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Post by ropardoe on Oct 16, 2016 17:25:41 GMT
Sarob Press has just announced a forthcoming new collection of stories from Peter Bell. Phantasms will be out in November or December: ***** Sarob Press is delighted to present a superb new collection of ghostly offerings from Peter Bell. Here are twelve stories (five original to this collection – and all others fully revised), many (as the author notes) inspired by “places that have haunted me”. Peter’s previous Sarob Press collection, A Certain Slant of Light, sold out very quickly, and we suspect this one will not be around too long. These traditional ghost stories are perfect fireside companions for the long, cold, dark nights of winter ... snuggle up warm with your favourite tipple but ... be ready for a chilling sense of terror and ... don’t forget to lock the doors and windows. Stories: “Walking with the Cross” “The Madonna of Picardy” “Party Line” “The Sands o’ Dee” “The Island of One Sheep” “Glamour of Madness” “Southwold” “The Books of Balgowrie” “Abide with Me” “Materials for a Ghost Story” “Princess on the Highway” “Last of the Line”. Foreword by the author. ***** Some of these tales will be familiar to readers of G&S and the G&S Book of Shadows, and very good they are too (a favourite of mine is the truly terrifying "The Island of One Sheep"). But the new tales sound exciting too: I know one was inspired by A.P. Baker's little MRJ-dedicated Cambridge novel - A College Mystery.
I'm not sure how to post pictures here (I know - I should make the effort to find out!) so perhaps someone else could add Paul Lowe's glorious cover for Phantasms?(http://sarobpress.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/announcing-phantasms-by-peter-bell.html)
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Post by Swampirella on Oct 16, 2016 18:03:23 GMT
Done!
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Post by ropardoe on Dec 17, 2016 12:13:47 GMT
Sarob Press has just announced a forthcoming new collection of stories from Peter Bell. Phantasms will be out in November or December: ***** Sarob Press is delighted to present a superb new collection of ghostly offerings from Peter Bell. Here are twelve stories (five original to this collection – and all others fully revised), many (as the author notes) inspired by “places that have haunted me”. Peter’s previous Sarob Press collection, A Certain Slant of Light, sold out very quickly, and we suspect this one will not be around too long. These traditional ghost stories are perfect fireside companions for the long, cold, dark nights of winter ... snuggle up warm with your favourite tipple but ... be ready for a chilling sense of terror and ... don’t forget to lock the doors and windows. Stories: “Walking with the Cross” “The Madonna of Picardy” “Party Line” “The Sands o’ Dee” “The Island of One Sheep” “Glamour of Madness” “Southwold” “The Books of Balgowrie” “Abide with Me” “Materials for a Ghost Story” “Princess on the Highway” “Last of the Line”. Foreword by the author. (http://sarobpress.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/announcing-phantasms-by-peter-bell.html) Phantasms is out and I think it's the best of Peter Bell's collections to date. I wouldn't like to pick out my favourites among the reprints - they're all good (though naturally I'm biased in favour of those I first published in Ghosts & Scholars and the Book of Shadows). But the new stories include one - "Southwold" - which I think belongs with Ramsey's "The Guide" as the ultimate tribute to M.R. James. So that's one for my list to vote for in the Ghost Story Awards!
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elricc
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 100
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Post by elricc on Dec 17, 2016 13:24:20 GMT
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Post by ropardoe on Dec 17, 2016 15:03:20 GMT
Fascinating pic in the light of the story. Thanks. One of the great joys of Peter's work is how much of a sense of place he creates, partly due to his use of real places which he's visited.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Dec 17, 2016 16:39:59 GMT
What little I've read of Peter bell's stuff has been first rate. the books seem to sell out very quickly and/or be hard to track down though. That, and an absence of e-versions has been very frustrating as I'm keen to read more by this guy...
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 19, 2016 13:45:29 GMT
I'm so glad this thread reminded me, as I've now ordered a copy from Sarob Press.
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 19, 2016 13:49:22 GMT
I'm so glad this thread reminded me, as I've now ordered a copy from Sarob Press. I'd love to order a copy myself, if the price was more reasonable. I've never paid US$60 ($80 in Canadian) for any book and I don't intend to. Would love the Ghost and Scholars book too
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Post by ropardoe on Dec 19, 2016 16:36:50 GMT
I'm so glad this thread reminded me, as I've now ordered a copy from Sarob Press. I'd love to order a copy myself, if the price was more reasonable. I've never paid US$60 ($80 in Canadian) for any book and I don't intend to. Would love the Ghost and Scholars book too It is what it is. Sarob Press has very small print runs so the unit cost per book is high (and don't get me on to the subject of postage costs - especially overseas). Rob Morgan runs Sarob purely for love (he certainly doesn't make a fortune out of it) and if he got involved in other, cheaper editions, ebooks etc., it might not be so much fun for him. This happened to Sarob in its previous incarnation and ended up with Rob folding it for several years. I'd rather have the admittedly fairly pricy current output than no output at all. I still think the books are worth it (so, presumably, do the people who pay fortunes for them when they go out of print!). But I can see both sides of this. I have a general rule that I won't pay more than £30 for a book myself, and I rarely break that rule. Never by more that a few pounds, anyway.
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 19, 2016 16:45:55 GMT
I'd love to order a copy myself, if the price was more reasonable. I've never paid US$60 ($80 in Canadian) for any book and I don't intend to. Would love the Ghost and Scholars book too It is what it is. Sarob Press has very small print runs so the unit cost per book is high (and don't get me on to the subject of postage costs - especially overseas). Rob Morgan runs Sarob purely for love (he certainly doesn't make a fortune out of it) and if he got involved in other, cheaper editions, ebooks etc., it might not be so much fun for him. This happened to Sarob in its previous incarnation and ended up with Rob folding it for several years. I'd rather have the admittedly fairly pricy current output than no output at all. I still think the books are worth it (so, presumably, do the people who pay fortunes for them when they go out of print!). But I can see both sides of this. I have a general rule that I won't pay more than £30 for a book myself, and I rarely break that rule. Never by more that a few pounds, anyway. It's good to see that there are small independant presses out there, albeit on the pricey side. Your price limit is 30 pounds, mine is CAD$30, incl. shipping (don't get me started on that either
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Post by ripper on Dec 20, 2016 11:29:27 GMT
Very interesting to hear Rosemary's and Miss Scarlet's thoughts on book prices and what they are prepared to pay for a book. I take a slightly different path by not having a limit for a book, but rather a monthly budget that I allocate for books and dvds--my two main purchase items. I stick to that budget but have a bit of leeway in that if I spend, say, £5 less than my budget allows, then that £5 is added to next month's budget, but the converse is also true. I also never buy a new DVD or mass market book, as prices for used are usually so much lower. For small press offerings, where print runs are low and prices higher, then I have to make a judgement on how much I really want the book, taking into account that it might mean not having much of a budget next month if I have to borrow from it. It's not ideal but it helps me keep track on how much I spend on books and DVDs. I agree on book postage rates. They can vary so widely. Amazon has a fixed rate of £2.80 for books and £1.26 for DVDs, irrespective of where they are posted from, so it isn't too bad if the item is coming from overseas. ABE is a good source for books, but postage rates vary quite a bit, especially for items from overseas, as is the case with Ebay.
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 20, 2016 11:36:31 GMT
Very interesting to hear Rosemary's and Miss Scarlet's thoughts on book prices and what they are prepared to pay for a book. I take a slightly different path by not having a limit for a book, but rather a monthly budget that I allocate for books and dvds--my two main purchase items. I stick to that budget but have a bit of leeway in that if I spend, say, £5 less than my budget allows, then that £5 is added to next month's budget, but the converse is also true. I also never buy a new DVD or mass market book, as prices for used are usually so much lower. For small press offerings, where print runs are low and prices higher, then I have to make a judgement on how much I really want the book, taking into account that it might mean not having much of a budget next month if I have to borrow from it. It's not ideal but it helps me keep track on how much I spend on books and DVDs. I agree on book postage rates. They can vary so widely. Amazon has a fixed rate of £2.80 for books and £1.26 for DVDs, irrespective of where they are posted from, so it isn't too bad if the item is coming from overseas. ABE is a good source for books, but postage rates vary quite a bit, especially for items from overseas, as is the case with Ebay. ABE is great; so is Amazon.ca to a lesser extent. Sometimes they have books for $0.01 + $6.49 shipping. I used to ask my library for inter-library loans, but when it started to take more than 3 months, often then to be told they still couldn't get it, for some reason, I gave up.
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Post by ripper on Dec 20, 2016 11:43:00 GMT
Forgot to mention ebooks. I have some ebooks but greatly prefer a print book if it is available at a reasonable cost. For some reason, if I buy a Kindle book I don't get the same feeling of actually owning the book that I have from a physical book. I still have books that I bought 30 or 40 years ago and doubtless they will be here when I am in that big library in the sky, but who can say about the longevity of ebooks? Software and platforms can change and I have no idea if those ebooks I have now will still be accessible to me in 30 or 40 years time.
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Post by ripper on Dec 20, 2016 14:44:51 GMT
Very interesting to hear Rosemary's and Miss Scarlet's thoughts on book prices and what they are prepared to pay for a book. I take a slightly different path by not having a limit for a book, but rather a monthly budget that I allocate for books and dvds--my two main purchase items. I stick to that budget but have a bit of leeway in that if I spend, say, £5 less than my budget allows, then that £5 is added to next month's budget, but the converse is also true. I also never buy a new DVD or mass market book, as prices for used are usually so much lower. For small press offerings, where print runs are low and prices higher, then I have to make a judgement on how much I really want the book, taking into account that it might mean not having much of a budget next month if I have to borrow from it. It's not ideal but it helps me keep track on how much I spend on books and DVDs. I agree on book postage rates. They can vary so widely. Amazon has a fixed rate of £2.80 for books and £1.26 for DVDs, irrespective of where they are posted from, so it isn't too bad if the item is coming from overseas. ABE is a good source for books, but postage rates vary quite a bit, especially for items from overseas, as is the case with Ebay. ABE is great; so is Amazon.ca to a lesser extent. Sometimes they have books for $0.01 + $6.49 shipping. I used to ask my library for inter-library loans, but when it started to take more than 3 months, often then to be told they still couldn't get it, for some reason, I gave up. Here, Amazon UK has a fair few books and DVDs at £0.01 + postage, these being usually from third party sellers and for used items. ABE is a great place but I quite often find they are no cheaper than Amazon and I always check both. Ebay, in my experience, has been pricier than Amazon and ABE for books and DVDs, but it is worth checking all three as Ebay can sometimes turn up sales of multiple books/DVDs at decent prices. Here, we are able to request items from libraries within our particular county. I do that quite often and so long as the item isn't currently on loan, takes around 1 week or so. Failing that, our libraries can obtain items from the libraries of other counties, but that takes longer. I appreciate, though, that our counties are small compared to Canadian provinces, so no two libraries here are really that far apart. Is it the same in Canada? I mean, can you request items from any library in, say, Manitoba, if you happened to live there?
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 20, 2016 16:33:06 GMT
ABE is great; so is Amazon.ca to a lesser extent. Sometimes they have books for $0.01 + $6.49 shipping. I used to ask my library for inter-library loans, but when it started to take more than 3 months, often then to be told they still couldn't get it, for some reason, I gave up. Here, Amazon UK has a fair few books and DVDs at £0.01 + postage, these being usually from third party sellers and for used items. ABE is a great place but I quite often find they are no cheaper than Amazon and I always check both. Ebay, in my experience, has been pricier than Amazon and ABE for books and DVDs, but it is worth checking all three as Ebay can sometimes turn up sales of multiple books/DVDs at decent prices. Here, we are able to request items from libraries within our particular county. I do that quite often and so long as the item isn't currently on loan, takes around 1 week or so. Failing that, our libraries can obtain items from the libraries of other counties, but that takes longer. I appreciate, though, that our counties are small compared to Canadian provinces, so no two libraries here are really that far apart. Is it the same in Canada? I mean, can you request items from any library in, say, Manitoba, if you happened to live there? I check Ebay too, just in case, but any book I want is usually 4x the price of Amazon or ABE. Our library can potentially get a book from anywhere in the country; which as I wrote can often take months and months and months. I guess the carrier's feet get tired
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