|
Post by dem bones on Mar 14, 2017 10:12:00 GMT
Sorry for break in transmission (real life stuff got in the way). Commentary to follow over coming days. In the meantime, you can add me to the 'Assizes' fan club. Rosemary Pardoe (ed.) - Ghosts & Scholars M. R. James Newsletter #31 (Haunted Library, March 2017) Rosemary Pardoe Rosemary Pardoe - Editorial Rosemary Pardoe & Rick Kennett - News
Fiction C.E. Ward - Assizes
Non-Fiction Mark Valentine - The Rare, the Choice and the Curious: A.N.L. Munby's The Comte de Marnay Martin Voracek - Mr Humphreys Meets Ann Clark: M.R. James sightings in Maurice Sandoz's The Maze
Jamesian Notes & Queries Rosemary Pardoe - Miss M. H. James: The Author of Bogle Tales Of East Anglia Peter Bell - Ghostly Southwold Rosemary Pardoe - Manly Wade Wellman's Chorazin
Reviews Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary Vol 1: A Graphic Collection of Short Stories adapted by Leah Moore & John Reppion (reviewed by Rosemary Pardoe) Rosemary Pardoe [ed.] The Ghosts & Scholars Book Of Shadows Vol 3 (reviewed by Dan McGachey) Peter Bell - Phantasms: Twelve Eerie Tales (reviewed by Roger Johnson) Wayne Adrian Drew [ed.] Shadows On The Fens: East Anglian Tales Of Terror (reviewed by Rosemary Pardoe) Oh Whistle And I'll Come To You Adapted by David Rudkin, Performed by New Perspectives Theatre Company (reviewed by Helen Kemp) The Rats In The Walls & Other Tales Performed by Bring Out Your Dead Productions (reviewed by Graham Wheeldon) Thanks Rosemary!
|
|
|
Post by Swampirella on Mar 14, 2017 10:33:50 GMT
Miss S, you might also enjoy this one-- The Lady of the Flowers, by one Steve Duffy. It could perhaps be described as a Jamesian meditation upon themes of Alan Garner's novel The Owl Service. It has an atmosphere that builds slowly, with that Jamesian trait of little offhand observations and remarks that seem to knotch up the horror in a very subtle way... www.pardoes.info/roanddarroll/StoryThree.htmlcheers, H. It's very kind of you to suggest it but I've already read that one . Steve Duffy's collection of Jamesian stories are fantastic; if you haven't read it yet, you're sure to enjoy it.
|
|
|
Post by ropardoe on Mar 14, 2017 12:13:27 GMT
Sorry for break in transmission (real life stuff got in the way). Commentary to follow over coming days. In the meantime, you can add me to the 'Assizes' fan club. Rosemary Pardoe (ed.) - Ghosts & Scholars M. R. James Newsletter #31 (Haunted Library, March 2017) Rosemary Pardoe - Editorial Rosemary Pardoe & Rick Kennett - News
Fiction C.E. Ward - Assizes
Non-Fiction Mark Valentine - The Rare, the Choice and the Curious: A.N.L. Munby's The Comte de Marnay Martin Voracek - Mr Humphreys Meets Ann Clark: M.R. James sightings in Maurice Sandoz's The Maze
Jamesian Notes & Queries Rosemary Pardoe - Miss M. H. James: The Author of Bogle Tales Of East Anglia Peter Bell - Ghostly Southwold Rosemary Pardoe - Manly Wade Wellman's Chorazin
Reviews Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary Vol 1: A Graphic Collection of Short Stories adapted by Leah Moore & John Reppion (reviewed by Rosemary Pardoe) Rosemary Pardoe [ed.] The Ghosts & Scholars Book Of Shadows Vol 3 (reviewed by Dan McGachey) Peter Bell - Phantasms: Twelve Eerie Tales (reviewed by Roger Johnson) Wayne Adrian Drew [ed.] Shadows On The Fens: East Anglian Tales Of Terror (reviewed by Rosemary Pardoe) Oh Whistle And I'll Come To You Adapted by David Rudkin, Performed by New Perspectives Theatre Company (reviewed by Helen Kemp) The Rats In The Walls & Other Tales Performed by Bring Out Your Dead Productions (reviewed by Graham Wheeldon) Thanks Rosemary! Thanks for the listing, Kev.
|
|
|
Post by Michael Connolly on Mar 14, 2017 12:28:46 GMT
Sorry for break in transmission (real life stuff got in the way). Commentary to follow over coming days. In the meantime, you can add me to the 'Assizes' fan club. Rosemary Pardoe (ed.) - Ghosts & Scholars M. R. James Newsletter #31 (Haunted Library, March 2017) Rosemary Pardoe - Editorial Rosemary Pardoe & Rick Kennett - News
Fiction C.E. Ward - Assizes
Non-Fiction Mark Valentine - The Rare, the Choice and the Curious: A.N.L. Munby's The Comte de Marnay Martin Voracek - Mr Humphreys Meets Ann Clark: M.R. James sightings in Maurice Sandoz's The Maze
Jamesian Notes & Queries Rosemary Pardoe - Miss M. H. James: The Author of Bogle Tales Of East Anglia Peter Bell - Ghostly Southwold Rosemary Pardoe - Manly Wade Wellman's Chorazin
Reviews Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary Vol 1: A Graphic Collection of Short Stories adapted by Leah Moore & John Reppion (reviewed by Rosemary Pardoe) Rosemary Pardoe [ed.] The Ghosts & Scholars Book Of Shadows Vol 3 (reviewed by Dan McGachey) Peter Bell - Phantasms: Twelve Eerie Tales (reviewed by Roger Johnson) Wayne Adrian Drew [ed.] Shadows On The Fens: East Anglian Tales Of Terror (reviewed by Rosemary Pardoe) Oh Whistle And I'll Come To You Adapted by David Rudkin, Performed by New Perspectives Theatre Company (reviewed by Helen Kemp) The Rats In The Walls & Other Tales Performed by Bring Out Your Dead Productions (reviewed by Graham Wheeldon) Thanks Rosemary! Thanks for the listing, Kev. I might as well chip in. I'm keeping "Assizes" for the end.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Mar 14, 2017 13:06:39 GMT
Hi Elric,
I read Mr Ward's Door of St Stephen's confection, the only one by him (according to what I was told and have found) on the archival website. It was really corking good stuff, though I feel as if I ought to read again because it wasn't clear to me at the end how the various pieces of the puzzle came together in the finale. A fine shivery mood though and in these benighted days--that's a lot.
If I can get something in the post to our esteemed Editor, I will be able to read Mr Ward's new tale that I think has a Judge Jeffreys theme. I liked the way the Jeffreys lore was handled in Peter Beagle's novel Tamsin, particularly the big reveal towards the end. I do not know if this type of book would meet the approbation of fellow denizens in the Vault. The novel could be described as an example of something that is now being called "folk horror," with folkloric and Pagan survival elements--one particular instance of the latter truly did make my heart sing when I read it. The book is a tour de force on another level as well: I think Mr. Beagle was a middle aged male when he wrote it, but he channeled the voice of a teenaged female narrator with what was to me outstanding plausibility.
cheers, H.
|
|
|
Post by mrhappy on Mar 14, 2017 15:34:37 GMT
That's good. I'll let you know when it arrives. Thanks. Dollars safely received this morning. Many thanks. I should get the copy in the post to you either today or tomorrow. Hope you enjoy it - Clive's story has been getting rave comments. Thank you for the update and I am certain that I will enjoy it. The postal service here in Kentucky can be a little erratic at times but it appears that it made its way through the system rather quickly. Mr. Happy
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 14, 2017 19:01:03 GMT
Thanks for the listing, Kev. I'm just sorry that it was so late, but couldn't be helped this time. Unless you've any objection, perhaps the news item regarding the next G & S/ Sarob collaboration bears repeating on a stand alone thread? I could do it myself but am thinking it's so much better coming from the editor!
|
|
|
Post by ropardoe on Mar 14, 2017 19:14:45 GMT
Thanks for the listing, Kev. I'm just sorry that it was so late, but couldn't be helped this time. Unless you've any objection, perhaps the news item regarding the next G & S/ Sarob collaboration bears repeating on a stand alone thread? I could do it myself but am thinking it's so much better coming from the editor! Will do. I was going to anyway, but hadn't got around to it (okay - I forgot!).
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 16, 2017 18:51:56 GMT
Robert Milne-Tyte - Bloody Jeffreys: The Hanging Judge (Andre Deutch, 1989) Blurb: No judge in the entire history of the English legal system has earned more notoriety than hard-drinking, loud-mouthed George Jeffreys, scourge of the West Country rebels who, in 1685, supported the Duke of Monmouth's abortive attempt to overthrow the newly enthroned King James the Second. Jeffreys' reputation was sealed by the aftermath of Monmouth's rebellion, the so-called Bloody Assizes, but well before that his arrogant, bullying style and his terrifying visage had made him feared and hated in courts up and down the land. Lord Chief Justice at the time of the Bloody Assizes, soon afterwards, at the age of forty, Jeffreys became Lord Chancellor, to this day the youngest man ever to have held the post. But his out-of-court activities, particularly his nightly roistering with a band of sycophantic drinking companions, contrasted sharply with the gravity of the offices he held. Ironically, it was a stone in the bladder, not the demon drink, which eventually led to his demise in the Tower of London precisely 300 years ago.
By any standards, Lord Jeffreys was a fascinating, larger-than-life figure — fanatical Tory, furious hater, harsh judge; but controversial as his career was, his death opened the way for his enemies to attack his reputation without hindrance. Now Robert Milne-Tyre looks with critical suspicion at the hostile propaganda which has long been attached to Jeffreys' name, and sets out to assess the true character of the man. He charts in colourful detail the rise and fall of this ardent royalist and devout supporter of the Church of England, and describes Jeffreys' memorable encounters with the republican-inclined Whig party, the protagonists of the Rye House Plot (the scheme to assassinate Charles II and his successor) and the odious Titus Oates, whose outrageous lies led to the judicial murder of some thirty-five Catholics and a tidal wave of anti-Papist sentiment throughout Britain.
Bloody Jeffreys is a lively, authoritative and immensely readable study of the life of one of history's most intriguing and infamous figures.Off the back of C. E. Ward's instant classic, I finally got around to Robert Milne-Tyler's biography of Bloody Jeffreys and am very glad to have done so. 220 pages, very easy on the brain, with over half devoted to Monmouth's woefully bodged rebellion, the resultant Bloody Assizes, and Jeffreys's eventual downfall (as meteoric as his unlikely rise from capable-but-debauched lawyer to Lord Chief Justice). In this instance, the direct quotes from trial transcripts are a little thin on the ground, but they certainly give some flavour of his total disregard for "a fair trial" when the legendary gallstone was giving him grief. "The best documented evidence of his conduct at this time comes from the case brought against the eminent divine, Richard Baxter, who, at the age of seventy, was one of the most respected dissenting ministers of the day. Baxter had refused a bishopric in King Charles's reign, such was his standing, but he was now charged with seditious libel ...." Respected Baxter may be, but not by Jeffreys who viewed the defendant with undisguised hatred. "Such was the Lord Chief Justice's unbridled anger by now that one onlooker believed he had gone insane as insult after insult was hurled at the beleaguered Baxter. He was "a whining, hypocritical fellow," "a rascal" and "a factious, snivelling Presbyterian." For all this - and the author's horribly fascinating account of the Dorchester Assizes shows Jeffreys at his brandy-sodden, prejudice worst - Mr. Milne-Tyte suggests that, abominable as he was, history has possibly been unjust and our impression of him as Chamber of Horrors bogeyman is largely gleaned from Whig propaganda industriously circulated after his death.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Mar 16, 2017 23:59:34 GMT
This sounds fascinating. And the fact that you evidently digested this formidable tome in a scant few days confirms my impression that a lot of y'all have much more impressive prowess with the printed page than yours truly. I don't take my fences with anything like this degree of speed and elan.
The Jeffreys persona sounds foreshadowing of a certain personality type, a kind of ruthless foul-mouthed Tory, I got to know well via the pages of Private Eye whenever I visited my British friends in Taipei back in the 1980s (I lived out there for four years).
Also sounds highly reminiscent of many of the Great and Good in our own ReThuglican Party in this benighted age... alas.
cheers, H.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 17, 2017 10:48:16 GMT
This sounds fascinating. And the fact that you evidently digested this formidable tome in a scant few days confirms my impression that a lot of y'all have much more impressive prowess with the printed page than yours truly. I don't take my fences with anything like this degree of speed and elan. Ha! I'm not usually that quick - Miss Scarlett, on the other hand, is a force of nature! Bone idle good-for-nothing that I am, my first thought was to cut to the chase, begin about halfway through with Monmouth's rebellion etc., but a couple of pages in Mr. Milne-Tyte had me hooked so it was back to the beginning to do the job properly. That I managed it in two sittings says much for the author's unfussy style - he knows he can write - and masterly way with a dramatic set piece. The bibliography at back suggests there are far weightier works on the subject, but Bloody Jeffreys suited my needs - as easy and engrossing a read as a Richard Laymon novel. Written twenty years earlier it would have made for a brilliant NEL to sit alongside Burke & Hare: The True Story, The Bloody Countess, The Hell-Fire Club et al. My copy is seriously pre-loved and previous owner obviously used it for research as there are post-it notes applied throughout, even some corrections in the margins (he or she has very nice writing). Jeffrey's GHOST reputedly haunts The Town Of Ramsgate pub in Wapping (i.e. about five minutes walk from infinitely more terrifying abode of dem & bride of dem), which, in the most round about way brings us back to the works of M. R. James, C. E. Ward, Carol Tyrell and Co.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 20, 2017 9:25:55 GMT
Some thoughts on the newsletter. Fiction first, as ever. C. E. Ward - Assizes: How to do this superb sequel any form of justice without resorting to spoilers? It can be done, but not by me, so will only take us so far into the story. Even so, play safe. Avoid everything I post. Exeter, 7 September 1685, ten months on from the events related in Martin's Close. Thomas Shardwell and Daniel Rudd stand before Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys accused of participation in the ill-fated rebellion versus. King James II. Shardwell is unrepentant and Daniel too much of a simpleton to understand his dire situation. At the Dorchester Assizes, the accused had been treacherously assured that a guilty plea would go in their favour (it didn't), and, whether Shardwell is aware of this or otherwise, it makes no difference. A former dragoon in Cromwell's New Model Army, has no love of the monarchy, and sensing that the outcome of today's farce is a foregone conclusion, sees no reason to pretend otherwise. Despite it's irrelevance to the uprising, Jeffrey's takes a keen interest in Shardwell's account of repeated eerie encounters with a man whose head hangs all wrong on his shoulders and a woman whose skirts are perpetually soaked. Indeed, the story holds such a terrible fascination for the Hanging (Drawing, and Quartering) Judge that, much to the bemusement of his fellow magistrates, he recalls poor Rudd to hear his version of events, and woe betide the poor lad should Jeffreys suspect collusion! That lenient transportation sentence can be upgraded at a moments notice! Rudd's testimony tallies with that of his comrade. Jeffreys flies into a RAGING FURY, but there's fear in those glaring eyes. Despite himself, he re-examines Thomas Shardwell, whose further startling revelations are not at all to his liking .... Can only echo Dan McGachey's sentiments elsewhere in the issue that eventually the three Ghosts & Scholars Books of Shadows and related prequels & sequels published in the newsletter are made available in one widely available volume at a not-too restrictive price (i.e., please don't let P.S. Publishing anywhere near it or we'll have another The Complete Adventures of Solar Pons situation on our hands. After 64 issues (33 as Ghosts & Scholars) dating from 1979, the innocent may be forgiven for assuming that MRJ News would be pretty thin on the ground, but not a bit of it. The round up runs to six pages (Rosemary has kindly reproduced the lead article here) encompassing everything from recent newspaper coverage to MRJ strategy card games, to Folk Horror and John Finnemore's tackling his specialist subject (guess) on Celebrity Mastermind. Also a brief tribute to the late and truly great Peter Vaughan, and even MRJ - Brexiteer or Remainer? An absolute gem of an article is Mark Valentine's The Rare, The Choice And The Curious concerning a post- Alabaster Hand A. N. L. Munby work, The Comte de Marnoy ( Book Collector, Spring 1958) "not supernatural, but it certainly has some of the antiquarian and bookish flavour of his ghost stories" (from Mark's synopsis, it may also contain elements of horror, but then, just about everything does). The author explains that the story was drawn from Munby's extensive research for his paper, Libraries Under The German Occupation, relating to the wholesale looting of national and private collections by Nazi soldiers. Mark's outstanding piece sheds further light on his fellow bibliophile - I suspect many of us only knew Munby as the chap who wrote ghost stories in a POW camp, but clearly, there was so much more to him than that. More to follow ....
|
|
|
Post by ropardoe on Mar 20, 2017 10:47:25 GMT
Some thoughts on the newsletter. Fiction first, as ever. C. E. Ward - Assizes: How to do this superb sequel any form of justice without resorting to spoilers? Can only echo Dan McGachey's sentiments elsewhere in the issue that eventually the three Ghosts & Scholars Books of Shadows and related prequels & sequels published in the newsletter are made available in one widely available volume at a not-too restrictive price (i.e., please don't let P.S. Publishing anywhere near it or we'll have another The Complete Adventures of Solar Pons situation on our hands. After 64 issues (33 as Ghosts & Scholars) dating from 1979, the innocent may be forgiven for assuming that MRJ News would be pretty thin on the ground, but not a bit of it. The round up runs to six pages (Rosemary has kindly reproduced the lead article here) encompassing everything from recent newspaper coverage to MRJ strategy card games, to Folk Horror and John Finnemore's tackling his specialist subject (guess) on Celebrity Mastermind. Also a brief tribute to the late and truly great Peter Vaughan, and even MRJ - Brexiteer or Remainer? Clive will be so chuffed with the reaction to his story. Everyone seems to love it. There's never any problem with getting enough News for each issue: I've already got one page's worth for next time! I followed that link through to the thread about the Sarob Adventures of Solar Pons: hmm, it seems impossible to get into people's heads that Rob Morgan of Sarob publishes for fun and to see in print what he likes to read himself. He prefers not to have lots of stock lying about (I can sympathise with that - Ghosts & Scholars has just one stock box at any given time), hence he likes his books to go out of print quite quickly. He's not making extra money out of the low print-runs (though other people may be, of course). Should he not publish at all, that being the case? He gave up once in the past because he was being pressured to do things he didn't want to do. I'd hate to see it happening again. That said, I can also see it from the reader/buyer's point of view, and I'm not generally an advocate of expensive books, but - to be honest - I can't say people are lining up with offers to reprint the three G&S Books of Shadows in cheaper editions.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Mar 20, 2017 19:23:51 GMT
Clive will be so chuffed with the reaction to his story. Everyone seems to love it. There's never any problem with getting enough News for each issue: I've already got one page's worth for next time! I followed that link through to the thread about the Sarob Adventures of Solar Pons: hmm, it seems impossible to get into people's heads that Rob Morgan of Sarob publishes for fun and to see in print what he likes to read himself. He prefers not to have lots of stock lying about (I can sympathise with that - Ghosts & Scholars has just one stock box at any given time), hence he likes his books to go out of print quite quickly. He's not making extra money out of the low print-runs (though other people may be, of course). Should he not publish at all, that being the case? He gave up once in the past because he was being pressured to do things he didn't want to do. I'd hate to see it happening again. That said, I can also see it from the reader/buyer's point of view, and I'm not generally an advocate of expensive books, but - to be honest - I can't say people are lining up with offers to reprint the three G&S Books of Shadows in cheaper editions. I appreciate Rob Morgan's position - it's a similar demand-outstrips-supply situation with Paperback Fanatic & it's sister publications so can hardly make fish of one and fowl of the other. Honest, I am amazed that no publisher has yet thought to go for a Book Of Shadows Omnibus. There's a captive audience. I'll bet even many of those who have the three Sarob originals would go for a copy - especially if it included the relevant fiction from the newsletters. I linked to the Solar Pons piece for the tragicomic aspect of Mr. Byrne's somewhat optimistic presumption that those fans who'd found the Sarob editions too expensive need fret no longer now that PS were on the case. doh Those of us who lived through the golden age of the mass market paperback were spoilt rotten. The next Solar Pons Gazette should make for interesting reading ....
|
|
|
Post by mrhappy on Mar 23, 2017 21:13:15 GMT
Dollars safely received this morning. Many thanks. I should get the copy in the post to you either today or tomorrow. Hope you enjoy it - Clive's story has been getting rave comments. Thank you for the update and I am certain that I will enjoy it. The postal service here in Kentucky can be a little erratic at times but it appears that it made its way through the system rather quickly. Mr. Happy The newsletter arrived today and I am looking forward to reading it. In trying to make a listing of all of Mr. Ward's short fiction this is what I have so far: Vengeful Ghosts (Sarob Press 1998) Includes: Old Martin Gunpowder Plot Caveat Emptor Branks's Folly The Spinney Doctor's Orders Mirror Image The Lake Seven Ghosts and One Other (Sarob Press 2010) Includes: The Doorway of St. Stephen's The Game of Bear The Short Cut Not Found Among You The Particular The Guardian Mariner's Rest Behind the Curtain Malevolent Visitants (Sarob Press 2016) Includes: At Dusk The Mound Merfield Hall The Return Squire Thorneycroft One Over the Twelve The House of Wonders The Gift Uncollected short fiction: End of the Line (All Hallows #19) 11334 (The Ghosts & Scholars Book of Shadows Vol. 2) A Wrong Turn (The Silent Companion #10) Twenty Years Afterwards (The Ghosts & Scholars Book of Shadows Vol. 3) Assizes (The Ghosts & Scholars M.R. James Newsletter Issue 31) Autumn Harvest (Ghosts & Scholars 36/37) Have I missed anything? If so, please let me know. Mr. Happy
|
|