reference notes to each tale at the end.
“Damnit, McKenzie”, said my wife, a sensible woman of some fifty-three summers. “You’re meddling with forces you cannot possibly comprehend. You know what these Victorian-era ghost stories are like. Once you start down that path, there’ll be no turning back. You’ll be ruined, man. Best to steer clear of the whole goddamned mess. Have another port, and forget the whole idea.”
“Nonsense,” I said. “There’s nothing to fear in the supernatural. Ghosts? Pshaw. That’s all just harum scarum. I’ll be perfectly all right...”
