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Post by carolinec on Jan 5, 2008 18:09:51 GMT
For those of you "up north" - or those who fancy a nice weekend in Britain's most haunted city - the second BFS Open Night in York has been fixed for Saturday January 26th, at York Brewery, for a 7.30 pm start. Billed as "an evening of ghost stories in Europe's most-haunted city" it sounds pretty good to me! The first one was great fun, so I'd highly recommend this to anyone.  |
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Post by allysonbird on Jan 7, 2008 18:30:50 GMT
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Post by carolinec on Jan 7, 2008 18:44:26 GMT
Oh hi, Ally. Yes, definitely see you there. By the way, did I say this here? - the ghost story readers for the night (according to Ramsey Campbell's website) are Ramsey, Mark Morris, Pete Crowther and Simon Clark. Excellent! Oh no, watch out fellas - there's another woman on the forum! (they're getting a bit flustered elsewhere as they've had a few women join lately and they're not sure what to do with us!) |
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Post by allysonbird on Jan 7, 2008 19:24:46 GMT
Ramsey Campbell, Simon Clark, Peter Crowther, Mark Morris - reading, and me ;D A first time for everything. Scared stiff! www.birdsnest.me.uk |
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Post by carolinec on Jan 7, 2008 20:05:05 GMT
Ramsey Campbell, Simon Clark, Peter Crowther, Mark Morris - reading, and me ;D A first time for everything. Scared stiff! www.birdsnest.me.uk Oh wow! Well done! I must admit, I was considering putting myself forward to read a little flash fiction ghost story - and then I saw who else was reading and decided it was far too illustrious company for me. You'll be having a few drinks to steady your nerves beforehand, no doubt? |
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Post by allysonbird on Jan 7, 2008 21:28:29 GMT
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Post by dem bones on Jan 26, 2008 7:05:40 GMT
Good luck with your reading tonight, Ally - knock 'em dead!
Hope you, Caz and any of our other friends in attendance have a memorable night. Don't forget to let us know how it goes.
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Post by carolinec on Jan 26, 2008 11:23:10 GMT
Now you'll have confused people by calling me Caz here, Dem. That started as a little joke on the Pantechnicon forum, and it's only "Panties people" who call me that!  Yes, should be a good evening. I'll let you know how it goes. For me, it's just a little day trip, but I think Ally is making a weekend of it, possibly? |
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Post by carolinec on Jan 27, 2008 15:51:02 GMT
It was a brilliant event in York last night. We had four stories and a couple of poems. I must admit, poetry doesn't really do much for me, so I'll give them a brief mention first. (By the way, I don't know if any of the people concerned - with the exception of Ally - are actually here in the Vault, so I hope I don't offend anyone! But I'm saying good things about everyone anyway, so it shouldn't really be a problem).
Simon Clark made an unusual choice of reading Dylan Thomas' And Death Shall Have No Dominion, which apparently was his inspiration for deciding as a child that he wanted to write.
A guy who Lee Harris (the organiser of the event and Hub supremo) admitted to knowing nothing about, I think his name was Peter Roberts, had come all the way from Bristol to read his own poem, The Real Tooth Fairy, which was a rather nice little ditty in the style of a Grimm (grim) fairy tale.
And for the stories we had Mark Morris, Pete Crowther, Ramsey Campbell and none other than our very own Allyson Bird. I'm afraid I can't recall the title of Mark's story, but it was an excellent macabre peice of the standard I'd expect of him (if you haven't read any of his short stories, I'd urge you to do so).
Pete Crowther, in my opinion, is a writer we don't hear enough from. I guess he's too busy publishing other people's work, and probably too modest to slip the occasional one of his own into Postscripts, but he has a wonderful way with words. I think his story was called Cleaning Up or something like that (sorry, memory like a sieve), and it was excellent too - quite grim compared with some of the work of his I've seen, but I enjoy that.
And Ramsey Campbell - what can I say? My writing hero! Calling Card was the story he read, from Dark Companions - the only story on the night which I already knew. But it's been a while since I read it, and I never tire of hearing Ramsey read his stories.
So what about our Ally? Once again I'm afraid I can't recall the title of your story, Ally, but I must say it sat really well amongst these masters of the macabre. I really enjoyed it, and I'm a little envious of you for having the courage to read one of your own stories in such illustrious company - very well done!
I do enjoy hearing stories read out loud. It can't be a throwback to childhood, wanting to relive my parents reading to me, as they never did - I always read my own books! Perhaps it's because they didn't read to me as a child, so I need to experience it now? I don't know, but I really enjoy the opportunity to hear live readings anyway. Now, when might my next opportunity be ...?
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Post by dem bones on Jan 27, 2008 16:11:26 GMT
Glad you enjoyed it Caz/ Caroline and thanks for such a detailed report. What was the attendance like? Were there any other Panties People there?
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Post by carolinec on Jan 27, 2008 16:27:21 GMT
Hmm, that's a good question. You know, I'm not at all sure how many were there. It's only a small room they use in the Brewery, so it's not a huge number, but there were more people there than at the previous event - I'd say around 20-25 but I might be way out! If Ally's a better judge of numbers, she might be able to tell us more accurately. And, no, I was the only Panties person there - there don't seem to be so many Panties people up north (maybe it's too cold for panties up north?!  ). Caroline/Caz (delete as appropriate) |
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Post by allysonbird on Jan 29, 2008 21:46:54 GMT
Thanks for wishing me well and what a well written report back, Caroline  Thank you for saying that about me. The story was called The Caul Bearer, set in Robin Hood's Bay. Someone came over to me to say he enjoyed the imagery, etc. And it was great to get good comments from members. Yes - I was nervous but nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say...fortune favours the brave... to go ahead with it for the first time is hard but well worth it to get your work out there. I've had a few favourable emails since Saturday about the reading too. After not drinking too much before the reading I drank too much of that strong Centurion's Ghost ale later. My head is only just recovering. |
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Post by allysonbird on Jan 29, 2008 21:52:27 GMT
I'd say that 25 was about right Caroline. Some different faces from last October when the theme was Sci-fi. Some people travelled up from Cambridge and Bristol and Chris Teague of Pendragon Press came from South Wales. I stayed over but headed back at 10.a.m. tired but happy. |
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Post by troo on Feb 6, 2008 11:07:42 GMT
I'm not allowed oop north. My well-cultivated Home Counties accent starts slipping an' me roots start showin'...
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Post by carolinec on Feb 6, 2008 12:28:54 GMT
.. an' me roots start showin'... A quick trip to the hairdressers for a semi-permanent tint should help there! |
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).
Thank you for saying that about me. The story was called The Caul Bearer, set in Robin Hood's Bay. Someone came over to me to say he enjoyed the imagery, etc. And it was great to get good comments from members.