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Post by killercrab on Oct 24, 2011 17:23:43 GMT
do you have a particular Christie in mind, KC? i'm looking to have a crack at Hallowe'en Party.
>> Not really! I have been looking at the fascimile Agatha Christie hardback reprints which are lovely in a 1930's way. Not bad price either. However I've gotta finish GHOST STORY first which I think will take till Christmas at this rate! Daren't put it down to start something else yet , so David Suchet must suffice. KC
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 25, 2011 11:08:32 GMT
i'm liking the sound of this The Breath of God, Dr. Strange. I am about half-way through now, and Carnacki has turned up - Guy Adams seems to have stuck with the original "personalities" and then filled out the details a bit, so while Silence seems quite serious and modest, Carnacki is very full himself and can be a bit of a pain in the arse. Anyway, the book is very, very enjoyable - I think that if you like the Peter Saxon Guardians series, you'll love this (though I would say this is much, much better written - though still essentially "pulp", I think). About three quarters through: Building to a climax (I hope) - No surprise that Crowley and Karswell appear to be best of chums, slightly surprised that (at the moment) they also seem to be the good guys... Some nice touches in terms of references to other stories (and the occasional film - like Night of the Demon) where the main characters appear, but not so heavy-handed as to appear forced or to distract from the narrative. Still enjoying this - so much so that I've gone ahead and ordered his novelization of Captain Kronos, which should arrive just as I finish this.
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 29, 2011 13:04:19 GMT
OK, it has to be said. For me, the ending to The Breath of God is a massive anti-climax and doesn't make any sense. I am in no doubt that Guy Adams is a very good writer, but in this instance I think in the end he was just too restricted by the fact that he was writing about "established" characters and he just couldn't (or wouldn't) take the story in the direction that it really had to go to be properly satisfying as a story. Very disappointing.
Kronos arrived, but I think I will need to wait a while before starting on it if I am going to give it a fair crack of the whip, and without letting my disappointment with The Breath of God rub off on it.
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Post by lemming13 on Oct 29, 2011 13:48:35 GMT
Bum. I was really holding my breath on that one, Doc, hoping for it to be judged a classic so I could rush out and buy it. I might anyway, but you make me sad... Still, I have my Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories to comfort me, and Ramsey's Dark Companions, so I'll survive.
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 29, 2011 14:33:51 GMT
Bum. I was really holding my breath on that one, Doc, hoping for it to be judged a classic so I could rush out and buy it. I might anyway, but you make me sad... I would love to hear what others might make of it - maybe it's a "flawed classic", or maybe I'm just being too harsh because it didn't go where I wanted it to go, and that's just my problem. He is a good writer (and I particularly liked his take on Carnacki) - and maybe Kronos is a better character for him to play with anyway.
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Post by Dr Strange on Nov 1, 2011 17:23:26 GMT
Not entirely put off by new books/writers, I've started on The Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley. It's set in Edinburgh in the 1820s and involves murder and grave-robbing - and possibly the supernatural (it's too early in the story to be sure, but I think it's probable given a couple of hints in the blurb and the little I know about the author's previous books - which is basically just that he writes "dark/urban fantasy"). It's very well written, very atmospheric, and with a very interesting main character - a policeman who served in the army in the Napoleonic wars (think a rather "damaged" Sharpe). For anyone who knows Edinburgh, the local "colour" is very nicely done - and there's also some real historical characters hovering about in the background.
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Post by Dr Strange on Nov 6, 2011 11:06:03 GMT
The Edinburgh Dead is working out fine so far - about the half-way mark and we seem to have taken a turn into Frankenstein territory. Great characterization - the central character is very believable and easy to sympathise with, and would be great in a series (assuming he survives this book).
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Post by Dr Strange on Nov 9, 2011 11:49:38 GMT
Still enjoying The Edinburgh Dead immensely, and it's taken a very definite and very welcome turn into the realms of supernatural horror. I'm not going to give too much away, but there's links to a whole load of Edinburgh legends and mysteries - everything from Burke & Hare to the less well-known Major Weir (burned at the stake in 1670) and the mysterious Arthur's Seat coffins.
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Post by Dr Strange on Nov 10, 2011 10:31:10 GMT
Finished The Edinburgh Dead last night - very strong ending. I enjoyed this hugely and would recommend it to everyone here. I'm not sure what to compare it with - it's got a fair bit of the thriller/action element going on, and is very violent in places, but essentially it's straight supernatural horror with a period setting. The writing and plotting are exceptionally good - and he doesn't fall into the trap of trying to "explain" everything.
The book has an interview with the author at the back where he is asked (hypothetically) who he would like to see directing a film version (his answer: Christopher Nolan) and who he'd like to play the central character (answer: Daniel Craig) - those would both be excellent choices, and maybe give a bit more of an idea of the overall tone he is going for (and, IMO, achieves).
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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Dec 17, 2011 19:37:21 GMT
I've made a start on Pilo Family Circus & have been dipping into Best New Horror 22 (I've stalled at A Revelation Of Cormorants) and More Horowitz Horror - I would have overlooked this if it hadn't been for dem's recommendations on here, The Sound Of Murder & Burnt are very good.
Some of the supposed 'young adult' books seem a lot better than the adult ones around now, I've still got a bookmark in the first Skullduggery Pleasant book & will get back to it, it certainly got off to a good start. I can also recommend Graham Masterton's YA titles Hair-Raiser & House Of Bones (The only real difference from normal is the sex is missing or at least only hinted at). Can anyone say if the Darren Shan books are any good? the covers certainly look very Vault.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 17, 2011 21:09:50 GMT
... More Horowitz Horror - I would have overlooked this if it hadn't been for dem's recommendations on here, The Sound Of Murder & Burnt are very good. well it was Lemmy who turned me on to the ' Horowitz Horrors' and i'm very grateful to the great lady for the kindness! not sure i'd agree that the YA horrors are 'better', but the pick of those few i've read benefit from a lack of bloat and often, were it not for the lack of industrial language and obligatory sex scenes, you have to remind yourself that the target audience is school children. Certainly, the likes of John Gordon and Robert Westall never fight shy of tackling mature themes, and Horowitz can do just plain nasty when the mood is upon him. i look on the well stocked YA shelves in my local library and there's row upon row of these 2-300 pagers giving me the come on, the authors names are familiar but i've not read any of their work and don't know where to start.
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 20, 2011 14:49:52 GMT
Just started Southern Gods (2011), the debut novel from John Hornor Jacobs. It's been described as Lovecraft meets Southern Gothic, with a nod to Hjortsberg's Falling Angel.
Here's the blurb from the back cover -
"A Memphis DJ hires recent World War II veteran Bull Ingram to find Ramblin' John Hastur, a mysterious bluesman whose dark, driving music - broadcast at ever-shifting frequencies by a phantom radio station - is said to make living men insane and dead men rise.
A bootlegged snippet of Hastur's strange, brooding tune fills Bull with an inexplicably murderous rage. Driven to find the song's mysterious singer, Bull hears rumours that the bluesman sold his soul to the Devil. But, as Bull follows Hastur's trail into the eerie backwoods of Arkansas, he'll learn there are forces much more malevolent than the Devil and reckonings more painful than Hell..."
So far I can say that it is beautifully and suspensefully written but, as I am only a couple of chapters in, nothing much has actually happened yet (apart from a little bit of noir-ish violence and a weird thing visiting a sick kid in bed).
I will probably be incommunicado until the New Year now - by which time I should have finished this, so I will get back to you all then. Hope you all have a good one.
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Post by andydecker on Dec 20, 2011 16:44:11 GMT
Lol, you too? Also bought this last week
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Post by andydecker on Dec 24, 2011 9:52:20 GMT
As I needed my Holmes fix I tried Gaslight Arcanum edited by Campbell and Prepolec. Bought it for the Kindle as it was significantly cheaper then the print edition. And for books I will read on and off when the mood strikes this is a good way, as much as I hate to admit it. Two stories and a rather rambling foreword - which has a truly embarassing error in naming a supposedly important Batman story by Mignola wrong - in I must say I like it Fantastic Sherlock Holmes is the pitch. Kim Newman, Chris Fowler, Stephen Volk, not a bad line-up. Read the Volk, The Comfort of the Seine, which was alot of fun despite its seriously overwrought gothic trappings and a plot which reeks of fan-fiction. But imho he pulls it off. And read the Fowler The Adventure of Lucifer´s Footprints which also was enjoyable. The stories are sometimes prefaced by illustrations which are very nice, one is by Mike Mignola. Till now a good bargain.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 25, 2011 8:22:08 GMT
As I needed my Holmes fix ..... hi andy, have you tried Anthony Horowitz's recently published The House Of Silk, the first posthumous Sherlock Holmes adventure ever to be endorsed by the Conan-Doyle estate? word is he's made a damn decent job of it. Just read the introduction to Gaslight Arcanum on am*z*n. been out of bed less than an hour on Christmas Day and already another addition to the wants list of doom!
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