H.B.
Marriott Watson was a prolific author and journalist, writing more
than forty books, including seventeen short story collections and
a collection of essays. He specialised in adventures and
historical romances, but he also wrote mystery, fantasy and
supernatural fiction.
For the
first nine years of his life, Marriott Watson lived in various
localities in Victoria, as his father, an Anglican priest, took up
ministries. Early in 1873, Marriott Watson left Australia for good
when his father was made incumbent of St John's, Christchurch, in
New Zealand. He was educated at Christ’s College, Christchurch,
and Canterbury College. He graduated from university in 1883 and
two years later he traveled to England, where he settled. He took
up journalism and fiction and became a protégé of
William Ernest Henley. Many of Marriott Watson’s early ‘decadent’
stories were published in Henley’s National Observer, and his
first collection of short stories, Diogenes of London and Other
Fantasies and Sketches was dedicated to Henley. Though not a prolific
writer of supernatural fiction, a couple of his stories, notably
“The Devil of the Marsh”, and “The Stone Chamber”, are regarded as
classics of their kind. His life was marked by tragedy: his
partner (they were never married), the well-known decadent poet,
Rosamund Marriott Watson, died of cancer in 1911, and their only
son, Richard, was killed in the retreat from St Quentin in 1918.
Marriott Watson never recovered from this loss.
James
Doig
Novel
Marahuna,
A Romance,
Longmans, 1888
A lost race
fantasy
Short Stories
Diogenes
of London and Other Fantasies and Sketches, Methuen, 1893
(Includes:
‘The Devil of the Marsh’, ‘The Thing in the Copse’, ‘The Brazen
Cross’, ‘The Sword of Kadi’.)
The Heart
of Miranda and Other Stories, Lane, 1898
(Includes:
‘A Resurrection’, ‘The Stone Chamber’.)
Alarums
and Excursions, Methuen, 1903
(Includes:
‘A Soldier of Fortune’.)
Chapman’s
Wares, Mills
and Boon, 1915
(Includes:
‘The Instrument’.)
Aftermath, Chapman and Hall, 1919
(Includes:
‘Over the Wire’, ‘The Mill House’, ‘The Séance’.)
The Devil of the Marsh and Other
Stories, Ash-Tree Press, 2004
(Includes:
'Point Despair', 'The Devil of the Marsh', 'The Thing in the
Copse',
'The Brazen
Cross', 'The Sword of the Kadi', 'A Resurrection', 'The
Stone
Chamber', 'A Soldier of Fortune', 'The Vixen', 'The Kid',
'Giovanna',
'The Instrument', 'Over the Wire', 'The Mill House', 'The
Séance', 'Appendix: The Dead
Immortals'.)
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