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Post by cauldronbrewer on Oct 28, 2012 0:29:59 GMT
Good news, bad news from Chris Priestley's blog: The good news: Priestley is publishing a new set of short stories, Christmas Tales of Terror . . . The bad news: . . . but only as an e-book (though in the comments he holds out the possibility that there will be a print edition by Christmas 2013). |
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Post by dem on Oct 14, 2014 16:55:56 GMT
Christopher Priestley - Uncle Montague's Tales Of Terror (Bloomsbury, March 2011) Blurb: `SCARE YOURSELVES SILLY' - Observer
Edgar can't resist the terrifyingly twisted tales his Uncle Montague tells when he visits him at his house beyond the woods.
But what is his uncle's connection with the dark stories? Prepare to be chilled to the bone as you discover that Uncle Montague is the subject of perhaps the most terrifying tale of all.
This is a seriously scary book. Are you brave enough to read on?
`MY INSIDES WERE STILL UNTANGLING THEMSELVES HOURS AFTER I CLOSED THE BOOK' - Sunday TelegraphThe later, repackaged paperback edition (sensible grown up cover) turned up in the Algate chapter of the Spitalfield Crypt Charity shop. Bonus tale is The Snow Globe/ Skating; Despite all that has gone before, Edgar returns to Pity's End, unable to resist the lure of another of Uncle Montague's spine-tinglers. His eyes fall on a snow globe in the study, and inside, the figure a girl skating on a frozen pond. Of course, Edgar can't help but give it a shake... A blizzard erupts both within the globe and outside in the woods. To pass the time, Uncle Montague relates the sad, sad story of Diana Partington, a fifteen-year-old superiority complex on legs, whose fondness for skating proved her downfall ....
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Post by ripper on Oct 16, 2014 12:26:36 GMT
Nice to hear about the bonus story in the paperback, so I shall have to keep a look-out for that one. I've read Uncle Montague, Tunnel's Mouth and Black Ship by Priestley and would recommend all three, though Uncle Montague is my favourite.
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Post by dem on Oct 16, 2014 18:15:19 GMT
Nice to hear about the bonus story in the paperback, so I shall have to keep a look-out for that one. I've read Uncle Montague, Tunnel's Mouth and Black Ship by Priestley and would recommend all three, though Uncle Montague is my favourite. As has been mentioned before, it's just a shame that the paperbacks sacrifice Dave Roberts' charming illustrations. Here's the third of them. Chris Priestley - Tales Of Terror From The Tunnel's Mouth (Bloomsbury, March 2011) Blurb: `A WONDERFULLY NIGHTMARISH JOURNEY OF THE IMAGINATION'- D*ily M*il
Robert is taking the train by himself for the first time, but what should be a thrilling journey turns into something much scarier when the train breaks down at the mouth of a dark tunnel.
As the hours pass and no help comes, a kind woman tells him a series of spine-chilling stories, each one stranger than the first, and Robert begins to wonder whether she has a much darker side ...
Read on to the final terrifying destination - - - if you dare.Bonus story is The Rest Cure - The Voice: After a spell in a mental institution, Robert is reunited with his stepmother who he has belatedly come to appreciate. They move into the house in Cambridge she recently inherited. Turns out that she too is a teller of spooky stories. Hers concerns 'Dora,' who, at the age of thirteen, loses her mum in a horse-riding accident. Dad, who isn't as affected by the tragedy as he might be, takes up with a local widow and marries her within a year. Dora despises her stepmother, and the feeling, it seems, is mutual. One day the trio take a walk along the cliff ... At close of her tale, Robert and step-mum watch from the window as a boy named Edgar makes his way through the woods toward the site of the old school at Pity's End .... |
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Post by ripper on Oct 19, 2014 9:55:32 GMT
Priestley has also written the Teacher's Tales of Terror and Christmas Tales of Terror, though I am not sure if one or both are only in e-book form. With the festive season approaching, I may well indulge myself with Priestley's Christmas selection. What I like about his stories in the Tales of Terror collections is that they rarely have happy endings. Some children's supernatural fiction almost force happy endings upon their main characters, possibly as a sop to the tender age of the story's readers, but Priestley rarely does that, I am glad to say. There is rarely any syrup in his tales. Not read any of his novels, though I have read good things about Dead of Winter, so will probably give it a go.
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Post by valdemar on Apr 17, 2015 6:18:18 GMT
Having read good things about these books here, I bought all three. I was more than pleased - the tales are short, snappy, and deliciously unpleasant. I love the way that all three volumes are connected in some way, with the links not being obvious, but when read, make none think: "Oh yes!". The tales are a great hybrid of Roald Dahl at his very darkest, and those outrageously entertaining Amicus 'Portmanteau' movies of the 60's and 70's [I'm sure Milton Subotsky would have loved these books], with a hint of John Connolly's 'Nocturnes'[where a happy ending is a rarity]. The tale 'The Un-Door', I can see as a future 'Ghost Story For Christmas'. Wonder if Mark Gatiss has read these? they'd be right up his street, I'm sure. 'Sister Veronica' definitely has a 'Royston Vasey' sort of aftertaste about it...
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Post by ripper on Nov 14, 2017 9:24:26 GMT
I thought I would re-read Uncle Montague again and managed to polish it off in a couple of nights. My thoughts on it haven't really changed. It's a very easy book to get into and the tales are well written and most importantly don't talk down to children. I like 'The Un-Door' more and more. Priestley gets the atmosphere just right and I really like the fake seance setting. 'A Ghost Story' is also one I enjoy. Victoria being in that box with a girl whom she gradually comes to realise is not all she seems is quite chilling and I can imagine it causing some of its younger readers sleepless nights. 'Uncle Montague' is my favourite of CP's Tales of Terror series, but each is recommended. I hope he will one day pen some more.
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Post by dem on Jan 21, 2021 21:01:47 GMT
Best of both worlds with the 2015 paperback. David Roberts' adorable illustrations and the bonus stories. Chris Priestley - Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth (Bloomsbury, Oct. 2016: originally 2009) The Train
The Glasshouse
The Island
A New Governess
The Little People
The Crotach Stone
Gerald
Sister Veronica
The Whispering Boy
A Crack in the wall
The Tunnel Mouth
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The Rest Cure
The VoiceBlurb: Robert is taking the train by himself for the first time, and he's expecting a thrilling journey.
But when the train stalls at the mouth of a gaping tunnel and an elegant woman suggests whiling away the hours with stories, Robert realises he is destined for something much. much spookier...
These are tales with a difference, each one more deliciously chilling than the last. Who is this mysterious storyteller, and why are her tales so dark and bizarre? |
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