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Post by David A. Riley on Sept 30, 2010 11:33:10 GMT
oh, bollocks to the awards! Tony Richards - The In-Betweeners: Birchiam Pier is the haunt of strange teen gangs who the narrator, a slightly reclusive author of weird fiction, believes may be responsible for the recent drowning of a harmless tramp. After witnessing a bizarre fracas outside a bar, he trails a group of the dark clad, monosyllabic, ever-staring youths to their lair and worms out their terrible secret. Sensing he's onto them, the South Coast's answer to Innsmouth's finest deformities pay a late night visit to his apartment block. Rooftop drama ensues ... I've just read this - and what a brilliant story to end this anthology on! A good, easy, intriguing read. I'll never hear the word "suppose" again quite the same. I admire the economy with which this story is told - and your puns, dem, when describing it.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 30, 2010 13:21:15 GMT
I think Charles has consistently picked the right story to end on, certainly over the past three volumes. Lord P.'s Two For Dinner gleefully smashes home the point that #5 has been an attempt at the ultimate Pan Book Of Horror Stories tribute. Mark Samuels' Keeping Your Mouth Shut closes #6 on an ugly note of brutal nihilism and now we have a collection which begins and ends with creepy stories set on piers. Reggie Oliver - Minos Or Rhadamanthus: Well, for sheer quality, Reggie’s story is very much on a par with Paul Finch’s and it similarly seethes with a sense of oeutre sexuality. Whereas Paul’s was obsessive, this one’s sado-masochistic. Caverner recalls his days as a public-school boy under the tutelage of the Rev. C.W. Margetson and his titular, and symbolic, twin canes alluding to Classical Greek mythology. Seeing as it’s Reggie at work, and given the fact he is, imo, the best ghost story author now living, mere sexual kicks aren’t just what this story is all about. There’s also a persuasive sense of the corrosive guilt of characters drowning in the psychological torment of having become their own worst enemy, which, coupled with an incomparably flawless prose-style, are executed with a panache far beyond the powers of most of the highly lauded writers prominent in the field today. Again, another 1st class story and a prime contender for the Best of... horror anthologies. I retract my claim about this being possibly the best anthology I've seen this year: it is the best anthology I've seen this year. Mark S. What he said! the Rev. C.W. Margetson is better suited for the sex-offenders list than a teaching career and Caverner, returning from Flanders "on leave" in 1916, at first has no idea why he should choose St. Cyprians and, in particular, its cricket pavilion to return to when it holds such monstrous memories for him. Only when he meets Margetson does he realise what he's come to tell him. Its a classy ghost story, this time more L. P. Hartley than M. R. James (?), and my pick of Reggie Oliver's contributions to the series so far. it's the stories that rely on atmosphere i find most difficult to comment upon as they defy my tragic "and then this guy fell into a crusher and got pounded into a cube ... and then this girl got hacked to pieces and eaten by earwigs" way with a synopsis and in the case of #7, along with The Green Bath, those which have given me the biggest headache to date are - would you credit it - stories one, two and three, though Minos Or Rhadamanthus would be a strong contender for a personal Best Of The Black Book Of Horror as would; Thana Niveau - The Pier: "If you're seeing strange things in those plaques I'd advise you to turn around and go back the way you came" warns the discomfiting old timer fishing from the burnt out Victorian pier, but after spending a week with Claudia's impossibly bigoted parents, Alan is in no mood to listen to anything these sour coastal types have to tell him. But once Claudia has abandoned him to stubbornly progress further along the promenade, he finds it increasingly unnerving that the row upon row of cryptic memorials seem to be directed at his every thought ...
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Post by cw67q on Sept 30, 2010 15:24:14 GMT
oh, bollocks to the awards! couldn't agree more. Don't get me wrong I'm always pleased when a friend from some discussion group wins something. But really, come on guys these things get given out by a fair few bodies every year, and there aren't all that many folk in the field. It is difficult to really take the awards all that seriously. To be perfectly honest I feel exactly the same about the oscars etc. Awarded every year by the industry to themself, why do people take that sort of thing so seriously? It is just the movie industry bigging itself up. I hadn't heard of the BBoH series until I started reading the vault. I rarely buy anthologies these days generally prefering single author collections. I think I've only ever bought one volume of Best New Horror and that was to obtain a specific story, I tend to find that these collections cast their nets rather wide and much of the content falls outside of my personal taste/interest. But scanning through the names of contributers to BBoH I decided to order the last couple in the series. Lots of good writers there, with Reggie Oliver being the clincher for me. Delighted to find out they are PoD, so I can make my way slowly through the back issues at some subsequent point. Cheers - Chris [edited to take out the worst of the garble. I still buy the occasional antho of older stuff, but I'm less likely to pick up all new anthologies. It's not that I think there are no good writers today, there are plenty, and I buy a fair amount of collections by modern authors. I think the horror boom of the 80s, with all the dreck that came out them scunnered me with all new anthologies unless a I recognose a healthy proportion of the authors as writers that I've previously enjoyed.]
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Post by Dr Terror on Sept 30, 2010 22:53:04 GMT
They are different, Dem. I think there's at least 4 stories set in Birchiam.
So do I normally!
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 1, 2010 11:00:27 GMT
it's arrived! I'm the little twelve year old clutching his shiny Pan Book of Horrors surreptitiously bought from the newsagent. The cover is the dog's bollocks. Well done Mr Mudie.
Now to crack on with the contents which the kind members of the Vault have been tormenting me with for the last few days.
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stephenbacon
Crab On The Rampage
www.stephenbacon.co.uk
Posts: 78
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Post by stephenbacon on Oct 3, 2010 8:53:53 GMT
I'm two-thirds through this and I have to agree it's probably the best one so far.
I really hope it gets some recognition. If you look at the whole of the 7 books, there's quite a fine collection of horor stories. And the Paul Mudie covers add a pleasing consistency.
Charlie's anthologies are books that I really look forward to getting. It's remarkable that he's managed to produce so many under such a small time-frame. More of em, I say!
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Post by dem bones on Oct 3, 2010 9:58:43 GMT
Charlie's anthologies are books that I really look forward to getting. It's remarkable that he's managed to produce so many under such a small time-frame. More of em, I say! likewise, Stephen. when a new Black Book drops through the letterbox it is an EVENT. reading through the list of 100+ stories to date, it struck me that, even were i restrict myself to one story per author, i'd still require at least two volumes to compile a personal 'best of/ personal favourites' sampler (for what it's worth, Room Above The Shop would be in there). seems to me it's often overlooked that Charles' has been beating the Pan Horror drum all along and deserves at least some small share of the credit for current revival. anyway, will try and comment on the remaining stories this week. it's one of those occasions where i got so engrossed in reading the damn thing that taking notes was getting in the way of enjoyment. a handy tip: one very strange story which, as far as i can spot, has yet to be commented upon is Claude Lalumière's tale of love and amputation fetishism, Ted’s Collection ....
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elricc
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 100
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Post by elricc on Oct 4, 2010 16:55:21 GMT
To strike a note of dissent I have no idea why ' Bernard bought the Farm' was included in what I thought otherwise was a superb collection, how did it fit in with the other tales? I see absolutely no merit in it, I am sure there are under the counter publications and DVD's for people who write and relish stuff like that, revolting. I can't see any reason to publish it and it will put me off buying any black books in the future.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 4, 2010 18:04:46 GMT
To strike a note of dissent I have no idea why ' Bernard bought the Farm' was included in what I thought otherwise was a superb collection, how did it fit in with the other tales? I see absolutely no merit in it, I am sure there are under the counter publications and DVD's for people who write and relish stuff like that, revolting. I can't see any reason to publish it and it will put me off buying any black books in the future. At a guess (I haven't read it) it's a nod to the Pan Books of Horror which in the latter days had plenty of gratuitous, unpleasant stories with no apparent artistic merit or reason for existing. On the other hand people have said the same sort of thing thing about various forms of art for years - they even tried to ban 'Life Of Brian' and up until 1950 being a witch was illegal. I believe a distinguished contemporary horror author wrote stories about a serial killer amidst a spate of serial killings and is now an accepted star of the genre. I wonder if I'll be able to agree with you after I try to read it tonight. In fact I'll have a go now and be back after I've either finished it or joined a Horror Anonymous group therapy session.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 4, 2010 18:44:46 GMT
Well, I finished it. Not sure what to say: a mix of taboos: bestiality, extreme sadism, scatology, homosexuality, exploitation, vengeful sadism, some horrible things I don't even have a name for and mere murder done at times with a hint of too much relish.
On the other hand artistically arguable that it was a condemnation of our practice of eating meat and took the approach that by exaggeration the torture and introducing a sexual element the killing of any animal could be seen as more disgusting and abhorrent.
More of a fan of M.R.James and Algernon Blackwood, I have to say I wouldn't rush to pick a collection by Stanger as ideal reading material and I might well make sure I wasn't on the same seat on the bus but I would defend his right to say what he has to say.
Pan Horror portrayed things far more abhorrent than this story. Perhaps it's a sign of the times that its shocked today's readers.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 4, 2010 18:56:23 GMT
some horrible things I don't even have a name for If you were to describe them in detail, perhaps I could tell you if there are terms for them?
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 4, 2010 19:16:24 GMT
Charlie should include one shocking, controversial story in every volume.
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stephenbacon
Crab On The Rampage
www.stephenbacon.co.uk
Posts: 78
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Post by stephenbacon on Oct 4, 2010 19:24:32 GMT
I agree with Craig. The story is almost gleeful in its attempt to shock, but as long as you read it at that level, I don't see too much of a problem with it. It didn't do much for me, but I wouldn't advocate its expulsion from the book; it was in tune with the Pan-esque atmosphere, I felt (although the element of Pan Horror that was vilified rather than celebrated).
Dem, thanks for your comment of RAtS. I appreciate it.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 5, 2010 6:12:28 GMT
some horrible things I don't even have a name for If you were to describe them in detail, perhaps I could tell you if there are terms for them? Ha, one problem with naming them is firstly I don't want to describe them in detail and secondly they might involve a combination of perversions or grotesqueries.
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Post by cw67q on Oct 5, 2010 7:31:05 GMT
Hmmm, I might skip the "Farm" story on the basis of this discussion. I have zero interest in pysical or gross horror for its own sake and I feel life is too short to read many more such stories. On David's point about "shocking"* : I think there is almost nothing that puts me off a story or an author more than the desire to "shock" as an end in itself . Works that appear to my reader's eye to be solely or primarily motivated by the intent to shock (as opposed to scare, move, disturb or evoke awe etc) come across as embarassing and rather pitiful and quickly become tiresome. A sense of humour in the writing will go a long way towards making the shocker much more palatable for me, but the straight attempt to be as shocking as possible tends to remind me of the attention seeking behaviour of some children. I think the desire to shock as a driving force is perhaps best left behind with the teenage years, if indeed ever manifest. The occasional story is ok, perhaps, but an entire book, or author's output: yuk , but very much not . One of the authors that I find unreadable for this reason is Poppy Z Brite (who always seemed like a rather nice individual on discussion forums). This is not a moral judgement, it is a matter of taste about which I make no pretense to be objective or to expect others to share. Cheers - Chris (who was never much of a fan of the Pan Books of Horror, sorry) ( *I hasten to point out that as I've not read "Farm" I'm in no way making these statements about that paricular story or author.)
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