|
Post by erebus on Mar 6, 2010 14:10:02 GMT
Forgive me if we have had a thread on this one. I don't seem to have seen one around though. As for a subtitle to the cover I will leave that to the other members here. " Oozy chocolate face " perhaps.
Anyway just pulled this one down and thought I would go through and read it again. Up till now ive only got a couple of the shorts tales done leaving the longer efforts for later .
TEA LEAVES by Rebecca Bradley ... Bog standard tale of a hubby who is a bit fed up of his wife after all these years due to her daft habbits and hobbies including ouija boards and seances. Maybe her tea leaves will give her a for taste of things to come. I'm guessing skilled readers know exactly were this is going.
UPSTARTS by Johnny Yen ... Young lad who sweeps chimneys to earn his pittance with his bully of a master meet an untimely and very odd demise when they ( or rather the master ) decide to steal goodies from the wrong home.
THE SANDMAN by David Williamson ... Young man gets up early for his morning stroll along the cliffs only to plummet over the edge. But not to his doom. He will wish he died after what he has to endure. Story slightly reminiscent of Fay Woolf's SLOWLY.
DEATH FROM AUTOPHILIA by Jay Wilde ... Ridiculous story of a fella who looses his job sells his home and decides to live in his car. His obsession soon gets the better of him and we get a dull pointless boring outcome to what is a pathetic story that will have you thinking " if this can get published so can I " Pointless time waster that belongs in a childs book not a Pan .
FIRST BLOOD by ...F.R.Welsh ... A love smitten couple decide to go away for the weekend so he and she can eventually pop each others cherry. After meeting up with a hefty chap who owns a boat in a bar he tells em some dull tale of Viking history. The couple decide to get their oats on a boat but come a cropper. Long winded yarn that is instantly forgetable . And even at 12 pages its a drag.
ALL SOULS by ...Rebecca Bradley ... Another short from Rebecca Bradley has a Dr involved in a smash . We gather the guys a total toss pot and whilst he's bed ridden in some strange hospital called All Souls, we gain insight to his thoughts and just how mean the guy is. But did he really survive ? and we all know what happens to bad people who don't go to heaven.
FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN by ...Brent R Smith ... Perhaps the best tale so far. I young man who is love struck travels to the countryside to meet his love whom he has'nt seen for twelve weeks . Along the way the locals regard his ambience as he floats about smitten and he gets the red carpet treatment . But the fun arrives when he ventures to the woods to the meeting point where his girlfriend will be. I recall another story almost identical to this in a previous volume strangely enough.
To be brutally frank this is shaping up to be the worst volume I have read. It has been years since I read this volume but I do not recall it being as poor which basically rubber stamps what we all know and that is the later efforts are very pale imatations to the earlier books.
I will report on the other stories when I am through reading them. Hopefully they pick up.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 9, 2010 19:48:15 GMT
Clarence Paget (ed.) - 28th Pan Book Of Horror Stories (1987) Alan Temperley - The Abandoned Dam Rebecca Bradley - Tea Leaves Johnny Yen - Upstarts John H. Snellings - First Come, First Serve Stephen King - Grey Matter Christopher Fowler - Final Call For Passenger Paul David Williamson - The Sandman J. M. Pickles - More Birds Jay Wilde - Death From Autophilia Philip Lorimer - Under The Carpet F. R. Welsh - First Blood Rebecca Bradbury - All Souls Brent R. Smith - Falling In Love AgainForgive me if we have had a thread on this one. I don't seem to have seen one around though. actually, i don't think we've had a thread for this one before, unless you include one on Vault Mk. I which was a page of moaning about how much it cost on Amazon. thank you for taking us through it! it looks like you've got most of the more mundane than ever, pan-horror-by-numbers filler out of the way, as Alan Temperley and Chris Fowler are always worth a read and i remember John Snellings had a bloody great horrible one, Flies in Van Thal's 2nd Bedside Book Of Strange Stories. Stephen King's Grey Matter is lovely and sick, but i can never think of him as a Pan Horror author.
|
|
|
Post by Johnlprobert on Mar 9, 2010 21:50:26 GMT
I'd agree that Stephen King doesn't count as a Pan author. Christopher Fowler does though, and Final Call for Passenger Paul is an absolute classic, and one of my favourite stories to take with me on long haul flights (along with Matheson's Nightmare at 20 000 Feet )
|
|
|
Post by Craig Herbertson on Mar 10, 2010 8:17:51 GMT
Stephen King's 'The Ledge' was in 29. It's a good story but I thoroughly agree - it wasn't really Pan.
|
|
|
Post by erebus on Mar 10, 2010 13:37:07 GMT
It could well be the poorest Pan of the series by a mile.
FIRST COME FIRST SERVE. By John H Snelling ... Middle age man is fed up with his once attractive wife who now has become some whiney bloater. He sets of to seek help from an organisation who can help eradicate these type of problems. Alas something more important turns up before they get chance to to him his favour. The title tells all basically.
FIRST CALL FOR PASSENGER PAUL. By Christopher Fowler ... When Paul falls asleep and misses his stop on a flight to Cyprus it begins a constant detour to various airstrips so he can get to his appropiate destination. But he begins to realise his chain is beings pulled. And we learn the reason why the check-in-girl gave his passport a strange blue sticker.
MORE BIRDS. By J. M Pickles ... Generic story of a daft old biddy who is terroised by birds especially a one eyed magpie. And silly tale which go's exactly were you would expect and has silly subject matter that does little to scare, gross out or impress.
UNDER THE CARPET. By Philip Lorimer ... After a young local lad catches the eye of a pretty "working girl" he becomes besotted by her. When she dissapears he sets off to find her. Shes in the home of a wealthy father who has taken the girl for someone special to him. But its not in the way imagined. Best story in the book so far in my opinion.
That leaves two more Stories from Temperley and King. Collectors will feel a hell of a lot let down if they have to pay through the teeth for this volume to complete a set. Under the Carpet was the only true Pan horror style tale in the whole book for me.
|
|
|
Post by erebus on Mar 11, 2010 10:38:16 GMT
Ok Finished this. The Alan Temperley story is well written, concerning two cousins in Australia who go on a trip through the outback for a few days. One plans to murder the other to gain some inheritance. But of course things go wrong as it is a horror tale. A little to overlong as we pretty much establish the outcome to this early on in but a good story none the less.
As for the King story it is good a yucky. Grey matter refering to what someone becomes as opposed to brains.
Interestingly Its titled GREY MATTER here in the Pan book. But GRAY MATTER in the Night Shift collection.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Sept 14, 2015 15:06:45 GMT
Clarence Paget (ed.) – 28th Pan Book Of Horror Stories (1987) Photo: John Knights Kind of appropriate that "Old Turdface" should grace the cover of what is possibly the least celebrated volume in the series. King's story is juicy (but he shouldn't be in here), Chris Fowler is always readable, likewise Mr. Temperley, whose opener I'm leaving until such times as the going gets dull, and David Williamson has since become a Black Book Of Horror regular. Rebecca Bradley – Tea Leaves: "How long did it take me to realise that mystic meant fatuous, and that the dreamy dark eyes were the windows of a vacant mind? Not long. Not long at all." " To the exasperation of her husband, Velisande the wannabe psychic (née Edna), has squandered his cash on every tedious occult fad of the past twenty seven years. And still she doesn't see what's coming to her? So much for 'Spirit Guides'! Johnny Yen – Upstarts: The class struggle. A chimney sweep rashly decides to rob his new client, a doddery, eccentric scientist, while his put-upon young apprentice does the graft. But the elderly chap is not the pushover he appears and his ingenious contraptions are lethal. What the peasant rabble got up to in late eighteenth-century France won't be happening in dear old Blighty if he has anything to do with it! True to form, the innocent urchin comes off the worst. John H. Snellings – First Come, First Serve: Twelve years into their marriage, Helen is no longer the slim attractive girl Bob Morrison fell in love with, but a lard-arsed nag with the appetite of a gannet. Time to avail himself of Strickland & Associates "We cremate the living" service. You already know the ending. Mr. Snelling specialised in these mild-mannered accountant types on the edge shockers but, sadly, this is no Flies. David Williamson – The Sandman: He falls 60 ft. from the crumbling cliff face, hitting the sand so hard he's buried to the neck. His every limb shattered, the luckless young man finds himself at the mercy of five year old idiot twin brothers.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Sept 15, 2015 4:52:11 GMT
I'd agree that Stephen King doesn't count as a Pan author. Christopher Fowler does though, and Final Call for Passenger Paul is an absolute classic, and one of my favourite stories to take with me on long haul flights (along with Matheson's Nightmare at 20 000 Feet ) Christopher Fowler – Final Call For Passenger Paul: Early best-of-book contender. Paul, a 28-year-old record exec., is all set for a fortnight's holiday in Cyprus. Prior to boarding his flight at Heathrow, the smiley check-in girl applies the blue sticker of doom to his ticket, and the nightmare is underway! Massive spoiler on back cover. Jay Wilde – Death From Autophilia: Recently bereaved, Seymore Puckett, 55-year-old salesman, takes to living in his car, the only place he feels at peace. But his withdrawn from the rat race makes him an object of hostile suspicion. All roads lead to the wreckers yard. Stephen King - Grey Matter: Bad business decision by the proprietor of Henry's Nite-Owl to invest in a cask of Richie Grenadine's home brew. Super sick man-into-slime mayhem ensues. Probable inspiration for Redneck Zombies. See also Gray Matter/ CavalierSo far, #28 failing to live down to its abject reputation.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Sept 15, 2015 16:39:08 GMT
J. M. Pickles – More Birds: "By nightfall she disliked tits intensly." Mrs. Pennyfeather versus a vengeful, oversized magpie who lost a leg in one of her traps. Soon the filthy creature has marshalled entire local bird population into a ruthless army. Ornithophobia, social isolation ("Mrs. Pennyfeather was a woman of vision. She knew what visits of employees of the Department of Health could lead to."), gory ending as spoilered on back cover. References Hitchcock's The Birds.
Philip Lorimer – Under The Carpet: Early experience in the life of the late Jason Carleton - "the century's greatest anthologist of true tales of the macabre" - and nearest we've had to a thirties horror pulp throwback. Whitechapel circa 1901-10. Jason, 17, loses his heart to Sally, a beautiful streetwalker, and traces her to the home of a man he believes to be a white slaver. The truth is far more hideous. The kidnapper keeps a beast in the cellar - his own son, "cursed in India by the plague of flesh-eating ghouls." Truly a ripping yarn!
Rebecca Bradbury – All Souls: A fatal car accident. Dr. Rossiter, philanderer and all round rotter, wakes up in a hospital that is not his own to learn his bit-on-the-side is conveniently dead, and he's about to undergo surgery at the hands, claws and tusks of kindly Dr. Smith. Bit so-so, if I'm honest. Preferred Tea Leaves
OK, Mr. Temperley. Time for you to do your stuff.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Sept 16, 2015 14:59:04 GMT
Alan Temperley – The Abandoned Dam. The last temptation of Baz Fawcett, sixteen. Either endure the thankless life of a sheep farmer in Koolamarra, or murder his cousin Michael, same age, and inherit a title, the family fortune and the best London society can offer.
We begin with the funeral of Ted Fawcett, 49, career alcoholic and failed farmer. Uncle Charles - Lord Fawcett of Windrush - Aunt Fern, and cousins Stephanie and Michael fly in from England to pay their respects, with Michael remaining behind with Baz for a month to experience life in the Outback. Baz can't abide Michael, who he correctly identifies as a devious bit of goods and fellow closet sadist (legacy of the public schools). Why should he have it so cushy when Baz, of the same blood, is condemned to a life of slavery - and all to settle his degenerate old man's debts? When Baz is informed over the telephone that Uncle Charles' party have perished in a plane crash leaving Michael sole heir to the Windbrush estate, it's as if a once in a lifetime opportunity has landed in his lap.
Next day, Baz invites Michael to ride with him into the desert to explore the abandoned dam. Michael, blissfully unaware of the tragedy that's befallen his loved ones, complies. Now its simply a matter of luring the creep down to investigate a concrete pipe suspended hundreds of feet above the valley floor, withdraw the rope, and leave him to slowly roast alive, a process Baz estimates will take three days maximum, provided the mosquitos don't finish him first ....
That, it seems is that, but the arrival of a teenage Aborigine complicates matters and there are many a twist and turn before we reach the inevitable nihilistic pay off.
F. R. Welsh – First Blood: "By January Neil had Lucy's silver prefect's badge undone and her white Viyella blouse off ...", and now the loved up sixth formers have surreptitiously arranged a weekend away on Lindisfarne to consummate their passion. The hotel bed doesn't seem magical enough somehow, so lets do it on the beach, beneath this 200 ton fishing boat! Part travelogue, part lecture on Scandinavian mythology, briefly enlivened by Neil's pub brawl with a bunch of Glaswegians who've been on the piss all day. Set in 1949, but if there is any significance in the date it is lost on me.
And a slimy one to end on.
Brent R. Smith – Falling In Love Again: It's twelve weeks since he last said goodbye to Catherine in the woodland glade by the river, surely time enough for her to change her mind, admit her love for him? No, still giving him the silent treatment. What a rotter.
It's all a question of what you're looking for in a Pan horror, I guess. If you're primary interest is extreme gore and bad sex, seek elsewhere as #28 is not the volume for you. Give or take (sorry!) First Blood and All Souls, I enjoyed it!
|
|