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Post by dem bones on Jun 22, 2022 17:40:18 GMT
Peter Coleborn & Jan Edwards (eds.) - The Alchemy Press Book of Horrors 2: Strange Stories and Weird TalesInterior illustrations by Jim Pitts Preface Dedication: IN Memory Paul Barnett (John Grant) 1949-2020
Pauline E. Dungate - Beneath Namibian Sands John Grant - The Loneliest Place Nancy Kilpatrick - Promises Samantha Lee - The Secret Place John Llewellyn Probert - Hydrophobia Paul Finch - What Did You See? Garry Kilworth - Lirpaloof Island Thana Niveau - The Hate Whisperer Debbie Bennett - I Remember Everything Peter Sutton - We Do Like to Be Beside Eyglo Karlsdottir - Footprints in the Snow Tim Jeffreys - Black Nore Gail-Nina Anderson - Henrietta Street Sharon Gosling - Every Bad Thing Sarah Ash - I Left My Fair Homeland Mike Chinn - Digging in the Dirt John Howard - The Primordial Light
Contributors notesBlurb Strange stories and weird tales and all of the creeping horrors in between. Horrors 2 features seventeen fabulous writers, including Sarah Ash, Paul Finch, John Grant, Nancy Kilpatrick, Garry Kilworth, Samantha Lee to lead you on a spine-tingling tour from seaside towns to grimy cities, to the lonely and secret places, from the fourteenth precinct to Namibia and so many places in between.Pauline E. Dungate - Beneath Namibian Sands: A four-man two-woman search party set out into the desert from their Koichas base to find missing expedition leader, Laury Bishop. The locals are of the opinion that Bishop has fallen foul of THEM, "the devourers", but then everyone knows these Africans are a credulous lot! Elaine and team arrive at a pit of bones ... John Grant - The Loneliest Place: The Kreep Killer prowls Amsterdam preying upon little girls. As a last desperate throw of the dice, Lieutenant Patrick M'Troyd enlists jailbait to lure him or her into the open. The volunteer is Wendy, nineteen, looks twelve, dresses like Little Red Riding hood, underestimate her at your peril ... Two stories in and already a strong personal favourite of book candidate. Killer's chosen fancy dress costume a joyful bonus. Nancy Kilpatrick - Promises: Guilt-ridden and inconsolable over his girlfriend's death in a car accident, Bob invests in the motorbike they promised themselves, and visits her homeland, England, just as they always said they would, except now he intends a death trip. A ghost at Whitstable Museum uses the example of Peter and Helen Cushing to convince him that love transcends mere death.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 2, 2022 16:15:33 GMT
Where were we ...
Samantha Lee - The Secret Place: Brenda Johnson, a single mum living with booze-addled mother, wins a bursary and three months stay at a writer's retreat in the Welsh countryside. Alas, the rules stipulate no children, and it's not like she can leave five-year-old Poppy behind with dipso woman. But Brenda needs this so bad; she'll just have to keep her little girl out of eyeshot. Not to worry; hardly have they moved in than Poppy has befriended a curly-top in a sailor suit who lives in a hidey-hole between chimney and wall. He's lived there since the first world war .... Meanwhile, Brenda fast attracts the unwelcome admiration of Irving Thomas, lecherous psycho grocer .... There's a reason why the writers' guild landed the property for a pittance. It's a house that can never see enough tragedy. Quite the nastiest, most affecting and brilliant Samantha Lee horror I've read. Garry Kilworth - Lirpaloof Island: Chairman Abe Hamner's typically cruel April Fool prank on a loyal employee has appalling repercussions. Poor Bill MacLeod is lost on a Pacific island whose natives still pursue the grisliest customs. A female colleague is sent to fetch him. Her intervention only makes matters worse.
John Llewellyn Probert - Hydrophobia: "We know that her father is gone, and that it was under tragic circumstances. We are also aware that once it transpired what had been going on it was felt to be a merciful release for all of you ..." Except it isn't. As 13-year-old Elle displays suicidal behaviour during swimming lessons, her little brother's bed-wetting takes on a supernatural aspect. Now Mum Tamara realises the vengeful ghost of their evil father has returned from pastures waterlogged to destroy the family. Laughs in short supply.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 13, 2022 5:08:53 GMT
Paul Finch - What Did You See?: Kay and Marsha plan a quiet first Christmas together in the quiet of a Cotswolds village. On learning their destination, a nosey old woman sharing the train journey warns against repeating her life's great mistake — visiting the Wilcote crypt of Norwood Lee parish church on this of all nights to test a local superstition. The legend has it that, should a girl scatter hempseed over her shoulder while reciting a certain verse, she will see the image of her future spouse ....
Thana Niveau - The Hate Whisperer: Marta is among a very few to divine that the group portraits of Volmer, a gifted local photographer, invariably feature someone who will go on to perform the most unspeakably sadistic murders. Marta, having ambitions in that direction — she doesn't like babies — wants in on the action.
Debbie Bennett - I Remember Everything: Helen, the daily home care, fatally underestimates the extent of her patient's insanity ...
Peter Sutton - We Do like To Be Beside: A bereaved kid and remaining family take a seaside break. Shame that poor family from down the road are here to spoil it.
Particularly liked Mr. Finch's trad-as-they-come seasonal horror and Lady Thana's supremely cheerless contribution. Well done the editors for running the latter directly after Lirpaloof Island.
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iant
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 59
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Post by iant on Jul 13, 2022 17:49:50 GMT
This sounds great, and some familiar names...
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Post by dem bones on Jul 14, 2022 18:44:36 GMT
Eygló Karlsdóttir - Footprints in the Snow: A weather determined zombie apocalypse, the dead obliged to return during months of snowfall. Story focuses on the dilemma of Elsa and Bryan, whose 14-year-old daughter was killed in a car accident three years ago. They know they'd give anything to have Diane back among them .... until she is.
Tim Jeffreys - Black Nore: "It's a strange thing, memory. Sometimes memory gets all mixed up with fantasies. We remember things the way we choose to, or the way we prefer to, not the way they actually were."
Hunter Kersey, 36, returns to Portishead to visit a mother forever carping at his denying her a grand-child. Reece - her firstborn - dead these twenty years, would not have been so selfish. Hunter despises comparison to his sainted elder brother, whom he recalls as a sadistic bully and worse .... It was Reece's rape of Hunter's first-love, Leah Appleton, whose family operated the lighthouse, was the death of him. Hunter, armed with a rock, ambushed the bastard as he strolled laughing on the footpath, washed as the river swept away the corpse.
Taunting Hunter over his teenage crush, Mother goes behind his back to invite recently separated Leah around for tea. All those terrible wrong memories crowd in on him.
Gail-Nina Anderson - Henrietta Street: Three academics on an out-of-season Whitby field trip/ pub crawl rent a recently renovated 400-year-old cottage for the duration. Dracula Country does not agree with David, the team's resident 'eccentric.' The double-bedded room he insists upon is certainly luxurious, but he can't sleep for the persistent scratching and scraping behind the brickwork, as though something were walled-up alive.
Sharon Gosling - Every Bad Thing: A wife-beating, drunken bully picks the wrong Carlisle restaurant to throw a tantrum. Willa the waitress of the remarkable history (I'll not spoil it) has met with scores of his like down the centuries. There's not one of them has lived long enough to regret the encounter. Another strong contender for personal favourite of book. In truth, there have only been a handful I didn't care for over the two volumes read.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 17, 2022 15:01:37 GMT
Finally ....
Sarah Ash - I Left My Fair Homeland: Forced into exile with the outbreak of the second world war, an ailing Béla Bartók struggles to keep he and devoted wife Ditta afloat in Manhattan. He's denied permission to perform publicly due to his homeland's alliance with Nazi Germany. Worse - his gift has deserted him. The ghost of Lidi Dósa, the sweet-voiced girl who sang for him forty years ago, offers a stark choice between restored health or an end to writer's block. She needn't ask twice.
Mike Chinn - Digging in the Dirt: After a lapse of sixty years, Damian Paladin, occult adventurer, and very long-term partner Leigh Oswin return to Manhattan, where they team up with fellow immortals (including Count St. Germain) to liberate Paladin's stash of Russian treasure from the enormous, over-zealous meat demon he left to guard it. If, like me, this is your first exposure to the Paladin-verse or whatever they call these things, you may find the story tough going.
John Howard - The Primordial Light: A disillusioned lecturer takes a holiday cottage at Stranby, a Lincoln coastal village, on the understanding he'll not be troubled overmuch by human contact. His mistake is to get talking to the one guy he sees about the place, Lacon the handyman, who obsessively examines shards of sea glass on the beach. Lacon's crackpot theories concerning the cosmic potential of same are enough to make a man terrified of bright daylight.
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