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Post by nightreader on Oct 27, 2007 7:04:20 GMT
Since he's been mentioned a few times recently I thought this was a good time to transfer this post from the old board...
Sharper Knives by Christopher Fowler (Warner Books 1992)
Introduction: Touching Darkness 'On Edge' 'Norman Wisdom And The Angel Of Death' 'Dale And Wayne Go Shopping' 'Contact High' 'Last Call For Passenger Paul' The Legend Of Dracula Reconsidered As A Prime-Time TV Special' 'Cooking The Books' 'The Vintage Car Table-Mat Collection Of The Living Dead' 'Persia' 'Black Day At Bad Rock' 'Revelations Child' 'Can't Slow Down For Fear I'll Die' 'Outside The Wood' 'Chiang-Siu And The Blade Of Grass'
A recent aquisition this one, but looks very impressive. Nice to see some original illustrations accompanying the stories - artwork by John Bolton, Graham Humphreys, David Lloyd, Martin Butterworth, Lee Brimmicombe-Wood, Martin Smith and Richard Parker.
'On Edge' - the opening story is a cracker. Don't read this if you are remotely afraid of going to the dentist. My molars ached just reading it. Blackly funny at times but not for the fainthearted...or the squeamish.
'Norman Wisdom And The Angel Of Death' - the story of loner Stanley Morrison with an encyclopedic knowledge of 1950's British comedy and light entertainment - particularly Norman Wisdom and Charlie Drake. He's also a murderous and psychotic hospital visitor....
'Black Day At Bad Rock' - the story of the Black Brigade: former nerds turned art class nihilists in an early 1970's London school. Excellent period detail - remember it all too well! Not really a horror story (although the treatment of a reluctant classmate is unpleasant) but well written.
'Can't Slow Down For Fear I'll Die' - not sure if I actually get this one. A strange story about running, or is it more about ambition and the fear of failure...
'Dale & Wayne Go Shopping' - it's not like this at ASDA! Booby trapped eggs, old ladies burning in the aisles, a decapitated corpse in the cold counter, murder and mayhem all through the store...
Fowler's 'City Jitters' is also an excellent collection by the way.
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Post by nightreader on Mar 18, 2008 8:03:24 GMT
Walls of Fear - Ed. by Kathryn Cramer (Avon Books 1991) Cover art: James Warren ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’ – Jack Womack ‘Tales from a New England Telephone Directory’ – James Morrow ‘Firetrap’ – Greg Cox ‘The Art of Falling Down’ – Jonathan Carroll ‘The Cairnwell Horror’ – Chet Williamson ‘Erosion’ – Susan Palwick ‘Happy Hour’ – Ian Watson ‘The Haunted Boardinghouse’ – Gene Wolfe ‘Inside the Walled City’ – Garry Kilworth ‘Grandmother’s Footsteps’ – Gwyneth Jones ‘Madame Enchantia and the Maze of Dreams’ – Jessica Amanda Salmonson ‘Slippage’ – Edward Bryant ‘The House on Rue Chartres’ – Richard A. Lupoff ‘House Hunter’ – Sharon Baker ‘Penelope Comes Home’ – M.J. Engh ‘Cedar Lane’ – Karl Edward Wagner
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Post by nightreader on Mar 19, 2008 20:17:42 GMT
I think Winner was criticised for (literally) demonising disabled people, showing them as freakish monsters, but I think the critics missed the point, I'm sure if anyone had bothered to ask the diasbled actors themselves they'd have said they had a great time and thanks for the money... And I'm sure Mr. Winner didn't mind a bit of hoo hah - it got his film talked about after all. Although I did find the two lead characters quite annoying I enjoyed the story. If they're releasing it over here I might actually get to see the movie, I don't think it's ever been on TV has it? Hope it's not a horrible disappointment...
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Post by nightreader on Mar 19, 2008 12:32:20 GMT
The Sentinel - Jeffrey Konvitz (Star 1977) Successful model Alison Parker returns to New York after the death of her father. She returns also to her boyfriend Michael – a man with a past, who may or may not have murdered his wife when she found out about his affair with Allison. Allison rents an apartment in an old brownstone building on the upper West Side. She’s happy with it, the only curiosity being the old blind priest who sits at a window as if looking out into the world. Allison begins to meet some of the neighbours, eccentrics all – especially old Mr. Chazen and his cat Jezebel. Soon however things start to change, Allison hears footsteps in the apparently empty apartment above her own, and then she is frightened by the predatory lesbian couple who live down the hall. All the while Allison’s mental state is portrayed as ‘fragile’ and it is revealed she’d made a suicide attempt after finding her drunken and abusive father at home in bed with two women. Michael frequently refers to her being ‘frigid’ and tries to persuade her to confront her troubled past. Allison’s world is further rocked when she approaches the agent who rented her the apartment, the agent reveals there are no other tenants in the building beside her and the old blind priest – no one else has lived there for years. Is she going mad? Allison’s health begins to deteriorate, she has headaches and nausea, fainting spells that her doctor can’t explain. Michael is mostly unsympathetic, although he claims to love her, he puts her physical state down to psychosomatic illness and the things she’s seen as hallucinations. Also in the picture is a Detective Gatz, a policeman who believes Michael killed his wife to be with Allison, although all his attempts to prove it are thwarted he can’t let go. Gatz is an added pressure the couple could do without. Allison’s health becomes seriously bad and very slowly Michael grudgingly begins to believe something unnatural is going on. He uncovers a plot by the Catholic Church to replace old blind Father Halliran at the brownstone, with Allison who would become Sister Therese… Thankfully the climax of the book is effective, it’s had a big build up. The building is revealed to be the portal into the underworld, guarded over for centuries by God’s Sentinel on Earth. We get a glimpse of what is waiting to come through before all is resolved. Originally written in 1974 (and shows it’s age in places) parts of this book are quite irritating. Allison is frequently shown to be fragile, irrational, often hysterical, frigid and helpless. Michael is a similarly unsympathetic character, generally smug and brash and with quite a violent temper. Konvitz also appears to be fairly anti-gay, the scene where the lesbians get rough with Allison is unpleasant, Allison calls them “sick” and Chazen describes them as “evil”. And yet, in spite all of the above, I kind of enjoyed it. I always liked those 70's devil/antichrist/possession books & movies. Sadly I’ve not seen the Michael Winner film made in 1977 but I recall it got a lot of hype, cashing in on the successes of ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’. I remember seeing great stills of John Carradine as the blind priest, and reading that they’d (controversially) used physically disabled people at the climax of the film to portray the demons of the underworld. Now I really want to see the film....
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Post by nightreader on Feb 15, 2008 17:48:31 GMT
Hi Red The '2nd Mayflower Book of Black Magic Stories' is still available, and yours if you'd like it - just send me a PM with your address. The others have been adopted to good homes...
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Post by nightreader on Jan 30, 2008 11:10:21 GMT
Hi Caroline The Pans are yours - no charge They are doubles anyway and I'm making a bit of space for new arrivals - God knows when I'll ever get round to reading them though Send me your address and I'll get them off sometime this week. All the best Andy (Nightreader)
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Post by nightreader on Jan 30, 2008 9:14:33 GMT
'Dancing With The Dark' and 'Vampires at Midnight' have now gone...
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Post by nightreader on Jan 30, 2008 8:55:45 GMT
For some reason I've aquired a few doubles - if anyone is interested just send me a message and they're yours 'Dancing With The Dark' - Ed. Stephen Jones 'Vampires At Midnight' - Ed. Peter Haining 'The Flesh Eaters - True Stories of Cannibals & Blood Drinkers' - Ed. Peter Haining 'The 2nd Mayflower Book of Black Magic Stories' - Ed. Michel Parry Pan 4 Pan 5 Pan 6 Pan 7 'And Now The Screaming Starts' - David Case (a bit tatty but readable) As I say, all up for grabs - just let me know... Andy
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Post by nightreader on Mar 21, 2008 14:12:58 GMT
Thought I'd have a stab at this... kind of cheated as it turned out to really be a Top 12... [glow=red,2,300]My Top Ten Horror Stories[/glow] (In no order at all...) 1. 'A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts' and 'Waiting For Trains' by Charles Birkin - I've paired these together because they both had a similar impact on me when I read them, they are both stories that linger in the mind for a long time after reading, very disturbing. Only just read 'Coconuts' (in the last week or so) so it's still quite fresh... 2. 'Red Rubber Gloves' by Christine Brook-Rose. The last couple of paragraphs are the shockers. Can be found in John Burke's 'Tales of Unease'. 3. 'Caterpillars' by E.F. Benson. The first Benson story I ever read... 4. 'Eric The Pie' by Graham Masterton. One of my favourite writers. I believe this story got banned from 'Frighteners' magazine... 5. 'The Magic Show' by Chris Miller. Chosen not because I liked it but because it genuinely disturbed me, surely the sign of a powerful story. It pushes the limits. Can be found in 'More Devil's Kisses' - Michel Parry. 6. 'Quitters Inc.' and 'Sneakers' by Stephen King. Recently I've grown bored of the massive King novels he produces now, but these two stories are gems I think. Can be found in 'Night Shift' and 'Nightmares & Dreamscapes' respectively. 7. 'Piece Meal' by Oscar Cook. The first Cook story I ever read, but it was a toss up between this and 'His Beautiful Hands'. 'Piece Meal' is in Pan 2. 8. 'The Thing In The Cellar' by David H. Keller. A nasty story that just nudges 'A Piece of Linoleum' out of the way... 9. 'The Mandarin's Canaries' by Robert Bloch. I just like this one, don't know why. I found it in the 'Horror 7' collection of Bloch stories. 10. 'Slime' by Joseph Payne Brennan. I liked the 50's creature feature style of this one, found in Pan 4.
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Post by nightreader on Dec 28, 2007 9:57:54 GMT
Definitely a highlight was the Zardoz book fair, and meeting some of the guys from here (as Dem has mentioned above). Hope something like that happens again. Also enjoyed getting my hands on 'Paperback Fanatic' - it really is as good as everyone says (and after pay day I'll be after the next one ) Also enjoyed a couple of issues of 'Cemetary Dance' magazine, which don't seem to be that easy to get in the UK. And the first 'Black Book of Horror' - I know everyone has said that but this works so well, the content, a great cover (which some modern anthologies should really take note of!), it just feels like quality. Also enjoyed the movie of '30 Days of Night', I thought it translated the graphic novel really well, even made me jump a couple of times Older stuff - liked the Gerald Suster book 'The Block' (and now have 'The Scar' waiting to be read), and Glen Chandler's 'The Tribe' (nasty but fun).
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Post by nightreader on Oct 24, 2007 7:58:04 GMT
The Cone by H.G. Wells (Fontana 1965)
The Cone Jimmy Goggles the God The Beautiful Suit Under the Knife The Lord of the Dynamos Through a Window The Star A Dream of Armageddon The Treasure in the Forest The Apple Aepyornis Island Skelmersdale in Fairyland
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Post by nightreader on Dec 30, 2007 15:57:47 GMT
Gristle - Stephen Roy Two hunters. One a low life child snatcher who auctions off his young victims over the Internet to the highest bidder. The other with the outward appearance of a lonely eleven year old boy. Eddie gets more than he bargained for when he tries to abduct young Petey, the outcast boy with a stutter...
The Door - Suzanne Elvidge A good old fashioned ghost story. A young man is haunted by a drowning that happened years ago - he still hears the wet footsteps of the dead girl as her sprirt relentlessly persues him...
Trick or Treat? - Claire Kirwen Sally and Ben get home in a bit of a state after trick or treating, but they hide it well from their Mum. Sally dreamily recalls to herself the dark man she met in the street. In the shower she feels the two small round wounds in her neck...
Guts - Gavin Inglis Gross out body horror as Sylvester panics when he sees worms in his faeces. He obsesses and looks on the Internet for information, only frightening himself more. He takes drastic action to get rid of the worms in his guts. Not for the squeamish.
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Post by nightreader on Dec 29, 2007 15:45:39 GMT
I totally understand they want these to look like a series but these have got to be some of the dreariest covers. Isn't there a bad covers thread somewhere on here? It's a shame because the stories so far are good and deserve better. Back to the stories:
Fat Hansel - David Turnbull Ever wondered what happened to Hansel and Gretel after they escaped the evil witch? Well no, me neither. This is their story as adults. Hansel, a mega grossly fat attention seeker, calls on his sister Gretel when his wife and child leave him. Talk about post traumatic stress, these two have it in spades. As the brother and sister gradually recall their shared ordeal they begin to remember some things that they'd previously blocked out, some details the original story omitted. Like how the children began to wonder why the witch wanted to eat Hansel, what was so great about human flesh? And what happened after they pushed the witch into the oven? And Hansel did say his wife and son had left him, right? This starts as quite an amusing idea but soon twists and becomes much darker and disturbing. David Turnbull also appeared in Vol.1 with 'The Woman Who Coughed Up Flies'.
Like Snow - Brian Richmond In young Danny's town you can see the dead. They appear very gradually and remain spectral, ghostly. Initially Danny, like the rest of the town, are afraid of these silent dead but over time they become accepted. Danny even talks to the apparition in his bedroom, confiding his fears. Danny's parents marriage is falling apart, at the same time as the ghostly figures are starting to fade slowly away...
Fingers - James Killen Poor Keith wakes one morning to find one of his fingers has disappeared - not cut off, just not there, as if it never had been. In a panic he calls his sister Petra who tries to help. Doctors don't believe them, fingers don't just disappear. Then in his sleep Keith loses another digit. It gets worse. Where his fingers had been new ones have grown, longer than normal, gnarled and with a black nail at the end. Keith feels they are somehow hungry. At his insistence Petra cuts the new fingers off and burns them. Of course they grow back, and it gets worse... Enjoyable and disturbing body horror.
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Post by nightreader on Dec 28, 2007 9:35:52 GMT
Read by Dawn - Volume 2 Edited by Adele Hartley (Bloody Books 2007)
'Sharp Things' - Joshua Reynolds 'Between The Screams' - Brian G. Ross 'Pebble Toss and Dare' - Bradley Michael Zerbe 'Baby Steps' - Scott Stainton Miller 'The Skin And Bone Music Box' - Andy P. Jones 'Hostage Situation' - Joe L. Murr 'Rite of Passage' - Ken Goldman 'Fat Hansel' - David Turnbull 'Childhood' - Morag Edward 'Like Snow' - Brian Richmond 'Adultery' - F.R. Jameson 'Gristle' - Stephen Roy 'And Then...' - Kim Sabinan 'A Candle for the Birthday Boy' - Christopher Hawkins 'The Door' - Suzanne Elvidge 'Sally' - Patricia Russo 'Fingers' - James Killen 'Trick or Treat?' - Claire Kirwen 'Feeder' - A.C. Wise 'Urbane' - Frazer Lee 'Harvest' - David Dunwoody 'The Proposal' - Charles Colyott 'Guts' - Gavin Inglis 'The Night Animals' - Scott Stainton Miller 'A Storm of Ice' - Joel A. Sutherland 'Falling Stars' - Samuel Minier
I've only just got my hands on this but already it seems better than Vol 1, content wise anyway - the cover is still awful. They appear to have dropped the poems which I don't see as a great loss (sorry to poem writers, just not my thing).
Sharp Things - Joshua Reynolds The collection kicks off at a cracking pace with this gorefest. Set on a New York subway train, hitman Louis Roche reluctantly becomes involved in violence when a vagrant insists on telling his bizarre story. He used to be a sword swallower, but then got addicted to all manner of sharp things... Bloody entertaining.
Baby Steps - Scott Stainton Miller It's Henry's seventeenth birthday. A local girl goes missing and her distraught father puts pictures of her all over the place. Henry finds a girl's dead body in the park, but it's not the missing girl. Henry's parents are a particularly unpleasant pair and there's an awful stink in the kitchen... Talk about disfunctional.
The Skin And Bone Music Box - Andy P. Jones Great title. In a Mediterranean village the peasants are starving and penniless, brutally ruled by Marco's father. Marco himself is a spoilt fat brat of seven years old. He wants a new toy from the market, and finds what he wants - a beautiful glass apple and girl singing: "A waif with an angel in her throat". A fable-like story, quietly disturbing...
And Then... - Kim Sabinan There's only one line to this story - or does that make it a poem? Whatever - the line is clever, ambiguous enough to get the imagination working. I found this very memorable...
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Post by nightreader on Dec 27, 2007 8:47:47 GMT
Read by Dawn - Volume 1 Hosted by Ramsey Campbell (Bloody Books April 2006) 'Bloody Books' is curated by Adele Hartley (Director of Scotland's International Horror Film Festival 'Dead By Dawn'). Website is here: www.bloodybooks.comIntroduction - Ramsey Campbell The Colour In The Jar - David McGillveray Last Day On The Job - Jeff Jacobson Bloodwalker - Michelle Lee The Face in the Glass - Brian G Ross The Seventh Green at Lost Lakes - Scott Brendel Zombie Fishing Trip - Brian Rosenberger The Bridge Chamber - Rayne Hall Lessons - Katherine A Patterson Popee - Justin Madison Before You Say Anything - Amanda Lawrence Auvergine The Bride Wore Black - Brian Rosenberger The Sutherland King - David Hitchison Payday - Bryce Stevens The Little Girl Who Lives in the Woods - Ralph Robert Moore The Kyleska Trow - Stefan Pearson The Bloom Of Decay - Patricia MacCormack Final Girl - Joe L Murr Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1943) - Lavie Tidhar Evangeline - Andrew J Wilson For a Steal - Stephanie Bedwell-Grime Frankie - Matt Wedge Stuck - Samuel Minier House Broken - James Reilly The Woman Who Coughs Up Flies - David Turnbull Special Offer - John Llewellyn Probert Body Hunt - Chet Gottfried The Place of Revelation - Ramsey Campbell What Betty Saw - Joel Jacobs Endpiece - Ramsey Campbell The Colour In The Jar - David McGillverayOn a violent and grungy housing estate the Smiling Man arrives. He is Satan's debt collector and he wants what Old Jeb has got, but Old Jeb is already dead and his flat is being robbed by the unluckiest pair of low life youths ever. Bloodwalker - Michelle LeeIn this one telepaths, lycanthropes and witches are now an accepted minority in society. The Midgaurd Police Department employ psychics and werewolves. Raven Hall is the Bloodwalker of the title, she gets psychic 'flashbacks' when she tastes the blood of victims of crime. She is also a Forensic scientist working for the Midgaurd PD, with her assistant Daniel who is a lycanthrope and can track scents while in his wolf form. They are on the case of a missing child... This is my least favourite so far. It comes across like pilot for a TV cop show, also a bit X-Men like at times. You could call it CSI - Supernatural. The Face In The Glass - Brian G. RossA very short but very effective story - a domestic scene of a young mother cleaning the oven, till the glass door shines. Then a brief glimpse of the future but not enough to warn her of what is to come. Chlling ending. The Seventh Green At Lost Lakes - Scott BrendelExcellent story and the strongest in the collection so far, in my opinion. In it Arthur C Levant and his associate Paul (or strongarm heavy if you like) go to the Lost Lakes Golf Club, an exclusive club for the wealthy and powerful. Mr Levant plays a game with the club owner Eldritch Gore, a creepy man with secrets. The dialogue between the two men is entertainingly icy with threatening undertones. Lost Lakes itself is beautiful yet sinister, as Paul notices as he caddies for Mr Levant... Great story, anyone know of other things this guy has done? Popee - Justin MadisonPopee is Grandpa Hooper who, after a good long life with his loving family, drops dead at the dinner table with his face in a bowl of tomato soup. The gathered family members take some time to discuss this unusual event, one even sticks a fork in the old man to see if he's really dead. But after 5 minutes Popee suddenly sits up. He's still hungry - but not for soup... A bizarrely comic story about the living dead, and false teeth... The Sutherland King - David HitchisonThe Sutherland King is a baking competition which has been won by Flora for many years, she is proud her name appears so often on the trophy. Her friend, neighbour and competitor Kennac aches to know the secret ingredient in Flora's shortbread. Then one day Flora leaves the curtains open in the kitchen while she bakes, and over the road Kennac reaches for her dead husband's binoculars...
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