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Post by PeterC on Dec 18, 2019 22:18:47 GMT
The Tower also appears in Great Ghost Stories, published by The Readers Digest, 1997. It is a remarkably chilling story with a devastating final sentence.
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Post by helrunar on Dec 19, 2019 2:05:02 GMT
Well, I'm intrigued! I will have to look for one of those books that anthologized the tale. I don't really understand how borrowing a digital file works on archive--it probably requires software I don't have.
H.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Dec 19, 2019 9:14:13 GMT
The BBC Radio 4 reading of "The Tower" can be heard or downloaded (in a variety of formats) if you follow this link. Put aside a quarter of an hour and listen... In fact, the link takes you to listenable or downloadable files for the entire series of BBC Radio 4 ghost stories, so there are another 32 to enjoy. Their lengths vary from 13 minutes to an hour and a half.
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Post by ropardoe on Dec 19, 2019 9:30:25 GMT
Where can I find this most excellent story, which I have never read? And is the Disch story you have in mind "The Asian Shore"? If it is, I may already have enough clues to experience "The Tower" without actually reading it. "The Tower" is a spooky one, for sure. The first Disch story I thought of was "Descending," but all I remember about "The Asian Shore" is the sense of confusion it left me with. Speaking of Disch, I can't pass up the chance to mention how much I love "The Roaches," even if it has nothing to do with vertigo. The Tom Disch story I was thinking of was indeed "Descending" (I've not read "The Asian Shore" - must look it up). The Chris Fowler story is "Left Hand Drive", which was made into an equally terrifying short film. Both tales use the same theme as "The Tower" - an infinite descent (but on an escalator and in a multi-storey garage respectively). At least in the Fowler story, the man in question deserved it. I don't think the protagonist of "The Tower" had done anything to deserve their fate.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 19, 2019 13:21:15 GMT
The BBC Radio 4 reading of "The Tower" can be heard or downloaded (in a variety of formats) if you follow this link. Put aside a quarter of an hour and listen... In fact, the link takes you to listenable or downloadable files for the entire series of BBC Radio 4 ghost stories, so there are another 32 to enjoy. Their lengths vary from 13 minutes to an hour and a half. Thanks! I listened to it. Somehow I think it would have been more effective if I had read it.
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Post by ramseycampbell on Dec 19, 2019 13:36:18 GMT
Triggered by Dem's suggestion in the Advent Calendar 2019 thread, I thought I'd open a DIY anthology thread on fear of heights, speaking as someone who is very bad with heights (and not even that great with widths...). I'll open the bidding with "The Tower" by Marghanita Laski. My introduction to this was hearing it read by Joss Ackland in a BBC Radio 4 broadcast. In a sense, it's just about a woman walking up an old tower in Tuscany. At dusk. Alone. But it's chilling. It reminded me of St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay, Tyneside. From the outside it seemed just like any other lighthouse, but it doesn't have floors except at the very top, so the stairs spiral round the wall, circling this vast space. A photo doesn't really do the vertiginous space justice but it's wretched... Any other suggestions for this one? "The Tower" is one of the most terrifying stories I've ever read. Good variations on the theme have followed from the likes of Christopher Fowler and Tom Disch (though neither of their stories, I think, qualifies for this vertigo thread). I fear I should confess that I wrote a variation on the Laski tale as the chapter of a novel, and only realised where I'd got the inspiration once the book was published.
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Post by helrunar on Dec 19, 2019 14:25:46 GMT
That's interesting to hear, Ramsey, about that chapter. I would imagine that happens more often for writers than most would be willing to admit.
I happened to find a copy of Lady Cynthia Asquith's Third Ghost Book for around five bucks from an online UK vendor, so I have ordered it. It will arrive sometime next month and be a pleasant companion for a time on my daily commute.
I looked up Marghanita Laski, and am intrigued by her novella The Victorian Chaise Longue, which Anthony Boucher praised to the hilt. She sold the film rights to one of her novels to John Mills and somehow, the book wound up several years later being adapted as a musical starring Bing Crosby. She was justifiably appalled. Now that's horror.
H.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 19, 2019 16:05:58 GMT
Consciously or otherwise, I think Rosemary Timperley may have drawn influence from The Tower for her The Darkhouse Keeper in Hugh Lamb's Cold Fear.
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Post by helrunar on Dec 19, 2019 16:13:27 GMT
What a splendid title--The Darkhouse Keeper.
H.
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