As readers of the blog know, I’ve been on a Valancourt Books world horror kick recently (see here, here and here), as they’ve been releasing English translations of world horror authors, many of the stories and collections appearing in English for the first time. I recently picked up and read Orchard of the Dead, by Stefan Grabinski.

Unlike the other world horror collections I’ve looked at, this one is much older: Polish author Stefan Grabinski was born in 1887 and died in 1936, so his work was written in the same era as Lovecraft. He has in fact been referred to as the “Polish Lovecraft” or “Polish Poe,” though my reading of the stories suggests that the latter characterization is more accurate (and more complimentary).

Grabinski started writing short fiction in 1906, and his first collection of stories was published in 1909. His career really only started to take off, however, in 1920, with a collection of “mystic railway” stories titled The Motion Demon (Demon Ruchu). Several additional collections followed, the last one being the 1930 Namiętność (Passion). He also wrote a handful of novels, the last being Wyspa Itongo (Itongo Island), which appeared in 1936.

Orchard of the Dead collects stories from the entire range of Grabinski’s career, the earliest being the title story, which appeared in 1909, and the latest being “Szamota’s Mistress,” which appeared in 1922. He was not very productive in his later years, which apparently was due to his lifelong struggle with tuberculosis, which was first diagnosed in 1905 and worsened in 1930, forcing him to retire to a resort town and spa for treatment.

The stories are largely, though not entirely, supernatural, and as I have said they are rather reminiscent of Poe’s stories that focused on the darkness of the human spirit and disease and madness, though Grabniski definitely has his own voice and style in his writing. There are 14 stories in the collection; I summarize a handful of them to give a sense of the collection. Not all are darkness and decay; there is some hope and beauty hidden within the tales as well.

• At Sarah’s House. When Wladek’s friend Kazio forms a longterm relationship with the beautiful and mysterious woman Sarah, it is clear to both men that Sarah has some sort of unnatural power over his will and is slowly draining his life. When Kazio dies, Wladek takes it upon himself to wreak a particularly unusual form of revenge upon Sarah for her crimes.
• Burning Ground. When Rojecki looks for a plot of land to build his family a new home, he finds a beautiful empty lot that appears to be ideal. The locals, however, warn him that it is a “burning ground,” and that every house that has been built on the property has ended in a terrible conflagration. Rojecki is undeterred, however, and constructs his house. At first, it seems that he has broken the curse of the burning ground, but the unknown force that resides there is much more patient and clever than he realizes.
• Parable of the Tunnel Mole. Florek is the last in a line of his family members who have supervised the long tunnel under the Gorce Mountains as government workers. Florek himself never spends time above ground, and shuns the sun; one day, though, he makes a fateful discovery that there are those even more dedicated to the darkness than him.
• Orchard of the Dead. A great plague once devastated the children of Gregor’s village, and it took the lives of almost all except for his granddaughter Magda. Gregor managed the cemetery for the victims, and eventually planted fruit trees on the site, which began to produce a bountiful harvest. Gregor prohibited Magda from touching the fruit, which he argued belonged to the dead and the dead alone. But one day Magda, haunted by strange dreams, opts to try one of the forbidden fruit…
• Mud Hut in a Clear Field. The criminal Zebron is certain that he has escaped the justice that has claimed the rest of his murderous gang. He has trudged along across the remote countryside, throwing off his pursuers, and plans to start a new life in Romania. When he finds an abandoned mud hut in the darkness of a particularly wet night, he believes that his lifelong luck has turned in his favor yet again. But the thing waiting in the hut does not feel the same way.

This is a fascinating collection of stories, and strikingly contemplative. To me, the stories read as much as commentaries on the human condition as they do horror, though genuine horror is to be found within. There is a significant dose of eroticism in the stories as well, and stories like “At Sarah’s House” and “Szamota’s Mistress” reflect on humanity’s carnal nature.

The collection definitely feels more of that era of classic ghost stories of the late 19th century and early 20th century and fits with the work of M.R. James and E.F. Benson more than with the cold cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft. I really enjoyed this glimpse of the horror of a past era and at the works of an author outside of the United States. Orchard of the Dead is a lovely and fascinating collection.

And now I’ll take a short break from reading Valancourt Books editions and look at some other weird stories for a change of pace…