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Post by Douglas A. Anderson on Sept 7, 2012 4:32:58 GMT
Demonik wrote: Evangeline Walton - They That Have Wings:
<snip> And that's as far as we can go without ruining it with a spoiler. Let's just add that, according to the author, They That Have Wings was rejected by Dorothy McIlwraith as "too gory" for Weird Tales. I'd rate it as good as, if not better than, the Evangeline Walton story she eventually accepted, At The End Of The Corridor, and i rate At The End Of The Corridor very highly indeed.
I'm new here and see James Doig plugged the other day my Nodens Books collection of Walton's fantasy stories, Above Ker-Is &OS, which is available via Amazon (.com, .co.uk, .de, etc.). But I thought I'd mention here that in the early 1950s, Walton wrote three stories that she tried out on Weird Tales. They only took the one, and "They That Have Wings" was turned down as too gory. They turned down another one called "The Returned" apparently as "too quiet". Unfortunately, though two typescripts of the story exist, they are both missing some pages in the middle of overlapping text. Thus we didn't include it in Above Ker-Is &OS. An assembled version will appear in the forthcoming Centipede edition of Witch House, which has a bunch of cool extras, including two chapters from an unfinished witchcraft novel, and a long Intro by me, and an interview with Walton by Darrell Schweitzer. Illustrations by Rodger Gerberding. It's due out sometime early next year. It's all done, but in the queue waiting it's turn.
I'm working on some other unpublished Walton materials. It's been exciting to go through all of her manuscripts.
Douglas A. Anderson
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Post by jamesdoig on Sept 7, 2012 9:46:28 GMT
I'm new here Douglas A. Anderson G'day Doug! I can certainly vouch for the Vault as a fine place to moonlight with like-minded folk, though you might find a few Peter Haining fans lurking about...
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Sept 7, 2012 11:19:25 GMT
But I thought I'd mention here that in the early 1950s, Walton wrote three stories that she tried out on Weird Tales. They only took the one, and "They That Have Wings" was turned down as too gory. They turned down another one called "The Returned" apparently as "too quiet". Hi Douglas! Thanks for posting this backstory--interesting stuff. I'm looking forward to reading the Walton collection.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 11, 2012 8:19:22 GMT
Hello Doug, very good to hear from you, and thanks for the Evangeline Walton. Your name has been mentioned on here recently in relation to your revelations re A Vow on Halloween, The Wolf Girl and Peter Haining's attribution of authorship to same .(see The Werewolf Scrapbook). He seems to have gone in for this type of mischief on an industrial scale, and he's still one of my all-time favourite anthologists. Back with #23: Peter Atkins - Dancing Like We're Dumb: "I need you to sit down," he said. "Now." "Well I need Scarlett Johansson and a fistful of Rohypnol," I said. "So that's two of us who are shit out of luck."Another case, third ever, for Kitty Donnelly, L.A.'s premier wisecracking kick-ass lesbian Private Eye. Annie, cute bass player with trad punk all-girl trio The Butchered Barbies, has been ripped off by her latest one-night stand, bastard drugged her and waltzed off with her copy of the rare Guest Eagleton imaginary death disc, The Devil Rides Shotgun. Kitty retrieves the vintage vinyl with little difficulty, but makes herself a powerful enemy in the process, namely Frankie Metcalfe, septuagenarian soap star and High Priest of the local Satanic coven. Frankie's been raising a devil in the slimy cavern beneath his mansion, a devil which requires a constant and varied conveyor belt of sacrifices.
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Post by Douglas A. Anderson on Sept 21, 2012 21:55:44 GMT
I didn't find an easy way to start a new thread, but since this concerns basically a publicity thing for Stephen Jones, it should work here. Today's Publishers Weekly (in the US) has a short article by Jones, "The Top Ten Horror Stories" You can read the full of it here www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/book-news/tip-sheet/article/54053-the-top-10-horror-stories.html?utm_source=PW+Tip+Sheet&utm_campaign=c625ef45d5-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=emailHere's the list in brief: 1. “A Warning to the Curious” by M.R. James 2. “The Call of Cthulhu” by H.P. Lovecraft 3. “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” by Robert Bloch 4. “Sticks” by Karl Edward Wagner 5. “The Chimney” by Ramsey Campbell 6. “One for the Road” by Stephen King – 7. “The Dark Country” by Dennis Etchison – 8. “Dance of the Dead” by Richard Matheson 9. “The Man Who Drew Cats” by Michael Marshall Smith 10. “Homecoming” / “The October People” / “Uncle Einar” by Ray Bradbury – Jones ends with a few a propos comments: "So there you have it—perhaps not “perfect”, but ten superb tales by some of the greatest horror writers ever; and I’ve barely scratched the surface. I see now that, coincidentally, four of my choices are also contributors to A Book of Horrors, and that there are no women writers on the list. Of course, in another time or another place, such a selection may be totally different." Not my top ten, but an interesting selection.
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Post by jamesdoig on Sept 21, 2012 23:13:30 GMT
7. “The Dark Country” by Dennis Etchison – Personally, I've never understood the hype around "The Dark Country" - I much prefer "It Only Comes Out at Night."
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Post by Douglas A. Anderson on Sept 23, 2012 20:22:11 GMT
Steve told me in an email (which I don't think he'll mind me divulging here) that the title of the PW article wasn't his. The original title was "The Perfect Horror Anthology?" (with the question mark), which puts a different perspective on the whole. Still, it's an interesting list!
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Post by dem bones on Sept 26, 2012 8:28:50 GMT
Steve told me in an email (which I don't think he'll mind me divulging here) that the title of the PW article wasn't his. The original title was "The Perfect Horror Anthology?" (with the question mark), which puts a different perspective on the whole. Still, it's an interesting list! It certainly is, and i'm tempted to have a go at an alternative selection. I'm not sure if it's just over-familiarity, but never was that impressed with Bloch's Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper, while the MMS story i'd go for above the (excellent) The Man Who Drew Cats) is More Tomorrow. Meanwhile, back with BNH 23, finally got around to the opening story and it is delightfully creepy! Ramsey Campbell - Holding The Light: It's Halloween night, and Tom's taking Lucas, his drag of a cousin to the Frugaplex to see Vampire Dating Agency. Joining them in the queue, a very Gothed-up Lezly and Dianne from school, and no babyish rubbish for them. They're here to see Cheerleaders With Guts. Lucas, just for a change, blows Tom's chances by reminding everyone that they're under fifteen and aren't allowed in. He wants to pay a visit to the haunted house at Grinfield, scene of a locally famous teen suicide, so Tom reluctantly complies. The property can be reached by crawling through a long, tight tunnel, then up a ladder, and Lucas, having the only flash-light, insists on going first. He'll wait for Tom at the other end and forget that he ever called him a retard. Lucas, naturally waits until Tom is squeezing his way through the pipeline before switching off the flash. Tom is already close to panic before he realises that the dusty heap of mouldering rags he pushed aside is following hot on his heels ...
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Post by andydecker on Oct 11, 2012 9:43:11 GMT
So far I have read only the column "Horror in 20xx" which I have to confess is the main reason to buy this for me. (And the obituaries, of course). Tagged a couple a books which at least sound interesting, ordered one already. For all those 500 limited vanity editions for 500 bucks apiece of mostly unsold short-stories there are a lot of novels which are are sinking without a trace. Alone for this this book is invaluable. The publishers decision to cut the section of non-fiction books is of course idiotic. What prompted this? Angry letters of people saying "I would have bought this except for those pesky 3 pages of non-fiction books"? Weird and wrong. I like the slightly ironic tone in the short descriptions. The movie section is kind of a desert. Not really important but always entertaining. And boy, he really doesn´t like the new Dr. Who, does he? Interesting opinion which I would have seen more as thought-provoking if he hadn´t praised the godawful Merlin on the next page so much. Seriously? Now, onwards to the storys. I promised myself to read more of them then last year, and the line-up sure is interesting.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 11, 2012 21:40:49 GMT
Will look forward to your verdict, Andy. I can only agree that the non-fiction content is a major strength rather than a weakness. Even when I wasn't getting along with then-contemporary horror and, therefore, the series, still felt compelled to buy 'em for the invaluable bibliographical aid that is the Introduction. I can understand why those with no interest in such things would prefer that the 180 or so pages were freed up for more stories, but it would awful were that to happen!
Nine stories to go and am determined to finish it before Vol. 24 hits the racks.
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