westernlightsbooks.com

Official Website of the Western Lights Series

Home

News

The Sundered World

The Books

Bestiary

Gazetteer

Reviews

Bio

A Tribute

Anchorwick




Gresham & Doyle (2008) trade paperback edition, 387 pp.

ISBN 978-0-9787634-1-1
$14.95 U.S.

FEAR HAUNTS THE TURRET ROOM . . .

It is hard to say just what sort of noise it was.

I swung the lamp round and scanned the darkened chamber. I saw no one, of course, and nothing. It was then that my ears caught hold of it - a faint, energetic whispering, as of a voice struggling to make itself heard.

My scalp tingled with a sudden sense of impending danger.

"Who is it?" I demanded. "Who is there?"

All in an instant I spied a glimmer of movement, and was struck cold to see a strange, ghostly shape swimming in the air before me. The words it was whispering were but two, louder now, and repeated several times over in a desperate, pleading tone -

"Help me!"

My name is Eugene Stanley, and I had come up to Salthead and its fabled University to assist my uncle, Professor Christopher Greenshields, in the preparation of his latest tome. Little hint had I of the mystery and danger that awaited me there . . .


CHARACTERS

The Angler of Gorgon St. Nicholas

A mysterious gentleman of antique appearance, long resident in the shadow world

Mrs. Elspeth Baggot

Wife of the following

Mr. John Baggot

Landlord of the Brown Bear inn and public house, at Rheum

The Rev. Dr. Septimus Boldenough ("Old Baldenough")

Proctor of Salthead University; chief agent of university discipline and terror of college evildoers

Mr. Bounciful

Chief of mastodon operations and superintendent of Carker's Yard

Mr. Bradway

Landlord of the Magpie public house

Brendy

College scout to Charles Grimpen and companions on "C" staircase, Antrobus College; a smiling, goggle-eyed little fellow

Stephen Budge

Third-year man in Bearsnose College, and demonstrator in the natural sciences in the Plaxtonian Museum

Eustace Cornflower-Swift

Diminutive Antroban undergraduate, having no particular direction in life; a leisured young man and scion of a prominent local family

Daniel Dampe

A young medical student, of a jaunty air, in the Hospital of St. Mary Corpuscle

Madam Dorcas Dunferline

Cousin to Mr. Metropoll and specialist in the departed spirits sort of line, known as "the seer of Dalhousie Street"; a tall, striking-looking woman

Aubrey Filcher

Antroban undergraduate "going in for the law"; a burly, ox-eyed young man

Mrs. Fleay

Bedmaker assigned to the rooms of Charles Grimpen and his fellows on "C" staircase, Antrobus College; a tiny, wrinkled old woman

Fowles

Superannuated servant to Mr. Balthasar Timothy

Mrs. Amelia Greenshields

Wife of the following, and aunt to Eugene Stanley

Professor Christopher Greenshields

Hurlstone Professor of Classics in Antrobus College; husband of the preceding, and uncle to Eugene Stanley

Miss Juliana Gridley

An amiable and rather plain-spoken lady; cousin to Professor Winston Haygarth and guardian of his granddaughter Alice

Charles Grimpen

Antroban undergraduate reading history, and boyhood chum of Eugene Stanley; an affable, earnest young man

Dr. Hieronimo Gullet

Fierce-eyed little Doctor of Cartography and Master of Antrobus College

Captain Hammock

A nautical personage, master of the merchant trading vessel Sea Hound, and an acquaintance of long standing of Miss Gridley's

Mr. Hardy

A facetious single gentleman of independent means; neighbor to Professor and Mrs. Greenshields

Miss Alice Haygarth

A pretty young girl, granddaughter of the following, and ward of Miss Gridley

Professor Winston Haygarth

Burwash Professor of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy in Antrobus College; missing now these two years

Hettie

Domestic in service in the house of Professor Haygarth

Mr. Lockwood Locke

Solicitor in the firm of Catskin, Chisel & Locke, and legal adviser to Professor Haygarth

John Loobey

Waiter in the Magpie public house

Robert Mallow

Antroban undergraduate of an antiquarian bent;  a pale, bespectacled young man

Marmalade

Lemon-striped tabby cat residing in the house of Mrs. Rumble

Dr. Maynham Mars

The renowned college physician of Antrobus; very big, very dignified, and very exclusive

Martin

College scout to Professor Greenshields and others; slick-haired and ditto-tongued

"Meanwell"

Phantom postman residing in the shadow world; so named by Professor Haygarth

Mr. Metropoll

Chief barber and proprietor of a well-regarded tonsorial parlor frequented by college dons; a brisk, active little man

Miss Moonflathers

Domestic in the house of Madam Dorcas Dunferline, and her friend and confidante

Nicholas

Black gelding belonging to Professor Greenshields

Oates

Country-bred groom in the house of Professor Greenshields

"Otho"

Porter guarding the gates of Antrobus College, so named by the undergraduates; a spare little brown nut of a knotty old man, real name Scatchard

Mrs. Peachy

Housekeeper to Professor and Mrs. Greenshields

Goffy Popinjoy

A mastodon driver

Poppy

A lively little fawn-colored terrier, plucky and mischievous, residing in the house of Professor and Mrs. Greenshields

Mr. Quince

Junior partner, or foreman, in Metropoll's Tonsorial Parlor

Raisin

A young mastodon cow in the Popinjoy train, comely and bright-eyed

The Rev. Mr. Rowley

The rector of Misticot, near Rheum; a portly gentleman, bearing a marked resemblance to Father Christmas

Mrs. Rumble

Widow in whose house Eugene Stanley has taken rooms; a little squab woman

Mr. William Makewright Saturday

Celebrated author, now dwelling in the shadow world

Professor Jeremiah Scuttlewig ("Old Gig-lights")

Doddering Professor of Mathematics in Antrobus College; a frail, elderly don

Shivers

Confidential valet to Dr. Gullet

Mr. James Smiler

The sexton of Rheum; a gaunt and leathery little old man

Calisto Staggins

A lean, scowling fellow, with a wooden leg; suspected of being a resurrection man

Eugene Stanley

Young nephew of Professor Greenshields, and the narrator of this story

Marian and Tessa Stanley

Sisters of the preceding

Titus Tiggs

Young B.A. in Swinford College, reading to become a fellow in the area of metaphysical philosophy; considered a first-class man

Mr. Balthasar Timothy

A trim, small man, of a peppery disposition; descendant of the Hulkes of Anchorwick

Professor Windygate

Professor of Paleology in Antrobus College; a stout, heavy-breathing don

Dr. Frank Woolwine

Doctor and Professor of the Natural Sciences, with laboratory rooms in the Plaxtonian Museum; a grave, shiny-haired, secret-looking young man




Featured image: Detail from Two Men Contemplating the Moon (oil on canvas), by Caspar David Friedrich (Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden / Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden / Bridgeman Art Library)