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Post by Steve on Dec 5, 2007 17:58:42 GMT
I'm particularly interested in collecting his other work in the field: I have the Jan Parker assisted Witchcraft and Black Magic (Hamlyn, 1971), but any info on the following would be greatly appreciated. The Warlock's Book: Secrets of Black Magic from the Ancient Grimoires (W. H. Allen, 1972). Did I read somewhere this was about one of his "ancestors"? I haven't got a copy myself, so this is strictly off the record (you didn't hear it from me, and all that...) The Warlock's Book is based around the idea that, in the mid-1600s, someone by the name of Haining was executed on suspicion of witchcraft and, in particular, for being in possession of some grimoire or other (which apparently never actually came to light). What Haining does then, is to put together his own sort of piecemeal book of magical spells and incantations drawing on a variety of sources old and new (Eliphas Levi, Gerald Gardner, et al). To these he adds the usual descriptions of sabbats, rituals and black masses - all spiced up with a generous amount of sex and drugs - and finally links it all up with "Modern Black Magic". I can't remember ever seeing an entirely positive review of this book. Granted what reviews I've seen have tended to be from people involved to a greater or lesser extent with 'The Craft', so they mostly complain about Haining's accuracy and the reliability of his sources and attributions and... well, all the things that people generally criticise Haining for. In short, the word in the coven is that, while there is some useful stuff contained therein, it's all a bit Gregory Pendennis and not exactly your Ars Goetia - or at least it's more Ars than Goetia... For those of us who aren't practising warlocks, I suppose the real question about this one is; OK, but is it fun? (and could you tell me a bit more about all this sex and drugs business...) All I can tell you is that, of the various reviewers who've eagerly sought this mysterious (and now quite pricey) volume, most of them have declared themselves to be a bit disappointed. Maybe they were expecting too much, I don't know - it still sounds pretty good to me. (a brief and unhelpfully vague bibliographical note to end on - I'm fairly sure this was originally published a year before the date given here, in 1971, by the University of something or other press, somewhere in America. I'll look it up and get back to you...)
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Post by Steve on Nov 11, 2007 20:10:02 GMT
The book lists A Nest of Nightmares by Tuttle, also in Sphere. A collection, this is given 1986 and 1987 publication dates at various sites. Cover by Nick Bantock A Nest of Nightmares, Lisa Tuttle, Sphere 1986 "13 terrifying tales of terror" Bug House Dollburger Community Property Flying to Byzantium Treading the Maze The Horse Lord The Other Mother Need The Memory of Wood A Friend in Need Stranger in the House Sun City The Nest Lisa Tuttle is an American-born but UK based author, married at one time to science fiction writer Christopher Priest. Many, if not all, of the stories in this collection have appeared in other anthologies at some point; "Treading the Maze" was in Stephen Jones' Mammoth Book of Zombies and "The Horse Lord" was in The Mammoth Book of Terror. "Sun City" was in Ramsey Campbell's New Terrors.
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Post by Steve on Nov 11, 2007 18:37:38 GMT
A few more to consider; Beyond The Threshold, Ronald Patrick, Sphere 1982 "There's money in death. And for a young, ambitious mortician like Robert Carlisle it's more than a way of life, it's a fortune. San Fransicso needed a fast efficent and dignified service like Carlisle's. It needed someone to deal with the grisly cargo of Vietnam body bags. But Carlisle didn't need a way out sicko like Steve Anderson, the dandy of the icebox, on his staff. Nor did he need refugee surfer Chris Granger, straight out of high school and into the death trade. They want more than a decent living, they want the living body of his wife. As the manic city heat swelters outside his chilly kingdom of death, Carlisle feels blind fear seep into his veins. He has lived like a vampire on the dead, now he will pay the price..." Bit of an odd one this by the look of it ("...the dandy of the icebox"?!?). Fiction written by an ex-funeral director - "exposes shocking horrors behind the death industry... not recommended for the squeamish or weak of stomach." The Astrologer John Cameron, Sphere 1981 "The Astrologer is a startlingly plausible novel - about how astrology is catapulted out of the Dark Ages and into the twentieth century." First published in 1972 by Random House. Sphere may be a film tie-in? Cover, which has a painting of a naked couple engaged in some sort of witchy ritual, looks like it may have one of those "now a major motion picture from..." things in the bottom right hand corner. Couldn't find a decent quality scan I'm afraid. 'A rar reaching novel on the Occult' apparently. Gabriel, Lisa Tuttle, Sphere 1987 "His name was Gabriel Archer, and he was my husband for eleven months. He died at twenty-three, a few days before my nineteenth birthday. Ten years later, on my twenty-ninth, he came hack to haunt me... Gabriel swore he would always love her. And then he died. A decade later, when Dinah meets Ben, she is amazed to find Gabriel's penetrating eyes, his knowing smile, in a ten year old boy. When Ben says he loves her, Dinah is amused - and then frightened. Ben means what he says. He loves her - exactly the way Gabriel once loved her.... "I came back for you." He smiled. It was not the smile of a ten-year-old child. It was Gabriel's smile, adult, full of knowing. Dinah wanted to scream" Also published in hardback by Severn House the same year, but seems it was a Sphere paperback original. Predators, Eric Sauter, Sphere 1988 "It began in the windswept Canadian tundra. A hunting party led by a man of unique cruelty... They came from the wilderness to the heart of the city. A man, a wolf, and a woman, hungry for revenge." Opinions seem to vary as to whether this is Suspense or Horror. Not sure about this next one either, the edition pictured below is a 1996 Sphere, but the book was first published in 1989 - seemingly also as a Sphere paperback, but can't confirm it. Witch Beast, Bernard King, Sphere 1989? "Uptown, the depressed Victorian slum area of Monkhampton, long overdue for development, is dying: its shopping precinct boarded up, its church abandoned, its people moved away - apparently into thin air... At the heart of Uptown, in Salvation, an affectionate, snow-white Newfoundland recovers slowly from the vicious maltreatment of his previous owner. And as Leader regains his strength, his coat starts to change colour and he grows - and grows... Detective Chief Inspector Ben Wilson, investigating a strange case of arson in Uptown, is attacked by a pack of dogs turned feral. A pack that behaves like a disciplined army... Then the murders start. And Wilson begins to see a hideous connection; a link that shatters all our comfortable preconceptions about domestic pets. If he and the eccentric Professor Harker are right, man's best friend is man's most dangerous enemy - an enemy beyond human control." I'll see what else I can find...
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Post by Steve on Dec 20, 2007 19:34:42 GMT
What I'm thinking is this;
Michael McDowell was an American author, he died in 1999, who wrote horror, mysteries and thrillers. His horror books, The Amulet, Cold Moon Over Babylon, The Elementals, and Gilded Needles were published in the UK by Fontana in the early 80s. Now, this next bit is what's got me thinking... he also wrote screenplays, two with Tim Burton; The Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetlejuice.
So I'm wondering, did the person who wrote this note say they were Tim Burton, or did they say something like; "I did this book under a pseudonym before I wrote Beetlejuice".
I can't point to any particular title, I don't know that McDowell ever had anything published by NEL, but he also wrote under at least two other pseudonyms and was a self-confessed "commercial writer" (i.e. "paperback hack"). He therefore seems like a much more likely candidate for this mysterious pulp than Burton, whose only other published work is a book of poems most of which don't run more than a few lines (it's been suggested that the poem, "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy", is in fact also the work of McDowell).
Mind you, it's also possible that this note was merely the ramblings of some deranged madman. I do that sort of thing all the time. Only the other day, I slipped a hand-written note into a copy of Eat Them Alive claiming it was all my own work and that I was actually Kenneth Brannagh....
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Post by Steve on Dec 20, 2007 18:30:48 GMT
I'm not sure about pulp fiction but Tim Burton has certainly had some poetry published though I'm afraid I don't know the source. A friend of mine once sent me a home made Christmas card (the best kind) on which they'd pasted a copy of his The Boy With The Nails In His Eyes (!) "The Boy With The Nails In His Eyes" comes from his book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. Actually a book of poems. You can find the whole book online with a quick google (I hesitate to post links these days because you never know who sees these things). I'm wondering if this other mysterious book has anything to do with Michael McDowell? I'll get back to you...
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Post by Steve on Feb 3, 2008 20:43:47 GMT
Voyage to Venus by C S Lewis (Pan, 1962) Cover signature looks like "A Boldman"? This one? I think the artist is Boldero, who did those early Pan Horror covers. You picked up some nice stuff there, Rog.
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Post by Steve on Feb 3, 2008 20:30:09 GMT
The cover is a delight (pterodactyl carrying an ancient Greek girl by her blonde [!] hair [ouch!]). I wish I had a scanner to share it with you all.
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Post by Steve on Dec 4, 2007 23:43:49 GMT
How about this one? Macdonald, 1970
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Post by Steve on Dec 4, 2007 23:00:47 GMT
Do you have a scan of the Everest Unspeakable People cover handy, Steve. Don't think I've seen that one. Have you not? They're all the same idea - the face on the wall thing...
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Post by Steve on Dec 4, 2007 22:43:10 GMT
Does anyone know if A. V. Sellwood went on to write anything else (especially on Satanism!)? He certainly wrote other books, before and after, but nothing overtly Satanic I'm afraid - mostly about U-Boats and stuff from what I can make out... War at Sea and what have you. Also books about the T.A., the Easter Rising, and the national police strike of 1919. New English Library, June 1973 And how's this for a cover..?
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Post by Steve on Dec 4, 2007 22:04:16 GMT
And I'd only add that The Evil People, The Midnight People and The Unspeakable people were all reprinted by Everest in 1975, of course.
Oh, and...
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Post by Steve on Dec 4, 2007 15:10:45 GMT
There was also a The Hell Of Mirrors published by Sidgwick & Jackson in 1974 which in turn was republished as Everyman's Book Of Classic Horror Stories... Why I'm particularly interested in The Hell Of Mirrors Four Square/Nel edition is because I note Jack Adrian cites this as his first anthology and I'm inclined to agree. Fantastic Fiction mentions another title from 1965 Everyman's Book of Classic Horror Stories with no publishing details and I'm wondering if this could be another 'ghost' book... or they're referring to Alwyn's Everyman ...? I'd be delighted to be corrected on this one! If not, who else is in the Haining's first antho club? I'm in! In fact, I never doubted it... or at least, if you'd asked me what Haining's first antho was without any prompts, I'd have said The Hell Of Mirrors without a second thought. Not sure who or what might have put it into my head - you probably - but, yeah, I'm sure you're right... ...of course, I could be wrong... Either way, I think you've answered your own question about Everyman's Book of Classic Horror Stories. Looks like Fantastic Fiction are getting their Mirrors/ Everyman's crossed. That one definitely came out in 1976. Haining had done his "startling expose which reveals the shocking facts of Satanism today" with A. V. Sellwood in '64 ("nude dancers of the North"? Nothing Satanic about that, it's just a right good night out...), but The Hell Of Mirrors was his first antho. Wasn't it..? Yeah. Probably... Hope this helps!
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Post by Steve on Dec 2, 2007 4:42:08 GMT
'Hitchcock' presented several paperbacks for Four Square/ NEL. I'd guess that the majority are crime fiction but it would be nice to know if any are mostly horror & supernatural? Well, the full title of Anyone For Murder? is Anyone For Murder? and other tales of crime, so I'm guessing that's mostly crime but you never know... Can't provide contents lists for the Four Square/NEL books mentioned, but this may help; Dell also published a book in their "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" series called, This One Will Kill You, 1971 ("You'll have a screaming good time when Alfie tickles your horror bone") which I'm assuming is more or less the same as the NEL edition. Contents were as follows (not at all sure about that cover...); His Brother's Caper by Richard Hardwick Fair Shake by John Lutz Six Skinny Coffins by Jonathan Craig The Clock is Cuckoo by Richard Deming Plan 19 by Jack Ritchie The Misopedist by James Holding Item by Henry Slesar The Shunned House by Robert Edmond Alter Don't Call it Murder by C. B. Gifford Comfort in a Land of Strangers by Michael Brett Where Credit is Due by Hal Ellson Variations on an Episode by Fletcher Flora Voice in the Night by Robert Colby And earlier, Dell published another collection bearing Hitchcock's name with the title Noose Report. As well as "The Late Unlamented", it included other stories which I believe also appeared in the Four Square/NEL Hitchcock books (quite like the cover on this one); The Late Unlamented by Jonathan Craig Holdout by Jack Ritchie The Little Things by Ed Lacy Make Your Pitch by Borden Deal The Trouble with Ruth by Henry Slesar Contents: One Body by C. B. Gilford The Promotion by Richard Deming Others Deal in Death by August Derleth The Short and Simple Annals by Dan J. Marlowe Something Very Special by Fletcher Flora A Very Cautious Boy by Gilbert Ralston The World's Oldest Motive by Laurence M. Janifer High Tide by Richard Hardwick A Home Away from Home by Robert Bloch If you compare these contents lists with the list of stories in nightreader's post on The Late Unlamented, you'll see a few of the same names cropping up. They should hopefully give you some idea of the crime to horror ratio involved.
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Post by Steve on Dec 2, 2007 2:53:39 GMT
Hang about! That date is so wrong! My copy is the first Pan edition (1960) - and has been in my possession since round about that date, too! Looking at the back of the title page, I see that it was originally published in 1957. In fact - I think that all of those dates are wrong. Quite right about Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do On TV - first published 1957; first Pan edition 1960. The rest look OK though, couldn't find any dates earlier than the ones given; Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories For Late At Night (1961) Seems about right - First British edition was a 1962 hardback (Max Reinhardt), but there was an earlier American 1961 hardcover from Random House. First paperback was Dell (in two parts) - Stories For Late At Night & More Stories For Late At Night, 1962. First Pan (also in two parts) - pt. 1 1964, pt. 2 1965 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Stories My Mother Never Told Me (1963) Stories My Mother Never Told Me, Random House 1963 Similar story - Random House, 1963; Max Reinhardt, 1964; first Dell paperbacks - Stories My Mother Never Told Me & More Stories My Mother Never Told Me, 1965; Pan - pt. 1 1966, pt. 2 1967 More Stories My Mother Never Told Me, Dell 1965 Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories Not For The Nervous (1965) Stories Not For The Nervous, Random House 1965 You've probably got the idea by now - Random House, 1965; Max Reinhardt, 1966; Dell paperbacks - Stories Not For The Nervous 1966, More Stories Not For The Nervous 1967; Pan - pt. 1 1968, pt. 2 1969 Stories Not For The Nervous part two, Pan 1969 Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories That Scared Even Me (1967) Random House, 1967; Max Reinhardt, 1968; Dell paperbacks - Scream Along With Me: Tales From Stories That Scared Even Me 1970, Slay Ride: More Tales from Stories That Scared Even Me 1971; Pan - pt. 1 1970, pt. 2 1971
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Post by Steve on Feb 2, 2008 15:43:54 GMT
...sorry, too, for bringing my slime beast up. That's alright, as long as you're going to clean it up before Dem gets back. Slime Beast stains are a bugger to get out of the carpet... And I don't think there's enough room to swing a cat in here, des... so no need to be so hard on yourself (or the cat, for that matter). Cheers!
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