Circles of Stone Weird Tales of Pagan Sites and Ancient Rites

by Soar, Katy

• ISBN13: 9780712354592
• ISBN10: 071235459X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2024-09-24
• Publisher: British Library Publishing

Summary

There was no sleep for him that night; he fancied he had seen the stone – which, as you know, was a couple of fields away – as large as life, as if it were on watch outside his window. 
 
The standing stones, stone circles, dolmens and burial sites of the British Isles still resonate with mystery of their primeval origins, enthralling our collective consciousness to this day. Rising up in the field of weird fiction, ancient stones and the rituals and dark forces they once witnessed have inspired a wicked branch of the genre by writers devoted to their eerie potential. 
 
Gathered in tribute to these relics of a lost age – and their pagan legacy of blood – are fifteen stories of haunted henges, Druidic vengeance and solid rock alive with bloodlust, by authors including Algernon Blackwood, Lisa Tuttle, Arthur Machen and Nigel Kneale.

Author Biography

Katy Soar is a Senior Lecturer in Classical Archaeology at the University of Winchester. Her research interests are Greek archaeology, the resonance of archaeology in culture and the history and reception of archaeology itself. She is a frequent contributor to Hellebore magazine, and co-edited the anthology Strange Relics, published by Handheld Press in 2022.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS
Introduction 7
A Note from the Publisher 13
An Extract from Ringstones Sarban 15
The Temple E. F. Benson 23
The Spirit of Stonehenge Jasper John 45
The First Sheaf H. R. Wakefield 53
The Tarn of Sacrifice Algernon Blackwood 67
The Shadow on the Moor Stuart Strauss 95
Lisheen Frederick Cowles 115
The Ceremony Arthur Machen 131
The Dark Land Mary Williams 137
The Man Who Could Talk with the Birds J. H. Pearce 147
The Stone That Liked Company A. L. Rowse 153
Minuke Nigel Kneale 173
New Corner L. T. C. Rolt 189
Where the Stones Grow Lisa Tuttle 207
The Suppell Stone Elsa Wallace 225