billy
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 15
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Post by billy on Mar 23, 2008 17:19:25 GMT
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Post by Dr Terror on Mar 24, 2008 14:03:17 GMT
Hi Billy, Welcome to the Vault.
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Post by Calenture on Mar 24, 2008 15:45:12 GMT
St Martins Press, 1988 Hello Billy, I forgot to add this to your post last night. Have to say that anyone who writes a book about a lawyer recovering from a breakdown in Wales and developing an obsession with a 6-inch, penis-shaped Stinkhorn mushroom, has to be doing something right. Amazon.comGregory excels at fierce little novels about city men who move to the country, and discover, to their growing horror, how Nature can act as a mirror for a primitive unmanageable maleness they have never confronted before. This powerfully sensual tale is about a solicitor's clerk who tries to exile himself from his inner violence by fleeing to a tiny cottage in the woods of Welsh Snowdonia. He becomes obsessed with the woodwitch (a fungus shaped like a penis), then with various dead and/or disturbing animals that appear to him, and finally, with the depths of his own sexuality. From Publishers WeeklyThe Woodwitch relates a chilling episode in the life of Andrew Pinkney, a young English lawyer who wants to redeem himself from sexual humiliation. While the ensuing events are often lyrical, more frequently they're macabre. Pinkney is given the run of a deep-woods bungalow in Wales by his boss (who hopes he'll somehow get his wits back), and it's there that he stumbles onto budding fungi he believes will help him bud as well. They're six-inch "stinkhorns," and they haunt him with the power he ascribes them. The plan this not-so-gentle giant devises for his redemption is not for gossamer sensibilities, however, and Pinkney himself is a barely likable lummox. But Gregory writes with the hypnotic power of Poe, and this second novel has chilling implications. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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billy
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 15
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Post by billy on Mar 24, 2008 17:53:00 GMT
Hi, Dr Terror, Calenture. If I was to place these novels in order of personnel preference, it would be: 1st - Woodwitch. 2nd - Blood of Angels and 3rd - The Cormorant. Although 1st and 2nd place are subject to change (when I read TW, I'm convinced it's my favourite, but then I read BoA again and decide that this is the best).
And don't be misled by Amazon's 'fierce little novels' line. Both The Cormorant and Woodwitch are of average novel length, and Blood of angels longer still. These reviews also suggest comic undertones (penis-shaped fungi), but this is not the case. They are very dark, thick with atmosphere and very good indeed!
I emailed Mr Gregory some time ago, to ask if he would be writing anymore. He replied saying that he fell out of love with the business after an offer from The Excorcist director, William Friedkin, to knock-up some screen plays for his new film, drifted away and came to nothing. He was pretty adamant that there would be no more novels.
What a waste!!
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Post by Calenture on Mar 24, 2008 19:22:15 GMT
And don't be misled by Amazon's 'fierce little novels' line. Both The Cormorant and Woodwitch are of average novel length, and Blood of angels longer still. These reviews also suggest comic undertones (penis-shaped fungi), but this is not the case. They are very dark, thick with atmosphere and very good indeed! I don't think 6-inch, penis-shaped fungi would have put anyone here off reading a book - quite the contrary, in fact. More than one member here has let fungi creep into his own story! I'm not sure if the Vegetation thread survived it's migration from the original board, but it used to be very popular. The synopsis for The Cormorant seems very similar to that for Woodwitch. And Gregory seems to like using protagonists who are falling-apart. But I'll keep an eye open for his books; they look interesting. I note that The Cormorant was the first novel, and it won the Somerset Maugham Award. Here's a blurb for Blood of Angels (1995): Midwest Book Review: Shaped and re-shaped by a bizarre and ultimately dangerous succession of women, Harry Clewe is driven by his irrational obsession. For four decades, he struggles with the horror brought on by his own worst impulses. Following him throughout these crises is his angel, brought to vision by his blinding migraines. Relying on unusual totems to hold his angel at bay, Harry finds his releases in the most disturbing manner. A novel of twisted psychological horror, The Blood of Angels is a stark page turner of suspense and surprise. And I might as well add The Cormorant (1996): Amazon.com: A history teacher moves, with his wife and baby son, into a newly-inherited cottage in northern, seaside Wales. The terms of the inheritance dictate that he must care for his dead uncle's cormorant. It's just a bird, but in the eyes of this man and his family, the cormorant looms as a relentless, malign presence -- "as ugly and poisonous as a vampire bat" -- and seems to draw the small boy under its spell. A tightly written, erotically charged drama about people who do not know themselves and cannot come to terms with the natural world and its inescapable strangeness. From Publishers Weekly: Uncle Ian's strange bequest comes as a "thunderbolt of good fortune" to a young family when he leaves his nephew a rundown cottage not far from the coast in North Wales. But there is a condition: Uncle Ian's pet cormorant must be cared for. Though Ian's nephew (through whose eyes we observe this sinister tale) and his wife Anne settle in happily to their new life, they are soon disconcerted by the arrival of the bird, "as ugly and poisonous as a vampire bat." Anne shudders at its "demonic arrogance," but their 11-month-old son, Harry, is unpleasantly attracted to the bird, whom they name Archie. As a feeling of impending disaster gradually permeates the narrative, Archie's relentless presence causes a rift between the couple, who must cope with its viciousness and malevolence. The nephew finally decides to do away with Archie, but the cormorant proves to be his nemesis instead. This artful first novel, reminiscent of the tales of Poe, won Britain's Somerset Maugham Award. Gregory uses a low-key style and subtle lyricism to build an atmosphere of nightmarish horror in a tale that could become a classic. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Post by carolinec on Mar 24, 2008 20:05:51 GMT
I emailed Mr Gregory some time ago, to ask if he would be writing anymore. He replied saying that he fell out of love with the business after an offer from The Excorcist director, William Friedkin, to knock-up some screen plays for his new film, drifted away and came to nothing. He was pretty adamant that there would be no more novels. What a waste!! That's a shame. He could do with talking to another Stephen - Stephen Gallagher. If he heard Gallagher talk about his experiences of trying to turn his novels into screenplays (either on his blog or when he does screenplay panels at places like AltFiction and FantasyCon), then Stephen Gregory would realise this is generally par for the course. Though I don't know the business very well myself, it sounds like more attempts to turn novels into film fail, than those that actually make it to screen. I'd say he probably needs to accept that as being part of the business, rather than let it put him off writing more. It's the same, I guess, as the person trying to get a novel published. Most attempts will fail, but keep trying and eventually (assuming the writing's good enough) they may find someone to publish it. If everyone stopped trying every time they got a rejection slip, there wouldn't be many published novels around at all!
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billy
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 15
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Post by billy on Mar 26, 2008 17:54:01 GMT
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Post by Dr Terror on Apr 10, 2008 18:28:31 GMT
Forthcoming from Virgin Books: The Perils and Dangers of this Night - Stephen Gregory
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billy
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 15
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Post by billy on Apr 26, 2008 8:42:33 GMT
So sorry it's taken me so long to reply to this, Dr. Anyway, I actually caught this news in another forum I frequent, and just popped over to post an update, but I see you've beaten me to it. I'm really excited, but can't find confirmation anywhere, as to whether or not this is THE Stephen Gregory or just a namesake. I've emailed the man himself to ask that precise question. Any updates will be found on my new blog: 1blog2another.blogspot.comThanks again, Dr. Here's hoping!
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Post by manitoudoll on May 6, 2008 21:43:45 GMT
I agree with Billy that Stephen Gregory's novels are well worth reading.
"The Cormorant" was also made into an atmospheric move. The novel is a beautifully written tale of obsession.
"The Woodwitch" is also very atmospheric and unusual.
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