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Post by weirdmonger on Apr 25, 2008 15:57:39 GMT
I've just finished Reggie Oliver's three collections in 'one sitting' as it were:
The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini and Other Strange Stories (Haunted River 2003) The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler (Haunted River 2005) Masques of Satan: Twelve Tales and a Novella (Ash Tree Press 2007)
This was a significant experience in my reading life. Combining the odd dark pleasures to be found in Robert Aickman, Walter de la Mare, M.R. James, Elizabeth Bowen, Oliver Onions but some elemental beyond these called Reggie Oliver ... with an idiosyncratic love of the British seaside, theatrical productions, conscious paintings, crabby scholars, teachers like those from the English grammar school I went to in the fifties and sixties, strange lusts and desires ... and essentially compulsive story telling, with evil swirling about fleshily or spiritually or both... And much else.
A major modern Horror writer. Virgin territory for most, I guess.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Apr 25, 2008 16:45:12 GMT
Absolutely. I have these three volumes and thought they were both marvellous and entirely worthy of revisiting again and again. Mr Oliver is an absolute gentleman in real life and we spent a delightful evening enjoying champagne and cassis together while discussing the finer points of macabre fiction, film, and impersonating amongst others Dennis Price.
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Post by David A. Riley on Apr 25, 2008 17:50:22 GMT
I only have his latest collection, Masques of Satan, but that's enough to show me what an outstanding writer RO is. One of the great new finds. It's a great shame he wasn't writing stuff like this back in the 70's when the writers like Chetwynd-Hayes was going. I think RCH would have very quickly been eclipsed and RO would have had the kind of mass market publishing his writing deserves.
David
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Post by marksamuels on Apr 27, 2008 22:01:05 GMT
You're all way behind me !!! I was first singing Reggie's praises five years ago when his first collection of ghost stories was issued, and was I listened to then? No, no, no. Was I listened to after his second book when I compared him to Robert Aickman? No, no, no Seriously, the man's one of the all-time greats. His three books have pride of place in my collection. John--I wish someone had filmed your evening with Reggie. It would have been a treat to see the two of you hanging out, drinking port and chatting about ghost stories together. The only time I met Reggie (at a BFS bash in 2006 I think) I was wearing shorts and had to apologise for my bare knees. Mark S.
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Post by weirdmonger on Apr 28, 2008 7:52:21 GMT
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Post by Johnlprobert on Apr 28, 2008 14:21:39 GMT
"John--I wish someone had filmed your evening with Reggie. It would have been a treat to see the two of you hanging out, drinking port and chatting about ghost stories together."
Hi Mark - yes it was excellent. Perhaps we could do a midnight FCon reading with leather chairs & port on stage - we could each tell a portmanteau-style story and then there could be some sort of punchline to the performance.
Hmmmmmmmmm...
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Post by benedictjjones on May 16, 2008 11:57:02 GMT
^Now that sounds cool!!
are these books easy to find??
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Post by weirdmonger on May 17, 2008 18:50:04 GMT
are these books easy to find?? I'm afraid not. They're either out of print or very expensive.
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Post by benedictjjones on May 19, 2008 9:48:14 GMT
^ah well! i'll keep my eyes peeled anyway, cheers!
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