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Post by dem on Aug 30, 2010 20:19:26 GMT
Good old Vault! Here's another book I've never heard of that I now MUST own, if only because Dem has convinced me I have to have Cuddon's Isabo in our collection! John, if you've Alex Hamilton's Splinters anthology (scary skull in hippy hat on cover) you already have Isabo. It's an odd one, like Cuddon couldn't decide whether he was writing a comedy or preempting The Exorcist so just went for it. Back in the bad old days of my tragic marking system i put a pencil tick against this one, indicating, "no need to re-read" , which suggests i was not quite of this planet at the time, just for a change. Why has that sent my to the shelves to discover to my delight I possess both The Necromancers and The Temple of Death? Is there a name for the condition in which a sufferer cannot take someone else's word that a book or a film is rubbish but must find out for themselves? Dear Chris, he'll make converts of us all.  |
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Post by cw67q on Aug 31, 2010 8:28:52 GMT
Why has that sent my to the shelves to discover to my delight I possess both The Necromancers and The Temple of Death? Is there a name for the condition in which a sufferer cannot take someone else's word that a book or a film is rubbish but must find out for themselves? Dear Chris, he'll make converts of us all. This isn't the first time I've had this effect. Late last year a friend on another list mentioned described a splurge on a sale at Ash-Tree (bid savings on orders of >6, or was it 4?, books). I advised against buying one particular novel (recommending a bunch of alternatives) too late, and the novel I slated went straight to the top of their to read list  Actually I sympathise with this. A novel described as ok, or not very good doesn't gain any appeal. But there is a certain glamour about one that is described as truely awful, the worst book I've read in years (by way of e.g.). I'd be tempted to do the same myself  - Chris |
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Post by dem on Sept 2, 2010 7:35:59 GMT
Actually I sympathise with this. A novel described as ok, or not very good doesn't gain any appeal. But there is a certain glamour about one that is described as truely awful, the worst book I've read in years (by way of e.g.). I'd be tempted to do the same myself - Chris One of the most dreadful novels i've read - and there's plenty of scope - is Dennis Wheatley's Gateway To Hell: even his hardcore fans on the late, great Bob Rothwell's board can't find much to defend in that one - but it is so awful in every department as to be almost supernaturally so. I absolutely adore it. Anyone can do boring but it takes a genius to elevate being terrible to an art form. The Necromancer is merely boring in a boring way. My tip would be to try "Etienne Aubin"'s celebrated Dracula And The Virgins Of The Undead for inspired tedium - once read, you will never forget the experience. Just another example of Jim Moffat's curious genius! i think there's enough evidence on this board to suggest it's a similar thing with at least some of us as regards cover artwork. If it can't be beautiful then i prefer something magnificently rotten over merely competent. Don't know why i wasn't bowled over by this anthology when i first read The Devil's Children but it has consistently hit the spot this time. Richard Matheson - From Shadowed Places: While in Africa, young Peter Lang, a non-too casual racist, insulted a witchdoctor who responded with a JuJu death curse. Lang's tortures include a near constant writhing beneath his skin and a gnawing at his brain that has him screaming out for death. His distraught wife Patricia turns to her father, Dr. Jennings, for support but all he can do is confirm that there is nothing medically wrong with him. Jennings wisely turns to his colleague, a young negro, Lurice Howell, who has some experience of the Dark Arts having been similarly hexed while living in a Zulu village. The exorcism she performs is by far the most dramatic - and detailed - in the book to date, but will what amounts to a sexual assault on Lang really work? Robert Bloch - The Unspeakable Betrothal: As an eight year old, Avis Long was visited in her dreams by Cthulhu's minions, who enticed her to join them via the bedroom window. Only the prompt intervention of Aunt May and Uncle Roscoe saved her from stepping out into the void. But now Avis is twenty-one, her guardians are dead, killed in an accident at Leedsville, and Avis has unbarred the window. Her fiancé, Marvin Mason, and Dr. Clegg, the family physician, are concerned at her withdrawal from the outside world and regression to childhood, but Avis is determined to join her friends in that other dimension. First she must undergo a physical transformation. Mason and the Doctor witness the results, which, to my mind should have been far more hideous. A nice slimy mass of putrid vegetation, that type of thing. |
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