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Post by dem bones on Nov 7, 2009 20:31:43 GMT
Rosemary Pardoe (ed.) - Ghosts & Scholars #18 (Haunted Library, 1994) Tony Patrick: The Treasure Of Abbot Thomas Tina Rath - The Governess C. E. Ward - Gunpowder Plot William I.I. Read - The Lufford Photographic Competition
Dale J. Nelson - Obituary: Russell Kirk M. P. Dare - Ghosts I Have Met Joel Lane - Ramsey Campbell
Plus Letters, reviews, story notes (An Evening's Entertainment) & Jamesian Notes & Queries.
Artwork: Tony Patrick, Dallas Goffin, Douglas Walters: I picked on this issue specifically to read David G. Rowlands refreshingly positive Seabury Quinn: A Controversial Entry In The 'James Gang' and was delighted to be reminded he particularly rates The Bride Of Dewer; "The historical document relating how the Quimpers became vassal to Dewer in the eleventh century is extremely well done and, together with the atmosphere of suspense maintained right up to the last minute, makes this one of the best tales Quinn ever wrote." Anyway, while i was about it, i couldn't resist a refresher course on William Read's The Lufford Photographic Competition. Now, Mr Read's tales tended to split the G & S readership, some of whom perhaps felt that the author's parodies of M. R. James were not entirely affectionate. This, of course, is nonsense as anyone who's read this savage piss-take of Casting The Runes will tell you. Mr. Dennistoun, fresh from spending six month in Dartmoor over a misunderstanding concerning the theft of the Mona Lisa, steps in for an acquaintance to judge the annual Spring 'Slide Battle' between the Arden Association of Photographic Arts and Mr. Karswell's Lufford Photographic Society. This grudge match has a terrible history - Judges tend to disappear without trace no matter which side wins - and Dennistoun knows nothing about the subject. The acquaintance, Ackrington, advises him to be as sarcastic as possible about the entries - it's what the photographers expect and they'll respect him for it. What about that Mr. Karswell? Dennistoun has heard he's a vindictive man. "Not as black as he's painted" reckons the soon to be deceased Ackrington. So Dennistoun sets off for Lufford Abbey in Warwickshire. The atmosphere is already unsettling. Mr Karswell's team look like "extras from an Edgar Allan Poe story" and the competition are worse. Karswell's slides - open vaults, skeleton hands, coffins, a demon chasing Dennistoun, etc - are far the more impressive, but by now our hero has got into the swing of things and marks them even lower than the oppositions. Mr Karswell isn't the best of losers .... Happy Birthday, Dan!
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Nov 7, 2009 21:51:15 GMT
Thanks, dem!
I've been promising for ages to pick up where I left off in getting details up on G&S issues. Hoping to do so soon, once I've finished the current project that's taking up all of my time.
But I am glad to note that the G&S Newsletter is now delving back into the world of fiction, having run a competition to complete the unfinished MRJ draft "The Game of Bear", and having printed three very worthy entries. This trend is continuing, though still restricted to finishing hitherto unfinished MRJ tales.
That said, the latest issue, celebrating 30 years of G&S (and 40 years since Ro Pardoe produced her very first 'zine), does feature an all new short story by Chico Kidd, whose first published story, "An Incident In The City", featured in that very first G&S back in 1979.
Great to see fiction once more in the pages of G&S.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 19, 2015 9:06:15 GMT
Still have a number of the earlier issues to write nonsense about, but nothing post 18. You can find all the relevant info regarding issues 19-33 - and so much more - on the superb Ghosts & Scholars homepage although, should anyone wish to begin threads for these issues please do! Back to #18 and two very splendid ghost stories to compliment William I.I. Read's parody. Tina Rath - The Governess: She near worked her pretty fingers to the bone skivvying for her demented godmother, and for what? Having finally lost patience and smothered the old baggage, our heroine learned that the much vaunted "inheritance" amounts to two rotten notebooks bound in what appears to be human skin. Happily for the reader, bitter disappointment is short lived when she realises that her late guardian's grimoires may be all she needs. She takes the job of governess to Cecil, a seven year old nosey parker with a weak father and a fast-fading invalid mother. A love-spell soon does for his pater, James, and the wife is easily neutralised but Cecil proves irksome as do those infernal high-pitched screams from the trees which, on reflection, can't be the peacocks or else surely the rest of the household would hear them too? No matter. Now she has so kindly assisted her mistress into the next world, James and his sizeable bank balance are all hers, and dear Cecil - well, the spoilt little brat will not be troubling anyone ever again! C. E. Ward - Gunpowder Plot: Set in the 1920's an account of the wealthy eccentric Hedley Marston's Halloween and Fireworks celebrations at Wetstones Court on the Staffordshire Moorlands. Reluctant attendees include Marston's nephew, Philip, who drags along Oxford chum Charles Layton for moral support. Philip, who is idling away his education, stands to inherit the old fool's estate provided he stays in his good books. On November 4th, Philip pleads a migraine, so Charles sets off to The Quiet Woman for a pint, cadging a lift from Cosgrove, the head servant, who is driving into Leek to collect the guy and fireworks for the following evening. Hedley Marston has gone missing but no-one is the least concerned as he is in the habit of wandering off for weeks without notifying the staff beforehand. Charles happens to catch sight of Cosgrove flying past the pub on the return journey. The grotesque guy, propped up in back of the carriage, waves to him .... Let's hope there will be no nasty "accidents" on Bonfire night. Letters included one from Richard Dalby, wondering if Eleanor Scott might possibly have contributed stories to the Creeps series as by 'N. Dennett' and others, so this seems as good a time as any to repeat a suspicion voiced by friend Steve on Vault MK I Pan Horror #3 is one I've been meaning to write something about for a while now (maybe over on 'Gruesome Cargoes' as a lot of the stories are taken from Horrors as Dem points out). I love "Unburied Bane", the howling wind and witches and all manner of evil things screaming around the ancient, isolated farmhouse at night - certainly the stuff of childhood nightmares. And brilliantly done - you can almost smell the dank, fetid mustiness of the house. The skull in the parlour reminds me of the story of Dickie o'Tunstead in that book about legends & mysteries of the Peak District that I was reading. I don't know if it's significant, but Dennett's story and Michael Joseph's "The Yellow Cat" contain almost identical lines; "...the scarlet thread of my brain stretched to breaking point." (Unburied Bane) "...the scarlet thread of his brain was being stretched to breaking point." (The Yellow Cat) The same writer? What do you think? M. P. Dare - Ghosts I Have Met: ( The Listener, Sept 21 1961). Transcribed from a talk the Unholy Relics man gave on the BBC Home Services. His spectral acquaintances were mostly a pretty cheery bunch though he finds room to mention two particularly nasty encounters in the Indian jungle and the Midlands. Also some welcome revelations concerning the case he dramatised as The Haunted Drawers and Dare's part in their downfall. Joel Lane - Writers In The James Tradition #15: Ramsey Campbell: The author argues - convincingly - that the perceived "sexual aspects" to James's work are both deliberate and ironic, and goes on to compare and contrast his ghost stories with the supernatural fiction of one of his many modern day disciples. Both MRJ and RC come out of the article in a very favourable light, though my nomination for best line can only be " ... the dialogue is much more realistic since Campbell doesn't share James's apparent belief that anyone who hasn't been to University is mentally defective."
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Post by ripper on Mar 19, 2015 17:55:14 GMT
I like Bill Read's Dennistoun parodies. To me, they are written with affection and play deliciously on Dennistoun's dimness in James's original story. I don't have any G &S magazines with Dennistoun tales but managed to get a copy of Read's 'Skeletons in the Closet' from Sarob.
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