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Post by Calenture on Jan 28, 2008 23:18:45 GMT
London Mystery Selection Vol. 26, No. 104 March 1975The Editorial is given over to a letter from one R C Hope, who concludes "In view of the trend to a greater popularity of writings about the Occult I can only commend your restraint in this area." There are some quite attractive illustrations, and a number of highly suspicious author-names suggesting pros after pocket money. Of course, no names worth paying attention to really... Confidently anticipating a flurry of searches on eBay after posting this... Cold Reception - A W Bennett Sorrow - E Hart Edsall "The Best Laid Plans of..." - Tom Gwilern Davies Aunt Mary and the Cats - Guy N Smith More Deadly Than the Male - Richard Thomas Unforseen Element - M R Lynch A Good Night for the Strangler - Janet Schumer Death Jump - M Timothy O'Keefe Tragedy at Pembridge Mill - Alfred Percy Cole Toni Makes the Punishment Fit the Crime - Derwent Vale Something to do with Jade - Nathaniel A Spookston Rendezvous - Honoria Tirbutt No Tiger Lillies for Tania - Jack Frost
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Post by dem bones on Dec 8, 2010 19:04:18 GMT
London Mystery Magazine #31 (Dec. 1956) Editorial
Muriel Spark - The Leaf Sweeper Edmond H. Burke - The Open Window Rosemary Timperley - Dreams Are More Than Shadows Denys Val Baker - The Will To Die J. B. Crook - Kept In Alwyn Laxton - The Black Strand Wallace Nichols - The Slave Detective Tsofon Daji - The Chelsea Figure Harvey Peter Sucksmith - Ape Island Francis Butterfield - The Kane With A 'K' (Non fiction: Short appreciation of prolific author Henry Kane, still celebrated among the crime fiction fraternity for a series of novels featuring private eye ‘Peter Chambers.’) George Gowler - One Afternoon C. Potgieter - The White Hen Viola Bowker Ririe - House Of Evil James Kennedy - Morning Foursome Roswell B. Rohde - The Future-Seer H.L. Spilstead - The Paper Brothers James Pattinson - The Giggler S. John Preskett - From Chartres To Cayenne
Anthony Shaffer - Crooks In Books: A Review Of Some Recent Crime, Mystery & Detective Bookssomething seasonal; as we've seen, the 'fifties was something of a fallow period for the horror & supernatural anthology, so where did the authors go? Probably best known to a certain element of our readership as the publishers of eighteen early Guy N. Smith shorts, London Mystery Magazine ran for 132 issues from 1949 through to 1982. As i'm well on my way to collecting the lot (just 130 to go), thought it was time to take a look at it as, despite the crime trappings, if this Christmas 1956 issue is anything to go by then LMM had plenty to offer fans of macabre fiction. The magazine featured several authors known to us, including a number soon to feature in Van Thal's earlier Pan Book Of Horror Stories: Algernon Blackwood, Muriel Spark, Robert Aickman (who contributed a non-fiction piece on ghost-hunter and Borley Rectory PR man, Harry Price), Rosemary Timperley, Russell Kirk ( Behind The Stumps in #4), Celia Fremlin, Lewis Lucifer Over London Spence, Shamus Frazer, Denys Val Baker, Jack Trevor Story .... But fortunately someone has written a proper article about London Mystery Magazine and even more fortunately, that someone is Mike Ashley and you'll find it at Crimetime! Collecting Crime: London Mystery Magazine - Part OneCollecting Crime: London Mystery Magazine - Part Twoso, to the stories; i'm in two minds about revisiting Viola Bowker Ririe's House Of Evil as it made a big impression on me and almost certainly isn't as brill as i remember it, but so far, so good. Moira Vincent-Smith Muriel Spark - The Leaf Sweeper: J. A. Cuddon would later revive this for The Penguin Book Of Ghost Stories, and it's a sprightly opener, featuring the spectre of council worker and ex-asylum inmate Johnnie Geddes, founder of the Society For The Abolition Of Christmas. J. B. Crook - Kept In: Paul Jamieson returns to his old school to watch a cricket match and is appalled at the state of disrepair. The ancient headmaster, 'Cat-o'nine' Elms, explains that the place has been on a downward spiral since the scandal involving Gorst, an unpopular pupil, who hung himself in the detention room. Gorst had been accused of smoking behind the bathing huts but in fact he was innocent. As Gorst was the best bowler on the school team, Jamieson went to the head to proclaim the boy's innocence, but Gorst being sulky didn't back his story, preferring to play the martyr. How best for the team to teach the little tick a lesson? Sneaking into the detention room, they bound, gagged and tied him to his chair. One bright spark even hung a noose around his neck ... The room has remained locked and boarded ever since, but still Jamieson catches sight of a desperate face peering down at him from a window that shouldn't be visible. Denys Val Baker - The Will To Die: He's posted the suicide note, drank a last hot beverage at the cafe, now it's time for action. Prior to this he's tried gassing himself but that only made him wretch, and drowning is out as he's scared of water. What he needs is something deadly swift, like a guillotine blade. He arrives at the railway line, lies down across the track ... James Pattinson - The Giggler: Mrs. Lennon returns home to find a red lipped, jolly intruder with a lard-white face making himself comfortable in her chair. Mr. Stephen Clauders explains that he lives in a big house with lots of other people. The big house has a very high wall around it, but clever Mr. Clauders has managed to scale it. Mr. Clauders likes razors. Mr. Clauders likes cutting people up with razors. It's the blood, you see. He finds it pretty. To be continued ...
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Post by dem bones on Dec 13, 2010 19:24:43 GMT
Beresford Egan Rosemary Timperley - Dreams Are More Than Shadows: Catherine Lake, married to the kind-natured Gordon and mother to thirteen year old Ellie, confides in her landlady, Mrs. Raylan, that she's being visited in her dreams by the perfect lover. At first gentle and eager to please, as their nightly sessions continue so the incubus reveals his twisted nature, but the crueler he is, the more irresistible Catherine finds him. Eventually, he tells her where she can meet him in the flesh, and Mrs. Lake is helpless but to pack a suitcase and desert her loved ones. One year later she returns, a stooped, dead-eyed crone who is not long for this world. Meanwhile, the incubus has selected his next victim, a nice fresh, juicy young one .... Beresford Egan The obvious implications make this a far nastier story than anything i can remember Rosemary Timperley contributing to the Pan Horror books. Well worth reviving, in other words!
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Post by dem bones on Dec 14, 2010 19:15:46 GMT
Edmond H. Burke - The Open Window: A curtain twitcher gets his kicks from snooping on the middle-aged Polish couple in the house opposite, in particular the combustible wife, who is forever fighting with her boozing, womanising no-good spouse. Funny enough, our peeping tom hasn't seen this wretched bloke around for days. And why have the wife and daughter taken to dumping sacks of garbage at such unearthly hours when there's every chance the local stray dog population will feast on what's inside?
i'm SURE i've read, if not a plagiarism, then a very similar story in one of the Pan or Fontana horror books, but damned if i can think of the author/ title.
James Kennedy - Morning Foursome : After a win on the football pools, the narrator and his wife adopt new identities and move to affluent Linksbay to escape his legitimate but frowned-upon past. 'Mr. Newpas' enjoys his morning round of golf with fellow mystery men Muntard, Zilon and Woolmot, but there's much about the latter which slightly unnerves him. Jason Woolmot is monosyllabic, prone to violent outbursts and Newpas wonders if he is as fond of the others as me pretends. His suspicions are confirmed when Mrs. Woolmot confides that her Jason hasn't returned to England from China just for a pleasant change of scenery. He is recovering from the breakdown he suffered after learning that his brother, Horace, had been hung for murder. Considering the fates of Muntard and Zilon, 'Newpas' has reason to be glad that Woolmot never learned of his previous occupation.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 16, 2010 10:57:24 GMT
Right. i can tell you're all gagging for more, so here's a later issue (the beginning of the Guy N. Smith epoch, as it happens though he's not in this one). London Mystery Magazine #88 (March. 1971) Editorial
Patricia Beard - Such A Pity Hugh Orford - Plastic Horror John H. Rice - Revenge Of The Netsuke Carver Richard Sullivan - Down In The Suburbs Derwent Yale - Tony Smuggles Chianti Lewis Allegri - Elimination Bout Oliver Taylor - The Last Plateau John Tomes - Briscott's Lot John Fotheringham - A Man And His Dog B. M. Mooney - The Arabian Bottle P. Mason - The Corridor Between Joan Gooding - Imagination Will Be The Death Of You John Newall - A True Limbo Carton I. Tranchell - Out Of This World David Bartlett - The Purgation John Henry Beamer - Cry Of The Gulls
Crooks In Books: A Review Of Some Recent Mystery & Detective Books I stupidly got rid of a few of these during the great purge but held onto #88 and a far earlier issue (more on which later, I hope). 88 survived the cull on the strength of the cover and the adorably bonkers contribution from Hugh Orford and B. M. (Brian?) Mooney's The Arabian Bottle. The illustrators still had their moments. Oriel Bath Hugh Orford - Plastic Horror: Axel Carenth, brilliant plastic surgeon, gets his kicks from shrinking his patients and turning them into statuettes. Eventually his long-suffering Hungarian wife Magda manages to inject him with the serum just as he's about to operate on the hero, Mattocks. He contracted speedily so that in his place lay a loathsome, wrinkled, mummy-like abomination ... At first only his skull remained human in size but, as the hair fell from it, it too grew small save that the teeth forced out the jaws in an awful gorilla-like grimace.
From it great goggling eyes, still shot with terror, slowly globulated as the sockets became too small to contain them ..... Magda, secure in her revenge, calmly blows her brains out before the Police arrive. I'm sure funky wrote something about the GNS London Mystery stories on the old board but where to find it on that interminable thread ....
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Post by noose on Dec 16, 2010 11:42:58 GMT
Dec 1972 - Vol. 22 #95
Guy N Smith - Borrowed Time Iain Rowan - Damned Clever These Chinese David Brunskill - The Violinist D. A. Grist - Terror Enters a Quiet Life G.E. Fox - Shop Soiled Guerilla John Tavener - Squeal of a Pig Alan L Hill - Martyr in a Matchbox A. J. Hamshar - Half-a-Man M. Timothy O' Keefe - Watcher of the Dead Derwent Vale - Toni Has Ten Seconds Brooke Lane - Her Last Promise
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Post by dem bones on Dec 16, 2010 18:15:09 GMT
Neat mix of crime, thriller, mystery, (pulp) horror and the supernatural: mostly short, snappy tales building to a twist ending: nice to look at. i can easily understand if these became as addictive to their readership as the lovable Badger books did to theirs.
Random reads from #88. The first is cute!
Patricia Beard - Such A Pity: Real 'You know you're in the 'seventies when ...' stuff, this, as in three pages we get two young "dolly-birds". The narrator watches impassively from the cemetery as the first, a distraught creature in the wet look plastic mac, throws herself from a bridge and drowns ("Her coat certainly had a 'wet look' now, I thought, trying to lighten my depression"). Shrugging off the incident, He takes his usual afternoon stroll to see the wife and kids. Of course, it's not been the same since the fatal car crash, but it's still nice to see 'em. As he makes his way back home, an attractive, leggy young woman in a mini-coat, "slim, yet rounded and bosomy", gives him a mischievous smile. Once he's over the shock, he realises this is the first time he's wished he wasn't dead. At least she's given him something nice to think about in the grave tonight.
B. M. Mooney - The Arabian Bottle: Mr. Sutton, confirmed bachelor and antiquarian, is a collector of occult books and curiosities (His pride and joy is the athame which once belonged to Gilles De Retz). The stone flask, his latest purchase from shady dealer Mr. Boscombe, bears a personal message from Allah that to remove the stopper will unleash a terrible Djinn. Mr. Sutton isn't one to heed such superstitious claptrap and, in less time than it takes to tell his faithful mastiff is torn to pieces, his hallway similar. Mr. Sutton remains curiously unmoved by all this destruction until he looks over at his favourite chair and ...
Lewis Allegri - Elimination Bout: A heavyweight contest in a packed stadium. Veteran contract killer O'Neil is abroad, awaiting an opportunity to bump off gangland boss Big Jim Gracchi, the man who eats too many peanuts.
Richard Sullivan - Down In The Suburbs: "It seems that the fellow is out of our kind of drawer. Dreadful scandal, if true, of course. I'll have to resign from the golf course." Six matronly, middle-income, middle-middle-class ladies have been murdered in quick succession, the killer removing items of jewellery from each victim as a trophy. Likable old duffers Harry and Gregory discuss the business at their club. Gregory explains that, in his head, the culprit is really throttling his domineering mother, it isn't his fault and Harry shouldn't be the least worried if he suspects his son, George. This is a great comfort to Harry, especially when he helps himself to a crafty rummage around in George's room and finds five of the six missing trinkets. But where's the other one?
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Post by ramseycampbell on Feb 15, 2011 14:26:56 GMT
One sad reminiscence of London Mystery - Norman Kark went in for, shall we say, sharp practice. The only contract fledgling authors got was the cheque for their fee, which they signed on the back. An old friend of mine, "Frank Mace" (John Owen of the Liverpool science fiction society) only discovered that his tale "The Cuckoo Clock" had been filmed when Universal contacted him to say they planned to remake the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode based on it (though as far as I know they didn't remake it). Kark had sold them the rights and pocketed the money, and John had no redress.
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Post by ramseycampbell on Jul 14, 2011 11:41:20 GMT
Edmond H. Burke - The Open Window: A curtain twitcher gets his kicks from snooping on the middle-aged Polish couple in the house opposite, in particular the combustible wife, who is forever fighting with her boozing, womanising no-good spouse. Funny enough, our peeping tom hasn't seen this wretched bloke around for days. And why have the wife and daughter taken to dumping sacks of garbage at such unearthly hours when there's every chance the local stray dog population will feast on what's inside? i'm SURE i've read, if not a plagiarism, then a very similar story in one of the Pan or Fontana horror books, but damned if i can think of the author/ title. A belated thought: it sounds quite like Cornell Woolrich's "Rear Window" - could that be the one? But the Woolrich came first.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 14, 2011 18:17:29 GMT
i agree it's derivative of 'Rear Window', but what i was getting at is, i'm sure i've read a pan horror (or chetwynd-hayes: Neighbours?) derivative of Mr Burke's variation on Woolrich. but given my recent ignoble track record, it's best i keep my "i'm sure i've read"s to myself from now on as they're obviously all the result of some ongoing hallucination and i'm haunted by books that don't exist!
turns out B. M. Mooney in #88 is the same Brian Mooney of Pan Horror/ Fantasy Tales repute with his first ever sale.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 14, 2011 9:15:37 GMT
Norman Kark (ed.) - London Mystery Selection Vol. 32 No. 131 (December 1981) Colin Hodgson - The Curse Of Sarah Corey Louis Allegri - Echo Of Life W.J.M. Gosling - A Question Of Experience Valerie Edwards - The Trenhaile Killings Robert Miller - Going My Way? Ruth Jemmett - Scent Of Danger G.P. Jennings - Ghost House Peter Bayliss - The Last Ring Guy N. Smith - The Hangman Anthony Bowl - Appointment with Cyanide Desmond Tarrant - Lepidopteral Tycoon Richard Young - The Picture Hanny Kunz - The Visit Glyn Jones - The Mirror J M. Quinn - Not So Dumb Witness Peter M. Waverly - Mr. Shelton, Beware!
CROOKS IN BOOKSFunky, probably the nearest thing the world has ever seen to a walking encyclopaedia on GNS, isn't the biggest fan of the great man's shorter pieces and on the strength of The Hangman he is no bad judge. Ballinger, a sculptor who incorporates the remains of his victims into his statues, makes the mistake of killing the brother-in-law of Boland, a feared mobster. Despite the abolition of the Death Penalty, Ballinger finds himself stood before Judge, Jury and a terrifying hangman fixing him the most chilling glare from behind his mask. It's enjoyable in a very Badger Books kind of way though not exactly Abominations and The Slime Beast sure won't be losing sleep over it. Incidentally, Guy N. Smith's novel The Hangman, first published as by Gavin Newman, is now available in paperback from Aswang (£6.99 plus postage). Contact Blackhillbooks AT hotmail.com for further details (replace AT with @, obviously)
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Post by dem bones on Feb 20, 2013 9:47:08 GMT
There's surely a brilliant horror & supernatural anthology to be compiled from the London Mystery Magazine, but, much as i love Patricia Beard's Such A Pity and Hugh Orford's Plastic Horror ( here), I'm not sure that many from #88 would come under consideration. That said, I find these monthly digests a rare joy, and it's such a shame we've no equivalent in 2013. 'Buster' Carton I. Tranchell - Out Of This World: A wannabe necromancer attempts to communicate with the dead via a statue of the village Deity. After a nineteen day vigil with nothing but the occasional sepulchral chuckle to show for his efforts, he finally hits pay dirt (see fig A). The Deity is not pleased to be disturbed but don't get too excited, his revenge is absolutely rubbish. Really, this is a waste of a splendid illustration. David Bartlett - The Purgation: A rat eats something it shouldn't have in the Jacksons' yard, dies in excruciating agony, etc. Joan Gooding - Imagination Will Be The Death Of You: This is more like it, would have been Ok for an Armada Ghost Book. The recalcitrant young narrator (jeans, scruffy jumper) ignores her stern grandmother's warning, slips under the barbed wire and snoops around in Mr. Brunner's garden. There's nothing to worry about. Mr. Brunner is long dead. So who's the cloaked guy with the pointed ears and needle teeth who invites her inside a house that was demolished over thirty years ago? John Henry Beamer - Cry Of The Gulls: A mini-skirt girl has had enough of her stepmother, Helen, and, when she spots her sunbathing on the sand dunes, picks up a nice big rock. There will be a poetic ring to Helen's death, as this was where the girl's real mum met her tragic end, falling off the edge of the cliff. Or so everyone believes.
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Post by helrunar on Sept 21, 2016 19:53:12 GMT
These look exquisitely lovely. I'm intrigued by the title "No Tiger Lilies for Tania" by one Jack Frost. I'm imagining something that might make me giggle.
And Hugh Orford's "Plastic Horror" deserves to be in the VAULT OF EVIL GOLDEN BOOK OF GORE, if such should ever be published...
H.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 22, 2016 6:50:32 GMT
These look exquisitely lovely. I'm intrigued by the title "No Tiger Lilies for Tania" by one Jack Frost. I'm imagining something that might make me giggle. And Hugh Orford's "Plastic Horror" deserves to be in the VAULT OF EVIL GOLDEN BOOK OF GORE, if such should ever be published... H. Not to forget another Vault Advent Calendar revival, Syd J. Bounds' film crew in peril classic, The Relic! Am also a fan of Viola Bowker Riries creepy House Of Evil Great little magazines these, crime orientated for sure, but usually good for at least one ghost story and/ or horror per issue. Would that we had the like today. Have updated the links to Mike Ashley's article in the earlier post, but for convenience sake, here they are again: Collecting Crime: London Mystery Magazine - Part OneCollecting Crime: London Mystery Magazine - Part Two
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Post by jamesdoig on Jul 29, 2017 5:54:23 GMT
There's surely a brilliant horror & supernatural anthology to be compiled from the London Mystery Magazine, It was a great little magazine - it even had "horror" on the cover in the early issues: LMM22 Amongst other things this one has a werewolf story by Frederick E. Smith, "Those That Hunt By Night," and a zombie story by Langston Day, "The Terror That Walked By Night." Pretty crude stuff, but not unreadable. Shortly afterwards they removed "horror," no doubt as it offended the sensibilities of your common Londoner- didn't stop them publishing horror stories though. LMM27
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