|
|
Post by helenspromise on Feb 7, 2015 8:28:19 GMT
I'll have a look when I've got in from work and see if that's the one. I will update if I get hold of it! Thanks again I hope it is. The cover features an illustration of fish falling from the heavens above rows of text proclaiming the wonders within. Did you ever identify that football story you mentioned on this thread? It has defeated me, that's for sure! I haven't had time to look into it yet but I think the cover of my book was dark green with yellow text and quite a stylised figure of a person on it so maybe not :/ although if it has some of the same articles it might help me get a bit further towards finding it. I've been trying to search the more well known stories in the book hoping I could bring something up on Google or in a wikipedia reference but no luck. I can remember so many of the different articles and can't believe I can't even remember the title! As to the football story I haven't found that either. I started searching for it again recently and it's driving me mad! I know the book was aimed at Young Adults as I bought it when it was removed from my school library so I've been trawling good reads and researching authors like Anthony Horowitz, Robert Westall and Philip Pullman who have all written short fiction but that's a dead end. I find it quite sad and frustrating that so many books just slip into obscurity. This site is a great research though, every time I search for a horror or ghost back this website is one of the first results to pop up. If I ever find it I will let you know! |
|
|
|
Post by Steve Green on Oct 27, 2015 18:58:50 GMT
Sadly, we lost Colin Harvey (winner of that SFX competition) several years ago. He was a very nice chap, and a fellow Microcon guest in 2008.
New and archive reviews: ghostwords.co.uk
|
|
|
|
Post by dem on Jan 22, 2017 13:49:34 GMT
The Second SFX Episode Guide To The Galaxy (Future Publishing, 1997) Blurb: Back by popular demand! SFX presents the follow-up to our mega-successful episode guide, with four more top TV series subjected to the scrutiny of our best reviewers...
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Taking you from the days when Cat tried to seduce Clark and Jimmy Olsen was a geek to the era of the post-marriage traumas and a dude-style Jimmy. Compiled by Nick Peers & Cavan Scott.
American Gothic. Cut off in its prime, American Gothic was one of the most popular series of '96. But which were the stand-out episodes? Compiled by M.J. Simpson.
Sapphire & Steel. It's time-rifts aplenty as we travel back to the late '70s to re-examine one of the most bizarre and inexplicable series - and to discover .... who exactly were Sapphire & Steel? Compiled by Anthony Brown.
Alien Nation. It's the series that Fox have admitted they should never have cancelled. And after reading our episode guide, you'll see why. Compiled by Peter Chambers, Alien Nation Appreciation Society.98 pages of plot summary, trivia, verdict, stop press!, best lines, etc. Anthony Brown also introduces a "The one with the ...." section to the Sapphire & Steel overview, as in "The one with the .... Railway station and ghosts," ".... photographs, the man without a face" etc, plus helpful attempt at explaining "What the hell is going on?" The First SFX Episode Guide To The Galaxy (not seen) apparently subjects Babylon 5, Star Trek: Voyager and Space 1999 to similar treatment.
|
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Jan 22, 2017 20:48:39 GMT
I think I saw most of these series, with the exception of Sapphire&Steel. Has it really been so long that they were new? I remember Superman as very lightweight, Alien Nation was as heavy-handed as they come. But American Gothic wasn't bad in places, who would have thought that Shaun Cassidy, whom I loathed as a singer, would turn into a competent writer?
|
|
|
|
Post by dem on Jan 23, 2017 13:59:36 GMT
I think I saw most of these series, with the exception of Sapphire&Steel. Has it really been so long that they were new? I remember Superman as very lightweight, Alien Nation was as heavy-handed as they come. But American Gothic wasn't bad in places, who would have thought that Shaun Cassidy, whom I loathed as a singer, would turn into a competent writer? It's the opposite with me. Sapphire & Steel is a blur to me now, but have vague memories of enjoying the episodes I saw. Anthony Brown's commentary is fun: "Like a lot of the series, this opening serial is a fascinating mix of the eerie and the incompetent." Never been the least interested in Superman. Alien Nation is a complete mystery to me, as is (perhaps fortunately) the pop career of Shaun Cassidy, and somehow I missed American Gothic (presumably it was broadcast in the UK by Rupert M*rd*ck's mob?). As is so often the case, The shows are very interesting to read about. |
|
|
|
Post by dem on Feb 6, 2017 7:40:22 GMT
Of course the bookaholic's curse dictates that, if you've landed the 2nd Episode Guide ... and the first one shows up for 50p in one of your regular haunts, you'll buy it regardless of whether or not you've the slightest interest in the subject matter. For the record: The SFX Episode Guide To The Galaxy (Future Publishing, 1996) Blurb: SFX proudly presents three essential episode guides to some of the best SF shows around.
Babylon 5. The complete guide to seasons one, two and three, complete with a guide to the arc-effecting events in each story. Compiled by Anthony Brown.
Star Trek: Voyager. It's on BBC2 now, but which episodes should you set the video for? We tell you, and highlight some of the cheesiest lines of dialogue this side of Babylon 5 .... Compiled by Dave Golder.
Space: 1999. It'll be back on the BBC next year, so discover what you're in for. And it's in the original production order! Compiled by Chris Bentley.For me, Sara's Just Seventeen freebie, The Dark Side remains the most desirable giveaway on entire thread. |
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Feb 6, 2017 19:11:28 GMT
The age of episode guides. I used to buy Cinefantastique just for the X-Files ep guide before the eps were brodcast in Germany. This was before the age of the DVD and the ever present streaming. It seems like an eternity ago in a better time.
Babylon 5 I liked the first 4 seasons, the last one sucked.
ST:Voyager was on the whole ridiculous, even if there were some terrific episodes.
Space 1999 – there was a re-run last year and I watched most episodes. This has become pretty silly, but the Eagles still look good. And the novelisations by Tubb are pretty good.
|
|
|
|
Post by pulphack on Feb 6, 2017 20:06:40 GMT
Space 1999 was like two different shows - the first season was pretty straight and very Gerry Anderson; then Fred Frieberger came in at the behest of Lew Grade and applied his Star Trek logic to the show - out went Barry Morse, in came Catherine Schell and her shape-changing ways, and it all went a bit silly. Even then, there were so cracking Flash Gordon-type episodes, and the effects and the models were always great.
I wonder if it's getting older, but I feel like you, Andy - it was somehow better when everything wasn't at your fingertips. The anticipation of waiting for something, or the search for it, somehow made the experience sweeter. Those under thirty are unlikely to understand this as they've never had that experience, mind, so they won't have that feeling that something was lost... Yep, it's getting older...
|
|
|
|
Post by dem on Sept 10, 2017 21:02:48 GMT
And before there was Mizz... we had the late, great J-17! I don’t read short stories much these days but I remember enjoying most of these; they’re spooky (I’m easily scared though) and all nicely illustrated too. (emap elan, n.d. Free with Just Seventeen magazine) Photo: Megan HawkinsJayne Earnes - House Of Cards
Catherine Young - The Haunting
Denise Leppard - Reflections
Alison James - The Nanny
Jenny Stebbings - The Deep
Sarah Rookledge - Truth Or Dare
Lynette Tamar - Ghost Of Summer
Mary Ann Ellis - Perfume
Charlotte Alexander - Deja Vu
Jade Eves - Breaking Away
Illustrations: Ivan AllenBlurb: The scariest stories you'll ever read!
Deja Vu
When Sarah's brother Gordy told her spooky stories of a ghostly girl, little did she know who he meant...
The Haunting
Creepy reports of a cliff-top spectre made Rachel sure her dead boyfriend Jamie had come back from the grave...
Perfume
Alice always wondered why her friend Josh never mentioned his parents. And a holiday at his eerie country retreat revealed the grisly truth...
The Nanny
Put in charge of five-year-old Harry, Fran soon became intrigued by the child's imaginary play-mate...
Reflections
When Greta entered her room after two months away, things were not as they should have been...
Plus tons more terrifying tales!
Just Seventeen. Life, love and everything. Every week.It was Sara of the gorgeous My Love Haunted Heart first alerted us to the existence on this little gem and I'm very grateful she did. Don't recognise any of the contributors, maybe you will. Staff writers, I guess, or was there a readers' competition? Jayne Earnes - House Of Cards: Teenage pals Matt, Paul, Melissa, Vicki and Zoe rent a holiday cottage on the Sussex Downs. Fair to say it falls some way short of its star billing in the brochure but they're here now, best try to make the most of it. Relations between them are already fraught when the charismatic Melissa finds a tarot pack in a kitchen drawer. They each pick a card. Vicki, who has a troubling secret, draws the Empress, Matt the Sun, Zoe the Moon and Paul the Fool. Melissa's turn. She cuts the pack to reveal ... the Tower. The holiday fast goes downhill from there. A combination of the stifling heat, sexual jealousies, Matt's irresponsibility and phantom footsteps on the stairs decide them to cut their dream vacation short, drive home in the morning once this fierce storm passes .... Sarah Rookledge - Truth Or Dare: At close of term, Kirsty, sixteen, is packed off by her parents to spend the summer holiday with Gran. Bored out of her skull, she's initially delighted to meet the strange girl in the wood. But daredevil Elisabeth is given to playing the cruellest pranks and Kirsty falls for them every time. On Elisabeth's promise to show her a ghost, Kirsty sneaks out into the trees at 2 am and seems this time Elisabeth wasn't telling whoppers. It's just a shame she neglected to mention the spook is that of a psychopathic child murderer. The girl has either outdone herself or they're both in deadly danger ... Catherine Young - The Haunting: A year of from Jamie's drowning Rachel still can't bring herself to believe that the boy she loved, who promised to always look after her, is dead. When the local newspaper runs an story on The Clifftop Hauntings she realises the time has come to pay a last midnight visit to Star Point. A feel-good, shamelessly romantic ending but its the convincing depiction of a young woman in the grip of bereavement lingers. Both this one and The Haunting would have fit comfortably into Mary Danby's Nightmares. |
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Sept 11, 2017 18:18:14 GMT
And before there was Mizz... we had the late, great J-17! I don’t read short stories much these days but I remember enjoying most of these; they’re spooky (I’m easily scared though) and all nicely illustrated too. (emap elan, n.d. Free with Just Seventeen magazine) Photo: Megan HawkinsJayne Earnes - House Of Cards
Catherine Young - The Haunting
Denise Leppard - Reflections
Alison James - The Nanny
Jenny Stebbings - The Deep
Sarah Rookledge - Truth Or Dare
Lynette Tamar - Ghost Of Summer
Mary Ann Ellis - Perfume
Charlotte Alexander - Deja Vu
Jade Eves - Breaking Away
Illustrations: Ivan AllenBlurb: The scariest stories you'll ever read! . What a great idea. A magazine which mostly featured boy-broup members or Madonna on the cover giving free horror stories away. The cover give me the creeps, though. Is this a Stepford girl? |
|
|
|
Post by dem on Sept 12, 2017 10:42:59 GMT
What a great idea. A magazine which mostly featured boy-broup members or Madonna on the cover giving free horror stories away. The cover give me the creeps, though. Is this a Stepford girl? Pity it didn't catch on with the competition, though having said that, there's the Mizz L. J. Smith vampire novel overleaf. Wonder if J-17 gave away any similar freebies? The mag ran from 1983 to 2004, so a free slim-line ghost story booklet every Halloween would have made for a substantial mini-library. The Nanny provides a clue to The Dark Side's probable publication date when it references a newspaper headline from September 14th 1896 ("exactly a hundred years ago, minus one day") so my guess is these ten spine-chilling stories will be celebrating their 21st Birthday around the end of next month. The cover of the "spooky!" October 31st 1990 issue invites the reader to "scare yourself silly with our fright fiction!" but am not so sure these Haunting Reads were a stand-alone booklet. Alison James - The Nanny: Fran's engagement as live-in nanny to horrible Harriet is terminated almost before it began when Mrs. Borley realises her difficult daughter will never take to the young woman. Fran, already creeped out by the kid's antics, happily accepts Mrs. Borley's generous pay off and readies herself to leave in the morning. But it's Harriet's not-so-imaginary friend - the vengeful ghost of a girl murdered by her nurse - who calls the shots at Fen House, and she wants her pound of flesh. Denise Leppard - Reflections: Greta returns home after two month's voluntary labour on the canal to find her bedroom has taken a turn for the unsettling. Everything is as she left it but still there's something subtly wrong about the place ... and those closest to her. Boyfriend Max is stand-offish, sister Diane sarcastic and secretive. It's almost a relief when the mirror lets her in on the big secret. Jade Eves - Breaking Away: "Becky put her fingers in her ears and pressed here forehead hard against the mirror. This was just too much! How she hated listening to those two in bed together. It had been the same almost every night this week. All the grunting and groaning and squeaking bedsprings. Disgusting!" Mum's walked out, Dad's shacked up with a bimbo. Becky, sixteen, is no longer happy living at home so moves in with Laura, her big sister. Problem is, Becky has become desperately accident prone and it's invariably Laura's stuff gets broken. One night she catches an old film, Poltergeist, on TV, and realises the terrible truth. |
|
clareb
New Face In Hell
Posts: 2
|
Post by clareb on Jan 7, 2020 23:08:15 GMT
Does anyone at all know where I might be able to find a copy of this book? ('The Dark Side'). I had it for years and years, but I lost it sometime last year, and I really miss it lol Admittedly, I'm about 20 years too old for it now, but I still really like the stories, and I would like to re-read them all!! I just can;t seem to find mine anywhere!!
|
|
|
|
Post by mrhappy on Jan 8, 2020 0:50:53 GMT
Does anyone at all know where I might be able to find a copy of this book? ('The Dark Side'). I had it for years and years, but I lost it sometime last year, and I really miss it lol Admittedly, I'm about 20 years too old for it now, but I still really like the stories, and I would like to re-read them all!! I just can;t seem to find mine anywhere!! There is currently one listed on ABEbooks for less than $10. But just one. Mr Happy |
|
|
|
Post by dem on Jan 8, 2020 8:04:15 GMT
Does anyone at all know where I might be able to find a copy of this book? ('The Dark Side'). I had it for years and years, but I lost it sometime last year, and I really miss it lol Admittedly, I'm about 20 years too old for it now, but I still really like the stories, and I would like to re-read them all!! I just can;t seem to find mine anywhere!! Good luck with finding a copy, Clare. Do you know if Just 17 or it's competitors published any similar volumes? |
|
|
|
Post by dem on Apr 19, 2020 7:22:14 GMT
The Unexplained (Feb 15 1998) One of the all-time great free gifts, a sixteen page supplement presented gratis with everyone ever's favourite Sunday scandal sizzler, The News of the World (R.I.P.). The Enfield Poltergeist, phantoms caught on camera, I went to bed with a ghost, I Compose Music for Beethoven, The UFO that Scared Tories, Can a Human Being Spontaneously Combust?, and can YOU name Britain's Spookiest Street? Well can you, punk? In short, this fab flimsy guide to the fantastical covers all you need to know about supernatural stuff, all the rest is just superfluous. Take a bow Maxine Creedy, Andrew Valentine, Nick Fiaca, Anna Gizowska, Caroline Peal, and Jean Ritchie! Sheer class. Steve Richard & Murray Richards - The Unexplained, YES, 24 April 1994. This earlier effort just might have lifted the prize had not The People hedged their bets. Rather than devote entire YES supplement to matters mysterious, the editor played safe with a paltry eight page pull-out (five-and-a-half if you disclude ads), leaving plenty room for the regulation Linda Lusardi/ sex survey/ mobility scooter/ astrology/ "Me and my operation" content. Essentially a 'The Paranormal's Greatest Hits' (Spring-heeled Jack, Loch Ness Monster, Abominable Snowman, Typhoid Mary, the Coventry Street 'Vampire,' etc.), had Steve Richard & Murray Richards' concise guide been published a decade earlier, I'd not have wasted way too much precious time and effort studying innumerable mind-numbingly tedious books on stupid subject.
|
|
