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Post by dem on Nov 21, 2018 18:58:46 GMT
Lisa Morton - Nikola, Moonstruck: Everyone laughs at Nik for suggesting that only a silver bullet can take down the killer among them. As Lena, his exasperated wife, reminds him, this is Romania, 1995. "We have serial killers and junkies and war criminals to worry about, not werewolves."
Wayne Allen Sallee - Death Clown: Jimbo has one final kid's party to play before he's retired. He's determined to go out with the mother of all bangs ...
Adam Niswander - Billy: Three vampire bikers descend on the tiny community of Blairville. Billy's parents try head them off at the pass.
Scott Edelman - Picture This: A warning to the selfie-obsessed.
William Marden - Prime Crime: Elmont, an exec with the failing NDBC network, strikes deal with the Payside Head Hunter for exclusive rights to screen videotape of his next murder.
Tim Waggoner - Along for the Ride: Vampire car prowls Route 38 seeking next stupid do-gooder. Never stop for a motorist in distress ....
Don Webb - And the Woman Said: .... or take a phone call from the lonesome dead.
Öjvind Bernander - Mother Lode: Why a newly-hatched Griffin is best avoided no matter what they dump on the breakfast table ....
Peter Atkins - If You Love Someone, Let Them Go: His family forgo possessions on account of a hereditary trait. Anything they lose, they become. Felix does quite well out of it, all things considered.
Lisa Lepovetsky - The Big One: Never seen a fish like it. Mouth big enough to swallow an unfaithful wife's head.
Randy Miller - Pinning Dante: Bad boy of pro-wrestling is the real deal. Incensed spectator Granny Atchley ill-advisedly stabs him with a hat-pin ...
Linda J. Dunn - Nightmares: Jenny lives one nightmare and sleeps another, or maybe it's the other way around. Time to find out which is which.
Larry Segriff - I've Seen That Look Before: A wild guess. We're all pod people?
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Post by dem on Nov 23, 2018 10:57:38 GMT
Lisa Morton - The Proof in the Picture: Dick, a freelance photographer, provides heavily doctored prints to accompany sensationalist tabloid stories. Tonight he "investigates" the exorcism of a fourteen-year-old boy who is allegedly possessed by the Devil ...
Andrew Sands - After the End of It All: Emotional encounter between possibly the last remaining survivors of the nuclear holocaust. She was once a famous model, celebrated as the most beautiful woman in the world. He made headlines of a different kind.
Thomas S. Roche - The Dogcatcher: Grisly episode in the life of a reluctant werewolf.
Allison Stein Best - Dining Made Simple: Jack, a particularly obnoxious radio shock jock, combines work and sadistic pleasure. Yet another that could have seen service in 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories.
Joe Meno - Moth: Ms. Miniko has an ulterior motive for hiring a pest-exterminator to tackle a bat infestation: the apartment block is home to a colony of her own kind.
Mandy Slater - The Dread: As with yesterdays Along For The Ride, another warning never to play the gallant to a lone female motorist in distress.
William Rotsler - A New Life: The secret to a vampire's successful transition from one unlife and the next requires much preparation, great cunning and good old fashioned score-settling.
Tina L. Jens - Demon Bender: Henry the scaly skinned horror gets drunk on the blood and juicy bits of Maddy Jones, miserable old bag, then sets about the dead woman's cat. An orgy of extreme giblets abuse.
John B. Rosenman - New Oldies: Music promoter Sam's life ambition is to manage a major talent, but the industry sharks invariably lure away his discoveries. Now wise to the competition, he'll not let latest find Roy Grant ("makes Elvis look like Tiny Tim") slip through his fingers.
Scott David Aniolowski - Mr. Bauble's Bag: Old circus clown's never die. In weary Mr. Bauble's case, that ain't altogether a good thing.
Peter Atkins - Adventures in Further Education: The deadly perils of extreme pencil tapping.
Edward Gaillard - Eyes Like Diamonds in a Subway Tunnel: Bleeding strange one. Seems there's much more to butterfly collecting than I'd ever envisioned.
Don D'Ammassa - Bad Feelings: Dr. Elaine encourages a problem kid to "let out all the bad stuff" inside him. Danny obliges.
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Post by dem on Nov 25, 2018 11:13:30 GMT
Lawrence Schimel - Someday My Prints Will Come: Eleanor Sassano, universally admired as the best of the romantic novel cover artists, is madly in love with the fantasy bodice-ripping dream prince she depicts in all her creations. What would happen if she were to paint herself into the next one? Nothing remotely pleasant, is the answer - the hunk is a very physical chap, after all - but Eleanor will soon take sweet revenge.
Juleen Brantingham - A Cup of Dragon's Blood: Street gang theme. To complete his initiation, Duke must commit a burglary. He picks on the wrong defenceless old codger.
Paul Smith & Thomas Smith - Worms: Invertebrate apocalypse! Tomb-robbers Luke Potter and Moss Cooper meet with a slithery doom in the Harrell Mausoleum.
Adam-Troy Castro - The Well: Sixty years ago, he murdered his childhood friend on a whim, trampling the kid's fingers as he clung on for dear life. What goes around comes around with interest.
Juleen Brantingham - Welcome Home: Where does kindly old Clara Daniels get all the dolls she donates to poor kids at Christmas?
Lisa S. Silverthorne - The Blue Jar: Anna was always her late Grandma's favourite. So how come the senile old boot left everyone else cash while all she gets is a worthless tub of Dead Sea bath salts?
Thomas M. Sipos - Vampire Nation: Topical. Ceausescu's Romania has rendered the trad Undead obsolete.
Joe Murphy - Insects and Desire: The smoothie museum entomologist ain't quite the man he seems, but then neither is his intended prey. It's kind of churlish to pick out any one of these vignettes as particularly ridiculous, but this one unquestionably is.
David Niall Wilson - Like a Charm: Saturday night bar-room fun. A lone biker rescues a frail tramp from a bunch of bullyboy White Supremacist rednecks. The grateful old timer ain't as helpless as he seems. No less silly than the above, but a feelgood fantasy for sure.
Juleen Brantingham - Mud: Some girls! You take 'em to the movies, buy 'em popcorn, drive 'em all the way out here on the lonesome Bayou, and still they don't put out! Superstud Jason knows how to deal with conniving, stuck up bitches like that. A few good slaps and abandon them in the swamp. Jase just hopes he ain't driven over tonight's lucky winner.
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Post by helrunar on Nov 25, 2018 15:11:23 GMT
Lovely notes, Dem. I have the impression these are "storyettes," short and sweet. Kudos to your way with a line for making so many seem all the more attractive.
I met Lawrence Schimel briefly a couple of times back in the mid 1990s. Lovely fellow, inside and out.
cheers, Steve
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Post by dem on Nov 25, 2018 17:13:04 GMT
Lovely notes, Dem. I have the impression these are "storyettes," short and sweet. Kudos to your way with a line for making so many seem all the more attractive. I met Lawrence Schimel briefly a couple of times back in the mid 1990s. Lovely fellow, inside and out. Thanks, Steve. Have read two of Mr. Schimel's four contributions to date, liking both, Someday My Prints Will Come in particular (neat ending), but macabre Parlor Games also fun. For the most part, the 365 vignettes run to two pages a time, occasionally one or sometimes an excessive three. At a guess, I'm only a third of the way through! |
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Post by dem on Nov 29, 2018 11:39:33 GMT
Brian McNaughton interlude #2. He's very good at these. "Nasty tales" indeed.
DREAD!: There's such a thing as becoming too engrossed in a violent video game. Nice graphics!
Business Image: A terrifying experience for Seymour Warren's reflection (it's no joy ride for Seymour, either).
The Number You Have Reached: A widower plagued by nuisance calls destroys his answering machine. When they persist, he threatens the telephone with the same treatment. The machine, taking exception to his tone, strikes first.
Smell: Wilbur, hospitalised after a mugging, develops uncanny psychic abilities. He can tell everything about a person just by sniffing the air around them. Patched up and discharged, Wilbur's nose is his fortune, until .....
Rubber-Face: A rubber plantation on the Congo River. Richard Durec resorts to voodoo to destroy sadistic business partner and love rival, Lucien Civin. Things don't go quite to plan. Love the ghastly ending.
Magpie:An accomplished thief has a foolproof ruse for luring a date back to his apartment. Infallible. 100% success rate. Guaranteed bedroom fun. But then he meets Marcia.
Lovelocks: New England, 1690. Witch or otherwise, Caleb Hopkins would do anything to get his hands on Abigail Barebones, but she regards him as a "ninny." Maybe if he called upon the Devil ...
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Post by andydecker on Nov 29, 2018 17:50:34 GMT
McNaughton is underrated. Of all the writers who tried to do C.A.Smith he still is the best.
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Post by dem on Nov 29, 2018 22:00:20 GMT
McNaughton is underrated. Of all the writers who tried to do C.A.Smith he still is the best. I love the original Satan's Mistress, a neat modern day slant on Lovecraft's Cthulu Mythos with gratuitous porno interludes (at the publisher's insistence, according to the author). |
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Post by helrunar on Nov 30, 2018 14:37:55 GMT
I've never heard of Satan's Mistress. Will have to look for a "blog" entry about the book. The author is not familiar to me. Although I am very fond of the oeuvre of both Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, keeping up with all the pastiches would be a full-time job, at this point. There is just masses, cartloads of this stuff and they keep churning out more.
cheers, H.
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Post by andydecker on Nov 30, 2018 17:32:15 GMT
I've never heard of Satan's Mistress. Will have to look for a "blog" entry about the book. The author is not familiar to me. Although I am very fond of the oeuvre of both Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, keeping up with all the pastiches would be a full-time job, at this point. There is just masses, cartloads of this stuff and they keep churning out more. cheers, H. Lovecraft ... yes. CAS ... interestingly not so much. This kind of morbid fantasy in the vein of Zothique or Poseidonis is hard to do successfully. Conceptually it is very different then the Tolkien kind or S&S. There is/was Michael Shea, but this is of course more Jack Vance and his Dying Earth cycle. (And his novels are also 40 years old.)
McNaughton's collection Throne of Bones has a few stories that nail Smith. Both in keeping the atmosphere, style and the gruesomeness.
Lovecraft has become a flood. I used to try to keep up, but this year I gave up. Too much mediocre stuff you forget after the last page.
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Post by dem on Nov 30, 2018 17:32:39 GMT
I've never heard of Satan's Mistress. Will have to look for a "blog" entry about the book. The author is not familiar to me. Although I am very fond of the oeuvre of both Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, keeping up with all the pastiches would be a full-time job, at this point. There is just masses, cartloads of this stuff and they keep churning out more. cheers, H. . |
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Post by helrunar on Dec 1, 2018 0:14:08 GMT
Hi Andreas, did you read any of the tales by the people who were writing stories of slithering, nefandous Lovecraftian horrors in Yorkshire? I was going to try one of those books. They're probably all out of print now.
I really can't imagine anyone successfully imitating Clark Ashton Smith. His sensibility was truly poetic and real poets aren't so many.
Best wishes, Steve
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 1, 2018 12:33:54 GMT
...Lovecraftian horrors in Yorkshire? I was going to try one of those books. They're probably all out of print now. Sounds like Brian Lumley, specifically Beneath The Moors (1974) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_the_Moors |
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Post by dem on Dec 1, 2018 12:47:51 GMT
Phyllis Eisenstein - The Park: Sandy making her way home in the dark after basketball practice at the Youth centre. Mom's always warning her about muggers hiding behind trees, but right now they're the least of her worries. A nature is revolting mini-classic.
Jessica Amanda Salmonson - Romeo and Juliet: Now it can be told. The lovers' protracted double suicide in full. And beyond.
Hugh B. Cave - Unfinished Journey: Vampires haunt Henry Jorgen's dreams to the point where he's terrified of sleeping. Doc Zengler, psychiatrist, prescribes a sedative, insisting Henry will only be free of the nightmare if he sees it through to the end.
Lawrence Schimel - Double Crossing: In all her centuries, Karen has never known a man to make the return journey across the Styx - until now.
Michael L. McComas - The Midwife's Temptation: An episode during the Salem witch persecutions. Satan dupes Mary Brennan into killing the new born to speed their passage to heaven. The local yokels take a dim view of her multiple mercy murders.
Del Stone, Jr. - And Baby Makes 13: It should have been a routine first pregnancy, but Judith's husband works long hours at the pesticide plant.
Bob Stein - Making It Right: Drunk driver splatter's a boy's dog in the road. The weird little kid insists he puts things right. Charlie decides to get the Hell away before the boy makes trouble for him with the cops, except ... he ain't feeling so good.
Yvonne Navarro - Trigger Moment: Ellen's Halloween Party is sure to be a real scream now that Mom's new beau has arrived.
Greg McElhatton - And then the Music Stopped: A high stakes game of musical chairs. To win is impossible, to lose unthinkable!
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Post by dem on Dec 4, 2018 5:57:13 GMT
Linda J. Dunn - The White Lady of the I-70 Overpass: Gary's stupid Halloween prank backfires. Dropping gravel from the bridge onto the wind-shield of a passing car was only supposed to spook the driver. Nobody was supposed to get hurt! The highway gains it's own phantom lady.
Nancy Kilpatrick - Rural Legend: The tree is known locally as Old Mother Rainey on account of it resembles a skinny woman with a hole in her belly. Legend has it "she" eats babies before they are born ...
Peter Atkins - Only Death, Sir: Finally his Majesty learns the identity of his loyal servant, the wisest man in this and any Kingdom.
Greg McElhatton - Parasite: Marissa's pregnancy. A skin crawling nightmare for true.
Mark Hannah - Easy Money: Six-year-old Timmy is determined to extract a few quid from the Tooth Fairy.
Joe Meno - Drive: A desperate fugitive holds up a car on the highway intent on shooting the passengers to avoid hassle. The driver explains that he's an organ courier delivering a heart to the hospital, but it's the beautiful, silent woman in the front seat decides him to spare them. There's something so damn strange about the way she looks at him ...
Tim Waggoner - Rude Awakenings: A resigned David makes breakfast for the grotesque monstrosities of his nightmares. No big deal. Monday mornings were designed to be depressing.
Benjamin Adams - The Light of Truth: Three FBI agents infiltrate a cell of cycloptic Millennial cultists.
John Maclay - Good Morning. It's Me!: Peel away the mask, there's a bug eyed tentacled monstrosity beneath.
Janet Berliner - Romany: "I see pain and blood and death." J.J. comes to regret his recent visit to a fortune teller.
Brian Stableford - The Riddle of the Sphinx: A homeless man lands the National Lottery jackpot. From sleeping in a cardboard box to £7 million in the bank in one bound. The media treat his rags to riches story like the second coming of Princess Diana ... until the tabloids get wind of his colourful past ...
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