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Post by Shrink Proof on Apr 28, 2018 18:43:30 GMT
In September, to mark the 120th anniversary of M R James' trip to York (to study its medieval church stained glass - he returned with notebooks full of drawings of demons, ghoulies and other assorted warped products of Middle Aged minds...), The Friends of Count Magus are organising a 2-day conference on the man himself. Talks, discussions, a guided tour of two of MRJ's favourite York churches plus performances of a couple of the man's tales by Nunkie Theatre (Robert Lloyd Parry). More details at this website.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Sept 15, 2018 17:00:41 GMT
So...I have to ask. Any inmates from this hospital for incurables going to York for this?
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Sept 15, 2018 17:11:24 GMT
I really wish I was, but, alas, I'm not able to make it.
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Post by andydecker on Sept 15, 2018 21:07:18 GMT
This sounds absolutly fascinating. I can't attend, but I wish I could.
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Post by ropardoe on Sept 16, 2018 9:07:01 GMT
I really wish I was, but, alas, I'm not able to make it. Likewise.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Sept 17, 2018 12:57:11 GMT
I had meant to copy over this information from The District Messenger: The Newsletter of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London # 379, from Jean Upton (i.e., Roger Johnson's wife). www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/district-messenger-379/A triumvirate of members of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London and the Scandalous Bohemians - Paul M. Chapman, Teresa Dudley and Dr Mark Jones - have organised a two-day M.R. James Conference in their home city of York. “Through A Glass Darkly”, will take place on Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th September 2018 and is focusing particularly on James’s 1898 visit to York to examine the stained glass of many of the city's mediaeval parish churches. Remaining tickets are limited, but anyone who has an interest in MRJ (who was a Sherlock Holmes fan himself), ghost stories and/or church architecture would be most welcome to attend! Please check out the website for further details and booking packs: www.thefriendsofcountmagnus.org/
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Post by Shrink Proof on Sept 27, 2018 20:52:40 GMT
It was a lot of fun. Another is planned for next year (also in York)....
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Sept 27, 2018 21:10:45 GMT
It was a lot of fun. Another is planned for next year (also in York).... Very good news on both counts. I've been somewhat enviously looking at updates on Twitter about proceedings and it looks like a great, fascinating time had by all. Good to know it won't be a one-off!
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Post by helrunar on Oct 1, 2018 23:12:28 GMT
Just parking this episode of a Phil Rickman podcast here because I do not feel like creating a separate topic for it. The interviews with Stephen Volk and Barbara Erskine involve themes that could be considered at least somewhat Jamesian. The lead-off interview is with a Daryl somebody or other who is a leading horror authority and they natter about Wheatley--I found it less than compelling, but perhaps others will be interested by that bit. The Volk chin-wag has to do with a new novella that involves Dennis Wheatley being manoeuvred into collaborating with Aleister Crowley back in nineteen forty-something. Phil Rickman knows the correct way to pronounce Crowley's surname. The BBC reader (whose voice is a shade reminiscent of Christopher Lee's) does not, unfortunately. www.bbc.co.uk/radio/play/m0000f9kStephen Volk wrote the original teleplay Ghostwatch back in the 1990s. cheers, Steve
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 2, 2018 9:28:32 GMT
The Darryl somebody is Darryl Jones, who introduced and annotated the Oxford edition of M.R. James' Collected Ghost Stories and is writing an MRJ biography, and as he was a speaker at the York event then the link probably does belong here. Stephen Volk's novella is Netherwood, and I'm looking forward to it immensely. vaultofevil.proboards.com/thread/6777/netherwood-stephen-volkWill give the programme a listen later. Thanks for the link.
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Post by helrunar on Oct 2, 2018 14:38:22 GMT
Hi Daniel, I think the program is only available for a week after air date. I might have just caught it in time as it was headlined the Autumn Equinox edition.
Apparently Daryl or Darryl is writing a life history of our Provost. Something I found distinctly odd about the chat, what I recall of it, is that after the late Victorian era, the 1980s were said to have been a high point for "horror" (Mr. Rickman argued for a broader definition of the latter--I read somewhere recently that he had misgivings about his own work being classified as horror). I think of my own childhood days in the 1960s and early 1970s as being a high point for horror both on print and in film and television, but perhaps in the UK people like Mary Whitehouse really tried to put the lid on? The period between 1957 and 1972 was the golden era for "Hammer horror," certainly. I know that really made Whitehouse flip out.
cheers, Steve
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Post by helrunar on Oct 2, 2018 14:39:22 GMT
There was also some natter, qua Eighties, about Stephen King, whose work I find horrible but not actually horrific.
H.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 2, 2018 15:29:35 GMT
Hi Daniel, I think the program is only available for a week after air date. I might have just caught it in time as it was headlined the Autumn Equinox edition. Apparently Daryl or Darryl is writing a life history of our Provost. Something I found distinctly odd about the chat, what I recall of it, is that after the late Victorian era, the 1980s were said to have been a high point for "horror" (Mr. Rickman argued for a broader definition of the latter--I read somewhere recently that he had misgivings about his own work being classified as horror). I think of my own childhood days in the 1960s and early 1970s as being a high point for horror both on print and in film and television, but perhaps in the UK people like Mary Whitehouse really tried to put the lid on? The period between 1957 and 1972 was the golden era for "Hammer horror," certainly. I know that really made Whitehouse flip out. cheers, Steve The programme is available for a month, so 21 days left. Yes, Darryl Jones is writing an M.R. James biography, as mentioned above. Will be interested to see his approach, as I found his notes in the OUP edition of the Ghost Stories interesting but less so the introductory essay. The characterisation of the 1980s as the next high point for horror is referring to horror in print, it being a book programme. I don't know that there was necessarily more horror in print, but I think with King and Barker being so high profile it became a more high profile genre as far as publishers were concerned, and even became - GASP - respectable for a while. At least I think that's what they're getting at there. My memory is certainly that there were more big, thick horror novels prominent on bookshop shelves, where you used to have to root about a bit to find your Pans or Fontanas tucked away in dark corners. And it seems I've always pronounced Crowley's name wrong. Ah, well, he's not about to hear me. At least I hope he's not.
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 2, 2018 15:29:45 GMT
Jones's book "Horror: A Thematic History in Fiction and Film" is a decent reference book, though he can be a bit too academic in his approach sometimes.
It wouldn't surprise me if the 1980s were a horror high point in terms of book sales - people like Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, Dan Simmons, Robert McCammon, Peter Straub, Brian Lumley, etc.
Probably even more of a high point for cinema ticket sales - John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, Sam Raimi, Stuart Gordon, all those Stephen King adaptations, etc.
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Post by helrunar on Oct 2, 2018 16:28:38 GMT
Crowley loved to recite a joke verse that went something like:
O Maiden so lovely and pious and holy, Are you off to the Temple to pay worship to Crowley?
A lot of people don't realize that AC had a very dark and ribald sense of humor. (As in "I sacrifice a baby every day at noon" referring to a moment of private pleasure.)
Although I lived through the 80s, I am afraid I found the pop culture of the period unbearably tacky. So, yes, I do flinch whenever people start going on about how wonderful (or etc.) the 80s were.
Will try simply not to comment about this going forward.
cheers, Steve
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