Although the form is that of a traditional
ghost story, Kipling tweaked the plot with consid-
erable originality for his time. The ghosts appear in
daylight as well as darkness, and they are not
overtly menacing. Indeed, it appears that Agnes
Wessington’s spirit is still deeply in love with the
man who wronged her. The concept that too fer-
vent a love might in itself be a kind of curse may
have been a reflection of a similar theme in “HOW
LOVE CAME TO PROFESSOR GUILDEA” (1900) by
Robert Hichens. Another innovation involves the
death of the four servants, all of whom contract
cholera, so that their spirits might also be present
in his visions, a decidedly Eastern touch. Kipling
wrote several other ghost and horror stories, but
only “THE MARK OF THE BEAST” rivaled this one in
quality.
Phantoms Dean R. Koontz(1983)
Dean R. KOONTZbegan his career primarily writ-
ing science fiction and occasional pseudonymous
thrillers. During the 1980s he completed his transi-
tion, at least in terms of marketing, to the horror
genre, becoming one of the leading names along
with Stephen KING, Anne RICE, and Peter STRAUB,
but unlike those three, most of his “horror” novels
are actually science fiction. A case in point is this,
one of his very best and most suspenseful novels,
which has all of the atmosphere and many of the
devices of supernatural horror but which is com-
pletely rationalized.
The story opens with the discovery of a virtu-
ally abandoned town in a remote area. Although
most of the residents have disappeared without a
trace, apparently in the blink of an eye leaving
food cooking and machinery in operation, there
are remnants left behind that hint that something
violent may have happened. The handful of people
investigating are subjected to a series of increas-
ingly baffling and terrifying phenomena, including
the appearance of odd and malevolent forms of
life, none of which seem biologically capable of ex-
isting on their own.
The truth is that the town has been visited by
an ancient form of life, probably the only one of its
kind on Earth, an amorphous mass that lives un-
derground but can shape its body into a variety of
forms and even detach parts of itself to act semi-
independently. The creature lives by absorbing the
physical bodies of other living beings, and in the
process it gains their memories. Having devoured
an entire town, it has suddenly gained intelligence
equivalent to that of human beings and must be
outwitted rather than outfought. The 1998 film
version, though reasonably loyal to the story, is
nevertheless disappointing.Phillpotts, Eden(1862–1960)
Eden Phillpotts was a British writer who wrote in
many different genres, including fantasy, but whose
work has been undeservedly overlooked in recent
years. He began writing short fantasies late in the
19th century, including A Deal with the Devil
(1895), which unsurprisingly tells the story of an
unwise pact made with Satan and its consequences.
After the turn of the century, Phillpotts wrote
several fantasy novels based on Greek and Roman
mythology, including The Girl and the Faun(1916),
Evander(1919), Pan and the Twins(1922), The
Treasures of Typhon(1924), and Arachne(1927).
His best fantasy novel is The Lavender Dragon
(1923), in which a knight is sent out to slay a
dragon but discovers instead that the beast is actu-
ally helping people rather than preying upon them.
The Owl of Athene(1936) also involves the Greek
gods but quickly moves into unusual territory, as
the gods have to deal with an invasion of Earth by
giant crabs. The best of these classically inspired
works are Pan and the Twins,in which a young
Roman man becomes a worshipper of Pan and
grows to maturity in a world in which the power of
the gods is on the wane, and Arachne,which retells
the story of the rivalry between Arachne and
Athena, in this case based on an intellectual dis-
agreement about the purpose of art. Phillpotts pro-
vides the story with a happier ending than in the
original.
The Miniature(1926) also makes use of the
Greek Gods, this time chronicling their decision to
create humanity in their own image. There are
some clever ideas, but much of the story is re-
vealed in the form of lengthy dialogues that read
more like philosophical essays than a work of fic-
tion. The author’s early short fantasies are col-272 Phantoms