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But, he is best known for his supernatural and fantasy short-stories and is regarded by many as one of the twentieth century masters of the genre. Interestingly, he was a great pragmatist and did not believe in ghosts or occult agencies of any sort. It is therefore testament to his writing skills that he so convincingly conveys supernatural atmosphere and events.
My tale is drawing to an end, since there is but one Yewdale left in it; but so extraordinary a thing was now to come to pass, and one that so truly might be called the Act of God, that, piecing together certain things I saw, others that were told me THE first thing that the new parson noticed, as he rode up the narrow, precipitous street late in the October afternoon, was that the muffled knock-knocking that proceeded from the houses ceased as he ascended; and the next was that he had never in h A novelist retreats to an abandoned house in the heart of London, where he becomes enthralled by an 18th-century spirit -- and where his contact with the outside world gradually diminishes George Oliver Onions was a 20th century British writer.
Onions published over 40 novels and short story collections. Before becoming a writer Onions was a commercial artist.
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His first edition novels had full color paintings painted by him on their du A collection of eight marvellous stories of the supernatural. Yours may be pleasant, but I'm not in the habit of wasting much time over mine. Might as well be making new ones. I'll drink w It is the late seventeenth century and thirteen-year-old Robyn is biding time on his farm in the Lincolnshire fens.
Oliver onions music: George Oliver Onions[1] (13 November – 9 April ), who published under the name Oliver Onions, was an English writer of short stories and novels. He wrote in various genres, but is perhaps best remembered for his ghost stories, notably the collection Widdershins and the widely anthologized novella "The Beckoning Fair One".
One day returning through the mist with a pack of smuggled spirits he is waylaid by bandits, a gang ruled by the dreadful Queen of Hol British writer Oliver Onions rose to literary acclaim on the strength of his ability to craft lyrical, uncanny stories of horror. That gift is on full display in the strange and beautiful novel The Debit Account, which is the second book in the Whom Pitman sshorthand.
I was surprised to find I remembered as much of it as I do, for I dropped it suddenly when A rdiie Merridew died, and Archie sclear, high-pitched voice was the last that ever dictated to me for speed, while I myself have not dictat Mackie he would have torn from limb to limb. Far more royal His theory of ghosts, at least in his fiction, was that they are all around us but are usually not visible.
Only when there is a slight shift in the equilibrium between the supernatural and the natural worlds are ghosts sometimes sighted. Though Onions wrote convincingly about the supernatural, he did not believe in ghosts. He legally changed his name to George Oliver in but used the name Oliver Onions to publish fiction.
While in France, he edited a student paper, Le Quartier Latin. On his return to England in , he embarked on a career as an illustrator and poster designer. Even after he took up writing, he continued his commercial art work, most notably in the design of book jackets. It was nearly a decade before his next books were published. These included three novels which established his reputation as a master of the psychological thriller: In Accordance with the Evidence , The Debit Account , and The Story of Louis , which make up his Whom God Hath Sundered trilogy.
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These were published in an omnibus edition in At this point, he began making less money from art and more from writing, so he shifted gears to a literary career. At first, his works were not horror but did contain his signature strangeness and were written in the unique style he strove for. In , Onions married Berta Ruck. In , Onions married the writer Berta Ruck — and they had two sons: Arthur born and William born He died on 9 April in Aberystwyth , Wales.
Originally trained as a commercial artist , he worked as a designer of posters and books and as a magazine illustrator during the Boer War. Encouraged by the American writer Gelett Burgess , Onions began writing fiction. Poor Man's Tapestry and its prequel, Arras of Youth are about the adventures of a juggler, Robert Gandelyn, in the 14th century.
Onions wrote several collections focusing on ghost stories and other weird fiction. The best known of these collections is Widdershins His sensitivity and imagination are enhanced by his seclusion, but his art, his only friend and his sanity are all destroyed in the process. The story can be read as narrating the gradual possession of the protagonist by a mysterious and possessive feminine spirit, or as a realistic description of a psychotic outbreak culminating in catatonia and murder, told from the psychotic subject's point of view.
The precise description of the slow disintegration of the protagonist's mind is terrifying in either case. A theme that "The Beckoning Fair One" shares with others of Onions's stories is a connection between creativity and insanity; here the artist is in danger of withdrawing from the world altogether and losing himself in his creation.
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The title novella of The Painted Face concerns a Greek girl's reincarnation of an ancient spirit; Mike Ashley describes it as "one of the finest works in the genre". A long supernatural horror novel is The Hand of Kornelius Voyt , about an isolated boy who falls under the psychic influence of a mysterious man. Onions' work has largely been well received.
Gahan Wilson ranked him as "one of the best, if not the best, ghost story writers working in the English language.
Onions did as much as anyone to move phantoms and other haunts from dark, Gothic dungeons to the very room in which you presently sit. Priestley described Widdershins as a "book of fine creepy stories". Burrage said of Onions' work, "There is some hair-raising stuff in Widdershins ", and added "there is great literary excellence in this book, besides satisfaction for the mere seeker after thrills.
Bleiler lauded Widdershins as "a landmark book in the history of supernatural fiction".
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Onions writes limpid and often beautiful prose. Wilson notes that. In fact, the majority of the author's supernatural fiction is of an extremely high standard and is notable for its originality, subtlety and careful characterizations which lift it well above the average. On the other hand, H. Lovecraft's assessment of Onions' work was negative; in a letter to J.
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