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Post by dem bones on Mar 21, 2015 19:13:05 GMT
Yeah, agree with you about the rubbish "it's a giant spider!" revelation. That episode derailed the social realism vibe something terrible, and it's not as if the book required a 'fifties throwback novelty monster; Laymon's trademark degenerate cannibals would've done the job just fine. But for me the final, lonely stroll along the beach with Jeremy makes for the perfect ending. Been a while since I read it but didn't Poppinsack leave Robin a note promising to repay her? Anyway, it wasn't the theft/ loan pissed me off about him but the fact that he was such a smug pretentious git.
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Post by ohthehorror on Mar 21, 2015 22:57:37 GMT
Yeah, agree with you about the rubbish "it's a giant spider!" revelation. That episode derailed the social realism vibe something terrible, and it's not as if the book required a 'fifties throwback novelty monster; Laymon's trademark degenerate cannibals would've done the job just fine. But for me the final, lonely stroll along the beach with Jeremy makes for the perfect ending. Been a while since I read it but didn't Poppinsack leave Robin a note promising to repay her? Anyway, it wasn't the theft/ loan pissed me off about him but the fact that he was such a smug pretentious git. Hmmm... The note, you're probably right, but I have a terrible habit of getting slowly drunk, and then even more drunk when I'm reading a good book. It's a wonder I remember anything at all really. Weird though, I really don't have any recollection of the note. I'm going to have to look back over that bit now and check it out. Even then, my little Robin was pretty pissed at Poppinsack, so that's good enough for me. I liked the idea of a creature, but for some reason the giant spider just didn't work. It just seemed lazy to me, like he'd got that far but come up against a wall and just thought, Meh, giant spider, that'll do. Still a very enjoyable read though.
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Post by ohthehorror on Mar 22, 2015 10:04:16 GMT
Yeah, agree with you about the rubbish "it's a giant spider!" revelation. That episode derailed the social realism vibe something terrible, and it's not as if the book required a 'fifties throwback novelty monster; Laymon's trademark degenerate cannibals would've done the job just fine. But for me the final, lonely stroll along the beach with Jeremy makes for the perfect ending. Been a while since I read it but didn't Poppinsack leave Robin a note promising to repay her? Anyway, it wasn't the theft/ loan pissed me off about him but the fact that he was such a smug pretentious git. Yes, I agree with you there. Was just perfect. Such a shame about the giant spider. It really wasn't needed at all.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 29, 2015 9:33:11 GMT
Hmmm... The note, you're probably right, but I have a terrible habit of getting slowly drunk, and then even more drunk when I'm reading a good book. It's a wonder I remember anything at all really. Weird though, I really don't have any recollection of the note. I'm going to have to look back over that bit now and check it out. It's not unlikely that whole "note" thing is a figment of my imagination - it wouldn't be the first. Richard Laymon - After Midnight (Headline, 1998) Steve Crisp Blurb: Alice likes house-sitting for her friend. She enjoys having the whole place to herself, with its big kitchen, sunken bathtub and large-screen television. Best of all is the outdoor swimming pool. But it all goes wrong just after midnight when a man walks out of the woods and jumps naked into the pool. Alice knows about men. So she fetches the Civil War relic that hangs on the wall. The cavalry sabre...I'm on this one now. Fifty pages and one (if we are to be charitable) manslaughter in. Could be that I wasn't quite with it when first we met as After Midnight is not registering at all. Alice sets us straight from the outset. Her name is not really 'Alice' any more than the friends she house-sat for are 'Serena' and 'Charlie'. After everything that happened a year ago, it's best she protect the identities of all participants. Not-Alice was twenty-six at the time, and had lived in a room over her friends' garage on the edge of Millers Wood for three years, minding the property when the couple took a holiday. Such was the case the night the prowler turned up for a dip in the pool and 'Tony' picked just the wrong moment to dial a wrong number. Alerted by the phone, the naked prowler snuck up to the house and performed an anti-social act against the french window. Alice (we'll call her that for convenience sake) sure ain't looking forward to cleaning that up. Turns out Tony has split up with his girl whose number is evidently similar to Serena & Charlie's. Alice tells him about her pervy skinny dipper. Tony suggests she call the police, reminding her that, in recent years, there have been several unsolved murders connected to Millers Wood. Or maybe she'd prefer he call around to keep her company in case the creep returns to "wash the windows" again? Alice rejects the offer. She has plenty of weapons at hand including a lethal cavalry sabre. Should she have any more problems with nuisance callers tonight, they're going to get it! She does. And they do ....
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Post by ohthehorror on Mar 29, 2015 13:45:16 GMT
Is this one of those novels that takes place solely over the course of one night? I love those kind of novels. I've just finished The Grin of the Dark and am about to torture myself a little by starting on Tribesmen of Gor. I may even extend the torture to the rest of you when I'm done by writing a little review of it too. I'll have to look into that Richard Laymon next though I think. Sounds very entertaining.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 29, 2015 19:15:01 GMT
Is this one of those novels that takes place solely over the course of one night? I love those kind of novels. It's too early to say for sure (p105) but have a feeling you could be right. Alice has more than a touch of Norman Bates about her, just smarter. The way she disposed of the accidental corpse suggested she's done this kind of bloody work before and, as her testimony unfolds, we get to learn a lot of unpleasant stuff about her. Now she's hanging out with the ex of the deceased, a way too trusting young woman named Judy. No surprise that the recently dismembered was a woman beater, so Alice needn't feel too guilty. Question is, where's the best place to bump off his likeable-but-too-risky former girlfriend? They set off into the woods. It's going to be a long night by the look of things. Later. This is one sick, sick ride.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 31, 2015 11:57:45 GMT
It looks like Laymon is intent on fixing the story within a 24 hour time frame. A blow-by-blow account would be unfair, so will merely mention that, via Alice, we've briefly encountered such colourful characters as Milo, aka Fatso the Cannibal, and Murphy Scott, crime novelist, who gifted her a hard-bound copy of his latest, Deep Dead Eyes, with a nice personalised dedication (his other published work is The Dark Pit). Alice liked Murphy a lot, which makes what happened in the bathtub kind of hurtful, but has yet to shed any tears over the woman-eating maniac in the woods. Judy, last we heard, is still .... hanging in there, albeit not in the best of shape.
Multiple-murder, rape, bondage, penis-eating, a few near-misses with unintentional necrophilia - and still just over 100 pages to go.
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Post by ohthehorror on Mar 31, 2015 16:07:15 GMT
It looks like Laymon is intent on fixing the story within a 24 hour time frame. A blow-by-blow account would be unfair, so will merely mention that, via Alice, we've briefly encountered such colourful characters as Milo, aka Fatso the Cannibal, and Murphy Scott, crime novelist, who gifted her a hard-bound copy of his latest, Deep Dead Eyes, with a nice personalised dedication (his other published work is The Dark Pit). Alice liked Murphy a lot, which makes what happened in the bathtub kind of hurtful, but has yet to shed any tears over the woman-eating maniac in the woods. Judy, last we heard, is still .... hanging in there, albeit not in the best of shape. Multiple-murder, rape, bondage, penis-eating, a few near-misses with unintentional necrophilia - and still just over 100 pages to go. Think I might have to put Gor on hold then. Sounds like a doozy!
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Post by dem bones on Mar 31, 2015 17:21:06 GMT
Think I might have to put Gor on hold then. Sounds like a doozy! Don't think I ever managed to finish a John Norman novel. Was getting along OK with Captive Of Gor until distracted by something no doubt equally rancid. Must say, I adore the cover painting. John Norman - Tribesmen Of Gor (Star, 1979) Blurb: Volume ten of the Chronicles of Counter-Earth
The Others were on the move! The Priest-Kings had received a message: "Surrender Gor!" The date had been set for conquest or destruction. Tarl Cabot could not linger in Port Kar - now he must act on behalf of the Priest-Kings, on behalf of Gor, and on behalf of Gor's teeming, unsuspecting twin world known as Earth.
Evidence pointed to the great wasteland of the Tahari, known only to the clannish militant tribes of desert wanderers. There Tarl Cabot must go. There among the feuds, along the trails of slavers, beyond the forbidding salt mimes to a rendezvous with treachery, with a woman warlord, with a bandit chief, and with the monster intelligences from the worlds of steel.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Mar 31, 2015 17:48:26 GMT
I never read any of the Gor novels, but I did read TIME SLAVE! I believe it concerned a party of scientists, including one woman, who travel back in time to the Stone Age. Anyone who knows anything about the "mature" Norman can imagine what ensues. That modern, liberated lady scientist sure learns what it means to really be a woman! I once had the pleasure of asking Donald Wollheim, the founder of DAW Books, why he published the Norman books, which by that point seemed really out-of-place with the rest of the DAW line. I did not get any real answer, of course, and there is a bit of a mystery here, because they also did not sell all that well.
Edit: Some further research indicates that they did in fact sell very well, at least well into the 80s, so no mystery then.
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Post by ohthehorror on Apr 1, 2015 15:23:15 GMT
I had a choice of two covers on the kindle. This one( Gateway, 2011), which was £2.99, Or this one ( Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy, 1 April 2014) which was £10.79,
No contest of course with regards the covers but I just couldn't justify the extra expense for the pretty cover, so the big, bland yellow one it was.
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Post by andydecker on Apr 1, 2015 16:46:19 GMT
I had a choice of two covers on the kindle. This one( Gateway, 2011), which was £2.99, Or this one ( Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy, 1 April 2014) which was £10.79,
No contest of course with regards the covers but I just couldn't justify the extra expense for the pretty cover, so the big, bland yellow one it was.
This is no choice. One minimalistic if classy, one awful and overpriced. And if you compare this with the DAW original cover of 76 ... sigh.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 1, 2015 17:22:04 GMT
I once had the pleasure of asking Donald Wollheim, the founder of DAW Books, why he published the Norman books, which by that point seemed really out-of-place with the rest of the DAW line. I did not get any real answer, of course .... Now there's a fellow I should like to have met. Please excuse me, Mr. Lapin X, but i'm shameless. Was this at a Convention, or for an interview, did you just happen to bump into him, or was he your publisher at the time? Anyway; "I was all bloody, myself. I looked as if a small animal had died a messy death between my breasts." Have now finished After Midnight and, the beauty of it is, seems I was getting this novel mixed up with Endless Night as I surely hadn't read it before! If the events of the preceding 300 pages were a little implausible at times, the final quarter is so ludicrous it's best not to think too hard and just enjoy the blood sport. It all starts going wrong (again) when Alice foolishly accepts a lift home from the Mall courtesy of a former work colleague, Elroy, and invites the creep in to stay for dinner. First thing she notices on returning is that the sabre has gone missing from its mount above the fireplace. The midnight skinny-dipper is back with a vengeance. If there's one thing I learned from After Midnight it is never to use somebody else's kitchen knife. You really don't (want to) know where it's been.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Apr 1, 2015 17:29:51 GMT
It was at a convention.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 1, 2015 18:53:55 GMT
Thank you, JoJo. We had quite a lively Gor thread going on Vault MK I inspired by newspaper reports into Norman fans adopting his philosophy. John Norman's Gor novels
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