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Another fascinating element of Edwardian literature was the proliferation of fantasy and ghost stories. Such authors as M.R.James, a master of ghost stories, whose "Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad," features a creature with "a face like crumpled linen." Or Lord Dunsany, with a number of books to his credit. Or Algernon Blackwood, another master of the creepy. Or Arthur Machen, who reveled in tales of weird goings-on in foggy dales of standing stones in the English countryside.
Although these writers were being published while Edward VII was king, they also continued up into the 30's. Likewise, Talbot Mundy, John Buchan, and Sax Rohmer. (Buchan had the greatest prominence, and, for other reasons, eventually became Prime Minister of Canada.)
An interesting aspect of all of them is not only a casual racism, but also misogyny. Most of these tales are about male "chums," encountering weird experiences of one sort or another, though without any overt homoerotic elements, which would have seemed out of the question to these writers. (Mundy, for all his tales of male cameraderie, often deplored what he called "perverts.") And most everyone refers to Asians, more or less, as either "inscrutable," or "The Yellow Peril."
It was a different time, and such attitudes as racism, misogyny, and homophobia were socially acceptable.
My parents had a large collection of books by these writers, and I inherited them. They have become very rare with time.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alWMTcQEP_U
Does the above count as a good example of steampunk? I thought it was tremendous when I saw it turn up during the climax to that year's Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Next Doctor. Many fellow fans hated it, because of things like the implausability of it fitting into the River Thames, and it not making the history books. Me? I just loved the Boys' Own style panache that it represented and sat there with the biggest grin since I was 12. I'm 53 now.
I give you The Cyber King!
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
To quote a well known US tennis player from the past YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JIM!!!
That piece of Murray Gold luxury is the best monster movie music in years! Really! Listen to it. It's beyond wonderful. I just wish the BBC at the time could have afforded more time to the sequence to allow Murray to give it the full Herrmann inspired sound to fully do it justice, instead of a few measly moments of bombast, along with the same amount of cgi the Beeb could afford. And I do believe they blew steam out of their ears to give the production what RTD wanted. He was WAY more powerful in my eyes than Moffat is even now with his Sherlock business.
On that one night, I got what I love. Who, and a monster movie sequence. I would pay good money to know what Ray Harryhausen thought. Because in my heart of hearts I KNOW he was a Who fan.
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