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Post by andydecker on Aug 24, 2021 10:41:51 GMT
"When the Green Star Waned" is a monumental achievement in crapola. Andrew Brosnatch Nictzin Dyalhis - When the Green Star Waned: Evil Beings From the Dark Side of the Moun Attack Aerth. The people of Aerthhave been enslaved by Lunarians, a race of seemingly indestructible, levitating formless cannibal blobs from the Moun, aka, the most evil region in the entire galaxy. The dire situation warrants investigation by a Venhez space patrol, who are duly shocked by what they find. Aerthlings were never a particularly intelligent species - you only have to study their history; that terrible world war in ancient times! - but they deserve better than this. "So utterly abhorrent were conditions on Aerth that our Supreme Council decreed that such must be abolished at any cost. Not the planet, but the state of affairs prevailing. For they feared that the very Aether would become putrescent, and moral degeneracy reach eventually to every planet of the Universal Chain!" The Venhezians' considered response is to mount a clean-up campaign, annihilating Aerthling and Lunarian alike, albeit the latter are, to all intents and purposes, unkillable. Even the Blastors - deadliest weapon known to any planet - prove ineffective. Ron Ti, the Venezians #1 genius, ponders what seems an unsolvable problem — until the chance intervention of his musically-inclined "love-girl" .... Is this one of those space opera things? Celebrated by WT readers in it's day though stories popularly has considerably declined in recent years. Personally, I could have done with some detail on the Lunarians' 'ghastly orgies' as there was little else to cling on to. I think the name of the story is intriguing. Lin Carter wrote just another Burroughs pastiche of 5 novels - Under the Green Star, When the Green Star calls - in the seventies in which our crippled hero projects his consciousness to another planet. You could either deplore the lacking creativeness or just be content with your literary Happy Meal. Seems the writer as well as his editor couldn't take it seriously either, as Carter has his narrator citing Burroughs and John Carter in the novel and the back text reads: For there is a princess to be saved, an invader to be thwarted and other-world monsters to be faced ... Or at least the DAW editor couldn't take it seriously as Carter wrote a long afterword defending his derivative work as a "love-letter" for Burroughs to nip every controversy in the bud.
I remember nothing of the books, only that that the background were gigantic trees - or was this the Callisto books or Thongor? Doesn't matter - and the hero's body dies at the end and he is flung back to earth.
But now I wonder if Carter did more than just to use this title. I guess there is no doubt that he knew this story; if a later fantasy writer knew Weird Tales backwards and forwards it was Lin Carter. Maybe he also borrowed some concepts from Dyalhis' story?
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Post by andydecker on Aug 24, 2021 10:50:50 GMT
Here is one of the covers of the Green Star series. DAW Books, 1975, 172 pages
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Post by helrunar on Aug 24, 2021 13:16:05 GMT
Great cover by Roy Krenkel. With that font and Krenkel's painting, this is a dead-ringer for one of those classic 1960s Ace paperback editions of one of the Burroughs Barsoom, Venus or Pellucidar novels.
What I'm guessing is that Lin pitched the idea to Wollheim over martinis at some convention or other as a series he'd be able to produce quickly and efficiently. Conceived and written purely as potboilers. I don't know how well this kind of thing sold, but presumably well enough to run the series through several entries.
H.
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Post by andydecker on Aug 24, 2021 13:25:43 GMT
Great cover by Roy Krenkel. With that font and Krenkel's painting, this is a dead-ringer for one of those classic 1960s Ace paperback editions of one of the Burroughs Barsoom, Venus or Pellucidar novels. What I'm guessing is that Lin pitched the idea to Wollheim over martinis at some convention or other as a series he'd be able to produce quickly and efficiently. Conceived and written purely as potboilers. I don't know how well this kind of thing sold, but presumably well enough to run the series through several entries. H. I am sure they sold well, but at the time the writing of their demise was on the wall. These were published before the advent of the "big" fantasy novel, those 600 pages at least a trilogy in length books. I guess one couldn say that DAW helped giving birth to them and making Zimmer Bradley, Tanith Lee, Kurtz or Cherryh a financial success, and DAW was among the first to kick guys like Carter, Bulmer or Tubb out.
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Post by helrunar on Aug 24, 2021 15:18:58 GMT
Yes, the era of the charmingly intimate little paperback you could curl up with on the bus or your sofa was on the way out in favor of the bombastic, bloated, baubled meganovelette... Oh well.
I thought Mists of Avalon was nice for what it was, but couldn't understand all the fuss. Hated the TV movie adaptation.
cheers, Steve
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Post by dem bones on Aug 24, 2021 17:26:32 GMT
Andrew Brosnatch Donald E. Keyhoe - The Grim Passenger: Was the Steamship Titanic Destroyed by an Egyptian Curse?. The Flying Saucers from Outer Space author reprises the enduring urban legend of the cursed mummy sarcophagus caused the deaths of several tomb-looters and a nightwatchman at the British Museum. After which, it was loaded aboard a ship bound for America. Since reprinted as one of Robert Weinberg, Stefan R. Dziemianowicz & Martin H. Greenberg's 100 Tiny Tales of Terror. Frank K. Shaw - Back From Dust: The Shadow of the Guillotine Hung Over an American Courtroom. The police arrest several affluent young men in a raid on an illegal gambling joint. Among those taken into custody, Louis Clair, descendant of a fearless Chevalier who, at the height of the Terror, cheated the guillotine to escape to America. Judge Henry Durette believes he recognises the prisoner from somewhere way back .... Robert Eugene Ulmer - The Headless Horror: A Tale of Thrills — and the Severed Head of a Murderer. A museum curator outbids a rival to purchases the rotting head of a famous murderer. On the eve of his execution, the assassin swore he would return to claim his skull. Presumably another of Edward Baird's leftovers, which is not to say Wright was incapable of commissioning dodgy material.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 25, 2021 6:30:22 GMT
Andrew Brosnatch Eudora Ramsay Richardson - The Haunting Eyes: They Came Back From the Grave to Torture and Save Him. "Foul fiend that I was, once again I defiled her." George abuses his God-given hypnotic powers to influences business deals, further his career, and, unforgivably, seduce childhood sweetheart Lucretia in the old cemetery. Fearful for his immortal soul, Lucretia threatens to expose him unless he makes a public confession of his ill deeds. Whereupon George has his way a second time before telling her to go jump in the lake. Overwrought confessional, reminiscent of The Loved Dead in the telling, if not the subject matter. Ending soppy but otherwise what we came for. Francis Hard [Farnsworth Wright] - The Dark Pool: Verse. The editor anticipates The Sucking Pit. Hasan Vokine - Sleigh Bells: Snow-bound, Besieged by Wolves in a Russian Winter. Andre Taranof and son, Dmitri, exiled and starving in Siberia. As the old man lies dying, the wolves encircle their hovel. Dmitri is all for opening the door to the pack and bringing an end to the misery, but his father is insistent he hears the tinkling of sleigh bells approaching from afar. A trad Russian folk tale, apparently.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 25, 2021 16:37:52 GMT
Andrew Brosnatch Joel Martin Nichols, Jr. - The Lure of Atlantis: Beneath the Sargasso Sea, in the Grave of Missing Ships. Acting on a tip off from the Captain of the Pole Star, Dr. Amos Tyrrel sets out in his floating laboratory, Nautilus, to locate the submerged city of Atlantis. Along for the journey, his colleague and fellow avowed bachelor, Prof. Charles Randolph. Randolph is sceptical of the endeavour until, mid-Sargasso, he dons state of the art divers suit to accompany Tyrrel to the sea bed — and a glorious sunken temple! As they explore this marvel, Tyrrel communicates by special underwater sign language that they are approaching the mortuary. There-in, encased in a glass coffin, they find the smiling, impeccably preserved corpse of the most beautiful woman either have ever seen, the Princess Wynona. So enraptured are our underwater adventurers of her charms, they fail to notice the evil seaweed closing in all around them ....... Story related by the sole survivor of that fatal mission. Reads like the result of several W. Hope Hodgson plots fed through a blender. A strong best/ maddest of issue contender. Alexander J. Snyder - Treasure: A Thug — a Physician — and a Mistake. Ruthless villain aboard the Staten Island ferryboat overhears Dr. Fleming enthusing about three pearls he picked up on the charity ward. He leaps to wrong conclusion. Woeful Conte Cruel would not have been out of place among the launch issue's lowliest filler. J. B. Powell - The Dark Interval: His Spirit Was Tied to Earth Until He Made Amends. In death John Hargrove, alcoholic, longs to atone for the hurt he caused his estranged, loving wife. When Anne walked out, he disinherited her out of spite. Now he's determined the will, dividing his estate among various grasping relatives and condemning Anne to poverty, must not be read. A very minor ghost story but I like it.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Aug 25, 2021 17:54:35 GMT
Reads like the result of several W. Hope Hodgson plots fed through a blender. From my point of view, that's a ringing endorsement.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 26, 2021 14:19:14 GMT
Andrew Brosnatch Walter G. Detrick - Through the Horn Gate: McIvor Meets Peggy Odel in the Golden Horn. The foreman of the Waterloo coal mine ill-advisedly explores a shaft long abandoned on account of it's uncanny reputation. Lost in the black hell, he meets a young woman who cannot possibly be. Edward Hades - The Electronic Plague: A Scientist's Mad Brain Looses a Radio Horror Upon the World. Dr. Alexander Gnash, mad misanthrope and particular despiser of all things modern life, invents a radio transmitter capable of destroying every electrical circuit in New York. On the night of September 10, 1935, he plunges the city into darkness. Two bonus offshoots of the attack; the deadly waves stop cars dead, and as the hours wear on, it's clear they often prove lethal to people, too — Dr. Gnash, among them. Ruth Palmer, the madman's niece, and Urban Woodward, stranded motorist, survive the night of destruction to swear undying love and tell Government what happened. Wedding bells, patter of tiny feet, etc. Ed Wood should have filmed this one. William Sanford - Grisley's Reception: Fate Took a Hand in the Convict's Attempt to Escape. With a saw provided by a daring female accomplice, a wife killer cuts through the barred window of his prison cell and drops into the yard below ..... Two page filler from author of the dire Hootch in the May 1923 issue. Might work as a comic strip. Andrew Brosnatch Seabury Quinn - Servants of Satan #2: Giles and Martha Corey: True Tale of Salem Witchcraft. Giles Corey, eighty, and his sixty year old wife, Martha, were two among the God fearing community to disparage the "afflicted" as attention seekers deserving of a good hiding for their vile and fatal claims against the Osburns and Goods. Celebrity victim Ann Putnam, twelve, was very cross at them for this outburst, so during her next wondrous seizure she claimed to have witnessed Goody Corey flying down her chimney on a broomstick. Martha, who stuck to her guns in court and frequently requested she be allowed to pray, was not only hung as a witch but excommunicated beforehand. Her brave husband, mightiest of men, was next arrested. Despising the Salem judicial system for the mockery it had become, he refused to plead, so: "On Monday, September 19, 1692, Giles Corey was taken near what was later to be the site of the Howard Street burial ground and Brown Street, Salem, laid on his back, and buried under a great pile of timber and rocks." He continued to taunt his neighbours for their stupidity until the life was finally pressed from him.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 27, 2021 8:22:57 GMT
Latest reissue from Wildside Press. When the Green Star Waned aside, I'm not sure too many of the stories have seen previous reprint, although we've bumped into The Grim Passenger on the mummy thread. Either Christine Campbell Thomson didn't receive this issue or she wasn't all that taken with the contents. Seems like there's no escaping Arthur Thatcher and his rotten Teeheemen. The Eddy story has appeared in the some of the "Lovecraft's revisions" anthologies. I've seen negative commentary about it, but I kind of liked it when I read it back in high school. Wonder how Lovecraft would feel about the nigh on Religious cult that's grown up around his work? I hope he'd laugh his tentacles off - either that, or spontaneously combust in embarrassment. Whatever, some of His worshippers need to have a serious word with themselves. Take this one. Don't beat yourself up so, mate. It's a disposable pulp story, not a sacred screed! Anyway; Andrew Brosnatch C. M. Eddy - Deaf, Dumb and Blind: A Grisly Story of the Obscene Legions of Evil. Alerted by reports of a man running hatless, coatless and screaming from the old Tanner house, Dr. Morehouse and friends drive out to the swamp to investigate. The Tanner place is currently home to Richard Blake, poet and author of weird fiction, whose war injuries have rendered him a deaf, sightless, mute, paralytic. Morehouse finds the author dead at his typewriter. Beside the corpse, an account of his final hours as the house came under attack from malevolent entities assuredly not of this world. A postscript suggests the dark forces are very pleased with their days work. H. Thompson Rich - Little Island: A Pacific Hurricane Hurled It Into the Ocean One Night. Shipwrecked in the South Pacific, Big Jeff Rawston is washed up on a tiny island wedged between two volcanoes. Little Island is deserted save for a young woman, Janice Hampton, and her surly cousin, Clarence, stranded here these past three years after daddy's luxury yacht went under. Swift rescue is imperative as the next storm is likely to sink them. Clarence, jealous that Janice has taken a shine to Rawston resolves to kill him. #censorship! #itstheilluminati #HPLCENSORED! #suppressionofthetruth! #scandal! #R'lyeh!R'lyeh!Yog-Sogoth! #saveourgibberish!
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Post by helrunar on Aug 27, 2021 15:31:58 GMT
Great review and comments as always, Kev.
Paralytic but he could still operate a typewriter? It's a Weird Tales exclusive! LOL
cheers, Steve
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Post by dem bones on Aug 28, 2021 7:51:53 GMT
Andrew Brosnatch Frank Owen - The Wind That Tramps the World: A Tale of Sweetness and Light and Exquisite Music. High in the Himalayas wandering John Steppling meets Hi-Ling, an English-speaking ancient hermit, once considered China's foremost horticulturist. Hi-Ling loved his garden. Above all, he loved a particular flower, who he named 'Dawn-Girl.' When his love was reciprocated, Hi-Ling was the happiest man in the world. But .... Dawn-Girl's beauty was such as to subdue the wind that tramps the world. "Never had he [the wind] chanced upon any lovely sight comparable to that of Dawn-Girl." Angry that Dawn-Girl should resist him in favour of Hi-Ling, the wind grew increasingly jealous and vengeful, until finally he carried her away with him. On the advice of a Hindoo philosopher, a devastated Hi-Ling left the city and built this hut, high in the mountains, where all the winds of earth must cross. For forty years he has waited for the arrival of the wind that tramps the world and the chance to rescue Dawn-Girl. Tonight's the night .... A weird and very beautiful love story. Think we should consider it for DIY 'best of' Weird Tales 1923-6 selection. Arthur J. Burks - Strange Tales from San Domingo #3: Daylight Shadows: Desert Heat and Madness. Burks and a pal ignore the advice of a senior officer never to attempt crossing the Neiba desert after 10am. Before long, their mules exhausted, the pair are forced to split and hope one can reach civilisation to arrange rescue for the other. Mirage, insanity, dehydration, swollen tongue agony, and sand-eating ensue. Reads like factual reportage as opposed to weird fiction. Burks knew of that which he wrote.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 28, 2021 16:53:46 GMT
Andrew Brosnatch James W. Bennett & Soong Kwoen-Ling - The Soul-Catching Cord: A Chinese Occultist — and an Evil Apparition. "I saw you! You smiled at her! You ogled at her. A brazen hussy! Her cheeks flaming scarlet with sin — and paint!" When a new bride takes unkindly to her husband applauding a singsong girl, an evil spirit, in the form of a kindly old woman, moves in for the kill. Vaung-tsan, a suicide, persuades the girl that, by sticking her head in a noose of braided horsehair, she will not only punish loverboy, but follow her direct to Paradise! The angry bride complies. Fortunately Moh-Chien, philosopher and necromancer, is at hand to cut her down and pocket the rope before Vaung-tsan can make away with her soul. Let occult battle commence! Nellie Cravey Gillmore - The White Scar: A Dream showed Him his Wife's Murderer. "Am I crazy? I do not think so — but I do not know. Anyhow, I am in an asylum for the hopelessly insane. I was sent here a long time ago ...." For several years the narrator tramped America in search of his beloved wife, Dorothy, who left home to tend her sick mother in Louisiana, never to return. Eventually, at Gretna, starving and delirious, he bedded down for the night in what was, unknown to him, the local haunted house, there to witness a re-enactment of his wife's appalling murder by a man with a facial scar in the shape of a cross .... This four pager reads like the quintessential reign of Baird WT horror - virtually every protagonist in the early stories is the inmate of this or that madhouse. Cheered me up no end.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 29, 2021 8:48:01 GMT
Just the two serial's to go, and as one of these is the conclusion of The Last of the Teeheemen, this feels like a good time to run away and seek refuge in fabulous mailbag, The Eyrie, which, this time out, includes a letter-of-the-century contender in answer to those readers still getting shirty over the inclusion of "nauseating stories."
Also includes; Lieutenant Arthur J Burks in praise of Whispering Tunnels, while reader Ward Motz favours The Statement of Randolph Carter and ... The Brown Moccasin; "Never since the death of F. St. Mars have I read a better story of natural life, and not only the story, but the style." Editor Wright reveals that he recently included a particularly gruesome tale "as a test of reader sentiment ... It was highly praised by many of our readers, and not one letter has been received condemning it because of it's theme." The story in question? Victor Roman's bloodthirsty trad vampire outing, Four Wooden Stakes.
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