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Post by weirdmonger on Dec 15, 2007 22:10:34 GMT
In 1988, Mark Samuels edited and published a wonderful magazine entitled: THE STYGIAN DREAMHOUSE. Its contents were original publications of these stories: Metempsychosis – Mark Samuels Connections – DF Lewis Howls From A Blinding Curve – Simon Clark The Dirty Picture – Peter F Jeffery Before God – Steven Samuels As well as an editorial by Mark, there was some amazing artwork by Desmond Knight and Steven Samuels.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 16, 2007 11:27:51 GMT
Thanks so much for posting this, Des. Nope, I don't have a copy of this or any other issue of Stygian Dreamhouse, but I know I'd have loved it because it screams 'golden age of fanzines' to me. No budget; real raw production values; and, I suspect, people doing it because, quite simply, something inside them told them they HAD to? The geriatric punk in me went off the zine scene a little when 'professionals' started creeping in with their pesky print you could actually read, glossy paper, coherent lay outs and all that.
I know Some of our members have mentioned the fanzine's they edited and/ or contributed to before but was anybody else a prit-stick and photocopy fiend?
Anyhow, Des. Tell us more about SD. How long did it run for is a good place to start.
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Post by weirdmonger on Dec 16, 2007 11:45:45 GMT
That was the only issue of SD, I'm afraid. But, the 'first issue' in itself is gold-dust. I was privileged to have hundreds of my stories in 'raw enthusiasm' zines of the eighties and nineties. A treasure trove of Horror that many missed. (Not my stories, but the zines themselves!) I may start a thread on 'Dementia 13' next. des
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Post by dem bones on Dec 16, 2007 12:10:59 GMT
I was privileged to have hundreds of my stories in 'raw enthusiasm' zines of the eighties and nineties. I know! I Know! Figures. If you got to an issue 3 you were regarded as something of a veteran. And I agree: it was a treasure trove, not only for horror but just about any kind of interest. If you were into, say, hedge-growing at the time, chances were there'd be an extant 'society' and a publication for you to join. If not, you'd just start one.
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Post by Calenture on Dec 16, 2007 13:25:31 GMT
Pritt sticks and photocopiers? What were those? As far as I know these state of the art machines, shown herewere the tools of choice for the fanzine editor of the Seventies. The machines shown at that link are property of Ned Brooks, editor of IGOTS (It Goes On The Shelf) who mentions FC in the latest issue. And it's only a mention, but I suppose I'll forgive him for misspelling my name with an "s". Well, he got it right elsewhere in the zine. Stencils were typed out from original MSS, then fed into the Gestetner, which if the editor was lucky then got as much ink on the paper as on himself. I'm not sure about drawings. I imagine a photocopy was made then a stencil "traced" out from that. Naturally, line art was prefered... I saw this post on SD last night and the cover is lovely. Every now and again I see something like this that I wish I'd drawn. Desmond Knight or Steven Samuels - does it say who did which picture? The one on the left is a photo - a collage? That's quite eerie, too! Dementia 13? Bring it on!
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Post by weirdmonger on Dec 16, 2007 14:51:46 GMT
I saw this post on SD last night and the cover is lovely. Every now and again I see something like this that I wish I'd drawn. Desmond Knight or Steven Samuels - does it say who did which picture? DK did the back cover, SS the front cover. This afternoon, I hope.
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Post by redbrain on Dec 16, 2007 16:22:23 GMT
I'm sure that I have a copy of this lurking on one of my shelves. Perhaps I should dust it off, and take another look. I see that it contains a story by me - but one that I reacall only vaguely, and with some difficulty. Perhaps I'll take a look at it, but I suspect that it wasn't my finest moment.
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Post by weirdmonger on Dec 16, 2007 16:48:58 GMT
I see that it contains a story by me - but one that I reacall only vaguely I've just re-read 'The Dirty Picture' by Peter F Jeffery after nearly twenty years. And it is very enjoyable. However, discussing Lovecraft with a Police Inspector in a pub while drinking Bank's Mild seems a bit of a rum do.
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Post by marksamuels on Dec 17, 2007 15:13:57 GMT
There was going to be a second issue of this--ahem--"renowned" magazine; Steve even drew the cover (which I think I still have in a box somewhere, or maybe he does). I remember typing out the text on a battered manual typewriter in the garden shed, usually late at night, by the glow of a paraffin lamp. It took me weeks. And then I had to tippex... Ah, far-off happy days. Mark S.
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Post by redbrain on Dec 17, 2007 18:04:13 GMT
I see that it contains a story by me - but one that I reacall only vaguely I've just re-read 'The Dirty Picture' by Peter F Jeffery after nearly twenty years. And it is very enjoyable. However, discussing Lovecraft with a Police Inspector in a pub while drinking Bank's Mild seems a bit of a rum do. Crumbs! That certainly is a rum do! I must dig out my copy and re-read it.
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Post by Dr Terror on Dec 18, 2007 19:14:17 GMT
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Post by weirdmonger on Jul 22, 2021 10:35:51 GMT
In 1988, Mark Samuels edited and published a wonderful magazine entitled: THE STYGIAN DREAMHOUSE. Mark Samuels’ new novel WITCH-CULT ABBEY — Pages 71 – 75 “Still, Kruptos contaminates the understanding of all those who have read even some small part of the immeasurable whole:” As the narrator continues to be constrained to fill the blank bibliography book and, eventually, he is caught up in the book mentioned above as written by a Thomas Ariel, as if its reader is always Caliban? Or something even worse? Diverted from straightforward cataloguing to absorbing! The Kruptos book in many volumes, volumes that don’t start nor end, is said to create its own author — or, I ask, its own reader, even its own critic? — and this possibly sheds some crazy rationalisation on why I must have started, with this very author, my gestalt real-time reviewing project all those years ago! Needless to say, I currently have a strong love-hate relationship with this author’s book. And with the potentially theosophical, literary and linguistic revelation of the book that this book now seems to contain.
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Post by helrunar on Jul 22, 2021 12:42:10 GMT
That book really does sound like something that could drive one to madness. Somehow it makes me think of Kenneth Grant's writing. The late occultist Alobar theorized that Grant's books were deliberately written in such a way as to open a portal to an interdimensional space of horror and madness. And the beat goes on...
I do love that word... Witch-cult...
cheers, H.
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Post by weirdmonger on Mar 29, 2023 13:24:31 GMT
For Mark Samuels fans…
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