Worlds Of Strangeness

[dem bones]

Nigel Taylor [ed.] - Worlds Of Strangeness 2 (Oct. 2017)

Nigel Taylor

Made a start on #2 last night. Same winning blend of SF, horror and fantasy as the début and all the better for it. Have deliberately left the conclusion of Andy Boot's novella until last because it's been a year between issues so I need to revisit part 1!

Short fiction first.

[Nigel Taylor] - The Lost World Lost: Carlos, lone survivor of Professor Naismith's expedition to a lost Mexican valley, drags his torn body toward civilisation, desperate to share El Professor's greatest discovery before he dies ....

Franklin Marsh - Computer Wild: Inspector Ken Dalton investigates a series of mindless, brutal murders in an around sleepy Ashbury, all of them seemingly linked to a violent computer game of dubious origin. It's almost as if some rogue MOD boffin were wreaking vengeance on the gaming community!

[Nigel Taylor] - The Cold Light Of Stars: The Oviraptors, the final work of late SF author John Raguno, is such a hideous departure from his usual fluid style that Trevelyan suspects it was written during the final stages of dementia. How could his old friend Bob Butler expect Trevelyan's Tarn Books to publish 800 pages of impenetrable drivel when even the specialist SF outlets have passed? Trevelyan arrives at Butler's cottage intent on returning the offending manuscript. He fully expects an uncomfortable evening, which is what he gets - along with an enigmatic ending.

Graham Andrews - The Lights In The Sky Aren't Stars : .... but a Klarts starship fleet. And this 'Earth' isn't actually Earth but some kind of futuristic hologram of same. Who will save the galaxy? Hardball Halligan, the moronic android superhero, steps forward with his improvised .... but that would be telling. Whimsical space comedy.

And the lovely Micronicles.

[Nigel Taylor] - Palm: An old friend of ours pays a visit to Madam Maleva, the fortune teller. I bet Don Glut would love this one.

[Nigel Taylor] - Mr. Hide: A super-short shaggy insect story.

Jojo Lapin X - Spaceman: Chilling Sci-horror as premièred on the 2016 Vault Advent Calendar! Read it here if you dare.

[dem bones]

Proper cheap thrills!

Andy Boot - Pulped! [Part 2: Two-fisted Tales From The Secret Sect Of Fear]: Paranoia on Lower East Side. The run of bad breaks suggest a traitor in the camp, but who? Fresh from his nerve-shredding, terror fraught run in with Count Waldheim (see Worlds Of Strangeness #1), Joss Likely falls foul of a band of dog-faced entities who deliver him straight into the clutches of an evil sect, minions in the great scheme of things, but no less lethal in their intentions. Joss, his life and soul in the balance, takes the fight onto the astral. It's a crazy stunt to pull but it might just work.

Crash Flanagen, the Black Pearl, Quarterstaff of the Jungle, and the randy Red Admiral, are so engrossed are in their own battles with the forces of darkness that they fail to realise Likely's gone AWOL, though, to be fair, he's unpredictable at the best of times. Can it be that our fearless heroes and heroine have finally met their match?
Cliffhanger.

As mentioned, before taking on part 2, I threw in a rematch with the first instalment and recommend you do the same. Ending bodes well for a sequel or several. Am sure every reader will have their own favourite character and I particularly hope we've not seen the last of Quarterstaff of the Jungle.

[dem bones]

Saving the highlight 'til last, the issue's non-fiction, The Stranger's Parallel Lives: Magritte & Hergé, contrasting the life and works of two seemingly disparate men of creative genius, surrealist artist, René Magritte, and his near contemporary Georges Prosper Remi, creator of The Adventures of Tintin. Nigel comes clean - he's a massive fan of both - but there's really no need as it's glaringly apparent from the off. It's a superb overview sprinkled with warm autobiographical interludes and justified swipes at the tragic 'Belgians are boring' / 'Name a famous Belgian' mentality of persons in hilarious 'Keep Calm' t-shirts.

And that's about it for WOS#2 save to remind you that Nigel is ever happy to hear from potential contributors. Am delighted that certain of our regulars have already offered support including three of current issue's cover stars.

nigeltaylor131AToutlook.com

[dem bones]

Nigel Taylor - Prodigies & Effigies: 32 Tales (1999)

Nigel Taylor

A Nocturnal Monologue
Palm
Identity
Malady And Remedy
Metamorphoses
Reminition
Advantage
Daefal Doodles
Two Infernal Dialogues
Thumbnails
Vermicide
The Effigist
One Up
The Leveller
The Bed
Merry Thought
The Blind Men
Misfortune
Dr. Mysterio's Muse

Nigel Taylor - Collection Inventive (2001)

Nigel Taylor

The Hairbrush
An Immaterial Materialist
Butterfly (verse)
Prototype
Minotaur
Siegfried (verse)
'Not Of Wax Are These Wings Made'
Genie Trio
Seers (verse)
The Dreadful Rime Of Lizzie Horden
The World Of Indifference
The Ring And The Cross (verse)
The Activated Activist
Transplant
The Question (verse)
Blind As A Bat
Tardis Story
Two Epigrams And A Fragment (verse)
Monsters Still
The Clairvoyants

Nigel Taylor - Hellfire Cinders (Winton Books, 2011)

Nigel Taylor

insomnia
A Nightmare In Tunisia
strategist
Fearful Simile
downpour
Talos Killed
doll
Meleager Complex
mountain
An Introspector Calls
dent
The Superstitious Man
haruspex
Lock And Key
maiden
The Last Ghost Train
formication
Branded A Miser
vestigial
Suspicion Of Sorcery
tailpiece


Blurb:
‘THE GODS SEND US FALSE DREAMS AS WELL AS TRUE.”

Amid the ruins of Carthage two con men dreamt of unearthing a hoard of priceless antiquities. But their secret archaeological dig turned into A NIGHTMARE IN TUNISIA ... One FEARFUL SIMILE could cost galactic poet Bynro his dream job — and more besides — if it displeases the poetry-loving Emperor of Kolex IV.. Lionel Willard's new invention was designed to harness the powers of the unconscious mind. Would it help him realize his dreams? Who knows what to expect when AN INTROSPECTOR CALLS? ... Night after night, Keith Crenshaw met the girl of his dreams ... a princess of Arcadia. Was he the reincarnation of an ancient Greek hero? Or did he simply have a MELEAGER COMPLEX? Would the flames of passion prove too hot for him? Or did a deadlier fire altogether await him?

Dec 15, 2017 12:26:29 GMT ripper said:

Nigel's tale was short and punchy, and I am a sucker for fair settings. Behind all that laughter and cheer, one can easily imagine all sorts of dark things going on. Nice one from an author I have not read before.

Ripper on Palm, as featured with the author's kind permission on the Vault 2017 Advent Calendar

One in the eye for Polyphemous; Frankenstein's monster visits the fortune teller; the first recorded case of a death by voodoo; misadventures of Midas; Medusa's near-fatal mishap; a Cyclops relates its most terrifying experience; a wax effigy is mistaken for Dracula; a witch demands the highest price in return for ridding the village of a giant white worm ......

Have been reading - and thoroughly enjoying - Prodigies & Effigies over the past few nights, thirty-two skewed fables, voodoo vignettes and shaggy dog stories of much charm and macabre wit. The longest story to date, The Effigist - an undertaker successfully fakes his own death only to fall foul of a detective who has watched too many horror movies - runs to an epic six pages. The first of eight aptly named "Thumbnails" gets its business very brilliantly done in a single sentence. Closest comparison I can make is Boris Karloff's Tales Of The Frightened had Frederic Brown been assigned script-writing duties.

[benedictjjones]

these sound excellent - where did you hunt them out Dem? From Nigel directly?

[dem bones]

Jan 8, 2018 10:11:38 GMT benedictjjones said:

these sound excellent - where did you hunt them out Dem? From Nigel directly?

Hi Ben. Yes, just drop him an email. I read all three over Christmas, very impressed. Will try add commentaries if/ when my writing head is fixed. If you enjoy the Micronicles in WOS, these are more of the same though, very occasionally, Nigel will hit you with an epic nine pager.

[benedictjjones]

excellent - cheers, Dem!

[dem bones]

The Hairbrush: Cowley has a change of heart, decides he doesn't want the Diabolist to murder his wife after all. Awkward.

Blind As A Bat: An epic at seven-plus pages. Initially suicidal, the fledgling vampire soon comes to embrace his new found supernatural powers and vows to shake up the "parasites" parting at his Lordship's manor house. Hammer Horror with an EC twist.

An Immaterial Materialist: Post-mortem adventures of Lord Edward Perceval, decapitated for a "blasphemous" paper denying the existence of the soul.

'Not Of Wax Are These Wings Made': After a life time's research, he's finally identified where Icarus went wrong and won't make the same mistake ...

Transplant: A plane crash in the Andes. The survivors debate the ethics of eating their late fellow passenger to stay alive.

The Dreadful Rime Of Lizzie Horden: Inspired by her near namesake, Lizzie resolves to kill her hated parents, but she's a woman of subtlety and an axe is too messy.

Monsters Still: Sinbad silences those who pour scorn on his colourful claims.

Prototype: Telleg 4, twenty-second century. Antros, "the most wanted criminal in the galaxy," steals a time machine and escapes to Fleet Street, London circa early Eighteenth Century. He needs a shave ....

Minotaur: The bright young man is confident he can safely navigate the maze of Daedalus, until ....

The Activated Activist: Alien robots arrive on earth, immediately set to releasing all caged animals from the world's zoos. Marine scientist Dirk Sanderson, a lifetime campaigner for animal rights, welcomes the coming of the Therophiles, but right now he could do without their well intentioned interference ...

Tardis Story: The Doctor and unidentified female assistant rescue a badly beaten man from a hostile planet. Saved from certain death, our criminal's ambition gets the better of him.

The Clairvoyants: Against his better judgement, a businessman stops to comfort a broken man weeping on a bench. What terrible thing could the fellow have done to upset him so? It began when he penetrated the secret of invisibility and invented a cosmic raygun ....

[dem bones]

Genie Trio: (1). A tramp abandoned on a rubbish dump inadvertently sets free a genie who grants him a wish. An onlooker is inspired to root out a grimy old bottle in his attic and smash it on the beach. (2). A second genie relates how he once granted a struggling merchant's wish to exchange places with the Caliph of Baghdad. The wisest of the Jinns is bored rigid with unimaginative humans - "The sons of Adam are the most avaricious, envious, egotistical race of vermin on the face of the earth." To cheer him up, a fourth genie offers the story of a woman who sought neither power or fortune for releasing a spirit from it's sealed prison. (3). High drama at the launch of a new ocean liner.

World Of Indifference: Do alien civilisations celebrate an equivalent of April Fool's Day?

[dem bones]

"If tales of the mindless slasher are your cup of tea, please look elsewhere. Nigel has crafted a series of very clever narratives, many of which [Tales From The Crypt co-creator] Bill Gaines would have relished in his pursuit of the ideal springboard. There are just so many ideas in these pages it seems untrue ...If yours is the weird and often eccentric please give these a go."

Peter Normanton, From The Tomb magazine #26.

insomnia: Maybe sleeping pills will cure his problem for keeps.

Nightmare In Tunisia: Tomb-looters Ed Shavers and Lance Selby fall foul of a Djinn with a warped sense of humour.

strategist: World War III, mankind versus vampires. The Supreme Commander of Human Resources invests all his faith in a computer calculation.

Fearful Simile: Alas for the poet Byrnos, his fulsome tribute to the King loses something in translation .....

downpour: Of all the doggies on earth, Kirby Wainwright, the new Noah, had to pick the wrong one to lead aboard the Ark.

doll: Richard Prendergast, voodoo practitioner, despises a work colleague to the point where he feels compelled to act .....

Meleager Complex (To the memory of Robert Bloch) : Keith Crenshaw's portentous recurring dream of life in ancient Greece is cause for deep concern to his psychiatrist, Dr. Rackham. Can it really be that Crenshaw is a reincarnation of Meleager, slayer of the great Calydonian Bull, or has he been infected with the deadliest contamination while holidaying in Budapest?

[dem bones]

dent: An irate Frenchman takes out his frustration on the 'Test Your Strength' machine at the carnival. Why so surly?

An Introspector Calls: A strong best-of-collection contender. Taking inspiration from a story by his literary hero, Frederic Brown, struggling author Lonel Willard invents a contraption based on The Yehudi Principle to stimulate artistic creativity. At first he believes the device is a flop but, unfortunately for everyone in the world, it works only too well. A truly bizarre and wonderfully convoluted sci-horror fantasy encompassing a sequel to H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, portentous 'knock, knock' jokes, Samuel Coleridge Taylor - the Robert Bloch connection, and a door-to-door serial killer with a thing for decapitation.

maiden: The Count demonstrates his new toy, an iron maiden "modelled on the Spanish design. Works a treat, although not entirely suitable for the modern kitchen.

The Last Ghost Train: Pete, who has worked tirelessly to restore the decrepit fairground attraction, takes violent exception when a drunk demands a refund under the trade descriptions act.

formication: A pilgrim's progress terminated. Gulliver: the true story.

haruspex: The wooden horse enters the city gates, but the Trojan has it on the authority of a soothsayer that there is nothing to worry about.

[dem bones]

The Superstitious Man: The calendar beside his hospital bed reveals that it is Friday 13th, and his vast assortment of lucky charms are missing! A vulnerable man in a hostile world - how will he survive this terrible day?

mountain: A young lad thinks it's unfair that the petrified giant, King Atlas, should be doomed to prop up the sky for all eternity ....

Lock And Key: Mindful that the Babylonians are laughing at their humiliation, the Philistines debate which of their fiendish anti-Samson schemes to pursue?

vestigial: Science versus Religion. Henshaw is confident his invention will finally shatter the "evolution" myth.

Branded A Miser: Prince Meleager mistakes his mother's fixation with the contents of her wooden chest for avarice, and, disillusioned of her Saintliness, embarks on a murder spree. We can laugh about it now but what a terrible mistake!

[dem bones]

Suspicion Of Sorcery: Atypically violent and a great story to close the impressive and hugely entertaining Helfire Cinders. Following the death of his wife, Whiting, an author, and his little daughter move to a small coastal village to begin life anew. Chloe befriends classmate Alice, the daughter of a strikingly beautiful woman despised locally as a voodoo practitioner. When an elderly couple die, the yokels, blaming Alice's mum, vow to drive their "witch" from her cottage. Whiting intervenes and endures his very own The Siege Of Trenchers Farm as a consequence.

tailpiece: The human race is deluded and existence is a complete waste of everyone and everything's time. Having said that, I've no idea what this story is about.

[dem bones]

Available now!

Nigel Taylor [ed.] - World Of Strangeness #3 (April, 2019)

Nigel Taylor

Will add table of contents ASAP - i.e., early next week, I hope!

Am*z*n.uk

Am*z*n.com

[dem bones]

As promised, the table of contents [a copy of WOS#3 arrived this morning]. Well done to all the contributors!

Novella:
Ferrell Rosser - Black Lagoon

Short Stories:
Maharg Swerdna - The Mummy From Blood's Tomb
Borderland
Graham Andrews - Shell Suit
'Doc' Clancy - Cult Of The Shark God

Poem:
Homage To Harryhausen

Article:
The Invisible Made Visible

Features:
Editorial: The Stranger Speaks
It's A Strange, Strange, Strange World
Book Reviews
Strange Mails: Andy Boot, Graham Andrews

Micronicles
#7: Through Others Eyes
'Doc Clancy' - #8: This Bender Earth
#9: Golem II

All unattributed material by The Stranger

It looks well slick. Commentary to follow.