Your Best & Worst of 2010 A.D.

[dem bones]

The dreaded annual round up. Novels, collections, stories, mags, magazines, comics, TV, films, publishers, sites, blogs and so on - highlights and low-lights of the past twelve months. This being Vault, it doesn't matter which year the book/ story/ collection/ etc., was actually published: if you discovered it in 2010 and it made you happy, then please share.

[noose]

JOHNNY'S 2010 ROUND-UP

Best 'New' Novel: Was a toss-up between two, one published last year and one published this year. Charlie Higson's THE ENEMY, a un-zombie zombie novel where all the adults are out to get the kids. It's been said before, but it is a cross between 28 Days Later and Lord of the Flies, but that's no bad thing. Then we have Bret Easton Ellis' IMPERIAL BEDROOMS - the sequel to Less Than Zero, and it's a mid-life crisis on the printed page and it's really weird but reading it is probably the kind of novel F Scott Fitzgerald would write if he was loaded on fine psychotropics and drinking absinthe. But the winner goes to THE ENEMY - had everything I wanted in a good rollicking tale and it's always good to read about a London that's decayed more than ever...


Best Old Novel An easy winner, this goes to James Herbert's SHRINE, picked this book up again recently, the last time being when I was in my early teens. This was my first introduction to James Herbert, and re-reading it again has made me realise that it's probably his strongest, most ambitious novel he's ever written. A close second prize goes to Lisa Tuttle's FAMILIAR SPIRIT - a book that I finished in one sitting, which is a very rare thing to happen these days.

Best New (as in published in last ten years) Collection - There have been some really good ones Mark Samuels' THE WHITE HANDS, Reggie Oliver's THE COMPLETE SYMPHONIES OF ADOLF HITLER, Chris Barker's TENEBROUS TALES - but I think there has to be a two way split between Basil Copper's DARKNESS, MIST & SHADOW, John L Probert's WICKED DELIGHTS. The price tag and other noted problems put many off the Basil Copper books, but to just have all of these stories together for the first time really made my year. John's WICKED DELIGHTS does everything a good, well written, heart on its sleeve collection should - and I found it more entertaining than COFFIN NAILS (if that's possible!!!).

Best Old Collection: There have been about twenty contenders, Middleton, Machen, Aickman, Bloch, Bowen, Aiken included - but the winner for me goes to William Sansom and his SOMETHING TERRIBLE, SOMETHING LOVELY - this was a joy to read and his status as one of my favourite authors was confirmed by reading the Tartarus Collection VARIOUS TEMPTATIONS and other bits and bobs. Second place goes to Stanley Ellin's THE SPECIALTY OF THE HOUSE.

Best New Anthology: END OF THE LINE was one of those quirky anthologies that I really got into - however there were one or two stories in there that absolutely stunk and did there maybe should have been tighter editorial control used.

Best Old Anthology: There have been three stand-outs for me this year, GHOST STORIES AND OTHER QUEER TALES which is a mas-up of the Pearson's published UNCANNY STORIES AND MORE UNCANNY STORIES with a few added tales thrown into the mix, MODERN TALES OF HORROR ed by Dashiell Hammett - a lovely selection of favourites and some others I wasn't really all that familiar with and HORRORS UNKNOWN ed by Sam Moskowitz, if only for that weird round table story The Challenge From Beyond. The winner goes to MODERN TALES OF HORROR.

Best Magazine: There is only one for me this year, the continuing rise and rise of THE PAPERBACK FANATIC. Loved the offshoot magazines and Justin is akin to a pulp god.

Best Film: NIGHT OF THE DEMON. No other film comes close. Okay, well maybe TWINS OF EVIL.....


I'm not going to do a worst of - there were many, but why use energy on things you'd rather forget?

And now, a bit of reflection...

2010 was the best year I've had so far in this crazy horror genre - starting off with the rather hastily finished BACK FROM THE DEAD being splurged on many unsuspecting people at the World Horror Con, getting the first and biggest group of Pan Horror authors and artists together for a panel and once in a lifetime photo op - hearing Craig, David and Nick Royle read their stories from BFTD were all personal highlights.

Getting the Pan Horror book signed off and re-issued was remarkable, I'm sure there were a few people out there who thought it probably couldn't be done (or shouldn't be done!) - and it was really, really hard work - but we got there in the end and it had a lovely pre-launch at the Fantasy Con and John Probert did a lovely reading of Oscar Cook's flesh rotting tale. I apologise for being so out of it that night, I still shudder at the thought of the amount of booze I caned...but it was good to chat with everyone there, Charlie, David, Kate etc etc etc

Obverse Books publishing WITH DEEPEST SYMPATHY, still gives me a thrill to see my stories all together under the same roof. Was such an honour to get my Basil Copper interview in the BRIGHTON SHOCK book.

It's been a bit of a crappy year health wise though, but maybe that's been due to the amount of work (both horror and supermarket related) I've been doing. Also been crappy that the whole 'incident' reared it's head again, but it was always going to, and I managed to be just a little more reserved this time.

Going up to see John Burke. Brilliant!

Another highlight was ZARDZOZ and meeting up with Dem and Justin and everyone else who turned up - really had a good time, and got some nice books.

What does 2011 hold? A shotgun to my head and it has a twitchy trigger finger. I better start working....


And a personal thank you to every single one of you that comes to THE VAULT - fuck me, you're a bunch of nutters at times, but how I love you all - well apart from one of you.

[David A. Riley]

Like Johnny I think I'll give a miss to mentioning the year's worst. People who know me will already know some of these but I don't think, especially as editor of the British Fantasy Society's Prism, I should single anything out.

The best horror film that I watched this year has got to be Let the Right One In. I can't think of any other that comes anywhere near it this year.

I haven't read many horror novels this year, mainly crime or historical, but I did recentky finish Reggie Oliver's The Dracula Papers Book 1: The Scholar's Tale, which is an amazing mixture of Gothic adventure and historical romance with occasional appearances from such diverse characters as the Wandering Jew (and his tales of the "real" Jesus), cannibals, pirates, madness, suicide, bizarre executions and the historical Vlad Tepes as a young man fighting the Turks. There's horror, tension, humour, the lot. The only thing that really amazes me is that this 470-page first of a proposed four volumes, has been published by Chomu Press rather than one of the mainstream publishers. All credit to Chomu, of course, for bringing this book out, and making such a splendid job of it, but something of this calibre should have been available in every bookshop. It speaks volumes for the state of the industry today that Reggie has had to rely on the small press for something like this. It's a crying shame.

There have been some extremely good collections this year, though the one I enjoyed most has to be the new Tartarus Press edition of Robert Aickman's Sub Rosa.

There have been too many excellent anthologies to single any one out, especially those I've had stories in! Both Charles Black and Johnny Mains have published some brilliant stuff and it's been a pleasure to be involved with both of them.

[Johnlprobert]

Dec 28, 2010 13:05:56 GMT @noose said:

JOHNNY'S 2010 ROUND-UP
Best New (as in published in last ten years) Collection - There have been some really good ones Mark Samuels' THE WHITE HANDS, Reggie Oliver's THE COMPLETE SYMPHONIES OF ADOLF HITLER, Chris Barker's TENEBROUS TALES - but I think there has to be a two way split between Basil Copper's DARKNESS, MIST & SHADOW, John L Probert's WICKED DELIGHTS. The price tag and other noted problems put many off the Basil Copper books, but to just have all of these stories together for the first time really made my year. John's WICKED DELIGHTS does everything a good, well written, heart on its sleeve collection should - and I found it more entertaining than COFFIN NAILS (if that's possible!!!).

I'm filled with pride about that one & will do my best to post something more constructive in a bit!

[Johnlprobert]

OK here we go:

Best 'New' Novel: I don't read a lot of novels but I have to say that Gary Fry's The House of Canted Steps from PS was an unexpected delight - a brisk and well-written haunted house story with well-drawn characters and some properly scary scenes

Best Old Novel: Peter Straub's Julia - much scarier than I was expecting after viewing Richard Loncraine's awful movie version

Best New Collection: Gary McMahon's Pieces of Midnight from Ash-Tree Press, which achieved the difficult task of being optimistic and miserabilist at the same time.

Best Old Collection: Sheridan LeFanu's In A Glass Darkly - I can't believe I'd never read Carmilla before and the other tales were equally cracking - I'd like to have met him.

Best New Anthology: The Sixth Black Book of Horror - Long live Charlie Black - the saviour of the modern horror anthology!

Best Old Anthology: The Fontana Book of Ghost Stories Vols 1,2,5,6,7,9. An utter pleasure to discover these & I'll be posting my thoughts on the others on the Vault in due course.

Best Film: I don't keep a record of the movies I watch (I know - I was shocked as well) but the Horror Film of the year for me has to be A Serbian Film

And finally:

This has been the first full year that Lady P and I have been together and so I have to say that 2010 qualifies as the:

Best

Year

Ever

Thanks Kate

[noose]

Oh, missed out on two things:

BEST TELLY: - it wasn't Oh Whistle and I'll Spunk Taxpayers Money on You, My Lad - nor was it Dr Who(re) - I really, really enjoyed Sherlock - thought the second episode was the weakest out of the three, love Moriarty, I don't think you're supposed to 'get' him and that's probably the reason so many people were bemused when he was first revealed. I heard of comparisons of Graham Norton and other ludicrous things, I thought he wasthe English version of Keyser Söze...

BEST BUY: HAS to be the ALIEN ANTHOLOGY blu ray boxset. All 8 Alien films (4 originals and 4 extended cuts) plus a fucking wheelybin full of extras. Alien is breathtaking on blu ray and has turned me into a dribbling wreck...

Right, I'm done...

[Craig Herbertson]

Craig's 2010 ROUND-UP (stolen from Johnny's template)

Best 'New' Novel:

Hawk the Slayer - absolutely dreadful. Loved it.
Special mention for Child of Earth: Dumarest. Tubb. The last one I'll read as Tubb is sadly no longer with us..

Best Old Novel:

Conan the Conqueror: Howard

Best Old Collection: M. R. James (can't find it now but it was all the shorts.)

Best New Anthology:Tough

'Back From the Dead' Mains for historical reasons and the foreword and 'Seventh Black Book of Horror' Black for just being a great Horror anthology

Best Magazine: I would have voted Paperback Fanatic just to look at the covers. Still on my wish list though.

Best Film: 'To Let' by Jaume Balagueró. It had some minor flaws but you know you've been hit on the head with the horror hammer.

A special mention for 'Memento' by Chris Nolan - it wasn't Horror except in a very wide sense of the word but for me one of the most original concepts and immaculate conceptions in recent times

Best telly episode: Doctor Who: Blink

Please remember I read and saw next to nothing because I am broke in a foreign land

[andydecker]

Well, 2010 had it ups and downs as I guess will be for everyone.


Best New Novel:
Robert Jackson Bennett Mr. Shivers was an interesting debut novel.

Best Collection:
Zombie Apocalypse by Stephen Jones. That was fun.

Best Old Novel:
Dare I say Eat them alive? Nah, just kidding. The main discovery was the work of Gerald Suster, both his horror novels and his Black Pearl. Also enjoyed a novel by Eric Ericson. And finally got some still missing Brian Ball for a reasonable price.

Best movie:
No movie could lure me into the cinema. The blockbuster I later watched on pay-tv didn´t made me regret my laziness. I discovered the great Shameless Films with their vast library of euro trash. Terrible movies, but in a good sense. A pleasant surprise was All the boys love Mandy Lane.

Best tv:
The Walking Dead was interesting, but frankly I thought it a bit boring. 6 eps were just enough, I can´t imagine 12 or 22 eps of this.
Supernatural was a lot of fun, sadly we are 2 seasons behind.
True Blood bordered on self-parody and was more episodic than ever, but if you embraced this, its overwrought antics was fun.
And of course stuff like Midsomer Murders was always worthwhile.

Best magazine:
Of course the Paperback Fanatic. Justin´s work is outstanding.

Disappointments:
The ending of Lost was, well, blah. Interesting idea to throw all developments into the trash and substitute it with a dose of fantasy kitsch.
Vampire Diaries is terrible and a waste of time, same goes for Fringe.
Comics again didn´t deliver, too expensive for too little bang. The Hellboy line was the only consistently worthwhile. 2000 AD was a bit blah this year. Some strong stuff, but a lot of middle of the road.
Movie remakes still are a waste of time and money. The best bit of Friday 13th was the lovely naked ladies. Which isn´t exactly filling. Also a bore was Bloody Valentine. I don´t know if I will see the Wolfman remake. And I defintley don´t plan to see the Nightmare remake.

A special thanks goes to the Vault, which again was a treasure trove for new old books and always a lively and often interesting discussion.

[David A. Riley]

Dec 28, 2010 18:54:44 GMT David A. Riley said:

Like Johnny I think I'll give a miss to mentioning the year's worst. People who know me will already know some of these but I don't think, especially as editor of the British Fantasy Society's Prism, I should single anything out.

The best horror film that I watched this year has got to be Let the Right One In. I can't think of any other that comes anywhere near it this year.

I haven't read many horror novels this year, mainly crime or historical, but I did recentky finish Reggie Oliver's The Dracula Papers Book 1: The Scholar's Tale, which is an amazing mixture of Gothic adventure and historical romance with occasional appearances from such diverse characters as the Wandering Jew (and his tales of the "real" Jesus), cannibals, pirates, madness, suicide, bizarre executions and the historical Vlad Tepes as a young man fighting the Turks. There's horror, tension, humour, the lot. The only thing that really amazes me is that this 470-page first of a proposed four volumes, has been published by Chomu Press rather than one of the mainstream publishers. All credit to Chomu, of course, for bringing this book out, and making such a splendid job of it, but something of this calibre should have been available in every bookshop. It speaks volumes for the state of the industry today that Reggie has had to rely on the small press for something like this. It's a crying shame.

There have been some extremely good collections this year, though the one I enjoyed most has to be the new Tartarus Press edition of Robert Aickman's Sub Rosa.

There have been too many excellent anthologies to single any one out, especially those I've had stories in! Both Charles Black and Johnny Mains have published some brilliant stuff and it's been a pleasure to be involved with both of them.

I forgot to include TV. There's no question in my mind what was best there. Dexter, either series 4 (which will leave any viewer speechless for at least a full minute at the end) and series 5. Forget Doctor Who, Sherlock and the other kiddie series. This was the daddy.

[cw67q]

As usual I struggle to remember whether I read things late-ish 2009 or early 2010...

Best 'New' Novel: I read more novels than usual this year, but not many "new" novels. I'm blanking on this one at the moment. Might think of something later.

Best Old Novel: Hmmm I think John Cowper Powys "Porius" might have been 2009, so I think I'll go with his brother TF Powys "the Market bell" which can be considered as a genuine horror novel, and a dark one at that..

Best New* Collection: Again, I think Mark Valentine's "Nightfarers" was last year, and I still have to reread Ligotti's "Songs of a Dead dreamer since picking up the new edition, so... Richard Gavin's "Omens" which I think is the best of his three collections. I reread this and "A Darkly Splendid Realm" in anticipation of the expanded rerelease of his first collection "Charnel Wine".


Best Old Collection: Just ordered Aickman's Sub Rosa with the christmas booktokens. I think this probably makes the ten best story collections ever, but I haven't actually read it this year. So: A tie between the Dover Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions which I rereda most of (still to pick up the wordsworth) and the Wordsworth edition of WF Harvey's "Beast with Five Fingers" where I still have 100 odd pages of still to be read "new" stories squirreled away for a rainey day, but refamiliarised myself with many old favourites.

Best New Anthology: Ex Occidente Press "Cinnabar's Gnosis" ed Dan Getu, a Meyrink tribute. Honourable mention to JAmes Doig's "Australian Ghost Stories" (Wordsworth) which I have just started in the last week. Really terrific start to the book, if you are redaing this JD is your earlier Australian Gothic collection still available? neither amazon nor the book depository had it when I looked today. But the first third of so of the wordsworth has left me looking for more.

Best Old Anthology: I don't read many anthologies these days, O din't think I read any old ones at all this year.

Best Film: I don't bother about film or tv much at all. It can be fun to go to the cinema but I really don't see film as anything like on the same level as books, particularly true of modern films. I enjoyed taking my daughter to the latest Harry potter (7a) which i thought was done well.

Best TV: see above. I did watch Sherlock and really enjoyed it. I missed the first episode until the recent repeat. I seem to be the only one who liked the second episode much more than the final episode. I thought the final scene in the 3rd episode was the weakest element of the whole series. I usually just leave the tele to the missus and the wean. I'll watch the fitba if I'm in myself. There were cerain points of the world cup that made for enjoyable viewing but in deference to saxon sensibilities I'll not do any teasing

- Chris

* I'm going with the earlier definition of last 10 years-or-so = new

[lemming13]

Ooh, tough choices! But I'll take a crack at it.
Best new Novel: Dark Matter, by Michelle Paver. A gentler but devastatingly creepy outing in the frozen north.
Best Old Novel: very tough decision, but I have to go with William Hope Hodgson's The Ghost Pirates. Heavy going at times, but worth the voyage.
Best New Collection: I'm going for the Wordsworth collection of W F Harvey, The Beast With Five Fingers. It was new to me, anyway.
Best Old Collection: For the Blood Is the Life, F Marion Crawford. Pure joy, shorn of the abysmal Witch of Prague.
Best new Anthology: The Mammoth Book of Horror Comics.
Best Old Anthology: The Haunters and the Haunted. Epic collection of wonderful treasures.
Best Graphic Novel: Wormwood, Gentleman Corpse, by Ben Templesmith. Okay, it wasn't released this year, but everyone should read it anyway.
Best TV: the dvd release of Tales Of Terror From Tokyo, a bunch of tasteful little snippets mostly about ten minutes long.
Best Film: another real poser. For gore and action, it has to be either Dead Snow or The Horde, both zombie flicks but of a very different kind to each other. For proper creepy horror, though, I'd say the Asians have come out top again - Ghost Game, or Into the Mirror.
As far as the worst goes, there was just so much of it. I've been pretty lucky on the books, I haven't really fallen for anything too bad in my reading material (except the odd ebook, all of them freebies anyway). But for films I would warn people against Solomon Kane, Black Death, Apocalypse of the Dead and Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus (okay, that last is pretty obvious but my spawn wanted to see it). Apart from that it's been a pretty good year, so big smilies to 2010 and here's to 2011!

[weirdmonger]

Dec 28, 2010 21:30:21 GMT cw67q said:

Best New Anthology: Ex Occidente Press "Cinnabar's Gnosis" ed Dan Getu, a Meyrink tribute.

I'd agree with that.

I've devoted 2010 to reading new books - mainly of horror of all styles - and real-time reviewing them.

I posted this before Christmas on my blog:

posted Thursday, 16 December 2010
I worked out my BESTS of 2010 today. I real-time reviewed literally 100s of great stories and great books in a great year for Weird Literature, so don't be grieved if you're not here. You should be and would be on another day!
Best story: The First Time by Steve Duffy.
Best three books: The Mascarons of the Late Empire by Mark Valentine; The Defeat of Grief by John Howard; Remember You're A One-Ball by Quentin S Crisp

[Johnlprobert]

Dec 29, 2010 9:29:27 GMT weirdmonger said:

Best story: The First Time by Steve Duffy.

I'd agree with that - I read it a couple of nights ago and I thought it was absolutely marvellous. And the entire collection it's taken from, Tragic Life Stories, is very good indeed.

[dem bones]

Because some like it proper ...

New Books which Greatly Enriched My Life

Charles Black (ed) - The Sixth Black Book Of Horror
Charles Black (ed) - The Seventh Book Of Horror
James Doig (ed.) - Australian Ghost Stories
Stephen Jones (ed.) - Zombie Apocalypse
Johnny Mains (ed.) - Back From The Dead
Justin Marriott - The Visual Guide To New English Library: Vol. 1
John Llewelyn Probert - Wicked Delights

some older collections that did likewise.

David Blair - Gothic Short Stories
Sir Andrew Caldecott - Not Exactly Ghosts/ Fires Turn Blue (nowhere near finished it, but a lovely collection to dip in and out of)
Peter Haining - The Midnight People
Anthony Horowitz - Horowitz Horrors
Anthony Horowitz - More Horowitz Horrors
Bryan A. Netherwood - Terror!
Michel Parry - Mayflower Books Of Black Magic
Fred Pickersgill - And Graves Give Up Their Dead
Christopher Priestly - Tales Of Terror From The Black Ship

novels

Brian McNaughton - Satan's Love Child (proper evil long hair black magicians, Yog-Sogoth carnage, bad sex interludes grafted on at publishers insistence. This is so, so the stuff!)
Brian McNaughton - Satan's Mistress * (that was the second time, but i didn't realise it had been a novel i'd spent over a decade trying to track down!)
John Halkin - Squelch (winner of the 1st demonik "Shove your vacuum sealed, numbered, slip-cased, limited edition, overpriced, posh books that look nice gathering dust on the bookshelf up yer arse!" award)
David J. Michael - Death Tour (the first five-ten pages are dreadful, but it picks up something amazing once the rotten kids get lost in the sewer system)
Guy. N. Smith - Abomination (i read Deathbell and the slightly disappointing Doomflight too, but this was the pick. GNS at his most environmentally concerned. Even the ending is top for once)
W.A. Ballinger - Drums of the Dark Gods
Joan Lindsay - Picnic At Hanging Rock (the acceptable face on literary horror!)
Russell Braddon - The Inseparables (see above: a ghost story set in Belsen was never going to be an easy ride)
Gordon Honeycombe - Neither The Sea Nor The Sand ( .... and again)
David Ely - Seconds ( ... ditto)
Eric Mackenzie-Lamb - Labyrinth (swampland, psycho's, 'gators and gangrene. you can't really go wrong)
Gerald Suster - The Offering (you'll never take a switchblade to your genitals again)
Cliff Twemlow - The Pike (lunacy on a Piranha scale)
Gary Brandner - The Brain Eaters (also read Hellborn and the surprisingly entertaining Howling III: Echoes, but The Brain Eaters is easily the nicest).
E. B. Stambaugh - Mantis (the thinking man's Eat Them Alive which likely explains why i prefer Pierce Nace's masterpiece.)
Christopher Nicole - The Face Of Evil
Danny Hogan - Killer Tease (My first taste of Pulp Press product and it sure is addictive. Hogan's unforgivably/ unforgettably titled The Windowlicker Maker is a worthy sequel)

short stories

give me a week and i might be able to narrow it down to a top 200 ...

Tools Of The Trade

Justin Marriott & friends - Paperback Fanatic, Men Of Violence and The Visual Guide To Nel
David A Sutton - On The Fringes For Thirty Years: A History Of Horror In The British Small Press
James Doig - Introduction to Australian Ghosts
Stephen Jones - Linking material & Index to Best Of Best New Horror
Dick Collins - Introduction to fully revised second edition of The String Of Pearls. Sweeney Todd author identified at last!
David A. Sutton & John Mains - Essays on the British Horror Anthology and The Pan Books Of Horror respectively in Back From The Dead

... and some old faithfuls i return to again and again.

E. F. Bleiler - The Guide To Supernatural Fiction
E. S. Turner - Boys Will Be Boys
Robert Kenneth Jones - The Shudder Pulps: A History Of The Weird Menace Magazines Of The Thirties
Mike Ashley - Fantasy Reader's Guide

publications.

Paperback Fanatic! You always think, 'ah, he won't improve on this issue!' and then the next one comes out.
Watching Prism's progress under David A. Riley's editorship was intriguing. A solid, 'steady the ship' debut, followed by a second that improved upon just about everything and a third which, perhaps a little too much coverage of the Warhammer series aside, sees an editor and his contributors very much on their game. I leave it to BFS members to decide whether it works better as a stand alone publication rather than sandwiched between Dark Horizons and New Horizons in the BFS Journal because its their mag after all!
Graveyard Rendezvous. The GNS fanzine is a model for this kind of thing. Warm, very fan-orientated and with plenty of input from the main man.

Legal Highs:

Every second spent in Type, simply my favourite hang out in East London!
Zardoz Pulp Fair and mini-Vault reunion!
Doing the Brick Lane creepy crawl with Pitbull Samuels!
Wordsworth Editions (publisher of the 00's)!

Lurid Lurks:

All the usual suspects PLUS

My Love Haunted Heart: Crazy About Gothic Romance
Galactic Central
The Cobwebbed Room
David Riley Blogspot
Wormwoodiana
The new look Wordsworth Editions site

... and some random personal best bits:

the Bride ---- Whitechapel being quite exciting again! ---- Lord & Lady Probert's Corruption ---- Normal Man's That Joyless Vibe album ---- Midsomer Murders (the horror/ supernatural/ kinky eps. in particular) ---- Grinderman ---- Bare V Bones Five poster plastered the breadth of E1 ---- the students are back! ---- "working" on Vault advent calendar and the extraordinary generosity and co-operation shown by the contributors to same ---- my Guy N. Smith The Wood mouse-mat and Crabs Moon keyring! ---- Sam at Constable Robinson's ---- the Wordsworth staff ---- seeing Paperback Fanatic on sale in Bethnal Green! ---- The Fall Your Future Our Clutter, The Complete John Peel sessions and, indeed, everything M. E. S. ---- umpteen mysterious brown paper packages from Riley Books ----the return of Ription Torn and a seriously sozzled Gregory Pendennis in Franklin Marsh's Wallachia ---- finally catching Severance when it was shown on TV and liking it far more than i thought i would ----- my beautiful Wild Ones leather jacket!

Worst thing ever (again)!

oh f**k**g deep joy, we're under a Tory Government again.

This World Is A Poorer Place Without ...

Roland S. Howard
Peter Steele
Ingrid Pitt
Roy Baker
Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson
Tony Curtis
Don Van Vleit
Ari Up
Peter West. Along with his mum, Peter ran the wildest, most exciting pub it has ever been my privilege to drink in, The Buccaneer, Limehouse until it and it's infamous neighbour, Charlie Browns were both demolished during accursed redevelopment.
E. F. Bleiler

Rest in Peace

[cw67q]

Dec 28, 2010 22:19:20 GMT lemming13 said:

Best New Collection: I'm going for the Wordsworth collection of W F Harvey, The Beast With Five Fingers. It was new to me, anyway.
Best Old Collection: For the Blood Is the Life, F Marion Crawford. Pure joy, shorn of the abysmal Witch of Prague.

Agreed on the Harvey although he's been a favourite of mine for some time. Rats on the Crawford. I really like Wandering ghosts and had high hopes for tWoP, I think this is the first opinion I've been ablke to find on the novel and it doesn't exactly boost my enthusiasm for reading it :-(

- Chris