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Post by dem bones on Sept 1, 2017 21:15:10 GMT
From Shadows II (Headline, 1987), which is really the U.S. Shadows and not to be confused with Shadows 2 (Doubleday, 1979). You got all that?
Ramsey Campbell - Dead Letters: A small gathering at the narrator's home is interrupted by a power cut. Bob, drunk on Pernod and belligerent with it, insists they hold a seance. Wife Laurie, the brunt of his malice, objects, as does the host, but Bob in spoilt child mode simply must have his own way. Ah, what's the harm. It's only mumbo jumbo. There's nothing in it ...
Robert Bloch - The Picture: Another of the-man-who-wrote-Psycho's Faustian pact yarns. On learning from a demon that Dr. Horner, psychiatrist, is the Devil, Leo Forby, Black Magician, wife-killer and all-round bad egg, books an urgent consultation. The upshot of their session is Forby trades in his soul for a night of passion with Linda Durrell, his hot High School Queen of twenty years ago. Forby reckons he's covered all bases, even put one over on Old Nick who ain't so smart after all. The story reads like Bloch's work for Rogue, but on this occasion the build up is wasted on quite possibly his all-time lamest punchline.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 5, 2017 6:50:18 GMT
Bill Pronzini - Deathlove: Alan Martin bears no real malice toward Fred McAnnally, manager of the Ajax Plumbing Supply Company. It's simply that he's besotted with Judith, and Fred, being her husband, is in the way. Martin has meticulously figured out the perfect murder until a truck wipes him out before he can put his plan into operation. But death has its benefits. Now that he's a ghost, Martin can share Judith's bed any night he fancies. But that won't save Fred. William Jon Watkins - Butcher's Thumb: Emergency surgery saved Peter Kessler's life at the expense of his corpus collosum, the tiny bridge connecting the right and left side of the brain. The Butcher is a lucky man ... or would be if only he could control his left hand which has taken on a malevolent life of its own. Somehow Peter must find a way to prevent the all powerful rogue hand from slicing up wife, Katrina, his loyal staff, Dr. Bryant, even Mrs. Cherninski's infant son. As "quiet" horror stories go, this one is screaming bloody murder. A must for the Wandering Hands museum.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 8, 2017 14:08:16 GMT
From Shadows 2: T. E. D. Klein - Petey: House-warming party at the Kurtz's stately mansion in Beth Head, Connecticut, host George having acquired the property dirt cheap through a combination of insider knowledge and business malpractice. The previous owner - an aged eccentric - has since been confined in a lunatic asylum for attempted to tear out his own throat. It's not quite clear what this fellow was dabbling in, but demon raising and/ or homunculus rearing are distinct possibilities. He seems particularly aggrieved at leaving behind the results of his experiments. George finds the party an ordeal, and cries off with a migraine or similar, leaving wife Phyllis to hold the fort. The night takes a turn for the deadly when a very drunk Herb retrieves a tarot pack from the attic, most notable for its bonus trump depicting a grey, hunched sloth-like entity .... Where the main players in Children Of The Kingdom are extremely likeable (I'm reading Dark Gods via anthologies), the Kurtz's and repulsive guests are quite the opposite. Whoever or whatever 'Petey' is, chances are you'll be rooting for he-she-it throughout.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 8, 2017 23:09:03 GMT
From Shadows 2: T. E. D. Klein - Petey: Where the main players in Children Of The Kingdom are extremely likeable (I'm reading Dark Gods via anthologies), the Kurtz's and repulsive guests are quite the opposite. Whoever or whatever 'Petey' is, chances are you'll be rooting for he-she-it throughout. "Petey" is the lone Klein novella that left me cold. The absence of an engaging protagonist may have had something to do with it.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 9, 2017 10:01:15 GMT
From Shadows 2: T. E. D. Klein - Petey: Where the main players in Children Of The Kingdom are extremely likeable (I'm reading Dark Gods via anthologies), the Kurtz's and repulsive guests are quite the opposite. Whoever or whatever 'Petey' is, chances are you'll be rooting for he-she-it throughout. "Petey" is the lone Klein novella that left me cold. The absence of an engaging protagonist may have had something to do with it. There's every likelihood that readers of a certain persuasion - "all's fair in business!": "It's a dog eat dog world!," etc - may strongly identify with Kurtz but I take your point. Personally I enjoyed Petey (and Nadelman's God) almost as much as the excellent Children Of The Kingdom. A weakness for when-parties-go-horribly-wrong stories likely has much to do with it. Perhaps it's best to stop here because I can feel a DIY anthology coming on...
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Post by jamesdoig on Nov 9, 2017 20:08:02 GMT
"Petey" is the lone Klein novella that left me cold. The absence of an engaging protagonist may have had something to do with it. Personally I enjoyed Petey (and Nadelman's God) almost as much as the excellent Children Of The Kingdom. "Petey" is a favourite of mine - it's really well done. Klein is always good at dropping those creepy hints and signs that something isn't quite right. He turns a typical horror plot - some loony creates a monster which is on the loose - into something different. The social commentary is funny and biting and I like those italicized cuts to the previous owner in the nut house. "Petey" as misheard PD, petit diable, little devil, is stretching it a bit though.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Nov 17, 2018 8:02:36 GMT
From Shadows II (Headline, 1987), which is really the U.S. Shadows and not to be confused with Shadows 2 (Doubleday, 1979). You got all that? Ramsey Campbell - Dead Letters: It's only mumbo jumbo. There's nothing in it ... Robert Bloch - The Picture: on this occasion the build up is wasted on quite possibly his all-time lamest punchline. Agreed. But I will read Dead Letters again
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