vaultadventcalendar
Black Crow King
Horror chav at the controls/ weird cheerleader #arts&culture
Posts: 143
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Post by vaultadventcalendar on Dec 22, 2017 9:37:41 GMT
Day Twenty-two. A Pleasing TerrorToday we're blessed with a delightful Ghost Story For Christmas by Black Books contributor and denizen of the Haunted Library, Dan McGachey, a man who seems to know possibly more than is healthy about these diabolical Enchanted Zodiacs, Satyr Horrors, and M. R. James annuals. Vault don't do awards, but here seems as good a place as any to mention that his novella, Ting-A-Ling-A-Ling, ( Ghosts & Scholars MRJ Newsletter Special Booklet), ties with Mike Chinn's The Mercy Seat for the - admittedly, not exactly "prestigious" - 'Dem's favourite ghost stories of 2017' award. Of the following story, Dan explains; Attachments:Ingress.pdf (278.22 KB)
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Post by dem bones on Dec 22, 2017 10:01:54 GMT
I had no idea where it was going and that ending was terrific. Marvelous story! Great ending. I imagine Ms Taborska smiled the whole time while writing this. Really pleased you liked it, gents, and turns out Andy's comment is not far wide of the mark. Buy A Goat For Christmas first appeared in Carolina Smart [ed.'s] Best New Werewolf Tales (Books of the Dead Press, 2012). The all-action ending reminds me of the final showdown in The Slime Beast.
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Post by ripper on Dec 22, 2017 10:34:40 GMT
I had no idea where it was going and that ending was terrific. Marvelous story! Great ending. I imagine Ms Taborska smiled the whole time while writing this. Really pleased you liked it, gents, and turns out Andy's comment is not far wide of the mark. Buy A Goat For Christmas first appeared in Carolina Smart [ed.'s] Best New Werewolf Tales (Books of the Dead Press, 2012). The all-action ending reminds me of the final showdown in The Slime Beast. Yes, echoes of The Slime Beast...well spotted, Dem. That poor werewolf stood no chance against a Centurion's 105mm main gun.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 22, 2017 10:37:26 GMT
That was a very good one from Charles. I enjoyed the references to the publishing world and particularly the Pan Book of Horror and its sadly ficticious rival The Satyr Book of Horror. Good, grisly fun. Thank you. "Fictitious?" I'm not so sure about that. Irrefutable photographic evidence to the contrary, I had my reservations as to the authenticity of Lurkio's M. R. James's Ghost Story For Christmas Annual 1976 .... But that was before this morning's visit to the Shoreditch branch of 'J. Manfred Books & Videos' - it was for a friend - where lo and behold ...
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 22, 2017 14:15:42 GMT
Another wonderful story, this is one of my favorites of this year's Calendar.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 22, 2017 17:18:13 GMT
Thanks, Swampirella. Having neglected the Advent Calendar in years gone by, I'm very happy to be in fine company hereabouts. As regards that story of Dr Grace's that is referred to in my own tale, I'm reluctant to attempt scanning my copy of Further Tales From A Ghostly Study as it took me a long time to find, and I'm wary of anything happening to it. But here's a snap of the opening pages - plus illustration (artist unknown) - of the story in question.
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Post by ripper on Dec 22, 2017 19:25:09 GMT
Ingress was a very enjoyable supernatural story with an unusual haunted object. I liked the characterisation of the boss of the building company and how he always seemed to pick on the same employee. Great stuff! As a bonus, a mention of a tale and collection of which I was completely unaware, and from the title can I assume it is a follow-up to an earlier one?
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 22, 2017 19:28:49 GMT
I spent a fruitless few minutes searching online for any copies of "Further Tales from a Ghostly Study". Thanks for the snap, now I'm even more intrigued....
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Post by helrunar on Dec 22, 2017 23:19:14 GMT
Ah, Further Tales from a Ghostly Study... how delicious the cover appears!
I think I've mention previously that before I found the concealed ring betwixt the granite lion's paws that laid open in darkly yawning jaws the secret gaping staircase leading down, down, inexorably down, into that most nefandous adytum of terror--that most insidious den of devilment--that most malevolent lair of malignant lust and vile decay, the VAULT OF EVIL... I actually thought I had tastes in reading that could be characterized as esoteric, obscure, or unregarded. Learned my lesson with all that fast, I did--and this is but the latest confirmation.
H.
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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 23, 2017 11:23:37 GMT
Day Twenty-Three A haunting beauty© Chrissie Demant Christmas just ain't Christmas without a creepy nun, so we're especially grateful to Kate Farrell for permission to share a third morbid masterpiece from her indispensable And Nobody Lived Happily Ever After (Parallel Universe, 2015) via Charles Black's Eleventh Black Book Of Horror (Mortbury Press, 2015). Reggie Oliver, himself no slouch at this supernatural terror lark, has acclaimed Kate "the Countess of the conte cruel." On the evidence of The Efficient Use Of Reason, A Murder Of Crows and today's crushing school story ..... See for yourself. Attachments:Alma Mater.pdf (245.07 KB)
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 23, 2017 15:01:12 GMT
Ingress was a very enjoyable supernatural story with an unusual haunted object. I liked the characterisation of the boss of the building company and how he always seemed to pick on the same employee. Great stuff! As a bonus, a mention of a tale and collection of which I was completely unaware, and from the title can I assume it is a follow-up to an earlier one? Dr Herbert Sidney Grace (1863 – 1935) was, first and foremost, an academic, his expertise in the fields of archaeology, ecclesiastical studies and folklore leading to the publication of the reference works The Lost and Forgotten Buildings of Greymarsh, The Witch in the Well and Other Mediaeval Tales Translated, and A Child’s Book of Revelations. He was also an author of supernatural tales, originally written to be read to friends as a Hallowe’en entertainment, and later compiled into three volumes; A Ghostly Study (1905), Further Tales from a Ghostly Study (1908), and Intangible Apparitions & Other More Substantial Terrors (1910). The above is paraphrased from my introduction to Grace's story An Unwise Purchase, which originally appeared in Further Tales and was reprinted in my own collection, They That Dwell In Dark Places, both as a tribute to its author and as an example of his long neglected work, after I'd based another story, The Travelling Companion, on rumours of a privately published fourth collection containing completed drafts of stories which today survive only as fragments. In real life, Dr Grace seemed to have abandoned his ghost story writing in favour of more spiritual pursuits. Naturally, in my fictionalised version of events he foreswore the ghostly tale for much darker reasons, as hinted at in the rumoured volume's curiously warning title, Delve Not Too Deeply...
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 23, 2017 16:17:28 GMT
I have those too.
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 23, 2017 16:24:03 GMT
Show off!
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Post by ripper on Dec 23, 2017 17:27:22 GMT
Ingress was a very enjoyable supernatural story with an unusual haunted object. I liked the characterisation of the boss of the building company and how he always seemed to pick on the same employee. Great stuff! As a bonus, a mention of a tale and collection of which I was completely unaware, and from the title can I assume it is a follow-up to an earlier one? Dr Herbert Sidney Grace (1863 – 1935) was, first and foremost, an academic, his expertise in the fields of archaeology, ecclesiastical studies and folklore leading to the publication of the reference works The Lost and Forgotten Buildings of Greymarsh, The Witch in the Well and Other Mediaeval Tales Translated, and A Child’s Book of Revelations. He was also an author of supernatural tales, originally written to be read to friends as a Hallowe’en entertainment, and later compiled into three volumes; A Ghostly Study (1905), Further Tales from a Ghostly Study (1908), and Intangible Apparitions & Other More Substantial Terrors (1910). The above is paraphrased from my introduction to Grace's story An Unwise Purchase, which originally appeared in Further Tales and was reprinted in my own collection, They That Dwell In Dark Places, both as a tribute to its author and as an example of his long neglected work, after I'd based another story, The Travelling Companion, on rumours of a privately published fourth collection containing completed drafts of stories which today survive only as fragments. In real life, Dr Grace seemed to have abandoned his ghost story writing in favour of more spiritual pursuits. Naturally, in my fictionalised version of events he foreswore the ghostly tale for much darker reasons, as hinted at in the rumoured volume's curiously warning title, Delve Not Too Deeply... Thank you for the very interesting information. I notice that Dr. Graces dates of birth and death are almost the same as that of M.R. James, and given their similar backgrounds in academia, I wonder if they knew each other.
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Post by ripper on Dec 23, 2017 17:37:19 GMT
Nice creepy nun story from Kate Farrell. I liked the setting of the 1960s and the mini-stories the girls told to each other. Suitably nasty description of the blind nun. Thank you.
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