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Post by ropardoe on Aug 24, 2019 15:25:50 GMT
No, I haven't bothered, I'm afraid. Have you? if so, what's your opinion? It's still a pig in the poke for me. Will it be reviewed in the next Ghosts & Scholars? I don't know. It'll be mentioned in the News section, but there are no plans at the moment for a full review.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Aug 28, 2019 14:00:41 GMT
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Post by andydecker on Aug 28, 2019 19:15:18 GMT
They are well done, as far as the presention is concerned. I never sampled one though. Radio plays are just not my thing. They are affordable. Contrary to audio books, which can cost 30 Euro, these set you back at 7 to 10 Euro. This line has done a lot of classics, from Conan Doyle to Marion Crawford.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Aug 30, 2019 12:29:59 GMT
Medieval Studies and the Ghost Stories of M. R. James by Patrick J. Murphy has has been announced by Penn State University Press for publication in March or April (just too late to mention in the news section of the next Ghosts & Scholars - grrr!). Judging from what it says on the Penn State Press website, my guess is that the book is built around the series of papers which Murphy and Fred Porcheddu have written in recent years, looking at the interconnectedness of MRJ's ghost stories and his professional fields of study (something which Ghosts & Scholars has been preoccupied with for years!). For academics, Murphy and Porcheddu have actually done some interesting and new research on this subject - especially relating to "The Diary of Mr Poynter". Since the book is priced at around £60/$85 for under 250 pages, I don't see it reaching a new market though (cheaper to get the original articles through interlibrary loan). I don't think I'll be seeing a copy unless I'm sent one for review. Still, Murphy's introduction, which is long and interesting, can be read in full on the website. The cover artwork is truly dreadful! www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07771-0.html The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies#16 reviewed Medieval Studies and the Ghost Stories of M. R. James: irishgothicjournal.net/issue-17-autumn-2018/the-irish-journal-of-gothic-and-horror-studies-16/I didn't have the strength to read it.
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Post by ropardoe on Aug 30, 2019 15:33:28 GMT
Medieval Studies and the Ghost Stories of M. R. James by Patrick J. Murphy has has been announced by Penn State University Press for publication in March or April (just too late to mention in the news section of the next Ghosts & Scholars - grrr!). Judging from what it says on the Penn State Press website, my guess is that the book is built around the series of papers which Murphy and Fred Porcheddu have written in recent years, looking at the interconnectedness of MRJ's ghost stories and his professional fields of study (something which Ghosts & Scholars has been preoccupied with for years!). For academics, Murphy and Porcheddu have actually done some interesting and new research on this subject - especially relating to "The Diary of Mr Poynter". Since the book is priced at around £60/$85 for under 250 pages, I don't see it reaching a new market though (cheaper to get the original articles through interlibrary loan). I don't think I'll be seeing a copy unless I'm sent one for review. Still, Murphy's introduction, which is long and interesting, can be read in full on the website. The cover artwork is truly dreadful! www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07771-0.html The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies#16 reviewed Medieval Studies and the Ghost Stories of M. R. James: irishgothicjournal.net/issue-17-autumn-2018/the-irish-journal-of-gothic-and-horror-studies-16/I didn't have the strength to read it. I did read it. Suffice to say you made the better choice! The book is actually, in part at least, a great deal better than the review makes it sound.
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Post by jamesdoig on Aug 30, 2019 21:58:34 GMT
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Post by helrunar on Sept 5, 2019 2:41:25 GMT
Not really in the news--but the link for this was posted on another group recently, and I enjoyed watching it again. A very loose late 1970s adaptation of Casting the Runes, possibly too lo-fi for most of today's viewers, but I enjoyed the Seventies "folk horror" vibe and the sullen, snowbound Yorkshire locations. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRgQFlIaKNs&t=184sIain Cuthbertson plays a distinctly psychotic version of Karswell in this one. H.
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Post by helrunar on Sept 15, 2019 2:51:51 GMT
Again, this is not news. Tonight I finally started watching the 1979 serial The Omega Factor, which I watched and enjoyed on videotape sometime around 13 years ago, but don't recall much of. I noticed that a sequence in the first episode seems fairly clearly inspired by "Casting the Runes." www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKiRhvfc0Lm-GaEF6ogyEcM7u2VqKeIBOFilmed in Scotland with a cast that includes a few deliciously fruity old luvvies such as Brown Derby and Cyril Luckham... yes please. cheers, H.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Oct 28, 2019 14:08:15 GMT
I can't think where else to put this.
From Chapter Twenty of Dracula: From Jonathan Harker's Journal.
"An interview with a surly gatekeeper and a surlier foreman, both of whom were appeased with the coin of the realm, put me on the track of Bloxam; he was sent for on my suggesting that I was willing to pay his day’s wages to his foreman for the privilege of asking him a few questions on a private matter. He was a smart enough fellow, though rough of speech and bearing. When I had promised to pay for his information and given him an earnest, he told me that he had made two journeys between Carfax and a house in Piccadilly, and had taken from this house to the latter nine great boxes—'main heavy ones'—with a horse and cart hired by him for this purpose. I asked him if he could tell me the number of the house in Piccadilly, to which he replied:—
'Well, guv’nor, I forgits the number, but it was only a few doors from a big white church or somethink of the kind, not long built. It was a dusty old ’ouse, too, though nothin’ to the dustiness of the ’ouse we tooked the bloomin’ boxes from.'
'How did you get into the houses if they were both empty?'
'There was the old party what engaged me a-waitin’ in the ’ouse at Purfleet. He ’elped me to lift the boxes and put them in the dray. Curse me, but he was the strongest chap I ever struck, an’ him a old feller, with a white moustache, one that thin you would think he couldn’t throw a shadder.'
As the last remark about "the old party" (Dracula himself) is literally true this exchange reminded me of M.R. James's menials who don't quite understand the supernatural nature of their experiences.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 4, 2019 15:02:17 GMT
In other MRJ-related news, the BBC have just announced that a 30-minute long dramatisation of "Martin's Close" will be broadcast on BBC4 on Xmas Eve as this year's "Ghost Story for Christmas". It stars Peter Capaldi and has been adapted from MRJ's original tale and directed by Mark Gatiss. More info via this link."Martin's Close" features in this trailer for BBC4 Christmas: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ1B5e1u4JI
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Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 17, 2019 12:06:55 GMT
In other MRJ-related news, the BBC have just announced that a 30-minute long dramatisation of "Martin's Close" will be broadcast on BBC4 on Xmas Eve as this year's "Ghost Story for Christmas". It stars Peter Capaldi and has been adapted from MRJ's original tale and directed by Mark Gatiss. More info via this link."Martin's Close" features in this trailer for BBC4 Christmas: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ1B5e1u4JIYou can hear Mark Gatiss promoting Martin's Close and Dracula here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000c9mz
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Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 19, 2019 14:22:19 GMT
On Breakfast on BBC1 two days ago, actor Simon Williams said "There's a lot of M.R. James about." This was in relation to his involvement with Martin's Close and The Archers: Ghosts of Ambridge on Radio 4. The second of the three stories on Dec 31st is "Lost Hearts". You can see the details here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000cn0k/broadcasts/upcomingread - BBC Radio 4to I don't listen to The Archers, but I'll have to make an exception in this case. And, as I've said before, I don't think that M.R. James is dead at all. The illustration for the series look like those trees near me.
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Post by ropardoe on Dec 20, 2019 9:13:05 GMT
On Breakfast on BBC1 two days ago, actor Simon Williams said "There's a lot of M.R. James about." This was in relation to his involvement with Martin's Close and The Archers: Ghosts of Ambridge on Radio 4. The second of the three stories on Dec 31st is "Lost Hearts". You can see the details here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000cn0k/broadcasts/upcomingread - BBC Radio 4to I don't listen to The Archers, but I'll have to make an exception in this case. And, as I've said before, I don't think that M.R. James is dead at all. Yes, Frank Badger on the MRJ Appreciation Society Facebook page alerted me to that on the morning in question - I just managed to catch it with a couple of minutes to spare! Both Simon Williams and the actor who plays John (sic) Martin came over well, I thought, which is more than I can say for the inane questions of the presenters, who clearly had never even heard of Judge Jeffreys. The two clips looked quite promising, so fingers crossed.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 21, 2019 13:30:58 GMT
On Breakfast on BBC1 two days ago, actor Simon Williams said "There's a lot of M.R. James about." This was in relation to his involvement with Martin's Close and The Archers: Ghosts of Ambridge on Radio 4. The second of the three stories on Dec 31st is "Lost Hearts". You can see the details here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000cn0k/broadcasts/upcomingread - BBC Radio 4to I don't listen to The Archers, but I'll have to make an exception in this case. And, as I've said before, I don't think that M.R. James is dead at all. Yes, Frank Badger on the MRJ Appreciation Society Facebook page alerted me to that on the morning in question - I just managed to catch it with a couple of minutes to spare! Both Simon Williams and the actor who plays John (sic) Martin came over well, I thought, which is more than I can say for the inane questions of the presenters, who clearly had never even heard of Judge Jeffreys. The two clips looked quite promising, so fingers crossed. M.R. James was mentioned by some God-botherer on Radio 4's "Thought for Today" this morning. I'm telling you - he's alive!
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Post by helrunar on Mar 5, 2020 18:59:35 GMT
Not really news...dramatizations of "Casting the Runes" and "Count Magnus" are included in this series, "The Red Room." Date of this broadcast is given as December 2000. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwVyH0_pcNgAdded to my "watch later" list--this is a radio series so it's actually "listen later," in this case. H.
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