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Post by Johnlprobert on Oct 20, 2011 20:27:41 GMT
Jonathan Oliver - House of Fear (Solaris 2011) "Objects in Dreams may be Closer than they Appear" by Lisa Tuttle "Pied-a-terre" by Stephen Volk "In The Absence of Murdock" by Terry Lamsley "Florrie" by Adam L.G. Nevill "Driving The Milky Way" by Weston Ochse "The Windmill" by Rebecca Levene "Moretta" by Garry Kilworth "Hortus Conclusus" by Chaz Brenchley "The Dark Space in The House in The House in The Garden at The Centre of The World" by Robert Shearman "The Muse of Copenhagen" by Nina Allan "An Injustice" by Christopher Fowler "The Room Upstairs" by Sarah Pinborough "Villanova" by Paul Meloy "Widow's Weeds" by Christopher Priest "The Doll's House" by Jonathan Green "Inside/Out" by Nicholas Royle "The House" by Eric Brown "Trick of The Light" by Tim Lebbon "What Happened to Me" by Joe R. Lansdale This is one of the books we picked up at Brighton's FantasyCon and it leapt to the top of my reading list after Lady P raced through it and loved it. I'm close to the end and I have to say I can hugely recommend it as a properly good modern horror anthology. None of the stories so far have been anything less than great and some of them are absolute standouts. People like me will be delighted and relieved to learn that out of the 15 stories I've read so far there isn't a single impenetrable, self-indulgent, what-the-hell-was-that-supposed-to-be-about piece of self-consciously arty farty claptrap in there. Get this and give Mr Oliver lots of encouragement to do some more - he really knows what he's doing.
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Post by mattofthespurs on Oct 20, 2011 21:22:37 GMT
Super. I put this in my amazon basket not two days ago and now with a recommendation like that I shall be placing my order shortly.
Many thanks!
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Post by dem bones on Oct 20, 2011 23:33:08 GMT
People like me will be delighted and relieved to learn that out of the 15 stories I've read so far there isn't a single impenetrable, self-indulgent, what-the-hell-was-that-supposed-to-be-about piece of self-consciously arty farty claptrap in there. Found that to be very much the case with the three 2011 anthlogies I've completed, and, thirteen stories in on the latest Best New Horror it seems Stephen Jones has caught the bug, though now I think, Zombie Apocalypse is like that throughout, even if Kim Newman badly misfires at the end. What I read of the rest of last years crop was also refreshingly high on morbid entertainment. Even if it's only a blip, it's been a blast to actually looked forward to getting hold of contemporary horror collections again.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 25, 2011 18:16:27 GMT
I picked this up a couple of weeks ago when I was in Glasgow - better horror selection in the Waterstones there than in Dundee - and rattled through it fairly swiftly. A really good and varied collection. I did think a couple of tales were moving along nicely then seemed to rush their conclusions, but I don't think there was anything in it I didn't enjoy. As JLP says, here's hoping Jonathan Oliver will edit some more collections before long.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Nov 27, 2011 18:54:53 GMT
This one certainly gets my vote. A terrific anthology.
Investigate soonest.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 4, 2022 15:12:30 GMT
Jonathan Oliver [ed.] - House of Fear (Solaris, 2011) Blurb: The tread on the landing outside the door when you know you are the only one in the house. The wind whistling through the eves, carrying the voices of the dead. The figure glimpsed briefly through the cracked window of a derelict house.
Critically acclaimed editor Jonathan Oliver brings horror home with a collection of haunted house stories. This is one of the books we picked up at Brighton's FantasyCon and it leapt to the top of my reading list after Lady P raced through it and loved it. I'm close to the end and I have to say I can hugely recommend it as a properly good modern horror anthology. None of the stories so far have been anything less than great and some of them are absolute standouts. People like me will be delighted and relieved to learn that out of the 15 stories I've read so far there isn't a single impenetrable, self-indulgent, what-the-hell-was-that-supposed-to-be-about piece of self-consciously arty farty claptrap in there. Get this and give Mr Oliver lots of encouragement to do some more - he really knows what he's doing. Approximately a century on from Lord P.'s glowing endorsement, finally got my hands on a copy. Stephen Volk - Pied-à-terre: Off the back of another argument with her bullying partner, Miriam Lehr sets out alone to view a flat in Fulham, desperate to prove to herself as much as dear Rollo that she's capable of making an astute decision. Suzy, the smily, warm young estate agent, is there to meet her, and Miriam takes to her on sight. It's just a pity she can't say the same about this horribly oppressive property ... A best-of-book contender straight from the off! The reader may experience a sinking feeling on realising just who has been showing us around the building. Garry Kilworth - Moretta: Another winner. As a favour to Elaine, Steve, a retired army officer, visits the mansion where their sister met a gruesome end, suffocated in her bed as though she'd undergone Peine forte et dure. Moretta (the former Lucy) was a lover of all things gothic and morbid. Her home, precariously perched on the crumbling cliff edge at Dunwich (the East Anglian village, not the one that doesn't exist), was formerly a leper colony; it is stuffed to the rafters with the antique furniture, torture implements and memento mori she collected over a lifetime. Steve and his sidekick, James the telecoms man, sense there's something off about it from the first, and Christ, does it reek. When James is hospitalized by that which killed Moretta, the army man remains a second night to confront the fiend alone ....
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Post by dem bones on Dec 5, 2022 19:23:37 GMT
Adam L.G. Nevill - Florrie: Despite that wanker of an estate agent's assurance the property would be cleared of the old woman's possessions, Frank arrives to find the two up, two down cluttered to the rafters with a lifetime's accumulated junk. He's furious, but now he's closed the front door behind him, a lethargy settles over him as he gradually overcomes his disdain for the previous owner's taste in furniture. What happened to her, anyhow? Didn't wanker Justin mention something about a care home or death or something? A few weeks later, and Frank has come to love his home the way it is, He prefers not to go out now; the town has changed too much, and his aching hip slows him down. When best pal Marcus insists on gutting and refurbishing the kitchen as agreed, the late Florrie makes known her distress.
Terry Lamsley - In The Absence of Murdock: Franz investigates the disappearance of Murdock McFee, one half of the scriptwriting team behind Dead Funny Ted, a hit comedy series inspired by the days grimmest newspaper reports and built around the misadventures of the elderly proprietor of a funeral parlour. According to collaborator, Jerry, while kicking around ideas for a new episode, Murdock simply vanished into the ether, his dropped cigar burning a hole the carpet. Franz dislikes both men, but Jerry is his brother-in-law and sister is anxious the ideas man of the team be found.
Yeah, I can see why Lady Thana, Lord P. Dan and Dr. Proof are enthused by this one.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 6, 2022 14:05:55 GMT
Lisa Tuttle - Objects in Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear: As very recently revived by Mr. Finch for his classy Terror Tales of the West Country. The story impressed me so much, thought I'd check if there was a cheap copy of this anthology on Am*z*n. Chaz Benchley - Hortus Conclusus: As a tribute to late friend, Charles, the three young couples spend August clearing the overgrown walled garden oft his Surrey home, the former St. Jude's rectory, prior to his mum putting the property on the market. It falls to Johnny, closest pal of the deceased, to repair what's left of the greenhouse. "Charlie's Angels" get stuck in, but there's not a day goes by without accident or injury befalling one of the party ... Rebecca Levene - The Windmill: Lee Curtis, hard nut South London drug-dealer, is on remand in Brixton prison, sharing a cell with Arif Hussein, a former client who left it too late to try kicking the habit. Crack robbed Arif of heath, home, family, pregnant girlfriend, the works, and he's still sore about it ...
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Post by dem bones on Dec 7, 2022 12:56:59 GMT
Two supernatural horror tragedies.
Christopher Fowler - An Injustice: Ghost hunting in Camden with Shape, Max, and Ali, art students and Intrepid Fox (RIP) regulars. According to the lad in the Am-La Grocery Store on Phoenix Street, they've come to the right place, it is common knowledge locally that an old woman in white haunts the basement of the house on the corner.
Sarah Pinborough - The Room Upstairs: Set in coastal town unspecified during the 'fifties. Jack, safe cracker and bogus decorated war hero, takes a room at Mrs. Argyle's boarding house in preparation for his next big job. Each night at 3am he's woken by a woman's sobs and cries for help from above as a music-box murders The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. When the landlady and a fellow boarder deny there's anyone in the room upstairs, curiosity gets the better of him.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 9, 2022 18:13:08 GMT
"Something smells good. Are we having a barbecue?"
Jonathan Green - The Doll's House: A second child for Jen — a lovely daughter! — and she's coping better this time until Grandma brings down the family heirloom from the attic and makes a present of it to three-year-old Toby. Jen is furious. Mum knows how she hates the doll's house, and that horrible wooden doll, 'Mrs. Mulligan', the housekeeper, how they gave her nightmares as a child. Under the influence of Mrs. Mulligan, Toby's behaviour deteriorates, as does Jen's relationship with her husband. The obvious solution is to burn the dolls house .... Weston Ochse - Driving The Milky Way: Fifty years on, Sam is still haunted by the inexplicable disappearance of his four friends in the summer of 1977. The kids had made a clubhouse of a rusted, defunct motorhome, long abandoned in the Arizona scrubland. "The Apaches believe the Milky Way is a trail made of departing spirits who are on their way to the afterlife. Yolkai Nalim is the Apache goddess of death and what comes after; she controls the Milky Way and chooses those who are allowed to journey there." Sam's life becomes one long devotional prayer to the goddess that she reunite him with his pals.
Loved both of these, the one properly horrible, the other a bit of a choker, both so much better than trademark dire capsule synopses would suggest.
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