The Dead of Summer: Strange Tales of May Eve and Midsummer edited by Johnny Mains

Since enjoying The Ghost Stories of Wilkie Collins back in January, I’ve been dying to read another of the books in the Gilded Nightmares collection from British Library Publishing. The books themselves are simply gorgeous, as you can see evidence of in the photos accompanying this post. The benefit of attractive packaging is that someone, like me, who may not initially be attracted to this series, is more willing to give it a chance. The Ghost Stories of Wilkie Collins is what it says on the tin. Either it will be your thing, or it won’t. It really just depends on if you like Wilkie Collins and ghost stories. But a collection of short stories on a particular theme, say strange stories set in the summer, is another thing entirely. It depends on what stories have been chosen for the collection.

I was about halfway through the first story in The Dead of Summer: Strange Tales of May Eve and Midsummer when I sat back for a moment to appreciate what a great time I was having. The fourteen stories found in this collection were originally published in 1823 right through to 2020, and are ordered chronologically. They are chilling, haunting, spooky. They will make you feel the summer heat and send shivers down your spine. Some of them will turn your blood cold. I got such a thrill reading this late at night, as many of the most terrifying things do tend to happen at night in these kinds of stories. However, in his introduction, Johnny Mains, encourages readers to “take this book outside, find a place where the glare of the sun won’t hit your page and blind you, and let the bliss begin” (xii). Or the nightmares, as the case may be. 

“The First of May; or Wallburga’s Night” by Caroline Pichler (1823), translated from German by R.P. Gillies (1826)

This story involves witches, standing stones, May Day, and a jealous woman who has her heart set on one man. But the man has married another woman. One who is much too trusting and kind for her own good. Positively haunting! 

“The Suitable Surroundings” by Ambrose Bierce (1889)

A haunted house, a man reading by candlelight, and a manuscript read in suitable surroundings. But all does not go as expected. Out of the entire collection, only this one and one other didn’t quite hit for me. That’s the thing about spooky stories, even the best ones are not going to work for everyone.

“A Midsummer Night’s Marriage” by J. Meade Falkner (1896)

A man buys a signet ring from an antique store, then one midsummer night he finds himself travelling back over 200 years before. This one is full of foreboding, and I just loved it. It will make you think twice before picking up secondhand jewellery, no matter how attractive it looks in the shop window.

“The Looking-Glass” by Walter de la Mare (1923)

Dark and dreamy, with a walled garden and a young girl, Alice, whose imagination is captured by the place and the lore told to her by a curmudgeonly old woman called Sarah. The Secret Garden meets Alice in Wonderland, if the oracle was an old woman named Sarah who hates birds and would blow them all to ribbons if she had the means.

“Midsummer at Stonehenge” by F. Britten Austin (1927)

We follow Wolfhound and Wheatear as they travel to Stonehenge with the other Sun worshippers, and celebrate the Summer Solstice there. This was enlightening and answered a lot of my questions about the Sun People and the form of worship that may have taken place at these standing stones. The author’s note at the end is a reminder that authorities on the subject contradict each other and that whatever theory an earnest searcher of the true story adopts will “have to make a quite considerable use of his imagination” as the author has done (124). My only complaint about this one is that it felt a little heavy with research, if you see what I mean, but at the same time I did appreciate the information, and the details around what the festival might have looked like with the market, the people, the livestock, the camping, really brought this to life for me.

“The Black Stone” by Robert E. Howard (1931)

Johnny Mains’ introduction to this story has a sort of disclaimer.

So, you’ve been given a hint about the gruesomeness contained in “The Black Stone”, but don’t let that put you off. In a departure from Howard’s ultra-macho characters, our bookish and learned narrator sets off for Hungary due to a mention of “The Black Stone” which piques his curiosity. Our narrator ends up near the monolith on Midsummer’s Day and at that point the story manages to outdo Conan the Barbarian for barbarianism. Don’t say you’ve not been warned. (126) 

I can’t say I wasn’t given good warning. I almost wish I had not read this one. Almost. This utterly disturbing story is not for the faint of heart. But I am supremely fascinated by the concept of an object or place being a conduit to the past and I will read any story that has this at its heart.

“The Withered Heart” by G.G. Pendarves (1939)

A box, a spell, a fortune, and a beautiful woman who wants it, but at what cost? This atmospheric story had hint of Edgar Allan Poe about it. The spooky part takes place on the evening of 31 May, but this one really put me in the mood for Halloween.

“May Day Eve” by Nick Joaquin (1947)

Starts in 1847, then fast forwards to 1890. After a dance, a group of girls having a sleepover are told a tale by an older woman who is a servant in the house.

[I]t was May again, said the old Anastasia. It was the first day of May and witches were abroad in the night, she said—for it was a night of divination, a night of lovers, and those who cared might peer in a mirror and there behold the face of whoever it was they were fated to marry. (178)

But there are words to be said aloud, and things do have a way of turning on their head on May Eve.

“If all goes right, just above your left shoulder will appear the face of the man you will marry.”

A silence. Then: “And what if all does not go right?” asked Agueda.

Ah, then the Lord have mercy on you!”

“Why?”

“Because you may see—the Devil!” (179)

This was spooky, atmospheric, and really did not go where I expected. Believable and sad, and definitely a story against mixing yourself up in magic. 

“The Sale of Midsummer” by Joan Aiken (1970)

The village of Midsummer is up for sale. A television crew goes to interview the locals about their thoughts on the sale, and if there is any credence to the legend that Midsummer exists only three days each year. This was my first time reading anything by Joan Aiken, and now I really must read more.

“Night on Roughtor” by Donald R. Rawe (1973)

Three young men visiting Cornwall for the summer plan to sleep out on Roughtor. A local woman warns them against it, but the men scoff, and claim it’s just superstitious nonsense. Up on the mountain they have a night to remember, or not, as the case may be. 

“We saw a will o’ the wisp,” cried Browne-Smythe.

He spoke excitedly so that the other two recoiled silently.

“Old Bertie here started the damned thing,” said de Vere Ellis in exaggerated laconic tones. “Lit a match for a smoke as we started up the hill. Must have ignited a pocket of marsh gas.”

“Gave me quite a jolt, actually,” said Browne-Smythe. “One second there was nothing there, and the next this kind of purple ghost was dancing like a monkey round us. Burnt out after a few minutes, of course.” 

They busied themselves arranging the tent. McMahon lit a couple of oil lamps and tied them to the tent poles. No one spoke; they were perhaps little fearful of betraying the fact that the place was affecting them strongly. Each knew that this night on Roughtor was going to be far less of a joke than they had imagined; but none would admit it. (211)

I really loved this one! I enjoy hiking and camping, myself, which is in part why this one might be my favourite in the collection. It is also so full of atmosphere and the descriptions were so clearly drawn that I was completely on board with the incredible things they see and experience on Roughtor. I do love a story with a storm, and this is one of epic proportions. But I hope to never come across anything like what these three do in my own outdoor adventures!

“Where Phantoms Stir” by Mary Williams (1976)

At first her face was merely a disc of white in the thickening waves of curling mist; then, as the light cleared momentarily, he saw the figure of a girl approaching hesitantly from the side of the lane. From what he could see of her she was wearing the current style of dress… long maxi skirt and a kind of shawl thing round her shoulders. Her pale hair caught the fleeting glow from distant bonfires where beacons blazed to honour Midsummer Eve; then as quickly, her form was taken again into the swirl of falling cloud shapes, leaving only the brief impression of delicate features and pleading stare of enormous, haunted looking eyes. (223)

A man, Charles, on a “tramping holiday in Cornwall” helps a young woman find her way to her father’s house in the fog on Midsummer Eve. They get there and discover the table set for a banquet and her father awaiting his guests. He certainly does not seem happy to see his daughter, and is even more displeased when he sees she has brought someone with her. She tells her father that Charles gave her the courage to come. Charles soon finds out why she needed it, when he sees who has been invited to dinner.

“Foxgloves” by Susan Price (1995)

Midsummer’s Eve, too—an unlucky night to be out. It was one of the “turning days” of the year, according to his granny, like Halloween, Christmas Eve and May Day. They were the days when the year turned from winter to spring, from spring to summer, from summer to autumn, and then to winter again. They were different from other days... More open. The nights were even more so. Ghosts walked on those nights that couldn’t walk other nights; things were seen on those nights that couldn’t be seen on other nights... On those nights, magic worked. According to Granny. (240-241)

A teenage boy has an argument with his girlfriend, missing the last bus he has to walk home three miles on a sultry Midsummer’s Eve. Should he talk the long walk by the road, or the shortcut through the woods. And did his Granny say that seeing foxgloves in the woods were lucky? Or was it unlucky? Don’t go in the woods at night if you are scared. Fear is your brain trying to protect your body, you silly boy! This terrifying story was first published by Scholastic in a collection called 13 Again. I wonder if the rest of that collection is as unsettling as this one!

“The Midsummer Emissary” by Minagawa Hiroko (1996), translated from Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori (2012)

A student gets caught on an island after a storm destroys the remaining bridge. When he goes to the riverbank to look for a ferry, there is only a boat half filled with water. He swears he heard a voice behind him, but no one is there, still there is an image in his mind of a woman, how she is dressed, down to her close-cropped hair. Unsettling and unbalanced. I didn’t know where I was at with this one. 

“Heaven on Earth” by Jenn Ashworth (2020)

A man and his wife are on honeymoon at a five star hotel somewhere tropical, known to be heaven on earth, when the pandemic hits. I saw where this one was going at about the halfway point, and for me it would have been more effective it had ended shortly after. It was quite compelling up to that point, but when I reached the end I was hoping for something more. This is the only story, besides “The Suitable Surroundings”, that I was not thrilled by. 

I think finding twelve thrilling, creepy, spooky, and, at times, downright chilling stories that I loved, out of 14 are really great odds for a short story collection. The stories are for the most part either set during May Eve or Midsummer, but they are all set sometime in the summer, which makes between the first of May and the Summer Solstice the most obvious time to read this collection. However, I am really happy I read this book in August, because I tend to link spooky stories more with Halloween, or even Christmas. Despite the heatwave we are currently experiencing in my part of Canada, since the first of August I have had this feeling that summer is almost over and it is time to start thinking about more autumnal books. So this one really helped to satisfy the urge to rush into the next season with my reading, while helping me to tick another summer book off my TBR. 

I talked about the gorgeous cover at the outset, but I wanted to say how impressed I am with the quality of the binding, the thick paper, and the overall feel of the book. It gives one the feeling of luxury and quality, even before you start reading and discover the high standard of writing contained in this collection. The one place this book falls short is in the gilding. When I finished reading The Ghost Stories of Wilkie Collins I noticed that some of the gilding had rubbed away, so I would encourage people to use care when reading from the Gilded Nightmares books. Let me be clear, I have no idea if it is even possible to make gilding that does not wear away from handling. But I didn’t want The Dead of Summer to get damaged, so I tried not to handle the cover while I was reading. Yes, I realise this sounds a bit bonkers. Just hear me out. Basically, I sat the book open in my lap on top of pillow, because I wanted the gilding to remain perfect, and I was very pleased with the result. The added benefit to this is that my arms didn’t get tired from holding up a heavy hardcover. Win-win. Longterm, I’m thinking of making a fabric cover that I can slip on my Gilded Nightmares books while reading, because you know I’m going to put the rest of the books in this collection on my wishlist. In the meantime, I'm really looking forward to getting to the two others I have on my shelf, Bewitched: The Ghostly Tales of Edith Wharton and Halloweird: Classic Stories from the Season of Samhein. 

Thank you to British Library Publishing for kindly sending me a copy of The Dead of Summer: Strange Tales of May Eve and Midsummer for review. As always, all opinions on the book are my own.

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