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Post by dem bones on Jul 2, 2011 19:23:25 GMT
Stephen Jones & David Sutton (eds.) - Fantasy Tales #16 (Winter, 1986) J. K. Potter: Eyeteeth Dennis Etchison - The Olympic Runner: The search for her daughter took her deeper into a world of confusionKarl Edward Wagner - Manly Wade Wellman: A tribute to the Weird Tales veteran[/i][/color] Manly Wade Wellman - The White Road (verse) Richard Christian Matheson - Red: He had to go back and collect it allPeter Tremayne - The Singing Stone: They discovered a key which would unlock the secrets of the UniverseHugh B. Cave - After The Funeral: Bizarre revelations in an atticDavid Case - Twins: They were joined by a supernatural forceJosephs Sherman - Zerail: Could the enchantress trust her barbarian apprentice?Christina Kiplinger - Eradication's Rise: (verse) George A. McIntyre - Our Christmas Spirit: A Yuletide surprise awaits an unlucky familySamantha Lee - Bon Appetit: On other worlds, make sure you read the menu carefully!The Cauldron: Editorial news and our readers express their opinionsReading the David Case interview in Paperback Fanatic #19 sent me scurrying to dig out some copies of Fantasy Tales, specifically this issue as it heralded Case's return to the horror scene after five years in the soft porn/ pulp western wilderness ( and this following an absence of over a decade between publication of Fengriffen and Other Stories in 1971 and his novel for Arkham House, The Third Grave). i never really followed the magazine, mainly because it included the dread word 'Fantasy' in the title, pretty stupid i know, but there you have it. sure glad i got this issue, though! Andrew Smith Twins includes; Richard Christian Matheson - Red: only a page in length but that page amounts to perhaps the most unsettling, heart-rending horror story i've read. rotten bastard though i am, still i can't bring myself to ruin it for those who've yet to have the dubious "pleasure". Hugh B. Cave - After The Funeral: ...Harry, estranged son of the deceased Reverend Jason Callinder, returns to the family home in Providence. Harry's on his own now, his mother - thirty years the fanatical Reverend's junior - died in the insane asylum when he was six. Rooting in the attic, Harry stumbles upon his father's secret porno stash - and something far, far worse. David Case - Twins: Julia and Jennifer are more than identical twins, they're duplicates, and, as Julia explains to the psychiatrist, there is "a curious transfer between us." If Jennifer gets drunk, it is Julia who awakes with the hangover. When her sister is reckless behind the wheel and sustains a bad leg wound, Julia it is who suffers permanent injury, Jennifer having astonished the doctors by healing overnight. Now Julia has discovered the joys of wild, promiscuous sex, and she is not slow to take full advantage of the favourable situation. Samantha Lee - Bon Appetit: Fat, loud, speciesist Earthlings Fred, Martha and perpetually bawling baby Fred jnr., visit a backstreet restaurant on Celphi. True to form, Fred demands. He demands a menu in English. He demands the waiter put the toddler some place where he doesn't have to hear it. Most of all, he demands something - anything- to eat NOW.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 28, 2012 13:48:52 GMT
Stephen Jones & David Sutton (eds.) - Fantasy Tales #5 (Winter, 1979) David Lloyd The Thing In The Moonlight Cyril Simsa - Extension 201 H. P. Lovecraft & Brian Lumley -The Thing In The Moonlight Gordon Larkin - An Agonising Choice Brian Mooney - For The Life Everlasting Frances Garfield - Don't Answer That Door H. Warner Munn - The Exiles (Verse) Randall Garrett - Just Another Vampire Story Simon Ounsley - The Seafarers (Verse) Steve Eng - Morsels (Verse)
The Cauldron For what it's worth, David Lloyd's portentous illustration makes for my all time favourite Fantasy Tales cover by some distance, and i like how the bright yellow and red of the logo stands out against the black & white background. Dug this out specifically to read the Francis Garfield story, a revamped version of the original which first appeared in the January 1940 issue of Weird Tales. It didn't disappoint. Frances Garfield - Don't Answer That Door: " ....Miss Knesbec told our class that his character had been used by Fitz-James O'Brien in that story about the wizard who brought evil little toys to life, and by Nathaniel Hawthorne for the alchemitical genius in The Birthmark." Miss Hampton moves into a Greenwich viillage apartment to concentrate on her writing. The grand old house, once home to notorious black magician Guildford Colt, has stood empty for over a century, and only recently came into the hands of the Church who've set about putting it to use. Father O'Neil is taken aback that the young woman has arrived a day or so early. He explains the renovations are ongoing and she is not to open the closet door as the workmen have been instructed to seal it behind a layer of plaster. How curious! Is it something to do with the infamous Guildford Colt? The priest confirms that yes, what her Uni professor told her was true enough, and the sorcerer was eventually driven from his home by angry neighbours, never to be seen or heard of again. Miss Hampton assures him that she'll leave well alone, only to get busy on the door the moment his back is turned, dragging aside the heavy chest denying access. The dusty remnant that is Colt, who wasn't forcibly evicted, but walled up alive, seizes the moment .... H. P. Lovecraft & Brian Lumley -The Thing In The Moonlight: Lovecraft's original fragment detailing the waking nightmare of Howard Phillips who finds himself terrorised by sinister railway workers on a lonely stretch of swampland. Lumley's sequel is from the perspective of a Phillips scholar who finds himself transported body and soul into the same scenario. Cthulhu Mythos with a hint of lycanthrope thrown in. Randall Garrett - Just Another Vampire Story: A young man with Lord Byron's dress sense walks into a San Francisco gay bar and suffers himself to be picked up by our narrator, Dan. Back at the flat, Boris reveals he's secret: he's a two centuries old vampire, he and his kind are aliens from another planetary system, and all the myths regarding the undead's drinking habits are nonsense, as he demonstrates by depleting the contents of his host's drinks cabinet. Dan figures him for a poseur, and he's in the best position to judge. The Lestat wannabe coming a cropper at the fangs of the genuine article was a fixture of the late 'eighties/ 'nineties vampire fanzines, the authors invariably writing in the first person from the perspective of the real thing.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 7, 2016 15:41:01 GMT
Am planning an assault on The Best Horror From Fantasy Tales over coming days, so this by way of a taster/ reminder of the quality material Messrs Jones & Sutton had at their disposal. Before the short-lived Robinson paperback experiment, FT probably WAS the closest thing we ever had to a British equivalent of Weird Tales. Stephen Jones & David A. Sutton (eds.) - Fantasy Tales #13 (Winter, 1984) Stephen E. Fabian Robert Bloch - The Sorcerer's Jewel An artist-scientist beholds s horrific world not meant for mortal eyes to look upon! A rare reprint by the author of 'Psycho.'
Steve Eng - The Last Guest (verse)
William F. Nolan - Of Time And Kathy Benedict A young reporter finds herself transported back to the year 1902 in this time-travel novelette by the co-author of 'Logan's Run.'
Charles L. Grant - The Generation Waltz In the town of Oxrun Station the dead sometimes come back.
Steve Rasnic Tem - The Bad People Beware the mala gente, for death will surely follow.
Mike Grace - Tongue In Cheek On a deserted road a woman is pursued by supernatural terror.
Gary William Crawford - Vigilance The film images haunted his mind - but were they really there?
The Cauldron Editorial, news and comments from our readers.
Artists: Stephen E. Fabian, Alan Hunter, Jim Pitts, John Grandfield*** Stephen Jones & David A. Sutton (eds.) - Fantasy Tales #3 (Summer, 1978) Stephen E. Fabian Patrick Connelly - At The End Of The Road An eerie novelette about death and the supernatural.
Marion Pitman - A Sonnet For Insanity (verse)
John Wysocki - The Lean Wolves Wait A horrific and fascinating tale of lycanthrope set in the Russian frontiers.
Pat McIntosh - Beruthiel (verse)
Andrew Darlington - The Last Sleeping God Of Mars An exciting adventure of science and sorcery.
Brian Lumley - Fantasy Tales (verse)
Denys Val Baker - The Inheritance What is the secret of the old house the girl Elly inherits?
Peter Coleburn - The Exhumation An unusual story about powers that reach out from beyond the grave to claim a victim.
The Cauldron Our readers exchange opinions about the magazine.
Artists: Stephen E. Fabian, Jim Pitts, John Grandfield, Sylvia Starshine
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Post by ramseycampbell on Feb 13, 2016 12:26:07 GMT
Am planning an assault on The Best Horror From Fantasy Tales over coming days, so this by way of a taster/ reminder of the quality material Messrs Jones & Sutton had at their disposal. Before the short-lived Robinson paperback experiment, FT probably WAS the closest thing we ever had to a British equivalent of Weird Tales. Exactly my feeling too!
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Post by dem bones on Feb 14, 2016 12:06:56 GMT
Am planning an assault on The Best Horror From Fantasy Tales over coming days, so this by way of a taster/ reminder of the quality material Messrs Jones & Sutton had at their disposal. Before the short-lived Robinson paperback experiment, FT probably WAS the closest thing we ever had to a British equivalent of Weird Tales. Exactly my feeling too! Hi Ramsey. Just read and enjoyed your introduction to The Best Horror From Fantasy Tales, and can only agree that R. A. W. L.'s several magazines for Health Knowledge were exceptional - prefer them far above the issues I've sampled from any of the official (?) Weird Tales revivals.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 15, 2016 18:08:51 GMT
Stephen Jones & David A. Sutton (eds) - Best Horror From Fantasy Tales (Robinson, 1988) Chris Achilleos Ramsey Campbell - Introduction
Brian Lumley - Fantasy Tales [verse] (Fantasy Tales #3, 1978)
Clive Barker - The Forbidden (Books of Blood: Vol V, Sphere, 1985: Fantasy Tales #14, 1985) H. Warner Munn - Dreams May Come (Unknown Worlds, Oct. 1939: Fantasy Tales #6, 1980) Dennis Etchison - The Dark Country (Fantasy Tales #8, 1981) Allen Ashley - Dead to the World (Fantasy Tales #11, 1982) Charles L. Grant - The Generation Waltz (Fantasy Tales #13, 1984) Frances Garfield - Don't Open That Door (Fantasy Tales #5, 1979; Weird Tales Jan. 1940 as Forbidden Cupboard) Thomas Ligotti - the Frolic (Fantasy Tales #9, 1982) Robert Bloch - The Sorcerer's Jewel (Strange Stories, Feb. 1939, as by Tarleton Fiske: Fantasy Tales #13, 1984) Brian Lumley - The Strange Years (Fantasy Tales #9, 1982) Richard Christian Matheson - Red (Night Cry, Summer 1986: Fantasy Tales #16, 1986) Manly Wade Wellman - Ever the Faith Endures (Gerald W. Page [ed.] Year’s Best Horror Stories VI, 1978: Fantasy Tales #6, 1980) Cyril Simsa - Extension 201 (Fantasy Tales #5, 1979) Karl Edward Wagner - The Last Wolf (Midnight Sun #2, 1975: Fantasy Tales #2, 1977) Mike Grace - Tongue in Cheek (Fantasy Tales #13, 1984) Fritz Leiber - In the X-Ray (Weird Tales, July 1949: Fantasy Tales #15, 1986) Steve Rasnic Tem - The Bad People (Fantasy Tales #13, 1984) Hugh B. Cave - A Place of No Return (Fantasy Tales #8, 1981) Kim Newman - The Terminus (Fantasy Tales #15, 1986) Kelvin Jones - The Green Man (Fantasy Tales #12, 1983) Ramsey Campbell - The Voice of the Beach (Fantasy Tales #10, 1982)
Stephen Jones & David A. Sutton - AfterwordManly Wade Wellman - Ever The Faith Endures: Divorced, retired, the kids all grown up, Wofford Belson of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, can finally embark on a visit to England to see the land of his forefathers. At Belstone he meets Anne, his cousin of several removes, who tells him the reason his ancestor Thomas Belstone, jumped ship to Virginia in 1643 was to escape prosecution by Matthew Hopkins, the Witch-finder General - with good reason. The family serve a bestial God for the benefit of all mankind. Anne is the last of the line. Fritz Lieber - In The X-Ray: Nancy Sawyer claims she is being persecuted by her identical twin sister, Beth (1926-48), who hated her from birth. On studying an X-ray of Nancy's swollen ankle, Dr. Ballard, initially sceptical, is forced to revise his opinion. Another for the Wandering hands file. Richard Christian Matheson - Red: Gets me every time. No question this is among the bleakest, most devastating stories I've read.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 16, 2016 9:44:36 GMT
Dave Carson, The Sorcerer's Jewel. Jim Pitts, First Make Them Mad. Robert Bloch - The Sorcerer's Jewel: Camera wizard David Niles's obsession is to "photograph the unreal." He's through with snapping models in monster costumes, all done with sculpting abominations in clay. His colleague suggests he try grinding 'The Star of Sechmet' into a lens. This ancient jewel has passed through the hands of many a showbiz alchemist including Gilles de Rais, the Comte Saint-Germain and Rasputin, and as luck would have it, is now in the possession of Isaac Voorden, the local antique dealer. The jewel is procured, Niles gets to work. Is the Star really a gateway to the fourth dimension? Will Niles finally get some authentic shots of cosmic ghouls? Bloch's Poundland version of Pickman's Model, first appeared in Strange Stories for Feb. 1939, as The Jewel Of The Sorcerer by 'Tarleton Fiske.' Charles L. Grant - The Generation Waltz: No matter that he kidnapped a twelve year old girl and sliced off her arm, Gram Mannix always favoured her sadistic grandson Sean over either of her boys. According to her, the family gene skipped a generation where too nice Edwin (Sean's father), and his shark of a younger brother Tan, were concerned. "Think I'll make another deal with God. Think I'll ask Him to take me now and bring Sean back." And now, after an eight year struggle with cancer, the old battle-axe has finally expired. In keeping with her wishes, the estranged brothers maintain a three night vigil over her coffin, for Oxrun Station folk have a nasty habit of returning from the grave .... Kim Newman - The Terminus: A Metropolitan Police Inspector investigating the disappearance of Robert Webb, bass player in punk outfit Slug Death, makes a startling discovery. Webb was last seen standing on a platform at Goodge Street station. Consulting the files, the Inspector learns that between 1872 and the present day there have been close to 16, 000 such cases on the London underground. Where can they have vanished to? Reprinted in Famous Monsters. The Terminus hardly received rave reviews from the readers, and didn't make top three in the following issue's 'Most Popular Story' poll, finishing behind Fritz Leiber's In The X-Ray, Charles L. Grant's Long Walk Home and David A. Riley's After Nightfall. John Grandfield
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Post by dem bones on Feb 16, 2016 19:03:32 GMT
Clive Barker - The Forbidden: Sweets to the sweet. It's stood for only three years, but the Spector Street estate has already gone the way of the worst inner city slums. This depressing, fire-damaged, crime-ridden no-go area is Hell for the residents, but a Godsend to student Helen Buchanan, who is stock-piling photographs for her thesis, Graffiti; the semiotics of urban despair. Helen strikes up a casual almost-friendship with Anne-Marie, a single-mum struggling to bring up her truant son, Kerry, in such a forbidding environment. Anne-Marie directs Helen to a particularly ghastly, wall-high mural spray-painted inside a derelict maisonette, and shares her limited knowledge of a murder committed by a cross between Jack the Ripper and 'The Hook.' According to other residents, mutilation murders are becoming a fixture of Spector Street life, that of a retarded infant in the public bogs being especially disgusting. But the police, of course, "aren't interested." The estate attracts Helen like a scary adventure playground until she prefers the company of the residents over that of her smug partner, Trevor, and his fellow tedious academics. But can there be any truth to the urban legends surrounding the community, and who - or what - is depicted in that vicious mural? As November 5th approaches and the residents prepare a bonfire, Helen finally comes face to face with the Candyman.
The movie version seems to show up on the Horror Channel an awful lot, never been arsed to watch it, but this novella is seriously great.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Feb 16, 2016 19:25:02 GMT
CANDYMAN, the film, is pretty good, and certainly worth watching.
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Post by Dr Strange on Feb 16, 2016 19:39:30 GMT
I agree, the film is pretty good - after you get over the shock of it having been shifted to the US. I think there's been a couple of sequels - but I've never seen those.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 17, 2016 18:11:35 GMT
.... after you get over the shock of it having been shifted to the US. Maybe I'll continue to avoid it. I don't always get on with CB's work, but The Forbidden hit the spot, and I particularly appreciated his all-too recognisable depiction of urban decay, UK style. Hugh B. Cave - A Place Of No Return: Sheer essence of pulp. Professor Leslie Carter does not believe in zombies - not the plausible it's-all-done-with-drugs version, and certainly not the classic dead man working in the cane fields model. To prove it, Carter visits Haiti to examine and film supposedly authentic examples of the latter. The Professor is one rude, arrogant son-of-a-bitch, and we wonder how Dieudonne, his humble guide, can tolerate another moment in his company. Eventually they arrive at a village in the mountains to find a dead-eyed group of foul-smelling individuals toiling over their work. These men, according to the resident Bocur, are the real deal. Zombies. Carter is not to be convinced and refuses to pay Dieudonne the agreed $200 for bringing him here. You already know what is going to happen - in fact, you knew right from the first paragraph. Brian Lumley - The Strange Years : Equally direct. There is only one species responsible for fouling up this beautiful planet - man. Time for mother nature to fight vermin with super-sized vermin. It's the day of the body parasites! Death by doom, ecology, It could happen, etc. A bit like Guy N. Smith minus the bad sex. Kelvin Jones - The Green Man : Reverend Bear is demoniacally possessed by the original for a 13th century wood carving, uncovered during renovation work at St Helens. Timid as he is, the clergyman can't help but spy on a young couple who enjoy love-making in the forest after dark. Even as Bear preaches his favourite sermon, the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah, he's looking forward to the evening's action. But this night something terrible is abroad. The couple are torn apart and, on returning to his room, the Reverend, with no memory of the incident, wonders at the blood on his hands ....
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2016 19:34:20 GMT
While I tend to prefer Barker's work when it's UK-set (moving to Hollywood was the ruin of him artistically as far as I'm concerned, but that's another discussion altogether), I thought the shift from UK to LA worked pretty well with The Forbidden/Candyman. After all, a slum's a slum, for a' that.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Feb 17, 2016 19:38:02 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2016 21:41:29 GMT
You're quite right, of course.
It's been a while since I last watched it.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 18, 2016 10:30:42 GMT
"We think this is our best issue to date" So wrote the editors of issue 13 in The Cauldron (Winter, 1984). That four of that issue's six stories make 'Best Horror From Fantasy Tales' suggests Messrs Jones & Sutton still felt the same four years and four issues later. We already met and wrote gibberish about the Robert Bloch and Charles L. Grant stories, now it's the turn of;
Mike Grace - Tongue In Cheek: Driving home from a successful London gig, singer Annabel's elation turns to despair when the car packs up on the outskirts of Dorking. As she trudges along the road in search of a phone-box, she is disturbed by a sense of impending doom ... which is when the trees decide to do her in. The bastards chase her, slashing her face with their evil twigs. It all looks up for Annabel until a kindly old gran pulls up in a Mini and offers her a lift to the nearest town. Unfortunately for our heroine, this Good Samaritan is anything but ....
Read this story and you'll think twice before you kiss anyone ever again.
Steve Rasnic Tem - The Bad People: Still reeling from wife Marion's death, Cliff takes Bob, his eight-year-old step-son on a summer long bonding tour of Mexico. Bob, obstinate and annoying, does everything in his power to make the holiday a miserable one. Among the coach party, a dark man wearing too many ponchos. The other tourists shun him, likewise the beggars encountered at every village who disperse screaming of the Mala gente! Mala Gente! The stranger's only utterance to date, a conspiratorial whisper to Cliff. "You want me to do something about ... Bob." Inner Cliff deeply wishes he would.
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