|
Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 13, 2017 16:15:29 GMT
The Gatiss documentary is a few years old. It aired as a companion to his adaptation of The Tractate Middoth in 2013 (more accurately, the adaptation was a companion to the documentary, as the BBC approached Gatiss to do the documentary and he only agreed on proviso they considered letting him make a drama to accompany it). It is an excellent documentary, so good news if you haven't previously seen it. Or even if you have but want to revisit it. I wish the BBC would realise that ghost stories in general are worth investing in, whether by MRJ or others. The dearth of general supernatural content on UK television is grating. I'm sure there's a police show or medical drama we could live without to squeeze something a bit scary into the schedules. I suspect The League of Gentlemen specials are going to be the creepiest viewing this Christmas. The Tractate Middoth, a pretty good version of a pretty good original, must not have done well on its first transmission. I read somewhere that Mark Gatiss wanted to follow it with a version of "Count Magnus".
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 13, 2017 16:38:05 GMT
The Tractate Middoth, a pretty good version of a pretty good original, must not have done well on its first transmission. I read somewhere that Mark Gatiss wanted to follow it with a version of "Count Magnus". It seemed odd that they'd scheduled The Tractate Middoth and the documentary on Christmas Day 2013, rather than Christmas Eve, where they would have been better placed. Particularly as they'd scheduled another ghost story - Stephen Volk's film, The Awakening - in the Christmas Eve slot. I do recall Gatiss saying something along the lines of the BBC at the time being only really interested in ghost story dramas they could tie into documentaries, and obviously they'd now covered M.R. James (or perhaps the people who wanted to commission ghost stories needed a documentary as a hook to 'sell' the concept to the decision makers - long gone are the days of Lawrence Gordon Clark leaving a bookmarked edition of MRJ on the Channel Controller's desk and being given a budget and the go ahead based on that). He had approached them about Count Magnus, yes, but they hadn't been enthused. A real pity, as I'd love to see that one dramatised.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 14, 2017 19:48:01 GMT
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Dec 14, 2017 22:50:51 GMT
Yes, too bad that's vinyl only. It will be a treat for the collectors.
H.
|
|
|
Post by franklinmarsh on Dec 16, 2017 12:06:27 GMT
Anyone catch Christmas University Challenge last night?
|
|
|
Post by ropardoe on Dec 16, 2017 14:55:17 GMT
Anyone catch Christmas University Challenge last night? Was that the repeat of the one with the round where Val McDermid's team got a set of MRJ questions? And answered them all very well. I love Val McDermid.
|
|
|
Post by franklinmarsh on Dec 16, 2017 21:13:28 GMT
Hee! No, it was a picture quiz round. A photograph of 'a famous author' came up. I thought 'That's M R James?' The university educated people didn't get it so I was amazed at myself. Had to wait to get the rest of the pictures - other authors of ghost related tales, with a picture of an adaptation of their work - was reasonably sure of the first, helped by Paxman muttering 'the adaptation is an opera' (Henry James/ Turn Of The Screw), the second was a Victorian gent with huge sideburns - luckily the picture of the adaptation was an incredibly lurid US poster for The Vampire Lovers that had Jezza sighing 'it's a very loose adaptation' - he also pronounced 'Le Fanu' an odd way. Last up - the team actually got it - Susan Hill and Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe toting a candelabra.
|
|
|
Post by jamesdoig on Dec 17, 2017 0:08:25 GMT
There's an article on Cadabra in the latest issue of Horrorville mag: They look quite collectible, let alone listenible.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 17, 2017 18:13:45 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 18, 2017 15:58:07 GMT
These pictures speak for themselves. It's a pity that the one for "Count Magnus" was never finished.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Dec 18, 2017 20:13:23 GMT
I hope I'm not being too sentimental for Vault conversation to confess that I had to wipe away tears when I saw a documentary about the Master's life a few years ago and the story of his great fondness for James McBryde was revealed. As a confirmed bachelor myself, I felt such sympathy for our beloved Antiquary. This is a nice page about James McBryde with more drawings. I agree I dearly wish he had been able to finish his drawing for "Count Magnus" which is one of my favorites (an absurd statement since usually when I finish one of the Master's tales, it instantly becomes "my favorite"). Even more dearly do I wish McBryde could have lived and spent more time bringing some warmth into the life of the man who gave us so much through his words and visions. www.kings.cam.ac.uk/archive-centre/archive-month/may-2012.htmlH.
|
|
|
Post by mcannon on Dec 22, 2017 9:53:27 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 28, 2017 13:48:16 GMT
On the whole, I would recommend that you read genuine golden age mysteries. While I do realize that he is very uneven, at his best Edmund Crispin is excellent. While his first two books The Case of the Gilded Fly (1944) and Holy Disorders (1945) are of huge Jamesian interest, I think his best book is Buried for Pleasure (1948), which, unusually for a detective novel, introduces a poltergeist that is real and contributes to the climax. Roger Johnson (yes, him again) wrote a good article on Crispin for Ghosts & Scholars 12. I have read both The Case of the Gilded Fly and Holy Disorders, both bought on the strength of that very G&S article you mention. G&S articles have been responsible for some very happy purchases over the years. I also have Crispin's story St Bartholomew's Day in a Richard Dalby ghost story collection which I need to turn my attention to soon. Collins Crime Club has just published a new hardback edition of Edmund Crispin’s first Professor Fen novel The Case of the Gilded Fly (1944). While not great, as it was written by Crispin in two weeks when he was twenty-two, it is an achievement of sorts. Its M.R. James content is its greatest interest. Chapter Five, “‘Cave Ne Exeat’”, contains a good Jamesian ghost story narrated by the aged Wilkes. Just as Jamesian are the pages in chapter Thirteen, “An Incident at Evensong”, which atmospherically describe the discovery of the murder of an organist (his throat has been cut) in an organ loft. The paragraph that cites M.R. James by name has a clever and funny Jamesian turn of phrase, which is best read in context. The chapter ends with Fen’s alternative rational explanation for the supernatural events in Chapter Five.
|
|
|
Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 28, 2017 15:31:51 GMT
I have read both The Case of the Gilded Fly and Holy Disorders, both bought on the strength of that very G&S article you mention. G&S articles have been responsible for some very happy purchases over the years. I also have Crispin's story St Bartholomew's Day in a Richard Dalby ghost story collection which I need to turn my attention to soon. Collins Crime Club has just published a new hardback edition of Edmund Crispin’s first Professor Fen novel The Case of the Gilded Fly (1944). While not great, as it was written by Crispin in two weeks when he was twenty-two, it is an achievement of sorts. Its M.R. James content is its greatest interest. Chapter Five, “‘Cave Ne Exeat’”, contains a good Jamesian ghost story narrated by the aged Wilkes. Just as Jamesian are the pages in chapter Thirteen, “An Incident at Evensong”, which atmospherically describe the discovery of the murder of an organist (his throat has been cut) in an organ loft. The paragraph that cites M.R. James by name has a clever and funny Jamesian turn of phrase, which is best read in context. The chapter ends with Fen’s alternative rational explanation for the supernatural events in Chapter Five. Unlike the ghost stories written by E.G. Swain and R.H. Malden, who were influenced by M.R. James but wrote in their own style, Crispin's second and better ghost story in Holy Disorders has both the content and style of M.R. James, which makes him probably the first author to successfully write an outright Jamesian pastiche.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 29, 2017 12:39:16 GMT
Its M.R. James content is its greatest interest. Chapter Five, “‘Cave Ne Exeat’”, contains a good Jamesian ghost story narrated by the aged Wilkes. Just as Jamesian are the pages in chapter Thirteen, “An Incident at Evensong”, which atmospherically describe the discovery of the murder of an organist (his throat has been cut) in an organ loft. The paragraph that cites M.R. James by name has a clever and funny Jamesian turn of phrase, which is best read in context. The chapter ends with Fen’s alternative rational explanation for the supernatural events in Chapter Five. I do enjoy it when a novel suddenly veers into a short story. Having just read Reggie Oliver's novel, The Boke of the Divill, I enjoyed the way he'd woven some of his existing short stories - including the excellent, and very Jamesian, Quieta Non Movere, which I first encountered in a volume of The Black Book of Horror series (and which also forms part of another story, The Giacometti Crucifixion, in his Mrs Midnight collection) - into a narrative that combines Jamesian and Lovecraftian elements. I think my favourite example of it, though, is in Penelope Fitzgerald's short novel The Gate of Angels, which features the academic Dr Matthews, very clearly based on MRJ, who attempts to explain some events in the story by means of a ghost story involving an archaeological dig on what may once have been the site of an old abbey with a dark reputation. It's an enjoyable and effective little tale, and though it was the sole initial reason I'd bought the book, the whole novel turned out to be quite a delightful read.
|
|