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Post by dem bones on May 27, 2016 9:28:55 GMT
Roger Elwood (ed.) - The Berserkers (Pocket, June 1974)  Mike Gross
Arthur Tofte - The Berserks
K. M. O'Donnell - Trial Of The Blood
Gail Kimberly - The Horseman From Hel
James Blish - The Price Of A Drink
Barry N. Malzberg - As In A Vision Apprehended
R. A. Lafferty - And Mad Undancing Bears
Raylyn Moore - Thaumaturge
William F. Nolan - Coincidence
Daphne Castell - The Patent Medicine Man
Richard A. Lupoff - A Freeway For Draculas
Virginia Kidd - Night And Morning Of The Idiot Child
David Gerrold - Skinflowers
Robin Schaeffer - Form In Remission
James Sallis - Echo
Adrian Cole - The Genuine Article Endowed with strange powers, driven by atavistic hungers, urged on by voices from other worlds - these are THE BESERKERS, human beings who claim kinship with the werewolf and the vampire.
In these stories:
A diary records a madman's descent in vampirism.
A Polish Jew in 1878 dreams of Hitler's machines of death.
A man awakens one morning to discover flowers growing out of his skin.
Some strange whim took me last night to finally get started on this ... again. Fair to say, Adrian Cole's trad supernatural horror story apart, it has yet to grab. K. M. O'Donnell - Trial Of The Blood: Journal of the "Count," one poor, misunderstood "vampire" who belatedly discovers that blood isn't really his thing, what he really gets off on is torture. When a young girl goes missing, the authorities storm his house/ "castle." Difficult to tell if what he's recorded in his diary is real or fantasy. Difficult to care. Adrian Cole - The Genuine Article: Jake Austin, fashion-conscious hippy, buys a heavy grey Russian military coat to wear on nights out at his local hang-out the Rafters. Henceforth, his nights are plagued by graphic dreams of a massacre on a snowbound plain. The previous owner, long dead from exposure in the frozen wastes, returns to claim his property. Virginia Kidd - Night And Morning Of The Idiot Child: A brief poem about something or other. Way above my head. David Gerrold - Skinflowers: Unidentified man sprouts plant-shaped growths on the backs of his hands. He rather likes them. These fleshy flowers fast spread across his body, transforming him into an animated Kew Gardens. James Sallis - Echo: Laurus is committed to a mental institution. His is a very special, tragic case. The boy absorbs the raw emotion of all those who come into his vicinity, in the manner of a Sin Eater. It's enough to make a body scream, and scream he does.
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Post by Dr Strange on May 27, 2016 14:06:05 GMT
David Gerrold - Skinflowers: Unidentified man sprouts plant-shaped growths on the backs of his hands. He rather likes them. These fleshy flowers fast spread across his body, transforming him into an animated Kew Gardens. Sorry, but this reminded me of a (terrible) joke - A man wakes up one morning to find something odd is happening on his bald head. It starts off as a small dry patch, but over the next few days tiny flowers and blades of grass start to appear, then a tree, and then a little pond of water. He decides to go to the doctor, who tells him... {Spoiler}{Spoiler}"Nothing to worry about, it's just a beauty spot". |
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Post by dem bones on May 28, 2016 14:43:49 GMT
"Hope you find The Berserkers a worthwhile reading experience!" To be honest with you, Roger ...
James Blish - The Price Of A Drink: Kunrad and son challenge a pilfering barmaid in a Flanders tavern. Bad move, she's a were-toad. Narrated by a thirsty Friar.
Richard A. Lupoff - A Freeway For Draculas: "Oh, come on. This isn't a horror movie." B-52's fill the skies. Once familiar faces are transformed into Boris Karloff's Frankenstein monster, Fu Manch & daughter, a hippy, and multiple Dracula's. David Starke suspects his coffee has been laced with LSD, but it's OK. He's just gone mad.
Perhaps it will pick up, but Dr. Strange's joke is infinitely more terrifying than anything this book has offered to date.
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Post by dem bones on Jan 4, 2021 10:18:02 GMT
Arthur Tofte - The Berserks: To prove his manliness, Asliek, son of the sword-maker, quits the farm to join the Berserks in a raid on those murdering, rapist Danes. Witnessing the ensuing massacre of an innocent family, Asliek, realising he's been conned, switches sides, slays the baddies, rescues girl, etc. His is a lesson well learnt. The Berseks are possessed of elementals sworn to overthrow the Gods in Asgard. Only the peaceable are the true sons of Odin. Sword & Sorcery fantasy, moral unlikely to win the approval of Varg Vikernes any time soon.
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