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Post by jonathan122 on Apr 14, 2009 23:20:42 GMT
Technical inability restrains me from posting the cover to the 1967 Arrow edition - suffice it to say that somebody had decided that plastic fangs were too expensive, and thus the Count's teeth appear to have been made out of, umm..., rice-paper...
They do, however, portray Dracula with a moustache, which seems to be pretty rare.
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Post by jonathan122 on Apr 14, 2009 23:09:48 GMT
I'm currently reading Robert Aickman's The Late Breakfasters - someone's had to drop out of the Ball because he has a stomache-ache... it's possible this could be the lead-in to a bloodbath of epic proportions, but somehow i'm not too hopeful. On a more serious note, does Hutson still sell well? He seems to be missing from my local Waterstones (unless he's been moved into the new "Paranormal Romance" section ) whilst the likes of Arthur Machen, Thomas Ligotti, and yes, even Ramsey Campbell are still there.
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Post by jonathan122 on Apr 9, 2009 21:47:34 GMT
Best Horror Stories 2 - ed. John Keir Cross (Faber and Faber)
Introduction The Professor's Teddy-Bear - Theodore Sturgeon The Last Chukka - Alec Waugh The Boarded Window - Ambrose Bierce The Flowers of the Forest - Brian W. Aldiss The Thing on the Doorstep - H. P. Lovecraft How to Make a Foon - Spike Milligan Brown God in the Beginning - Angus Stewart Akin to Love - Christianna Brand The Glass Eye - John Keir Cross The Treasure of Abbot Thomas - M. R. James Evening Primrose - John Collier The House of Desolation - Alan Griff Making Sure of a Little One - Derek Ingrey The Derelict - William Hope Hodgson Thurnley Abbey - Perceval Landon
From the introduction by John Keir Cross:
A very young friend of mine told me a joke he had heard at school - about a small blind girl who was being tucked into bed one evening in early spring. Her mother said: "Darling, I have a lovely surprise. Tomorrow, you're going to be able to see. When I come in and pull aside your curtains, you're going to see, at last, the golden sunshine streaming in, as I've tried so often to describe it to you!"
In the morning, the child lay waiting for the sound of the curtains; and when it came there was a moment's pause, then: "But, Mummy, I can't see - not anything at all."
The mother turned at the window. "Yah!" she laughed. "Yah! - April Fool."
Rather enjoyed that myself.
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Post by jonathan122 on Apr 9, 2009 21:18:07 GMT
Tales of Witchcraft - ed. Richard Dalby (Michael O'Mara Books Ltd., 1991) Foreword The Peace of Mowsle Barton - Saki The Fenstanton Witch - M. R. James Unburied Bane - N. Dennett The Toad Witch - Jessica Amanda Salmonson Carven of Onyx - Ron Weighell Furze Hollow - A. M. Burrage Miss Cornelius - W. F. Harvey One Remained Behind - Marjorie Bowen Catnip - Robert Bloch The Yew Tree - Shamus Frazer Gramma - Stephen King The Hollow of the Three Hills - Nathaniel Hawthorne The Taking - Roger Johnson The Day of the Underdog - Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes The Executor - David G. Rowlands Gavon's Eve - E. F. Benson The Witch's Cat - Manly Wade Wellman
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Post by jonathan122 on Apr 8, 2009 23:32:24 GMT
Odd that there's nothing from The Clock Strikes 12 in there - I'd have thought "Lucky's Grove" and "The First Sheaf" would be strong contenders for any Wakefield best-of. Copyright issues perhaps?
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Post by jonathan122 on Apr 6, 2009 17:27:18 GMT
The Late Breakfasters - Robert Aickman (Gollancz 1964)
"I dedicate this book to Herbert van Thal, Magician."
The only novel published by Aickman during his lifetime (The Model was published posthumously, and apparently there's an unpublished novel in manuscript), you'd probably need a fairly liberal interpretation of the word to classify this as a horror novel, although it does have at least one ghost amongst the supporting characters, and there are enough unexplained disappearances and ambiguous conversations to mark this out as his work. The closest point of comparison is probably Evelyn Waugh's 1930s novels, though with substantially fewer jokes about black people being cannibals, which is definitely progress of a kind.
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Post by jonathan122 on Apr 6, 2009 16:51:53 GMT
Snowfall and other chilling events - Elizabeth Walter (Harvill Press 1965; Fontana 1968)
Snowfall The New House The Tibetan Box The Island of Regrets The Drum
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Post by jonathan122 on Apr 5, 2009 22:08:18 GMT
I think I'd probably go for "Bosworth Summit Pound" as my favourite as well, although I just recently re-read "Music Hath Charms" (probably the most "Jamesian" of his stories - it even has a mezzotint in it!) and "Agony of Flame" (about an elemental inhabiting a ruined castle on an Irish island) and remembered how much I enjoyed them. The only story that I thought actually fell flat was "Cwm Garon", which takes far too long to get going, and then stops just as its getting interesting, but other than that it's pretty high-quality all the way.
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Post by jonathan122 on Apr 5, 2009 19:48:13 GMT
Twelve Tales of the Supernatural - ed. Michael Cox (OUP 1997)
Introduction Wicked Captain Walshawe, of Wauling - J. S. Le Fanu A Terrible Vengeance - Mrs. J. H. Riddell Number 13 - M. R. James Railhead - Perceval Landon The Toll-House - W. W. Jacobs The Face - E. F. Benson The Tool - W. F. Harvey "Look Up There" - H. Russell Wakefield The Last Bouquet - Marjorie Bowen In Due Course - Sir Andrew Caldecott A Christmas Game - A. N. L. Munby Florinda - Shamus Frazer
Very sad to hear about the death of Michael Cox last week. I haven't read either of his novels, but he published some fine anthologies, including this and its companion volume, Twelve Victorian Ghost Stories. (Richard Dalby also published Twelve Gothic Stories, in the same series.)
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Post by jonathan122 on Apr 3, 2009 23:02:19 GMT
I think that (in the UK) "Marriage" was published first in Tales of Love and Death (1977), although I would imagine this was the first time it was published in the US.
I think I agree with Chris on "Houses of the Russians" - there's nothing particularly wrong with it, but I think when Aickman takes on a conventional ghost story he never quite manages to better some of the Victorian and Edwardian writers that he's emulating. I had a similar feeling with "The Waiting Room" and "The Unsettled Dust".
For the record, I really like "Growing Boys", although admittedly it's a bit out of character. I'd have said, if there is one Aickman story you should avoid, it's definitely "Rosamund's Bower".
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Post by jonathan122 on Apr 3, 2009 22:51:22 GMT
I only own the 2006 edition, and to be honest I was a bit disappointed with it, especially after seeing the contents of the original 1987 edition. Presumably somebody (I'm giving Mr. Dalby the benefit of the doubt and assuming it was the publishers) decided to ditch the most interesting stories and aim for a much more traditional market.
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Post by jonathan122 on Apr 1, 2009 16:39:57 GMT
Although I'm personally not a huge fan, a collected WH Hodgson might be quite popular (relatively speaking, I mean ) - he's out of copyright, although some of his stories were published posthumously, and I'm not sure if the copyright laws are different for works not published in the author's lifetime. Some others: Richard Middleton (out of copyright) Eleanor Scott (still in copyright) RH Malden (still in copyright) Frederick Cowles (still in copyright, but only 10 years to go ) Definite support for LA Lewis, too.
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Post by jonathan122 on Mar 28, 2009 14:56:57 GMT
Shadows of Fear: Foundations of Fear Volume 1 - ed. David G. Hartwell (1994 Tor; Foundations... published 1992)
Introduction Don't Look Now - Daphne Du Maurier They - Robert A. Heinlein At the Mountains of Madness - H. P. Lovecraft The Little Room - Madeline Yale Wynne The Shadowy Street - Jean Ray Passengers - Robert Silverberg The Moonstone Mass - Harriet Prescott Spofford Blue Rose - Peter Straub The Great God Pan - Arthur Machen
The first of three paperback volumes comprising Hartwell's hardcover Foundations of Fear, a follow-up to his own The Dark Descent.
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Post by jonathan122 on Mar 24, 2009 15:19:40 GMT
The Supernatural Omnibus - ed. Montague Summers (Gollancz 1931) Steve Crisp (Penguin, 1986) Introduction 1: Hauntings and Horror1 Malefic Hauntings : Mixed TypesNarrative of the Ghost of a Hand - J. Sheridan Le Fanu An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street - J. Sheridan Le Fanu Man-Size in Marble - E. Nesbit The Judge's House - Bram Stoker Thurnley Abbey - Perceval Landon 2 Haunting and DiseaseThe Story of the Spaniards, Hammersmith - E. and H. Heron 3 Malevolent MysteryThe Phantom Coach - Amelia B. Edwards Brickett Bottom - Amyas Northcote 4 From Beyond the GraveThe Cold Embrace - M. E. Braddon How the Third Floor Knew the Potteries - Amelia B. Edwards Not to be Taken at Bed-Time - Rosa Mulholland To be Taken with a Grain of Salt - Charles Dickens The Signalman - Charles Dickens The Compensation House - Charles Collins The Engineer - Amelia B. Edwards 5 The Undead DeadWhen I Was Dead - Vincent O'Sullivan The Story of Yand Manor House - E. and H. Heron 6 The Dead Return a In RetributionThe Business of Madame Jahn - Vincent O'Sullivan b In Love or PassionAmour Dure - Vernon Lee Oke of Okehurst - Vernon Lee Eveline's Visitant - M. E. Braddon c A Vow FulfilledJohn Charrington's Wedding - E. Nesbit 7 A Soul from PurgatoryDe Profundis - Roger Pater 8 Shadowed DestinyThe Dream Woman - Wilkie Collins 2: Diabolism, Witchcraft, and Evil Lore1 Black MagicSingular Passage in the Life of the Late Henry Harris, Doctor in Divinity - Richard Barham The Spirit of Stonehenge - Jasper John The Seeker of Souls - Jasper John 2 SatanismThe Astrologer's Legacy - Roger Pater 3 WitchcraftMy Brother's Ghost Story - Amelia B. Edwards 4 Contracts with the DemonSir Dominick's Bargain - J. Sheridan Le Fanu The Bargain of Rupert Orange - Vincent O'Sullivan 5 The VampireCarmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu 6 The WerewolfThe White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains - Frederick Marryat 7 PossessionA Porta Inferi - Roger Pater 8 ObsessionJerry Jarvis's Wig - Richard Barham The Watcher o' the Dead - John Guinan 9 VoodooThe Story of Konnor Old House - E. and H. Heron Toussel's Pale Bride - W. B. Seabrook
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Post by jonathan122 on Mar 23, 2009 1:49:02 GMT
It is that Barry Humphries - presumably he was the only famous Aickman fan around at the time, what with the members of the League of Gentlemen still being in school. From his foreword: "The highest state that man can achieve is that of astonishment; and when a primary phenomenon astonishes him, he should be satisfied." Goethe's aphorism is quoted by the author of this volume in one of his earliest collections of strange stories.
I did not come upon Mr. Aickman's genius until some time in the mid-seventies, and immediately sought to read everything he had ever published, including two volumes on Britain's Inland Waterways. He is however, at his best as a writer of ghost stories, a genre in which he must surely be the greatest modern practitioner.
The best exponents of preternatural fiction, writing as most of them did, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pursued a subtle art more closely related to poetry than to sensational yarn-spinning. Their power to alarm and inspire disquiet in the reader was always the stronger for their skill and subtlety in describing landscape and architecture. The more tangibly evoked the genius loci the more plausible the spook...
...Robert Aickman's phantoms inhabit a rich variety of settings. In former collections he has described such heterogeneous milieux as a Bavarian lake, a palazzo in Ravenna, an island in Finland, a Midlands Hotel, a Swedish sanatorium for insomniacs and the Brussels mansion of a deceased symbolist painter. To all his uncanny tales he brings his peculiar erudition; his elegant elliptical style. Some of his most disturbing stories are not without flashes of humour and a sly, morbid eroticism. Above all, he can evoke in a few lines of concentrated prose, the tenebrous and oppressive atmosphere of a very bad and inescapable dream. A dream which may start, as such dreams do, beguilingly; until the dreamer (and reader) feels the first presentiment of encroaching nightmare - and cannot wake.
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