vaultadventcalendar
Black Crow King
Horror chav at the controls/ weird cheerleader #arts&culture
Posts: 143
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Post by vaultadventcalendar on Dec 11, 2018 8:42:53 GMT
Day Eleven Its nine-teen sixty nine, baby ... .... which can only mean .... Sydney J. Bounds. From memory, Young Blood is the only one of Syd's Fontana Horrors Phil Harbottle omits from The Best of Sydney J. Bounds: Vol 2, possibly on the grounds that it's too throwaway, but it's a story never fails to cheer me up, not least for the groovy dialogue. That Ghouls-Kerpow! tour can't come a day too soon.
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Post by ripper on Dec 11, 2018 10:46:48 GMT
I get the feeling that Syd had a good time writing this one. The ending is telegraphed practically from the start, but it is great fun getting there nonetheless. Is Maybelle an early goth?
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vaultadventcalendar
Black Crow King
Horror chav at the controls/ weird cheerleader #arts&culture
Posts: 143
|
Post by vaultadventcalendar on Dec 12, 2018 7:10:10 GMT
Day Twelve.
" ..... I write so much about people under the age of twenty. When you are that age, you are as bright as you're ever going to be, as intelligent, and just as likely to be right in an argument as when you're fifty. All you lack is a bit of experience, but you're certainly working like hell at getting it." - 'An Interview with John Gordon,' Ghosts & Scholars #21, Haunted Library, 1996 (read full interview here
Some personal all time favourites are more personal all time favourites than others, and here's the third in our exciting download and keep mini-series. What to say about Never Grow Up? Put it this way. It's not as jolly as Syd's glampunk classic.
Boring updateAmazing. We've reached halfway without the wheels falling off - would not have put money on that last week. Still plenty of time .... Will introduce the first of the contemporary authors .... soon. We've at least five vacancies to fill (many thanks to those who've kindly contributed), so may be forced to resort to operation scrounge-bag shortly - don't say you weren't warned. Hope to spruce things up with more illustrations, too.
P.S. To those who've written me over past week, will get back to you between now and weekend. Thank you for your patience!
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Post by ripper on Dec 12, 2018 11:25:31 GMT
Phew, that was grim. I really wasn't sure where the tale was going until nearly the end, and where it ended up rather surprised me. Also, I was disturbed by some what I took to be subtle hints about the narrator's relationship with his mother, or maybe I am reading too much into that.
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vaultadventcalendar
Black Crow King
Horror chav at the controls/ weird cheerleader #arts&culture
Posts: 143
|
Post by vaultadventcalendar on Dec 13, 2018 8:53:19 GMT
Day thirteen Chrissie Demant Dec. 13 2018 The first of our contemporary authors is Mr. Worlds of Strangeness himself, our friend Nigel Taylor with an atypically violent story from his third collection, Hellfire Cinders (Winton Books, 2011). Nigel writes: Many thanks to Nigel for permitting us to include it (and to Jon for providing the pdf!).
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Post by ripper on Dec 13, 2018 10:32:45 GMT
I really enjoyed that one. Many thanks to the author. Yes, agreed, it is very filmic and I wasn't expecting that much action.
Don't forget Chloe Franks was also the little girl who let psycho Santa into the house to butcher Joan Collins in Tales from the Crypt, and she played nasty Angela who gets her just desserts in The Uncanny.
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vaultadventcalendar
Black Crow King
Horror chav at the controls/ weird cheerleader #arts&culture
Posts: 143
|
Post by vaultadventcalendar on Dec 14, 2018 8:48:16 GMT
Day fourteenChrissie Demant Written especially for the occasion, phenomenally gifted singer songwriter, author and long time Vault man Craig Herbertson returns with a warning to all would-be Good Samaritans . This story, while not exactly what you might call rich in festive cheer, is certainly appropriate to the bleak midwinter.
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Post by johnnymains on Dec 14, 2018 13:14:45 GMT
Good old Craig, never fails to give us the shortsharp horror.
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Post by ripper on Dec 14, 2018 14:33:42 GMT
I know Craig as a talented writer who generously offers stories to the calendar, but I had no idea about his musical talents. Good one, Craig, and many thanks.
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Post by ripper on Dec 14, 2018 14:43:21 GMT
Dem's comment that Nigel Taylor's story was the first of the contemporaries made me feel rather old as to me the Alex White and Syd Bounds offerings were just that.
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Post by helrunar on Dec 14, 2018 17:08:25 GMT
Yeah, Ripper, I get that.
It's disconcerting to realize that for the kids in the room, the Sixties are now as remote and "quaint" as the late Victorian era.
cheers, Helrunar
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Post by helrunar on Dec 14, 2018 17:15:19 GMT
I'd never heard of Sydney Bounds. "The Ghouls" was a frothy bit of Sixties fun.
Dusty Springfield made the so-called "panda eye" look of heavily layered on mascara the very summit of hipdom in '65. Dusty told reporters she'd just keep layering it on and only washed it off every two weeks. She knew how to swing, babe.
The story is fun not just for what happens but how it is told. The short, pointed phrases are like a catalogue of 1960s pop reporting as seen in the pages of Melody Maker and NME long ago and far away.
Brill!
cheers, H.
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 14, 2018 17:46:48 GMT
An outstanding story; the final sentence was a master stroke....thank you, Craig!
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Post by dem bones on Dec 14, 2018 21:27:20 GMT
Dem's comment that Nigel Taylor's story was the first of the contemporaries made me feel rather old as to me the Alex White and Syd Bounds offerings were just that. Yeah, Ripper, I get that. It's disconcerting to realize that for the kids in the room, the Sixties are now as remote and "quaint" as the late Victorian era. cheers, Helrunar I feel that way about them too. Young Blood, Never Talk To Strangers and Never Grow Upare still fresh to me - pretty incredible in the former's case: I'm sure it was already dated in 1969! - but, sadly, Syd, Dulcie Gray/ 'Alex' and John Gordon are no longer with us. Re Never Talk ...; have read the story so many times, but, until now, somehow overlooked the telling reference to Night Must Fall. Bridge on Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, London E2, 2018. Artist & photographer unknown. Thanks whoever you are!
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Post by andydecker on Dec 14, 2018 21:37:30 GMT
Chrissies work is wonderful!
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