|
|
Post by dem bones on Feb 11, 2008 8:46:06 GMT
Basil Copper - Here Be Daemons: Tales Of Horror And The Uneasy (Robert Hale, 1978)  Jacket Design: Colin Andrews
The Knocker At The Portico
The Way The World Died
The Second Passenger
The Treasure Of Our Lady
Justice At The Crossroads
Mrs. Van Donk
The Trodes
The Great Vore Mrs. Van Donk features revenge and a horrific finale with a giant spider; SF horror is the theme of The Way The World Died and The Trodes; madness in The Knocker At The Portico; Black Magic and more tradition horrors in the novellas The Great Vore and The Treasure Of Our Lady.
This collection is a veritable feast for all those who love the macabre, the grim and the ghostly. Black Magic novella The Great Vore is arguably the stand-out of this, Copper's fifth collection. Revenge At The Crossroads sees a stranger fall foul of superstitious villagers when they mistake him for a vampire. The Second Passenger, and a murderer is pursued by the rotting corpse of his victim - hardly original, but one of the best stories of its kind. Includes: Old Mrs. Cartwright: The old lady agrees to take 13-year-old Lionel to the Zoological Gardens as a favour to his mother, her sister, but the truth is she doesn't much care for children, Lionel more than most. There's something animal about his ever-watchful yellow eyes and the way strangers in his vicinity have a habit of claiming to have been bitten by a "dog" which is never found. Old Mrs. Cartright finds herself locked in after closing time with something in pursuit .... The Knocker At The Portico: Gothic tale of insanity, similar in plot to the same author’s vampire tale Dr. Porthos. Edward Rayner, a life-long scholar begins to hear dreadful hammerings in his head and is convinced that these are in some way connected to Dr. Spiros, an all-too frequent visitor to the house with whom he suspects his young wife, Jane, of having an affair. Sure enough, Jane moves out with Spiros and Edward murders a maid who tries to bar his way as they depart. He traces the couple to their love-nest ... except it isn't one and he's about to learn a dreadful truth. The Second Passenger: Reginald Braintree and Samuel Briggs have detested each other ever since Braintree first joined Mr. Steyning's Cheapside firm as an office boy. Mr. Steyning has now retired and the old sparring partners are now senior partners when Braintree discovers Briggs' flair for embezzling company funds. When he confronts his enemy with the evidence, a scuffle ensues and Briggs is accidentally killed. Braintree doesn't fancy explaining what happened to the police, so he disposes of the corpse in a reputedly bottomless swamp. It mush have been The Sucking Pit or something because, as Braintree takes the commuter train home from Charing Cross, a trail of slimy footprints lead down the corridor toward his compartment .... The Way The World Died: All the super-powers are armed equally, the gloomy prognosis is that the Great Death will befall mankind sooner rather than later but the people of Zubar blithely go about their serious business of singing, dancing, partying, being gourmets and all manner of hippy behaviour. This really pisses everyone off, especially China, who decide to bomb the fuck out of Zubar in 24 hours and send along an envoy to break these tidings to the love and peace merchants, and see how they like that. But the Zubar leader has planned well for such an eventuality ..... Justice At The Crossroads: Eighteenth century Poland. Moeller, a German apothecary, passes through a poverty-stricken village on his way to Warsaw. Hearing a cry from within a filthy hovel, he investigates to discover a girl in the latter stages of swamp fever. His attempts to administer medical aid are interrupted by the arrival of her wretched mother who starts screaming that her daughter is being attacked by a vampire. Moeller is apprehended and finds himself on trial for his life, knowing that should he be found guilty, the peasants will make a thorough job of his execution. To be continued .... Does anyone have a cover scan of the Sphere 1978 edition of Here Be Daemons?
|
|
|
|
Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Oct 17, 2008 14:39:26 GMT
Is this the one, Dem?  |
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Oct 17, 2008 15:33:14 GMT
Ah, thanks for that, Mr. Saucecraft! Are the contents the same in both books?
|
|
|
|
Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Oct 17, 2008 15:45:16 GMT
Yep, contents are exactly the same for '78 edition. Btw, no need for the Mr.Saucecraft, Dave will do fine  |
|
|
|
Post by doomovertheworld on Feb 21, 2012 16:02:03 GMT
I just finished this one this morning. I would agree with demonik's opening post that the novella The Great Vore was by far the best thing in the collection. While reading it I got a distinct whiff of both Sherlock Holmes and H. P. Lovecraft, both of which is obviously a good thing.
I've also got 1978 Sphere edition of the book. mainly as a result of that cover I read Mrs van Donk first and was hugely disappointed by it. The giant spider on the cover makes absolutely no appearance in the story. The closest thing we get to it is one tarantula.
overall I would say that this is an extremely uneven collection ranging from the extremely fun to the just plain dull
|
|
|
|
Post by cauldronbrewer on Feb 21, 2012 18:17:16 GMT
I just finished this one this morning. I would agree with demonik's opening post that the novella The Great Vore was by far the best thing in the collection. While reading it I got a distinct whiff of both Sherlock Holmes and H. P. Lovecraft, both of which is obviously a good thing. I've also got 1978 Sphere edition of the book. mainly as a result of that cover I read Mrs van Donk first and was hugely disappointed by it. The giant spider on the cover makes absolutely no appearance in the story. The closest thing we get to it is one tarantula. overall I would say that this is an extremely uneven collection ranging from the extremely fun to the just plain dull Agree on all counts. "The Great Vore" is a blast, but From Evil's Pillow or And Afterward, the Dark would be a better place to start with Copper's short fiction. |
|
|
|
Post by noose on Feb 21, 2012 22:24:36 GMT
Original artwork - sorry for the shit photo  |
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Feb 22, 2012 9:11:21 GMT
Nice photo. Looks like a still from Paranormal Activity  |
|
|
|
Post by doomovertheworld on Feb 23, 2012 18:48:34 GMT
I just finished this one this morning. I would agree with demonik's opening post that the novella The Great Vore was by far the best thing in the collection. While reading it I got a distinct whiff of both Sherlock Holmes and H. P. Lovecraft, both of which is obviously a good thing. I've also got 1978 Sphere edition of the book. mainly as a result of that cover I read Mrs van Donk first and was hugely disappointed by it. The giant spider on the cover makes absolutely no appearance in the story. The closest thing we get to it is one tarantula. overall I would say that this is an extremely uneven collection ranging from the extremely fun to the just plain dull Agree on all counts. "The Great Vore" is a blast, but From Evil's Pillow or And Afterward, the Dark would be a better place to start with Copper's short fiction. in that i will have to investigate those books immediately |
|
|
|
Post by doug on Feb 24, 2012 5:32:20 GMT
Hi! I snagged a copy on Ebay.co.uk 3 days ago!!! Along with a very nice copy pf CAS's "Genius Loci"! take care. Doug |
|
droogie
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 100
|
Post by droogie on Mar 26, 2017 15:22:59 GMT
Not sure if the person who took the photo of the original art is still on the forum, but if he is: Is Terry Oakes the artist for Here by Daemons?
|
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 26, 2017 19:42:25 GMT
Not sure if the person who took the photo of the original art is still on the forum, but if he is: Is Terry Oakes the artist for Here by Daemons? Just checked the exhaustive 'Working Bibliography' in Stephen Jones' Basil Copper: A Life In Books and it's still uncredited. Looks like Terry Oakes to me, but don't take that as any kind of confirmation! |
|
