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Post by ghostseller on Feb 4, 2019 17:28:49 GMT
Available from Greenwich Exchange, Amazon, bookshops etc. A major collection of 24 elegantly sinister tales of the paranormal by Roger F. Dunkley, the author who's made readers of TWILIGHT ZONE, PAN and FONTANA Horror and Ghost and many other haunting anthologies shiver and chuckle over the years. (Editors include Herbert Van Thal, Richard Dalby, Mary Danby, R Chetwynd-Hayes, James Hale.) In tales light of touch but dark of purpose, Dunkley entertainingly explores mysteries and nightmares of the unseen universe - reincarnation and survival, stone circles and alien visitation, witchcraft and exorcism, time-slips, ghost machines and Armageddon. Many stories here emerge blinking from the blackness of the crypt for the first time, but all are chillingly tainted with the writer's trademark mix of stylish black humour and inventive and sinister storytelling. See www.rogerfdunkley.com and Amazon reviews for more info. |
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Post by Swampirella on Feb 4, 2019 19:11:24 GMT
Available from Greenwich Exchange, Amazon, bookshops etc. A major collection of 24 elegantly sinister tales of the paranormal by Roger F. Dunkley, the author who's made readers of TWILIGHT ZONE, PAN and FONTANA Horror and Ghost and many other haunting anthologies shiver and chuckle over the years. (Editors include Herbert Van Thal, Richard Dalby, Mary Danby, R Chetwynd-Hayes, James Hale.) In tales light of touch but dark of purpose, Dunkley entertainingly explores mysteries and nightmares of the unseen universe - reincarnation and survival, stone circles and alien visitation, witchcraft and exorcism, time-slips, ghost machines and Armageddon. Many stories here emerge blinking from the blackness of the crypt for the first time, but all are chillingly tainted with the writer's trademark mix of stylish black humour and inventive and sinister storytelling. See www.rogerfdunkley.com and Amazon reviews for more info. A definite must-buy for me, it sounds stupendous! |
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Post by Shrink Proof on Feb 4, 2019 21:33:05 GMT
A definite must-buy for me, it sounds stupendous! Quite agree. Have ordered it... |
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Post by Swampirella on Sept 27, 2019 21:33:47 GMT
Available from Greenwich Exchange, Amazon, bookshops etc. A major collection of 24 elegantly sinister tales of the paranormal by Roger F. Dunkley, the author who's made readers of TWILIGHT ZONE, PAN and FONTANA Horror and Ghost and many other haunting anthologies shiver and chuckle over the years. (Editors include Herbert Van Thal, Richard Dalby, Mary Danby, R Chetwynd-Hayes, James Hale.) In tales light of touch but dark of purpose, Dunkley entertainingly explores mysteries and nightmares of the unseen universe - reincarnation and survival, stone circles and alien visitation, witchcraft and exorcism, time-slips, ghost machines and Armageddon. Many stories here emerge blinking from the blackness of the crypt for the first time, but all are chillingly tainted with the writer's trademark mix of stylish black humour and inventive and sinister storytelling. See www.rogerfdunkley.com and Amazon reviews for more info. A definite must-buy for me, it sounds stupendous! It arrived the other day and I finally got started a few days ago. Basically enjoyable, although many of the early stories now feel dated.
Index: A Problem Called Albert (Pan #15 ed. H. Van Thal) Miss Brood's Speciality (Fontana Horror 9, ed. Mary Danby) The Immortal Longings of Geoffrey Wortle Geoffrey irritates his wife Henrietta with talk of reincarnation. Too bad she only starts paying attention when it's too late.... The Man Who Sold Ghosts (Fontana Ghost #11) Myth Understood subtitled "Into how many stories can I insert couples with the surname Wortle before people catch on?" This is the third one so far, they or their kin are in "A Problem Called Albert" and "The Immortal Longings...." obviously. Anyhow, the story itself. Doctor Eugens runs the World Centre of Extaterrestrial Communications. After many dreary years, a message may be coming through. But what do Alice and Henry Wortle, followers of an American religious group called "The Sect". Professor Chalford and his nubile assistant Miss Seameirs are "deep in the hinterlands of Mesopotamia" digging up the Garden of Eden site (funded by The Sect) where they find mysterious walls in the shape of the Greek letter Alpha, moulded out of diamond. Despite the end being nigh, this scores a zeon on the scare-o-metre. The Method and Madness of George Strode (Frighteners 2, ed. Mary Danby)
Virgin Territory
(Pan 16)
A Question of Taste
Another tale of marital discord. Dennis Snipe is quite happy for his wife to go on holiday with her mother and leave him (and his girlfriend, the widow Peabody) to their own devices. A letter arrives saying his wife has been kidnapped and demanding 50,000 pounds for her safe return. Not happy at having his freedom jeopordized, Dennis hesitates....
Twisted Shadow
(Fontana Ghosts #12)
Neurotic Isobel Hurse finds gardening therapeutic. Until she starts digging up small human bone fragments where her rockery is to be placed. Her husband Bernard, newly made assistant director of a nuclear power station, becomes concerned when her nightmares of mass panic return.
The Ghost Machine (Fontana Ghosts #13,ed. R. Chetwynd-Hayes)
Zazine Forsyth's Resurrection Affair (The Twilight Book, ed. James Hale) Second Coming
Rev. Clearwater and his family have been experiencing paranormal phenomena. He blames his young daughter Mary's "wilful disobediance and adolescent hysteria". Add Miss Friend, a medium, and her goat, as well as Xar and Zartek on a reconnaissance mission, and you've got a party. Standing stones play a minor but important part as well.
Typing Error
The unnamed narrator has a typewriter that generates ominous messages. Is it a practical joke? Is the typewriter haunted? Or is he going crazy? A short but effective story.
Hot-Pot For Hubert
Abbie Darkthorn is cooking up a nice hot-pot for hubbie Hubert, of the "eye of newt and toe of frog" variety. Well, eye of toad and liver of rat, to start with. It's an old medieval recipe, to bring relief from a 'booring husbande" who has his wife's daily chores organized to a t. The end result is not only unexpected but for me, somewhat disappointing.
Eye To Eye (Fontana Ghost #18, ed. R. Chetwynd-Hayes)
Cross-Talk (Frighteners 2 (again) ed. Mary Danby) The Man Called James
(Pan #17) Landscape
Interstellar travel connected to the Garden of Eden. That's all I got.
Remote Control
Gerald Bland tried to use psychic remote control to cause the death of his wife's lover. His glaring lack of common sense near the end telegraphs at least part of the ending.
The Reluctant Murderer
(Mystery for Christmas ed. Richard Dalby)
The Great Antonio and Midge are brothers and a magic act. Midge forsees death for his younger bro, and does what he thinks he must to forestall it.
Ashes To Dust
The best story of the book for me. Mark Somerton has nightmares of smothering darkness every year beginning in June & culminating in blackouts in August, causing successive girlfriends to take flight. His analyst suggests he "excavate his traumas", then tries hypnotic age regression, which leaves them (more) puzzled. For the sake of his mental health, he goes on holiday to Naples and it's surroundings where events "take a dramatic turn".
Future Tense
Joanna, Mark and James, all university students with final exams upcoming, laughingly try "future regression" at a party, not believing it in the least. Mark goes under and reveals a possible helpful clue. Well, it is, and it isn't....
Surprise! Surprise!
(Fontana Horror #11 ed. Mary Danby)
Mea Tulpa (Strange Tales II ed. Rosalie Parker)
I was hoping for a lot more from this. It seems to be the author talking to his readers, interspersed with what look like quotes from Gothic literature. He fears he's created a tulpa who's begun using his typewriter to print a series of letters. Underwhelming, I have to say.
Read more: vaultofevil.proboards.com/thread/6883/sold-ghosts-light-tales-dark?page=1&scrollTo=59542#ixzz60lM00xCM |
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Post by dem on Jul 25, 2023 10:30:06 GMT
Roger F. Dunkley - The Man Who Sold Ghosts & Other Light Tales (Greenwich Exchange, 2017) Marc Peltzer L'lle Dunkley Foreword
A Problem Called Albert
Miss Brood’s Speciality
The Immortal Longings Of Geoffrey Wortle
The Man Who Sold Ghosts
Myth Understood
The Method And Madness Of George Strode
Virgin Territory
A Question Of Taste
Twisted Shadow
The Ghost Machine
Zazine Forsyth’s Resurrection Affair
Second Coming
Typing Error
Hot-Pot For Hubert
Eye To Eye
Cross Talk
The Man Called James
Landscape
Remote Control
The Reluctant Murderer
Ashes To Dust
Future Tense
Surprise! Surprise!
Mea Tulpa
About the Author
Acknowledgements and CopyrightBlurb: Twenty-four wide-ranging Dunkley tales, light of touch but dark of purpose, lie in wait in this volume.
Some emerge here blinking from the blackness of the crypt for the first time, but all are chillingly tainted with the author's characteristic mix of stylish humour and inventive storytelling.A Problem Called Albert: (Herbert Van Thal [ed.] 15th Pan Book of Horror Stories, 1974). A neutered tomcat develops an insatiable appetite for fresh meat — rodent or human, makes no difference. Dawn of the feline apocalypse. Miss Brood’s Speciality: (Mary Danby [ed.] 9th Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories, 1975). An infallible clairvoyant's prophesies have tended toward the grim — until now! Tonight she excitedly awaits a bedroom visit from a tall, dark, handsome stranger — surely her husband to be! The Immortal Longings Of Geoffrey Wortle: A firm believer in reincarnation, Wortle can't wait to die and return as something vicious to torment pathologically house-proud Henrietta. The Man Who Sold Ghosts: (R. Chetwynd-Hayes [ed.] 11th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, 1976). Headless, chain rattling, hung, drowned or bloody, the choice is yours. Guaranteed tourist bait — the must-have accessory for the Ancestral home, and only £500 the pair! There has to be a catch, but with the old pile in decline and their income at a low, dare Earl and Lady Snood miss out?
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Post by dem on Jul 26, 2023 17:39:12 GMT
Myth Understood: Prof Chalford and glam assistant Maisie Seamirs' extravagantly funded excavation of the 'Garden of Eden,' Mesopotamia, unearths an enormous Alpha symbol in carved crystal. This is the most joyful news to their sponsors, Henry and Alice Wortle, the leaders of a Doomsday Cult, who now have confirmation that the world will end on February 19th. Meanwhile, in Peru, Dr. Eugen, astronomer and founder of the World Centre of Extraterrestrial Communication, at last receives a response to the goodwill message he's transmitted across the galaxy since the observatory's construction. Is mankind facing a Close Encounter, Armageddon, Genesis II, or all three? The Method And Madness Of George Strode: (Mary Danby [ed.] Frighteners 2, 1976). Wife Emilia remains oblivious to his every, increasingly desperate attempt on her life. Virgin Territory: (Herbert Van Thal [ed.] 16th Pan Book of Horror Stories, 1975). In celebration of their engagement, Andy wants to get it on in the stone circle on the moors. Eva, having none of it, instead insists they defy local superstition by counting the stones. A Question Of Taste: Dennis Snipe receives a ransom note demanding £50, 000 for his missing wife or Myrtle will be mailed him piece by piece, eyeballs first. Fine by him — he's long been having it off with happily widowed Pamela — it's just a question of how to discreetly dispose of Myrtles packaged body parts.
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Post by dem on Jul 28, 2023 8:13:49 GMT
 Paula Goodman Twisted Shadow, Twilight Zone, Jan-Feb 1985. : (R. Chetwynd-Hayes [ed.] 12th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, 1976: T. E. D. Klein [ed.] Twilight Zone, Jan-Feb 1985). A thing whose face is a hideously disfigured by festering boils haunts Isobel Hurse's rockery. Miss Friend the psychic's revelation that the Hurse residence is built atop a medieval burial pit suggests a victim of the Black Death. The alternative — that the horror is somehow a product of the neighbouring Cavesham Nuclear plant — is too terrible to contemplate. It's fitting that Chetwynd-Hayes should have regularly published Dunkley. This reads like the former wearing his serious head. The Ghost Machine: (R. Chetwynd-Hayes [ed.] 13th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, 1977). Prof. Hamnet advertises an assisted death service to acquire raw materials for his greatest invention. Step forward Jeremiah Puddle, serial failed suicide. Zazine Forsyth’s Resurrection Affair: (James Hale [ed.], The Twilight Book, 1981). Taking advantage of her fourth husband's Resurrection Machine, the Hollywood diva travels the day's glitterati back to the Aztec Empire for a party amid the sacred monoliths of Quantahatapotel. Second Coming: An attempt by extraterrestrials to communicate with intelligent life forms on earth - in this case, a joyless Vicar's repressed daughter and a psychic goat belonging to Miss Friend, the medium we first met in Twisted Shadows - provokes poltergeist activity at the Rectory. The friction between Rev. George Clairview and young Mary culminates in a bloody confrontation within the local stone circle. |
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Post by dem on Jul 29, 2023 15:54:26 GMT
Typing Error: As a ripper murderer stalks the streets, the author is goaded by cryptic messages from a seemingly possessed typewriter. Hot-Pot For Hubert: Abigail Darkthorne prepares a stew from the excommunicated Brother Martyyn's recipe promising "relief from a booring husbande." Builds toward a routine murder story, until ... Eye To Eye: (R. Chetwynd-Hayes [ed.] 18th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, 1982). Convinced his newly acquired 1960 Daimler is haunted, Myers Bainton tracks down previous owners hoping someone will shed light on the mystery. "I've been expecting you," admits Mr. Sidney Mortimer. Cross Talk: (Mary Danby [ed.] Frighteners 2, 1976). "The telephone wires; they go right under the place where it all happened. All that horror burned into the soil. Think of the vibrations!" Winifred Hetherbridge, an elderly spiritualist, has been receiving cryptic, whispered telephone messages only she can hear. A young engineer sent to repair the crossed line refuses to disturb the tree where, almost 300 years ago to the day, Old Mother Lambert was burnt as a witch. Winifred's spirit guide warns that the anniversary of July 11 will not pass without incident. The Man Called James: (Herbert Van Thal [ed.] 17th Pan Book of Horror Stories, 1976). Police close in on the compassionate, deeply sensitive and very beautiful young man taken temporary residence in Maud's back garden. A serial mercy killer of all creatures great and small. Enjoyed the three reprints more the second time around than I did on first acquaintance, Cross Talk and The Man Called James especially so.
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Post by dem on Aug 2, 2023 9:36:31 GMT
Landscape: The colonization of Alpha Centauri represents a new beginning for mankind, a chance to learn from past mistakes and get things just so! Our married cosmonauts are instructed not to sample the shiny fruit before it has been laboratory tested, but wife argues they've surely earned the right to defy so petty a command. Remote Control: Gerald Bland conspires with a medium offering murder on the astral. Desperate to demonstrate he's not the pushover everyone takes him for, Gerald has sworn to destroy big-in-middle-management, Clifford Mann for having it off with his wife. Meanwhile, Mann and Beatrice Bland are equally determined to be permanently rid of Gerald. The Reluctant Murderer: (Richard Dalby [ed.] Mystery for Christmas, 1990). New Year's night cabaret with stage magicians, the Great Antonio and Midge, whose show-piece is a sham mind-reading act, except this time Midge isn't faking. "A man will die tonight. It is determined. When the bells ring. I will murder that man." Midge is resentful of playing second fiddle to his popular brother and stage partner, but he has no wish to kill him! Is there a way to cheat the prophecy? Ashes To Dust: Mark Somerton's nightmares, which invariably conclude on his screaming the name 'Julie,' have cost him his every relationship, each girlfriend grown exasperated at playing second fiddle to a figment. A psychiatrist recommends a Mediterranean holiday. Mark's arrival in Pompeii coincides with the excavation of two bodies preserved in ash since 79 A.D.
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Post by dem on Aug 5, 2023 11:08:32 GMT
Future Tense: "If you can put people into trance and take them back to childhood — and possibly beyond childhood, back into previous lives ... then why can't you also take them forward to the future?" Mark Walton, the class genius, hosts a pre-exam party for his Pilbrook Upper School contemporaries. Friend James persuades him to participate in an experiment in hypnotic progression. Despite misgivings, Mark allows Joanna to fast-forward him to learn the exam results in advance ... Surprise! Surprise!: (Mary Danby [ed.] 11th Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories, 1975). Agatha Christie fan Mrs. Dahlia Loom finds a dead man face down in the compost heap. What a mess! Who would do such a terrible thing? She calls a policeman. And then there were two .... Mea Tulpa: (Rosalie Parker [ed.], Strange Tales Vol. II, 2007). No idea. A jaded horror hack's desire to transcend genre clichés inadvertently gives life to a monster from the mind? Didn't get along with this one at all, so it's most likely literature. Had a good time revisiting the Fontana Ghosts, Horrors and Frighteners, and, especially, the Pan stories, which, to me, seemed out of place in the Van Thal books (RFD isn't one for sadism for its own sake). Of the new material, Ashes to Dust and Typing Error stuck; Hot-Pot For Hubert took a twist that did it no favours, but the only one I disliked was the one held back to last.
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