|
Post by dem bones on Sept 10, 2021 17:30:36 GMT
Published on October 22nd, available for pre-order from Telos, the latest volume in this excellent series: Paul Finch [ed] - Terror Tales of the Scottish Lowlands (Telos, Oct. 22 2021). Neil Williams M. W. Craven - The Moss-Trooper Bastions of Dread Steve Duffy - The Strathantine Imps Spirits of Palace and Tomb John Alfred Taylor - Gie Me Something ta Eat Afore I Dee Glasgow’s Dancing Corpse Tracy Fahey - Land of the Foreigner The Bloodiest of Ends Fred Urquhart - Proud Lady in a Cage The Ghost Road Reggie Oliver - Drumglass Chapel The Devil in the Dark City Anna Taborksa - Two Shakes of a Dead Lamb’s Tail I’ll Be in Scotland Before You Charlotte Bond - The Ringlet Stones The Real Mr Hyde Johnny Mains - Coulter’s Candy Dishes Served Cold Graham Smith - Echoes from the Past The Murder Dolls Willie Meikle - Herders The Vampire of Annandale S. J. I. Holliday - Birds of Prey The Selkirk Undead Paul M. Feeney - The Clearance The Overtoun Bridge Mystery S. A. Rennie - The Fourth Presence Blurb: The Scottish Lowlands. Gentle hills, dreamy woods, romantic ballads, heroic songs. But dark castles tell tales of torture and woe, of reiver cruelty and the madness of kings. While the shades of slain armies still battle in the mist, witch-hunters ride and the bone-fires blaze …
The haunted highway of Dumfries The dancing corpse of Glasgow The masked imps of Strathantine The murder dolls of Holyrood Park The skeletal bride of Allanton The profane chapel at Drumglass The dark rituals in the West Bow
Includes terrifying tales by Charlotte Bond, M W Craven, Steve Duffy, Tracy Fahey, Paul M Feeney, S J I Holliday, Johnny Mains, William Meikle, Reggie Oliver, S A Rennie, Graham Smith, Anna Taborska, John Alfred Taylor and Fred Urquhart.More details on Mr. Finch's lively blog, Walking in the Dark
|
|
|
Post by jamesdoig on Sept 10, 2021 23:28:46 GMT
Published on October 22nd, available for pre-order from Telos, the latest volume in this excellent series: Paul Finch [ed] - Terror Tales of the Scottish Lowlands (Telos, Oct. 22 2021). Good to see Johnny in there - a proud Scot I believe.
|
|
|
Post by johnnymains on Sept 11, 2021 8:24:40 GMT
Cheers James, Yeah - this is a *very* local book for me - my story features the house I grew up in, the town I went to school, a town I moved to at 11 and I road I travelled up and down thousands of time. Needless to say, it's the best story I think I've ever written. The language s all written in the pure Scots tongue which might put some off, but hey ho.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Sept 11, 2021 17:16:37 GMT
Gorgeous cover painting! Donovan recorded a song which I think is an old folk tune called "Coulters candy." The point of it I find elusive but it's fascinating nonetheless. I do better with Scots than do some Americans--in written form. I was quite startled a few years ago, when noodling on the interwebs, to learn that there's a Scots language Wikipedia: sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_PageI do love that the search button is labeled "Rake." Irrelevantly, H.
|
|
|
Post by johnnymains on Sept 11, 2021 19:02:17 GMT
Gorgeous cover painting! Donovan recorded a song which I think is an old folk tune called "Coulters candy." The point of it I find elusive but it's fascinating nonetheless. I do better with Scots than do some Americans--in written form. I was quite startled a few years ago, when noodling on the interwebs, to learn that there's a Scots language Wikipedia: sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_PageI do love that the search button is labeled "Rake." Irrelevantly, H. Heya Hel, the original song was written by a candyman called Robert Coltart (1832–1880) and is a song that I remember singing in primary school and I sang it to my child when she was a toddler. In the course of my research on him, I found a lost verse to the song, which is in the story and will be published for the first time in 150 years or so. Reason I wrote the story is because the town he did his trade in put up a statue honouring him BUT nobody did any research on him before the statue went up as he was an abusive drunk and beat up children and adults alike. - I thought I'd write a story to set the record straight, so to speak.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Sept 11, 2021 19:06:58 GMT
Wow Johnny, that's quite fascinating. Great photo!
Now I have to get that book to read your story! I look forward to it very much.
cheers, Hel.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Oct 1, 2021 14:12:18 GMT
M. W. Craven - The Moss-Trooper: Middlemass drops in at a Gretna pub for a late one and finds himself in the miserable company of a scarred, non-drinking hard case who offers only the name "Story-teller." This garrulous fellow knows more than is decent about Middlemass family history, most notable the torture massacre of the entire clan bar one at Kirkcudbright in the wake of the English Civil War. The Moss-troopers were former cavalry in Cromwell's New Model Army turned outlaw, their atrocities sanctioned by Parliament just so long as they were committed North of the border. "The English moss-troopers were some of the vilest men ever to draw clean air and the worst of them was a man named Solomon Crozier ..." Crozier it was who presided over the obscene slaughter of the Middlemasses. It was his fancy to always spare one child or enfeebled witness to tell the tale of his barbarous crimes, and on this occasion he chose unwisely. Janet Middlemass was the grand-daughter of a powerful witch and the black gift that had skipped a generation was visited on her tenfold. Janet's revenge on the Moss-troopers was monstrous as they deserved, and she saved the worst for Crozier ... A bloody great start to a Terror Tales in every sense of the word. Bastions of Dread: Ghosts and legends of Hermitage Castle, including the fate of the fourteenth century 'Evil Lord Soules', allegedly boiled in lead for his Satanic misdeeds, the demonic persecutions of Redcap Sly, and the screaming phantoms of their multiple victims. Also the horrors of Blackness, where seventeenth century Covenanter rebels were imprisoned and done to death in a flooded dungeon. Steve Duffy - The Strathantine Imps: On inheriting the family fortune in 1969, Forbes --------, twenty-eight year old widower with two children, leaves Chelsea for the Ayrshire coast to take over the ancestral mansion, Strathantine Lodge. A negligent, perma-tripping father, Forbes hires and loses a succession of nannies - all rechristened 'Twinkle' - to look after Amanda, then six, and Euan, three, rarely emerging from the library save to entertain hippie royalty. Among the visitors, Algernon 'Alge' Venables, poet, pilgrim, counter culture big noise, and pervert. Venables takes a shine to Euan and, during the scorching summer of 1976, teaches him to summon fire elementals (why anyone should wish to do so is open to question as, on the evidence of this story, they bring only fiery death). Although Amanda and Lettice, Venables' partner, are quick to intervene, there is a suggestion that Alge has molested Euan, who retreats into his shell from that day forth. Amanda angrily reports the matter to her father, to treats the matter with his usual indifference, causing current Twinkle to quit on the spot. Although Venables and Lettice are reported incinerated in a car inferno shortly afterward, the former continues to call Euan on the telephone. Even Forbes should questioned the wisdom of going ahead with the annual November 5th Strathantine bonfire .... Spirits of Palace and Tomb: The phantom piper and headless drummer of Edinburgh Castle. Bludie McKenzie and fellow malevolent phantoms of Greyfriars Kirkyard, and the phenomenally haunted city vaults, once squatted by the most vicious criminals, desperate derelicts and debauched Hooray Hellfire clubbers, several of whom have yet to leave .....
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Oct 2, 2021 9:55:32 GMT
John Alfred Taylor - Gie Me Something ta Eat Afore I Dee: (John DeChancie & Martin H. Greenberg [eds.], Castle Fantastic, 1996). "It's no a canny place. Specially after sundown." Avaricious American chancer Alex MacDonald visits Kilmarnock, desperate to locate the ruins of 'Drumtrodden Castle.' Three centuries ago, his ancestor, Malcolm, was left to die in the pit prison beneath the tower by devout Covenanter relatives. Malcolm was carrying an invaluable gold brooch on his person at the time. Alex duly locates and removes the slab, lowers himself into the darkness .... Proper horrible horror of Black Book proportions, this one.
Glasgow’s Dancing Corpse: September 1818. Fresh from the gallows, the corpse of convicted murderer Matthew Clydesdale was rushed to Glasgow University for use in a grisly medical experiment straight out of Frankenstein. One version has it that the dead man responded so well to repeated high voltage blasts of electricity that a surgeon was obliged to stab him through the heart to send him back to the great hereafter.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Oct 4, 2021 6:20:18 GMT
Tracy Fahey - Land of the Foreigner: Lorna and partner Alex spend a summer on the Solway Firth in a last ditch attempt to salvage a dying relationship. Alex is resentful that Lorna accepted a kiss from a former lover, since deceased, and loses no opportunity to demonstrate the fact. Lorna, a professional artist, takes to sketching the skeletons of wrecked Spanish pirate ships, locally believed cursed. She is obsessed with the finely carved figurehead of one particular ship, not least because it bears a striking resemblance to herself. Boarding the wrecked hulk, she cuts a finger on a gold dollar jammed in the wood, which she duly pockets. Something follows her back to the cottage ... The Bloodiest of Ends: Extreme torture ordeals endured by Abbot Allan Stewart - roasted on a spit in the Black Vault - and Cardinal David Beeton - beaten and stabbed to a pulp - during the mid to late Sixteenth century. The Cardinal's carcass was pickled for preservation so his tormentors "could keep it in the dung pits under St. Andrews castle and continue to abuse it at their leisure." Fred Urquhart - Proud Lady in a Cage: (Giles Gordon [ed], Prevailing Spirits, 1976: Seven Ghosts in Search, 1983). In her recurring day and nightmare, Bella Logan, 22, one works on the enquiry desk at the swish new Woolworths, is cast back in time to the early fourteenth century and a previous life as Isabella, the Countess of Buchan, suspended in a cage from the battlements of Berwick castle for crowning Robert the Bruce King of Scotland in defiance of the English monarch, Edward I. Among the jeering mob who daily torment "the proud lady in the cage" are two faces familiar from the department store; the ghastly widow, Mercy Cessford, and her slimy grandson, Zander. History tells us Isabella spent four years caged above ground, although ultimately she had the slim satisfaction of a grandstand view of Mrs. Cessford and her warlock grandson's agonizing deaths. The Ghost Road: Among multiple black spots on the A75 from Stranraer to Gretna Green, Kinmount Straight whose deadly jaywalkers include an old woman with no eyes, a variety of phantom vehicles, and numerous leftover Victorian gloomsters and medieval derelicts. Drive with care.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Oct 5, 2021 12:25:50 GMT
Reggie Oliver - Drumglass Chapel: Alan, an actor of mild repute, finally catches up with his once friend and drama school colleague, Nick Levkas, with whom he lost contact following their successful performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 1979. Levkas, touted by those in the know as a future director of the National Theatre, is not best pleased when Alan brings up that troubled week playing a disused chapel, once home to Doomsday cultists the Jabezites, whose world ended when the world failed to in 1939. The production is beset with problems from the start - the lightsman is lucky to escape with his life when the rig collapses, and a haunted harmonium strikes a doomladen chord at regular intervals, culminating inj the inexplicable disappearance of Kirsty Wang, a former child-Jabezite who struck on the bright idea of leasing the chapel for the festival's duration. It seems she's have been better advised to have it deconsecrated before indulging in activities likely to upset the sensibilities of the Puritanical Drumglass ghosts. Some lovely touches; the Levkas scripted Last Man In share a bill with, among other's, Gas-oven Gertie!, "the outrageous Holocaust musical!," and the chapel plays hosts to a raucous set by Groin Strain, an identikit punk band. The Devil in the Dark City: Edinburgh, 1670. At the aged of 69, Major Thomas Weir, admired as a super-pious bastion of Presbyterian respectability, came forward to confess that he and his sister, Grizel, had long indulged in witchcraft, black magic, murder, incest, and bestially (there is much dispute that he admitted to murder or practising the dark arts; this seems to be the invention of anti-Presbyterian commentators). Grizel, who was half insane, proudly agreed, and the pair were tried, found guilty on all counts, and burnt at the Gallowea, leaving behind a diabolically haunted house in the West Bow which proved uninhabitable thereafter. Anna Taborksa - Two Shakes of a Dead Lamb’s Tail: Narrator spends a break at a holiday home in Dumfries and Galloway with husband Dan and the in-laws. We suspect the marriage is in difficulty, but who could know that it would be a flock of rotting, maggot-ridden zombie sheep brings about the end? As is the case with many of us, I've read more 'when animals attack' novels and shorts than is decent, and this latest is unquestionably my favourite in simply ages. I’ll Be in Scotland Before You: Among the stars of Elliott O'Donnell's highly recommended Scottish Ghost Stories, the tragic French nun, Pearlin' Jean, who reneged on the sacred vow, surrendered both chastity and heart to legover merchant Sir Rupert Scott, who cared not a jot for her. No sooner had he bedded Jean than Sir Rupert informed her that he should be taking a ship home next day to marry his fiancee. Jean, apparently, met her end beneath the wheels of his horse drawn carriage as she beseeched him to stay. Her ghost - a thing of spectacular ghastliness - was there to greet the randy noble when he arrived.
|
|
|
Post by Swampirella on Oct 5, 2021 13:04:05 GMT
I’ll Be in Scotland Before You: Among the stars of Elliott O'Donnell's highly recommended Scottish Ghost Stories, the tragic French nun, Pearlin' Jean, who reneged on the sacred vow, surrendered both chastity and heart to legover merchant Sir Rupert Scott, who cared not a jot for her. No sooner had he bedded Jean than Sir Rupert informed her that he should be taking a ship home next day to marry his fiancee. Jean, apparently, met her end beneath the wheels of his horse drawn carriage as she beseeched him to stay. Her ghost - a thing of spectacular ghastliness - was there to greet the randy noble when he arrived. The legend of Pearlin' Jean impressed me as a teenager in this classic; I'm looking forward to enjoying this latest Terror Tales compilation.
|
|
|
Post by humgoo on Oct 5, 2021 13:06:32 GMT
[...]a flock of rotting, maggot-ridden zombie sheep[...] Okay, so that's another must-buy.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Oct 5, 2021 18:20:34 GMT
The legend of Pearlin' Jean impressed me as a teenager in this classic; I'm looking forward to enjoying this latest Terror Tales compilation. [...]a flock of rotting, maggot-ridden zombie sheep[...] Okay, so that's another must-buy. Approaching half-way now (p151 of 310), and on the strength of the content thus far, I'm confident you'll both love it. Paul mentions that this time around some of his crime fiction pals fancied a crack, so the 13th Terror Tales volume features quite a few series first timers. Only disappointment is a lack of story from the editor, though his "non-fiction" input is entertaining as ever.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Oct 7, 2021 7:55:27 GMT
Charlotte Bond - The Ringlet Stones: A Blair Witch Vibe to this next, as bickering lovers Meg and Erika spend a weekend break in Galloway Forest, hoping to rekindle the excitement and adventure of old. A lochside walk turns to living nightmare when they arrive at a derelict crofter's hut, the ground about it strewn with rune inscribed pebbles to keep out the fairy folk - and worse. Thereafter they find that whichever direction they take brings them back to the hut. As night falls they meet a park ranger, Sean, similarly trapped - he's now been stranded for three days. The situation is bad enough during the sunlight hours, infinitely worse after dark when the notorious Jenny with the Iron Teeth walks abroad ... Would be hard-pressed to pick a favourite from those read to date as there's not been one I disliked, and majority, like The Ringlet Stones, are personal best of book contenders. Am familiar with Jenny wi' the airn Teeth from fanzine days, as the poem was sometimes cited as a catalyst for the Gorbals vampire Hunt of 1954. The Real Mr Hyde: Deacon William Brodie, cabinet maker, locksmith, popular upstanding "pillar of the community" type by day, violent, brothel frequenting one man crime-wave by night. Met his death on the gallows with the panache of a trouper.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Oct 8, 2021 9:35:43 GMT
Johnny Mains - Coulter’s Candy: Convicted of affray, Robert Colthart the travelling boiled sweet seller enlists the aid of the Fairy Queen to kill the magistrate before he can pronounce a jail term. The enchantress requests a mere token in return, but still 'Mad Rabbie' finds it in him to cheat her.
Dishes Served Cold: The "Black Dinnour" at Edinburgh Castle, 28 November 1440. The guardians of the infant King James II took umbrage at his equally youthful guests, William, the sixth Earl of Douglas, aged fifteen, and his younger brother, David. Despite the monarch's protests on the boys' behalves, the grown ups assured him they knew best, and beheaded the pair — in instalments. Twelve years later, James would preside over his own splatter banquet massacre.
Graham Smith - Echoes from the Past: A middle-aged Birmingham couple buy a converted farmhouse in Yarrowford village, near Selkirk. Jennifer Kerr, 45, spends the first week alone while David remains behind in the West Midlands to conclude business affairs. The very first night she is frightened into calling the police by an apparent intruder. She soon comes to the realisation that either she is going insane or her dream home is haunted by baby laughter, cries of "mummy!," a sinister chuckle, and a heavy breather calling her by name. David, ever practical, suspects a spiteful hacked phone prank by an evil bastard preying upon the tragedy of his wife's several miscarriages. Jennifer is racked by guilt over a youthful visit to a back street abortionist following her molestation by a relative. A superbly suspenseful twenty-plus pages, though I suspect the pay off may well divide readers.
The Murder Dolls: Is there a connection between the seventeen shrouded effigies buried in tiny coffins exhumed by youths playing at Arthur's seat and the murders of the West Port "body-snatchers," Burke and Hare?
|
|