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Post by ropardoe on Jun 24, 2020 8:29:33 GMT
For a change, Radio 4 will actually discuss SLEEP NO MORE on A GOOD READ on June 30 repeated on July 03. I'll get back about this, if I'm spared. I noticed that. And I see that one of the guest contributors to the programme will be Stuart Maconie, so I think it's a safe bet that he'll be the one discussing Rolt. He's definitely one of 'us' (an MRJ fan, etc.), so I think it should be worth listening to.
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Post by dem bones on Jan 20, 2021 13:30:36 GMT
L. T. C. Rolt - Sleep No More: Railway, Canal & Other Stories of the Supernatural (History Press, 2013) Susan Hill - Introduction
The Mine The Cat Returns Bosworth Summit Pound New Corner Cwm Garon A Visitor at Ashcombe The Garside Fell Disaster World's End Hear Not My Steps Agony of Flame Hawley Bank Foundry Music Hath Charms The Shouting The House of VengeanceBlurb: This powerful collection of stories of the supernatural combines L.T.C. Rolt's writing talent with his unparalleled knowledge of Britain's industrial heritage to produce tales of real mystery and imagination. This haunting anthology takes the reader on a journey from Cornwall to Wales and from the hill country of Shropshire to the west coast of Ireland. 'The House of Vengeance', set in the Black Mountains of South Wales, tells what happens when a walker becomes lost and disorientated as the mist falls, while in 'The Gartside Fell Disaster' an old railwayman recounts the terrible night when the 'Mountaineer' came to grief. Alongside these are twelve other tales of elemental fears and strange and inexplicable happenings. First published in 1948, this enduring collection will appeal to all those who, like Tom Rolt, are passionate about the backdrop of our industrial landscape and will delight and terrify anyone who loves a good old-fashioned ghost story.Arrived in same parcel as Men of Violence #12, obviously. An attractive modern edition, includes the two later stories from Hugh Lamb's The Thrill of Horror and The Taste of Fear. It's been so long, I'm no longer sure whether it was Bosworth Summit Pound or Hawley Bank Foundry gave me a scare on first acquaintance. It may even have been both, as each received two red asterisks [denoting "all time classic"] in my tragic '90's 'Index to stories read'. God, but I've so much crap to throw out.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jan 20, 2021 15:33:45 GMT
I own this book!
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Post by Swampirella on Jan 20, 2021 15:37:15 GMT
L. T. C. Rolt - Sleep No More: Railway, Canal & Other Stories of the Supernatural (History Press, 2013) Susan Hill - Introduction
The Mine The Cat Returns Bosworth Summit Pound New Corner Cwm Garon A Visitor at Ashcombe The Garside Fell Disaster World's End Hear Not My Steps Agony of Flame Hawley Bank Foundry Music Hath Charms The Shouting The House of VengeanceBlurb: This powerful collection of stories of the supernatural combines L.T.C. Rolt's writing talent with his unparalleled knowledge of Britain's industrial heritage to produce tales of real mystery and imagination. This haunting anthology takes the reader on a journey from Cornwall to Wales and from the hill country of Shropshire to the west coast of Ireland. 'The House of Vengeance', set in the Black Mountains of South Wales, tells what happens when a walker becomes lost and disorientated as the mist falls, while in 'The Gartside Fell Disaster' an old railwayman recounts the terrible night when the 'Mountaineer' came to grief. Alongside these are twelve other tales of elemental fears and strange and inexplicable happenings. First published in 1948, this enduring collection will appeal to all those who, like Tom Rolt, are passionate about the backdrop of our industrial landscape and will delight and terrify anyone who loves a good old-fashioned ghost story.Arrived in same parcel as Men of Violence #12, obviously. An attractive modern edition, includes the two later stories from Hugh Lamb's The Thrill of Horror and The Taste of Fear. It's been so long, I'm no longer sure whether it was Bosworth Summit Pound or Hawley Bank Foundry gave me a scare on first acquaintance. It may even have been both, as each received two red asterisks [denoting "all time classic"] in my tragic '90's 'Index to stories read'. God, but I've so much crap to throw out. It's a wonderful collection, which I intend to re-read in a month or two.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Jan 20, 2021 16:02:08 GMT
L. T. C. Rolt - Sleep No More: Railway, Canal & Other Stories of the Supernatural (History Press, 2013) Susan Hill - Introduction
The Mine The Cat Returns Bosworth Summit Pound New Corner Cwm Garon A Visitor at Ashcombe The Garside Fell Disaster World's End Hear Not My Steps Agony of Flame Hawley Bank Foundry Music Hath Charms The Shouting The House of VengeanceBlurb: This powerful collection of stories of the supernatural combines L.T.C. Rolt's writing talent with his unparalleled knowledge of Britain's industrial heritage to produce tales of real mystery and imagination. This haunting anthology takes the reader on a journey from Cornwall to Wales and from the hill country of Shropshire to the west coast of Ireland. 'The House of Vengeance', set in the Black Mountains of South Wales, tells what happens when a walker becomes lost and disorientated as the mist falls, while in 'The Gartside Fell Disaster' an old railwayman recounts the terrible night when the 'Mountaineer' came to grief. Alongside these are twelve other tales of elemental fears and strange and inexplicable happenings. First published in 1948, this enduring collection will appeal to all those who, like Tom Rolt, are passionate about the backdrop of our industrial landscape and will delight and terrify anyone who loves a good old-fashioned ghost story.Arrived in same parcel as Men of Violence #12, obviously. An attractive modern edition, includes the two later stories from Hugh Lamb's The Thrill of Horror and The Taste of Fear. It's been so long, I'm no longer sure whether it was Bosworth Summit Pound or Hawley Bank Foundry gave me a scare on first acquaintance. It may even have been both, as each received two red asterisks [denoting "all time classic"] in my tragic '90's 'Index to stories read'. God, but I've so much crap to throw out. It's a wonderful collection, which I intend to re-read in a month or two. I give "Hawley Bank Foundry" three asterisks. Its World War Two setting makes it the best Jamesian story set after MRJ's lifetime. I've yet to see it surpassed.
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Post by David A. Riley on Jan 20, 2021 18:16:16 GMT
L. T. C. Rolt - Sleep No More: Railway, Canal & Other Stories of the Supernatural (History Press, 2013) Susan Hill - Introduction
The Mine The Cat Returns Bosworth Summit Pound New Corner Cwm Garon A Visitor at Ashcombe The Garside Fell Disaster World's End Hear Not My Steps Agony of Flame Hawley Bank Foundry Music Hath Charms The Shouting The House of VengeanceBlurb: This powerful collection of stories of the supernatural combines L.T.C. Rolt's writing talent with his unparalleled knowledge of Britain's industrial heritage to produce tales of real mystery and imagination. This haunting anthology takes the reader on a journey from Cornwall to Wales and from the hill country of Shropshire to the west coast of Ireland. 'The House of Vengeance', set in the Black Mountains of South Wales, tells what happens when a walker becomes lost and disorientated as the mist falls, while in 'The Gartside Fell Disaster' an old railwayman recounts the terrible night when the 'Mountaineer' came to grief. Alongside these are twelve other tales of elemental fears and strange and inexplicable happenings. First published in 1948, this enduring collection will appeal to all those who, like Tom Rolt, are passionate about the backdrop of our industrial landscape and will delight and terrify anyone who loves a good old-fashioned ghost story.Arrived in same parcel as Men of Violence #12, obviously. An attractive modern edition, includes the two later stories from Hugh Lamb's The Thrill of Horror and The Taste of Fear. It's been so long, I'm no longer sure whether it was Bosworth Summit Pound or Hawley Bank Foundry gave me a scare on first acquaintance. It may even have been both, as each received two red asterisks [denoting "all time classic"] in my tragic '90's 'Index to stories read'. God, but I've so much crap to throw out. It's a wonderful collection, which I intend to re-read in a month or two. Just ordered a copy from amazon. Should arrive by Monday. I need something to take my mind off the awful Robert Aickman novel I have been reading.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 15, 2021 9:40:53 GMT
The Mine: The shaft at Long Barrow, 'Hell's Mouth' to those who mined it, has long been boarded shut. The men refuse to work there since a tall, thin, dirty white creature jumped from atop the cage and chased their colleague, Joe Beecher, over a quarry.
Hear Not My Steps: "Terror and misery lurked in the eyes, but otherwise the features were expressionless ..." After four fruitless investigations of reputedly deadly properties, Davies, disillusioned ghost hunter, finally strikes lucky with the fifth. Better for him if he hadn't. A long look at the phantom in residence plunges him into suicidal depression at the futility of existence. Moving through the rooms, Davies pulls aside the curtains of a four poster to discover the corpse of a once beautiful woman sprawled on the bed and beside her, a tempting length of whipcord ... Super-grim, this one. Reads like H. R. Wakefield, sans pleasantries.
World's End; While undergoing a walking tour of Pembrokeshire, bad weather forces a lone traveller to make for the nearest shelter, the World's End inn on Trevean Head, There he shares a room with an increasingly terrified old man who is visiting the district for the first time in thirty years. Half a lifetime ago, he witnessed something terrible in this very same room ...
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Post by dem bones on Mar 17, 2021 20:16:28 GMT
Bosworth Summit Pound: North Midlands, 1932. How Henry Fawcett, veteran boatman, came to grief one night in the narrow tunnel at Cold Bosworth, a seldom used section of the Great Central Canal. The place had acquired dreadful reputation, possibly in connection with the curious twin grave of a murdered gipsy girl and her treacherous lover, the heir to Coppice Farm. Whatever, bargees, a superstitious lot, refused to moor there. Fawcett, made of stronger stuff, chanced his luck ....
The Cat Returns: Stranded newly-weds obliged to seek shelter at a remote old dark house, and a discomfiting old man whom they suspect as masquerading as the owner while his master is away. This fellow, Hawkins, falls to pieces after Steven, the groom, takes a message over the telephone, "Just tell him I shall return in the morning. He'll understand." Rolt, very deliberately hamming it up, and still capable of a nasty jolt.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Mar 18, 2021 14:52:15 GMT
For a change, Radio 4 will actually discuss SLEEP NO MORE on A GOOD READ on June 30 repeated on July 03. I'll get back about this, if I'm spared. I noticed that. And I see that one of the guest contributors to the programme will be Stuart Maconie, so I think it's a safe bet that he'll be the one discussing Rolt. He's definitely one of 'us' (an MRJ fan, etc.), so I think it should be worth listening to. Nine months too late! It was worth listening to and I was glad to hear my favourite Rolt ("Hawley Bank Foundry") mentioned. I was in a steel works once. The fierce heat gave me a headache.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 20, 2021 7:26:52 GMT
Agony In Flame: Jack and our narrator explore a lifeless island on an Irish lake, a thing of "naked rock and masonry standing up out of the water." Particularly imposing, the burnt out ruin of a castle which Jack insists on exploring, determined to locate the source of a mysterious light in the window. Narrator is spooked long before their dinghy is inexplicably swept away, but Jack perseveres; he simply must pass through the doorway and solve the mystery of the cold flame. Rather than keep picking on MRJ, would prefer our TV dramatists tried their hand at adapting Rolt for the screen. The Shouting: (Hugh Lamb [ed.], The Thrill of Horror, 1975). Devon. Edward avoids woodlands following a terrifying experience. Ten years ago, a party of gipsy children (fairy folk?) passed his garden on their way to the woods for "the shouting." Fighting an inexplicable dread, Edward followed them into the trees where the kids' high-pitched yells and an accompanying, unnerving drone summon the Green Man.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 28, 2021 18:19:46 GMT
Hawley Bank Foundry: W. Midlands, 1941. German bombing raids on Birmingham drive George Frimley to relocate his ironwork's at a disused Shropshire plant. Hawley Bank Foundry was abandoned after a series of horrific freak accidents, culminating in the suicide of a despised new manager who, it seems, murdered his predecessor. From the first, Frimley's men are spooked by a prowler who evades all attempt at capture. Of greater cause for concern, the erratic behaviour of a state of the art furnace.
Hadn't read this story in more years than i care to recall, concerned that it may not hit me quite so hard second time around. And it doesn't, which is not to say it's anything less than a marvellous supernatural horror story.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Mar 29, 2021 10:12:57 GMT
Hawley Bank Foundry: W. Midlands, 1941. German bombing raids on Birmingham drive George Frimley to relocate his ironwork's at a disused Shropshire plant. Hawley Bank Foundry was abandoned after a series of horrific freak accidents, culminating in the suicide of a despised new manager who, it seems, murdered his predecessor. From the first, Frimley's men are spooked by a prowler who evades all attempt at capture. Of greater cause for concern, the erratic behaviour of a state of the art furnace. Hadn't read this story in more years than i care to recall, concerned that it may not hit me quite so hard second time around. And it doesn't, which is not to say it's anything less than a marvellous supernatural horror story. Which is what I've been saying for years. Quite incredibly "Hawley Bank Foundry" has only been anthologised once, by Hugh Lamb in A Wave of Fear. It is the cover illustration of the 1976 Coronet paperback edition.
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Post by dem bones on May 8, 2021 11:07:08 GMT
Music Hath Charm: James Hereage inherits Trevarthon House and Cove, in ever-welcoming Cornwall, from dead uncle. During the mid-eighteenth century, the property was home to Count Henneze, notorious wrecker and sensualist, and his mysterious glam sidekick, 'La Pucelle.' Needless to say, on the Count's mysterious disappearance, the locals predictably insisted he'd been carried away by the Devil. A treasure trove the richer, 'La Pucelle 'and villainous entourage quit Cornwall shortly afterward. Fatally, James invites best pal Thornton to see over his wonderful estate. It is Thornton who discovers a concealed cupboard in the wall, and inside, a strange and horribly engraved musical box. Herneage insists on winding it - and is never the same amiable, happy go lucky fellow again. He fast develops a taste for violent erotica and takes to studying demonology. When, some years later, Thornton catches up with his former friend, Herneage has taken up with a mysterious beauty, possessed of a hideous talent for musical composition.
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