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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Wrapping up #31days31books with Margery Lawrence's MASTER OF SHADOWS (1959). One of the best djs out there, designed by Val Biro. Happy Halloween! 🎃 👻

Dust jacket to Margery Lawrence's MASTER OF SHADOWS (1959). It shows a moon to the left, a bat, and a skull.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

For day 30 of #31days31books, here is Rosemary Timperley’s Child in the Dark (1956). Jacket design by Biro.

Dust jacket to Rosemary Timperley’s Child in the Dark: Three Haunting Novelettes (1956).

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Reposted by Melissa Edmundson

Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 29/10/2025

#WritingCommunity! Submissions invited to NEW WRITING SCOTLAND 44! We want poetry & prose in English, #Gaelic, & #Scots from writers who are Scottish by residence, birth, or inclination. All successful contributors are paid – deadline 31 Oct! Submit free via Submittable 👇 nws.submittable.com/submit

nws.submittable.com

New Writing Scotland Submission Manager

New Writing Scotland publishes works by writers resident in Scotland or Scots by birth, upbringing, or inclination. Prose (fiction and nonfiction); poetry; drama; screenplays; and graphic artwork (mon...

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Reposted by Melissa Edmundson

Bat Conservation Trust @batconservation.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

(1/2) 🦇 A group of bats can be called a colony, a cauldron, a cloud or even a camp but with 1,500 bat species worldwide (and 18 right here in the UK!), we think it’s time to get a little more imaginative. Surely our brilliant bat species deserve some names as unique as they are? #NameThatBat

Comical illustrations of three different options to describe a group of noctules. Option 1: a chorus of noctules showing three bats dressed in a traditional white choir dress. Option 2: a screech of noctules showing two bats ‘shouting’ and one covering its ears. Option 3: a thunder of noctules, showing three bats and a dark cloud with thunder lightning.

Comical illustrations of three different options to describe a group of common pipistrelles. Option 1: a reliance of common pipistrelles showing three bats, one of which has a ‘bat spotting’ checklist with ‘common pipistrelle’ ticked off. Option 2: a flicker of common pipistrelles showing three bats around a lit candle. Option 3: a shimmer of common pipistrelles, showing three bats with a flick of light on their wings.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

My students always find this story interesting when we discuss the painting at the beginning of my Polar Gothic course. 🐻‍❄️

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Reposted by Melissa Edmundson

Dr Joanna Turner @coppertapestry.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Coming very, very soon… Eleanor Dobson and I have co-edited a special issue of @edinburghup.bsky.social Victoriographies - titled Marie Corelli Reconsidered. There are clues to its contents in the beautiful cover image, below… we can’t wait for the work of our contributors to be out in the world!

The cover image of Victoriographies journal volume 15, number 3, 2025, titled Marie Corelli Reconsidered. The image of an ornate’V’ is paired with a collage picture that includes an image of Marie Corelli with representations of ancient Egypt, mesmerism, provincial newspaper mastheads, Japanese text, and subtle references to twins.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Shirley Jackson's "The Daemon Lover," from The Lottery (1949). An interesting twist on the demon lover motif.

Black and white photo of Shirley Jackson.

Front cover of The Lottery and Other Stories. The cover shows a woman’s face in several different pieces.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Joan Aiken's “The Windscreen Weepers,” from The Windscreen Weepers and Other Tales of Horror and Suspense (1969). Artist colony, a demon lover, and a reincarnation of Coleridge. All in one story!

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Frances Garfield's “The High Places,” from Weird Tales (April 1939). A woman takes an airplane flight and discovers the pilot is a former fiancé who has previously died in a crash.

Front cover to Weird Tales magazine from April 1939, showing a man holding a woman who has fainted.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Margery Lawrence’s “Robin’s Rath,” from Nights of the Round Table (1926). Demon Lover + Green Man! A woman who plans to "improve" the wooded area around an estate gets more than she bargains for after meeting a mysterious man in those woods. Spoiler: it doesn't end well for her.

Black and white photo of Margery Lawrence.

Front cover of Nights of the Round Table. Showing a scared woman and a large brown table.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Christina Rossetti's "The Hour and the Ghost," from Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862). One of her most haunting ghost poems about a spectral visit from beyond the grave. "Come with me, fair and false, To our home, come home..."

Painting of Christina Rossetti sitting with a book.

Illustration of a man and woman being approached by a ghostly hooded figure in white. From Rossetti’s “The Hour and the Ghost.”

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

For #WyrdWednesday here's a thread of demon lovers! Elizabeth Bowen’s “The Demon Lover,” from The Demon Lover and Other Stories (1945). During WWII, a woman is haunted by a former love from WWI who keeps his promise to come back for her...

Black and white photo of Elizabeth Bowen.

Front cover of The Demon Lover and Other Stories.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Day 29 of #31days31books brings Louisa Baldwin's THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND (1895).

Front cover to Louisa Baldwin's THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND (1895). It shows a woman holding a book.

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Reposted by Melissa Edmundson

Wyrd Wednesday @wyrdwednesday.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Wyrdlings! With Halloween looming large over us this week, it's time for our annual #WyrdWednesday Spooky Spectacular! Bring us ghosts, goblins, and ghouls; witches, werewolves, and will-o'-the-wisps!👻🧙‍♀️🧟‍♂️👿

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Those illustrations are lovely (and the last one is macabre!). They served as an inspiration for the cover of my Handheld Press edition of Nesbit’s ghost stories. It’s so nice that you have original copies!

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

For days 26, 27, and 28 of #31days31books here’s a trio of Margaret Irwin. 📘 Madame Fears the Dark (1935) 📙 Still She Wished for Company (1924) 📕 Bloodstock (1953)

Three books by Margaret Irwin.

Left: Madame Fears the Dark (1935)
Center: Still She Wished for Company (1924)
Right: Bloodstock (1953), a blue dust jacket featuring a man in a red coat riding a white horse.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Sadly, I don’t own a copy of Shudders, but here’s my copy of Asquith’s The Ghost Book (1926).

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

It’s #caturday and less than a week until Halloween, so here’s Simone perusing some shelves of supernatural fiction. 👻🐈‍⬛🎃

A black cat with a super curly tail looking at shelves of old books.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

For day 25 of #31days31books we have Cynthia Asquith’s THIS MORTAL COIL (1947).

Dust jacket to This Mortal Coil (1947). A man’s face looks from behind the title.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Elizabeth Bowen's "Hand in Glove" is included in Asquith's SECOND GHOST BOOK (1952). Two sisters learn the hard way that when your aunt tells you to leave her clothes alone, she means it.

Black and white photo of Elizabeth Bowen. She is sitting with her arms crossed.

Front cover to The Second Ghost Book showing a graveyard.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Lettice Galbraith's "In the Seance Room" appeared in her collection NEW GHOST STORIES (1893). A talented young doctor attends a seance and gets more than he bargained for when someone appears from his past.

Cover of New Ghost Stories showing two men to the left being frightened by a ghostly man to the right.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

B. M. Croker’s “If You See Her Face,” published in TO LET (1893). In this Anglo-Indian story a ghostly temple dancer enacts revenge on an oppressive British colonial official.

Black and white photo of Bithia Mary Croker.

Cover for “If You See Her Face” showing an Indian woman looking from behind a curtain.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Charlotte Riddell's "A Terrible Vengeance," from PRINCESS SUNSHINE AND OTHER STORIES (1889). A tale of love gone wrong and plenty of secrets are revealed. (Also an entry in the “disembodied feet enact revenge” subgenre).

Front cover of The Collected Ghost Stories of Mrs. J. H. Riddell.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Mary Elizabeth Braddon's "Eveline's Visitant" was published in Belgravia in January 1867 and tells the tale of a feud, a curse, and a haunting from beyond the grave.

Painting of Mary Elizabeth Braddon, standing and wearing a black dress against a dark red background.

Cover to The Face in the Glass. A ghostly face is seen in a mirror.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

For this spectral #BookWormSat here’s a thread of ghostly revenge stories! Cynthia Asquith's "The Playfellow" first appeared in SHUDDERS (1929). A family inherits an ancestral house, and the malevolent ghostly child who comes with it.

Black and white photo of Cynthia Asquith.

Orange cover with black bats of Shudders.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

A pair of Margery Lawrence books for days 23 and 24 of #31days31books. To the left is Ferry Over Jordan, published by Robert Hale in 1944. To the right is the two volume paper edition published by the Psychic Book Club (1944).

To the left is the blue and white dust jacket for Ferry Over Jordan, published by Robert Hale in 1944. To the right is the tan two volume paper edition published by the Psychic Book Club (1944).

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Yes indeed. Goldsmith had a fascinating life. And so glad to find you here on Bluesky!

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

For days 20, 21, and 22 of #31days31books here’s a trio of books by Helen Simpson. The Baseless Fabric (1925) The Woman on the Beast (1933) Cups, Wands and Swords (1927)

Three books by Helen Simpson.

Left: The Baseless Fabric
Middle: The Woman on the Beast
Right: Cups, Wands and Swords

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Reposted by Melissa Edmundson

Wyrd Wednesday @wyrdwednesday.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

This week in #WyrdWednesday we invite you to our Wyrd Masquerade ball. Let's explore lore and history behind masks, costumes and disguises!

media.tenor.com

a person wearing a mask with horns on their head .

ALT: a person wearing a mask with horns on their head .

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

That’s right, there was a film! I’ve avoided watching it because I’m not a Stewart Granger fan. But maybe I need to take a chance. 😁

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Goldsmith wrote 5 novels, translated nearly 20 books, and wrote nearly 20 works of non-fiction, including biographies of Christina of Sweden, Florence Nightingale, Sappho, Madame de Stael, and Franz Anton Mesmer.

Title page of the book Christina of Sweden.

Front cover of Mesmer by Margaret Goldsmith.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Margaret L. Goldsmith (1894-1971) was an American journalist and novelist. She married fellow journalist Frederick Voigt and the couple moved to Berlin, where she had an affair with Vita Sackville-West. Goldsmith eventually divorced Voigt in 1935.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Norah James went on to publish many more novels from the 1930s to 1970s.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

James and Hall (and Hall’s partner Una Troubridge) frequently visited The Cave of Harmony, a London night club (and a possible inspiration for the title of Hall's novel) co-founded by Elsa Lanchester.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Coincidentally, James was present at the trial for Radclyffe Hall’s THE WELL OF LONELINESS (which was also published by Kahane in 1933).

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

James recalled: "On the day of publication I walked to the office in Bedford Square, and, on my way, passed a news placard saying: ‘Woman’s Novel Seized.’ So far was I from connecting SE with that news item, that I never even stopped to buy a copy of the paper."

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

... The man follows her when she goes out--to her apartment. The rest of the book is a history of their next thirty-six hours.” The book was published by Jack Kahane’s Obelisk Press in Paris in 1929.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

From the dj of the 1929 American ed: “At the same table in a London coffee-shop sit a man and a woman. The man has just discovered that his wife is unfaithful, and is meditating suicide. The woman, Laura, whose lover has just thrown her over, is determined on the same thing....

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Norah C. James (1896-1979) was a fellow novelist who turned heads when her first novel SLEEVELESS ERRAND (1929) was published by Scholartis Press and then quickly classified as obscene under the Obscene Publications Act, with all known copies confiscated.

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

For day 19 of #31days31books we have Margery Lawrence's THE MADONNA OF SEVEN MOONS, published in 1931. Here’s her presentation copy to Norah C. James and Margaret L. Goldsmith. This book shows how inscribed copies can take you down some wonderful literary and cultural rabbit holes. Thread/