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Post by Shrink Proof on Jan 1, 2024 10:34:43 GMT
For those who enjoy early music, this edit of various clips of the late David Munrow (died 1976) performing with his friends has some fascinating pieces to enjoy for New Year's Eve revelry. Around the 24 minute mark, he even performs a couple of traditional Chinese tunes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi5m54NXhYEHel. I'm not wild about the Chinese stuff but enjoyed the (European) early music. Munrow's death was a tragedy in so many respects.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 1, 2024 17:39:17 GMT
The lurid horror of the legendary Ramflaggie of Argyll as documented in the 1974 educational film in the British Cryptids series, shown in selected schools during the period. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2rehpv-L2EEdit after watching the film last night. The people who put these together have started using "AI" tech for certain elements and it really doesn't work. Very jarring. Oh well. Hel.
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Post by humgoo on Jan 2, 2024 14:10:46 GMT
The lurid horror of the legendary Ramflaggie of Argyll as documented in the 1974 educational film in the British Cryptids series, shown in selected schools during the period. Thanks a lot Hel! Fascinating stuff.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 3, 2024 4:20:50 GMT
Today's discovery was this delicious recording originally released on cassette tape of "Man in Black" Valentine Dyall (best remembered nowadays at the "Black Guardian" on Doctor Who) reading with superb style three tales by Edgar Allen Poe: "The Fall of the House of Usher," the twisted, sickeningly violent "The Black Cat," and "The Pit and the Pendulum." www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBWL7vIkKioThis is on a channel that also has digitizations of many other tapes in this series, including two Three Investigators mysteries with Valentine Dyall portraying Alfred Hitchcock, Jon Pertwee reading Thrilling Adventures of Worzel Gummidge, Bernard Cribbins reading various Paddington Bear tales, and something called The Battle of Bubble and Squeak recounted by one Judy Bennett--teatime will never be the same. Hel.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 10, 2024 19:16:10 GMT
Very pulpy episode of a 1928 Fu-Manchu styled serial, Dr Sin Fang, co-starring Harry Agar Lyon and Fred Paul who had performed as the Devil Doctor and his arch-nemesis, Nayland Smith, in the earlier Fu serials. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaphY5xShI0Grateful to the BFI for making this available to those of us living in non-Commonwealth countries. Hel.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 16, 2024 19:36:45 GMT
Another passing--obit posted by Stephen Jones today on social media:
British small press author Martin Gately died of cancer on January 12, aged 57. He began his career by working with Argentine artist Quiqué Alcatena on strips for DC Thomson’s Starblazer comic. An occasional contributor to Fortean Times, Gately’s short stories appeared in The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook, The Worlds of Philip Jose Farmer: Voyages to Strange Days, The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 2 and various anthologies from Black Coat Press, who collected some of them in The New Exploits of Joseph Rouletabille and Exquisite Pandora and Other Fantastic Adventures.
May his spirit know peace--
Hel.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 20, 2024 19:55:38 GMT
An interesting new LP of various folks covering the songs from the 1973 film The Wicker Man. I've listened to several tracks and this is definitely a mixed bag. There are really good covers of some of these songs, such as "Gently, Johnny," on youtube and other platforms--some of these miss the mark, but in certain cases, how they go astray is more interesting than a more faithful cover would be. wasistdas.bandcamp.com/album/ballads-of-seduction-fertility-and-ritual-slaughterThe version of "Procession/Chop Chop" by the oddly named United Bible Studies outfit has a Percy Grainger flavor I appreciate, not that most people listen to Grainger nowadays but perhaps these artists have done so. Hel.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 30, 2024 13:25:06 GMT
News has been posted of Brian Lumley's death aged 86 earlier this year.
I didn't follow Lumley's work at all, but I bought the DAW paperback of The Burrowers Beneath sometime circa 1975. I remember almost nothing about the book beyond the fact that I enjoyed it. I browsed The Transition of Titus Crow when it showed up somewhere, but never read it. And then he dropped from view because I quickly became otherwise occupied.
From a website--some paragraphs from his obituary. Had no idea he was a military policeman. Another obit mentions his passion for cricket and football.
Horror writer Brian Lumley, 86, died January 2, 2024. Lumley was best known for his Mythos fiction, and for the bestselling Necroscope series.
Lumley was born December 2, 1937 in County Durham in England, and served in the military police in the British Army for 22 years before retiring in 1980 to write full time.
He published his first story in the late ‘60s, and became known in the ‘70s for his Lovecraftian stories, especially those about character Titus Crow, who also appeared in novels including The Burrowers Beneath (1974), The Transition of Titus Crow (1975), The Clock of Dreams (1978), Spawn of the Winds (1978), In the Moons of Borea (1979), and Elysia: The Coming of Cthulhu (1989).
In 1986 he launched his popular vampire series with Necroscope (1982), followed by sequels Wamphyri! (1988), The Source (1989), Necroscope IV: Deadspeak (1990), and Necroscope V: Deadspawn (1991). The sequence also had spin-offs, including the Vampire World, the Lost Years, and the E-Branch series; the last book in the saga was The Mobius Murders in 2013.
Other novels include his debut Beneath the Moors (1974), Khai of Ancient Khem (1981), The Return of the Deep Ones (1984), Demogorgon (1987), The Fly-by-Nights (2011), and titles in the Psychomech and New Adventures in H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands series.
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Post by helrunar on Feb 5, 2024 13:51:57 GMT
Another memorial remembrance from Clark Ashton Smith scholar Scott Connors:
It is with deep sorrow that I must add another name to the necrology. This past October my friend and mentor John Alfred Taylor, professor emeritus of English at Washington and Jefferson College, passed away. Besides helping me in my stumbling steps towards an avocation as an independent scholar, John wrote one of the first appreciations of H. P. Lovecraft to appear in a college journal; later one I assisted him in a piece on HPL and Poe for TOPIC, the literary journal of W&J. John was also a keen aficionado of the works of M. R. James, and years ago he wrote a piece dealing IIRC "Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance" for a fanzine that I was to publish; alas, circumstances did not permit and the piece was lost. John did write another piece on James that was included in A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS from Hippocampus Press. John was also a fairly prolific writer of horror and sf stories, with his work appearing in such journals as SPACE AND TIME, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, WEIRDBOOK, etc. Twenty of his stories were collected by Ash-Tree Press as HELL IS MURKY.
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Post by helrunar on Mar 17, 2024 15:26:16 GMT
This latest facétie from John Linwood Grant brought a smile this morning:
Canon Foxthrup, that sainted adjunct of Bunbury Cathedral, was peering at a small slice of commercial fruitcake one afternoon when his associate Mr Bettleworth strode excitedly into his rooms. “I say, Foxthrup,” the visitor began, without preamble. “What is this I hear of an encounter between your friend Monty and a ‘thinking machine’ at college? The canon removed what may or may not have been a sultana from his confection — there were rather too many flies around — and placed it in his waistcoat pocket for later dissection. “It is hardly a thinking machine, Bettleworth,” he responded. “But rather an overcomplicated abacus which I understand the manufacturers wishes to call an IA, or Intelligence of Artifice. Some refer to it as a Lovelace Engine.” Mr Bettleworth looked puzzled. “Why such an odd nomenclature, pray?” “After Ada Lovelace, an industrious lady who undertook and publicised quite complicated computational work on Mr Charles Babbage’s behalf.” “Good heavens! Is that suitable work for a woman?” “As opposed to drinking gin from a tin mug, and asking ‘Want to see what I got for tuppence?’ on street corners?” “I take your point.” “So,” continued the canon, “The master, being a ‘modern’ chap, arranged a demonstration of this Lovelace Engine, convinced that it could produce passable prose. Dear Monty enquired, mildly, if he might be allowed to suggest a prompt. The master agreed; the machine was wound up and set to work.” “With astounding results?” “Hardly. Monty came away quietly triumphant, as I expected.” “How so?” “He requested that the IA produce a short story — one which involved a scholar delving unwisely into the life of a 15thC bishop. He stipulated only that late at night, the scholar should find a spectral hand at his shoulder.” His friend frowned. “That seems simple enough. What happened?” “Oh, the machine chugged and whirred for some minutes, and then with a frustrated grinding noise, it spat out a single length of paper tape which said only: “You+bastard+James+you+know+I+can’t+do+fingers!” And thus it was that Mr Bettleworth left the canon’s rooms that day bowed deep in thought — or possibly just bowed under the weight of Canon Foxthrup’s mercurial mind…
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Post by helrunar on Apr 9, 2024 19:17:30 GMT
This one is just for the lurkers, whoever they are, wherever they may be, because I doubt that this kind of thing is all that attractive to most of the regulars in here. I confess I am intrigued, especially once I got to the phrase "power bottom Frankenstein" whilst reading the blurb.
Hel.
As seen on the interwebs today:
From British Fantasy Award winning author James Bennett (The Ben Garston Novels, The Book of Queer Saints) comes a brand new short story collection.
PREACHING TO THE PERVERTED features thirteen dark tales, each drawn from gay lived experience and given a twist of horror. In these pages you’ll find the erotic and the grotesque. A Kafkaesque alien comes out. Bigoted parents fall foul of fairies. A power bottom Frankenstein wrestles with his conscience. A transgender thief throws a Pride parade in Lovecraftian Arkham. A bitter old queen makes a Faustian pact. And a dejected angel falls in love at the End of the World.
And more… Each story comes from the heart, throbbing with visceral gay energy.
Save your prayers. And come inside.
Reviews:
‘Bennett’s story is a Kafkaesque coming-of-age, the mood of which vacillates between predatory and paranoid, and its conclusion is simply delicious.’ Ginger Nuts of Horror on 'Morta'
‘Bennett’s prose is gripping and the story wonderfully dark and unsavoury in the best of ways.’ Looking for a Rabbit Hole on 'In Hades, He Lifted Up His Eyes'
‘A great mix of emotional exploration… it descends quickly into some Iberian folk horror for a powerful finale.’ Run Along the Shelves on 'Ídolo'
‘End Times in Paris… has got Bennett's typically sharp eye, an absolutely killer ending and a heart of gold.’ The Full Lid on 'End Times in Paris'
Available for pre-order in the usual disreputable haunts.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Apr 9, 2024 19:52:14 GMT
I confess I am intrigued, especially once I got to the phrase "power bottom Frankenstein" whilst reading the blurb. Frankenstein is the doctor, you know, not the monster.
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Post by helrunar on Apr 18, 2024 1:02:30 GMT
Fun ad for an enormous new book about the cult 1970s US television series Night Gallery, which included often very loose adaptations of the work of such authors as Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Manly Wade Wellman, Seabury Quinn, Robert Bloch, A. E. van Vogt, August Derleth, and others we have discussed over the years here in the Vault. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrFYqMUaYfM
The ad includes some very amusing behind the scenes photos. Bombastic perhaps, but I enjoyed it.
Hel.
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enoch
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 117
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Post by enoch on Apr 18, 2024 2:28:01 GMT
Fun ad for an enormous new book about the cult 1970s US television series Night Gallery, which included often very loose adaptations of the work of such authors as Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Manly Wade Wellman, Seabury Quinn, Robert Bloch, A. E. van Vogt, August Derleth, and others we have discussed over the years here in the Vault. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrFYqMUaYfM
The ad includes some very amusing behind the scenes photos. Bombastic perhaps, but I enjoyed it.
Hel. I have this book. If you're a Night Gallery fan, it's a must-have. I also have the large book with reproductions of all the Gallery paintings.
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Post by helrunar on Apr 18, 2024 2:58:31 GMT
This title along with the other one about the paintings seems to be more or less permanently out of print.
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