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Post by dem on May 28, 2009 11:32:20 GMT
James Herbert - The Fog (New English Library, 1975) Blurb: "For goodness sake don't leave this on Aunt Edna's chair!" - Sunday Times
"Out of the yellowish fog a man emerged. His eyes were fixed straight ahead and his lips were frozen in a smile. In his hands he carried the severed, still bleeding head of his wife."Approaching four years and we've still never devoted a thread to The Fog, probably on account of it being as obvious a choice as the likewise neglected early Stephen King's. Tried The Dark again recently, wasn't the right time for me, so now, having abandoned that, might as well give up on The Fog around p.135 as well. This was certainly the Herbert i enjoyed most after The Rats - none of the rest bar Lair had the same effect. John Holman, the young, resourceful scientist we meet at the beginning, just as the army are about to commit their catastrophic bloomer on Salisbury Plain, is at least bearable as the everyman-we're-all-rooting-for (Herbert's angry heroes would grate on me after a while in a way that GNS's equally samey, pipe-smoking equivalent somehow don't) but, for this reader, The Fog's power is down to it being mostly comprised of interlinked vignettes, many of which are bloody terrific, nasty-minded, incredibly violent short horror stories in their own right. Herbert seems to really enjoying himself piling on his horrors with a trowel and you get the feeling some scores are being settled - he doubtless endeared himself to generations of schoolkids with the gory slaying of sadistic PE teacher Mr. Osborne and maybe the residents of Bournemouth upset him on his summer holiday that year as they certainly get their comeuppance. While it's difficult to argue a case for The Fog as a true When Animals Attack! outing, it's not only the humans who are turned into instant psycho's on exposure to the horrible yellow mist as the vicious murders by cats, homing-pigeons and farmer George's cows attest. So here goes: I'll be so gutted if this doesn't live up to happy memories. 
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Post by dem on May 29, 2009 10:33:59 GMT
..... So far, so good ....
John Holman, 32, an undercover investigator on behalf of the Ministry of Environment, is on assignment at the Salisbury Plain army base when an earthquake takes out the best part of a neighboring village and its population. Holman, himself fortunate to scramble to safety after his car is dragged into the yawning chasm, bravely goes back to rescue a little girl. As he's giving her a piggyback along a thin ridge, they're overcome by a noxious yellow gas rising from the gaping black hole beneath them. By the time a heroic policeman winches them to the surface, Holman is a raving lunatic.
While news of the tragedy travels across Britain, the fog-bank creeps through the surrounding countryside and those it overtakes undergo instant personality changes. Free of inhibitions, utterly fearless, the victims finally get around to do the wicked things they've always secretly wished to ....
The Reverend Martin Hurdle, Vicar of St. Augustine's, has a congregation to address once he gets back from his traditional pre-service stroll. Sometimes the congregation almost doze off during his boring sermons, so perhaps it's as well to add some theatre to the proceedings ....
Farmer George Ross is annoyed at his silly cows for strayng into the adjoining field. As he's herding them on their way, he slaps the leader hard on the rump. She doesn't appreciate it ....
Poacher Tom Abbot has never lived down the thrashing he took from Colonel Meredith when the old bastard caught him making away with a nice plump pheasant. Now Tom prowls Meredith's country house brandishing an axe and four very long nails ....
This is what Herbert used to do so well. All of the above has taken place before you reach p.30 and i've only torn myself away to write this because we've just rejoined Holman, recovering in his hospital bed a fortnight after the 'quake, so inevitably there's a lull as we learn about he and girlfriend Casey's relationship. Despite going completely mad, involving himself in a punch up with the Ambulance crew and trying to kill himself, Holman has otherwise failed to butcher, shag or indecently exposed himself to anyone while under the influence of the fog, but i'm pretty certain he's an exception so no worries that the horrors are anywhere near done with yet .....
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Post by carolinec on May 29, 2009 13:04:26 GMT
I love the start of this book! It starts with such an ordinary, pleasant setting - and then the horror hits you so suddenly it's brilliant. I haven't read a lot of Herbert, and I wouldn't class myself as a huge fan, but this is one of the best of his that I've read. ;D
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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on May 29, 2009 18:53:06 GMT
Have to say, I prefer this cover: Another one I've yet to read. I also started The Dark in my teenage years, but put it down & didn't go back to it, really must try that one again (me not finishing a book? bet you've never heard of that  ). I do remember one of the early chapters containing a description of someone looking thorugh a letterbox & seeing a labrador dragging itself along the carpet on the bloody stumps of its legs though. that image definitely stuck with me. |
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Post by dem on May 29, 2009 20:52:27 GMT
I love the start of this book! It starts with such an ordinary, pleasant setting - and then the horror hits you so suddenly it's brilliant. I haven't read a lot of Herbert, and I wouldn't class myself as a huge fan, but this is one of the best of his that I've read. ;D I was an avowed fan for life .... for all of two books. I'm not sure what happened after that. Maybe reading them out of their order of appearance put me off, but the novels i've read since have been a struggle. I don't think sacrificing breakneck pace for atmosphere and more rounded off characters necessarily worked in his case. And i've an edition of The Secret Of Crickley Hall sitting here unread that's the size of a Robinson Mammoth. i'm sure it's an engrossing read and everything, but .... Yeah, Dave yours is def the better cover - even the revolting embossed lettering can't spoil it. Can you give us the date? |
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Post by marksamuels on May 29, 2009 21:37:25 GMT
Not read this since I was at school, when I also read The Rats, Domain and The Dark. I loved the stuff then, and I am intrigued as to how I'd respond to it so many years afterwards. I remember me and my mates had many lively discussions regarding the merits of another of his books---Fluke! Oddly enough I did try some more Herbert recently: '48. I took a copy with me on my recent Mexico jaunt and spent time reading it on a Pacific Ocean beach  , drinking cold beer. It was very fast-paced but seemed much more of a thriller than a horror novel. I'll have to dig out the Herbert biography I've got stashed away here; Devil in the Dark it's called. I'll try and bung up a photo tomorrow too. Mark S. |
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Post by dem on May 29, 2009 23:18:58 GMT
I did The Rats again not so long back and loved it just as much as the first time. Fluke: nice idea, commendable attempt to do something different, never felt any inclination to revisit. Always thought Domain was bloated, like he was going for the Stephen King stadium approach (never could finish The Stand ...). Anyhow, apologies to John Holman 'cause i seriously underplayed the effect his first taste of the fog had upon him - he sure as hell would've run the entire repertoire of murder, rape and flashing had he not being securely strapped down on his bed for a fortnight! Just reached the bit where a coachload of schoolboys and their one-armed teacher have been exposed to the yellow stuff - he's fucking had it, mark my words.
Bit off track but i was thinking earlier we should maybe have another go at that '70's NEL horrors set in Britain' thing we started at the old place. Seems to me, discluding Herbert and GNS there's still a decent few - off the top of my head Brian Ball, Martin Jenson, Ian Dear, Nick Sharman, Eric Erickson, Louis Cooper, The Horror series six, etc., - but probably less than all the US reprints, which is maybe why the interest waned once we'd had an initial stab at reviewing them all?
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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on May 29, 2009 23:30:55 GMT
Yeah, Dave yours is def the better cover - even the revolting embossed lettering can't spoil it. Can you give us the date? Can do, it's a reprint from 1984 |
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Post by jamesdoig on May 30, 2009 0:15:44 GMT
My old man gave me a grubby, dog-eared copy of The Rats one summer holidays when I was a kid - never looked back. First horror story I read that was set in the here and now and described poverty, run-down tenements, homosexuality etc etc. Quite a disturbing read - must have been 10 or 12 or thereabouts.
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Post by killercrab on May 30, 2009 0:58:43 GMT
Seems to me, discluding Herbert and GNS there's still a decent few - off the top of my head Brian Ball, Martin Jenson, Ian Dear, Nick Sharman, Eric Erickson, Louis Cooper, The Horror series six, etc., - but probably less than all the US reprints, which is maybe why the interest waned once we'd had an initial stab at reviewing them all? >>
I don't think interest waned but perhaps the audience changed. I still believe that actually. Other fish to fry as they say. I've got some new Nels I will be reading soon so you can take that as a yay from the back of the auditorium here !
"Acids in the Clinic! Bats in the bloody belfry!"
The Orgy of Bubastis p.22 , Nel 1974
KC
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Post by marksamuels on May 30, 2009 9:30:31 GMT
James Herbert: Devil in the Dark The Authorised True Story of Britain's Most Terrifying Horror Writer Metro Publishing Ltd, 2003 Lots of interesting stuff in here, lots of photos, a bibliography, collectors and movie guides, some short stories, and you even get Herbert explaining his idea of what heaven is (which, being a fellow Catholic, strikes me as pretty much spot on). I didn't know that Herbert had such strong connections with Highgate and Hornsey! Anyway, all in all a nice primer for his guest of honour appearance at next year's World Horror Convention in Brighton. If you haven't booked, get on the ball! www.whc2010.org/Mark S. |
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Post by dem on May 30, 2009 12:51:46 GMT
Thanks Mark. There's also James Herbert's Dark Places (HarperCollins, 1993), with Jim taking us on a tour of all the spooky locations which inspire his work. In the disappointingly stingy few paragraphs he devotes to the cemetery, he maintains that it "was and still is to this day, a popular meeting place for Satanists, wannabe vampires and necrophiliacs" which is probably drama-queening the case something outrageous. Personally, the only remotely scary entity i've encountered in there is the ghastly HRH J--nne P---m-n herself, aggressively begging donations from the hapless tourists already fleeced for entrance fees and camera permits before allowing them to make their escape. Not sure what the situation's like now, but the late nineties were pretty hairy when goths, bikini-wearers and those suspected of journalistic activities were routinely shot mid-tour by the sinister amalgam of knout-wielding octogenarians and grim-faced hoodlums the souvenir leaflet would have us believe are "your friendly tour guides". Mind you, the last guide i had any dealings with a year or so back was a sweet, funny and very friendly young lady with dayglo hair and a neat line in mischief, so i guess standards have plummeted and it's not quite as good there these days, and .... what the ...... The Fog! Kindly stop dragging your smelly cemetery into it, Mr. S!
Chapter six. It's the one set at Redbrook House, Andover, the private boys school, and for me a high watermark of 'seventies horror fiction. Once Deputy Head 'Captain Hook' Summers, Hodges the coach-driver, and the pupils are safely back to class, Jim ably sets about demonstrating just how much sheer bloody carnage can be inflicted by mad people let loose on an abundance of gym equipment and a pair of sharp garden sheers ...
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Post by andydecker on May 30, 2009 18:19:57 GMT
I know what you mean. Herbert became hit or miss for me after the boring Magig Cottage. I truly lost interest after the awful Portent. I tried again with Others and never got more than 50 pages or so.
I would really like to know if Secret of crickley is worth the bother. I like haunted house tales, but if this is again one of those doorstoppers ...
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Post by marksamuels on May 30, 2009 21:15:26 GMT
The last time Mrs S was there at the H. Cem (last year I think), she took along a couple of young Mexican girls who were all agog about the *ahem* notorious legend. They insisted Mrs S ask HRH Misery Guts about it, and (knowing no fear, as Mrs S does) she did, at the very end of the guided walk. Cue HRH foaming at the mouth, hands flapping, eyes rolling and cries of "we never talk about that!!!!!!!!!!".
Wish I'd been there to see it, although I have encountered HRH Bride of Ejacula's funny turn on a previous occasion. I really shouldn't have bought those fake gnashers from the joke-shop with me...
Apologies, I'm seriously off topic.
Mark S.
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Post by shaun Jeffrey on May 31, 2009 9:01:26 GMT
His early work seemed to have an edge that's been blunted in his latest work. I just couldn't get into Once or Nobody True at all.
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). I do remember one of the early chapters containing a description of someone looking thorugh a letterbox & seeing a labrador dragging itself along the carpet on the bloody stumps of its legs though. that image definitely stuck with me.
, drinking cold beer. It was very fast-paced but seemed much more of a thriller than a horror novel. 
