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Post by dem on Oct 17, 2011 17:32:12 GMT
Ray Bradbury - The October Country (Four Square, 1963: NEL, 1970, 1973, etc: Panther, 1976) The Dwarf
The Watchful Poker Chip of H.Matisse
Skeleton
The Jar
The Traveller
The Emissary
Touched with Fire
The Scythe
Uncle Einar
The Wind
There was an Old Woman
Homecoming
The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone.Ray Bradbury - The Small Assassin (NEL 1973, Panther, 1976)  Richard Clifton-Dey
The Next In Line
The Lake
The Crowd
Jack-In-The-Box
The Man Upstairs
The Cistern
The Tombstone
The Smiling People
The Handler
Let’s Play “Poison”
The Night
The Dead ManThe bulk of Bradbury's horror-heavy debut collection Dark Carnival (Arkham House, 1947) recycled over two paperbacks. The Richard Clifton-Day artwork is for the NEL 1973 edition, but the Panther contents are identical. As far as i can make out, the paperbacks drop five Dark Carnival stories - The Maiden, Reunion, The Coffin, Interim and The Night Sets - in favour of The Dwarf, Touched with Fire, The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone, The Watchful Poker Chip of H.Matisse and The Tombstone though, in some instances, it might just be a simple case of alternative titles though i doubt it. We could us a scan of the Panther cover if anyone has one handy!
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 17, 2011 22:18:56 GMT
 Dreadful cover if I may be so bold  Liked this one a bit better  And this one has charm |
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 19, 2011 8:28:14 GMT
Made a start on the October Country collection last night:
The first 3 stories didn't really do much for me - The Dwarf seemed to end just when it was starting to get interesting, The Watchful Poker Chip... is a light-hearted satire on avante garde artistic movements, and The Skeleton is just a bit too jokey for me (though, unlike the previous two, at least it is recognisably 'horror').
The next one though, The Jar, I really liked. It's got that 'small town America' thing going on, and the carny sideshow thing too; but they are not presented in that sickly-sweet, sugar-coated way at all (though I guess this is too early in Bradbury's writing career for nostalgia to be a major force). Anyway, I thought this one was satisfyingly creepy and disturbing compared to the previous three.
Will probably read some more tonight.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 19, 2011 8:30:52 GMT
Made a start on the October Country collection last night: The first 3 stories didn't really do much for me - The Dwarf seemed to end just when it was starting to get interesting, The Watchful Poker Chip... is a light-hearted satire on avante garde artistic movements, and The Skeleton is just a bit too jokey for me (though, unlike the previous two, at least it is recognisably 'horror'). The next one though, The Jar, I really liked. It's got that 'small town America' thing going on, and the carny sideshow thing too; but they are not presented in that sickly-sweet, sugar-coated way at all (though I guess this is too early in Bradbury's writing career for nostalgia to be a major force). Anyway, I thought this one was satisfyingly creepy and disturbing compared to the previous three. Will probably read some more tonight. The Jar is a classic I think. It's real tactile horror |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 19, 2011 8:34:39 GMT
"The Lake" is also a tremendous tale, one of my favorites and I find it incredibly nostalgic but not in a queasy way. "The Emissary" scared me as a kid and remains a classic. "The Crowd" completes the classic section and "The Scythe" while not a classic probably inspired nearly all of the images in films of Steven King. I've a feeling the rest might leave you cold.
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 19, 2011 9:17:34 GMT
The strange thing is I've read all of these stories before, but now seem to remember almost nothing about them (then again it was a very long time ago - apart from the odd one that I may have re-read in some other anthology). The only ones that I seem to remember in any detail just from the titles are The Crowd, The Homecoming, and The Man Upstairs. But the fact that I kept these books for so long suggests that there must be some other stories in there that had an impact at one time - the danger, of course, is that what worked for me back then maybe won't any more. Anyway, I am going to carry on with these - at least until The Breath of God arrives!
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Post by dem on Oct 19, 2011 20:02:54 GMT
Made a start on the October Country collection last night: The first 3 stories didn't really do much for me - The Dwarf seemed to end just when it was starting to get interesting, The Watchful Poker Chip... is a light-hearted satire on avante garde artistic movements, and The Skeleton is just a bit too jokey for me (though, unlike the previous two, at least it is recognisably 'horror'). The next one though, The Jar, I really liked. It's got that 'small town America' thing going on, and the carny sideshow thing too; but they are not presented in that sickly-sweet, sugar-coated way at all (though I guess this is too early in Bradbury's writing career for nostalgia to be a major force). Anyway, I thought this one was satisfyingly creepy and disturbing compared to the previous three. Will probably read some more tonight. I like The Dwarf for its moody atmosphere and Skeleton is worth sticking with to the end for that hilarious and horrifying final image (for years i had the story mixed up with Syd Bounds's The Flesh Is Weak). Fans of The Jar might enjoy Richard Laymon's The Grab, a pulp enhanced take on the proceedings, but then again they might not! That's a decent point about Bradbury having been too young when these were written to have embarked on his nostalgia kick in earnest. i'm struggling to think of an example of the kind of thing that puts me off, though i know i read one quite recently. Uncle Einar and the terribly sad Homecoming are two from the Elliott family series you mention. Overall, though, my favourite of the horrors show up in The Small Assassin ... |
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 20, 2011 11:09:44 GMT
NOTE: SOME SPOILERS HERE
The Traveler - one of those 'Elliott Family' stories that I described elsewhere as a sort of supernatural soap opera. This one is OK, but it's strange that it appears here before Homecoming when the events clearly happen after (and it actually refers to 'Homecoming' in the text). I checked wikipedia and it confirms that Homecoming was written first, so that makes the running order even more strange. Wikipedia also informs me that the Elliott Family started of as a collaboration between Bradbury and Charles Addams, and so they are a sort of precursor for The Addams Family. In this one Uncle John, who has a habit of selling out family members to the authorities, tries to get Cecy to use her 'mind projection' abilities to clear his mind of what seem to be symptoms of incipient insanity.
The Emissary - once I started reading this the story quickly came back to me. Definitely one of Bradbury's best - I'd describe it as his take on The Monkey's Paw - and I feel I might have at some time seen a comic book or possibly a TV adaptation? Anyway, I totally agree with Craig's appraisal of this one - a genuine classic.
Touched With Fire - Two old geezers with too much time on their hands and a taste for amateur psychology think Mrs Shrike is a murder waiting to happen. It's an OK story - put me in mind of a slightly tongue-in-cheek take on WF Harvey's August Heat.
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 21, 2011 8:44:53 GMT
Finished "The October Country" and, for me, it definitely peaked with The Emissary. Brief thoughts on the rest -
The Scythe - You can probably guess what this one is about just from the title. Very "Twilight Zone".
Uncle Einar - Elliott Family story about how Uncle Einar found a way to use his huge green wings in broad daylight without scaring the straights.
The Wind - Story of a man tormented by wind. Seriously.
There Was An Old Woman... who decided that "death is ridiculous".
Homecoming - Elliott Family story with the main focus on young Timothy, who just doesn't seem to fit in... He doesn't even like blood! It's probably just a phase.
Dudley Stone - Rather unexceptional story about the trials and tribulations of being "a writer". Not horror/fantasy.
Now... do I carry on with The Small Assassin, or do I make a start on the newly arrived The Breath of God (Holmes! Crowley! Carnacki! John Silence! and Julian Karswell!!!)? I think the answer is fairly obvious!
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Post by dem on Oct 22, 2011 19:51:47 GMT
mostly from The Small Assassin ... Jack Davis cover illustration depicting a scene from The Crowd, SHOCK magazine, (May, 1960) The Crowd: Mr Spallner has caught on that whenever there's a juicy accident in this city, the same crowd of ghouls show up to gloat over some poor bastard's misery. Who are the ambulance chasers? How comes they never miss a spill of blood or snap of bone? Do they recruit? The Handler: The simpering undertaker Mr. Benedict, bullied and belittled by the living, vents his spleen on the dead, playing malicious pranks on their unresisting corpses. Mr. Meriwell Blythe, afflicted by "spells and comas" which have several times almost caused him to be buried alive, awakens from his latest cataleptic trance to witness Mr. Benedict in action. Before he succumbs to a lethal injection, Blythe calls on the dead to rise up and give the undertaker his just desserts. That night, during a terrible storm, they come out of their graves and storm the mortuary. Mr. Benedict learns the hard way that you really shouldn't play with dead things ... The Man Upstairs: Mr. Koberman is strange. He works nights, barely speaks and eats with a wooden fork and spoon. Neither is he fond of young Douglas, who spies on him through the panes of coloured glass between floors of the lodging house where they both reside. When the glass is smashed, Douglas is blamed and punished. His hatred for Koberman intensifies and when he overhears other boarders discussing a spate of mysterious murders in the town, which one of the men attributes to a vampire, he plans on a drastic course of action .... The Smiling People: It has now been a fortnight since Mr. Greppin took a razor to his grim relatives and gave them their smiles, but he’s still not sure they won’t spoil it for him when he brings his imaginary fiance home, so Aunt Rose, Uncle Dimity and the kids Lila and Lester will have to move out. Via the furnace if needs be. Not that they’ll notice … |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 2, 2014 6:16:30 GMT
Ray Bradbury - The October Country (Four Square, 1963: NEL, 1970, 1973, etc: Panther, 1976) The Dwarf
The Watchful Poker Chip of H.Matisse
Skeleton
The Jar
The Traveller
The Emissary
Touched with Fire
The Scythe
Uncle Einar
The Wind
There was an Old Woman
Homecoming
The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone.Ray Bradbury - The Small Assassin (NEL 1973, Panther, 1976)  Richard Clifton-Dey
The Next In Line
The Lake
The Crowd
Jack-In-The-Box
The Man Upstairs
The Cistern
The Tombstone
The Smiling People
The Handler
Let’s Play “Poison”
The Night
The Dead ManThe bulk of Bradbury's horror-heavy debut collection Dark Carnival (Arkham House, 1947) recycled over two paperbacks. The Richard Clifton-Day artwork is for the NEL 1973 edition, but the Panther contents are identical. As far as i can make out, the paperbacks drop five Dark Carnival stories - The Maiden, Reunion, The Coffin, Interim and The Night Sets - in favour of The Dwarf, Touched with Fire, The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone, The Watchful Poker Chip of H.Matisse and The Tombstone though, in some instances, it might just be a simple case of alternative titles though i doubt it. We could us a scan of the Panther cover if anyone has one handy! I just read 'The Lake' this morning online www.lghs.net/ourpages/auto/2013/3/1/55741734/The%20Lake.pdfThis was the first story where Bradbury claims to have found his voice as a writer. The sheer simplicity of it, the easy language and the use of the language are incredible. I find the story as moving today as the first time I read it. It's kind of timeless. Work of art. |
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Post by dem on May 1, 2015 16:05:41 GMT
The Dwarf: ( Fantastic, Jan-Feb. 1954). Ralph Banghart, ticket attendant at the Mirror Maze, gets his kicks from spying on the dwarf who nightly visits the arcade to spend a private moment in Screwy Louie's Room where the distorted glass makes him look tall. Ralph's girl, Aimee, feels sorry for the lonely little guy who, she learns, earns a living from penning his murder fantasies for the detective pulps. Proof positive that 'Mr. Big' has a soul! What if she were to buy him his very own funhouse mirror to enjoy in the privacy of his lodgings? Ralph, meanwhile, heartily sick of her mooning over the pathetic gink, plans a cruel trick. Made a start on the October Country collection last night: The Dwarf seemed to end just when it was starting to get interesting (Several years later) I agree. Much as I enjoyed revisiting it, The Dwarf is one story that maybe shouldn't have been left open-ended (though am pretty sure who would be the last man standing). No such worries with the following bleak, depressive novelette. The Next In Line: ( Dark Carnival, 1947). Joseph and Marie, holidaying in Mexico. He's itching to visit the town catacombs, photograph the famous mummies, she's horrified at the prospect. The experience is even more crushing than she'd imagined. The corpses - one hundred and fifteen in all (she counted) - look so scared and unhappy. The female catalepsy victim is a fucking nightmare. The warden explains these are the pauper dead whose relatives have defaulted on the annual payment required to keep them buried in the adjoining graveyard. Events conspire against Marie. First the car inexplicably gives up the ghost, preventing flight to the next town. Then she's stricken with fever. At least she has Joseph's promise that, should the worst happen, he'll not leave her behind to share the mummies' fate.
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Post by bobby on May 2, 2015 2:32:10 GMT
The Emissary - once I started reading this the story quickly came back to me. Definitely one of Bradbury's best - I'd describe it as his take on The Monkey's Paw - and I feel I might have at some time seen a comic book or possibly a TV adaptation? EC did an "unauthorized" adaptation of it, "What The Dog Dragged In!", originally published in Vault of Horror #22. (And that wasn't the only Ray Bradbury story EC "swiped" before he caught them.) |
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Post by Dr Strange on May 14, 2015 16:02:59 GMT
The Emissary - once I started reading this the story quickly came back to me. Definitely one of Bradbury's best - I'd describe it as his take on The Monkey's Paw - and I feel I might have at some time seen a comic book or possibly a TV adaptation? EC did an "unauthorized" adaptation of it, "What The Dog Dragged In!", originally published in Vault of Horror #22. (And that wasn't the only Ray Bradbury story EC "swiped" before he caught them.) Thanks - that's quite a bit before my time, but I'm guessing there must have been a later reissue in the UK (maybe in one of those black and white Alan Class reprints I used to read a lot in the 70s). |
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Post by bobby on May 14, 2015 23:32:24 GMT
Vault of Horror #22 was reprinted as a 32 page color comic book by Gemstone Publishing in 1995, as Vault of Horror #11. I don't know how readily available these reprints were outside the US, though one of the regular contributors of fanmail in the reprints was from Scotland.
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