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Post by dem bones on Jan 22, 2015 5:46:40 GMT
It's the only way I can keep track. Capitalising on the overwhelming response to End Of Year Round Up: 2014, here's the opening salvo in Best worst of 2015 as they happen (with a little overspill from Dec. 2014). NovelPaul Huson - The Keepsake. Liberated after centuries buried beneath a sacred cross, a demon-inhabited 'fairy stone' takes up where it left off. Heads roll. AnthologyJoel Lane & Tom Johnstone (eds.) - Horror Uncut, particularly liked the short, sharp shockers by David Williams, John L. Probert (ghoulish), Thana Niveau (naked anger), Joel Lane, Simon Bestwick, Anna Taborska, Alison Littlewood (despair) and David Turnbell (non-fiction), with Priya Sharma's The Ballad of Boomtown my pick of the lengthier pieces, but its all good stuff. Have tried to order a copy in at local library, but was told by very charming assistant that it all comes down to whether or not there is sufficient budget for new books ..... (true). Various shortsThree from Stephen Jones & David A. Sutton's Dark Terrors 3Mark Timlin - Everybody Needs Somebody To Love Conrad Williams - The Windmill Pat Cadigan – This Is Your Life (Repressed Memory Remix) CollectionCharles Black - Black Ceremonies. Especially The Obsession of Percival Cairstairs, The Revelations of Dr Maitland, Tourist Trap, To Summon a Flesh-Eating Demon, The Coughing Coffin, The Madness Out Of The Sea and The Strombolli Collection. TVCyberbully (Channel 4, 15th January 2015). One-off hour long drama, written and directed by Ben Chanan and starring Maisie Williams. Casey Jacobs, aka Chronic Youth, a problematic teen and sometime unthinking troll, is tortured via her laptop by a malicious hacker. Very much a horror story for today. Social media is not your friend. Those We Have LovedBrian Clemens Rod Taylor |
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Post by franklinmarsh on Jan 22, 2015 12:00:02 GMT
I wouldn't normally be able to contribute to these as I'm so out of touch, but, having just finished Peter Saxon's Through The Dark Curtain I'll slap that in as my personal best , probably of the last couple of years. There's a certain line about a thin red line appearing across two white mounds...
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Post by dem bones on Feb 28, 2015 8:39:47 GMT
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Post by erebus on Mar 7, 2015 21:16:45 GMT
BEST.
Depraved Novel : SLITHER by Edward Lee. Of what I have read so far up until today March the 7th
Pan Revisit : Volume 18. Enjoyable journey back
TV Programme : THE WALKING DEAD, Still gets me excited.
Autobiography : Back From the Brink by Paul McGrath. Not relevant to the site, but a brutally honest read.
WORST.
Book this year : CRIMSON by Gord Rollo. How on earth did this poorly written crap get published ?
Football Fans : Aston Villa's Running on their pitch with rubber penises stuck to their heads.
Magazine : FANGORIA. Gets more expensive and the paper gets cheaper, plus its edited by an arsehole.
Beer : BECKS Green Lemon. Looks like washing up liquid but doesn't taste as good, no wonder it was cheap.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 2, 2015 12:55:32 GMT
Cover paintingNovelRichard Laymon - After Midnight: Thelma And Louise for perverts Robert Bloch - The Kidnapper. Psycho for the squeamish. AnthologyHerbert Van Thal - 10th Pan Book Of Horror Stories. Many an inspired moment, several solid, if predictable, plodders and the occasional all-important stinker. In other words, a classic Van Thal volume. Publications (new)Justin Marriott (ed.) - Paperback Fanatic #31 & 32. The pulp-dependant's bible. If your wish-list hasn't already passed way beyond the critical, "it would require a lottery win" phase, take out a subscription and the Fanatic gang will see you OK. Publications (Haunted Library)Rosemary Pardoe (ed.) - Saints & Relics. Rosemary Pardoe (ed.) - Ghosts & Scholars 18. David G. Rowlands - Eye Hath Not Seen: Father Dermot O'Connor versus a variety of nice and not-so-nice phantoms. Individual short stories ---
Pan Horror samplerHamilton Macallister - The Lady Who Didn't Waste Words Edwin Brown - The Clock Dorothy K. Haynes - The Cure Tony Richards - Child Of Ice Ghosts & Scholars, restless bones versus lone cyclists, etc.Tina Rath - The Governess Roger Johnson - The Dog M. M. Thomas - The Vigil Of St. Oswald John Alfred Taylor - The Ha-Ha David G. Rowlands - The Sins Of The Father David G. Rowlands - The Previous Train C. E. Ward - Gunpowder Plot C. E. Ward - The Spinney Rick Kennett - The Window variousPaul Finch - Oschaert ( Exotic Gothic 4) Malcolm Furnass - The Cure ( Dark Dreams 7) Peter Bayliss - Killing Time ( Dark Dreams 7) Non-fiction. Adam Riches with Tim Parker & Robert Sandland - Football's Comic Book Heroes.
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Post by dem bones on May 2, 2015 6:42:57 GMT
April favourites NovelsSax Rohmer - The Devil Doctor Florence Stevenson - Household AnthologyEvening Standard Book Of Strange Stories. Insanely generous coffin table selection, stuffed with lesser-known gems like; Hector Bolitho - The Albatross Stacey Aumonier - A Man Of Letters John Metcalfe - The Tunnel Phyliss Bottome - Henry Arthur Morrison - The Thing In The Upper Room Charles Davy - The Vanishing Trick Algernon Blackwood - Ancient Lights George R. Preedy - Crab-Apple Harvest Short horror & supernatural fictionDaphne du Maurier - Don't Look Now Cecil M. Willa - The Lost Village (Crime Writers Association [eds] - Butcher's Dozen) Dennis Etchison - The Dead Line (Karl E.Wagner [ed.] - Years Best Horror Stories VIII) Ramsey Campbell - To Wake The Dead (Karl E.Wagner [ed.] - Years Best Horror Stories VIII) Ambrose Bierce - An Inhabitant of Carcosa (Richard Dalby [ed.] - Mammoth Book Of Ghost Stories) Sir Andrew Caldecott – Branch Line to Benceston (Peter Haining [ed.] - The Ghost Now Standing On Platform One) A. E. Coppard - Silver Circus (Michael Sissons [ed.] - Masque Of The Red Death) Non-fictionNigel McCrery - The Final Season: The Footballers Who Fought And Died In The Great War( Random House 2014) TVInside Number 9. Consistently funnier, creepier, sadder, scarier, than the wonderful first series. Excruciatingly thrilling. Hammer House Of Horror reruns on Freeview 70, notably The Thirteenth Reunion, The House That Bled To Death, and Rude Awakening. SiteComic Book Plus. Vintage Boys periodicals, Sexton Blake and odd horror gem. |
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Post by dem bones on Jun 17, 2015 9:41:11 GMT
Better late than never. Or possibly not. Personal best/ worst of miserable May 2015. NovelsCraig Herbertson - The Death Tableau; Life sucks, then you die, after which it gets a whole lot worse. Then you come back to go through the whole miserable f**k**g rigmarole all over again. Daniel Farson - Curse. Rubbish goings on in Cornwall! Reads like a Peter Tremayne novel with a chronic hangover. AnthologiesAllan Barnard (ed.) - The Harlot Killer. Jack the Ripper in fact, 'fact' and fiction. Peter Haining - Freak Show. MagazineThe Sleazy Reader #2. Bizarre academia for the "adventurous". Super short stories: Dorothy K. Haynes - Those Lights And Violins Fanny Hurst - Guilty Eric Frank Russell - Mutants For Sale Margaret St. Clair - Horrer Howce John Wyndham - Jizzle Ray Bradbury - The Dwarf Kay Rogers - Love Story Theodora Benson - In The Fourth Ward [Anthony Boucher] - Jack El Destripador John Gordon - Grandmother's Footsteps Algernon Blackwood - Ancient Lights David H. Keller - Bindings Deluxe David A. Riley - Hoody Fredric Brown -The Geezenstacks Martin Courtney - Once Upon A Witch Event: Easy. The Pulphack-Dem invasion of Charing X Road on book-buying business. Antiquarians, barmaids and cement finishers take cover. Worst day in history ever. May 7th obviously (unless you happen to be a Scot, in which case, congratulations, or a Tory voter, in which case, hey, as long as you're alright, that's the main thing!). #whensthedigitassaleon SiteJava's Bachelor Pad. For the weird fiction reproduced from 'fifties-'sixties issues of Adam men's magazine. Watch/ Listen20, 000 Days On Earth; Fabricated day in the life of Nick Cave culminating in a blistering and (for long time fans), ultimately, deeply moving live performance of Jubilee Street. Freeview Fetish of the month Pie In The Sky (Drama Channel, Freeview 20, Fridays). Charming crime series featuring big-boned gourmet restaurateur and detective DI Henry Crabbe (Richard Griffiths), quite possibly the world's nicest man. Created by Andrew Payne who scripted Country Matters, arguably the kinkiest ever episode of Midsomer Murders. Those We Have LovedTanith Lee B. B. King Charles Kennedy |
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Post by dem bones on Jul 9, 2015 7:40:29 GMT
Unjoy's of June.  R.I.P. Mr. Steed Peter Saxon - CorruptionDavid A. Riley - Moloch's Children. Morgan and Winnie Davies are marked for sacrifice by a Satanic artist's colony, operating from a sinister house in Elm Tree Wood. A real throwback to Wheatley and the 'Black Magic' media frenzy at close of the 'sixties. AnthologiesJack Adrian - Strange Tales From The Strand . Victorian/ Edwardian weirdness at its best and, more often than not, most melodramatic. Phil Harbottle - Fantasy Adventure 13. Syd Bounds last stand. Support cast includes Brian Ball, Philip E. High, E. C. Tubb, John Glasby, and the editor himself with two very beautiful tributes. Tie-insTed Hart - Thriller: Most notably for rapist at large in the local library opener, File Under Fear. Ted Hart - More Tales From Thriller: : A killer stalks the cast of a TV soap in Death To Sister Mary, and a Black Sorcery cult plan their next human sacrifice in Country Wedding. Oscar Williams - The Dance Of Death. "Death in her face, death in her twisted limbs - death everywhere!" Especially the title story, Alf's Bombshell, The Tooth, and the epic When The Hangman Beckons. R. Chetwynd-Hayes - Tales Of Fear & Fantasy. Very uneven, consistently annoying, but The Resurrectionist and Changeling make it all worthwhile. Other spine-tingling shortsEric Ambrose – The Man Who Died Morley Roberts - The Fog B. L. Jacot – White Spectre F. Tennyson Jesse - The Railway Carriage Brian Ball - Seeing Flynn John Glasby - Village Life John Glasby - Aunt Amelia Sydney J. Bounds - Guinea Pigs Amelia B. Edwards - How The Third Floor Knew The Potteries Most wonderful woman ever of the month Our Lady of Columbia Lady Andrade. A fireball in football boots. Televised Sporting EventThe Women's World Cup: Canada 2015: Silky skills, moments of individual brilliance, cracking goals (lots of them), comedy, tragedy, professional fouls, diving, dissent, time wasting, the odd stray elbow, handbags, dayglo boots and alice bands. Who says its so different to the men's game? The Norwegian women's Mockumentary is a thing of sheer brilliance. Those We Have LovedPatrick MacneeSir Christopher LeeRon Moody |
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Post by dem bones on Aug 10, 2015 17:44:15 GMT
Every July I do the anniversary death waltz .....  (Artist uncredited, Ghost Stories, June 1929) Angus Hall - DeathdayDishonourable mentionsJere Cunningham - The VisitorEd Gorman - Runner In The DarkAnthology (old) Mary Danby (ed.) - Realms Of DarknessDishonourable mentionHerbert Van Thal (ed.) - Lie Ten Nights AwakeAnthology (new) Paul Finch (ed.) - Tales Of Terror From The Scottish HighlandsCollection (Beyond dishonourable mention) Franklin Marsh - Auld Franklin's Almanak Of DoomSuper shorts selectionWilliam Sansom - From the Water Junction Franklin Marsh - Duet Sterling Launier - Soldier Key Kay Leigh - The Sanguivites F. Marion Crawford - The Screaming Skull Ian Hunter - Skye’s Skary Places Sheila Hodgson - The Fellow Travellers Carl Barker - Broken Spectres Graeme Hurry - Shelleycoat Gary Fry - Jack Knife Craig Herbertson - The Other House, The Other Voice Winston Graham - The Circus Agnes MacLeod - The Skeleton Hand Patricia Highsmith - The Day of Reckoning Roger Clarke - Blackberries Soundtrack to the month Nick Cave, on Jubilee StreetNick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away. TVRipper Street returns to terrestrial TV RIPArthur Cave
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