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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Apr 9, 2018 13:13:04 GMT
It's M. R. James so don't expect any kinky sex, torture by chainsaw or a breakneck pace On balance he is one of the more restrained "splatterpunks."
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Post by Michael Connolly on Apr 9, 2018 13:16:39 GMT
It's M. R. James so don't expect any kinky sex, torture by chainsaw or a breakneck pace On balance he is one of the more restrained "splatterpunks." Did he own a chainsaw? I used one a few times. I only damaged the knee of my trousers with it.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Apr 9, 2018 13:39:44 GMT
I imagine he would have liked to (who, after all, would not?), but alas! he was born just slightly too early to really experience the golden age of the modern chainsaw.
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Post by andydecker on Apr 9, 2018 18:34:09 GMT
The Everest edition was among the first english language books I ever bought back then in the end of the 70s. It was a bit too overwhelming, too much work, and it landed on the shelves. I never sold it though.Still have it. And still love the cover.
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Post by helrunar on Apr 21, 2018 13:33:31 GMT
A few more notes--I meant to post these a couple of weeks ago, but the absurdity of "real life" interfered. And I may be repeating myself occasionally here--c'est la guerre.
Auggie Derleth, "Bat's Belfry" is juvenilia, and I'm surprised Derleth gave the nod to have it reprinted. But it's quite entertaining, and in a style that was imitated in some of the early 1950s horror comics short fiction. A genuine relic of the 1920s Weird Tales circle. Sample passage, with the idiotic narrator recounting his latest big inspiration to his diary: I have been looking over the book by De Rochas and I have hit upon an excellent plan to discover the bodies of the vampires! I shall use the Book of Thoth to summon the vampires before me and force them to reveal the hiding place of their voluptuous bodies! De Rochas says it can be done. It comes as no surprise that this fool gets exactly what's coming to him.
Manly Wade Wellman, "When it was moonlight," is notable for being a horror yarn featuring Edgar Allan Poe as a character. Also worth mentioning for a different twist MWW gives to the usual vampire lore in this tale.
Richard Matheson, "Drink my blood," was also printed elsewhere under the title "Blood Son." For me, it was the best story in the entire book. In terse, almost Hemingwayesque prose, Matheson introduces us to Jules, a disturbed little boy: He never spoke a word until he was five. Then one night coming up to supper, he sat down at the table and said, "Death."
On the eve of adolescence comes the pivotal event of his life:
One Saturday when he was twelve, Jules went to the movies. He saw Dracula.
When the show was over he walked, a throbbing nerve mass, through the little girl and boy ranks.
He went home and locked himself in the bathroom for two hours.
This is a brilliantly accomplished psychological portrait, anticipating the whole "monster kids" cultural phenomenon by several years (the story was published around 1951).
Basil Copper, "Dr Porthos," was clearly written as an homage to the Gothic vampire narrative. Beautiful work. I really should get hold of more of Basil Copper's work.
Robert Bloch, "The Living Dead," is an effective little shocker with a twist ending that though predictable, is still quite satisfying.
Fritz Leiber, "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes," was something of a surprise for this reader, because the style is so different from other work by Mr. Leiber I've enjoyed over many years. This story was dramatized on the early 1970s Night Gallery series hosted by Rod Serling, and the flavor of the narrative definitely echoes the kind of tone one associates with Mr. Serling's Twilight Zone plays, as well as work he wrote for his own episodes of NG. And it's extra shivery because you'll find you know this Girl quite well--and come to realize that her power is greater than ever in our world.
My "faulty memory syndrome," which was at work with this collection is that I thought there was a final tale in the book. But the story wasn't there. It told about a vampire couple who took off in a rocket, seeking new blood after the death of all life on what I vaguely recall to have been a post-atomic war Earth. What they forget is that there's no night in space and no escape from the sun once you leave our atmosphere. Maybe this was a story I read in an issue of Creepy or Eerie around the time that I received the Grosset & Dunlap cloth edition of this book as a gift. The odd thing is I can remember a line from the spaceship story--it ran something like, "he knew that new life, new death would spring from their loins on that other world." Who can figure...
cheers, H.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Apr 21, 2018 13:54:05 GMT
A few more notes--I meant to post these a couple of weeks ago, but the absurdity of "real life" interfered. And I may be repeating myself occasionally here--c'est la guerre. Auggie Derleth, "Bat's Belfry" is juvenilia, and I'm surprised Derleth gave the nod to have it reprinted. But it's quite entertaining, and in a style that was imitated in some of the early 1950s horror comics short fiction. A genuine relic of the 1920s Weird Tales circle. Sample passage, with the idiotic narrator recounting his latest big inspiration to his diary: I have been looking over the book by De Rochas and I have hit upon an excellent plan to discover the bodies of the vampires! I shall use the Book of Thoth to summon the vampires before me and force them to reveal the hiding place of their voluptuous bodies! De Rochas says it can be done. It comes as no surprise that this fool gets exactly what's coming to him. Manly Wade Wellman, "When it was moonlight," is notable for being a horror yarn featuring Edgar Allan Poe as a character. Also worth mentioning for a different twist MWW gives to the usual vampire lore in this tale. Richard Matheson, "Drink my blood," was also printed elsewhere under the title "Blood Son." For me, it was the best story in the entire book. In terse, almost Hemingwayesque prose, Matheson introduces us to Jules, a disturbed little boy: He never spoke a word until he was five. Then one night coming up to supper, he sat down at the table and said, "Death." On the eve of adolescence comes the pivotal event of his life: One Saturday when he was twelve, Jules went to the movies. He saw Dracula. When the show was over he walked, a throbbing nerve mass, through the little girl and boy ranks.He went home and locked himself in the bathroom for two hours.This is a brilliantly accomplished psychological portrait, anticipating the whole "monster kids" cultural phenomenon by several years (the story was published around 1951). Basil Copper, "Dr Porthos," was clearly written as an homage to the Gothic vampire narrative. Beautiful work. I really should get hold of more of Basil Copper's work. Robert Bloch, "The Living Dead," is an effective little shocker with a twist ending that though predictable, is still quite satisfying. Fritz Leiber, "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes," was something of a surprise for this reader, because the style is so different from other work by Mr. Leiber I've enjoyed over many years. This story was dramatized on the early 1970s Night Gallery series hosted by Rod Serling, and the flavor of the narrative definitely echoes the kind of tone one associates with Mr. Serling's Twilight Zone plays, as well as work he wrote for his own episodes of NG. And it's extra shivery because you'll find you know this Girl quite well--and come to realize that her power is greater than ever in our world. My "faulty memory syndrome," which was at work with this collection is that I thought there was a final tale in the book. But the story wasn't there. It told about a vampire couple who took off in a rocket, seeking new blood after the death of all life on what I vaguely recall to have been a post-atomic war Earth. What they forget is that there's no night in space and no escape from the sun once you leave our atmosphere. Maybe this was a story I read in an issue of Creepy or Eerie around the time that I received the Grosset & Dunlap cloth edition of this book as a gift. The odd thing is I can remember a line from the spaceship story--it ran something like, "he knew that new life, new death would spring from their loins on that other world." Who can figure... cheers, H. "When it was Moonlight", my favourite vampire story written by an American, started my interest in Manly Wade Wellman. If only all short stories were as focussed and to the point.
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Post by andydecker on Apr 21, 2018 19:02:54 GMT
A few more notes--I meant to post these a couple of weeks ago, but the absurdity of "real life" interfered. And I may be repeating myself occasionally here--c'est la guerre. My "faulty memory syndrome," which was at work with this collection is that I thought there was a final tale in the book. But the story wasn't there. It told about a vampire couple who took off in a rocket, seeking new blood after the death of all life on what I vaguely recall to have been a post-atomic war Earth. What they forget is that there's no night in space and no escape from the sun once you leave our atmosphere. Maybe this was a story I read in an issue of Creepy or Eerie around the time that I received the Grosset & Dunlap cloth edition of this book as a gift. The odd thing is I can remember a line from the spaceship story--it ran something like, "he knew that new life, new death would spring from their loins on that other world." Who can figure... cheers, H. I know this story. Or at least the groaner ending. But I have forgotten who wrote this or where I have read it. E.C.Tubb? It is a bit too dumb to be Bloch, or is it?
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Post by helrunar on Apr 22, 2018 16:09:57 GMT
Thanks for the note about my mystery tale, Andy. I'm sure I must have read it somewhere. I can't recall the color of the cover of the book or whether it was a thick or thin volume (this is me having fun with some who have written in on this site).
These final bits are just stray observations to add here:
M. R. James, "An episode of cathedral history"--this made a big impression upon me, and I still love re-reading it from time to time. The tale of the Master's that made the biggest impression of all as a teen was "Count Magnus." I remember when I first saw the film Brides of Dracula on television being fascinated by one short scene that was obviously taken from "Count Magnus."
E. F. Benson, "And no bird sings" is an offbeat choice for this book. In Mr. Haining's place, I'd probably have chosen Benson's "The Room in the Tower," simply because I think it is one of the most effectively written horror stories in the canon. Perhaps not a "vampire tale" strictu sensu, but that was no impediment to at least one other selection in the book. Despite this captious comment, I was fascinated by "And No Bird Sings" as a teenager.
P. Schuyler Miller, "Over the river," is somewhat unusually praised by Mr. Haining's giving the selection his personal vote for best tale in the collection. I don't agree, but it is undoubtedly a very neatly accomplished experiment, offering a different approach to the subject matter. I looked up P. Schuyler Miller. He was much better known as a science fiction author, and was active back in the Golden Age of the pulp mags. He died in the early 70s, I think I read.
H.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 22, 2018 20:09:21 GMT
E. F. Benson, "And no bird sings" is an offbeat choice for this book. In Mr. Haining's place, I'd probably have chosen Benson's "The Room in the Tower," simply because I think it is one of the most effectively written horror stories in the canon. H. I'm guessing Haining went with And No Birds Sing & An Episode of Cathedral History over The Room In The Tower & Count Magus simply because the latter already had several anthology appearances to their credit (it didn't prevent him from reviving both for Christopher Lee's New Chamber of Horrors , Souvenir, 1974), though that may well have been C. Lee's doing). According to Mike Ashley, the ... People trilogy was intended as a quadrilogy. Volume 4, The Infamous People, was mothballed when Leslie Frewin went under. It would eventually see publication by Little Brown in 1994 as Tales From The Rogue's Gallery. The Midnight People is perhaps my all-time favourite vampire anthology, which is not to suggest it is the "best" or any of that nonsense. Haining the editor was coming into his own. The selections are so much more imaginative than the routine Where Nightmares Are of only two years earlier. Auggie Derleth, "Bat's Belfry" is juvenilia, and I'm surprised Derleth gave the nod to have it reprinted. But it's quite entertaining, and in a style that was imitated in some of the early 1950s horror comics short fiction. A genuine relic of the 1920s Weird Tales circle. Sample passage, with the idiotic narrator recounting his latest big inspiration to his diary: I have been looking over the book by De Rochas and I have hit upon an excellent plan to discover the bodies of the vampires! I shall use the Book of Thoth to summon the vampires before me and force them to reveal the hiding place of their voluptuous bodies! De Rochas says it can be done. It comes as no surprise that this fool gets exactly what's coming to him. Christine Campbell Thomson revived Bat's Belfry in More Not At Night!
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Post by helrunar on Jan 9, 2020 19:51:48 GMT
A footnote--Manly Wade Wellman's "The Devil is not mocked" was brilliantly dramatized on Rod Serling's Night Gallery series back in 1970. I've always wanted to read the original tale, and here it is--it's quite short, but effective. Vault residents, even those who do not know the TV version of the story, will see the ending coming from a mile off. talesofmytery.blogspot.com/2013/02/manly-wade-wellman-devil-is-not-mocked.htmlcheers, H.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jan 9, 2020 22:13:55 GMT
A footnote--Manly Wade Wellman's "The Devil is not mocked" was brilliantly dramatized on Rod Serling's Night Gallery series back in 1970. I've always wanted to read the original tale, and here it is--it's quite short, but effective. Vault residents, even those who do not know the TV version of the story, will see the ending coming from a mile off. This is a fun one. Have I mentioned lately that I’m a huge Wellman fan?
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Post by andydecker on Mar 11, 2021 16:17:31 GMT
Got this today. Published in 1972. A nice paperback. as "Hour of the Vampire"
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Post by samdawson on Mar 11, 2021 20:15:08 GMT
Nice artwork. Very 70s (in a good way)
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Post by Middoth on Jul 9, 2021 12:11:36 GMT
Russian cover to "The Midnight People" (1993)
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