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Post by ohthehorror on Dec 16, 2014 10:44:46 GMT
Read Anna's Fish yesterday from the 2013 calendar and really loved it so I'm especially looking forward to today's offering. Think I'm going to treat myself to her collection. A Christmas pressie to myself.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 17, 2014 5:43:45 GMT
Day seventeen. Time for some full-on proper horror with a 'thirties pulp feel.  Chrissie DemantSo who are they, these ghastly terror pedlars? What kind of person could contrive such horrors and gloatingly unleash them on an innocent public? Discreet investigation reveals that sample contributors to these calendars are drawn from the ranks of, among others, the broadcaster, the musician, the actor, the film-maker, the gynaecological consultant, the Medieval church restorer, the former police officer, the 24/7 emergency greenhouse repair technician. They all look normal enough (i'm in a position to judge, obviously); why, you may even pass them on the street without ever once realising you are in the presence of twisted perversion. Today's ghoulish offering, courtesy of Gary Power - a brilliant young superintendent of Neuroscience, no less - is arguably sickest of all in that the events described are rooted in stark, horrific FACT. As chillingly revealed at close of last year's calendar, three participants in Carl Rosenberg's hideous experiment even saw fit to pose for a photograph! Be afraid, dear reader, be very afraid. Because this could happen to you ..... Additional special thanks to Charles Black, whose Tenth Black Book Of Horror premièred the following, and, of course, to Ant and Justyna.You can donate your brain to science via Strange World 3
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 17, 2014 7:12:57 GMT
'I’m afraid I’ve had to dispense with consent forms for
obvious reasons..' excellent line. Excellent story too
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Post by ripper on Dec 17, 2014 9:45:37 GMT
Another good and grim story by Craig. I haven't read much of Anna's work but her contribution made me want to seek out more.
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Post by pulphack on Dec 17, 2014 11:21:10 GMT
Indeed, Craig, that line made me chuckle, albeit a trifle grimly. Fiendish tale. Wha-hoo! Good old fashioned horror - idiot 'hero', double-dealing, blood and mindless terror. Unsubtle and splendid. I really must read more horror if this is what's going on these days - the Calendar has been a bit of an eye-opener for someone who's spent too long in other pulp areas.
Incidentally, I see that the Dem editorial eye has extended to the grasp of pulp editorial that has him wielding the whip over Chrissie as she slaves away scribbling the excellent illustrations. God, but you would have made a Street & Smith or Amalgamated editor glow with pride!
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 17, 2014 12:57:12 GMT
Indeed, Craig, that line made me chuckle, albeit a trifle grimly. Fiendish tale. Wha-hoo! Good old fashioned horror - idiot 'hero', double-dealing, blood and mindless terror. Unsubtle and splendid. I really must read more horror if this is what's going on these days - the Calendar has been a bit of an eye-opener for someone who's spent too long in other pulp areas. Incidentally, I see that the Dem editorial eye has extended to the grasp of pulp editorial that has him wielding the whip over Chrissie as she slaves away scribbling the excellent illustrations. God, but you would have made a Street & Smith or Amalgamated editor glow with pride! I hope Chrissie is let out of the dungeon after she's slaved away on these brilliant illos |
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Post by powerthorn on Dec 17, 2014 13:36:44 GMT
Love that illustration - straight out of my own head (...which is a bit frightening). And love all these gruesome tales. Now that's what I call Christmas...
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Post by dem bones on Dec 17, 2014 21:12:49 GMT
I hope Chrissie is let out of the dungeon after she's slaved away on these brilliant illos All that work and You wanna spoil her fun? Another stocking thriller for you;  Shameless flaunting. Evil brain surgeon Carl Rosenberg and his medical accomplices, Justyna (right) and ...er, Ant (left), as featured in the ghastly Deeper Than Dark Water. Photo courtesy of Gary's Strange World
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Post by dem bones on Dec 18, 2014 8:22:17 GMT
 Cover illustration: Paul Trew@Obsidian Oblique marks the first calendar appearance of Mr. Drew Salzen. Drew who? It is no good asking me. Persons representing the mysterious Mr. Salzen forwarded his 92-page MMS with the instruction that, if deemed lurid enough for Vault, I was at liberty to plunder the whole for a suitably tasty extract. From the several clues sprinkled throughout the [full] text, its clear the author has undertaken the East London & City Black Pilgrimage - and via the sanity-shredding Spitalfields, Shoreditch, Liverpool Street "scenic route" at that. I also suspect that he worships at the shrine of legendary '70's rockers, The Groundhogs. In his introductory note to the book proper, Mr. Salzen writes: From the end of January to the start of April 2014 fragmented fears ran as a daily feature on Twitter and Wordpress, with content exclusive to each site, interlinking to tell different aspects of a continuing narrative. This proved successful enough for a four book deal to be offered: as a result, the blog and twitter entries were put on hold. The book deal fell through as the e-publisher wanted to buy the property as a whole, and I did not want this. I feel that the narrative could work very well as audio using multiple voices and sound effects. It is deliberately fractured and obtuse to take the reader/listener around rather than through the story. Perhaps a risky approach commercially, but perhaps not? The following is the content from the sites.The following excerpt, wherein suitably seedy Fleet Street hacks discuss the grisly black magic murders perpetuated by the Angel Ripper, suggested itself as a neat stand-alone story in its own right. To get the full effect you are, of course, advised to study the series opener in its entirety. Fragmented Fears Book 1 is available for Kindle via Am*z*n or in paperback from ffformats ATyahoo.co.uk (replace AT with @) Thank you, Mr. S., whoever you are! |
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Post by mcannon on Dec 18, 2014 9:53:35 GMT
Dem - just a brief note of thanks and appreciation for all your work on the Calendar - and to Chrissie for the fantastic illustrations!
Even here in the sun-kissed Antipodes, we have a great need for grim, sadistic, ironic and downright vile horror fiction at this time of the year, if only to counter the all-too prevalent nastiness of the real world. Thankfully the Vault - and you in particular - are here to supply it to us.
Thanks!
Mark
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Post by Mike Brough on Dec 18, 2014 14:45:48 GMT
Yes, please accept my thanks, too. Christmas didn't feel dark enough until I started opening your Advent Calendar. Now the mood is just right.
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Post by ohthehorror on Dec 18, 2014 18:56:56 GMT
Dem - just a brief note of thanks and appreciation for all your work on the Calendar - and to Chrissie for the fantastic illustrations! Even here in the sun-kissed Antipodes, we have a great need for grim, sadistic, ironic and downright vile horror fiction at this time of the year, if only to counter the all-too prevalent nastiness of the real world. Thankfully the Vault - and you in particular - are here to supply it to us. Thanks! Mark Couldn't agree more. I look forward to waking up each day simply to see what demonik has for us now. I really appreciate it. |
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Post by dem bones on Dec 18, 2014 19:56:34 GMT
Dem - just a brief note of thanks and appreciation for all your work on the Calendar - and to Chrissie for the fantastic illustrations! Even here in the sun-kissed Antipodes, we have a great need for grim, sadistic, ironic and downright vile horror fiction at this time of the year, if only to counter the all-too prevalent nastiness of the real world. Thankfully the Vault - and you in particular - are here to supply it to us. Thanks! Mark That's a lovely thing to say, Mark. Thank you. And thank you Rip, Mike and ohthehorror. Truth is, it really is all down to the kindness of the authors and artists, without whom there would be no feast of morbid entertainment for us to enjoy. And 'kindness' is the operative word. The contributors will long have realised there's nothing in it for them beyond our goodwill, yet still they good-humouredly put out (so to speak). I reckon that says much about them as human beings and I'm sure you do too. Anyway, that's quite enough niceness for one century. Back to the camp posturing, tiresome smut, and droning on about how great Draco the Dragon Man is. |
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Post by dem bones on Dec 19, 2014 6:22:15 GMT
Day nineteen. Only five to go. I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunn .... aaaaaargh!!!!  The cursed Quentin Blake illustration for Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety (British Railways Board, 1991) Today's story is an exclusive from Johnny Mains, author of the collections With Deepest Sympathy and Frightfully Cosy and Mild Stories For Nervous Types, biographer of Herbert Van Thal, and editor of so many anthologies its truly difficult to keep up, primary among them: Back From the Dead: The Legacy of the Pan Book of Horror Stories, Screaming Book of Horror, Best British Horror, Bite Sized HorrorThe Burning Circus, and Dead Funny (with Robin Ince). Mr. Mains also compiled and published the marvellous Party Pieces: The Horror Fiction of Mary Danby and a collection of Herbert Van Thal's short fiction, The Mask and Other Stories. Find out more at Occasionally Horrific: The home of Johnny Mains"Mr. Mains explains: "This story was first written in 2009/10 - but just lay in the 'trunk' all this time. I took it out last night, and completely re-wrote it from top to bottom and it is a very different story to the one originally written. ... It is all the fault of a Quentin Blake image from a Roald Dahl guide to Train Safety I read when I was little." If it's "grim, sadistic, ironic and downright vile horror fiction" you're after, you've come to the right place! Mains - Sticking Your Head Out.pdf (195.9 KB) ********* You'll find more of Quentin Blake's train safety illustrations at Tygertale, a wonderful blog dedicated to "brilliant children's books."
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 19, 2014 6:34:58 GMT
I would like to add my thanks. Speaking as a humble contributor (Alternatively known as 'arrogant bastard') I look forward to the calender every year. It's edifying and entertaining to read the work of contemporary authors all in one stocking. There's something about such an eclectic online anthology that really cheers that wizened orange I call my soul; the early stuff is always a delight; Chrissies' illustrations are so apt and original. The whole combination of stuff is exactly the antidote to Xmas that I require and Dem is too modest about his editorial-ship.
I should add that I really didn't see that ending coming in Johnnie's Sticking Your Head out. Living up to and surpassing the term 'shocker'.
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