|
Post by fritzmaitland on Mar 21, 2010 21:01:32 GMT
(Apologies for the rather duff scan)
Stephen Laws - Spectre. Sphere 1988
'The plot is brilliant, the writing superb. It's absolutely terrifying - a living nightmare.' - Starburst Magazine.
SPECTRE
They called themselves the Byker Chapter, and they were inseparable. Six boys, one girl, they grew up together in the back streets of Newcastle. Now the terraces are long gone, but Richard Eden has his memories, and one special photograph that is all that remains of their joy...and betrayal...
Suddenly, impossibly, the images begin to fade, one by one, as if his friends had never existed. Something was stalking the Chapter - closing in and killing them hideously. Why? Deep in the past, they shared a terrible secret, a secret that had released a horror from beyond the dawn of time. The spectre of the past was abroad once more: they could run but there was nowhere they could hide, this time...
Cover illustration by Nick Bantock
|
|
|
Post by Craig Herbertson on Mar 22, 2010 5:21:13 GMT
That looks good.
|
|
|
Post by erebus on Mar 22, 2010 10:56:20 GMT
Amazing coincidence this as I was looking at this book the other day wondering if I should buy it. I have been looking at reviews and bits here and there and it looks positive. Never sampled Law's work but I'm willing to give this a go. That is a creepy cover too. Reminiscent of the ghost in the movie adaption of Straub's Ghost Story.
|
|
|
Post by fritzmaitland on Mar 23, 2010 12:11:27 GMT
Thanks for the positive comments, lads. As a result, I've decided to read the blummin' thing, and, wouldn't you know it, it's pretty spooky! Reading alone in the house last night gave me a couple of frissons, especially during a sequence reminiscent of the fillums Dead Of Night or Magic. Brrrrr!
|
|
|
Post by erebus on Mar 23, 2010 13:01:12 GMT
Right thats it... You got me... Ebay here I come.
|
|
|
Post by fritzmaitland on Mar 24, 2010 23:03:51 GMT
About a 100 pages in and enjoying the ride. I have to applaud Mr Laws musical references -
Bachman Turner Overdrive (You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet) Boston Philharmonic (John Williams Star Wars trilogy) Status Quo (Caroline) Chuck Berry Fats Domino (Blueberry Hill) A Whiter Shade Of Pale Derek & The Dominoes (Layla) Eric Clapton The Rolling Stones (Brown Sugar)
Phew! He's even found time to mention Hammer Films, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and The Gorgon.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 26, 2010 8:23:07 GMT
Stephen Laws - Ghost Train (Sphere, 1987) Nick Bantock Blurb: Loathsome. An unspeakable abomination. A horror buried so deep in his psyche he can remember not a single detail of what it has done to him. He stands in the railway station and shudders uncontrollably. The dreams at night. The Ghost Train Man back again after all those years. Robbie with the noose around his neck still, so dead, so cold. Childhood nightmares resurrected after the incident on the train. Approaching the platform now, ticket in hand. Go on urges one voice; Go back cries another. Mind spinning, people staring. The feeling of choking earth fills his mouth but he must fight his way on board and confront the demons that are lurking there …Haven't read Spectre and can't remember too much about Ghost Train either, beyond enjoying it very much at the time, not least for its anti-happy ending. They usually go down well with me. His shorts The Crawl and Junk are proper horror. In the latter (recycles old post) a strange guy comes to Frank McLaren’s scrapyard with a list of bizarre and morbid requests: the rear seat from an Anglia in which the passenger died, preferably decapitated: An unruptured petrol tank from a Datsun Cherry, one child fatality required, etc. McClaren tolerates the man’s sick shopping lists but comes a time when he can’t provide a particular piece and decides to fob him off with an ordinary windscreen (as opposed to one which inflicted damage on the victim's eyes). The customer sees through the deception and Frank brains him with a spanner then shoves his body inside a wreck destined for the crusher. Stranger and car are merged into a solid four foot cube which the murderer dumps in the centre of the yard. That’s when his problems begin …
|
|
|
Post by fritzmaitland on Mar 26, 2010 18:56:58 GMT
Great cover! Spectre done and dusted. Great stuff. Kind of old-fashioned, but in a good way. Our Byker heroes even have a dust up with some biker villains (one with Motorhead on his back). I haven't enjoyed anything so unexpectedly for ages.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 26, 2010 19:04:41 GMT
Stephen Laws – The Frighteners (New English Library, 1991) Blurb: HOW MUCH DO YOU HATE? Eddie Brinkburn’s doing time for a botched garage job that left Sheraton’s brother very badly burned. HOW MUCH DO YOU HATE? When Sheraton’s gang burn his wife and kids to death, Eddie soon learns the meaning of hate. HOW MUCH DO YOU HATE?
And that’s how the prison psycho transfers his awesome power to Eddie. A power that Eddie reckons he can control. A power that will enable Eddie to put the frighteners on Sheraton …
`His strongest story to date … Laws’ leaping talent demands an even greater audience’ – Fear `A new heir to the horror throne … Laws’ strength lies in building atmosphere, suspense and tension. The Frighteners is unrelenting and a powerhouse of suppressed emotion’ – Starburst
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jul 29, 2013 18:45:37 GMT
Stephen Laws- Spectre (Souvenir, 1986) Graham Potts Blurb: Together, as children, they had played in the streets, gone to school and shared the pains and ecstasies of growing up. They had called themselves the Byker Chapter, after the area of Newcastle where they lived. Later, they had gone to college together, and there they had been joined by a Cornish girl called Pandora. Six blokes and a girl, united in a bond of friendship – until that last week of college, when suddenly everything had changed ...
Now, ten years later, they had all gone their separate ways, nothing left to remind them of that special relationship but an old photograph taken at a party, showing all seven of them together.
But when Richard looked at his copy of the photograph, there were only six people in the picture: Phil had disappeared, as if he had never been there. And a few days later he noticed that Derek's image was beginning to fade, too. Then came the news that Phil in London and Derek in Durham had both been found dead, horribly mutilated. Was someone – or something – out to destroy each member of the Byker Chapter one by one? Was this why Richard felt so unaccountably depressed, afraid of he knew not what? Why he was plagued by such terrible, haunting nightmares?
Drawn together by their mutual fear, the surviving men of the Byker Chapter came together, seeking safety in unity. But Pandora seemed to have vanished without trace, and Joe's image was already fading from the photograph.
On a night of horror, when Richard's television set crackled into hideous life, the beleaguered Byker Chapter began to realise that the key to their persecution lay with the missing Pandora. They must find her, and soon ... "Let's send for Peter Cushing. He'd know what to do!" Not being in any fit state to contribute a proper review just now, a'm doubly grateful to the blurb writer for providing so thorough a synopsis. Some very inventive supernatural murders in this, those involving a life-size clay sculpture and a ventriloquist doll named Charlie being especially effective. The evil genius pulling the strings - a child-molesting black magician named Hugh Barnard - is a thoroughly unpleasant force to be reckoned with, as opposed to the attention seekers the News of the World made it their business to "expose" on a weekly basis. Also like how everyone consumes copious amounts of Drugs and booze while chain-smoking around the clock - makes you wonder why the Spectre/ Medusa feels the need to go the extra mile when their livers and/ or lungs are likely to give out at any moment. Fritz has already mentioned the shared musical tastes of the Byker Chapter, and, from the photo taken at Stan's 1972 Christmas Party, they dress the part, too. High fashion moments include Richard's platform shoes & loon trousers ("so hopelessly dated now"), Pandora's hot pants, the massive spiked collar of Derek's shirt offset by a kipper tie, etc. Stephen Laws - Spectre (NEL, 1994, originally Souvenir, 1986) Jon Blake Blurb: The'd called themselves the Byker Chapter ....
They were inseparable: six boys and one girl who'd grown up together in the back streets of Newcastle. Now the terraces are long gone, but Richard Eden has his memories – and one special photograph. All that is left of their joy – and betrayal ...
Suddenly, impossibly, one by one the images begin to fade, as if his friends had never existed.
Something is stalking the Chapter – closing in for the kill. With each hideous death, another image fades from the photograph. Some spectre from the past, some horror they have unwittingly released, is out there on the darkened streets.Hunting them down. They can run, but this time there is nowhere they can hide .. .
|
|