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Post by franklinmarsh on Mar 4, 2018 19:53:44 GMT
Yes, you wait three years for a new book from Mortbury Press, and when one finally comes along it's this...  Yeah, I know, truly sickening!  Yes , hot off the (Mortbury) press comes this appalling little tome, dedicated to Chas's namesake Mr Birkin, and choc' full o' horror - Lilly Finds A Place To Stay The Accident The Beast Belt Up The Con The Collectors Disciples Of Evil A Doggie For Christmas Speak No Evil, See No Evil, Hear No Evil First Love The first tale is familiar to those who have washed their hands in Kitchen Sink Gothic, and the wonderful The Collectors disgraced the Vault Advent Calendar. Mr Black's mordant wit and dreadful sadism will appeal to a certain kind of connoisseur; I've dipped into four so far, and the ghastly twists and snook-cocking at genre conventions is a joy. Boy, they're grim but though. I'm dreading A Doggie For Christmas. Hugebigmassive thanks, Chas. |
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Mar 5, 2018 15:22:24 GMT
A copy of this grisly little delicacy was awaiting me at work today. I look forward to delving into the treats within once I've emerged from the icy wastes of Dan Simmons' The Terror, which seemed apt reading considering the weather. Many thanks, Charles!
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Post by dem on Mar 8, 2018 8:34:56 GMT
Mine turned up on Tuesday. Thank you so much, Charlie. Particularly like the pocket paperback format. Steve Upham's striking cover painting is spot on from what I know of the contents. Greatly looking forward to reading it, along with ....
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Post by dem on Mar 9, 2018 10:44:59 GMT
Charles Black - A Taste For The Macabre (Mortbury Press, Feb. 2018) Blurb: From World War 2, through the 1970s and ’80s, to the present day, maniacs, murderers, rapists, and sadists perpetrate horrific crimes. Young or old, male or female, the disciples of evil come in many guises; you can meet some of them in A Taste for the Macabre.
The collectors whose rivalry gets out of hand.
The doctor who takes great pleasure in his work.
The horror fan who finds life imitating art.
The disciplinarian who believes in the severest forms of chastisement.
Quite frankly, you wouldn’t want to encounter them anywhere else.
A Taste for the Macabre contains ten contes cruel.Charlie has thoughtfully included a note, "This book contains HORROR stories" on the inside page, so don't say you weren't warned. The Accident: Gerald Simmington falls foul of a Bad Samaritan of the road. Meanwhile, Sylvia, his heavily pregnant wife, comes to grief when little Timmy's cunning plan backfires. On a brighter note, Raymond Pulver, smart-phone ghoul, gets to achieve his perverted dream. Every cloud. Belt Up: To celebrate World Book Day, Jane Moorcroft insists her staff dress as their favourite fiction character. Jane - predictably - opts for 'Celeste,' heroine of her soppy Niall Lord romances; Angela Simpson is Snow White; Derek Barrowman, horror aficionado, affects Barry Lane, the strangler in Charles Birkitt's late 'sixties classic, The Beast Of Burslem. What could possibly go horribly, horribly wrong? Again. The Beast: City girl Helen Rutherford ups sticks to Wales to escape a problem boyfriend. All is well until she takes doggie Rex for a walk in the woods near Meredith Farm .... The Con: Somerset, late June 1970. A killer rapist escapes from Shepton Mallet prison. Meanwhile Jeff Frampton is trying it on with a stoned hippy hitcher returning home to her boyfriend from (I think?) the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. Four worlds messily collide. Absolutely love this one. The Collectors: ( Vault Advent Calendar 2017). The oh-so-friendly rivalry between slimy Satyr Book of Horror Stories "editor", Anthony Pendle, and misanthropic, failed author Dennis Varley fast escalates to murder and mutilation when Varley realises that mystery master of the macabre 'Edmund Maitland’ and his detested English schoolteacher, Emma 'Ghastly' Astley, are one and the same entity ... Pop culture references abound - Charlie's characters usually have their music on the go. Sample selection: Fairport Convention, Jefferson Airplane, Donovan & Co., Blur, Harry Potter, James Bond, Bilbo Baggins, Torture Porn, Russell Kirk's There's A Long Long Trail A-Winding, Syd Bounds, and, of course, the notorious Satyr Book of Horror Stories
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Post by David A. Riley on Mar 9, 2018 12:47:33 GMT
I did a brief 5-star review on amazon for Charlie's book: "Not for the squeamish or for anyone who hopes to read a happy ending, Charles Black's tales follow in the footsteps of that other Charles, Charles Birkin, (to whose memory this book is dedicated) as first-rate examples of contes cruel. Charles Black's writing style is smooth and easy to read and economically vivid, and each tale is told briskly. No horrors of the supernatural here - these are man-made horrors, exposing the inhumanity of man (and woman), reminiscent of the tales frequently found in the Pan Books of Horror." www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0955606195/ref=acr_dpproductdetail_text?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 |
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Post by dem on Mar 9, 2018 14:04:15 GMT
I did a brief 5-star review on amazon for Charlie's book: "Not for the squeamish or for anyone who hopes to read a happy ending, Charles Black's tales follow in the footsteps of that other Charles, Charles Birkin, (to whose memory this book is dedicated) as first-rate examples of contes cruel. Charles Black's writing style is smooth and easy to read and economically vivid, and each tale is told briskly. No horrors of the supernatural here - these are man-made horrors, exposing the inhumanity of man (and woman), reminiscent of the tales frequently found in the Pan Books of Horror." Hi David. Can only agree with the above. Seems to me the bulk of the stories would be equally at home in the Fontana Horror books - A Doggie For Christmas in particular reminds me of Mary Danby's nastiest work . I reckon fans of Kate Farrell's And Nobody Lived Ever After may well appreciate A Taste Of The Macabre. Lilly Finds a Place to Stay: (David & Linden Riley, [eds.], Kitchen Sink Gothic, PUP, 2015). A teenage runaway longs to break free of her scumbag squat-mates. Benevolent librarian Mrs. O'Riorden and son offer a helping hand .... Admirably sets the tone for the rest of the book. Charlie's is a world where Good Samaritans never are, and relatively decent, well-intentioned people meet with the most appalling, protracted ends. A mirror-image of the real world, in other words. Or seems so to me. The Beast: Helen Rutherford moves to a cottage in a Welsh village at the foot of Caradoc Hill to escape a possessive and violent boyfriend. Initially delighted with her new surroundings - “we’ve a pub. The Blue Boar, ... very nice it is too!” - and plenty of green fields for her faithful border Collie, Rex, to roam. Helen's joy fast turns to horror when Mrs. Meredith takes pity on son Frankie, and allows him outside for some "exercise." |
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Post by franklinmarsh on Mar 9, 2018 21:17:24 GMT
The Con: Somerset, late June 1970. A killer rapist escapes from Shepton Mallet prison. Meanwhile Jeff Frampton is trying it on with a stoned hippy hitcher returning home to her boyfriend from (I think?) the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. Four worlds messily collide. Absolutely love this one. The Collectors: ( Vault Advent Calendar 2017). The oh-so-friendly rivalry between slimy Satyr Book of Horror Stories "editor", Anthony Pendle, and misanthropic, failed author Dennis Varley fast escalates to murder and mutilation when Varley realises that mystery master of the macabre 'Edmund Maitland’ and his detested English schoolteacher, Emma 'Ghastly' Astley, are one and the same entity ... These two are absolute genius. Loved the twist in The Con, as well as the setting. The Collectors just knocks it out of the park. Editor Varley whipping a poor young girl who wanted to 'submit' to him...Arf! *choke* Robert Bloch gets a custard pie too. |
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Post by franklinmarsh on Mar 9, 2018 21:19:27 GMT
Disciples of Evil is a poser. The true horror of the ending took a while to sink in, but when it did....
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Post by dem on Mar 10, 2018 13:16:25 GMT
These two are absolute genius. Loved the twist in The Con, as well as the setting. The Collectors just knocks it out of the park. Editor Varley whipping a poor young girl who wanted to 'submit' to him...Arf! *choke* Robert Bloch gets a custard pie too. Hi Franklin. Have enjoyed them all so far but these two - and The Accident - are personal highlights of highlights to date. Am taking it you've not yet made the acquaintance of Mrs. Dinah Westcroft? Speak No Evil, See No Evil, Hear No Evil: If you've an uneasy feeling about the stand-in babysitter, be sure to disarm the formidable old battleaxe of knitting needles before setting out for the evening. Brendan Mulligan, sadly, didn't. |
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Post by dem on Mar 10, 2018 14:47:50 GMT
These two are absolute genius. Loved the twist in The Con, as well as the setting. The Collectors just knocks it out of the park. Editor Varley whipping a poor young girl who wanted to 'submit' to him...Arf! *choke* Robert Bloch gets a custard pie too. Hi Franklin. Have enjoyed them all so far, but these two - and The Accident - are personal highlights of highlights. Am taking it you've not yet made the acquaintance of Mrs. Dinah Westcroft? Speak No Evil, See No Evil, Hear No Evil: If you've an uneasy feeling about the stand-in babysitter, be sure to disarm the formidable old battleaxe of knitting needles before setting out for the evening. Brendan Mulligan, sadly, didn't. Disciples of Evil is a poser. The true horror of the ending took a while to sink in, but when it did.... It's the Black Baron of Mortbury's tribute to Birkin's A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts unless I am very much mistaken. |
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Post by dem on Mar 12, 2018 9:47:46 GMT
Disciples Of Evil: A Sonderkommando is forced to choose between his wife and daughter to satisfy a sick wager between Nazi's. Grim. Reads like Honore de Balzac's El Verdugo relocated to a WWII Death Camp. Those seeking a pleasing terror have come to the wrong place. A Doggie For Christmas: Ten-year-old Zoe Park promises to be a good girl, keep her room tidy FOR EVER if only mummy and daddy will buy her a puppy for Christmas! It won't be any bother. I'll walk it, feed it, clean it .... Oh, go on, PLE-EASE! Opportunity arises when old Mrs. Clements is admitted to Hospital and needs someone to take care of her frisky little Jack Russell. Cue ghoulish larks! First Love: A suitably ghastly one to end on. Fresh from prison, Julius Preston returns to his home town for the first time in a decade. Preston is especially keen to hook up Gloria Lucas, the gal who broke his heart when she dumped him for that flash rich bastard, Larry Danning. Well Preston sure fixed him good! Preston hits Slick's Bar. The guys ain't exactly delighted to see him, but spitefully inform him of Gloria's current whereabouts - the Pleasure Palace, sleaziest dive in the whole stinking Red Light district. Preston, far from disappointed to learn of his true love's plummet from grace, heads on over .... My only disappointment is that I've now run out of book as Charles is on consistently brilliant form throughout. The Lovecraft influence, much in evidence throughout Black Ceremonies is entirely absent this time around. Birkin's ghost looms large, but there are also nods to Pan Horror's ( First Love cheekily references perhaps the most brilliantly disgusting of them all), even a contemporary Black Book title or two (have fun spotting them).
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Post by fritzmaitland on Oct 19, 2020 19:50:12 GMT
Charles Black - A Taste For The Macabre (Mortbury Press, Feb. 2018) The Con: Somerset, late June 1970. A killer rapist escapes from Shepton Mallet prison. Meanwhile Jeff Frampton is trying it on with a stoned hippy hitcher returning home to her boyfriend from (I think?) the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. Four worlds messily collide. Absolutely love this one. You can only follow Charles Lloyd (that's Charles Birkin - Ed) with the much-missed Charles Black and his respectfully affectionate and viciously sadistic tribute to the 5th Baronet. I plumped for another visit to the Bath Festival Of Blues and Progressive Music via The Con.A deceptively simple, but increasingly twisty tale that keeps throwing you one way and then the other. It ends in tears, blood, and probably torture. Even the title works unexpectedly. Top stuff. |
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Post by dem on Oct 20, 2020 8:42:19 GMT
Charles Black - A Taste For The Macabre (Mortbury Press, Feb. 2018) The Con: Somerset, late June 1970. A killer rapist escapes from Shepton Mallet prison. Meanwhile Jeff Frampton is trying it on with a stoned hippy hitcher returning home to her boyfriend from (I think?) the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. Four worlds messily collide. Absolutely love this one. You can only follow Charles Lloyd (that's Charles Birkin - Ed) with the much-missed Charles Black and his respectfully affectionate and viciously sadistic tribute to the 5th Baronet. I plumped for another visit to the Bath Festival Of Blues and Progressive Music via The Con.A deceptively simple, but increasingly twisty tale that keeps throwing you one way and then the other. It ends in tears, blood, and probably torture. Even the title works unexpectedly. Top stuff. My favourite of Charlie's stories. Those who've not yet had the pleasure can read it HERE |
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