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Post by Dr Terror on Apr 30, 2008 12:43:04 GMT
Clarence Paget (ed.) - 29th Pan Book Of Horror Stories (1988)
J. P. Dixon - The Surgeon's Tale Jerome Preisler - Crabs Marcus Gold - The Cave Gee Williams - Penny Dreadful Stephen King - The Ledge Murray Pickles - The Joonka Junka Alan Temperley - Angel And Teacake Norman P. Kaufman - Flesh Craig Herbertson - The Heaven Maker Alan Temperley - Florence In The Garden Gee Williams - Beastie Terence Merchant - Listen Jonathan Cruise - The Missionary
Our old friend Warwick would enjoy the J.P. Dixon's excellent club tale that kicks off this one. On second thoughts perhaps he wouldn't, this one's so gruesome it makes Piece-meal look like a kids story! The next tale features one hell of a mother and her little nippers.
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Post by allthingshorror on Apr 30, 2008 13:56:11 GMT
I actually think that 29 is on the whole a good addition to the PBoH canon. I've been in touch with J P Dixon who has just went above and beyond the call of duty for me in regards to helping me with my research - and I will say that his story is the best of the bunch. Gruesome isn't the word for it - just disturbing beyond words! Kudos also has to be laid at the door of a certain Mr Craig Herbertson whose The Heaven Maker - would feel right at home in the earlier PBoH editions. Not kissing ass here as he's a regular on this site - just the way it happens to be. The weakest is M Pickles' Joonka Junka and funnily enough Stephen King's The Ledge.
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Post by Calenture on Apr 30, 2008 14:04:16 GMT
Kudos also has to be laid at the door of a certain Mr Craig Herbertson whose The Heaven Maker - would feel right at home in the earlier PBoH editions. Not kissing ass here as he's a regular on this site - just the way it happens to be. By coincidence, I finally read Craig's story this morning - and was frankly knocked sideways by it. I decided that when I write this one up properly, it will be to start a thread in the Favourite Authors section. It's a strange piece, with a quite restrained and clinical start, dipping briefly into real gothic, then coming to a full-blown Weird Tales pulp ending. Great stuff!
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Apr 30, 2008 15:16:19 GMT
Thank's Rog, Johnnie. To be mentioned in the same breath as Dixon's 'Surgeon's Tale' is an honour. I agree with The Junka Junka comment and I said somewhere else that 'The Ledge' had all the hallmarks of a clever tale slickly told with economy and style, but it somehow didn't feel 'horrible' in the true Pan Horror sense of horror It moves me to see comments about The Heaven Maker. I put so much of myself in the thing. I gave up writing short stories when I unwittingly assumed it was rejected. Thanks
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Post by Johnlprobert on Apr 30, 2008 15:59:38 GMT
Seeing the above I dug out my copy of Pan 29 (bought from Birmingham New Street railway station bookstall when it came out) and read Craig's story, which is very good indeed - certainly on a par with J P Dixon's superb opener.
Think I'll spend the rest of the evening re-reading this.
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jond
New Face In Hell
Posts: 4
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Post by jond on May 8, 2008 18:18:19 GMT
As I've just de-lurked on a couple of other threads, I thought I'd better pop into this one and say a huge 'thank you' for the various nice things that people have said about my 'Surgeon's Tale'. Thank you! It was - and still is - something of a privilege to have contributed in a very small way (and rather late) to a series which contains so many memorable, expertly-told and brilliant stories by so many great writers. And Craig, having just re-read the other stories in this volume after a gap of many years, can I just say 'Heaven Maker' is superb!
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Post by Craig Herbertson on May 9, 2008 10:42:49 GMT
I can only reply by saying that The Surgeon's tale had a unique quality in a horror story found more often in the likes of M. R. James' Ghost stories. This balance between the apparently mundane and some awful world just beyond.
In The Surgeon's Tale you produced a kind of psychological region (comparable to James' spiritual) just barely comprehensible to a normal mind. One where everyone could glimpse the motivation and see how it all began but still shrink away from the reality.
A cracking final sentence too which sent the shudder up the spine. Like all great stories it remains unforgettable
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Post by Johnlprobert on Sept 17, 2008 22:11:26 GMT
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Post by allthingshorror on Sept 18, 2008 6:54:09 GMT
Nope - didn't get round to mentioning it to anyone I'm afraid John. My head is right up my arse at the moment.....hope it looks good though. And I managed to put the link to your book in without screwing it up! Happy Days!!!
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Sept 18, 2008 7:57:13 GMT
Excellent stuff John. Thoroughly enjoyable essay. Great to see these notes up too. Amazingly good story.
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Post by erebus on Feb 8, 2009 22:14:49 GMT
Stephens Kings The Ledge ultimatly became a tale in the film Cats Eye if I'm not mistaken.
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Post by dem bones on Jan 28, 2016 15:31:37 GMT
Clarence Paget (ed.) – 29th Pan Book Of Horror Stories (Pan, 1988) J. P. Dixon – The Surgeon’s Tale Jerome Preisler – Crabs Marcus Gold – The Cave Gee Williams – Penny Dreadful Stephen King – The Ledge Murray Pickles – The Joonka Junka Alan Temperley – Angel And Teacake Norman P. Kaufman – Flesh Craig Herbertson – The Heaven Maker Alan Temperley – Florence In The Garden Gee Williams – Beastie Terence Merchant – Listen Jonathan Cruise – The MissionaryChristmas present, arrived yesterday. Still in two minds whether to risk taking it on impending 230+ mile lightening round-trip to the seaside. On the plus side, it should guarantee a double-seat to myself. Oh, the drama of it all! Thanks to my lovely bride!
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Post by mattofthespurs on Jan 29, 2016 9:26:56 GMT
The best things are worth waiting for.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 4, 2016 20:50:24 GMT
Should have saved the opening novella until Feb. 14th.
J. P. Dixon - The Surgeon's Tale: "Tell me. How much can be removed from a human body before that body dies?"
East London, 1889. Phillip Tobin is working as general surgeon at St. Veronica's Hospital when he first meets Paulette in a seedy pub adjoining the Jubilee Theatre. Whitechapel-born Paulette is a stage performer whose act is nothing if not grisly. The Grand Guignol is already old hat. Then, as now, the public demand their cheap thrills nasty, and our girl is happy to oblige. Paulette is devoted to her craft and Tobin both fascinated and appalled by her performance. As their relationship blossoms, so the surgeon adds his considerable skills to the enterprise. Paulette is more famous than ever, but she's running low on raw materials ....
Jerome Preisler - Crabs: "I was living out one of those inane Roger Corman B flicks ..." New York. A voracious crustacean army invade the beach at Breezy Point. Narrator gallantly rushes to rescue of girlfriend Janet. Arrival of heavily pregnant, super-size Queen Crab decides him that discretion is the greater part of valour.
Gee Williams - Penny Dreadful: Penny, aged six, doesn't care for Dad's new woman. The usurper in question is allergic to Penny and treats her harshly. One of them will have to go. Twist ending may not come as huge surprise.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 6, 2016 19:44:10 GMT
Stephen King - The Ledge: Stan Norris, tennis pro, is having an affair with Marcia Cressner, the wife of a ruthless crime lord. Old man Cressner offers Norris a stark choice. Spend the next forty years in San Quentin on a trumped-up drug rap, or take a walk along the five inch ledge surrounding his Penthouse flat. It's only four hundred feet off the ground after all, and Norris being a sportsman ... Should Stan somehow survive the ordeal, he wins Marcia plus $20, 000 in cash. Stan steps off the balcony. Meanwhile around the next corner, a family of pigeons prepare to defend their turf ... King is brilliant, and this tarted-up version of Jack Finney's Contents Of A Dead Man's Pocket grips from the opening lines, but no way is he a proper Pan Horror author. Norman P. Kaufman - Flesh: The same can't be said of Nasty Norman Kaufman, although this ludicrous short hardly shows him at his disgusting best (try Lady On Display in 19th Pan Book of Horror Stories). On the eve of his execution, Bensinger the cannibal pleads with the warden to grant him a final request. The officer and his fellow braniacs collude to smuggle a prostitute into the condemned cell. You'll never guess what happens! Terence Merchant - Listen: Distraught at the death of his beloved wife, George Woodison takes little Scotty dog for a walk in the cemetery. Pausing at a newly-filled grave, George berates his miscreant daughter at some length. It's a big deal when a father hates his only child but, the way George tells it, Ann doesn't deserve to be getting up to all sorts and living the high life after the way she broke her mum's heart. Somebody ought to make her pay ... Just dug out the only other Terence Merchant story I know of, a two-pager called The Show Must Go On in Skeleton Crew V, and it made little impact, but Listen is a forgotten gem.
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