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Post by dem bones on Mar 8, 2008 16:09:57 GMT
Karl E. Wagner (ed.) - The Year’s Best Horror Stories #12 (DAW, 1984) Segrelles Karl E. Wagner - Introduction: Of Fads And Frights
Stephen King - Uncle Otto's Truck David Langford - 3.47 a.m. Jon Wynne-Tyson - Mistral David Drake - Out Of Africa Roger Johnson - The Wall-Painting Vincent McHardy - Keepsake Lawrence C. Connolly - Echoes Malcolm Edwards - After-Images Juleen Brantingham - The Ventriloquist Doll Frances Garfield - Come To The Party Dennis Etchison - The Chair Jane Yolen - Names Billy Wolfenbarger - The Attic Ramsey Campbell - Just Waiting David J. Schow - One For The Horrors Tanith Lee - Elle Est Trois (La Mort) Susan Casper - Spring-Fingered Jack Scott Bradfield - The Flash! Kid Al Sarrantonio - The Man With Legs
includes; Susan Casper - Spring-Fingered Jack: By far his favourite video game in the amusement arcade is an abomination based on the Jack the Ripper murders (excellent graphics) but, in his excitement, he has yet to successfully locate Mary Kelly, far less slice her to ribbons. So he decides to get in some training .... Ramsey Campbell - Just Waiting:Ian returns to the woods where, in his youth, he first encountered the wishing well on the fatal day when his overbearing father (another teacher) and downtrodden mother had their last argument before the car accident in which two bodies, too burnt to be identified, were found close by. Now he wants to find out once and for all exactly what he wished for at the time. David Langford - 3.47am: Dekker's week old digital alarm clock keeps waking him at 3.47am, no matter what time he sets the alarm for. He's been having nightmares, too. Nightmares in which insects burst from his skin, his teeth shatter and his eyeballs explode. Deciding to face his fears head on, he lies awake, waiting to see what will happen, as the seconds tick closer to the 3.47 mark ...
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Post by Calenture on Mar 8, 2008 18:54:15 GMT
You'll probably remember SF fan David Langford's story Cold Spell from Fontana Horror 13, a few years before. Another name here from Brit SF fandom is Malcolm Edwards. He was editor of Vector ("the official organ of the BSFA") from 1972 to 1974. This Wikipedia page adds that... "As editor, Malcolm Edwards has worked with J.G. Ballard (he edited Empire of the Sun), Tom Clancy, Philip K. Dick, Stephen King, William Gibson, Robert Ludlum, James Patterson, Terry Pratchett and many others." Vincent Segrelles is a remarkable Spanish cover artist. I first found some of his work in a book called Great Masters of Fantasy Art. I'm not so keen on the computer art he's placing on his own homepage now, but this site shows the dreamier fantasy images that I think of as his style: Net-Cafe - Vincent Segrelles
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Post by dem bones on Mar 8, 2008 20:10:36 GMT
That cover is certainly one from the series that particularly grabbed me - Michael Whelan's lynched dolly for #11 is another beauty. The books - particularly those edited by Wagner - are a blueprint for The Mammoth Book Of Best New Horror, always interesting but some of more (personal) appeal than others. Wagner really should have included his own stories but at least his thoughtful introductions are worthy of the name. He was a champion of the small presses too, and several Ghosts & Scholars regulars made it into his collections (the inexplicably under-rated Roger Johnson in #12). I've more of these to add, although beyond the cover and contents, they'll be little more than stubs to begin with, so if anyone wants to pad them out ....
The David Langford story first appeared in Ramsey Campbell's superb collection for young adults, the appropriately named The Gruesome Book. Susan Casper's amusement arcade Ripper 4-pager was her first professional sale. She went on to co-edit the Jack The Ripper anthology with Gardner Dozios (Futura, 1988) and, unsurprisingly, revived Spring-Fingered Jack for the occasion.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 17, 2011 9:13:26 GMT
That IS a lovely cover, isn't it? Now then...
Stephen King - Uncle Otto's Truck. Uncle Otto's big red truck sits in a field where it crashed one day while being drunkenly driven by him. Back then it belonged to his business partner George McCutcheon but George got crushed beneath it one day and now Otto is convinced the truck is getting nearer and nearer to where he lives. Could guilt be involved? As ever with King I'm finding it's always a pleasure to rediscover stories I read 30 odd years ago and this is no exception. Excellent start to the volume.
David Langford - 3.47 a.m. Brian Dekker keeps waking up in the middle of his worst nightmares. Could it be his new clock that was made in a Malayan sweatshop or is he just going mad? You'll have to figure it out for yourself.
Jon Wynne-Tyson - Mistral. Some people prefer their horror stories set on council housing estates. Me, I rather like ones like this set on the French Riviera featuring a beautiful girl dressed in gold, including a little gold leash around her wrist that the man she's with keeps hold of unless she asks very nicely for permission to be released. Does it all end badly? With a car crash? And a torn off face? And torn off other things? Oh yes. Posh horror that turns nasty. Lovely lovely lovely.
David Drake - Out Of Africa. This one's a rather sweet tale of a Big White Hunter telling his son about the strange creature he encountered in Africa that led to him putting down his rifle for good.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 17, 2011 21:33:20 GMT
Jon Wynne-Tyson - Mistral. Some people prefer their horror stories set on council housing estates. Me, I rather like ones like this set on the French Riviera featuring a beautiful girl dressed in gold, including a little gold leash around her wrist that the man she's with keeps hold of unless she asks very nicely for permission to be released. Does it all end badly? With a car crash? And a torn off face? And torn off other things? Oh yes. Posh horror that turns nasty. Lovely lovely lovely. This sounds SO my thing, and yet when I tried it some years back, it passed over me without making any impression. There's just a sad little pencil tick against it which denotes either 'no great shakes', 'didn't understand a word' or simply 'have read it.' That's me sorted for something to revisit later tonight then.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 21, 2011 12:04:36 GMT
Roger Johnson - The Wall-Painting. Here's a good solidly scary Jamesian piece. The little church of St Lawrence is whitewashed throughout but when it starts to flake off the sinister picture of St Tosti and his nasty familiar is revealed beneath. A very decent treatment indeed of one of my favourite subjects.
Vincent McHardy - Keepsake. Liitle Will's Biffle the clown protects him from evil forces, so when his teacher confiscates it he has to get him back. And teach the boy who's been making his life hell a lesson. Which involves eyeballs and a teaspoon
Lawrence C. Connolly - Echoes. Tiny story, big effect. The aftermath of a traffic accident has had different effects on parents Roger & Marie.
Malcolm Edwards - After-Images. A decent slice of Brit SF with a hint of JG Ballard about it. A multiple nuclear strike on London has produced a time warp where a tiny part of the city exists with the explosions happening on all sides but only encroaching on the area very slowly. Those left within the middle class suburb await their death as the zones of destruction gradually meet.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 21, 2011 12:17:36 GMT
Juleen Brantingham - The Ventriloquist Doll. An elderly dying woman returns to the house where she grew up to destroy it and the ventriloquist doll her father made in her image and had a successful stage act with.
Frances Garfield - Come To The Party. Four partygoers get more than they bargained for when they end up at the wrong country house for high jinks. Especially when it turns out the house burned down years ago, putting an end to those nasty types who were into human sacrifice.
Dennis Etchison - The Chair. Lured to his old schoomate Sherman's home by the wife he still fancies, Jack Martin soon finds out why all the lights are off when Sherman reveals he's got a little keepsake from his days as a prison warder. This one looks as if it's about to go all Pan but of course it doesn't and ends up on a much more psycholgically disturbing note.
Jane Yolen - Names. This one was apparently written "in part because of the author's encounter with a diet obsessed woman whose mother had survived Dauchau and in part from emotional struggles with her teenage daughter". It didn't do much for me.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 22, 2011 20:09:01 GMT
T Jon Wynne-Tyson - Mistral. Some people prefer their horror stories set on council housing estates. Me, I rather like ones like this set on the French Riviera featuring a beautiful girl dressed in gold, including a little gold leash around her wrist that the man she's with keeps hold of unless she asks very nicely for permission to be released. Does it all end badly? With a car crash? And a torn off face? And torn off other things? Oh yes. Posh horror that turns nasty. Lovely lovely lovely. Had another go at your 'posh horror' story, Lord P., and sure enough, it went down far better second time around. I think it's fair to say Mr. Wynn-Tyson favours the scenic route, which is likely what lost me before, but once Angelina, the world's least convincing vegetarian, slips her chain things perk up considerably - thank for the tip! If you've not already met with it, David J,Schow's story might well be up your street. Some I made earlier. Frances Garfield - Come To The Party: Small-time publisher Steve throws a do to commemorate the launch of Nora's first novel. Unfortunately, Steve lives in the middle of nowhere and he's not all that clever at drawing maps. Forced off the road by a mad, bearded hippy in a van, Nora, husband Sam, and neighbours Jeff and Willie finally chance upon the place where a party is in full swing .... except, Steve isn't there and the revellers are a peculiar tribe of far-out flower people with a penchant for human sacrifice. Roger Johnson - The Wall Painting: Welford St. Paul, a small parish in Essex. The wall-painting is discovered during renovations to the church and antiquarian Howard Faragher is invited to examine it. Eventually he uncovers the entire mural, a medieval study depicting the controversial St. Tosti who, reputedly, trafficked with devils and inexplicably vanished mid-sermon in 1120. Something else: a shadowy form stood next to the fake Saint appears to be moving. Faragher is lured to his doom off scene and when next the narrator scrutinises the unhallowed masterpiece, he discovers to his horror that the spectral figure now bears the face of his missing friend.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 23, 2011 7:40:46 GMT
Glad to hear it, Mr D!
And now for a quick skip through the rest of these:
Billy Wolfenbarger - The Attic. Apparently a chapter from a novel in progress, this isn’t so much a story as some bloke reminiscing a bit about his life as he goes through some crap in an attic.
Ramsey Campbell - Just Waiting. Ian the famous writer returns to the forest where, years ago, he was granted the wish that set him on his current course. A scary wishing well and some tree horror makes this a decent little excerpt from the Campbell oeuvre. In fact it reminded me of something that might have been filmed for a 1970s children’s TV show.
David J. Schow - One For The Horrors. One for the film fans. Delightful story about a cinema that shows previously unseen versions of films, either uncut, restored or featuring material never seen before. There’s a big fire but a happy ghostly ending. Very sweet.
Tanith Lee - Elle Est Trois (La Mort). Death comes seeking three young sensitive arty farty types in the guise of three women from an old nursery rhyme. Very heavy on the gothic style, I really liked this and felt it wouldn’t be out of place in a Tartarus Press book.
Susan Casper - Spring-Fingered Jack. Jack the Ripper for the video game age. A tiny story but clever and very well done. I’d certainly read more of Ms Casper’s stuff if I came across it.
Scott Bradfield - The Flash! Kid. While destroying a termite mound, little Rudy discovers a strange black statue buried in the ground which causes him to become immensely fat and disrespectful of authority. Not even sure if this one qualifies as a horror story.
Al Sarrantonio - The Man With Legs. Little sister Nellie convinces her brother Willie that she’s seen their five-years-dead father living in a house on the outskirts of town. They take a bus to visit him and the man they meet limps strangely. Perhaps that’s not surprising though as their mother told them father had his legs cut off on the railways. Trying to find the toilet Willie creeps down to the cellar where he finds hundreds of severed legs adorning the walls. When he gets back to tell Nellie she says she knows and has false legs herself. “I can be anything in this room” Nellie says “a girl or a boy” as this story goes seriously mental and turns into either a nightmare of horrors or total bollocks depending on your tastes!
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Post by andydecker on Dec 23, 2011 9:03:37 GMT
Tanith Lee - Elle Est Trois (La Mort). I know this is totally subjective, but I never forgot this this title. I don´t speak French except a few words you naturally soak up, but this is somehow haunting and wouldn´t have the same impacht in other languages. I am lukewarm on Lee, in my youth I thought some of her fantasy nothing short of brillant, but later I thought her mostly pretentious. Nowadays I mostly like her gothic stuff and admire her for her tenacity - she publishes for what, 35 years? - while never becoming a bestseller. Al Sarrantonio - The Man With Legs. either a nightmare of horrors or total bollocks depending on your tastes! I avoid him. He is highly thought of by his peers, but I read some novels by him which were beyond awful.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 23, 2011 10:09:35 GMT
I avoid him. He is highly thought of by his peers, but I read some novels by him which were beyond awful. I have not read any of his recent work, but I remember Sarrantonio as a wonderful minimalist stylist. And one of his novels is about people turning into walking skeletons!
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Post by dem bones on Dec 23, 2011 11:00:33 GMT
Have any of you read Sarrantonio's short Pumpkin Head in Years Best Horror XI (and elsewhere)? it was the first of his i tried and still my favourite by a long chalk , reminiscent of Richard Matheson's Blood Son taken a nasty turn. Not been near his novels though.
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