this is not a picture: eight stories by Howard David Ingham

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

My current reading is this is not a picture (Room 207 Press, 2017), a slim volume containing eight stories by Howard David Ingham, 'of haunted sights and sounds, grief and anxiety, terror and loss'. I grabbed it after reading a review posted on the Folk Horror Revival page on social media. That review mentioned several intriguing premises, especially a story concerning recordings of 'lost' and half-forgotten BBC programmes, as I'm a sucker for stories revolving around the haunting effects of lost broadcasts. I'm saving that one for last, but the three I've read so far have hit just the right notes of unsettling oddness, normality being disrupted, and things creeping in through the cracks. Glad I read that review, as I'd not want to have missed this one.

The review that caught my eye;
www.joanne-sheppard.com/2018/07/this-is-not-picture-by-howard-david.html

[Dr Strange]

That story is available online here - www.room207press.com/2016/12/the-austringer.html

It's pretty good, and I think I will order the book.

[helrunar]

Thanks for the tip, Daniel. This one sounds quite intriguing!  And many thanks to Dr Strange for the handy link. Wonderful things indeed!

cheers, Steve

[Swampirella]

Jul 19, 2018 12:02:32 GMT Dr Strange said:

That story is available online here - www.room207press.com/2016/12/the-austringer.html

It's pretty good, and I think I will order the book.

I enjoyed the story too, thanks from me too for the link!

[helrunar]

This is another story by Howard David Ingham that looks promising. The theme involves the Tarot:

www.room207press.com/2016/07/an-after-hours-reading.html

In a note on an article in his blog (I think the title is something like "Two Occult Biographies"), he explains that the character of the Tarot reader was based on celebrated occultist and astrologer Madeline Montalban.

H.

[Swampirella]

Jul 19, 2018 19:53:32 GMT helrunar said:

This is another story by Howard David Ingham that looks promising. The theme involves the Tarot:

www.room207press.com/2016/07/an-after-hours-reading.html

In a note on an article in his blog (I think the title is something like "Two Occult Biographies"), he explains that the character of the Tarot reader was based on celebrated occultist and astrologer Madeline Montalban.

H.

Wow, another one! I'm sure I'll enjoy this one too! Thanks, H.!

[helrunar]

I really liked the story, mainly because of the psychedelic symbolist carnage of the cards the author invented for this brief tale. I don't know if the story would appeal to people who aren't interested in the Tarot, although the way it is used in this is quite idiosyncratic--off the hook, really.  There is an episode of the early Seventies series ZODIAC where Anouska Hempel unmasks a murderer in the course of a Tarot reading. As I recall it, the title was "Sting, Scorpio, Sting" and it was on the Tube of You last time I checked.

I never thought of Madeline Montalban being that camp in person. I wonder if he actually knew her. I will definitely have to read more of her work!

Best, Steve

[Dr Strange]

Jul 20, 2018 0:01:36 GMT helrunar said:

I never thought of Madeline Montalban being that camp in person. I wonder if he actually knew her.

I don't think so. From online pics and videos, I'd put him in his 30s or early 40s.

By the way, I've read the A.O. Spare biography he refers to in "Two Occult Biographies" - it's very good (and by Phil Baker, who has also published a biography of Dennis Wheatley).

[dem]

Jul 19, 2018 9:26:13 GMT The Lurker In The Shadows said:

That review mentioned several intriguing premises, especially a story concerning recordings of 'lost' and half-forgotten BBC programmes, as I'm a sucker for stories revolving around the haunting effects of lost broadcasts.

Hi Lurks. Have you read Death Rattles?

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

Jul 22, 2018 5:31:29 GMT dem said:

Jul 19, 2018 9:26:13 GMT The Lurker In The Shadows said:

That review mentioned several intriguing premises, especially a story concerning recordings of 'lost' and half-forgotten BBC programmes, as I'm a sucker for stories revolving around the haunting effects of lost broadcasts.

Hi Lurks. Have you read Death Rattles?

I have, though my copy has long since gone walkabout. I think I'd wanted more background to the series in the framing device... (though I think I was also relieved that it didn't go too much into that area, as I'd been exploring the background to a 'lost' series for a project that's been bubbling away in the background for years.)

Finished this is not a picture last night, and I really enjoyed it. Some of the stories are linked in interesting ways, and there are some unusual storytelling approaches - a sequence of events told via the turn of a series of Tarot Cards, a collection of variations on a Biblical tale recounted from an old document. The Austringer (1969), that tale of a phantom recording, was worth keeping till last, as it ticked so many boxes that tally with my own interests. And the ghostly TV play in question has a wonderfully authentic feel.

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

The author's We Don't Go Back: A Watcher's Guide to Folk Horror has just come out as a paperback, and an e-edition is also available;

www.amazon.co.uk/We-Dont-Go-Back-Watchers/dp/1722748818/