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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Apr 11, 2016 19:08:11 GMT
I trust Jojo's judgement. Thanks, but based on what? |
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Post by pulphack on Apr 12, 2016 6:47:30 GMT
Based on having noted other books and authors you have mentioned that I also like, and having tried a few others you've mentioned favourably that I have subsequently found of interest. Though I have to admit that Aickman is still a mystery to me.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Apr 12, 2016 9:04:31 GMT
Ok. This is a huge responsibility. All of you who are now about to attempt THE PURPLE CLOUD, make sure it is the 1901 edition.
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Post by pulphack on Apr 12, 2016 10:44:40 GMT
1901 it is... but remember, if I don't like it IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Apr 12, 2016 10:47:39 GMT
I was afraid of this.
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Post by ramseycampbell on Apr 12, 2016 11:11:38 GMT
Victor Norwood - Night Of The Black Horror (Badger, 1962). Outrageous rip-off of Joseph Payne Brennan's Slime. Ah! Joe was always convinced that *The Blob* had pinched his idea, but I don't think he knew about Norwood.
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Post by dem on Apr 12, 2016 18:02:28 GMT
A fine selection here, although with one pretty glaring error. I really wouldn't file "Morons from Outer Space" under Sci-Horror. Admittedly I haven't actually read the book itself, but I really couldn't take the risk after seeing the film. About the only positive thing I can say about that piece of celluloid sewage is that it was in colour. A comedy?? Yeah, right. It was several days before I was back on solid food... Rats! You've made me want to see it now! One of the most peculiar things about Morons ... - or so it seems to me - is that some bright spark decided it warranted novelization (see also Bloodbath At The House Of Death; or rather, don't.) But back on topic (ish) the main reason I bought that anthology Dem unearthed for me on the Spitalfields stall a few weeks back was because it had a lot of MP Shiel in it, and I've read nowt beyond some Prince Zaleski stories in other anothologies - I must get a copy of The Purple Cloud as (make of this what you will) I trust Jojo's judgement. I reckon the Thrills series is well worthy of your attention, Mr. Hack, especially as the typical volume includes as much crime material as it does supernatural and horror stories. We've designated threads for at least three of them - Crimes, Creeps & ThrillsMasterpiece Of ThrillsThrills, Crimes & Mysteries- plus an Thrills Index: A-Z by Author. Victor Norwood - Night Of The Black Horror (Badger, 1962). Outrageous rip-off of Joseph Payne Brennan's Slime. Ah! Joe was always convinced that *The Blob* had pinched his idea, but I don't think he knew about Norwood. I reckon he was right about The Blob but at least the film brought something of its own to the party (nice juvenile delinquents, the Five Blobs and their novelty theme song (composed by Burt Bacharach!), etc. Mr. Norwood merely rewrote JPB's super-slick original as an 158 page novel. |
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Post by pulphack on Apr 13, 2016 5:54:35 GMT
I've had a few of those anthologies over the years, but am appalling at ever getting stuck into them and they end up being given to people or going to charity shop culls. For no reason I can explain I feel in the mood to finally give this one a go - I looked at the threads you mention, Dem, and feel this link should be reposted here - alangullette.com/lit/shiel/essays/shiel_gawsworth.htm - as it needs bringing up again, being a fascinating insight into the machinations of these dodgy old editors. The number of times I've read of book or comics editors who feel the need to prove their own 'talent' by ghosting and outright stealing - it never ceases to amaze me. How do they live with themselves, knowing that they haven't actually written what they take credit for? Does pride in work mean nothing to them? I only write cheap pulp, but at least it's my own work! I'd KNOW I was cheating if I claimed someone else's credit, even if no-one else did... Anyway, enough of that - switching to the topic of 'who the hell would novelise THAT???': publishers are idiots who chase cash. Simple. Bloodbath At The House Of Death and Morons From Outer Space were bad movies that would only really work - if at all - visually and a result of the comics in them. BUT... there had been some Kenny Everett books that had done ok, and the Not The Nine O'Clock News books had done very well (every comedy seemed to have a book back then - either a piece of great graphic like the Python books, script books like the Goons/Round The Horne etc, or novels). Add to this the fact that it was on the cusp of cheap home video releases, and that fans do love a souvenir of the show/film, and so you can see how a desperate paperback editor could be persuaded it would be a good idea to novelise even the most unlikely film. I'm amazed that you still get novelisations now as they seem redundant - franchise novels that take the characters and add new stories I can understand as it's a different medium in which to follow your favourite shows and films, like comics or audio. But a straight novelisation? Why? And yep, I do realise that last paragraph was an exercise in stating the bleedin' obvious, but even now the vagaries of publishing leave me needing to vent! |
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Post by dem on Apr 13, 2016 7:35:38 GMT
I've had a few of those anthologies over the years, but am appalling at ever getting stuck into them and they end up being given to people or going to charity shop culls. For no reason I can explain I feel in the mood to finally give this one a go - I looked at the threads you mention, Dem, and feel this link should be reposted here - alangullette.com/lit/shiel/essays/shiel_gawsworth.htm - as it needs bringing up again, being a fascinating insight into the machinations of these dodgy old editors. The number of times I've read of book or comics editors who feel the need to prove their own 'talent' by ghosting and outright stealing - it never ceases to amaze me. How do they live with themselves, knowing that they haven't actually written what they take credit for? Does pride in work mean nothing to them? I only write cheap pulp, but at least it's my own work! I'd KNOW I was cheating if I claimed someone else's credit, even if no-one else did... Thanks for the link, Mr. Hack. Shocking revelations for sure, particularly the 'confessions of Oswell Blakeston' content. Mr. Eng makes an alarming faux pas of dem-like proportions when he credits the Not At Night's to Lady Cynthia Asquith - I'm sure she'd have been ... thrilled. He's perhaps right in suggesting the Thrills anthologies are "probably better than Charles Birkin's Creeps series (whose Gawsworth's resemble in title)," but then Fytton-Armstrong/ 'Gawsworth' was working with a lavish Daily Ma*l budget. Personally, I love all three series', but Thrills slightly less so than Not At Night and Creeps. |
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Post by pulphack on Apr 13, 2016 7:49:35 GMT
Heh, need to thank yourself for the link, as it came from one of your posts on the thread. Mind you, that's not as forgetful as the Lady Cynthia Asquith ricket perpetrated within the link - even I spotted that one!
I dunno, even though I claim no familiarity with the Birkin antholgies, I'd still plump for them over the Mail sponsored ones simply because they would be undiscovered territory - the latter are full of people you already know, while the latter have people who mostly began and ended there. A real leap into the unknown!
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Post by dem on Apr 13, 2016 8:14:41 GMT
'Not At Night' and 'Creeps' sure served H. Van Thal well. As mentioned elsewhere, The First Pan Book Of Horror Stories reads like a 'Best of Not At Night' selection augmented by a handful of bonus contemporary stories, while The Third Pan Book Of Horror Stories is essentially a deluxe version of Birkin's Horrors.
Anyway, back to Morons. Given the lame material he had to work with, I reckon Simon Bell made a decent fist of the novelization. Martin Noble's Bloodbath At The House Of Death is .... "a bit of a struggle." Is this scene played out in the film, or did Mr. Noble just throw it in when he got bored?
"... He knelt on the directories to reach further into the coffin, and pulled out another, blowing dust off it.
"Yeuchh!" said Barbara in revulsion. "That'th dithguthting!"
"Mmmm," agreed Lucas II more calmly. "It's James Herbert." He leafed quickly through the hardback edition of The Rats and shook his head.
"Of course, it was a first novel, but I did find it rather explicit, I much prefer his later work. It's more subtle and oblique. I think the indirect approach is always far more interesting."
She stared at him in surprise. "I had no idea you were tho interethted in litewature, Lucath."
"Literature? Can't stand the stuff," replied the clone. "Especially first editions ..."
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Post by franklinmarsh on Apr 13, 2016 12:23:51 GMT
That's deffo not in the fillum version of Bloodbath. I really want to see Morons again. It's been years etc. Worth it for the spaceship crashing on the motorway and Dinsdale Lansden's officious line "Have that woman shot, will you?" (i.e. just about all I can remember of it) The ...er...pop concert at the end was a step too far, though.
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Post by Dr Strange on Apr 13, 2016 14:13:10 GMT
But a straight novelisation? Why? I found myself asking this very question recently when Am*z*n was recommending the novelization of Crimson Peak to me. The answer seems to be because they sometimes actually sell quite well (see here). Maybe they are also cashing-in on the old "the film was OK, but it's not as good as the book" received wisdom - so make a film, and (at least if it is any good) you will be able to sell a few books off the back of it? BTW, if you click on the link above - make sure you read the "apology" in italics at the end, it's a cracker. |
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Post by pulphack on Apr 13, 2016 14:29:47 GMT
Heh, that is one hell of an apology - I'd love to see the original article. Was there actually a 'Jaws' tie-in as well as Benchley's book, or was it just journo confusion? It's true, a novelisation can be better than the film and/or add to it (I remember banging on somewhere about John Burke's 'Dad's Army' book, which has a lovely scene that's not in the finished version of the film). And it used to be a good way of building the CV. Hell, I'm not dissing them as I'm a member of the IATW - but I'm still not sure why anyone buys them now, except perhaps for that genre collector thing the woman from Titan mentions. Which would explain why you still see a lot of those. I know, I still tend to pick them up second hand...
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Post by Dr Strange on Apr 13, 2016 14:50:53 GMT
Heh, that is one hell of an apology - I'd love to see the original article. Was there actually a 'Jaws' tie-in as well as Benchley's book, or was it just journo confusion? It's true, a novelisation can be better than the film and/or add to it (I remember banging on somewhere about John Burke's 'Dad's Army' book, which has a lovely scene that's not in the finished version of the film). And it used to be a good way of building the CV. Hell, I'm not dissing them as I'm a member of the IATW - but I'm still not sure why anyone buys them now, except perhaps for that genre collector thing the woman from Titan mentions. Which would explain why you still see a lot of those. I know, I still tend to pick them up second hand... Not sure, but it's odd that there is no reference at all to Jaws there now (and there were definitely novelizations of the film sequels) - so let's call it "journo confusion". Sorry to have to ask, but IATW? I Am The Walrus? |
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