what are you reading?

[Jojo Lapin X]

I just received the Wildside edition of the Hugh B Cave collection MURGUNSTRUMM AND OTHERS, edited by Karl Edward Wagner and originally published by his own Carcosa Press in 1977. The Wildside version was printed on the demand, just for me, just a few days ago! It looks like it was printed on a dot matrix printer, but it was less expensive than the original would have been.

I had a Cave epiphany a few years ago. I had bought DEATH STALKS THE NIGHT, a collection of his "weird menace" stories also edited by Wagner. When I first started reading it I could not believe what I was seeing---a level of offensive imbecility, I felt, beyond anything I had previously encountered. Then, suddenly, somehow, I was hooked, and now I cannot get enough of that kind of stuff.

[Johnlprobert]

That's the version of Murgunstrumm we have, JoJo - with those creepy Lee Brown Coye illustrations!

I also read Death Stalks the Night a few years ago and wondered if I'd stumbled on someone to rival Dennis Wheatley for sheer lurid pulp thrills. I thought Cave's other collection from Fedogan & Bremer, The Door Below, was better.

[Jojo Lapin X]

Sept 13, 2010 20:13:11 GMT Johnlprobert said:

I thought Cave's other collection from Fedogan & Bremer, The Door Below, was better.

Say what? I had no idea such a thing existed. Are you sure?

[Johnlprobert]

Sept 13, 2010 20:25:19 GMT Jojo Lapin X said:

Sept 13, 2010 20:13:11 GMT Johnlprobert said:

I thought Cave's other collection from Fedogan & Bremer, The Door Below, was better.

Say what? I had no idea such a thing existed. Are you sure?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Door_Below

It's nowhere near as large a volume as Death Stalks the Night but I liked it more

[Jojo Lapin X]

Well, what do you know. I have never seen this on the Arkham House website. Thanks!

[lemming13]

The downside of the Kindle has hit; battery went flat halfway through Richard Garnett's Twilight of the Gods. No matter; Robert Schneck's The President's Vampire was to hand, so I'm revisiting that one.

[lewistown64]

Rumble - Harlan Ellison

"A teen-age gang leaders brutal story"

Attachments:

[lewistown64]

Opium - Jean Cocteau - Icon

Attachments:

[killercrab]

Just finished Lovecraft's The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward which took far longer than I expected. I'd read a few of his shorter stories but this was a slog in an intense reading way. I'm glad I persevered as I did enjoy the experience. Practically no characterisation , no dialogue just a total focus on the HORROR and then hardly anything is revealed!

Would I read more ? - sure he's definately part of my library now ( virtual maybe hee).

Am reading Robert E Howard's The Children Of The Night at present.

KC

[Dr Strange]

I was supposed to be getting back into the Wordsworth Oliver Onions collection, but can't see that happening until I have finished P.G. Maxwell-Stuart's "biography" of Satan, which I started reading when I felt that Onions wasn't really living up to expectations. I've read a lot of Maxwell-Stuart's stuff (he is a bona fide expert on the occult - or, should I say, the history of occult beliefs and practices - and lectures on same at St. Andrews university), though I am not enjoying this as much as I did some of his others (especially "Ghosts: A History").

Also at the top of the TBR pile is the 7th Black Book, the Wordsworth A.B. Edwards, the Wordsworth Marjorie Bowen, and the Paizo collection of Manley Wade Wellman stories "Who Fears The Devil" - all of which have been sitting more-or-less unopened and gathering dust since purchase (in other words, I've read all the intros, which I always do when I get a new book, but nothing else). There is something comforting about having all those just sitting waiting for me to find the time, but also something quite irritating...

[lemming13]

I've had to put the Onions down (and how weirdly that reads!) for a bit, too. And Gogol's The Cloak is on hold; I felt the need for some upfront nastiness, so I'm re-reading John Coulthard's brilliantly twisted illustrations of Mythos stories, The Haunter of the Dark; Christopher Moore's Coyote Blue; and Sax Rohmer's Brood of the Witch Queen (perverse old thing that he was, ).

[H_P_Saucecraft]

Just finished The Rising - Brian Keene. An interesting take on the Zombie genre incorporating Keene's 'Labyrinth' Mythos (bit complicated to explain here & I'm only just scratching the surface on it), which runs through all his books, but he sets them all out to work as stand-alones, so it's not necessary to have read anything else by him.

Here, the zombies are caused by entities called the Siquissm, released from 'the void', another dimenson opened up by a particle collider (an obvious fictional version of the Large Hadron Collider), chief among them, the Lovecraftian type entity Ob.

These entities are intent on killing humans, but leave the brain & enough intact, so their fellow Siquissm can take over the bodies. Animals are taken over as well, so at one scene at the zoo, there's a zombie lion!

As these zombies result from intelligent beings, they're far more dangerous, they can drive, shoot guns, etc. & have a nice line in sarcasm.

The Main plot concerns Jim, trying to get to New Jersey to save his son Danny, after he gets trapped in the attic, once Jim's ex-wife & her new husband, turn into zombies. This, as you can imagine, is difficult - what with zombies, a rogue army unit press-ganging civilians & survivalist types on the loose.

As usual with Keene, it's great. I'm just waiting for the sequel 'City Of The Dead' to come in at the library.

I'm currently about 50 pages away from finishing The Conqueror Worms - Brian Keene. More on that later.

[David A. Riley]

I enjoyed The Rising too. A true pulp classic.

The use of zombie animals and other creatures is very effective - especially the zombie birds, a truly frightening phenomenon.

[doug]

I tried to read "The Rising" last month and found the whole series of events so upsetting that I laid it aside and haven't picked it back up yet. I'm turning into a real weenie in my old age! LOL!

take care.
Doug

[doug]

Sept 13, 2010 18:08:23 GMT Jojo Lapin X said:

I just received the Wildside edition of the Hugh B Cave collection MURGUNSTRUMM AND OTHERS, edited by Karl Edward Wagner and originally published by his own Carcosa Press in 1977. The Wildside version was printed on the demand, just for me, just a few days ago! It looks like it was printed on a dot matrix printer, but it was less expensive than the original would have been.

I had a Cave epiphany a few years ago. I had bought DEATH STALKS THE NIGHT, a collection of his "weird menace" stories also edited by Wagner. When I first started reading it I could not believe what I was seeing---a level of offensive imbecility, I felt, beyond anything I had previously encountered. Then, suddenly, somehow, I was hooked, and now I cannot get enough of that kind of stuff.

Shudder Pulps are a weird thing. I hade a copy of Murgunstrumm back in 83 and after a few stories took it ack to the seller and convinced him to give me my money back. Now though I have the Wildside edition, Deathstalks the Night and the other Fedogan edition. Now I enjoy them quite a bit In small doses and with a pinch of salt. These (IMHO) are the same as richard Laymon books. I will never keep Laymon in the house, but if I run across a used copy I will read it and then set it in Ebay. They're a 100% shameful guilty pleasure. I get offended and disgusted, but still finish the book!! LOL
I would love to know if people read these things back then with a sense of irony or were a lot of folks realy into this stuff.
Through the vault i downloaded the .pdf of "The molemen want your eyes" 2 days ago and didn't know what freaked me out more.
A 12 year old girl getting gang "violated" and then having her eyes cut out or the goofy "Scooby Doo" ending. I kind of creeps me out a little bit to think that someone might get turned on by this stuff. I hate to admit it though, but that won't stop me from reading it myself.

take care.
Doug