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Post by fritzmaitland on Oct 31, 2019 12:34:30 GMT
Last night was Clark Ashton Smith's The Seed From The Sepulchre. Not sure if I'd ever read anything by him before. Well, this was a good start. Two white boils down the Orinoco hunting down orchids, when one of them gets a sniff of some treasure, the other being stricken with tropical fever. Our treasure hunter disappears for a couple of days then comes back empty-handed - but not empty-headed. Mwa-ha! Terrific plants hate you melodrama as the travellers decide to head home but the explorer has headaches and reveals that whilst examining a ruined city in the jungle a seed pod exploded in his face and he may have ingested some 'orrible flora that seemed to have done for the cities previous inhabitants if the disturbing skeletons he found were anything to go by. Deserted by their native assistants, the hapless pair drift down the river, and it's beginning to look a lot like there is something alien within the explorer's cranium as his migraines worsen, eyes begin to bulge and....eurgh.
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Post by fritzmaitland on Nov 3, 2019 23:23:47 GMT
Anthony Gittins – Gibbet Lane: Surrey. Flash Londoners Gollen and Pounceby are on a walking tour and pretending to enjoy it. When they stop to ask a farmer for directions to the nearest pub, he insists on accompanying them for some of the journey. By way of conversation, he offers the cheery tale of an innocent man hung for the murder of his wife, and his own weird experience on this gloomy stretch of land. The farmer should be the ghost! |
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Post by Swampirella on Nov 4, 2019 2:08:18 GMT
Anthony Gittins – Gibbet Lane: Surrey. Flash Londoners Gollen and Pounceby are on a walking tour and pretending to enjoy it. When they stop to ask a farmer for directions to the nearest pub, he insists on accompanying them for some of the journey. By way of conversation, he offers the cheery tale of an innocent man hung for the murder of his wife, and his own weird experience on this gloomy stretch of land. The farmer should be the ghost! The title of this story intrigued me enough to buy the book! I seem to recall it being slightly disappointing, but it's still a worthwhile collection to have on one's shelf. |
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Post by Michael Connolly on Nov 4, 2019 14:05:09 GMT
Last night I re-read "Gibbet Lane" by Anthony Gittins. From 1935, it a well-written and funny rural ghost story set in broad daylight. So who was Anthony Gittins? (There's a Fr. Anthony Gittins, C.S.Sp., M.A., Ph.D. knocking about, but it's not him.) I still don't know he was. Anyway, here's the other two covers for 65 Great Spine Chillers, both from 1982:   |
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Post by Dr Strange on Nov 4, 2019 16:12:05 GMT
So who was Anthony Gittins? There seems to be only one other story credited to him, The Third Performance in "The Evening Standard Book of Strange Stories" (1933), which was also in Peter Haining's "Dr Caligari's Black Book" (1968). You can read it (just about) here - archive.org/stream/dli.bengal.10689.14305/10689.14305_djvu.txt (p.183-190) |
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Post by dem on Nov 4, 2019 17:10:20 GMT
So who was Anthony Gittins? There seems to be only one other story credited to him, The Third Performance in "The Evening Standard Book of Strange Stories" (1933), which was also in Peter Haining's "Dr Caligari's Black Book" (1968). You can read it (just about) here - archive.org/stream/dli.bengal.10689.14305/10689.14305_djvu.txt (p.183-190) I just dug out Dr. Caligari's Black Book on the off chance Peter provided a potted biography (however fanciful in some cases) of the contributors. Unfortunately: "It is not my intention to introduce the various contributors - their names, I am sure, are their own introduction ..." |
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Post by Swampirella on Nov 4, 2019 17:39:11 GMT
There seems to be only one other story credited to him, The Third Performance in "The Evening Standard Book of Strange Stories" (1933), which was also in Peter Haining's "Dr Caligari's Black Book" (1968). You can read it (just about) here - archive.org/stream/dli.bengal.10689.14305/10689.14305_djvu.txt (p.183-190) I just dug out Dr. Caligari's Black Book on the off chance Peter provided a potted biography (however fanciful in some cases) of the contributors. Unfortunately: "It is not my intention to introduce the various contributors - their names, I am sure, are their own introduction ..." Thanks for nothing, Pete!  |
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Post by jamesdoig on Nov 4, 2019 19:46:11 GMT
So who was Anthony Gittins? There seems to be only one other story credited to him, The Third Performance in "The Evening Standard Book of Strange Stories" (1933), which was also in Peter Haining's "Dr Caligari's Black Book" (1968). You can read it (just about) here - archive.org/stream/dli.bengal.10689.14305/10689.14305_djvu.txt (p.183-190) For what it's worth, he has a very short entry in the 1934 Author's & Writer's Who's Who: GITTENS, Anthony. Writer. Contributor to: Tatler, Sketch, Evening Standard etc. Address: c/o Robert Sommerville [an agent], Granville House, Arundel St, W.C. 2. Telephone: Temple Bar 8951. The BL catalogue accredits a play and novel to him in 1938 and 1939 - maybe he went off to war and never came back. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Nov 4, 2019 20:41:39 GMT
I think this is probably him - www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bb3b57a60The Price of A Song (1935) was directed by Michael Powell. Gittins is credited as a scriptwriter on the film, and also as the author of the story the film was based on. Unfortunately it appears to be a lost film, and is on the BFI's "most wanted list" - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Price_of_a_SongHe's also listed as "commentary writer" for Warden of The Wild (1948) - an "instructional film" about the life of a game warden at the Wankie Game Reserve in Rhodesia. I kid you not. |
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Post by fritzmaitland on Nov 5, 2019 8:17:53 GMT
Ramsey Campbell - Calling Card. RC's usual boffo atmos, creeping sense of fear, and Liverpudlian travelogue are unfortunately marred by the awful pun ending.
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Post by fritzmaitland on Nov 5, 2019 8:27:18 GMT
I think this is probably him - www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bb3b57a60The Price of A Song (1935) was directed by Michael Powell. Gittins is credited as a scriptwriter on the film, and also as the author of the story the film was based on. Unfortunately it appears to be a lost film, and is on the BFI's "most wanted list" - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Price_of_a_SongHe's also listed as "commentary writer" for Warden of The Wild (1948) - an "instructional film" about the life of a game warden at the Wankie Game Reserve in Rhodesia. I kid you not. They used to have a massive poster for that game reserve in the window of the South African High Commission in Trafalgar Square. Most disconcerting. IMDB lists 'Anthony Gittes' (sic) re The Price Of A Song and also The Case For The Crown (1934) - based on his short story 'Error Of Judgement.' |
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Post by Dr Strange on Nov 5, 2019 9:53:47 GMT
As it turns out, he's got a couple of things on f*ck*ng Am*z*n - Mr Cursett's Letters to Officialdom (1939) could be yours for less than a fiver, as could his "one act thriller" In The Mist (1938). But I also came across a reference to Gittins in an online book about the illustrator Eric Fraser (1902-83). I know nothing about illustrators, but according to wikipedia Fraser did illos for Radio Times, and also did some fantasy stuff (including some Tolkein). Here's his illo for Gittins' Who Sups With The Devil from RT (broadcast on the BBC Home Service in 1948)- chrisbeetles.com/artwork/4901/who-sups-with-the-devil (£750 and its yours). The play is described as "a fantasy in which Satan, bored by Hell, and by a life of perpetual vice, revisits the earth determined to experience the exquisite and unlawful pleasure of doing good". Here's more of Eric Fraser's art - chrisbeetles.com/artist/27/eric-fraser-fsia?page=1 Definitely worth a scroll through the pages. |
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Post by Michael Connolly on Nov 6, 2019 13:57:14 GMT
I just dug out Dr. Caligari's Black Book on the off chance Peter provided a potted biography (however fanciful in some cases) of the contributors. Unfortunately: "It is not my intention to introduce the various contributors - their names, I am sure, are their own introduction ..." Thanks for nothing, Pete! My opinion of Peter Haining is even lower now. |
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Post by Michael Connolly on Nov 6, 2019 14:00:24 GMT
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Post by Swampirella on Nov 6, 2019 14:35:17 GMT
Ditto from me! One of these months I'll get around to actually reading it.... |
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