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Post by marksamuels on Jan 30, 2008 21:39:54 GMT
I've got a signed copy of her little portfolio of skeletal fairies TOUCH WOOD.
I met her when she came along to one of the Friends of Arthur Machen meetings. She's Machen's great-granddaughter.
Very charming lady.
Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Oct 30, 2007 21:26:00 GMT
Monkey! I am your No. 1 fan! Happy Halloween to you too.
Be careful on those dangerous investigations!
Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Nov 9, 2007 22:28:49 GMT
MMM-Delicious is the Reggie Oliver story. I'd bet on it!
Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Mar 28, 2008 4:17:55 GMT
I think Gerald Suster wrote the intros to most, if not all of those Sphere Hope Hodgson paperbacks. He certainly did for Carnacki and for The House on the Borderland. Not sure about The Nightland, but doubtless someone here knows.
I remember when I first met Gerald (I didn't meet him more than three times) and mentioned the Crowley biography The Great Beast by John Symonds. He took me aback somewhat by launching into a detailed critique about how all the facts in it were wrong. (At the time I knew next to nothing about old Aleister.) He involved himself in some disputes with other occult scholars that were often very pugnacious. Sometimes literally so. I don't know if it's true but I heard a story that he'd once interrupted a talk by Bob Gilbert and the two came to blows on stage.
Which reminds me. Didn't he write a book about boxing too (having been a practitioner of the art in his youth)?
From my limited experience, he was the soul of hospitality, first to the bar and fastest to hand around his ciggies, but then I tended to get on with him and thought he was great fun. It may have helped that my interest in the occult was purely as a basis for literary inspiration now and then.
Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Jan 29, 2008 0:07:42 GMT
Dem
"Edward Dashwood" is, I suspect, Gerald's fictional alter-ego. Chain-smoking, booze-swilling, coping off with nubile young ladies, occult author.
Sort of a reverse Dennis Wheatley.
Shame he died when only 47.
I've finished THE HANDYMAN, btw, and expect to have something written about it for inclusion here before too long.
Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Feb 23, 2008 13:26:31 GMT
Hi Fullbreakfast and welcome You can take the review job off my hands! Actually, I'm not sure how it achieved a reputation for the nastiest of the nasties, since it's all pretty much psychological suspense up until the last few chapters when the lead female character gets imprisoned in the cellar and the Handyman gets kinky errrm... well I'll say no more. Anyway I'm passing my copy over to Dem when I see him tonight so we'll see what he makes of it. Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Jan 20, 2008 12:37:53 GMT
Dem I've found you another Gerald Suster to add to your burgeoning collection! It looks truly crazed I'll read it pronto and put up a review with a scan of the cover. After that I'll drop it in the post to you (if you're coming along to the Basil Copper launch, I can give it to you then). All best Mark
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Post by marksamuels on Feb 14, 2008 16:45:47 GMT
Happy Birthday Ms Troo Happy Birthday to you
I have a Pantechnicon badge, which I shall don in your honour and wear for the rest of the day (I presume I was given this at a BFS Open Night)
All best Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Jan 25, 2008 16:42:05 GMT
What a fantastic cover! It's as good as, if not better, than the first.
All best Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Feb 25, 2008 15:47:07 GMT
Glad to have torn away the flimsy mask of respectibility and revealed the grinning horror of the Vault Gang in all their charnel glory ;D You know it makes sense. There are some more photos from the Basil Copper bash over on my website, btw. And a horrible Highgate video. marksamuels.netMark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Feb 25, 2008 11:19:59 GMT
As promised . . . Live from Ye Olde Cock, for one night only, here they are, bigging it up for Mr. Copper Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Feb 24, 2008 23:33:31 GMT
It was a great night yesterday and I was especially tickled by Dem's tales of the Whitechapel Ripperologists as we hung around outside having a ciggie. A treat to meet Andy, John, & Dem again and, for the first time, the esteemed Mr Franklyn Marsh! Brilliant stuff. It was a marvellous salute to Basil Copper and I'm sure he must have been touched to see so many people there, as well being in the company of long-time friends like Steve Jones and Michel Parry. I've got a bunch of photos on the digital camera, including one of the Vault gang together. I'll upload it tomorrow. But now, I am going to take you back twenty years to 1988 and the World Fantasy Convention in London. The two chaps in this photo are (believe it or not) me and Des. See, I DID have hair once... Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Feb 21, 2008 11:31:11 GMT
I love that track. Early Jethro Tull is the biz. I'll be at Ye Olde Cock (ooooer) around 6.30 or 7.00. I've grown a goatee beard especially for the occasion, Dem. I'll introduce you to Lord Probert. It should be a good bash and likely to be packed out. Our old amigo Michel Parry's coming over from Belgium, Steve Jones told me. Sorry you can't make it David, but I'll see you soon in Stratford-upon-Avon ! All best Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Jan 17, 2008 12:45:21 GMT
Thought that Vault folk might be interested in this (I'll be going along to it) BASIL COPPER BOOK LAUNCH Hosted by the British Fantasy Society and PS Publishing, the bio/bibliography BASIL COPPER: A LIFE IN BOOKS Compiled and Edited by Stephen Jones will be launched on SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23rd at THE UPSTAIRS BAR, YE OLDE COCK TAVERN, 22 FLEET STREET, LONDON EC4Y 1AA from 6:00pm onwards. Among those signing copies will be BASIL COPPER, editor/co-designer STEPHEN JONES, artists RANDY BROECKER and LES EDWARDS, co-designer MICHAEL MARSHALL SMITH and publisher PETER CROWTHER. Special Guests (subject to commitment) include legendary anthology editors HUGH LAMB, MICHEL PARRY and DAVID A. SUTTON. Basil Copper became a full-time writer in 1970. His first story in the horror field, 'The Spider', was published in 1964 in THE FIFTH PAN BOOK OF HORROR STORIES, since when his short fiction has appeared in numerous collections and anthologies, and been extensively adapted for radio and television. Along with two non-fiction studies of the vampire and werewolf legends, his other books include the novels THE GREAT WHITE SPACE, THE CURSE OF THE FLEERS, NECROPOLIS, THE BLACK DEATH and THE HOUSE OF THE WOLF. Copper has also written more than fifty hardboiled thrillers about Los Angeles private detective Mike Faraday, and has continued the adventures of August Derleth's Sherlock Holmes-like consulting detective Solar Pons in several volumes of short stories and the novel SOLAR PONS VERSUS THE DEVIL'S CLAW. Concluding three years' extensive research, multiple award-winning editor and writer Stephen Jones was given unprecedented and unrestricted access to the books and papers of renowned British macabre and crime writer Basil Copper. The result is BASIL COPPER: A LIFE IN BOOKS, a unique and in-depth study of the author and his works. Not only does this volume contain the most comprehensive Working Bibliography ever compiled of Basil Copper's productive output - including Macabre and Supernatural Novels and Collections, the "Solar Pons" series, the "Mike Faraday" series, Short Fiction and Novellas, Media Adaptations, Unpublished Works and much more, enhanced with commentary by the author himself - but it also features several rare and obscure articles covering everything from Arkham House creator August Derleth to a brief history of Count Dracula. There are also a number of short stories, most of them original to this volume, ranging from his very first published work back in 1938 to a brand-new "Mike Faraday" detective adventure, along with a complete television script based on M.R. James' classic horror story 'Count Magnus'. With an in-depth look at the author's life and career by acclaimed ghost story editor Richard Dalby, and Basil Copper's inspirational Guest of Honour speech from the 1977 British Fantasy Convention, BASIL COPPER: A LIFE IN BOOKS is illustrated with numerous cover reproductions, artwork and unique personal photographs. If you cannot make it to the signing, but still want to PRE-PURCHASE a personally-signed copy (or copies) please contact PS Publishing for details of how to place your order. Dealer's enquiries welcome - trade discounts available. ISBN 978-1-905834-98-3 (Jacketed hardcover) £25.00 / $50.00 (approx.) ISBN 978-1-905834-97-6 (Hardcover) £15.00 / $30.00 (approx.) 280pp BFS BONUS!!! On the night, a number of specially-priced copies of the PS hardcover anthology DON'T TURN OUT THE LIGHT will be available on a first-come basis. Edited by STEPHEN JONES, this third volume in the acclaimed new "Not at Night" series features work by BASIL COPPER, PAUL McAULEY, MARK SAMUELS, JAY RUSSELL, RANDY BROECKER, LES EDWARDS and many others (including Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Charles L. Grant and Hugh B. Cave).
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Post by marksamuels on Dec 28, 2007 23:20:06 GMT
Quite why you should think that, I have no idea. For example, such brazen advertising as found on the following link hold no interest for me. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYy3BKn1SZE*shuffles feet and looks sheepish* Mark S.
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