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Post by dem on Oct 26, 2007 23:00:17 GMT
Basil Copper - When Footsteps Echo (St. Martins Press, 1975) Camera Obscura
The Janissaries Of Emilion
Amber Print
A Message From The Stars
Doctor Porthos
Cry Wolf
The Academy Of Pain
The Recompensing Of Albano Pizar
Out Of The Fog
Archives Of The DeadAlmost a 'Greatest Hits' selection. Mr. Sharsted the vindictive moneylender meets a fate worse than death in the ingenious Camera Obscura. Two film buffs are pursued to their doom by Dr. Caligari and Cesare in Amber Print. The Academy Of Pain brutally demonstrates why it's not a good idea to have an affair with a woman whose husband prides himself on his collection of torture instruments. Elsewhere a man is hacked to pieces by the veiled riders who populate his nightmares, Jill the Ripper goes out on the prowl and Satanist Dr. Ramon Fabri employs a man purely to clip the obituaries from the daily newspapers. All this and the ridiculous Dr. Porthos! Camera Obscura: Mr. Sharstead, ruthless loanshark, calls on Mr. Gingold to collect £300. The genial old man flummoxes him with his cordial demeanour and takes him on a guided tour of his home. Sharstead always suspected the place would be a hovel but it's a treasure trove of Objets D'art - it might make better business sense to accept one of these pieces in lieu of the debt. But he's strangely tongue-tied this afternoon and only regains his usual edge when Gingold quizzes him about his brutal eviction of the Thwaite family. Why doesn't he mind his own business! Now Gingold is showing him his pride and joy - a magnificent, customised camera obscura with a difference. It's a window on the town prior to World War II and is populated by the living dead ... Amber Print: Silent movie buffs Blenkinsop and Carter locate an impossibly rare cut of The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari which includes some mighty sadistic scenes which didn't survive the cutting room floor. They are pursued to their doom by Caligari and Cesare. The Academy Of Pain: Copper's most extreme horror story by my reckoning. Carstairs is a sadist who collects instruments of torture to furnish the impressive dungeon at his West Country home. Nice bloke. Sanders, his guest for the weekend, has been having an affair with Pauline Carstairs. Let's hope Mr. C. hasn't found out! Dr Porthos: Famously bonkers Gothic yarn owing much to Poe and Lovecraft. When Angelina falls ill, her husband suspects that the physician who tends her is in some way to blame. A midnight attack, which leaves the patient bleeding from the neck, hints strongly as to the nature of her assailant. Narrator’s grim determination to keep his journal up to date whatever the circumstances recalls the anti-hero of C. M. Eddy’s The Loved Dead and leads to an (intentionally?) ludicrous climax . Copper devotes an entire chapter to his story in The Vampire: In Legend, Fact And Art, but it’s by no means as convincing as his The Knocker At The Portico, with which it shares an almost identical plot. Out Of The Fog: London, 1888. Gerald, the fiancee of Dr. Maron Lazenby's, lies in Islington Mortuary, a shotgun suicide. But Dr. Pruner is reluctant to show her the autopsy report. What further grief is he trying to spare her? Marion is persistent: she must know why he took his own life. Meanwhile in the East End, Mary Clarke and friends gather in The Crippled Sailor after a hard days street-walking ... Cry Wolf: A werewolf subjects the people of a snowbound French village to a reign of terror. The narrator and his boy, Andrew, join the hunt for the creature which has already torn the throats from sheep and children before it takes out a few stray adults. It's as traditional a story as these things get and you guess the culprit early. But nagging doubts remains: did they get the right person? Archives Of The Dead: Linnet Ridge, a lavish mansion in remotest Surrey. Robert Trumble, failed poet, takes the position of live-in secretary to Dr. Ramon Fabri, a globally acknowledged authority on matters esoteric. It's a cushy, well paid number if you can overlook the sinister guests, the screams in the night, the Satanic altar and the fact that several famous visitors have the nasty habit of dying horribly shortly after their audience with Fabri. Trumble's curiosity gets the better of him.
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Post by dem on Sept 11, 2008 17:59:01 GMT
The Janissaries Of Emilion: "But what can a dream do to harm you" I burst out impatiently, in spite of myself.
"Fool!" Farlow almost shrieked. "They will kill me! When they catch me I shall die."
Psychiatric patient Farlow is plagued by a recurring, progressive nightmare which sees him washed up on a middle eastern beach with a party of sadistic Turkish infantrymen fast approaching, scimitars at the ready. So vivid are these dreams that he even wakes from one clutching a souvenir - a chunk of red stone confirmed by a geologist as dating from the time of Christ. Meanwhile, the Janissaries are drawing nearer and nearer until he is terrified what will happen when next he sleeps. Fortunately for us, it's the worst.
The Recompensing Of Albano Pizar: Corpulent Literary agent Pizar betrays the hospitality of Mme Freitas by stealing a folder of love letters written by her late husband. To add insult to injury, these steamy billet-doux are addressed to a mistress from early in their marriage. Soon the contents are splashed across the scandal sheets and the Palazzo Tortini is besieged by reporters eager for an interview with the widow. Together with her loyal friend Dr. Marizanares, Mme Freitas plans a grisly vengeance. Pizar finds himself manacled by a wrist in the vaults far beneath the Palazzo. If the sewer-rats don't eat him alive first, the incoming tide will surely drown him unless he makes good use of the razor-sharp cleaver they've thoughtfully provided for his "protection" ....
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Sept 12, 2008 8:18:54 GMT
Thank you, thank you, thank you Dem, for reminding me of who wrote the wonderful story The Janissaries Of Emilion. That story set me off trying and failing to write a novel when I was fifteen. I'd forgotten of its very existence until now. I kept rereading it as a kid
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Post by allthingshorror on Sept 14, 2008 22:26:14 GMT
Interviewing Basil at 12pm Monday at his house. Will post the non-Pan horror questions up on my site as soon as I can transcribe them. This is such an honour metting the writer of the genuinely chilling Camera Obscura - up there with the ten greatest short stories ever. Will post pics!
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Post by dem on Sept 15, 2008 18:38:14 GMT
Hope the day went well for you, Johnny! How was Mr. Copper? He looked awful frail at the A Life In Books launch earlier in the year.
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Post by allthingshorror on Sept 15, 2008 19:14:30 GMT
The day was more than I could have ever asked for - Basil was firing on all cylinders - the interview went like a dream and we even went out for a spot of lunch. Highlight was when he said I could choose any book from his library - so I picked a copy of The Great White Space which he signed, plus a couple of other books I brought along with me. His wife was a darling and it's just the greatest honour to have been invited to his house. I'll probably transcribe the interview after the honeymoon as there is about an hour and a half's worth to put down.   |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Sept 15, 2008 19:32:14 GMT
And to think that charming looking gentleman scared me shitless as a youth. Well done Johnnie. I look forward to your spilling the beans on one of the best.
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Post by dem on Sept 16, 2008 7:23:19 GMT
How uplifting to see him in such fine fettle! Thanks for sharing these Johnny. I've come to love photo's of book-lovers surrounded by their collections! Picked up a second hand copy of Not After Nightfall ( Four Square/NEL, June 1967) in the Fantasy Centre many moons ago, don't think I even realised it was signed 'til I got home. Anyway, I thought you might appreciate the poignancy of the dedication. Clarence Paget - all best wishes - Basil Copper October 6-1967 |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Sept 16, 2008 7:34:19 GMT
I know you disdain the ugly world of the book dealer but I can't resist saying that's worth a few bob. I have to immediately qualify the statement by saying its worth a lot more than money. Great thing to have on your shelf.
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Post by allthingshorror on Sept 16, 2008 8:03:23 GMT
Wow, Dem - that is AMAZING!!!!!!!!! A great centrepiece of any collection, I'd say. Any chance of pinching the scan for the Pan Book?
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Post by dem on Sept 16, 2008 8:21:09 GMT
By all means, if it's of any use then be my guest. I always thought it was a lovely piece of horror ephemera. We really ought to revive our old thread relating to stuff we've found written in books.
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Post by allthingshorror on Sept 16, 2008 9:23:10 GMT
Never found anything signed in a book apart from a Sydney J Bounds signature. That was in an Armada Ghost book.
I've been wanting to share my Pan signatures, but don't want to be seen as showboating (to which a certain degree it is a little bit) but if people wanted to see who has contributed to the project so far...and there's a few - I could knock some scans up.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Sept 16, 2008 9:43:36 GMT
well. I am an unashamed collector of pulps and first editions none of which i can afford. For me the very sight of a signature on a first edition just conjures up that wonderful moment when the book was fresh of the press and the author was hoping that this would be the one to pay the backlog on the rent. In short, I'd love to see what you have there Johnnie. (Especially as I'll know what to look for when breaking in)
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Post by allthingshorror on Sept 16, 2008 9:51:33 GMT
okay - give me an hour - ill scan stuff in - forgot, I've also got two Van Thal signatures - the second one is a bit suspect though....
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Post by allthingshorror on Sept 16, 2008 13:24:00 GMT
OKay - thats all I've got bar some from 3 books that have all ready got some sigs on but are being signed by others as we speak. Put it up on the pan site as it would have taken too long to put up on here - plus my scanner jacked in so had to camera it all... www.panbookofhorrorstories.co.uk/#/admuseum/4528900248 |
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