|
Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 30, 2008 21:45:14 GMT
I remember going to Amsterdam as a youth and having my mind blown (no jokes please) by the pornography. I remember thinking at the time how great and free it was and how sad and small life back home seemed. I've always been anti censorship, particularly of literature (pulp) I read De Sade (thanks to Sean pointing an on-line thing here. In parts it was the most vile porn/horror imaginable but then who cares. It was interesting enough. Wouldn't want to try any of it (expect perhaps the bit with the leather thingy) but reading about it.Who gives a toss.
|
|
|
Post by carolinec on Dec 30, 2008 23:31:24 GMT
Just thinking about what's been said above though. Surely it's not Ramsey who's been saying (in "Superhorror"?) there should be censorship? I remember from when I researched him for my interview with him, everything I found suggested that he was very much anti-censorship in any form. He even takes a dig at the censorship of films in some stories, "Ancient Images" for example.
|
|
|
Post by pulphack on Dec 31, 2008 0:10:15 GMT
i'm not sure, to be honest. it looks that way from the quote that's featured - certainly, it has the tone of admonishment - but i haven't read the whole piece. non-fiction and critical pieces i've read by mr c are certainly anti-censorship, but i was judging by that quote. perhaps it's a little out of context, or i've misinterpreted the tone? if so, then apologies to mr c if he should ever read this. i think i may have been slipping from talking about himself into a general view about daily mail readers. not that i was confusing him with rochard littlejohn. no, certainly not.
|
|
|
Post by pulphack on Dec 31, 2008 0:17:01 GMT
actually, having just pressed post, it's occurred to me that he didn't mention censorship as such, and neither did i - rather, i was trying to get at the fact that those who dislike a certain thing really would rather it doesn't exist. whether or not they get as far as advocating censoring it is another matter. there's a difference between saying 'i don't like it because of x/y/z but i can choose not to read it' and saying 'i don't like because of x/y/z and i really think it's stupid/pathetitc/wrong to write it'. some critics tend to throw this difference out with the bathwater, hence the schools of thought that say people are sickos for liking visceral horror or wusses for liking 'quiet' horror and the enmity that arises for no reason. which is a long way from becoming mrs whitehouse, but can be as divisive.
glad you raised that, as it's made me try to clarify what i meant.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jan 7, 2009 11:30:15 GMT
This should clear it up. He begins the introduction -
“This is how I edited the book. I asked the contributors, or their agents, to provide the most horrifying or most terrifying stories they could. There were to be no taboos, except that the stories must not have been published elsewhere; if they were unpublishable elsewhere, so much the better”.
Then he moves on to his moan about modern horror. He never asks for it to be censored or banned, he just has a bit of a moan.
|
|
|
Post by pulphack on Jan 7, 2009 16:19:55 GMT
ah, thanks for that... that should teach me to (cough) actually read the thing i'm commenting on (cough)...
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jan 7, 2009 22:59:44 GMT
Nah pulps, if there's any fault 'tis mine for quoting him out of context although i didn't actually realise i was at the time. Interesting thread, though. Craig; the only DeSade that ever did it for me was Justine as translated by Alan Hull Walton (Corgi, 1964/5). By toning down the repetitious, gross out stuff - most likely at the insistence of his publisher - Walton emphasised the brilliant Gothic horror novel at it's core. Later, when i read the same book in an unexpurgated, Grove Press edition, i found it a hard slog.
|
|
|
Post by Craig Herbertson on Jan 8, 2009 6:08:54 GMT
I'd like to read more on Sade. I've read encyclopaedic articles and bits and pieces here and there. The only work I've read was online and I find the screen medium almost impossible to enjoy. Anyone recommend any critiques of the nasty Marquis? Especially pleasing would be works with grotesque and lurid covers to read on the bus.
|
|
|
Post by jonathan122 on Feb 28, 2009 0:36:48 GMT
Of the ones I've read, the standouts were Aickman's "Wood" and Leiber's "Dark Wings". I thought I'd read "The Pattern", but flicking through it I don't remember it at all, so a re-read is in order.
The Case of James Elmo Freebish - Taken on its own terms, very, very bad, but I think a case could be made for it providing some light relief in the anthology as a whole.
Fog In My Throat - Couldn't get on with this one either, I'm afraid - this seems like Lafferty on auto-pilot. All the right ideas are there, but Mr. Story hasn't come out to play.
The Viaduct - Nasty. I'm automatically predisposed towards hating any story with a "village idiot" in it, and this is no exception, but it certainly does its purpose.
Wood - Even by Aickman's standards this is... odd. For a start it's a first-person narrative, which automatically sets you off wondering whether you're supposed to agree with some of the opinions on offer (or whether Aickman did). Added to that there is the story itself, which tells of a man who marries an undertaker's daughter and... turns into a weather-clock. It's one of those types of stories, and in anyone else's hands it would be laughable. In Aickman's, it's really quite creepy.
Dark Wings - Campbell has stated elsewhere how much Leiber's horror fiction has influenced him, and certainly this piece showcases the affinities between the two. Vi and Rose are identical twins, separated at birth. Reunited years later they recount their stories...
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Aug 2, 2014 6:39:08 GMT
Of the ones I've read, the standouts were Aickman's "Wood" and Leiber's "Dark Wings". I thought I'd read "The Pattern", but flicking through it I don't remember it at all, so a re-read is in order. The Case of James Elmo Freebish - Taken on its own terms, very, very bad, but I think a case could be made for it providing some light relief in the anthology as a whole. Fog In My Throat - Couldn't get on with this one either, I'm afraid - this seems like Lafferty on auto-pilot. All the right ideas are there, but Mr. Story hasn't come out to play. The Viaduct - Nasty. I'm automatically predisposed towards hating any story with a "village idiot" in it, and this is no exception, but it certainly does its purpose. Wood - Even by Aickman's standards this is... odd. For a start it's a first-person narrative, which automatically sets you off wondering whether you're supposed to agree with some of the opinions on offer (or whether Aickman did). Added to that there is the story itself, which tells of a man who marries an undertaker's daughter and... turns into a weather-clock. It's one of those types of stories, and in anyone else's hands it would be laughable. In Aickman's, it's really quite creepy. Dark Wings - Campbell has stated elsewhere how much Leiber's horror fiction has influenced him, and certainly this piece showcases the affinities between the two. Vi and Rose are identical twins, separated at birth. Reunited years later they recount their stories... .... and a ghoul's perspective. Brian Lumley - The Viaduct: Grisly revenge of a teenage village idiot. The railway viaduct, 150 feet above stoney ground, links two colliery villages in the North East. Young John and David dare each other to cross it by swinging from the rungs underneath the walkway. Such a shame they began the afternoon by tormenting tle local simpleton, Miles 'Wiley Smiley' Bellamy. As they hang on for dear life, Wiley comes charging across the bridge with a sharp stick .... Ramsey Campbell - The Pattern: No idea if it's intentional, but this reads like a claustrophobic - and bloody - take on Hester Holland's The Scream. Tony and Di move to the Cotswolds and a charming, if remote cottage on Ploughman's Path. Di is struggling to complete her latest children's' book, The Song of the Trees (about Dryads; sounds really good, too), for which Tony has provided illustrations. They're growing tetchy on account of the piercing shriek emanating from a patch of woodland. Tony learns from the initially tight-lipped drinkers at 'The Farmer's Rest' that his new home has a terrible reputation. It would be better that they move on before tragedy strikes yet again. Joseph F. Pumilia - The Case Of James Elmo Freebish: Freebish fantasises about killing wife Claire. He even composes Godawful limericks celebrating her demise. It is not like murder is beyond him. Hadn't he sliced off Mr Henderson's head when the old fool refused to meet his blackmail demands? Claire, meanwhile, shares his capacity for violence and believes in getting her revenge in first. The fun starts after James' jolly funeral.
|
|
|
Post by Shrink Proof on Aug 2, 2014 7:38:42 GMT
A great compilation, this one. Brian Lumley's "The Viaduct" is marvellously gripping, especially for those with a fear of heights...
Aickman's "Wood" is seriously weird, too.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Aug 2, 2014 14:56:27 GMT
A great compilation, this one. Brian Lumley's "The Viaduct" is marvellously gripping, especially for those with a fear of heights... Aickman's "Wood" is seriously weird, too. Am building up to Wood. It was the first Aickman story I ever read and left me a bit .... puzzled. Here's the paperback cover. Ramsey Campbell (ed.) - The Far Reaches Of Fear (Star, 1980) Blurb The skull beneath the skin Between light and dark, reason and madness, there is a great divide. Between broad daylight and dreadful night is a dam withstanding the tide of horror. And if that dam should break... THE FAR REACHES OF FEAR erodes the foundations of safety releasing a flood of darkest dread. Phantoms walk at noon through placid landscapes and reason cannot banish them. The fear begins where nightmares end
Immeasurable horror from Ramsey Campbell THE DOLL WHO ATE HIS MOTHER THE FACE THAT MUST DIE DEMONS BY DAYLIGHTManly Wade Wellman - The Petey Car: Shades of Tales From The Crypt's Poetic Justice about this one. J. J. Slesinger of City Cabs has just one rival for the country folks' custom, and that's kindly old-timer Freddy Chunn who drives a home-made rust bucket, 'the Petey car.' Slesinger sets his henchman Rudd Stowe to putting Mr. Freddy out of business. Stowe, as ever, goes too far and Mr. Freddy winds up dead. As payment for his diabolical deed, Slesinger gives Stowe the dead man's popular junkmobile and allows him to keep every cent he earns in fares. The Petey car runs like a dream - until it runs like a nightmare. David Drake - The Hunting Ground: And what's this? A 'when giant predatory arthropods from outer space attack!' mini-masterpiece, no less! A spate of mysterious disappearances leads Sergeant Ben Gresham and his old 'nam buddy Charles 'Snake' Lorne to the derelict Baptist church. Snake has his broken neck in a brace, but this actually works to his advantage. The two men soon discover the missing townsfolk, cocooned and dangling from the ceiling, but what could have webbed them up so, and why? They don't have to wait long to find out. Daphne Castell - Christina: An old house in a quiet Midland village, haunted by the ghost of a little girl who discovered her mother hanging from a hook in the larder. Now Christina - who died with her father in a plane crash shortly after Ma's suicide - can't rest until she's located her pet kitten. The kind-hearted narrator, who has recently rented rooms at the house dirt cheap - does her best to help, but her meddling has stirred up dark forces. It's so much better - and far creepier - than my travesty of a synopsis suggests. And that's the easy ones out of the way.
|
|
|
Post by peeedeel on Aug 3, 2014 14:47:56 GMT
There is a small piece on Aickman's story WOOD on this blog HERE
|
|
|
Post by ramseycampbell on Aug 4, 2014 12:39:53 GMT
Hardly small, but very fine!
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Aug 5, 2014 10:26:40 GMT
R. A. Lafferty - Fog In My Throat: Far easier on the brain than anticipated; in fact, as with The Petey Car and even The Viaduct, this story would not have been so out of place in Weird Tales (1923-1954 incarnation). Dr. Cornelius Rudisidl of the Advanced Experimental Institute argues that, whatever their fears in life, no person has ever been afraid at the exact moment of death. Gretchen Shrik, a young lab assistant, isn't so sure. Dr 'Rudy' has been treating the lab rats and hamsters with a serum which magnifies their brain capacity and powers of concentration to a phenomenal degree. They've even formed a mini-orchestra. Gretchen has discreetly disposed of the corpses of those few creatures who failed to survive the jab, noting the look of abject terror frozen on their poor dead little faces. Meanwhile a locally notorious murderer Lucius 'The Angel of Death' Flammens has decided that today a man and a woman will die, the former in "total terror." If his raid on the Institute doesn't quite go to plan, Lucius is at least correct in his prediction. Fritz Leiber - Dark Wings: Identical twins Rose and Vi were fostered at birth, and knew nothing of the other's existence before what seems a chance street meeting today. Rose timid, sexually confused and living in morbid fear of falling prey to a rapist, is an indexer of books. Vi, a ballet dancer, is as opposite in nature as she is physically identically to her sibling. She has a definite touch of the night about her. The young women get to know all about each other in the privacy of Rose's Greenwich Village apartment. The predatory Vi subtly draws Rose every secret, fear, fantasy, and the sob story of her life of abuse and quiet despair. Meanwhile, a huge, hawk-like bird flaps its dark wings against the window. Um. I am supremely ignorant on subject of Jungian psychology, so the anima/ animus stuff got lost along the way, neither could I decide on whether or not the vampire allusions were significant? If anyone would care to enlighten .... Which leaves only .... There is a small piece on Aickman's story WOOD on this blog HEREHardly small, but very fine! Am very much looking to reading this once I've reread and posted my "findings."
|
|