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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Jul 21, 2016 16:28:21 GMT
Well done, Lurkio. It must have been amazing starting the project from scratch and watching the stories ticked off one by one. Thanks, Dem. I'm thrilled to have a work of fiction set to appear within the pages of G&S, as I'm sure you can guess. It's been absolutely wonderful to see the response to the whole idea. Beyond making the initial suggestion and hoping it wouldn't set staunch Jamesians to curse the whole notion as blasphemy, I've been a delighted bystander while others have done the hard work. I certainly wouldn't have envied Ro the task of selecting from the gratifyingly large number of submissions. Those I have seen, in the first two volumes and in the Newsletter, have all been exceptionally strong stories, and it has been particularly marvellous to see how MRJ's original stories have inspired such a wide variety of fresh tales. As for my being in at the end, this is sheer lucky chance. For, as Ro knows, I spent over three years, on and off, working away at an 'Ash-Tree' sequel, getting distracted, moving onto other projects, then coming back to it repeatedly. Originally it was for the second volume, but missed that deadline. Then the third volume, but I wasn't happy with it. So, finally, and with just week's to go before this issue's deadline... I admitted to myself that the reason I kept going back and forth on the story was that it was terrible, then ditched it and, once it was out of the way, wrote something I like much better instead. And the moral to that story is - not every story has a moral.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 21, 2016 17:55:55 GMT
Thanks, Dem. I'm thrilled to have a work of fiction set to appear within the pages of G&S, as I'm sure you can guess. Indeed I can, and I agree with Ro. An inspired concept. It's only fitting that you should be there at the last. A book I'd love to see in my lifetime is a history of Ghosts & Scholars, Haunted Library and related projects, something very much along the lines of David A Sutton's indispensable On The Fringes For Thirty Years: A History Of Horror In The British Small Press (Shadow Press, 2000). Maybe Mr. Sutton should consider an updated edition).
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Post by Michael Connolly on Jul 22, 2016 12:53:50 GMT
It's a shame that the planned Best of Ghosts & Scholars book did not appear from Ash-Tree Press. I'm sure it would have contained much relevant introductory material.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 22, 2016 18:33:16 GMT
It's a shame that the planned Best of Ghosts & Scholars book did not appear from Ash-Tree Press. I'm sure it would have contained much relevant introductory material. There are plenty more small press/ independent publishers out there, or was this an Ash Tree-specific project?
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Post by ropardoe on Jul 23, 2016 8:52:49 GMT
I'd like to see that too, so long as I didn't have to write it! I agree about Dave Sutton's booklet - I said at the time that he ought to expand it into a book. It would be fascinating.
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Post by ropardoe on Jul 23, 2016 8:55:55 GMT
It's a shame that the planned Best of Ghosts & Scholars book did not appear from Ash-Tree Press. I'm sure it would have contained much relevant introductory material. There are plenty more small press/ independent publishers out there, or was this an Ash Tree-specific project? I did work out a story listing for it - long since lost - and it just seems to me that its time has passed. Again, if someone else wanted to do it, I'd give all the support I could. That said, I have a project in mind which would include, amongst new stories, half a dozen of my favourite, lesser known, stories from G&S. Maybe more on that anon.
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Post by ropardoe on Jul 23, 2016 8:57:34 GMT
Well done, Lurkio. It must have been amazing starting the project from scratch and watching the stories ticked off one by one. As for my being in at the end, this is sheer lucky chance. For, as Ro knows, I spent over three years, on and off, working away at an 'Ash-Tree' sequel, getting distracted, moving onto other projects, then coming back to it repeatedly. Originally it was for the second volume, but missed that deadline. Then the third volume, but I wasn't happy with it. So, finally, and with just week's to go before this issue's deadline... I admitted to myself that the reason I kept going back and forth on the story was that it was terrible, then ditched it and, once it was out of the way, wrote something I like much better instead. In the end, it was worth it for, when inspiration struck, it struck with a vengeance and produced one of the best stories of the whole project.
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Post by ropardoe on Aug 29, 2016 8:55:53 GMT
Exciting News! Rob Morgan tells me the book is now back from the printer. He'll be mailing it out from September 5th. He also tells me there are only twenty copies left!
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Post by Michael Connolly on Sept 1, 2016 12:53:51 GMT
Is the cover illustrating "An Evening's Entertainment"? Is it Mr Davis and his "young man"?
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Post by ropardoe on Sept 2, 2016 9:29:25 GMT
Is the cover illustrating "An Evening's Entertainment"? Is it Mr Davis and his "young man"? It is indeed. I specially requested this story to be the theme of the cover, as there are two great ( very different) sequels to it in the volume, and also, if I'm honest, one of the primary reasons I tackled this whole project was to get people's theories on what's really going on in "An Evening's Entertainment" (a story I have warmed to greatly over the years). We had some discussion on the date when the main events in the story take place, and hence what clothing Mr Davis and his "young man" should be wearing. I think Paul got it about right.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Sept 2, 2016 11:28:18 GMT
Is the cover illustrating "An Evening's Entertainment"? Is it Mr Davis and his "young man"? It is indeed. I specially requested this story to be the theme of the cover, as there are two great ( very different) sequels to it in the volume, and also, if I'm honest, one of the primary reasons I tackled this whole project was to get people's theories on what's really going on in "An Evening's Entertainment" (a story I have warmed to greatly over the years). We had some discussion on the date when the main events in the story take place, and hence what clothing Mr Davis and his "young man" should be wearing. I think Paul got it about right. Well, as long as you promise me that Mr Davis and his "young man" keep their clothing on, I'll read both sequels.
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Post by ropardoe on Sept 2, 2016 15:33:23 GMT
It is indeed. I specially requested this story to be the theme of the cover, as there are two great ( very different) sequels to it in the volume, and also, if I'm honest, one of the primary reasons I tackled this whole project was to get people's theories on what's really going on in "An Evening's Entertainment" (a story I have warmed to greatly over the years). We had some discussion on the date when the main events in the story take place, and hence what clothing Mr Davis and his "young man" should be wearing. I think Paul got it about right. Well, as long as you promise me that Mr Davis and his "young man" keep their clothing on, I'll read both sequels. Definitely no nakedness and no naughtiness in either! Actually, I'd probably never have accepted a sequel/prequel to that story which went the easy route and offered a sexual interpretation of what went on. That's a very modern (not to mention - ugh! - Freudian) way of looking at the story, and it's highly unlikely MRJ had it in mind either consciously or unconsciously. (Not that I've got any objection to nakedness and naughtiness in its place - I confess here and now that I'm not averse to a bit of slash from time to time!)
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elricc
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 100
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Post by elricc on Sept 2, 2016 15:52:29 GMT
it's always been one of my favourites, the first time I read it many years ago I thought I wonder if you could still recognise the patch with all the nettles. I think personally it's a story that most lends itself to sequels, the plot of the house, the flies, the pagan sites etc looking forward to some sequels.
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elricc
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 100
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Post by elricc on Sept 3, 2016 10:00:08 GMT
and it arrived this morning, pacing myself after indulging in the first two
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Post by Michael Connolly on Sept 3, 2016 12:37:51 GMT
Well, as long as you promise me that Mr Davis and his "young man" keep their clothing on, I'll read both sequels. Definitely no nakedness and no naughtiness in either! Actually, I'd probably never have accepted a sequel/prequel to that story which went the easy route and offered a sexual interpretation of what went on. That's a very modern (not to mention - ugh! - Freudian) way of looking at the story, and it's highly unlikely MRJ had it in mind either consciously or unconsciously. (Not that I've got any objection to nakedness and naughtiness in its place - I confess here and now that I'm not averse to a bit of slash from time to time!) I was just jokingly pointing out a connotation that is in the story, which I'm also sure MRJ did not intend. I've no time for Freudian, post-modern or any pseudo-intellectual analysis or deconstruction of what was designed as entertainment. Whatever slash is, I'm against it!
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