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by Andrew Caldecott (Author)
Weird Tales of the Oriental and Occidental
Andrew Caldecott was not pre-disposed to be an author of strange fi ction or indeed of any other genre. Born in England in 1884 during the Victorian age, he was bound for the Colonial Offi ce to be an administrator for that 'empire upon which the sun never set'. By 1934 he was Acting Governor of the Straits Settlements (which included Malacca, Dindings, Penang and Singapore) followed by an appointment to the governorship of Hong Kong and thereafter of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) until 1944. He was knighted in 1935. Caldecott, however, also engaged in several diversions beyond his professional life. Although he had contributed several articles concerning Malayan history to journals, his excursions into the literature of the supernatural came late in life with the publication of two volumes of shorter ghostly fi ction, ' Not Exactly Ghosts' (1947) and, 'Fires Burn Blue' (1948). Although he was awarded numerous decorations during his lifetime and has several roads, an underground railway station (and a hill )named after him in Singapore, it may be that posterity will remember him for these fi nely crafted chilling tales written, one may imagine, for his own entertainment. Predictably several of these stories have oriental themes drawn from an exotic world with which he was most familiar and take their styling cuesin keeping with several amateur supernatural fi ction authors- from M.R. James. Sir Andrew Caldecott died in 1951. 'Sonata in D Minor', 'Seated One Day At The Organ', 'A Victim of Medusa' and many other tales will be found in these pages.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.
