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Post by dem on Jan 2, 2024 19:43:38 GMT
Thank you so much for these!
A day late I realise, but Happy New Year to all the contributors, readers, friends and supporters of this board, present and past.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jan 3, 2024 0:18:15 GMT
Lockwood & Co. [TV series]. Really liked the ghostly epidemic and children-put-to-work-in-dangerous-jobs premises. Am also reading the book. I finished the final book a few weeks ago. The series was one of my reading highlights of 2023. I didn't read much other horror-related fiction last year, but I did watch a number of horror and horror-adjacent films. Ones I enjoyed: M3GAN
A Haunting in Venice
Skinamarink
Mandy
Saloum
Pontypool
One Cut of the Dead
The Color Out of Space
The Void
Barbarian
Host
Viy
Coherence
Deadstream
DeadTectives
Incantation
Kill List
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Glorious
Vesper
Hellbender
Night of the Hunter
PG: Psycho GoremanHappy new year to all! |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jan 3, 2024 0:22:58 GMT
Ahsoka (surprisingly watchable) I didn't watch that one, but I did see Andor, which I would rank above any Star Wars media I've seen since the original films and maybe Rogue One. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jan 3, 2024 0:32:31 GMT
The Doll Maker - Sarban Ringstones - Sarban I enjoyed both of these books so much. I also liked The Sound of His Horn, though not quite as much (and it's a different sort of story). The House on the Borderland - Hodgson, William Hope Carnacki the Ghost-Finder - Hodgson, William Hope If you haven't read The Ghost Pirates, I recommend it--it may not be the most mind-blowing of Hodgson's novels, but I think it's the most readable and focused one. I can't recommend The Night Land in good conscience, but it is a visionary (if almost unreadable) work. The House on Parchment Street - McKillip, Patricia A. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on The Forgotten Beast of Eld and The Riddle-Master of Hed if you've read them. I loved the former but was lukewarm on the latter. |
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Post by helrunar on Jan 3, 2024 4:12:58 GMT
Some books I read this past year:
Basil Ivan Rakoczi, The Painted Caravan (1954)
Basil Ivan Rakoczi, Fortune Telling: A guide to foreseeing the future (Man, Myth & Magic Original) (1970)
Paul Finch, ed. Terror Tales of the Mediterranean
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings
Katy Soar, ed. Circles of Stone (British Library)
Roger Manvell, The Dreamers (1957)
Mignon Warner, Mrs Charles Mysteries (I think I read around 14 of these; elegant clairvoyant divorcee in English village solves mysteries with the aid of Tarot cards)
Justin Evans, The White Devil
Alan Garner, The Moon of Gomrath
Alan Garner, Boneland
H. Russell Wakefield, The Clock Strikes Twelve
Lois Bourne, A Witch Amongst Us
Lois Bourne, Conversations with a Witch
Some memorable viewing experiences: The Pale Blue Eye; the restored Wicker Man; the early 1960s Maigret series with Rupert Davies (Simenon's ideal Maigret); watching the 1988 serial Remembrance of the Daleks again on Xmas night. God's Own Country, a 2017 film shot in Yorkshire, which I saw on a "streaming" service, fascinated me with long stretches of dialogue in Yorkshire, a language that seems to bear only an incidental relationship to English.
Hel.
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Post by andydecker on Jan 3, 2024 10:05:24 GMT
Some books I read this past year: J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the RingsI never managed to finish this. Always got stuck in the first novel. I kind of envy you. Did you like it? |
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Post by helrunar on Jan 3, 2024 13:58:14 GMT
Hi Andreas, well, I read all of Lord of the Rings way back when I was in high school--but I had to start Fellowship (the first book) twice only to get bogged down and return the book to the library unfinished. The third time, something clicked and I got through it, then went on to the second & third one.
This time around, it all went quite smoothly. The one really broad comment I would make about his writing is that pacing is an issue. He imparts somewhat too convincingly just how dreary being on a quest can be--long stretches of tediously plodding along to get to the next way-station in the adventure.
I thought the Tom Bombadil part in the first book was the best thing in the entire work. Of course it was completely omitted in the film version. I only saw those films once and mostly didn't care for them; I thought the first one had some good moments. Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn is in some ways the image of my ideal lover but even so--I haven't felt called to revisit.
Best, Steve
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Jan 5, 2024 0:29:08 GMT
The Doll Maker - Sarban Ringstones - Sarban I enjoyed both of these books so much. I also liked The Sound of His Horn, though not quite as much (and it's a different sort of story). The House on the Borderland - Hodgson, William Hope Carnacki the Ghost-Finder - Hodgson, William Hope If you haven't read The Ghost Pirates, I recommend it--it may not be the most mind-blowing of Hodgson's novels, but I think it's the most readable and focused one. I can't recommend The Night Land in good conscience, but it is a visionary (if almost unreadable) work. The House on Parchment Street - McKillip, Patricia A. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on The Forgotten Beast of Eld and The Riddle-Master of Hed if you've read them. I loved the former but was lukewarm on the latter. I'll probably try more Hodgson. He is an uneven writer, but often manages to create a sense of unease and alieness. I've not read those McKillip books. |
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Post by humgoo on Nov 22, 2024 16:28:13 GMT
Thank you Humgoo, your mention of those stories is very much appreciated. I can promise that there will be more coming (I've set myself a minimum target of 10 stories a year, in part to try and get better known, in the hope of a reprint collection, since my back catalogue would now fill two volumes. There is a sequel to Between and to some other published stories, which will have to wait for that eventuality). I'm surprised your story has not been picked up by one of those "Best of the Year" collections (are there only two of these nowadays?). I suppose this is just a case of "sorry, don't have the book; can't read it etc". Looking forward to your beefed-up collection! |
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Post by samdawson on Nov 23, 2024 13:41:12 GMT
Thanks Humgoo, I live in hope of one of the stories being picked up for one of the 'year's best' anthologies. I did manage to write 10 stories this year, which will hopefully be appearing in the next two years. In 2025 I will start touting the idea of a reprint collection to publishers (I've now got enough reprints to fill two and three-quarters books).
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