In a Lonely Place: Tennessee Dread

In a Lonely Place by Karl Edward Wagner

In any number of my book reviews here on FanLit, I have had cause to refer to editor Karl Edward Wagner’s famous Wagner 39 List. This three-part list, which originally appeared in the June and August 1983 issues of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, enumerated the editor’s choices for the 13 Best Supernatural Horror Novels of all time, the 13 Best Nonsupernatural Horror Novels of all time, and the 13 Best Sci-Fi Horror Novels of all time; a guide that many horror buffs have valued for decades now. But as any fan of Karl Edward Wagner would readily tell you, the Tennessee-born horror maven was much more than an editor; he was a highly respected author, as well. Thus, it might seem strange that although I’d loved all 14 of the 39 books that KEW had steered me to on those lists thus far, I had never actually read anything by the man himself, an oversight that I was keen to rectify. And for the longest time, I’d known where I wanted to start; namely, Wagner’s first collection of shuddery tales, In a Lonely Place, which book was chosen for inclusion in Newman & Jones’ excellent overview volume Horror: 100 Best Books. In his article therein, horror author Ramsey Campbell, aka the British Stephen King, calls Wagner’s book “one of the most impressive horror collections to have appeared for quite some time,” and, as it turns out, for good reason. The only problem for me was, In a Lonely Place had been, for many years, very hard to acquire for a reasonable price … until very recently.

The collection originally appeared in 1983 as a $2.95 Warner Books paperback, with an introduction by Peter Straub and a cover by one Barclay Shaw, and contained seven stories. The following year, the publisher Scream/Press released the book, in a limited run, as a deluxe hardback, with a cover and illustrations by Val Lakey Lindahn, a new and highly informative afterword by Wagner himself, and one extra story. And after this, the book, despite that write-up in Newman & Jones’ 1988 volume, would go OOPs (out of prints) for almost 40 years, till the fine folks at Valancourt Books resurrected it in 2023, complete with that eighth story, the Wagner afterword, and an introduction by Campbell (which is largely lifted from his 1988 article). It is a volume that I happily pounced upon shortly after its Valancourt release, and my first experience of the book has confirmed Campbell’s assessment: This really is a remarkable collection of first-rate modern horror! Every single one of the eight stories, most of novelette length, manages to stun, surprise and frighten; there is nary a clinker in the bunch.

Before telling you of the manifold wonders to be encountered here, a quick word on the author himself, for those of you who might be unfamiliar with him. Karl Edward Wagner was born in Knoxville in 1945. As an editor, he is perhaps best remembered today as the force behind DAW’s annual The Year’s Best Horror Stories, having been the curator of books VIII – XXII, from 1980 to 1994. As a publisher, Wagner is remembered as the founder of Carcosa books. And as an author, he is perhaps best remembered as the creator of Kane, the Mystic Swordsman, a character who appeared in three novels and three short-story collections. And those are just some of the many highlights of Wagner’s prolific career. Unfortunately, alcoholism cut that career – and his life – short, and he would ultimately pass away in 1994 at the age of only 48.

Now, as for the octet of tales in this collection, they are a surprisingly grisly and downbeat bunch, and truly horrifying in that something horrible happens to all the lead characters in them; indeed, most of the main players in these tales may be considered fortunate if they are still alive by the end. The collection kicks off in a very big way with the traditional “haunted-house story” “In the Pines,” in which a married couple from Ohio, Garry and Janet Randall, having recently suffered the loss of their young son, rent a deserted mountain cabin for a vacation in eastern Tennessee. Gerry soon turns to his favorite hobby, boozing, at the same time becoming fascinated by an old painting of a flapper woman that he finds in the cellar. He learns about the flapper’s history from both a local shopkeeper and from the journal of a previous tenant in the cabin; an artist in the early 1950s. The artist recorded that he’d actually seen this woman, named Renee, on the property, and been driven to madness by her, and before long, the same thing, perhaps inevitably, begins to happen to Gerry, too. Wagner’s story is deliciously atmospheric and makes wonderful use of the old Tennessee Ernie Ford song “In the Pines.” The journal entries are wonderfully creepy, and there is even a suggestion of Stephen King’s The Shining (1977) in Gerry Randall’s increasing mania. A genuine winner, to kick-start this collection, capped by an ending straight out of an old EC comic!

“Where the Summer Ends” is set in Knoxville itself, a city that Wagner obviously knew very well. In a particularly decrepit, crumbling, and kudzu-overgrown section of the city, we find college students Jon Mercer and Linda Wentworth hanging out with an aged junkman/antiques dealer named Gradie. A series of grotesque killings has been taking place recently in the area, and before long, our trio of friends discovers the cause … the hard way. Wagner’s tale conflates an antique Victorian mantel, Fleetwood Mac, oversized rats, WW2 skulls, and a lost race into one very sinister stew. The author’s descriptions of his run-down hometown are entirely convincing, the sultry summer atmosphere is expertly rendered, and the story’s final revelations and shocking last moment should linger long in the reader’s memory. You’ll probably not be forgetting this tale’s last, three-word sentence, either. Brrr!

One of Wagner’s most renowned stories, “Sticks,” is up next, a tale that the author, in his afterword, tells us was based on a real-life experience of famed illustrator Lee Brown Coye. The story is also believed to have served as an inspiration for the 1999 hit film The Blair Witch Project. Here, book illustrator Colin Leverett, while fishing in the woods in upstate NY, comes upon a section filled with creepy lattice structures built of sticks. He explores a deserted farmhouse and is attacked by what seems to be a living corpse! Decades later, Leverett employs the lattice figures in his illustrations for a proposed three-volume anthology of horror writer H. Kenneth Allard (a decisive nod to H.P. Lovecraft), leading to his being discovered by an ancient and secret cult … Wagner’s story pleasingly makes reference to the pulp magazines Short Stories and Weird Tales, evinces his knowledge of the publishing world that he knew intimately, and concludes with as nightmarish a finale as an jaded horror fan could wish to find. Just wow!

Before becoming a writer, Wagner had studied medicine, particularly psychology, only to drop out of the field after growing disillusioned by it. His story “The Fourth Seal” is the direct result. Here, we find medical researcher Geoff Metzger, who has just been accepted to work at the prestigious “Center.” Metzger had lately been making great progress in his search for a cure for cancer, but as he soon learns, his associates and the higher-ups at the Center have other plans for his future … For all those readers who have ever entertained doubts as to the medical and pharmaceutical industries’ good intentions, this story will come as a validating godsend. It is an exquisitely well-done tale of cynicism and paranoia, featuring yet another deliciously morbid denouement. You might never look at your family doctor or local pharmacist in the same light, after reading Wagner’s horrific yet heartfelt story. Particularly recommended for fans of such medical-horror films as Seconds (1966) and Coma (1978).

A different kind of horror is to be found in this collection’s next offering; the horror of real-life thwarted ambition, despair, and unworthy love. In “More Sinned Against,” we meet two Hollywood hopefuls, Candi Thorne and Marlboro-man type Richards Justin. After moving in together, the two find that becoming a success in Tinseltown is no easy proposition. To support her man, in a kind of hellish reworking of A Star Is Born, Candi goes from being a B actress, to a porn actress, to a drug-addicted street hooker, to a torture-porn “actress,” all while the ungrateful Richards’ fame increases. Remarkably, however, Candi is just about the only lead character to be found in this volume who is vouchsafed a happy ending … of sorts. Wagner’s very grim story is, happily, leavened with a goodly dose of humor, mainly via its droll manner of presentation, and its incorporation of voodoo elements, coming out of left field as it does, takes the reader by surprise. “More Sinned Against” was the one story here that was not present in the original Warner paperback, and its later addition was a very welcome one.

The curiously titled “.220 Swift” (a type of high-velocity rifle cartridge) introduces the reader to two very different men, who have come to the hilly region of western North Carolina (recently ravaged by Hurricane Helene) to conduct their separate researches. Dr. Morris Kenlaw is looking for physical evidence of the 16^th century conquistadors’ underground mines, while young albino student Eric Brandon is searching for proof of the existence of a pre-Indian culture … perhaps of the Little People of legend, whom the Native Americans called the Yunwi Tsunsdi. And when the two combine forces to explore an underground cave system … well, let’s just say that both they and the reader are in store for quite a few shocking surprises! Wagner’s story presents us with both a fascinating history of this region as well as some equally fascinating lore, and even makes a pleasing reference to the Shonokins, a forgotten race that figures largely in Manly Wade Wellman’s John Thunstone stories. A most impressive piece of work!

In the absolutely remarkable story “The River of Night’s Dreaming,” a female prisoner named Cassilda manages an escape after the bus she is riding in tumbles over a cliff during a stormy night, in a scene reminiscent of the hit TV show The Fugitive. Cassilda manages to swim across the choppy waters of a bay and flees into the deserted streets of a rat-infested city. Fortunately for her, she is accepted into the home of a Mrs. Castaigne, a Victorian dowager type who lives alone with her maid Camilla. But as it happens, the elderly woman and her attendant have rather sinister plans for the bedraggled newcomer … Wagner’s story mixes in references to Robert W. Chambers’ 1895 classic The King in Yellow along with bits of kinky S&M, madness, hallucinations, and 19^th century raiment. Ramsey Campbell, in his intro, calls it a masterpiece, and I would heartily concur. At least, it might be my favorite story in this collection. And by the way, Wagner, in his afterword, reveals something about Cassilda that I had not picked up on … and am still uncertain how I was supposed to do so!

In a Lonely Place concludes with a story that might be a perfect fit for the newly revived Hammer Studios. In “Beyond Any Measure,” an American art student studying in London, Lisette Seyrig (a nod, perhaps, to French actress Delphine Seyrig, star of the 1971 cult-classic lesbian-vampire film Daughters of Darkness?), suffers from terrible nightmares involving crypts and blood. She seeks the help of Dr. Ingmar Magnus, who proposes a course of hypnosis to find out if Lisette might possibly be flashing back to a previous incarnation. But as we soon learn, the truth is actually far more bizarre than that. This wonderful closing story incorporates a novel twist on both hauntings and vampirism and throws in a psychedelic and coke-fueled party, soft-core lesbianism, references to Hammer stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, punk rockers, premature burial, a reference to Ramsey Campbell’s fictitious book We Pass From View (!), and a shower sequence perhaps more shocking than the one to be found in Hitchcock’s Psycho! It is an absolutely first-rate horror extravaganza to bring the curtain down on this octet of stunners.

On a personal note, I am so glad that I was finally able to experience this superlative collection, after years of wanting to do so. Now, I find myself eager to read Wagner’s 1987 collection entitled Why Not You and I?, which supposedly gathers together some more of his very finest stories. Hopefully, the folks at Valancourt will be making that long-out-of-print work available soon, too…