|
|
Post by dem on Aug 27, 2011 8:32:13 GMT
inspired by FM: some from the first hundred
M. G. Lewis - The Monk: fell in love with this taboo-busting Gothic masterpiece on first acquaintance, and it's a love that will survive a lifetime. Lewis, only eighteen at the time, had recently read de Sade's Justine and hell does it show! wilfully shocking, once he gets into his stride the young author piles horror upon horror, as, corrupted by Matilda the demon in big-knockered female guise, the once so pious Ambrosio embarks on the murder spree that will earn him eternal damnation. Arguably the first sleazy pulp horror novel of note, certainly the one that got me into the genre.
Best Tales of E. T. A Hoffman: worth the entry fee for The Sandman alone. Been too long since i read any of the rest, some of which are out and out fantasy, but The Entail and Mines At Falun impressed at the time.
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein: Early SF-horror crossover. Gruesome in its day, still has its moments but just seems charming to me now. Tempted to ditch it in favour of the camp joy that is Don Glut's New Adventures of ... series, but that wouldn't be a very nice way to treat an old friend.
Ambrose Bierce - Collected stories: i rate just about everything i've read of Bierce's - which amounts to QUITE A BIT - but if you've managed to tackle this blockbuster in its entuirety, you're a better man than me. Maybe if i live long enough ...
Charles Maturin - Melmoth The Wanderer: those who know and care about such things would have it that this is the thinking man's The Monk and they are probably right. Maturin's lengthy masterpiece benefits from pioneering Amicus anthology format which enables you to catch a breath between the novellas.
Eugene Sue - the Wandering Jew: another episodic, paving slab of a novel, 850 pages of tiny print in Delectus edition. Made several false starts, furtherest i've got is just past the 200 page mark. as with Varney the Vampyre, superhuman stamina required if you're thinking of taking it on.
Jane Austen - Northanger Abbey: would be unfair of me to comment as i bought it expecting something more akin to The Monk. Didn't find Jane Moreland's adventures particularly rib-tickling, haven't been back since. Would likely opt for Wuthering Heights over this in any case.
Edgar Allan Poe - Tales Of Mystery & Imagination: love his greatest horror hits, can take or leave stuff like Silence: A Parable, etc. Prefer Elsie Lee's novelisation of The Masque Of The Red Death over the original and i am not joking.
Bram Stoker - Dracula: Not re-read this in ages, haven't felt inclined to for fear it will fail to live up to my cherished memories.
Henry James - The Turn Of The Screw: the one time i read this, i did so on auto-pilot. Been planning a rematch ever since but somehow haven't got around to it. maybe i'm intimidated by all the talk of "sub-texts" that will doubtless pass me by.
Guy Endore - The Werewolf Of Paris: To criminally oversimplify, the career of graveyard ghoul Sergeant Bertrand reimagined as a sad psychological werewolf novel. If we unceremoniously dump The Lurker At The Threshold that leaves a space for Thomas Tessier's The Nightwalker - a Viet vet who believes himself afflicted by the taint of lycanthrope loses himself in the London punk scene circa 1978 . Infinitely prefer both of these to Strieber's The Wolfen.
E. F. Benson - The Horror Horn. Decent sampler, selected and introduced by the man who wrote the Scrubbers novelisation! Has since been superseded by Richard Dalby edited so called Collected Ghost Stories.
M. R. James - Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary: For obscenely wealthy first edition casualties only. Otherwise, buy the collected stories, maximise the pleasure.
August Derleth - The Sleeping And The Dead: inspired blend of acknowledged classics and barking mad pulp horrors, a far weirder selection than the conservative (for Derleth) Sleep No More.
H. P. Lovecraft - Cry Horror! There have been stronger Lovecraft selections but, given that it enthused a youthful Michel Parry, Ramsey Campbell and doubtless several other then teenagers, this could well be the most influential horror paperback published in 'fifties Britain.
H. P. Lovecraft & August Derleth - The Lurker At The Threshold: Glad somebody likes it. me, i can't even remember if i made it through to the end.
Kingsly Amis - The Green Man: Country pub comes under attack from undead black magician, randy landlord saves the day. Contains guest appearance by God who is a bit of a drip. Panther 2nd edition with cover straight out of the 'More Bawdy Rugby Songs' school is the one you want.
Hugh B. Cave - Murgunstrumm and Others: A huge, sprawling thing concentrating for the most part on Cave's work for the weird, shudder and spicy pulps of the 'thirties and 'forties. Cave commendably resisted urge to clean up his originals for this prestige publication, so we get them in all their warts and all hideous beauty. Perfect for dipping in and out of, not sure it's one to attempt in a single sitting!
F. Paul Wilson - The Keep: "Request immediate relocation. Something is killing my men." Got right into this from the start and just kept ploughing on to the bitter end. German soldiers in the Carpathians come under attack from something they take to be a vampire but which is actually infinitely worse. It never rains, it pours.
Bernard Taylor - Sweetheart, Sweetheart: Taylor's beautiful and creepy contemporary retelling of The Beckoning Fair One. If pushed to chose between this and his The Moorstone Sickness, i doubt i could do it. Evil Intent is a stormer too.
Richard Laymon - The Cellar: first, slickest and, to my mind, by far the best of The Beast House Chronicles. Several Laymon novels have taken it in turns to be my all-time favourite, but nowadays it's a three way fight between this, Funland and Midnight's Lair.
Clive Barker - The Damnation Thing: Made more false starts on this than any other novel, and now i've given up. It's not his fault, but all that hype depicting him as the new messiah of horror .... as it was, i couldn't even read the Books Of Blood until years after the event.
Thomas Harris - Red Dragon: Was pleasantly surprised (and relieved) at how easy on the brain this was. Silence Of The Lambs and Hannibal are likewise not the least difficult to follow - i was expecting something a little more Booker prize if you get my meaning, though i'm not sure why. . Good as Harris is, if we're talking serial killer/ police procedural/horror crossovers, then ''Michael Slade"'s Head Hunter must be in with a shout!
Ramsey Campbell - Dark Feasts: If Jack Sullivan had opted for Dark Companions i'd have been wondering aloud whether Dark Feasts was the better bet, but he didn't so it's the other way around. i'd find a place for Scared Stiff too, because if i'd not read Mr. C.'s contributions to Michel Parry's anthologies i may never have got into his work at all.
|
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Aug 27, 2011 10:30:17 GMT
Ah, well, good idea, dem. From the first 100 I read or browsed... Frankenstein - Mary Shelley Read this as a youth in a library edition after having seen some movies and comics of the tale. Like Camus the non-monster philosophical ramblings about man´s inhumanity made a great impression on my impressionable mind, more than the monster stuff. Never re-read it though, even if the Berni Wrightson illustrated edition sits somewhere on the shelf. Melmoth the Wanderer - Charles Maturin I know I read this also in that phase, but have zero recollection. Tales of Mystery & Imagination - Edgar Allan Poe Some like Masque are unforgettable, others I think unreadable. It is funny, I never can get Poe equalized with pre civil war america. His tales are so much removed from the reality of his times. Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Rober Louis Stevenson I have forgotten when I read this, but it was long after seeing a movie-version. But I liked it a lot. The King in Yellow - Rober W. Chambers I read this for the first time in my mid20s I think when "literary&lost" horror was all the rage - untill the abyssmal sales came in and killed it fast - and couldn´t understand what the big deal was. But when I dug deeper into Lovecraft a few years ago I re-read it and thought it quite fascinating. Like Stevenson he really envisioned a whole genre. The Island of Dr Moreau- H. G. Wells Never read it, just saw the movie, the crap one with Michael York. Sadly couldn´t work up any interest to read it. Dracula- Bram Stoker I read this back to back with Frankenstein and it fascinated me without end for all its faults. (And there are many). Made me a junkie for all things Dracula. And still Robert Lory is the best of those uncounted sequels. ;D Ghost Stories of an Antiquary - M. R. James I have one or two James collections, not this one, though, and I like this style. But most of his stories tend to blur, the only one which stuck in my mind his Casting the Runes, maybe because of the Crowley connection. John Silence- Algernon Blackwood In my classic phase I read a lot of Blackwood. I don´t remember much of his plots. But his descriptions of nature were memorable. The House on the Borderland- William Hope Hodgson Want to re-read this for ages, along with Nightland. The Trial- Franz Kafka Back when I learned the craft of being a bookseller a few lifetimes ago I read the whole Kafka. It was an educational thing. Whithout understanding much. Of course this isn´t horror, it is idiotic to put it in this drawer. But The Trial is one of these chilling political visions so ahead of its time. It should stand side by side with Orwells 1984, which it sadly doesn´t. The Outsider and Others- H.P. Lovecraft I don´t have this edition, even if I have the complete Lovecraft in at least half a dozen editions - I am not kidding, I even bought the Gollancz hardcover. I started back then with a german edition which quite fascinated me. I think the man and his stories compelling. Not because he was such a great storyteller - which he wasn´t, a lot of his stories are rubbish in terms of plot and characters - but because he created something which was greater then himself. Out of Space and Time- Clark Ashton Smith I am slowly working through the 5 volume edition of CAS, and even if his plots are more often than not weak, there are often more ideas in one story than in a whole year´s worth of doorstopper fantasy novels. The Lurker at the Threshold- H. P. Lovecraft & August Derleth I have a high respect for Derleth as an editor and keeper of the flame. But as a writer he was not very good and his only original idea was to rework the HPL concept into a tidy and castrated version where academic and wise heroes with crucifixes could save the day. Lurker is a fine example for this, and 90% of shitty pastiches are written after this book. Psycho- Robert Bloch I read this after seeing the movie a few times which basically ruined it for me. Even if this is another genre-defining book I find it a bit slight and boring. which is grossly unfair, I know. The Haunting of Hill House- Shirley Jackson Another classic which in my mind has been overwhelmed by its movie version. (The original, not the abominable crap remake). I have started this a few times and never got far. The Sheep Look Up- John Brunner Why this is on this list is beyond me. I read it back then as it became a posterchild in some circles as being "relevant" sf, and it sold very good. That was when sf so desperatly wanted to become mainstream. That was before the rise of the Green Party in Germany. While not a bad novel and in some parts still relevant, it has aged badly, I thought, when I re-read it not long ago. Burnt Offerings- Robert Marasco Never read this, only watched the movie which back then I thought marvelous. This undertaker was terrifying  Salem's Lot- Stephen King I don´t share the universal love for this. I liked it, but didn´t loved it. Tried to re-read it but got stuck in the middle. The Shining- Stephen King This on the other hand I dearly love. I read this in the original because at the time King was a flop in Germany (hard to imagine today, but still true) and had heard so much about the guy. It was the ultimate haunted house novel. Maybe I see this through too much nostalgia clouded lenses, but I think it has aged quite well. Ghost Story- Peter Straub One of the first let´s do it like King books, which maybe a bit unfair. I still think this would have benefitted from cutting a hundred pages. Red Dragon- Thomas Harris Another genre-making novel which spawned an industry. (Okay, this was Lamb, but still) I read this only after seing the great Michael Mann movie (hm, I see a pattern here) and the funny thing is that Harris in his two novels really said all which is to say about serial killers. In a Lonely Place- Karl Edward Wagner I only got this a few years ago, loved it and re-read it a few times. The Anubis Gates- Tim Powers Again a genre-defining book which I liked as lot. He was one of the first writers who made historical persons like Byron his heroes. But again I wouldn´t categorize it as horror. Mythago Wood- Robert Holdstock This is a novel which for me is quintessential british. He had a better and much more interesting grasp of legends then the whole gang who re-writes endlessly Arthurian lore. but again I guess Mr. Moorcock has to say a lot of clever things about it, but horror? Really? The Pet- Charles L. Grant I know I have read this, but have zero recollection Swan Song- Robert McCammon I am a big fan of this writer, but I never could go through this. |
|
|
|
Post by cw67q on Aug 27, 2011 10:31:08 GMT
A fair few of your asterisked books have easy to find alternatives, I've stuck in some comments below. And surely Visiak's medusa should have an asterisk? or is there a cheap eidtion I haven't noticed? The one's I am missing from the collection are; "Last Bouquet" Bowen* -Don't have this but do have the ATP twilight collection and the Arkham House Kecksies along with the Wordsworth. Marjorie Bowen is great, the Arkham volume is a great starting point and can probably be found for a teener or less (a while since I looked) for a lovely little hardback. It has not sold out its original print run over a period of decades which seems crimianl for such a fine volume but OTOH means it is easy to find at bargain prices. The wordsworth is also well worth a look. "Cadaver of Gideon Wyck" Laing - picked this up when comparatively flush a few years back, the only centipede press book I've ever bought. I loved it a very fine novel indeed only let down by the last page or two which are comparatively weak. I know the KEW lists can be a bit hit and miss, but this one deserves to be reprinted in a more afffordable edition "The Outsider and Others" Lovecraft* -ok, you'll never find the original volume but Lovecraft has been reprinted to death in inumerable editions, you can't walk into a bookshop without falling over a collection of his works. All the stories in this are easily and cheply found. You can probably find them for nowt as they'll already be on your shelves or in a box in the loft somewhere.  "Sub Rosa" Aickman - Mandarin published 2 mass market pbs of Aickman in the 80s which between then include all of Sub Rosa. They reprinted an abridged edition of the posthumous selection the Wine Dark Sea (IIRC chosen by Peter Straub). which included three of the tales from Sub rosa. This was followed up by the Unsettled Dust which included the 5 remaining stories from Sub Rosa plus three other tales removed from their edition of the Wine Dark Sea. Both of these turn up occasionaly on ebay at widely varying prices. I've bought and then given away a few copies of the unsettled Dust for £5 or so. I believe both of these manderin selections are included in the Faber Finds PoD reprint line (Faber & Faber) but probably come in at around £12-15. Sub Rosa, and both the faber reprints mentioned, are superb collections, but then you either love Aickman or hate him. "Worse Things Waiting" Wellman* - a huge selection of Wellman's stories have been collected and published in recent years by Night Shade books in five themed hardback volumes. They are not as cheap as pbs but can sometyimes be picked up at reduced price on ebay, particularly from american sellers. If you buy two or three books at a time postage to the uk from the us can be no more expensive than domestic shipping within the uk (but check the sellers policy). The collections are worth a read, rather enjoyable, but nowhere near the standard of Aickman or M Bowen. I also picked up a couple of the novels that NightS hade reprinted, these can usually be found very cheaply, but I was unable to finish the one that I started. "In a Lonely Place" Wagner* - This is wagner's best collection of horror stories by a country mile. "Nest Of Nightmares" - I only have one collection of Lisa Tuttle's, Sarob Press' Ghosts and Other Lovers, but it is a belter, and every story by Tuttle that I've found in an anthology has been similarly brilliant. I beleive the recent Ash tree press volume covers much the same ground as NoN and should be at least a bit more affordable, though hardly cheap. Whenever I get financially back on track I hope to pick up the Ash tree collection. "They Return At Evening"* This is alright, worth a read, but I find Wakefield to be over rated in certain ghost story reader circles. Better than EF benson (who is also entertaining in small doses) but much more variable in quaility. I think I'm in the minority in prefering some of the later collections to this debue. This would make a fine Wordsworth volume though and be good value at the price. "Jumbee" included in some later pbs which can sometimes be found cheaply, keep your eye out for them. "Haunting Beauty" Birkin* - I have this, beautiful cover, but I'm not in line with the prevailing vault opinion regarding Birkin so I'll keep  "Feesters In The Lake" - Superb, a really fine collection of stories from the sci fi/lovecraft wing of horror. Highly recommended. Probably hard to find a copy at a bargain price though. The ones with the asterisk are either very expensive or impossible to find. The one's without are easy enough to come by but I just don't feel like splashing good cash on books that I have a passing interest in. If they appear on eBay cheap enough I'll have em. Here's hoping my comments and deletions don't stuff up the quote formating. Got to run - Chris edit: rats I did stuff up the formatting, sorry. Don't have time to try to rescue it just now  |
|
|
|
Post by mattofthespurs on Aug 27, 2011 11:29:56 GMT
A fair few of your asterisked books have easy to find alternatives, I've stuck in some comments below. And surely Visiak's medusa should have an asterisk? or is there a cheap eidtion I haven't noticed? Your right on many counts. Firstly "Medusa" should have an asterisk. As for being able to find the majority in cheaper, slightly different versions, again your right. Lovecraft for instance. I must have 30 books of his, most are just re-cycles of other editions but to me that's not the point. As someone who loves the actual books as much as the contents it's the editions featured in the Best 100 Horror and it's sister volume that I want to track down. It's part of the fun. Even later editions don't do it for me. I did have "Some of your Blood" by Sturgeon in a Hitchcock anthology but wanted the actual book (a first edition paperback) sitting on the shelf. That's not to say I don't appreicate your efforts and it's a route I may have to go down if I get within say 5-10 volumes and stand no chance of finishing off the collection. |
|
|
|
Post by mattofthespurs on Aug 27, 2011 14:58:56 GMT
I won't give comments for all the books I have read from these lists but I will give you my favourites;
"MacBeth" I really enjoyed it when we read it in school and I enjoyed it again when I read it recently. Still rather like the Polanski film version too. Financed by Playboy and filmed not long after the horrendous murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, by the Manson cult it's delightfully dark
"Frankenstein" Still think this is a wonderful book and I love the arctic setting in the prologue/epilogue.
"Tales Of Mystery and Imagination" One of the first horror books I ever owned.
"House On The Borderland" Marvelous imagery (squeel piggy!) I also have a very good graphic novel of it by the artist Richard Corben (Creepy (plus many others) fame.
"Night Has A Thousand Eyes" For two reasons. Firstly it's the only book on the list that spawned a hit record, and secondly it took my frickin' ages to track down. The sweetest prizes are the ones we have to wait the longest for.
"The Sleeping and The Dead" Because it's a cracking anthology and I have it in the four square paperback edition with a beautiful cover.
"I Am Legend" Just superb for obvious reasons.
"The Exorcist" Just one helluva scary book and I'm not even faintly religious.
"'Salem's Lot" You get to watch a small town turned into vampires before your very eyes. What's not to love?
"The Shining" For a long time this was my favourite Stephen King book...Right up until it ws pointed out to me that it was really about alcoholism. Jeez, can't a book just be about ghosts and nothing else?
"Falling Angel" Combining my love of horror with my love of pulp/noir novels of the 30's and 40's. Blown away by this one.
"Ghost Story" Nobody builds layers like Straub does in horror fiction. His writing is as close as you can get to horror poetry in my opinion.
"Red Dragon" Tiptoing the line between police procedural thriller and outright horror. Superbly written which is why I was so disappointed with "Hannibal Rising" which was clearly written for the money whilst "Red Dragon" was written for love.
"The Keep" Demons, nazis, a beautiful Romanian setting...Damn near perfect.
"Song Of Kali" Evocative and truly disturbing. When my eyes fell upon the fate of the main characters child I literally through the book across the room in horror. Maybe that I had just become a Father at the time but it truly horrified me to my core.
"A Christmas Carol" The ghost (and Christmas) genre owes so much to Dickens.
"The Devil Rides Out" Beautifully written and wonderfully realised by Hammer.
"The Haunted Omnibus" Because I'm a sucker for a nice big anthology.
"Great Tales of Terror and The Supernatural" See above.
"Killer Inside Me" This one just got under my skin. Along with the crackling prose of Thompson it's a wonderfully dark book.
"Stir Of Echoes" I just loved the ordinaryness of it all...It showed that you don't need a great big gothic castle to encounter ghosts.
"Dark Forces" A great anthology but with the added bonus of the monster from Stephen King that is "The Mist".
"Woman In Black" Short, sharp and like kissing a rotting apple. Sweet and revolting at the same time.
"Pet Semetary" Another book I just can't bear to read again since the birth of my Son. King knows exactly where to kick you and this one hits straight into the knackers.
"From Hell" A seriously deranged graphic novel. I imagine it helped that I was working around Whitechapel, and therefore could take my own walking tour of the sites, when I was reading it.
"Dark Descent" A monster of a book containing probably most major shorts from the past 100 years.
Those are the ones I have enjoyed the most. There are very few I've not enjoyed to some degree, all though some were much harder work than the pay off merited.
|
|
|
|
Post by dem on Aug 27, 2011 17:19:56 GMT
Ah, well, good idea, dem. andy, the credit/ blame is all Franklin's. very pleased to see you, chris and matt running with it. will comment on another batch when i can find a spare hour or so. matt, thanks a lot for completing the listing for the second book. you've convinced me i need a copy! "Haunting Beauty" Birkin* - I have this, beautiful cover, but I'm not in line with the prevailing vault opinion regarding Birkin so I'll keep chris, i'm not so sure there is a "prevailing vault opinion regarding Birkin" or any other author come to that, and nor should there be. In Birkin's case it is three or four vociferous admirers, maybe the same number again who've made no secret of their, if not disdain, then bemusement at how anyone could "enjoy" his work, and a seriously vast silent majority. |
|
|
|
Post by mattofthespurs on Aug 27, 2011 17:32:23 GMT
My pleasure Dem.
I love both books (I also have the sci-fi one and the fantasy one but I know how much those two genres are sneered upon here so I would only put their contents up if asked) and they have steered me into books I never would have considered reading beforehand.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jojo Lapin X on Aug 27, 2011 18:02:30 GMT
chris, i'm not so sure there is a "prevailing vault opinion regarding Birkin" or any other author come to that, and nor should there be. In Birkin's case it is three or four vociferous admirers, maybe the same number again who've made no secret of their, if not disdain, then bemusement at how anyone could "enjoy" his work, and a seriously vast silent majority. Just to add to the controversy: Since we last spoke I have progressed beyong the Midnight House Birkin collections. It is now clear to me that those two volumes are indeed "best-of" selections, as some of his other work is truly atrocious. Atrocious, that is, as in poorly conceived and realized. I speak of such stories as "The Serum of Doctor White." |
|
|
|
Post by ramseycampbell on Aug 28, 2011 8:09:35 GMT
Ramsy Campbell - Dark Feasts: If Jack Sullivan had opted for Dark Companions i'd have been wondering aloud whether Dark Feasts was the better bet, but he didn't so it's the other way around. i'd find a place for Scared Stiff too, because if i'd not read Mr. C.'s contributions to Michel Parry's anthologies i may never have got into his work at all. Hey, thanks, Dem! The only thing that always bothers me is that Dark Feasts (even the "corrected" version without the computer text at the end of "The Ferries") is riddled with misprints. That's why Alone with the Horrors reprints virtually the entire text, genuinely corrected this time. |
|
|
|
Post by cw67q on Aug 28, 2011 12:08:50 GMT
Hi Dem, I didn't mean to imply that I fealt debarred from stating my opinion, this is a very open forum. And anyway Iwas kind of sneakily saying it whilst pretending not to cheers - chris [/quote] chris, i'm not so sure there is a "prevailing vault opinion regarding Birkin" or any other author come to that, and nor should there be. In Birkin's case it is three or four vociferous admirers, maybe the same number again who've made no secret of their, if not disdain, then bemusement at how anyone could "enjoy" his work, and a seriously vast silent majority. [/quote] |
|
|
|
Post by cw67q on Aug 28, 2011 12:11:16 GMT
Your right on many counts. Firstly "Medusa" should have an asterisk. As for being able to find the majority in cheaper, slightly different versions, again your right. Lovecraft for instance. I must have 30 books of his, most are just re-cycles of other editions but to me that's not the point. As someone who loves the actual books as much as the contents it's the editions featured in the Best 100 Horror and it's sister volume that I want to track down. It's part of the fun. Even later editions don't do it for me. I did have "Some of your Blood" by Sturgeon in a Hitchcock anthology but wanted the actual book (a first edition paperback) sitting on the shelf. That's not to say I don't appreicate your efforts and it's a route I may have to go down if I get within say 5-10 volumes and stand no chance of finishing off the collection. Yeah ok I can see that - chris |
|
|
|
Post by dem on Aug 28, 2011 20:37:25 GMT
I also have the sci-fi one and the fantasy one but I know how much those two genres are sneered upon here so I would only put their contents up if asked i'd be very interested in seeing them if its not putting you to too much trouble. you might like to start a new thread or it could get a bit confusing! it looks as if there's plenty of mileage left in this one. Ramsey Campbell - Dark Feasts: If Jack Sullivan had opted for Dark Companions i'd have been wondering aloud whether Dark Feasts was the better bet, but he didn't so it's the other way around. i'd find a place for Scared Stiff too, because if i'd not read Mr. C.'s contributions to Michel Parry's anthologies i may never have got into his work at all. Hey, thanks, Dem! The only thing that always bothers me is that Dark Feasts (even the "corrected" version without the computer text at the end of "The Ferries") is riddled with misprints. That's why Alone with the Horrors reprints virtually the entire text, genuinely corrected this time. you're very welcome, ramsey. re Michel's Black Magic and Devil's Kisses antho's. i always liked your articles in House Of Hammer and the small presses but found the stories a real struggle. i'd come to horror fiction via Peter Haining, Hugh Lamb's victorian anthologies and loads of pre-WWII pulp, so i had little or no patience with then contemporary horror at all and couldn't see me ever getting into it. The first of yours that clicked with me in a very big way was Dolls! read it one night in a local pub, just around the corner from where the Ratcliffe Highway murderer John Williams was reputedly staked and his corpse doused in quickline. true to form, within weeks the landlord sold up out of the blue and the pub was demolished! Just to add to the controversy: Since we last spoke I have progressed beyong the Midnight House Birkin collections. It is now clear to me that those two volumes are indeed "best-of" selections, as some of his other work is truly atrocious. Atrocious, that is, as in poorly conceived and realized. I speak of such stories as "The Serum of Doctor White." jojo, as i understand it, mr. pelan was planning to reissue every Birkin story over six (?) Midnight House volumes, though i'm not sure if that is still the case. were he to restrict himself to the 'best', then i'd argue there's easily enough material for at least another one. Hi Dem, I didn't mean to imply that I fealt debarred from stating my opinion, this is a very open forum. And anyway I was kind of sneakily saying it whilst pretending not to cheers - chris you rascal, you! |
|
|
|
Post by dem on Aug 29, 2011 12:38:07 GMT
some more "Pet Semetary" Another book I just can't bear to read again since the birth of my Son. King knows exactly where to kick you and this one hits straight into the knackers. i've actually wondered about that. if i found it a desperately upsetting read, it must be nigh on unbearable for a parent. William Hjortsberg - Falling Angel: Suicidal private eye investigates the disappearance of an actor. Manipulated at every turn by the gent who hired him, Harry Angel refuses to back down even in the face of the ruthless New York voodoo network. Other readers have let on that they saw the shock twist ending coming, i'm glad i didn't. strong contender for most rewarding novel i've read this year. Hugh Walpole (ed,) - A Second Century Of Creepy Stories: Hugh Lamb's choice and no doubt about it, a wonderful selection. But we've since been so spoilt with similar anthologies that we have much of this material over and over, and i'd substitute this with Mr. Lamb's own sublime A Wave Of Fear! Tim Powers - The Anubis Gate: picked up an ex-lib copy in good nick for £1 yesterday! might be some time before i get down to it, though that has nowt to do with the 'Chatto fiction: SF and Fantasy' notice on the cover. i just have lots and lots to read. Robert Louis Stevenson - Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde: Far as i can recall we've never given this a thread while we've had at least two devoted to the wonders of Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde! Has Stevenson's macabre fiction ever been collected in one affordable volume? Another job for Wordsworth. Algernon Blackwood - John Silence: probably sacrilegious to say so in certain company but personal verdict is "hit and miss!" Would replace with a safety first greatest hits selection. Robert Aickman - Sub Rosa: Don't have a copy but skipped and stumbled through the two Mandarin collections Chris mentions above. maybe it's just me, but, after it's own strange fashion, Cold Hand In Mine seems to have been conceived as a crowd pleaser and is likewise deserving a place on the list. Karl E. Wagner - In A Lonely Place: Don't have a copy but am familiar with each story from other sources, and every one a winner. Am also a big fan of Why Not You And I?. A marvellous commentator on shifting horror trends, KEW was also a vociferous champion of pre-WWII pulps shudder, weird and spicy. Hail Mr. Acid Gothic! such a tragic loss to the genre. Anthony Boucher - The Compleat Werewolf: Neil Gaiman's choice, which makes a whole lot more sense than blaming poor Brian Stableford! They Bite is top notch, but, for this misfit at least, the "humorous" stories haven't aged well and the title novella just plain got on my nerves. Given a straight choice between this and Joseph Payne Brennan's Nine Horrors & A Dream elsewhere on list, i'd not have to think hard about which ito come away with. |
|
|
|
Post by cauldronbrewer on Jan 26, 2012 2:18:32 GMT
no johnny. trust me. it is a terrible idea! Well, here's a somewhat different idea. Instead of doing any of a number of tasks that I should have done today, I sent the much of the day trying to complete a challenge I set for myself a while back: coming up with my list of what stories should be in a third volume. It turns out that this was a difficult task, especially given that I limited myself to one book per author. I also tried to limit myself to anthologies that included entirely new material. I broke down, however, and included some anthologies that violated this rule but played key roles in sparking my interest in horror. In the end, I gave up at the halfway mark. It turns out that most of the obvious choices were already taken (though there were some that I can't believe were available for my list). I'll admit that I'm somewhat bothered that only six of my fifty are by woman; I'm sure it would be possible to do better than that. It's also clear that books from the pre-pulp times and the past few decades are underrepresented. And sorry, no Guy N. Smith on the list (then again, no Charles Birkin, either--and definitely no Camus). So, here are my (admittedly idiosyncratic and biased) choices: 1. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (Edgar Allan Poe, 1838)
2. In a Glass Darkly (J. Sheridan Le Fanu, 1897)
3. The Wind in the Rose-Bush and Other Stories of the Supernatural (Mary E. Wilkins, 1903)
4. The Listener and Other Stories (Algernon Blackwood, 1907)
5. The Ghost Pirates (William Hope Hodgson, 1909)
6. Wandering Ghosts (F. Marion Crawford, 1911)
7. The Hole of the Pit (Adrian Ross, 1914)
8. Burn, Witch, Burn! (A. Merritt, 1933)
9. The Hounds of Tindalos (Frank Belknap Long, 1946)
10. Skull-Face and Others (Robert E. Howard, 1946)
11. West India Lights (Henry S. Whitehead, 1946)
12. Night’s Black Agents (Fritz Leiber, 1947)
13. Revelations in Black (Carl Jacobi, 1947)
14. The Doll Maker (Sarban, 1953)
15. Boy in Darkness (Mervyn Peake, 1956)
16. The Graveyard Reader (ed. Groff Conklin, 1958)
17. The Sundial (Shirley Jackson, 1958)
18. Invaders from the Dark (a.k.a. Shadow of Evil; Greye La Spina, 1960)
19. Night Ride and Other Journeys (Charles Beaumont, 1960)
20. Pleasant Dreams—Nightmares (Robert Bloch, 1960)
21. Sardonicus and Other Stories (Ray Russell, 1961)
22. Shock! (Richard Matheson, 1961)
23. Dark Mind, Dark Heart (ed. August Derleth, 1962)
24. The Surly Sullen Bell (a.k.a. Lost Lake; Russell Kirk, 1962)
25. Ghouls in my Grave (Jean Ray, 1965)
26. The Cell: Three Tales of Horror (David Case, 1969)
27. The Tomb of Dracula (Marv Wolfman, 1972-1979)
28. From Evil’s Pillow (Basil Copper, 1973)
29. Cold Hand in Mine (Robert Aickman, 1975)
30. The Satyr’s Head and Other Tales of Terror (ed. David Sutton, 1975)
31. Star Book of Horror, No.1 and No.2 (ed. Hugh Lamb, 1975-1976)
32. Frights (ed. Kirby McCauley, 1976)
33. Whispers (ed. Stuart Schiff, 1977)
34. Half in Shadow (Mary Elizabeth Counselman, 1978)
35. New Terrors (ed. Ramsey Campbell, 1980)
36. The Shapes of Midnight (Joseph Payne Brennan, 1980)
37. Lonely Vigils (Manly Wade Wellman, 1981)
38. Red as Blood (Tanith Lee, 1983)
39. Dark Gods (T.E.D. Klein, 1985)
40. Vampire’s Honeymoon (Cornell Woolrich, 1985)
41. On Stranger Tides (Tim Powers, 1987)
42. Ring (Koji Suzuki, 1991)
43. Foundations of Fear (ed. David Hartwell, 1992)
44. 100 Wild Little Weird Tales (ed. Robert Weinberg et al., 1994)
45. The Cleft and Other Odd Tales (Gahan Wilson, 1997)
46. Coraline (Neil Gaiman, 2002)
47. Mad Night (Richard Sala, 2005)
48. The Ruins (Scott Smith, 2006)
49. Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror (Chris Priestley, 2007)
50. Pretty Monsters (Kelly Link, 2008)
|
|
|
|
Post by dem on Jan 27, 2012 9:53:11 GMT
So, here are my (admittedly idiosyncratic and biased) choices: "idiosyncratic and biased" they may well be, but if that's a fault, then it's one you share with my very favourite anthologists, most of whom, i notice, avoid incorperating the words 'Great', 'Best' or (God forbid) 'Ultimate' in their titles. I'm paraphrasing horribly here, but Hugh Lamb resurrected a Howard Pease story in The Man Wolf and wrote something to the effect that, although The Warlock Of Glororum was probably far from Pease's finest moment, and certainly not the pick of the current collection, he was including it because he'd enjoyed it. That's good enough reason for me. i love your selection , btw, though several of the post- New Terrors entries are a mystery to me and i've never been near The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. will try to retaliate over the weekend if i can grab some hours. |
|
