The Sanctuary And Other Strange Stories R.B. Russell Tartarus Press Gathering together lost souls on the Sussex Downs, houses demolished and rediscovered, and half-remembered dreams, The Sanctuary and Other Strange Stories collects uncanny fiction written by R.B. Russell over two decades. Many stories are rooted in moments of real life, but are transformed into something disquieting, from the enigmatic commune of ‘The Sanctuary’ to the ex libris of a lost artist, these stories drift between memory, history and imagination. Inspired by writers as varied as Mark Valentine and Ian Fleming, Robert Aickman, and Reggie Oliver, and shaped by influences, from forgotten cults and stamp collecting, Russell’s tales explore the boundaries between the ordinary and the otherworldly. Love, death, music and off-beat literary researches intertwine, giving rise to stories that feel both intimate and unsettling. I've had the pleasure of reading Ray's fiction (and non-fiction) several times over the last few years and happily I have his new essay collection 'Bibliomancy & Other Essays' here on the top of the TBR mountain, but accompanying me on my recent travels has been this rather fine collection of short fictions that thanks to some health issues I've been reading on and off whenever I felt up to it over several months. As the co-publisher of Tartarus Press it'll come as no surprise that the strange and the supernatural loom large in these stories but threaded through you'll find other of his interests such as cults and espionage. Ray's love of a spy gives a distinct ITC spy-fi flavour to many of the stories and you can taste traces of a youth spent watching shows like 'The Prisoner', 'The Champions', and 'The Saint'. Alongside this his fascination with the likes of the Scientologist cult, the Brotherhood of the Cross & Star, The Temple of Psychic Youth and T. Lobsang Rampa all of whom he wrote about in his book headed by his biography of the Plympton lama, 'T. Lobsang Rampa And Other Characters of Questionable Faith'. Obviously it's a collection and in every collection you'll find yourself more invested in some stories more than others. My interest in cults pales next to my love of spy-fi which lives deep in the shadow of my abiding love of a strange and spooky story. There is though a lot to be said for breaking up your reading of a collection such as this one and so it got read piecemeal which helped as I kept coming back to it fresh and being re-immersed into Ray's story worlds. It's a cracking read. I've read a few of Ray's shorts before but I'm mostly familiar with his longer form work and so to see his obvious mastery of the form was a joy and this is heartily recommended to all connoisseurs of the strange. .......................................................................................... If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs. http://wyrdbritain.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-sanctuary-and-other-strange-stories.html #otherstrange #strangestories #tartaruspress #ray #russell #lobsangrampa #sussexdowns #pressgathering #othercharacters #love #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Ampney Crucis Investigates Ian Edgington Simon Davis 2000AD / Rebellion / Hatchette England, 1928. Lord Ampney Crucis, together with his loyal butler Cromwell, is an investigator into the paranormal. A survivor of the Somme, where he witnessed something otherworldly that tore his sanity in two and left him susceptible to the entities beyond everyday reality, he knows full well that dark creatures lurk in this green and pleasant land... Chilling Lovecraftian capers abound in this complete collection of Ampney’s adventures from writer Ian Edginton (Scarlet Traces) and artist Simon Davis (Sláine, Thistlebone)! I've picked up a few of these 2000AD partworks recently so expect some more here in the near future. This one I'd never heard of but there was no way I was going to resist reading an Edwardian occult detective romp especially one created by two of modern 2000AD's best creators. Crucis had a difficult war that led him to being hospitalised after seeing one of the elder beings materialise on a battlefield to eat the dead. This has led to him becoming something of an expert in dealing with the uncanny and now his services are called upon whenever there's an outbreak of anything inconveniently odd. The first few stories are fabulous, full of upper class, Edwardian daring do, witty banter and dazzlingly improbable occult escapades, but it gets a little lost as Crucis and his trusty aide Cromwell skip dimensions and everything goes a bit timey-whimey and connections to Edgington's 'Scarlet Traces' start to appear but, that said, it's still all good Moorcockian fun and I really hope there's another volume out there somewhere as like Crucis with a pink gin I'm simply gasping for another. .......................................................................................... If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs. http://wyrdbritain.blogspot.com/2026/10/ampney-crucis-investigates.html #ampneycrucis #simondavis #hatchetteengland #edgingtonsimon #scarlettraces #ianedginton #lordampney #cromwell #edwardian #rebellion #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

The Thirteenth Floor Anthology Guy Adams (editor) Rebellion Max goes worldwide! London's Maxwell Towers have long been under the control of Max - an all-seeing AI intent on punishing wrongdoers and wicked tenants by sending them to the Thirteenth Floor, where unspeakable horrors come to life. Now, Max's coding has been embedded in computer systems all over the world, and there is no escape from his nightmarish reign. Featuring thirteen brand-new stories by A. K. Benedict, Angela Slatter, Mason Cross, Una McCormack, Lavanya Lakshminarayan, Thana Niveau, James Lovegrove, Derek Farrell, MK Hardy, John Llewellyn Probert, Martyn Waites, Aubrey Wood, and James Goss. 'The Thirteenth Floor' with its occult AI 'Max' was created by writers John Wagner & Alan Grant and artist José Ortiz for the horror comic Scream!, but I first read it in the pages of the revived Eagle comic where it quickly became one of my favourite strips (along with 'The Tower King' - also drawn by Ortiz). Then, a couple of years ago, long after both titles had faded into history, Max was rebooted by publisher Rebellion for a Scream & Misty special, which has now led us to this prose collection. Max has gone global. Rescued from the wreckage of Maxwell Towers, he has become the basis for a corporate AI tool installed in buildings all across the world. He remains, in many ways, the same benevolent, paternal, caring Max, and he also remains, in all the other ways, the same retributive enthusiast we knew and loved, gleefully casting miscreants into his hellish thirteenth floor. Among the contributors here we have various folks that'll be familiar to the world of Doctor Who fandom - Una McCormack, Guy Adams, James Goss - a few award winners and NYT bestseller writers - James Lovegrove, John Llewellyn Probert, Martyn Waites - and a host of others - 15 in all, even though I kind of expected there to be two less. I'm going to be entirely honest here and admit I picked this up on a nostalgia powered whim, I was in a reading slump and couldn't find anything else that I fancied and I pretty much expected nothing from it beyond a diverting tale or two, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a collection of well constructed and fun pulp horrors riffing on a fairly well-worn trope of crime and occult retribution, and I loved it. .......................................................................................... If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue, then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs. http://wyrdbritain.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-thirteenth-floor-anthology.html #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

NEWS: David Tibet presents HALLUCINATE CHILDREN at the DOX Gallery in Prague. David Tibet the creative force behind Current 93 is hosting what he's rather fabulously called a "Gnostic cartoon PickNick", 'HALLUCINATE, CHILDREN' at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague from (the evening of) 22 Oct 2026 – 4 Apr 2027. Through music, word and image David has long been one of our great esoteric, visionary artists and this show looks to pull together all those threads of a creative life that has included collaborations with, amongst many others, Steven Stapleton (of Nurse With Wound), Jhonn Balance & Peter Christopherson (of Coil), Michael Cashmore, Youth, Nick Cave, Tiny Tim, Shirley Collins, Andrew Liles and Anohni. Photo by Ania GoszczyńskaFrom the gallery's website... The exhibition Hallucinate, Children is being developed in collaboration with the artist and will present visual works spanning the full arc of Tibet’s career. It will introduce his artistic practice as an autonomous visual universe, closely interwoven with his music, writings, publishing activities, and long-standing engagement with visionary literature, Biblical and apocryphal texts, and marginal currents of spiritual imagination. Tibet’s work emerges from a broad tradition of visionary art and literature: from John Milton, William Blake, MR James, Count Stenbock, and Thomas Ligotti to the British hallucinatory underground, Christian apocalypticism, and obscure supernatural writings. Hallucinate, Children invites viewers into a space in which the image is not decoration, but a sign: an urgent, unsettling, and strangely tender testimony to a world perpetually on the threshold of revelation. For those unfamiliar with David's visual art we've previously shared a video made for his exhibition at the California State University, Fullerton, Begovich Gallery titled 'Invocation of Almost' which you can watch at the link below... https://wyrdbritain.blogspot.com/2022/09/who-is-david-tibet.html?m=1 .......................................................................................... If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs. http://wyrdbritain.blogspot.com/2026/10/news-david-tibet-presents-hallucinate.html #doxgallery #davidtibet #doxcentre #children #begovichgallery #jhonnbalance #michaelcashmore #nickcave #peterchristopherson #shirleycollins #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Shadows Over Cymru: Uncanny Stories of the Welsh Weird Aaron Worth (editor) British Library From the peaks of Eryri to hidden valleys and haunted mines, the storied landscapes of Wales have inspired centuries of myth and folklore. Over time, these tales of the unexplained and the Otherworld have formed a unique strain of weird fiction. Continuing the British Library's 'Gilded Nightmares' series of lavish hardbacks is this rather fabulous collection of stories exploring the darker side of Wales. One only needs to glance at the Welsh flag to understand the importance of the mythic in Wales; the "land of my fathers" is a place of stories, a land steeped in mysteries old and new. This collection utilises the geography, the mythology and the character of the country to explore it's very nature. The book revels in a country awash with story; a country of hidden places, creatures, people, and gods. Stories by authors steeped in the heritage - Arthur Machen, Dylan Thomas, Richard Hughes - and by those finding inspiration in it - Algernon Blackwood, L.T.C. Rolt, A.C Benson, John Wyndham, Marjorie Bowen - travel the Welsh hinterlands unveiling secrets and mysteries in all the dark, neglected and forgotten corners. In the hands of these writers, many amongst the crème of the golden age of weird fiction, Wales is a land of uncanny mystery as unforgiving as it is inviting. A place where the fantastical finds itself at odds with the mundane; a land where the supernatural lurks, poised beneath the surface, watchful for the unwary. .......................................................................................... If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs. http://wyrdbritain.blogspot.com/2026/10/shadows-over-cymru-uncanny-stories-of.html #britishlibrary #weird #stories #wales #aaronworth #algernonblackwood #arthurmachen #dylanthomas #richardhughes #johnwyndham #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Stephen Thrower's Coil Playlist From 1986 to 1992 Stephen Thrower made several albums as a member of Coil which are crurrently being remastered and reissued by The Grey Area of Mute - pre-orders are available now for 'Gold is the Metal (With the Broadest Shoulders)'. To mark the occasion he was invited to assemble a playlist for the Freak Zone of the music that was being listened to by the three members at that time. The playlist he's curated is delightfully obtuse but sonically cohesive including the likes of Faust, Can, The Fall, The Butthole Surfers, The Residents and others. Available (at the time of writing) for only another 29 days this is a fun glimpse behind the curtain of a fiercely creative time for the band. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m003227c .......................................................................................... If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs. http://wyrdbritain.blogspot.com/2026/10/stephen-throwers-coil-playlist.html

Oliver's Ghost 'Worlds Beyond' was an ITV series that somehow managed to run for 2 entire years - September 1986 to December 1988 - despite only consisting of 12 half hour episodes. Each of those dozen episodes is purportedly based on stories from the archives of the Society for Psychical Research. We've featured a few episodes from the series on Wyrd Britain over the years despite them being, on the whole, pretty woeful because I have a bit of a soft spot for them. This, the series' final episode is perhaps the most fun but you probably shouldn't take that as any sort of indicator of quality. Denholm Elliott is Sir Oliver Beresford reduced to turning his ancestral home into a hotel. His, I assume, first bunch of guests - three American couples - have arrived and he, his wife and the maid are struggling to cope, hindered in no small part by the presence of the ghost of a little girl who keeps making one of the guests sleepwalk into other rooms - and into cupboard doors. Writer Tony Williamson, who wrote the majority of the series - as well as many scripts for ITC shows including 'The Avengers', 'Department S', 'Jason King' - has thrown all ideas of spooky out of the window and gone for more of a bedroom farce sort of vibe and there're some fun one liners from the harassed Elliott but don't go looking for any chills. I know most don't think of this series at all but, if you do, then think of it as more of a curio than anything else, a curio that was already horrendously dated when it was originally broadcast and one that pretty much deserves it's obscurity but, that said, I'll definitely feature it here again, .......................................................................................... If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs. http://wyrdbritain.blogspot.com/2026/10/olivers-ghost.html

NEWS: The Lost Occult Books of Victor Neuburg 'We will leave the silver moon-flowers of old thought for the gold sun-flowers of our true Apollonian theme ... It is before Dionysus, the maddening one, the disturber, came rudely in the twilight to make the fair, even world, odd and fantastic; the horns thrusting apart the twin thighs of duality. Out of that odd, wild, Bacchic art came Unity, for the order of the old tie was as a chaos to the goat-god...' - from 'Dionysus and Diana' Coming soon - with your help - from the resurrected Vine Press is a fascinating sounding collection of 'lost' occult poems from Victor B. Neuburg. Languishing, mostly unread, for over a century this first publication is being marshalled into being by Justin Hopper (author of 'Old Weird Albion'), designer Stefan Musgrove and Neuburg's granddaughter Caroline who dedicated her life to preserving and promoting her grandfather's work. Justin contacted me recently to help promote the Kickstarter they've set up to fund the publication - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/oldweirdalbion/lost-occult-books-of-the-1920s-relaunching-vine-press - and kindly provided the information below... Victor Neuburg (almost certainly), Rites of Eleusis, London, 1910. (From The Bystander, 1910)In 1924 the poet, publisher and occultist Victor Neuburg was visited by unidentifiable spirits in his cottage in a small Sussex town. As he later put it, these voices ‘dictated’ poems to him – streams-of-consciousness pieces of prose steeped in esoteric symbolism. He wrote them down, nearly 100 pieces of writing, into the form of a book he called The Water Bearer. And no one would touch it. None less than Ralph Shirley, the editor of The Occult Review, told Victor that these were unique, wholly original, works, but ‘what publisher would risk it?’ For the next 100 years these poems sat, mostly unread, in a family chest. Until now. Victor Neuburg is best known as the magical (and sexual) partner of Aleister Crowley; as the man who discovered the poet Dylan Thomas; as a funny name that comes up when mentioning just about any aspect of early-20th century British counterculture. (An anarchist who advocated for gay rights and prison reform; the living connection between the Decadents and the Surrealists; friend to Austin Osman Spare and inspiration to Peter Warlock; early champion of nudists and yoga; the list continues.) ‘Stan’, Dion Byngham, Victor Neuburg, ‘Frank’, late-1920s likely The Sanctuary, West Sussex. Photo copyright Justin Hopper. His published poetry books now sell for hundreds or even thousands, but perhaps his greatest-ever works – those which best espoused his bizarre hodge-podge of occult and spiritual beliefs – have been read by almost no one alive. We’re publishing these works as one of the last wishes of Caroline Neuburg, the poet’s granddaughter, who dove deeply into them – her copious notes on the symbolism in the works will act as introduction to the book The Water Bearer and Other Lost Works of Victor Neuburg. You can pre-order, and help make it all happen – a century in the making – through the 30th of October at www.vinepress.co.uk .......................................................................................... If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs. http://wyrdbritain.blogspot.com/2026/10/news-lost-occult-books-of-victor-neuburg.html