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Post by noose on Jan 18, 2012 18:20:19 GMT
Screaming Dreams (September 2012)Steve Upham
One of the Family – Bernard Taylor Larva - John Brunner Glory and Splendour – Alex Miles What Shall We Do About Barker? – Reggie Oliver Cut! – Anna Taborska Old Grudge Ender – David A. Riley The Christmas Toys – Paul Finch The Quixote Candidate – Rhys Hughes Helping Mummy – Kate Farrell The Iron Cross – Craig Herbertson The Baby Trap – Janine Wood The Club – Sara Brunsdon Sometimes You Think You Are Alone – Alison Moore The Tip Run – Johnny Mains New anthology, coming out at Fantasycon - featuring some old names and new names to the genre. Very pleased to have an unpublished John Brunner story and a new original story by Bernard Taylor. There are two/three more stories to be added - but I thought the Vault might like the gist - the cover is a prelim and the tagline - will not, of course, denote the finished cover!...
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Post by David A. Riley on Jan 21, 2012 12:28:34 GMT
If the rest of the stories are half as good as the two I have already read this should be great. Reggie Oliver's is different to anything I've read by him before, though it still bears his characteristic stylistic flair. It's funny, violent and surprisingly rude!
As for John Brunner's, there's an obsessive, claustrophobic darkness to it that takes it a long way from the kind of fantasy or science fiction he was usually associated with - and, like Reggie's, very, very well written. It's just amazing that, seventeen years after his untimely death at the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow in 1995, it's never been published before now!
Two outstanding stories that would shine out in any anthology. And they're the only ones in it I have so far read. Look forward to reading more.
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Post by noose on Jan 21, 2012 16:30:30 GMT
Cheers David. This is shaping up to be a rather lovely anthology - a pleasure to work on.
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Post by noose on Feb 5, 2012 11:03:41 GMT
Two more stories added:
The Swarm - Alison Littlewood Christenings Can Be Dangerous - John L Probert
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Post by noose on Jun 19, 2012 21:32:24 GMT
So the final cover and the final contents: Christenings Can Be Dangerous – John Llewellyn Probert Larva – John Brunner The Swarm – Alison Littlewood Natural Selection – Robin Ince One of the Family – Bernard Taylor Cut! – Anna Taborska The Christmas Toys – Paul Finch The Quixote Candidate – Rhys Hughes Helping Mummy – Kate Farell The City of Plenty – Alex Miles The Iron Cross – Craig Herbertson Sometimes You Think You Are Alone – Alison Moore Bird Doll – Claire Massey What Shall We Do About Barker? – Reginald Oliver Old Grudge Ender – David A. Riley Jack and Jill – Steve Rasnic Tem The Blackshore Dreamer – John Burke Imagination – Christopher Fowler The Baby Trap – Janine Wood The Tip Run – Johnny Mains Dementia – Charlie Higson Pleased to say I've managed to get the services of 4 of the original BACK FROM THE DEAD line-up: have a story from John Burke that he gave me a year before he died, originally written in the 70s and is the 'lost' Dr Caspian and Bronwen story. Also managed to get Charlie Higson on board and a whole host of newish authors etc. Should be a brilliant book. And if you want to preorder it, please go here www.screamingdreams.com/thescreamingbookofhorror.htmlOut in September. Jx Ta!
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Post by noose on Aug 24, 2012 16:41:41 GMT
Front and back cover wrap
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Post by weirdmonger on Oct 9, 2012 18:55:53 GMT
I have started a real-time review of this book| nullimmortalis.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/the-screaming-book-of-horror/So the final cover and the final contents: Christenings Can Be Dangerous – John Llewellyn Probert Larva – John Brunner The Swarm – Alison Littlewood Natural Selection – Robin Ince One of the Family – Bernard Taylor Cut! – Anna Taborska The Christmas Toys – Paul Finch The Quixote Candidate – Rhys Hughes Helping Mummy – Kate Farell The City of Plenty – Alex Miles The Iron Cross – Craig Herbertson Sometimes You Think You Are Alone – Alison Moore Bird Doll – Claire Massey What Shall We Do About Barker? – Reginald Oliver Old Grudge Ender – David A. Riley Jack and Jill – Steve Rasnic Tem The Blackshore Dreamer – John Burke Imagination – Christopher Fowler The Baby Trap – Janine Wood The Tip Run – Johnny Mains Dementia – Charlie Higson Pleased to say I've managed to get the services of 4 of the original BACK FROM THE DEAD line-up: have a story from John Burke that he gave me a year before he died, originally written in the 70s and is the 'lost' Dr Caspian and Bronwen story. Also managed to get Charlie Higson on board and a whole host of newish authors etc. Should be a brilliant book. And if you want to preorder it, please go here www.screamingdreams.com/thescreamingbookofhorror.htmlOut in September. Jx Ta!
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Post by dem bones on Feb 18, 2013 11:43:47 GMT
Steve Upham Where better to start than a gory sex-romp? Reginald Oliver - What Shall We Do About Barker?: Morbridge, 2001. When his gamekeeper of several decades' loyal service finally announces his retirement, Colonel Pierce-Herricks offers a substantial sum as a token of his appreciation. But all Barker wants is a woman. He's never slept with one, and wonders if the Colonel might be able to fix him up. Maureen - who comes with a recommendation from no less than Major Nutt: "she'll cater for all tastes too, within reason; you know, whips, chains, school uniforms, bananas, dead animals." - is duly procured, Pierce-Herricks provides a room at the Clarence in Bayswater, and Barker travels down to London to enjoy himself. A news item in the following morning's Daily Mail makes for very uncomfortable reading in the Pierce-Herricks household, and the Colonel and wife 'Dumpy' are again faced with the dilemma of what they shall do about Barker .... Anna Taborska - Cut!: Eli may be an award-winning Hollywood director, but first time producer Mark can only marvel at his stupidity in casting the untried and, frankly, impossible, Sylvia as female lead in their slasher movie. Sylvia is as quick to lash out at cast and crew as she is slow to comprehend the most basic instructions. And She should never be allowed within range of sharp instruments. A very Pan Horror black comedy. Pop culture references include a cameraman's tedious Jack Nicholson impersonation and a charming nod toward Shadow Of The Vampire. John Llewellyn Probert - Christenings Can Be Dangerous: Tom Marston cannot forgive Helen for ditching him in favour of that nice bastard Martin, and baby Julian's Christening provides the perfect opportunity to exact grisly revenge. In the past year Marston has learned that his history teacher's improbable tales of Old Mother Duckett and her monster, rat-sized spider children are not the load of bollocks he took them for, and he's since located the ugly yew tree they planted over her charred remains. A few blood sacrifices, and the old witch will be as bad as new. Kate Farrell - Helping Mummy: Of the thirty or so stories featured on the 2012 Vault Advent Calendar, it was Norah C. James' 'Helping Mummy' attracted the most response, admittedly, mostly of the "how did that ever get printed?" variety. Kate Farrell's Helping Mummy dispenses with the ocean voyage, shifts the action to leafy, middle class Hampstead Garden Suburbs but otherwise it's business as usual in her vastly superior update. Little Adam Saltman, seventeen weeks, needs changing. Mum has dozed off reading a gossip mag. Martha, his three year old sister, takes command.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 18, 2013 20:22:00 GMT
Paul Finch - The Christmas Toys: December 24th. Repeat offenders Spazzer and Tookey target the home of that "weird" family for tonight's break-in, safe in the knowledge that the long haired bloke and her with the great tits and arse will be spending the night at the St. Aiden's charity concert. Presumably said pair are Dr. Anton Phibes and Vulnavia as their festive decorations - including a snowman jazz band - are not as other people's. Tookey is particularly unnerved that, rather than settle for a traditional crib, the owners have gone for the entire town of Bethlehem in miniature, with automatons depicting Herod's soldiers visiting death on every door. And what's with the inflatable polar bear? A weird situation takes a turn for the horrific when a big fat jolly Santa squeezes free of the chimney .... David A. Riley - Old Grudge Ender: "There was something about the man's face that disturbed him. It reminded him too much of some of the faces that stared at him last night. Its bland features were as scoured of character as the banjo-playing boy in Deliverance and just as inscrutable. Bob wondered if the man had been burned in a fire .... " Back to The Potters Wheel, Edgebottom, Lancs (see His Own Mad Demons) where American author Bob Ingersol is researching the strange and violent history of Grudge End for the book he hopes will outsell The Amiytville Horror. Between pints in the beer garden, gnarled old timer Harold Sowerby drops dark hints concerning the mysterious disappearance of his brother and how he was very warned off from pursuing the matter by cowled thugs who pulped his hands. Bob arranges for Harold to show him the ruined church where the assault took place so he can photograph it for the book, but come the morning, there's no sign of the old boy in either of his usual haunts. Bob, who has already had some disturbing encounters with silent, stick-thin locals, ignores his every instinct, heads off to find the place on his own ... Those I can't help but think of as 'the Black Book contingent' are giving a bloody good account of themselves.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 22, 2013 10:29:49 GMT
Craig Herbertson - The Iron Cross: German history remembers the Muller twins, Seigfried and Wilhelm, as national hero and despicable coward respectively. Wilhelm infamously deserted at Stalingrad, while his brother threw himself on a grenade to save his colleagues, losing his face in the process. When a document comes to light which controverts the accepted version of events, it puts the life of Wilhelm's grand-daughter in grave danger from Seigfried's grandson, Thorsten, a powerful Neo-Nazi thug, whose word is the law in the village of Mattenal-Harburg. Alerted to Frau Muller's plight, Mulholland, the Edinburgh-based one-eyed occultist and adventurer, sets off on a mercy dash-cum-treasure hunt in the Ruhr Valley. It is a mission that might have cost he and Mr. Herbertson (Mulhollands personal Dr. Watson) the ultimate price but for the timely intervention of a rotting corpse.
A third early best-of-a-very-strong-selection contender. I found the scene in the mask museum genuinely disturbing, while the pay-off in the woodland cemetery is pure Tales From The Crypt macabre. Craig's been one of supernatural fiction's best kept secrets for too long, and I can't see that lasting for much longer.
Liked this next, too.
Johnny Mains - The Tip Run: Every Saturday morning, eight-year-old Steve and his dad go foraging at the Stour Valley municipal dump. It's amazing what others see fit to toss out as garbage, and who knows what exciting treasure you'll come away with? Over by the gates, a grimy example of species White Van Man has already found his!
Given the set-up, was expecting something rather less subtle, but it works better as an almost quiet piece.
A couple of shorter pieces:
Robin Ince - Natural Selection: She is perfect, you, most likely, are not, in which case it is not a good idea to chat her up at a gig. The latest hapless failure makes a donation to her impressive private museum. Very mid-period Pan Book Of Horror Stories.
Alison Littlewood - The Swarm: A mutant strain of super-jellyfish spell doom for mankind. Fran, the narrator's wife and fellow marine biologist, is among the first to be absorbed into the seething mass. Her siren call eventually lures him into the sea.
more to follow ...
A belated public THANK YOU to Steve Upham and Johnny Mains for sending me a copy, as I really didn't expect one.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 5, 2013 8:53:54 GMT
Bernard Taylor - One Of The Family: Had we started Vault five years earlier, Bernard Taylor's work would have featured far more prominently than it has to date. The Moorstone Sickness remains one of very few novels that actually scared me; Sweetheart, Sweetheart, widely regarded as his classic, is a must for fans of The Beckoning Fair One; The Reapimg, a pastoral horror, has faded from memory but for one scene involving dubious "nuns", and if it's a non-Jamesian Casting The Ruins in a contemporary setting you're after, you could do a lot worse than Evil Intent, which, incidentally, also includes one of the finest 'when bees attack' moments this side of The Swarm. On the evidence of this pitch black comedy, the magic has yet to desert Mr. Taylor.
New Yorker Guy Allenbury, 24, visits his parents' homeland for the first time, his mission: to locate his surviving relatives in the West Country. These include Uncle Maurice, aka celebrated Gothic novelist 'Louisa Clements', whose bedroom walls are festooned with extreme S & M paraphernalia, and Cousin Joe, whose wife Morffyd, a foaming xenophobe, looses her vicious dog on him. Finally, he arrives at the last on his list, Aunt Mildred, and the law of averages dictate that he's nothing to fear, there has to be at least one vaguely rational human being in the family other than himself. But Aunt Mildred hasn't been the same since her husband left her for that pretty little wisp of a girl ....
Claire Massey - Bird Doll: Overprotective, obsessively morbid Sue sews a bird-doll to protect the infant Ella from death and disease, because "everyone's talking about them on mumshub" so they must really work ....
Alison Moore - Sometimes You Think You're Alone: Short, matter of fact account of a date rape with added ugly extras, told from the perspective of the perpetrator, who plucks his victims from the lonely hearts columns.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 6, 2013 7:46:13 GMT
Charlie Higson - Dementia: I reckon it takes guts to write stories like this. A contemporary take on Stephen King's The Woman In The Room which should be warning enough that Dementia is not big on escapist cheap thrills. How do you look after an elderly parent when they no longer recognise you, bawl you out as a "rapist" and "murderer" when you try to confort them? Such is the dilemma facing a movie producer (his back-catalogue includes Deathly Silence, Comatose and the straight to video Day Of The Demented) when he realises the care home fees are bankrupting him, his mother's condition will only worsen. Shouldn't he grant her the dignity of dying in her own house? Why won't this person masquerading as his mum just die?
Am not ashamed to admit that I got very upset reading it.
Steve Rasnic Tem - Jack And Jill: Mad Jack's marathon excavation of a Sussex Barrow unleashes demons. When some years later, the villagers learn of the Ripper atrocities, they think back to their violent old mate, his threat to a lippy barmaid, the disappearance of Jillian, his cross-dressing accomplice, and the grisly remains found in Farmer Turner's hog-pen.
Christopher Fowler - Imagination: Scenes from the particularly vivid fantasy life of a precocious twelve-year old. Catching a DVD of Day Of The Dead at the same time his Grandpa is packed off to the Sunnymead Rest Home convinces Alfie that Blackheath has been invaded by zombies, and all those smelly pensioners shuffling around the street like drunken tramps are walking corpses. Unlike their movie counterparts, the real thing are dead harmless and very boring, which comes as a major disappointment.
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