Sealed Good in a Can: The benevolent magic innate to Gramarye nurtures Mike and Midge's creativity and intimacy. Herbert's latest novel begins as a rather taut political thriller/horror hybrid, but it begins to deteriorate about halfway through, becoming increasingly poorly paced and confused. The story Continue reading » Pastoral fantasy and graphic grue congeal immiscibly in this peculiar fairy tale from British horror laureate Herbert (Others). Set on the grounds of Castle Continue reading » David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) ISBN 1-59213-245-6

a b Davis, Jeffery (1995). Children's Television, 1947-1990. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p.163. ISBN 0-89950-911-8.

In Harmony with Nature: The cottage somehow soothes local wildlife to remarkable tameness, and has the power to heal them. Mike and Midge's sex life is enhanced as well, probably because sex is often symbolic of being "more natural", returning to our base instincts, etc. Godhood Seeker: Mycroft’s desire to tap the magic leyline of Gramarye is driven by the unadulterated power it would give him. Herbert's lastet horror novel is a turgid affair. It concerns Jonathan Childes, a schoolteacher with a psychic talent, who can occasionally see through the eyes of a certain lunatic during the Continue reading »

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. yep, Herbert is a professional, but he is not really a master. he has a tendency to badly overwrite certain things. for example, when he writes about Love... my stomach starts to cramp and i get a little nauseated. really, Herbert - restrain yourself, please! or perhaps i am just against Love? The nightmare home. We thought we'd found our haven, a cottage deep in the heart of the forest. Quaint, charming, maybe a little run-down, but so peaceful. The woodland animals and birds couldn't have been more neighbourly. That was the first part of the Magic. Midge's painting and my music soared to new heights of creativity. That was another part of the Magic. Our sensing, our feelings, our love for each other - well, that became the supreme Magic. But the cottage had an alternative side. The Bad Magic. Weinstein, David (2004). The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. pp.54–55. ISBN 1-59213-245-6 . Retrieved 2023-04-15.

This novel provides examples of:

Session musician Mike Stringer and illustrator Midge Gudgeon move from London to Gramarye, a somewhat dilapidated but idyllically peaceful cottage in rural Hampshire, previously occupied by the recently deceased, eccentric but highly regarded Flora Chaldean.

Deadpan Snarker: When Mycroft espouses the doctrine of his Synergist creed, Mike readily deflates his pomposity. I totally saw everything described in this book in great detail. Herbert captured the perfect description of a magic cottage deep in the woods. I expected more things to occur inside and around the cottage and towards the end, I was just left with a wanting. The Magic Cottage was hosted by Pat (Mary Patricia) Meikle (pronounced Michael), an artist and actress. In each episode, Meikle would tell a story illustrated by her drawings on a sketch pad propped on an easel, from which fairy tale characters would transform into live characters who acted out the adventures. Among them were the likes of Larry the Leprechaun, Maxwell the Mouse, and Wilmer the Pigeon, and in each episode Pat herself transformed into a princess who became part of the story being told, as the drawings "rippled" into real-time action to the accompaniment of a strum on a harp. [1]In Mike's introduction to the adventure with Gramarye, he half-seriously compares it to The Amityville Horror.