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Post by cw67q on Jun 20, 2011 15:51:49 GMT
Hello everyone, Tartarus Press have just made three of their Sarban editions available as ebooks! They can be obtained for kindle via amazon, or in other formats direct from the publisher. Further details at: tartaruspress.blogspot.com/I'm not a fan of ebooks myself, but I'm absolutely delighted that Sarban will be available to users of new fangled devices at bargain prices. If you are not familiar with this author go on and treat yourself to one of the neglected masters of the 20th century occult/strange tale. Sarban often reads like a sexier (and decidedly kinkier) version of Machen. Don't expect blood and gore, but do expect some of the most beautiful weird tales ever written. - The Doll Maker is my favourite supernatural novel, a slow burning novel of the quiet occult which is perhaps the subtlest expression of Sarban's use of submissive and dominant themes (here entirely psychological). "The Trespassers" is a wonderful novella dealing with adolescence. "A House of Call", a slighter ghost story, rounds off this collection - Ringstones is possibly the best introduction, a collection of 5 weird tales including the titular short novel which deals with a young woman's disappearance in the vicinity of an ancient stone circle. "The Kahn" deals with a decidedly unusual love triangle (as the tabloids have it) in a short lived revolutionary republic. "Calmahain" is a fantasy piece around two childhood friends. "Kapra" is a story dealing with Pan in all his priapic grandeur. "A Christmas Story" is a shorter tale in which it could be claimed relatively little happens, but it contains some of Sarban's best writing and conveys a tremendous sense of loss through the strange encounter related. - the Sound of His Horn is perhaps Sarban's best known book, and arguably his most vault-ish offering. It is an alternative future novel based in an oddly folkish version of a Nazi triumph in WW2. This contains Sarban's most explicit use of S&M themes in the books more startling (for 1950s) images. To my mind this is to the detriment of the novel's impact and I find it the least satisfactory of Sarban's extended works, but it has been his most popular and most reprinted work, so what do I know. I'm not sure if the ebook version also includes "the King of the lake" which was included in the 1st Tartarus edition of tSoHH, but was later reprinted in "the Sacrifice and other Tales". tKotL also has a strong S&M element, but here it is part of a much more convincing and interesting plot (and characters) than in tSoHH and the story works as a whole (and not just as a vehicle for the saucy bits as in tSoHH). An author not to be missed. I'd recommend Ringstones, or perhaps the Doll maker as a starting point (but I know I've made the Sound of His horn unhealthily appealing to some of you ). My first exposure to Sarban was a fourth Tartarus press collection "the Sacrifice" which printed for four completed stories found among Sarban's posthumous papers. If this ever makes it to ebook status, don't miss this one either. "the King of the Lake" (partly described above) deals with two young female friends making an attempted crossing of a desert in North Africa. "The Sacrifice" has a young woman, recently split up from her partner, on a walking trip encounter a strange statue and lost religion in the countryside. "Number Fourteen" is just about the most sinister tale I've ever read, a young female ballet dancer falls under the influence of some unappealing individuals with an unhealthy set of religious beliefs. "the Sea things" is a more standard weird tale, but you won't find a better written, or more convincing, take on the basic story elsewhere. Sorry to bang on so much, but there are few authors that excite me as much as Sarban (maybe Aickman, Machen and one or two others) and it is a delight to see him available at the touch of a button to new readers. Cheers - Chris
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Post by lemming13 on Jun 21, 2011 7:37:38 GMT
I got The Sound of His Horn as a freebie ebook from Manybooks; verrrrry interesting reading.
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shanea
Crab On The Rampage
All things GNS
Posts: 44
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Post by shanea on May 17, 2014 16:11:44 GMT
I searched but could not find this cover on here. I picked it up today with 9 other books from a retired book seller who has lived across the road for years. It is a 1970s Sphere edition
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Mar 16, 2018 12:48:51 GMT
If you are not familiar with this author go on and treat yourself to one of the neglected masters of the 20th century occult/strange tale. Sarban often reads like a sexier (and decidedly kinkier) version of Machen. Don't expect blood and gore, but do expect some of the most beautiful weird tales ever written. - The Doll Maker is my favourite supernatural novel, a slow burning novel of the quiet occult which is perhaps the subtlest expression of Sarban's use of submissive and dominant themes (here entirely psychological). "The Trespassers" is a wonderful novella dealing with adolescence. "A House of Call", a slighter ghost story, rounds off this collection - Ringstones is possibly the best introduction, a collection of 5 weird tales including the titular short novel which deals with a young woman's disappearance in the vicinity of an ancient stone circle. "The Kahn" deals with a decidedly unusual love triangle (as the tabloids have it) in a short lived revolutionary republic. "Calmahain" is a fantasy piece around two childhood friends. "Kapra" is a story dealing with Pan in all his priapic grandeur. "A Christmas Story" is a shorter tale in which it could be claimed relatively little happens, but it contains some of Sarban's best writing and conveys a tremendous sense of loss through the strange encounter related. - the Sound of His Horn is perhaps Sarban's best known book, and arguably his most vault-ish offering. It is an alternative future novel based in an oddly folkish version of a Nazi triumph in WW2. This contains Sarban's most explicit use of S&M themes in the books more startling (for 1950s) images. To my mind this is to the detriment of the novel's impact and I find it the least satisfactory of Sarban's extended works, but it has been his most popular and most reprinted work, so what do I know. I'm not sure if the ebook version also includes "the King of the lake" which was included in the 1st Tartarus edition of tSoHH, but was later reprinted in "the Sacrifice and other Tales". tKotL also has a strong S&M element, but here it is part of a much more convincing and interesting plot (and characters) than in tSoHH and the story works as a whole (and not just as a vehicle for the saucy bits as in tSoHH). An author not to be missed. I'd recommend Ringstones, or perhaps the Doll maker as a starting point (but I know I've made the Sound of His horn unhealthily appealing to some of you ). My first exposure to Sarban was a fourth Tartarus press collection "the Sacrifice" which printed for four completed stories found among Sarban's posthumous papers. If this ever makes it to ebook status, don't miss this one either. "the King of the Lake" (partly described above) deals with two young female friends making an attempted crossing of a desert in North Africa. "The Sacrifice" has a young woman, recently split up from her partner, on a walking trip encounter a strange statue and lost religion in the countryside. "Number Fourteen" is just about the most sinister tale I've ever read, a young female ballet dancer falls under the influence of some unappealing individuals with an unhealthy set of religious beliefs. "the Sea things" is a more standard weird tale, but you won't find a better written, or more convincing, take on the basic story elsewhere. Sorry to bang on so much, but there are few authors that excite me as much as Sarban (maybe Aickman, Machen and one or two others) and it is a delight to see him available at the touch of a button to new readers. Cheers - Chris I've wanted to read the Sarban stories in The Sacrifice ever since I saw what Chris had to say about them here (as well as what JLP said about "The King of the Lake" in another thread). And now I finally have my hands on the The Sound of His Horn and Other Stories, (Tartarus Press) which includes the entire contents of The Sacrifice. I started by looking back over the title story, and I still agree with Chris that it's the weakest (if most famous) of Sarban's three novel-length works. I likewise prefer Ringstones and, especially, The Doll Maker, though The Sound of His Horn does have its moments with the creepy count and his cat-women. As for the short stories, so far I've read "The Sea Things," which is a solid entry in the mermaid horror category. The sirens in this one don't have seashell bras or red hair. No hair at all, in fact; as the narrator points out, it would only get in the way of swimming. They do sing, but you wouldn't want to hear them serenade you.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Mar 17, 2018 11:53:18 GMT
“Number Fourteen”—A young woman tries to pry her ballet dancing sister from under the spell of a mother and daughter who belong to a strange cult. The narrator is so snotty toward the crutch-using, brace-wearing daughter that I wound up rooting for the latter, which I don’t think was the author’s intent. Still, I enjoyed the depiction of the villains’ disturbing religion. And the ending is deeply unsettling.
The two stories I’ve read in this collection are so polished that I’m amazed Sarban never published them during his lifetime.
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Post by helrunar on Mar 18, 2018 18:04:02 GMT
This thread may encapsulate everything I adore about the Vault. Literate, thoughtful discussions of Sarban's prose and technique, suddenly interrupted with violently turgid eructations from John Norman and the Lascivious Leatherettes of Gor. You just don't find this kind of thing ANYWHERE else online nor, I suspect, in the known Universe.
cheers! Helrunar
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Post by dem bones on Mar 20, 2018 6:38:22 GMT
This thread may encapsulate everything I adore about the Vault. Literate, thoughtful discussions of Sarban's prose and technique, suddenly interrupted with violently turgid eructations from John Norman and the Lascivious Leatherettes of Gor. You just don't find this kind of thing ANYWHERE else online nor, I suspect, in the known Universe. cheers! Helrunar Bless you, Steve, for such a lovely compliment. Thanks to Internet Archive Wayback Machine have managed to retrieve the 'John Norman's Gor' thread from Vault Mk I which you may or may not find amusing. And yes, it does fly off tangent ...
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Mar 20, 2018 12:35:16 GMT
Wrapping up Ringstones and Other Stories ... "The Sacrifice"--A young woman hiking through the countryside takes lodging in a decrepit manor. While swimming in a pond, she discovers a strange statue. Then her host tells her its dark history. When the rest of the family arrives, the tale of the statue reaches its logical conclusion. In my mind, this one is the least the four short stories. The setup is evocative, but the ending is something of a letdown. As for "The King of the Lake," I can't improve on an earlier description: Alison Grant and Nicola Joubert are two young women in their early twenties (you just KNOW something awful's going to happen straight away, don't you?) planning to travel across the Sahara (see? I said didn't I?) as part of a convoy with two families (oh maybe it won't then). However, every official they meet tells them they are destined for disaster if they take their proposed route (Hurrah!) so they agree on an alternative one (Boo!) but once they're on their way, in true horror pulp book / movie / comic tradition they realise they can cut a week off their schedule if they go the way they were told not to, presumbly not realising that something rather more important than a week might get cut off them if the don't listen to warnings. A MASSIVE storm blows up. The two families are ok (Boo!) but the two girls find themselves somewhere very strange indeed. The description of the oasis they end up in really does go on a bit in (oh no!) true John Norman style (according to Lady P - she's more the Gor expert than I am) but finally they meet the chap in charge of the place. Well, part of him anyway as most of him is draped beneath a sheet (Goodness me I wonder why?). He has a story to tell. And so we head into Arabian Nights territory, except it's more Arabian Nights written by someone who had read a lot of EC comics and had a fetish about taming beautiful women by making them wear complicated harnesses that stopped them doing anything other than allowing themselves to be ridden. And that's about it. As the king finishes his story a lot of comely maidens come and hold down Nicola and Alison so that he can... I have no firsthand knowledge of Gor, so I won't comment on that. However, the discussion of John Norman reminds me of this entertaining analysis of the works of John Ringo: OH JOHN RINGO NO (unlike Norman, Ringo seems to have had a sense of humor about it).
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Post by helrunar on Mar 20, 2018 14:47:01 GMT
Thanks for the PDFs, Kev! You know, I remember hearing something about Gorean "values" (or whatever) back when that murder happened (was 2007 really 11 years ago now??), but I had no idea it was about those trashy books. Even as a teenager, I was fussy--I remember seeing the Gor books with those cool paintings, but some instinctual sense told me the contents were what we used to call schlock, back then, over here in the Land of the Yank. I did devour numerous Burroughs books at the time. One of the authors from long ago I have been unable to revisit.
It's strange reading about the Gor phenomenon (if that's the right word for it)--the books sound very much in the vein of stuff you'd laugh at as writing so bad it's unintentionally hilarious, but the idea that there's this cult around the books, starting with the dude who penned this stuff, is quite creepy. And icky.
Maybe I'm feeling extra frail around the edges because I just read this stuff on another forum last night about how the late Forrest J. Ackerman routinely badgered, harassed, and when in physical proximity, actively molested female fans who visited the "Ackermansion." They're calling it 4E's "#metoo moment."
I think I just saw a bit of my childhood crumple into something more repulsive than Im-Ho-Tep's final hurrah in 1932...
cheers, Steve
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