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Post by Johnlprobert on Jan 10, 2009 18:32:21 GMT
Actually I'm, not starting this thread with a top 10 at all, but the contents of Ghosts & Ghouls, Stephen Jones' proposed 'Best of RCH' which has yet to find a publisher, so all two of us RCH Vault obsessives can debate the merits of their inclusion while putting together our own lists:
HOUSEBOUND
THE GATECRASHER
THE DAY THAT FATHER BROUGHT SOMETHING HOME
THE DOOR
THE ELEMENTAL
THE JUMPITY-JIM
THE COLOURED TRANSMISSION
SOMETHING COMES IN FROM THE GARDEN
THE HUMGOO
THE CRADLE DEMON
THE GIBBERING GHOUL OF GOMERSHAL
DOPPELGÄNGER
ACQUIRING A FAMILY
I'm certainly with him on THE GATECRASHER, THE DOOR, THE ELEMENTAL, THE JUMPITY-JIM and THE HUMGOO as all being excellent RCH stories. Your thoughts, Dem?
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Post by dem on Jan 10, 2009 19:32:18 GMT
I've not always understood Mr. Jones' Best New Horror selections, but he's clearly in sympathy with RCH's work and his selection certainly justifies a 'Best of ... ' tag. And you say he can't find a publisher for it? I knew things had got tough out there but even so - I'm shocked!
Wouldn't know about 'best' but these are thirteen I've thoroughly enjoyed. There's a kind of Amicus feel to many of them which I like. I couldn't remember which of the Francis St. Clare stories did it for me, so, alas he and the divine Frederica will have to make do with warming the subs bench with She Walks On Dry Land. I seem to recall being impressed by Markland The Hunter, Acquiring A Family and Throwback too but they're not registering just now.
The Humgoo
The Day Father Brought Something Home
The Ghost Who Limped
An Act Of Kindness
Loft Conversion
Looking For Something To Suck
The Chair
Under The Skin
Come To Me My Flower
Housebound
The Ninth Removal
Never Take Drinks From A Strange Woman
It Came To Dinner
Had best post this before I decide to scrub any of them off!
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jan 10, 2009 21:47:19 GMT
Ok- ten off the top of my head that I would recommend to anyone:
The Gatecrasher (The Unbidden)
The Door (Cold Terror)
Someone is Dead (The Elemental)
The Labyrinth (The Elemental)
The Humgoo (The Monster Club)
A Family Welcome (The Unbidden)
A Chill to the Sunlight (Phantoms & Fiends)
Louis (The House of Dracula)
The Chair (The Cradle Demon)
The Resurrectionist (Tales of Fear & Fantasy)
The Resurrectionist is reprinted in the Kimber Tales From Beyond as The Painted Door. Chill to the Sunlight leads off the Kimber antho of the same name edited by Rick Ferreira. The end of it is one of the most Amicus-feeling stories they never did. I love Louis because the whole thing is done in letters and I still get a shiver as the central character starts to realise that the hotel in which she's staying has become divorced from reality. The Labyrinth always gets mentioned because it's a weird vampire story but I like it because the old country house becomes a massive maze with blood-drained zombies stuck to the walls. The Chair, in retrospect, is very like the Edogawa Rampo story of the same name. A Family Welcome has that marvellous scene at the end where the coach is stopped and the vampires are waiting for the heroine on that bleak blasted heath. Someone is Dead is the first Fred and Francis mystery & gets on the list because that's the one where they scare the ghosts off by playing them TV adverts for PG Tips. The Humgoo is the best of The Monster Club but The Mock is a close second. The Gatecrasher and The Door are just classics.
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Post by dem on Jan 11, 2009 10:23:53 GMT
Doppelganger from Stephen Jones' selection, A Chill to the Sunlight and The Resurrectionist from yours are unknown to me (which is good news: means there are still some decent ones to discover). The Door, Gatecrasher and Humgoo would likely figure on most RCH fans' lists - excellent stories all, they're like his greatest hits. I adore The Chair because it reads like a spookily lost sequence from classic Amicus portmanteau Asylum! Someone Is Dead is the Francis & Fred adventure I was thinking of. Louis and The Labyrinth have joined The Jumpity-Jim on the to re-read list, but, if things go to plan, after i've finished Tales From The Other Side it's the turn of - oh no! an RCH novel! - The King's Ghost!
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jan 11, 2009 14:40:41 GMT
I bought The King's Ghost mint at a church jumble sale in the lake district in 1987 and didn't read it for ten years. It wouldn't have been worth a wait of ten minutes. It's an historical novel rather than a ghost story, and it's certainly not horror - approach wth caution
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Post by dem on Jan 11, 2009 15:14:16 GMT
Thanks John. Right inspired me with confidence, that!
I've a feeling i've read it before and didn't dislike it as much as i did Kamtellar which i'm in no huge rush to return to, even in the interests of dead scholarly research and stuff. You have to draw the line somewhere.
Maybe we should try for a definitive Worst of ... RCH next ...
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Post by dem on Nov 4, 2012 20:33:34 GMT
Actually I'm, not starting this thread with a top 10 at all, but the contents of Ghosts & Ghouls, Stephen Jones' proposed 'Best of RCH' which has yet to find a publisher, so all two of us RCH Vault obsessives can debate the merits of their inclusion while putting together our own lists: While i remember, recently learned from Stephen Jones that his long-awaited Best Of R. Chetwynd-Hayes collection now has a publisher, and he's promised to pass on the details as and when. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 5, 2012 0:45:52 GMT
While i remember, recently learned from Stephen Jones that his long-awaited Best Of R. Chetwynd-Hayes collection now has a publisher, and he's promised to pass on the details as and when. I hope that it includes "The Humgoo" given how highly you and JLP rate that story. As far as I can tell it's never been reprinted, and copies of The Monster Club seem difficult to come by. |
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Post by dem on Nov 5, 2012 1:05:06 GMT
CB, John has posted the contents up top of this thread and, yes, The Humgoo is in there. Have you ever seen Milton Subotsky film's of The Monster Club? Bizarre doesn't even begin to cover it, but it's strangely in keeping with Chetwynd-Hayes almost despite itself. The Shadmock episode is entirely different to Ronald's original and, to my way of thinking, a massive improvement.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Nov 5, 2012 9:17:20 GMT
CB, John has posted the contents up top of this thread and, yes, The Humgoo is in there. Have you ever seen Milton Subotsky film's of The Monster Club? Bizarre doesn't even begin to cover it, but it's strangely in keeping with Chetwynd-Hayes almost despite itself. The Shadmock episode is entirely different to Ronald's original and, to my way of thinking, a massive improvement. My essay on THE MONSTER CLUB - the film - will be appearing in a forthcoming book on British horror films of the 1980s. It IS a very odd film, and a very odd screenplay, but The Shadmock story is an improvement on the original. The movie segment is actually a swansong of an entire subgenre of British cinema, and it's almost as if everyone involved knows it. The Faure's Cavatina music is sad enough by Douglas Gamley's original score is more melancholic than usual. Even Geoffrey Bayldon's in it! |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 5, 2012 15:28:52 GMT
CB, John has posted the contents up top of this thread and, yes, The Humgoo is in there. Thanks! Not sure how I missed that. Have you ever seen Milton Subotsky film's of The Monster Club? Bizarre doesn't even begin to cover it, but it's strangely in keeping with Chetwynd-Hayes almost despite itself. No, though it sounds like a lot of fun . . . [/i] episode is entirely different to Ronald's original and, to my way of thinking, a massive improvement. [/quote] The Shadmock story is an improvement on the original. I actually enjoyed the original when I read it in The Mammoth Book of Monsters. I didn’t care for “The Werewolf and the Vampire” as much, however (I read that one in Alan Ryan's The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories). |
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Post by humgoo on Jul 16, 2019 14:56:17 GMT
Actually I'm, not starting this thread with a top 10 at all, but the contents of Ghosts & Ghouls, Stephen Jones' proposed 'Best of RCH' which has yet to find a publisher[...] While i remember, recently learned from Stephen Jones that his long-awaited Best Of R. Chetwynd-Hayes collection now has a publisher[...] Dem has already reported the upcoming RCH book, but I think this thread should be bumped, if only just to celebrate the fact that it's finally coming after a decade! Patience is a virtue etc... |
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Post by dem on Jul 16, 2019 19:31:43 GMT
Actually I'm, not starting this thread with a top 10 at all, but the contents of Ghosts & Ghouls, Stephen Jones' proposed 'Best of RCH' which has yet to find a publisher[...] While i remember, recently learned from Stephen Jones that his long-awaited Best Of R. Chetwynd-Hayes collection now has a publisher[...] Dem has already reported the upcoming RCH book, but I think this thread should be bumped, if only just to celebrate the fact that it's finally coming after a decade! Patience is a virtue etc... Am curious as to the TOC (anyone seen them?). I'm not sure it is quite the same greatest hits collection Mr. Jones originally intended, but with the promise of a previously unpublished novella, even some non-fiction (by RCH?) it's more than welcome. |
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Post by cromagnonman on Jul 16, 2019 21:33:24 GMT
But a rare reprint of a Fred & Francis story? Ye gods, Nnnnnnnooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!
I actually made it halfway through the series as research for a review when I found myself risking the same fate as befell Grunthos the Flatulent, poetmaster of the Azgoths of Kria, and having my major intestine throttle my brain. One more frilly knickers gag is all it would have taken, I swear.
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Post by helrunar on Jul 16, 2019 22:08:52 GMT
The fate of Grunthos the Flatulent? Grisly indeed!
So glad you were spared to tell to us your thrilling tales of bookshops of yesterday and today, Richard!
cheers, Steve
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