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Post by dreadlocksmile on Feb 8, 2010 21:49:33 GMT
Letter I recently sent to Justin (The Paperback Fanatic):Dear Fanatical Mail,
Firstly, the obligatory 'love the magazine'. I've only got issues eight onwards, so I'm hoping that the earlier issues will one day be re-released (whether this is in the style of their original publications, a 'best of' compilation or electronically on a CD...as long as I can get my grubby mitts on them at some stage I'll be a happy man).
Anyway, sulking aside, I was hoping that you had some plans to do a feature on cannibal fiction or indeed to compile a list of pulp fiction around this so tasty of subject matters. Cannibalism in pulp horror fiction seems to be an avenue that authors never really explored at any great lengths, except for the odd title. That is unless I'm very much mistaken.
This seems a little bizarre due to the popularity and abundance of cannibal films during the 1970's and 1980's. I'm sure there must be many cannibal titles out there that cashed in on the exploitation/mondo film boom. Any ideas?
Thanks, and keep up the good work.
Chris HallJustin's reply:Good to hear from you Chris. You sick, sick, man! But your mail did get me thinking.... My theory for the lack of cannibal pulps was that the majority of these films weren't seen outside of Italy until the video explosion in the 1980s. By that time, pulp was dead. And when they were seen at inner city grindhouses in the late 1970s early 1980s, these films were so under the radar that no-one in publishing picked it up. If it was, you'd be guaranteed that Peter Haining would have been on top it! The Tribe by Glenn Chandler is an absolute nasty about cannibalism that is recommended. There was copp thriller in the Keller series called Cannibal about a Viet vet who know lives in the NY sewers with a taste for human flesh. And a Michael Slade one from a few years back was about cannibals. And that's the extent of my knowledge. Post your request on teh Vault of EVil- I bet you they know about loads of short stories involving flesh-eating! Stay sick! Justin.Vault of Evil Request...Soooo...can anyone help with compiling a list? There must be at least a handful of titles out there! Surely? Here's a few tasty-treats to get the ball rolling... Long Pigby Russel Foreman (1905) Cannibal Adventureby William Price (1985) Cannibalsby Guy N Smith (1976) Cannibalby Stuart Kinder (1988) So, any additional suggestions, lists, anthing really. Although what I'm after is fiction that is predominantly cannibals, not just any fiction that has cannibal exploits in it (i.e. Silence of the Lambs etc). As I said, there must be more out there...
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Post by dem bones on Feb 9, 2010 9:59:34 GMT
Richard Laymon's novels are usually good for a cannibal episode or several - Midnight's Lair and The Glory Bus in particular - the only downside being they're not on-page for long. Quake, for example, has a community of 'em hiding beneath the gridlocked cars on the highway, but they only feature in a chapter or two of what is a very long, drawn out novel. Short stories; off the top of my head Oscar Cook - Piecemeal R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Humgoo Robert Bloch - The Feast In The Abbey Seabury Quinn - Isle Of Missing Ships H. P. Lovecraft - The Picture In The House E. M. Winch – A La Tartare Erckmann-Chatrian - The Child-Stealer R. Chetwynd-Hayes - It Came To Dinner John Llewellyn Probert - Two For Dinner Morag Greer - Under The Flagstones W. Baker-Evans - The Children David Case - Neighbours we've mentioned some juicy ones on the Subterranean Cannibals thread. In the often-reprinted 'non-fiction' Sawney Beane, The Man-Eater Of Eastlothian. Sawney Beane and his clan snatch innocent travelers, drag them back to their cave then pickle and eat them. "In the conflict the poor woman fell from behind him, and was instantly butchered before her husband's face, for the female cannibals cut her throat, and fell to sucking her blood with as great a gust, as if it had been wine". This exciting and incredibly gory history is usually credited to Captain Charles Johnson, although it probably wasn't new when he included it in his General History Of The Most Famous Highwaymen, etc. (1734). It's even been suggested that 'Johnson' was Daniel Defoe. Sawney's antics have inspired, among others, Catherine Sinclair ( The Murder Hole), Anthony Boucher (the hideous Carka family in They Bite) and Harlan Ellison's marvelous She's A Young Thing And Cannot Leave Her Mother. Another popular theme is cannibals who run their own restaurants. Hugh B. Cave's Murgunstrumm is a neat example, but see also Stanley Ellin's Speciality Of The House, Christopher Fowler's Jumbo Portions, Bill Pronzini's The Same Old Grind and, best of all (obviously) Charle's Birkin's The Cockroach. If i remember, Birkin once had some savages cook up a missionary couple? Text For Today?
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Post by allthingshorror on Feb 9, 2010 10:38:16 GMT
William Shakespears' Titus Andronicus (someone is unwittingly fed her two sons, baked in a pie)
Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury (1982)- Sci-Fi novel.
H G Wells' The Time Machine (1895) features cannibalism as the choice of survival by the advanced species in the book.
Couple of self- cannibalism stories:
Stephen King's Survivor Type first published in Terrors (1982) or his collection Skeleton Crew (1985)
Alan Ryan's The Bones Wizard from Whispers (Dec 1984)
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Post by Johnlprobert on Feb 9, 2010 10:45:56 GMT
Dem it does my heart proud to see a story of mine in your list! Can I therefore add Nefarious Assortment from Coffin Nails as I think that's even more horrible
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Post by dem bones on Feb 9, 2010 11:22:17 GMT
They were the first to come into my head! I'm sure the Pan's are rife with cannibal stories. Footeater mentioned a Paget one - 26? - has four. Haven't even touched on the Not At Night's and Creeps yet. And then there's dear old Sweeney Todd, or The String Of Pearls as recently revived by our fiends at Wordsworth. guess i should pad this out with some pretty pictures; [/i] selection (Sphere, 1978). Tony Masero's portrait of 'The Monster of Midlothian' for Ron Holmes' non-fiction The Legend Of Sawney Beane (Mews, 1976) [/table] [/center] I think Garry Hogg's Cannibalism And Human Sacrifice deserves a mention even if it purports to be (and probably is) non-fiction. it certainly reads like a very bizarre novel in places ...
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Post by andydecker on Feb 9, 2010 11:23:25 GMT
I guess this won´t count as it is 100% pure fantasy and not horror, but one of the most disgusting - in a good sense - corpse-eating novel is McNaughtons Throne of Bones. A barock piece in the vein of C.A.Smith.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Feb 9, 2010 11:36:54 GMT
I modestly proffer 'Soup' from the Black Books - sure there are some others in there. Do zombies count as cannibals - perhaps not...
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Post by dem bones on Feb 9, 2010 11:40:15 GMT
fuck me, i forgot Richard Matheson's The Children Of Noah! that should be right near the top. Martin Greenberg & Co. edited an anthology, Hunger For Horror. Do zombies count as cannibals - perhaps not... yeah, i was wondering that myself. they seem to have muscled out the good, honest Sawney Beane's of this world in recent years. and then there are the ghouls who only eat corpses, i've always been quite fond of them.
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Post by blackabyss on Feb 9, 2010 17:19:46 GMT
Seem to recall Jack Ketchum's Off Season was basically an update of the Sawney Bean Cannibal tale
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Post by jamesdoig on Feb 9, 2010 20:15:35 GMT
What about Anthony Boucher's "They Bite"? Great story, and Sawney Bean and his brood are mentioned at length. Don't know if the thingamees in it count as human though.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 9, 2010 20:28:01 GMT
Peter Saxon's Vampire's Moon (Belmont, March 1970) opens with a desperately grim scene of enforced cannibalism, all the worse in that it's based in 'fact'. yet more Vault people who've contributed to the cause. Mark Samuels and his The Cannibal Kings Of Horror, and the Grubbings family in Franklin Marsh's The Horror Of Dreadstone Moor! as is always the case with these threads, i can't help thinking there's a REALLY OBVIOUS one we're all overlooking ....
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Feb 9, 2010 21:20:27 GMT
Yes Dem, there is something hovering at the edge of consciousness. Cannibalism was a massive undercurrent of loads of books around the 1900's and onwards. Edgar Rice Burroughs has it has a recurrent theme, Jack Vance also but there is someone horrific lurking...
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Post by jamesdoig on Feb 9, 2010 22:23:46 GMT
What's that Poppy Brite novel that lovingly describes dissection and consumption of human beings? Of course there's Hannibal the C., which trendified cannibalism. Various witch stories based on Hansel and Gretel. Splatterpunk things like Ed Lee's The Bighead, marketed as the grossest novel ever published (I assume cannibalism is featured).
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Post by dem bones on Feb 10, 2010 14:30:17 GMT
What's that Poppy Brite novel that lovingly describes dissection and consumption of human beings? i've not read it, but i'm guessing Exquisite Corpse? the *ahem* "obvious" one that was troubling me so is Sidney J. Bounds' teenybopper meets her pop idols classic Young Blood, four pages of sheer EC brilliance from the 4th Fontana Book Of Horror Stories. i've never been much arsed about collecting autographs, but i had to get him to sign that story. can't believe nobody's thought to collect his horror stories yet.
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Post by erebus on Feb 10, 2010 19:19:45 GMT
What about ERIC THE PIE.
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