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Post by ripper on Dec 16, 2016 11:25:27 GMT
Day fifteen: An icy winter's morning, hunched in the bus shelter. What you need is a swig of Old Methuselah to warm your bones. David A. Riley, who along with wife Linden runs the extraordinarily productive Parallel Universe Publications, has been active on the horror 'scene' since the late nineteen-sixties when he began contributing to David A. Sutton's legendary Shadow fanzine and cracked Herbert Van Thal's Pan Book Of Horror Stories with The Lurkers In The Abyss, revived by John Pelan in The Century's Best Horror Fiction (Cemetery Dance, 2012) as the most notable story of 1970. Today's account of a tragic incident post-Zombie Apocalypse first appeared in Charlie Black's Seventh Black Book Of Horror (Mortbury Press, 2010) and, most recently, the collection Their Cramped Dark World (PUP 2015). I enjoyed this one a lot. Nice atmosphere of bleakness and depiction of the dingy world that would emerge from such a catastrophe. Also a warning for our youth-obsessed society, where people will go to extraordinary lengths to stave off the effects of ageing.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Dec 16, 2016 13:01:19 GMT
Resuscitation Andy - Gah! Disgraceful. But amazing. Good to get back to Effingham-On-The-Stour, the town that looks as though it were designed by a 'demented author', the sort of place it's good to visit (as a reader) but you wouldn't want to die there. Johnny on form.
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Post by ohthehorror on Dec 16, 2016 13:38:45 GMT
I really want a big, juicy burger now. That's the first horror story that's ever made me desperately hungry I think. I'm probably showing my age when there are scenes with naked women, 'doing things', and all I can think of is burgers
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Post by franklinmarsh on Dec 16, 2016 13:53:13 GMT
*SPOILER*
I have a craving to rub up against a resuscitation dummy...
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Post by David A. Riley on Dec 16, 2016 14:58:44 GMT
One of Johnny's best stories - and the inspiration for the rather creepy cover of that collection (A Little Light Screaming). Loved all the stories so far in this year's calendar.
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 16, 2016 16:00:46 GMT
One of Johnny's best stories - and the inspiration for the rather creepy cover of that collection (A Little Light Screaming). Loved all the stories so far in this year's calendar. Today's was particularly good, as is the whole of "A Little Light Screaming"....
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vaultadventcalendar
Black Crow King
Horror chav at the controls/ weird cheerleader #arts&culture
Posts: 143
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Post by vaultadventcalendar on Dec 17, 2016 4:09:23 GMT
Day seventeen. ...dot dash dip flash don't crash .... Treacherous driving conditions on the motorway. A Good Samaritan whose only thought is for your safe journey home ... and how he can prevent it. Yes, it's the welcome return of Vault's very own Mr. Christmas, author and professional musician Craig Herbertson, with another exuberant celebration of the festive season! Those of us who enjoy these annual abominations are hugely indebted to Craig who has now provided an incredible thirteen stories, many, like today's, either written specifically for the occasion or otherwise uncollected. It's time a publisher put that right. In the meantime, if you've not already investigated The Heaven Maker & Other Gruesome Tales, you'd be well advised to do so.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Dec 17, 2016 6:50:11 GMT
Another blinder from Craig. Just love that writing. Such phrases and imagery.
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Post by ripper on Dec 17, 2016 10:22:11 GMT
Johnny Mains Day sixteen. Even in death, a fast-food casualty has cause to be grateful to the St. John's Ambulance Brigade. I love you, you big dummy.Writing in the author's notes at back of his most recent collection, A Little Light Screaming (PUP, 2015). Johnny Mains describes today's offering as "Possibly my most ambitious story to date, it's also my most perverted." For my two bob's worth, it's among his finest. We are doubly grateful to Mr. M. for providing a painting by his own hand - and at very short notice - by way of illustration. That was seriously good. It kept me guessing as to where it was going and the conclusion was satisfying and nicely poetic.
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Post by ripper on Dec 17, 2016 17:50:10 GMT
Another blinder from Craig. Just love that writing. Such phrases and imagery. FM has nailed it there, I think. I always look forward to Craig's contribution, and, as always, he has delivered the goods.
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Post by jamesdoig on Dec 17, 2016 21:21:05 GMT
Just caught up with the contemporary stories - certainly some beauties there, and a few had me reaching for the chunder bag.
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vaultadventcalendar
Black Crow King
Horror chav at the controls/ weird cheerleader #arts&culture
Posts: 143
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Post by vaultadventcalendar on Dec 18, 2016 9:30:43 GMT
Reggie Oliver Day eighteen. Who needs the Monster of Glamis when we've the mindless fiend in Arthur's Cellar?. It says much for Anna Taborska's work that, in the context of her stellar début collection, For Those Who Dream Monsters, today's story might be considered among the least harrowing pieces. As recently mentioned by Charlie Black in Pulp Horror #3, Anna has written more than enough new material for a second collection. It can't come soon enough for this reader's liking, and I strongly suspect, he is not alone on that score! Many thanks to Anna for allowing us to revive this short and ghastly nightmare, and to Reggie Oliver for permission to reproduce his gorgeous illustration. Attachments:Arthurs Cellar.pdf (307.76 KB)
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Post by ohthehorror on Dec 18, 2016 12:23:35 GMT
[...]Anna has written more than enough new material for a second collection. It can't come soon enough for this reader's liking, and I strongly suspect, he is not alone on that score![...] Absolutely. And this is good to hear. I wondered if we'd see another collection. I loved this one the first time around, and enjoyed revisiting it here. I'll have to re-read fish now too. That was another doozy.
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vaultadventcalendar
Black Crow King
Horror chav at the controls/ weird cheerleader #arts&culture
Posts: 143
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Post by vaultadventcalendar on Dec 19, 2016 9:45:01 GMT
© Chrissie Demant, 2016 Day eighteen. It's a hard life in the country .... Anyone who admits to a pathological inability to write a happy ending was always going to go down well with we wretched ones, and today's story, from actress turned author Kate Farrell's outstanding And Nobody Lived Happily Ever After (PUP 2015) is perhaps her most feel-miserable to date. I am obscenely grateful to Kate for allowing us to include her masterpiece of morbidity on this year's atrocity. Attachments:A MURDER OF CROWS.pdf (68.76 KB)
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Post by ripper on Dec 19, 2016 10:26:01 GMT
Day eighteen. It's a hard life in the country .... Anyone who admits to a pathological inability to write a happy ending was always going to go down well with we wretched ones, and today's story, from actress turned author Kate Farrell's outstanding And Nobody Lived Happily Ever After (PUP 2015) is perhaps her most feel-miserable to date. I am obscenely grateful to Kate for allowing us to include her masterpiece of morbidity on this year's atrocity. I remember how much I enjoyed Kate's previous offering, so was delighted to see her name again this year. This one well lives up to Dem's introduction: superbly and wonderfully grim! Excellent contribution from Kate again.
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