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Post by dem bones on Feb 3, 2015 19:02:39 GMT
I'll have to just toughen up then I think because I added The Pan Book of Horror Stories: Volume 1 to my Amazon wish list recently, and was looking forward to it. I'm sure you'll enjoy the bulk of it but, be warned, there's a particularly nasty story toward the end .....
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Feb 3, 2015 19:06:59 GMT
Well, it's certainly nothing new. Animal abuse is prevalent in the Pan Books of Horror, for example, where its often used purely to disgust, and its not unusual to find instances of animal sacrifice/ torture in black magic and serial-killer novels respectively. For me, the paragraph in High-Rise is neither explicit or gratuitous. A few pages on there's a similarly detached account of a rape which I found far more unsettling. I'll have to just toughen up then I think because I added The Pan Book of Horror Stories: Volume 1 to my Amazon wish list recently, and was looking forward to it. We had a whole thread on here somewhere started by BERNARD BOUGHT THE FARM by James Stanger, a controversial offering in the Black Books of Horror. I strongly recommend you avoid that story until you've broken yourself in on the comparatively milder offerings elsewhere. What it did seem to say though is that a large number of horror aficionados are far more affected by animal cruelty than the despicable things they invent for people.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 3, 2015 19:46:22 GMT
We had a whole thread on here somewhere started by BERNARD BOUGHT THE FARM by James Stanger, a controversial offering in the Black Books of Horror. I strongly recommend you avoid that story until you've broken yourself in on the comparatively milder offerings elsewhere. What it did seem to say though is that a large number of horror aficionados are far more affected by animal cruelty than the despicable things they invent for people. So true! I well remember that particular story - essentially Mr. Stanger's attempt at out-grossing Graham Masterton's Eric The Pie - and the reaction. It's all here, should anyone fancy a refresher. Seventh Black Book Of Horror.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 4, 2015 9:11:34 GMT
The going gets grimmer still over the final chapters. Steele, the by now insane dentist, has taken to collecting corpses and dressing them up in grotesque drag. Pangbourne the gynaecologist, until recently Anthony Royal's first lieutenant, now keeps his high-class female posse amused by capturing stray lower floor survivors for enforced participation in their macabre playground rituals ("Gang Plank" and "Flying School" are the current favourites). Murder and rape are the norm. Food is whatever - or whoever - comes to hand just so long as it can be roasted. Still those who've endured this three month descent into Hell would rather volunteer for protracted torture than invite police intervention.
Meanwhile, the savage who was once documentary-maker Richard Wilder is on the verge of achieving his all-consuming ambition to reach and colonise the roof. Should he get past Royal will there be anyone left to appreciate his supreme triumph? And what of the women: how have they fared in so brutal a climate? I realise I've barely mentioned their contribution to this proud, strange and dreadful new world, but best to leave something for the reader to discover.
Doubt I'll read another novel as "enjoyable" all year. File under non-fiction.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Feb 4, 2015 12:44:50 GMT
The going gets grimmer still over the final chapters. Steele, the by now insane dentist, has taken to collecting corpses and dressing them up in grotesque drag. Pangbourne the gynaecologist, until recently Anthony Royal's first lieutenant, now keeps his high-class female posse amused by capturing stray lower floor survivors for enforced participation in their macabre playground rituals ("Gang Plank" and "Flying School" are the current favourites). Murder and rape are the norm. Food is whatever - or whoever - comes to hand just so long as it can be roasted. Still those who've endured this three month descent into Hell would rather volunteer for protracted torture than invite police intervention. Meanwhile, the savage who was once documentary-maker Richard Wilder is on the verge of achieving his all-consuming ambition to reach and colonise the roof. Should he get past Royal will there be anyone left to appreciate his supreme triumph? And what of the women: how have they fared in so brutal a climate? I realise I've barely mentioned their contribution to this proud, strange and dreadful new world, but best to leave something for the reader to discover. Doubt I'll read another novel as "enjoyable" all year. File under non-fiction. It gets even better (or worse) when he gets there Dem
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Post by dem bones on Feb 4, 2015 16:50:42 GMT
It gets even better (or worse) when he gets there Dem So I - and, more importantly, he - discovered. Seems to me the ending is pretty much perfection, too. The bonus story, Intensive Care, is a Sci-Fi short from 1977. It is THE FUTURE again which is never a good sign. In the interests of a healthy, neurosis-free society, all human contact is outlawed and now we communicate with one another via the television screens in our apartments. The narrator, a successful if controversial paediatrician given to challenging the status quo, resolves to meet his wife Margaret and their two artificially inseminated children in the flesh, and to Hell with the consequences. Its fair to say the get-together is far from harmonious.
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rob4
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 104
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Post by rob4 on Feb 17, 2015 15:53:29 GMT
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Post by fritzmaitland on Oct 21, 2021 9:57:42 GMT
October 21st - decided to take a bit of a detour and engage with a Ballard short story. Blummin' SF, but being Ballard, not spaceships blummin' SF (not always a bad thing). Delighted to find this terrific thread. From a short story collection entitled The Day Of Forever.
The Man On The 99th Floor. Forbis has a strange obsession. He keeps finding buildings with 100 floors, and attempts to get to that centurion top floor. Every time he reaches Floor 99, he suffers a form of panic attack paralysis. His latest attempt has seen him attract help when frozen by the final staircase by dropping his shoe down a lift shaft. Psychiatrist Vansittart has been attempting to get to the bottom of Forbis' problem. He believes that his patient is the victim of a post-hypnotic suggestion that compels him to ascend 100 floors, but can't figure out why. Fearing for Forbis' safety at such heights, the doc has implanted his own suggestion that the man stop at the 99th floor, hence the malady one floor from the top. The two men agree that the only way they can solve this is for Vansittart to remove his 99 precaution, and accompany Forbis on the next 100 ascent. The explanation turns out to be a little mundane compared to the mystery build up, but it's a good ascent. Always liked Ballard, especially his mid 70s trilogy Crash/High Rise/Concrete Island and always liked the mid to late 1970s incarnation of Hawkwind when Captain Calvert was at the controls. This story had shot up my reread list when I discovered the Hawk's song High Rise included a nod to it as well as the novel. I've a single by 'The Normal' called Warm Leatherette that nods toward Crash, and with David Cronenberg and Ben Wheatley filming those novels, poor old Concrete Island has been left in the dust (unless anyone knows different?)
Time for one more? Let's have a look at The Gentle Assassin. London is agog - it's the coronation of King James III. Making his way through the crowds, taking special care of his steel briefcase, is Dr Jamieson. He checks into the Hotel Westland, after a bit of a contretemps about his reservation, it having been made two years before. He has a lovely corner room, with a great view of the forthcoming coronation procession. His sniper's rifle fits together easily. Just time for a quick stroll and a snifter before taking care of business...*SPOILER* Remember - if you intend to travel back through time to do something like, say, killing Hitler, what you are about to do will already have happened....
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Post by dem bones on Oct 21, 2021 11:18:43 GMT
This story had shot up my reread list when I discovered the Hawk's song High Rise included a nod to it as well as the novel. I've a single by 'The Normal' called Warm Leatherette that nods toward Crash, and with David Cronenberg and Ben Wheatley filming those novels, poor old Concrete Island has been left in the dust (unless anyone knows different?) If I remember right, The Ruts' West One (Shine on Me) was influenced by Concrete Island? I'm sure Joy Division were Ballard fans. And the recent movie version of High Rise (which I didn't much care for) plays out to the Fall's super-tinny lo-fi classic, Industrial Estate. Must be more. Bowie?
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Post by fritzmaitland on Oct 21, 2021 11:43:21 GMT
If I remember right, The Ruts' West One (Shine on Me) was influenced by Concrete Island? I'm sure Joy Division were Ballard fans. And the recent movie version of High Rise (which I didn't much care for) plays out to the Fall's super-tinny lo-fi classic, Industrial Estate. Must be more. Bowie? Genius with The Ruts! Although nominally about getting smashed in a bar and then deserted by so-called friends, there's a raft (sorry) of traffic/desert island references. Yes, Joy Division's Atrocity Exhibition. Are you thinking of Bowie's Always Crashing In The Same Car? There's a very strange short film (all of 17 minutes), also called Crash, and featuring Ballard himself and quite a lot of Gabrielle Drake (oo-er), directed by Harley Cokeliss (of Dream Demon fame) that references the novel Crash.
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