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Post by Knygathin on Mar 1, 2019 12:51:50 GMT
It is long, and a slow burn. But for me it fizzled completely when it reached the end, which I found sort of ridiculous. It may grow on you with repeated readings. We are used to monsters being big and hairy (or scaly), with horns on the head perhaps, roaring with big sharp teeth, ... or spooky ghosts, ... or zombies dripping ooze. Not so here. I think the end is quietly magnificent, ... chilling. It is subtle and invites deeper reflection. It suggests the unexpected ways Nature may creep up on us, especially when we fall from grace and accord.
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Post by The Thing in the Vacuum Valve on Mar 1, 2019 16:21:12 GMT
I will have to pick up The Terror sometime. I've always appreciated nature-horror, especially as written by Machen and Algernon Blackwood.
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Post by jamesdoig on Mar 4, 2019 20:17:04 GMT
This from Mark Valentine yesterday - sounds like a must! In June 1885 Arthur Machen worked for George Redway on 'a mass of odd literature stored in a garret in Catherine Street . . . as odd a library as any man could desire to see. Occultism in one sense or another was the subject of most of the books.’ The result was Machen's The Literature of Occultism and Archaeology, followed by a further catalogue in1887. Later, Machen and his friend Harry Spurr created a business under the name of ‘Thomas Marvell’ and produced Thesaurus Incantatus, ‘a remarkable combination of magico-alchemical fable and a very select catalogue of alchemical books’. This was published in a small edition in December 1888. Machen retained his enthusiasm for esoteric literature and thirty-five years later gave his support to a catalogue of modern literature issued by R. Townley Searle’s First Edition Bookshop in 1923. Machen’s foreword, ‘The Grande Trouvaille’, describes a successful quest for books in the company of Waite. Tartarus Press has produced, for The Friends of Arthur Machen, a new hardback book, Arthur Machen's Occult Catalogues, edited by R.A. Gilbert, and reproducing all these rare and recondite catalogues. This limited, hardback, first edition, will be available free to members of the Friends of Arthur Machen, and cannot be obtained elsewhere. To join, subscribe here: www.arthurmachen.org.uk/machfriends.html
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Post by helrunar on Mar 4, 2019 21:47:35 GMT
Very interesting. I had no idea Machen ever did anything like this. I would think it would be more interesting for students of Victorian occult circles and related bibliographic matters, than for fans of Machen's tales and novels.
I hope there is a paperback trade edition of this material but I would suspect that that is quite unlikely.
cheers, H.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on May 27, 2019 12:31:53 GMT
It could hardly be any other, because that cover is spectacular. Truly inspired. I have it in my own collection. A favorite, and also containing the rather rare A Fragment of Life. I wonder who the artist is? Oh yes!!!
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