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Post by dem bones on Mar 26, 2008 11:51:46 GMT
David A. Sutton & Stephen Jones (eds.) - Dark Voices # 4: The Pan Book Of Horror (Pan, 1992) Cover Illustration: Dave Carson Christopher Fowler - On Edge Graham Masterton - Absence Of Beast Les Daniels - The Little Green Ones Charles Gramlich - Razor White Peter James - Propellor John Brunner - They Take Nicholas Royle - The Last Drop David J. Schow - Pick Me Up R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Frankenstein Syndrome Daniel Fox - High Flying, Adored Bernard Donaghue - A Night With Claudette Stephen Gallagher - Casey, Where He Lies Peter Crowther - The Visitor Tony J. Forder - Book End Kim Newman - Week Woman Philip J. Cockburn - Necrophiliac Norman Partridge - Return Of The Shroud W. Elizabeth Turner - Cold As Iron Michael Marshall Smith - A Time Of Waiting Joe R. Lansdale - By Bizarre Hands
Contributors' notes Joe R. Lansdale - By Bizarre Hands: Ever since his sister was molested and murdered Preacher Judd has had a thing about retarded girls and Halloween. So when he learns of the Widow Judd's idiot daughter Cinderella he decides to do the Lord's work ... Nobody ever accused Lansdale of being PC - many of his stories are written from the viewpoint of the type of Redneck celebrated by RevCo circa Beers, Steers And Queers - and this story is calculated to offend on several levels: incest, racism, violence against women ... His The Night They Missed The Horror Show and the Bram Stoker Award winning novella On The Far Side Of The Cadillac Desert With Dead Folk are cut from the same cloth and modern masterpieces IMO. Philip J. Cockburn - Necrophiliac: Reminiscent of the type of short-short Norman Kaufman used to contribute to the mid-late Pan Horror's. A first person account of sex with dead folk, the unlovely narrator biting off more than he can chew when he digs up the luscious Ella. Kim Newman - Week Woman: Peter Mysliwiec marries butch lesbian Madeleine Waters in a mutually beneficial arrangement whereby they can both obtain British nationality. Unfortunately, Mad the blushing bride takes the ceremony seriously and he can't dissuade her that their marriage is a sham and that he is not really her husband. Worse, Mad has multiple personalities, each of them lasting seven days, so one week it is all Anne Diamond and afternoon TV, the next it is Eisensturzende Neubauten cassettes and suicide attempts (Newman fits more pop culture references into this and other stories than even Timothy Lea in the Confessions ... novels), the third and she's sex-mad loving wife of the year, etc. Peter loses his exasperated girlfriend Karen and very nearly his life when Mad goes into slasher movie mode and tortures him with household implements to the strains of Little Jimmy Osmond and Aled Jones. And things are about to get grimmer still. R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Frankenstein Syndrome: "Don't let it attach itself to ... anything that protrudes". RCH was dismissive of his story It Came To Dinner on the grounds of it being (in his opinion) too violent and gory, having been pretty much written to order for Pan Horror #14. Seems to me that The Frankenstein Syndrome was his attempt at a Dark Voices story, hence the lashings of mutilation - you don't get instances of "a lot of blood and torn gristle between his legs" in an Chetwynd-Hayes story as a rule. This one begins in the usual jokey vein with well-to-do young oddball Morris Smith announcing to his devoted girlfriend Mary-Jane Jenkins that he is going to create a new life-form. Before long, he's bred a maggot-like entity which feeds on semen and meat and can drain the warmth from any human it encounters. The head maggot is the length and shape of a python and tends to leap from the floor and get its mouth around any "protuberances", and there are also several miniature versions of him slithering about the lab. Yes, it is surprisingly gross when you think of who penned it.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Apr 4, 2008 9:50:58 GMT
On Edge by Christopher Fowler is a classic - strong enough to open both this volume and his superb collection 'Sharper Knives'. 'All you have to do is wear a public school tie and have a nice accent and people will let you do anything to them' or words to that effect appears to be the message here, rendered powerfully and painfully by Fowler's prose and (in Sharper Knives ) by an illustration by Graham Humphreys.#
Week Woman was filmed for The Hunger TV series and isn't bad.
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Post by allysonbird on Apr 4, 2008 11:58:55 GMT
I love my copy of Sharper Knives. It sits on my top shelf, right next to Spanky.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Apr 4, 2008 12:10:38 GMT
Sharper Knives is brilliant, isn't, Ally?
And Spanky! Never thought I'd love a book with a title (or a cover - did you know that guy's name really was Fritz Kok?) like that, but I did. I really, really did
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Post by allysonbird on Apr 5, 2008 9:46:53 GMT
Both brilliant books, John.
Christopher Fowler is also GOH at BFSCon. It's so long away - Alt.Fiction will be fun but is only a day in length.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 6, 2008 3:35:45 GMT
Spanky's the one about the guy with his very own demon, isn't it? Only read it the once but remember enjoying it immensely. Christopher Fowler - On Edge: An inspired choice as opener. Thurlow's tooth comes off worst in an encounter with a Brazil nut. Thurlow himself comes off worst for the resultant encounter with Dr. Matthews, a wayward dentist with a radical approach to experimentation. God, but I needed a hefty shot of Novocaine after this one. Bernard Donaghue - A Night With Claudette: Despite her unfaithful ways, he can never quite bring himself to say goodbye to the beautiful Claudette. What's left of her. Stephen Gallagher - Casey, Where He Lies: A nail-on for the Imaginary bands thread. Poor, straight Casey loses his beloved job as a record company plugger when, trying to live up to his boasts to first-ever girlfriend Marielle, he attempts to sneak her into his "big friends" Alice the Goon's sessions for the Goats & Monkeys album. Marielle leaves him and, distraught, he involves her in a very one-sided suicide pact. But, much to Marielle's delight, he keeps his promise when they're both safely on the other side of the grave. Cameo appearance by punk no-hopers the Snots at what may or may not be the Roxy (the toilets sound about right). Don D'Ammassa contributed the remarkably similar The Dead Beat Society to Shock RockW. Elizabeth Turner - Cold as Iron: Short but hugely effective piece on the dangers inherent in merely walking across a field if it's owned by a sadistic headcase. Wow, that's a mighty striking scarecrow! Almost ... deathlike! Very mid-period Pan Horror. Daniel Fox - High Flying, Adored: A construction worker learns the folly of disrespecting gargoyles. Ghastly ending! Peter James - Propellor: Rosemary would be so looking forward to the holiday on Lake Geneva at Ted's firm's expense, were it not for that awful recurring nightmare of being drawn into a propeller blade and filleted. Finally she confides in Ted who, being a kindly chap, agrees to drive them across the channel rather than fly as he doesn't want her special treat ruined before they've even packed their suitcases ... John Brunner - They Take. Creepy and very nasty. Carlo Bertelli drives his wife Ann from Milan to the tiny hamlet of Bolsevieto to view the estate which her late aunt has willed her. Their first thought is to sell it as quickly as possible, but then Ann chances upon the Etruscan necropolis in the grounds and decides to stay and oversee the sale of its priceless treasures. One snag: the mausoleum is patrolled by the peasant Vipegro and his scary hound, Cerbero, and Ann is assured that his impossibly ancient family have owned the property since time immemorial. The Bertelli's soon find themselves ensnared by the community and Ann learns just what it is Vipegro's clan are renowned for "taking" ....
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Post by Swampirella on Mar 5, 2018 17:35:51 GMT
"On Edge" is one of the most horrifying stories I've ever read...
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