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Post by dem bones on May 25, 2016 17:18:50 GMT
But yes, Kev Coyne at his free-form Marjory Razorblade best, SAHB taking musical theatre and applying it to hard edged r'n'b, and Wire relearning and re-writing rock tropes - that's what I call progressive rock; and the bands from an earlier era who tried to do something a bit different are why I love it, unhip as I've ever been. When I was at school, no-one could grasp why I could like The Fall and Van Der Graaf^ - to me it's obvious, it's because they don't sound like anyone except themselves, and that's priceless..... Mike Barnes the drummer and journalist once wrote that 'Van Der Graaf Generator were of prog, but only in the same way that Captain Beefheart was of psychedelia', which sums it up) The final humiliation. I'm a proggy and I never knew it! This truly is the end of times.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2016 8:37:03 GMT
But yes, Kev Coyne at his free-form Marjory Razorblade best, SAHB taking musical theatre and applying it to hard edged r'n'b, and Wire relearning and re-writing rock tropes - that's what I call progressive rock; and the bands from an earlier era who tried to do something a bit different are why I love it, unhip as I've ever been. When I was at school, no-one could grasp why I could like The Fall and Van Der Graaf^ - to me it's obvious, it's because they don't sound like anyone except themselves, and that's priceless..... Mike Barnes the drummer and journalist once wrote that 'Van Der Graaf Generator were of prog, but only in the same way that Captain Beefheart was of psychedelia', which sums it up) The final humiliation. I'm a proggy and I never knew it! This truly is the end of times. It started as a light jibe at the pomposity of a certain corner of 90s horror and ended in one man questioning the very core of his self. Lord, what have I wrought?
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Post by dem bones on May 28, 2016 9:37:16 GMT
The final humiliation. I'm a proggy and I never knew it! This truly is the end of times. It started as a light jibe at the pomposity of a certain corner of 90s horror and ended in one man questioning the very core of his self. Lord, what have I wrought? Caught my reflection in mirror this morning. A broken, haggard, empty shell of a man.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2016 10:58:30 GMT
It started as a light jibe at the pomposity of a certain corner of 90s horror and ended in one man questioning the very core of his self. Lord, what have I wrought? Caught my reflection in mirror this morning. A broken, haggard, empty shell of a man. Back to normal then? Phew!
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Post by dem bones on May 28, 2016 14:46:58 GMT
Caught my reflection in mirror this morning. A broken, haggard, empty shell of a man. Back to normal then? Phew! It was touch and go there for a while.
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 6, 2017 22:29:37 GMT
I think I still have "Horror Cafe" somewhere either burned onto a DVD or still on the original tape. I remember so looking forward to it and being very, very disappointed. Same here - I thought it was extremely disappointing. Might ruffle a few feathers here but I've never been a fan of Splatterpunk. I've met Clive Barker several times and he is a great guy - it is just that I don't particularly like that type of dark fantasy. I recall after a lengthy discussion on the Horror Cafe programme John Carpenter saying that he didn't find what they were discussing frightening and that they should perhaps make a film of maybe one of Ramsey's books (was it something about a well and a monster down there? The Hungry Moon??) Anyway, I thought the programme was pretentious nonsense. I enjoyed "The Horror Cafe". It was chatty, but interesting, to hear these great artists meet together for a spontaneous conversation. That's the kind of great setting you get invited to when famous! (Similar to being allowed into secret societies, which I believe I have suggested before). To sit next to John Carpenter! Candelabras, silverware, and the rest of the gothic settings! There was a bit of political correctness and conventional sententiousness from some of the participants. PC always dampens, and hampers the intellect from truly soaring. John Carpenter was wise enough to stay away from it. Ramsey Campbell too, or rather preoccupied with the food, rather than talking; and rightfully so. I am sure BBC have many fine delicacies stored in their costly larders. Clive Barker was an amusing surprize. I had imagined him to be really cool and suave. But instead he was almost nerdy, goofy like "David Bowie", really chatty and extremely social. Amazing really that such a social butterfly has the patience to sit down alone, and write those long books. When John Carpenter started telling the first part of the horror story, I got shivers along my spine. He is such an emotional person, and with amazing sense of drama. He is spellbinding just by opening his mouth!
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Post by dem bones on Aug 7, 2017 8:05:27 GMT
John Carpenter was wise enough to stay away from it. Ramsey Campbell too, or rather preoccupied with the food, rather than talking; and rightfully so. If the Horror Cafe participants were a "secret society," I'd have prefered they kept it to themselves. Flashback to Bride Of Dem smirking "is this how you carry on when you get together with your little book friends?" Have you read Scared Stiff, Mr. Knygathin?
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 7, 2017 22:05:04 GMT
Have you read Scared Stiff, Mr. Knygathin? It sounds seedy. It is not part of my small but delicately selected Campbell collection. I would be curious, if it contains weird creatures or bizarre bodily transformations.
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Post by fritzmaitland on Sept 18, 2019 11:11:47 GMT
The Seductress: (Mayflower Black Magic #6); When Betty spurns Alastair after he's show her his room (where he keeps a photo of her surrounded by Magickal paraphernalia), the youth hangs himself. His mother, Mrs. James - a far more adept Black Magician than her son - decides that Betty is to blame, and sets about a ghastly punishment. Betty is haunted by glimpses of a shadowy figure, and, though he's a great comfort to her to begin with, the new man in her life, James, seems to have more of the night about him than was initially apparent.
As per comment on the Mayflower Black Magic #6 thread - turns out I have the Futura paperback - shurely that distorted face owes a bit to the original Sphere Books Of Blood? Anyways, the Hunger TV people seem to have been fairly faithful to Ramsey. Okay, it's in America rather than England, obviously, set mostly in daylight - which in hindsight is a bit of a shame as RC's story makes incredible use of darkness, the night, shadows etc. Betty has become Elizabeth (?). A couple of things aren't there - one rather mercifully, although I don't suppose they could show that on telly, especially in the US. Will try to get back to some of these (intrigued by Stages now), and really looking forward to the forthcoming Robert Aickman vs Tony Scott (refereed by Terence Stamp) contest.
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Post by fritzmaitland on Oct 6, 2019 23:07:02 GMT
Yipes. Written for Scared Stiff, it's Folk Horror, The Wicker Man etc but with a very peculiar Ramsey spin. A music teacher has lost his latest love and subsequently his muse, and enthusiasm for education and music. A chance encounter with a lady of the night shocks him into facing the fact that he just might be interested in members of the opposite sex who are far too young for him. He telephones what seems like a sub-Samaritans 'phone number for an organisation called Renewal Of Life who invite him to leave grotty urban Manchester for the pleasures (ho ho) of the countryside. Our man goes off to an odd little village in the shadow of a ruined factory, on the eve of mayday... Liked this immensely - it has a post-modern mention of banned books such as ..erm..Scared Stiff, and (wait for it) Morris Dancers. Only the brave would jingle in that direction. Can anyone please explain Old May Day?
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Post by fritzmaitland on Oct 14, 2019 11:19:52 GMT
[ Lilith's: ( Mayflower Black Magic #5); An Inland Revenue employee becomes increasingly obsessed with a shop he sees from the bus on his daily journey home. Lilith's, it transpires, is a sex shop, and when he eventually plucks up the courage to browse, he fixates on the rubber doll in the shop window and the crippled girl running the shop. Shortly after he buys the inflatable, "Lilith's" burns to the ground and the girl perishes in the flames. The hero dumps his girlfriend and he and the doll make the happiest couple. For a while ... Jings, but that was good in a horrible way. Just like in Potential, where RC captures that walking-into-a-gig feeling, he here is spot-on (in my limited experience) about the fascination one of (ahem) those shops can engender, down to the ghastly Toby Jug neighbour across the street whose disgust turns to glee at the destruction of the shop. Beware fantasy projection!
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Post by dem bones on Oct 14, 2019 16:42:32 GMT
[ Lilith's: ( Mayflower Black Magic #5); An Inland Revenue employee becomes increasingly obsessed with a shop he sees from the bus on his daily journey home. Lilith's, it transpires, is a sex shop, and when he eventually plucks up the courage to browse, he fixates on the rubber doll in the shop window and the crippled girl running the shop. Shortly after he buys the inflatable, "Lilith's" burns to the ground and the girl perishes in the flames. The hero dumps his girlfriend and he and the doll make the happiest couple. For a while ... Jings, but that was good in a horrible way. Just like in Potential, where RC captures that walking-into-a-gig feeling, he here is spot-on (in my limited experience) about the fascination one of (ahem) those shops can engender, down to the ghastly Toby Jug neighbour across the street whose disgust turns to glee at the destruction of the shop. Beware fantasy projection! V. true, Herr M. Scared Stiff is among my all-time favourite single author collections by anyone. I've particularly fond/ unpleasant memories of Lilith's, The Seductress, Dolls (first RC story I actually 'liked'), Merry May (bloody horrible uh, "James Herbert moment") and Loveman's Comeback. Stages went right over my head so should revisit that. I love when Ramsey gets ... raunchy.
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Post by fritzmaitland on Oct 17, 2019 7:22:11 GMT
Dolls: ( Mayflower Black Magic #4); Father Jenner's congregation moonlight as members of the local coven. Terrified of the Priest, they use wooden dolls versus their enemies, one of whom turns black and chokes to death before she can denounce them during Jenner's sermon. Anne suspects that her husband, the doll carver, is also the "Devil" who conducts their orgies but has yet to select her as his partner. When she gets her wish, things don't quite go as she'd hoped and it all turns very violent and messy. Yippee! A full-on no-holds barred News Of The Screws in the woods under the full moon Satanic nude orgy! And there's more to it than that! The genius of the story is that it could be set in the Blood On Satan's Claw past or it could be happening now. Poor Anne! Even the local Devil worshipping cult are a stuck up clique. (In)human nature, eh?
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Post by fritzmaitland on Oct 21, 2019 11:26:47 GMT
The Other Woman: ( Devil's Kisses) Phil is haunted by a girl with odd eyes he drew from imagination for the cover of a pulp novel - the book in question is entitled "Throttle" and she's being strangled. He starts feeling a bit strange toward his wife. The imaginary book and sex comedy titles have a certain Up Pompei!to them - that is, unless Father Malarkey's Succubus and The Fall of the Roman Knickers really do exist after all. Some great pulp publishing jeering in here, especially the fact that, given a good cover, the publishers would get someone to write a hack novel around it. Phil is a bit of a nasty piece of work, and poor Hillary, his Mrs., is reduced to reading Forum magazine to hint that all is not well in the bedroom. And it blummin' well isn't, as Phil's fevered imagination only allows him to rise to the occasion when he's imaging himself throttling the 'Throttle' woman, with her mismatched eyes...it's bound to end badly...or is it? More straightforward stuff from RC here, but with some oddness.
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Post by fritzmaitland on Oct 2, 2020 9:58:21 GMT
Stages went right over my head so should revisit that. I love when Ramsey gets ... raunchy. In this month of 'Shocktober'(sic )it seems de rigeur to watch 31 horror films. Circumstances will deny me that so I resolved to try for a short story a day and fully expect to fail miserably. Still day one saw me enter (oo-er) 'Stages'. WTF - if you'll pardon the pun. Ray is tripping on some home-made mind-bending pharmaceutical and enjoying himself in the local park. Coming across (stop that!) a couple in flagrante delicto in a shelter, he experiences some very weird feelings and possibly an out of body experience. He returns to his pal who manufactures the microdots, and is given the rest of the batch as a freebie, as anyone else who tried them had a rotten time. Ray's next journey beyond the doors of perception sees him not only freeing his mind towards his raunchy neighbours across the road via a chink in their curtains, in their very orange-illuminated bedroom, but enjoying sex by proxy (a la The Sorcerors) and also exerting some influence on his ...er...hosts. With his supply of this magical chemical dwindling, what's the chances of him saving up the last and rekindling his dying romance with almost-ex Jane to have the ultimate experience?
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