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Post by helrunar on Dec 6, 2017 17:50:23 GMT
Thanks, Dem. That's powerful stuff. And unexpectedly... seasonal?
cheers, H.
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Post by andydecker on Dec 6, 2017 18:11:05 GMT
Great story. Clever idea.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 7, 2017 8:05:51 GMT
Thanks, Dem. That's powerful stuff. And unexpectedly... seasonal? In its way. Great story. Clever idea. It's been used since, perhaps most (in)famously in J. C. Ecarius's riotous anarchist novel The Last Days Of Christ The Vampire, probably even before, but Ken's is the best version I've read. His The Last Sin (aka The Ultimate Sin in Richard Dalby's Vampire Stories is also extremely recommended. In his excellent annotated bibliography The Monster With A Thousand Faces, Brian J. Frost describes Dracula Reflects as "the most controversial vampire story produced by a British author in the 'seventies" though I'm not sure it's particularly well known, even among vampire fans. "Controversial" rarely does it for me - too often it translates as "desperate, boring." Dracula Reflects made it onto this calendar because I rate it a bloody great read. Anyway ....
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vaultadventcalendar
Black Crow King
Horror chav at the controls/ weird cheerleader #arts&culture
Posts: 143
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Post by vaultadventcalendar on Dec 7, 2017 8:24:16 GMT
Day Seven. All aboard the 'swinger' bus! .... to redress the balance, a story by Roman Catholic Priest G. F. Marson from the very likeable collection Ghosts, Ghouls & Gallows (1946), half of which is devoted to 'true' ghost stories, the rest, his original fiction, including a 'sport is supernatural' short, The Whip, and today's rave from the grave ... Attachments:The Haunted Bus.pdf (90.61 KB)
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 7, 2017 16:47:09 GMT
Just my type of story, I loved it! For once, I was able to read it at home, and not on the....
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vaultadventcalendar
Black Crow King
Horror chav at the controls/ weird cheerleader #arts&culture
Posts: 143
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Post by vaultadventcalendar on Dec 8, 2017 9:20:59 GMT
Day EightThat Friday feel-good factor. It seems Plague Pit- The Festering miniatures are in short supply (I live in hope), so have settled for the next worst thing. Ethel Helene Coen's conte cruel will not unduly detain you, but what it lacks in 'My agonizing boils drove me to hideous sex crimes' overkill is compensated by the sheer grimness of the thing. Attachments:ONE CHANCE.pdf (41.78 KB)
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Post by ripper on Dec 8, 2017 9:29:44 GMT
Day EightThat Friday feel-good factor. It seems Plague Pit- The Festering miniatures are in short supply (I live him hope), so have settled for the next worst thing. Ethel Helene Coen's conte cruel will not unduly detain you, but what it lacks in 'My agonizing boils drove me to hideous sex crimes' overkill is compensated by the sheer grimness of the thing. Wow, a third of the way through the calendar already. I enjoyed Fr. Marson's tale from yesterday. If his sermon's were as dramatic as that story then his congregations were well-entertained.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 8, 2017 10:33:32 GMT
Wow, a third of the way through the calendar already. That's a third further than I thought we'd get! I enjoyed Fr. Marson's tale from yesterday. If his sermon's were as dramatic as that story then his congregations were well-entertained. Glad you liked it, Rip. We've Chrissie to thank for that one, as she picked up a copy of Ghosts, Ghouls & Gallows during a rummage out back of a particularly shambolic Holloway Road book-shop.
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Post by helrunar on Dec 8, 2017 16:29:26 GMT
Would love to hear more about the lurking terror of the shambolic bookshop in the Holloway Road. Sounds like that marvelous old shop briefly seen in the 1940s film of Queen of Spades.
cheers, H.
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Post by ripper on Dec 8, 2017 17:38:14 GMT
Wow, a third of the way through the calendar already. That's a third further than I thought we'd get! I enjoyed Fr. Marson's tale from yesterday. If his sermon's were as dramatic as that story then his congregations were well-entertained. Glad you liked it, Rip. We've Chrissie to thank for that one, as she picked up a copy of Ghosts, Ghouls & Gallows during a rummage out back of a particularly shambolic Holloway Road book-shop. Well done to Chrissie for finding it. Sadly, there are only charity shops and chains around here, so little treasures like Fr Marson's collection are in very short supply. As for Ethel Coen's story...yes, a nasty ending for our heroine, but you'd think she would disregard her lover's advice to keep quiet when she became aware of what was happening, but if she had done so we wouldn't have had a story.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 8, 2017 20:46:37 GMT
Would love to hear more about the lurking terror of the shambolic bookshop in the Holloway Road. Sounds like that marvelous old shop briefly seen in the 1940s film of Queen of Spades. cheers, H. Its all a bit hazy, Steve, but this was circa early 'nineties. Can't recall the name of the shop - or even if it had one - but it stood a few doors along from Holloway Road tube station heading toward Highbury Corner (Crom might know it?). Used to drop in on then weekly pilgrimage to the Fantasy Centre. There were also at least two bookstalls on the street en route - Holloway Road was the paperback dependant's Mecca in those days, ace pub scene, too. Anyhow, this particular place. The way I remember it, the front end was fairly de rigueur for the day - a semi-organised chaos; you relied on your sixth sense to get you where you needed to look - but out back was insane, packed almost solid with hardbacks, had to forge yourself a tunnel by piling the stacks even higher before you could think of making a start. Kind of place you'd love to be locked-in over the weekend to investigate what treasures lay forgotten behind the cobwebs. Sev and Justin for two are familiar with the delightfully random Comics & Books in Westbourne: this was a North London equivalent but with the chaos ratcheted up another couple of notches. Having said that, both outlets are Waterstones in comparison to one super-insalubrious junkshop I'd visit in Bow. It was squatted by a very stoned left-over hippy couple; the electricity had been cut off, so you groped your way about by candlelight. One resourceful punter brought a torch. My Mayflower edition of Gillian Tindalls A Handbook of Witches came from there, probably not much else, but it was all about the adventure. And then, of course, there was Leslies on Bethnal Green Road ...
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vaultadventcalendar
Black Crow King
Horror chav at the controls/ weird cheerleader #arts&culture
Posts: 143
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Post by vaultadventcalendar on Dec 9, 2017 10:02:33 GMT
Chrissie Demant Day NineA Digit Books delight, ten times the length yesterdays doom-laden proto-flash piece, but suggest fans of the 'fifties-'sixties Pan Books of Horror will particularly enjoy this "deliberately shocking" excursion into the properly macabre by crime novelist Cecil M. Wills (1891 -1966). Attachments:THE LOST VILLAGE.pdf (93.37 KB)
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Post by andydecker on Dec 9, 2017 22:05:16 GMT
Great story. What a offbeat beginning.
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Post by ripper on Dec 10, 2017 9:36:09 GMT
All I can do is echo Andy's sentiments...and yet another author completely new to me.
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vaultadventcalendar
Black Crow King
Horror chav at the controls/ weird cheerleader #arts&culture
Posts: 143
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Post by vaultadventcalendar on Dec 10, 2017 9:49:58 GMT
Day TenChrissie Demant Back to the days of Empire. We've Johnny Mains to thank for kindly providing today's hair-raiser. Johnny writes: While there may be good reason for the latter, am very grateful for the opportunity to read it. Sex up The Werewolf with torture and nudity, you'd almost have a shudder pulp. Attachments:THE WEREWOLF 1904.pdf (57.01 KB)
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