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Post by dem bones on Apr 23, 2008 6:26:18 GMT
Charles Birkin - Spawn Of Satan (Award, 1970) Jack Gaughan Spawn Of Satan The New Dress A Right To Know Child's Play Wedding Presents Soeur Celeste A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts The Beautiful People Traces Of Lipstick Au Clair De Lune.For my wife, Janet, who turns away her face from such frolicsBlurb: YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO PUT THIS BOOK DOWN Until you learn what happens to ....
Terrified Julia Randell: When her husband regains his eyesight she discovers, with mounting terror, that love is often better blind!
Poor Venetia Palmer: The colour of her husband's skin was not a problem until they settled in Auldburn ... where at least one town bigot practiced his own grotesque brand of black magic!
Beautiful Nikakova and her lover: Her father could not forget the man who seduced her - nor could he rest until he wreaked a gruesome revenge! Strangely, the story involving Nikakova is The Happy Dancers which isn't in the book. Come to think of it, I've not come across any 'Julia Randell' yet, either ... This one didn't receive UK publication, signaling the end of his extremely prolific comeback save for some excellent contributions to Hugh Lamb's anthologies. It's fitting, then, that the stories that signaled his return - A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts and A Right To Know should be included here. The collection ends with Au Clair De Lune, a macabre poem first published in The 11th Pan Book Of Horror Stories - "will the rats devour Rodney's wicked mistress alive?" Spawn Of Satan: "Not that I'd want a coloured man in the family! I mean, dear, who would? They're different from us. Have different standards, hygiene- and the things they eat - I'd not put up with one as a son-in-law! But some of those Teddy Boys, or whatever they call themselves these days, are a sight worse than Nazis."
Venetia Palmer takes up a teaching position in Auldburn and books in at the plush Arbour Hotel, advising the landlady Mrs. Snagge that her husband, a journalist on the local newspaper will be joining her shortly. His name is Lindo, charming, intelligent and - oh dear - black. There has been much racial tension in the area, much of it stirred up by 'Jacko' Persicot and his thugs, and the Palmers soon find themselves subjected to a hate campaign. Not a good time, then, for Venetia to suffer a stroke while driving home one night and mowing down little Neelia on the corner of The Swan and The Gaitered Ploughman ... Those Teddy Boys, or whatever they call themselves these days, prove that Mrs. Snagge was not being entirely over-dramatic in her assessment of their behaviour, and the ending is a choker. An instant Birkin classic. A Right To Know: Mark is fascinated by the grand old Cheverly House and asks the current owner, his bride-to-be Amanda, if it is haunted. She obliges him by relating the story of the family curse dating from the sixteenth century when young Phoebe Trebla was gang-raped, gave birth to a deformed son and was finally burnt as a witch on the whim of Sir Tarquin Chane, the third baronet, "as handsome as Byron ... as black-hearted as the Marquis de Sade." A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts: SS men Dorsch and Fochtmann arrange an amusing diversion for Oberst Albrecht. Five half-dead Jewish prisoners are selected to take part in a competition. A "coconut shy" has been arranged, a row of grotesque dummies decorated to depict enemies of the Reich. Cohn, Blumenthal, Wolf, Mendel and Ullman are told that the four who score the most direct hits to the head of their particular target will be given 'lighter' duties and a better chance to salvage scraps of food for their wives and children. The loser will be returned to the labour camp. Barely able to lift the heavy steel balls, the men take their turns ... Depending on your viewpoint - and A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts certainly divides opinion - either Birkin's most unforgivable work, or his bravest. It is certainly not a story you're likely to forget. The Beautiful People: Norfolk, Virginia. Poor little rich boy Ray Dawson, furious that his mother Lynette won't raise his already obscene allowance, storms off for a few days to punish her. When he picks up worldly hitchhiker Pearl he pours out all his troubles ... plus too much information about his mother's vast wealth and his own impending inheritance. Pearl knows some people who can help him get his hands on a down-payment. Unfortunately, these turn out to be her ruthlessly ambitious brother, Trad, and his vaguely psychotic sidekick Pete. They decide to stage a 'kidnapping' ... Child's Play: Kent. Little Charmain Weiden finds a brightly coloured seed in the garden. And eats it. She falls ill and complains of "caterpillars" crawling up her throat, suffocating her. Is this the beginning of an alien invasion? Weird. Au Clair De Lune: Grisly poem in which Thelma tries to blackmail Rodney over their affair and is eaten by rats for her sins. Eventually she's reduced to a fungus-ridden compost heap which the hero henceforth utilizes whenever he wishes to be rid of a troublesome woman.
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Post by timothymayer on Jul 7, 2008 0:09:10 GMT
Got my first rush of Birkin in 1976. I was on vacation in Canada and found a copy of SO PALE SO COLD SO FAIR. I had no idea what I was in for...
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Post by dem bones on Jul 8, 2008 7:07:07 GMT
Hi rummah
Yes, So Pale, So Cold, So Fair is another grim one. It's the first of his books that slightly disappointed me on first reading (I love it now) and it's sheer gloominess might be the reason why Spawn Of Satan has yet to see publication in the UK. Earlier collections like The Smell Of Evil seem positively reader friendly in comparison!
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njhorror
New Face In Hell
Man of Il Mangia
Posts: 7
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Post by njhorror on Aug 27, 2009 22:15:02 GMT
I just got this today.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 25, 2012 8:50:41 GMT
i knew i'd read this before but it took me right until the penultimate page to go "oh! it's that one!"
Wedding Presents: Suffolk 1895, and Blanche Mason, 21, is with child, courtesy of local lothario Claud Craddock. Bertha Mason, Blanche's eminently sensible widowed mother, realises that there's zero chance of Claud doing his duty by her so they move in at kindly uncle Albert Craddock's farm to avert a scandal. The baby she could do without, but otherwise Blanche isn't the least displeased. Claud meant nothing to her and is instantly forgotten. The only man she cared for, Angus Bourley, emigrated to America promising to return once he'd made his fortune in the construction industry.
The infant Emma is cared for by Bertha and Albert who raise her as their own. The child has a deformed leg necessitating a surgical boot, but is otherwise healthy and happy. It won't last.
1900 proves eventful. Albert dies, Angus, now a wealthy man, writes to inform the Masons of his impending return to England, and Bertha is struck down by a serious illness. With her dying breath she splutters something to the effect that Emma is "a bad seed" and Blanche mustn't let the little cripple stand in the way of her future happiness. Blanche, who has no love for her daughter, considers this sound advice. She gags Emma, ties her to a chair and tells her how much she hates her. Now have the good grace to hurry up and starve to death.
A fortnight later and Emma is still hanging on grimly. With Angus arrived in Suffolk, Blanche can't be hanging around any longer. She grabs a knife.
Angus proposes, Blanche accepts. The happy couple settle to a new life of luxury in California.
And that's when vindictive, conniving Aunt Ada - the only living person to know that there was once an Emma Mason - sees fit to send Blanche a wedding present ....
Truly fucking horrible!
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