With Halloween just past and Veteran’s Day (Armistice Day) on the horizon, here’s a nice segueway – a novel featuring a witch and other supernatural figures during World War One.
LIVING ALONE (1919) – Written by Stella Benson. This novel is like a World War One forerunner of Bedknobs and Broomsticks. In 1918, during what was then called The Great War, a London woman named Sarah Brown busies herself with War Savings Committee Work.
One day a witch named Angela invites her to move into a home called the House of Living Alone, which turns out to be a boardinghouse for practitioners of magic as well as assorted supernatural figures like faeries, imps, etc. Sarah accepts the invitation, taking her dog David Blessing with her.
This house is located on Mitten Island in the Thames River. Sarah becomes involved in the adventures of Peony, who is plagued by an Imp wanting to be born. She also meets Richard Higgins, a practicing warlock who runs – not a dairy farm – but a Faerie Farm, which is supervised by a dragon.
At one point a German bombing raid strikes a cemetery, waking up all of the dead. They rise from their graves, convinced that it is the Final Judgment, until Sarah and her new friends set things right.
Whimsically enough, circumstances later lead the witch who runs the House of Living Alone into mounting her flying broomstick and having a magical dogfight over England with a German witch. Continue reading
THE MONKS OF MONK HALL aka THE QUAKER CITY (1844-1845) – Written by George Lippard, this strange and macabre story was originally serialized from 1844-1845 before being published in novel form. This bloody, horrific work was America’s best-selling novel before Uncle Tom’s Cabin. 
Think of Monk Hall as a combination of Twin Peaks establishments like the Black Lodge, One-Eyed Jacks and the Great Northern all rolled into one. The vast, multi-roomed Hall is honey-combed with secret passageways and trap doors. Beneath the mansion are a subterranean river plus several levels of labyrinthine catacombs filled with rats, refuse and the skeletal remains of the Monks’ many victims from the past century and a half. 
DEVIL-BUG – The deformed, depraved and deranged bastard offspring of one of Monk Hall’s members and one of the many prostitutes who are literally enslaved there. Devil-Bug has spent his entire life in the Hall and has no other name. He is squat, incredibly strong and grotesquely ugly with one large gaping eye and one small, withered, empty socket on his face. 
Master of an occult method of eternal youth, Ravoni has been alive for over two hundred years. (The novel repeatedly says just two hundred years, but the villain refers to having been present at the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, which happened in 1572, so it has to be longer) 
THE WRAITH 
BEATRICE RAPPACCINI 
AMAZING ADVENTURES Vol 2 #31 (July 1975)
Those pursuers: Atalon – white-shirted human quisling administrator of Death-Birth, the now-destroyed alien fortress where they raised humans like cattle since they eat human flesh – and the Sacrificer, green-clad medical madman who used to prepare those cannibal meals for the aliens, including their favorite delicacy – human infants carved out of their mother’s body shortly before they are due to deliver. 
KNOCKING OFF NUMBER SIX – In the NAIA the 18th ranked SIENA HEIGHTS UNIVERSITY SAINTS took it on the road against the number 6 team in the nation – the UNIVERSITY OF SAINT FRANCIS (IN) COUGARS. The Saints stunned the Cougars and the prognosticators by toppling USF by a final score of 24-14. 
MARATHON GAME OF THE DAY – This distinction goes to the clash between the NICHOLS COLLEGE BISON and their hosts the UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND NOR’EASTERS. The 4th Quarter ended in a 38-38 tie. One Overtime wasn’t enough. Two weren’t enough. Three weren’t enough. In the FOURTH OVERTIME the Bison emerged with a 51-48 triumph. 
USCAA SPOTLIGHT GAME – USCAA stands for United States Collegiate Athletic Association. The WILLIAMSON COLLEGE OF THE TRADES MECHANICS took the field against the visiting NEW JERSEY WARRIORS yesterday. The Mechanics led 7-3 at the Half before going on to win the game 14-3. 
Halloween Month continues at Balladeer’s Blog.
Halloween month continues here at Balladeer’s Blog with a look at the first two volumes of Graveyard Shift, the “monsters as superheroes” sensation drawn by THE Jon Malin and written by Mark Poulton. 
Graveyard Shift Volume Two featured the team taking on the reborn menace of Dracula himself and his legions. The first two installments raised six figures each on Indiegogo and it is presumed that the third volume, expected in 2020, will continue that trend. 
EIGHT AND O – In NCAA Division Two the 4th ranked OUACHITA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY TIGERS traveled to face the SOUTHERN NAZARENE UNIVERSITY CRIMSON STORM. The Crimson Storm led 7-0 in the 1st Quarter and 13-7 come Halftime. After the break the Tigers went on top 20-13 in the 3rd Quarter before winning it 27-13 to remain undefeated. 
ONE-POINT WONDER – Down in the NJCAA the ITAWAMBA COLLEGE INDIANS were on the road against the NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE RANGERS. These two teams went blow for blow and score for score until the Indians ultimately emerged with a 22-21 victory. 
PRC THRILLER – The (9) PEARL RIVER COLLEGE WILDCATS hosted the MISSISSIPPI DELTA COLLEGE TROJANS. The Wildcats converted a 7-6 1st Quarter edge into a 17-6 advantage at the Half. The 3rd Quarter ended with Pearl River College up 24-13 and in the 4th the Wildcats held on to win it 24-19. 
NOUGHTS AND CROSSES: COLLECTED SHORT STORIES (1891) – Written by “Q” aka Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, this was a collection of his short stories. Those stories: 
