This week's nights, I am mostly reading the collected MR James.It's been a long while and, frankly, it's a delight to rediscover them and to find that they're every bit as unsettling as when I first read them.
Jeanette Winterson's The Daylight Gate, another Hammer novella. Pendle, 1612, witchy nonsense. I'm not doing an "Unfilmed Hammer" for this one as, technically, I think it's still in development. I was extremely disappointed with this one which isn't terribly well written and lacks an interesting story or characters. It's also quite absurdly rapey as well as a bit pretentious. I've no idea what they'd do with a film version but I suspect we'll never find out.
The Cellar by Minette Walters, one of the Hammer Books series of novellas. A young African girl gets revenge on the family who stole, enslaved and abused her. Not bad but let down by a rushed and almost incomprehensible final page.
On Ronan's recommendation, current reading Laird Barron's The Imago Sequence & Other Stories and damn fine it's turning out to be - a little Thomas Ligotti, a whiff of Burroughs and a lot of Lovecraft influences.
There are a number of reoccurring character's in his books, the main one is General Charles Kirk, although he isn't in this, Lawrence I think was in some of the others, I could be wrong, but Marcus Levin and Tania are in this and who are in several books with Kirk, so it links to his first book in '58 a Scent of New-Mown Hay. Kirk was in Scent and he was in Broken Boy with Levin.
Here is an over view from Pretty Sinister Books blog, it's a splendid site if you like crime and supernatural books.
The General Charles Kirk Supernatural Thrillers # also with Marcus Levin and Tania
John Blackburn, circa 1959A Scent of New-Mown Hay (1958) US paperback reprint title: A Reluctant SpyA Sour Apple Tree (1958)#Broken Boy (1959)The Gaunt Woman (1962)#A Ring of Roses (1965) US title: A Wreath of RosesChildren of the Night (1966)Nothing But the Night (1968)#The Young Man from Lima (1970)The Household Traitors (1971)#For Fear of Little Men (1972)#The Face of the Lion (1976) - Marcus Levin only#The Sins of the Father (1979)A Beastly Business (1982) - crossover book features Bill Easter & Peggy Tey (see below)The Bad Penny (1985) - with Bill EasterOther Supernatural & Bizarre Thrillers * feature Bill Easter & Peggy TeyBury Him Darkly (1969)Blow the House Down (1970)Devil Daddy (1972)*Deep Among the Dead Men (1973)Our Lady of Pain (1974)*Mister Brown's Bodies (1975)*The Cyclops Goblet (1977)A Book of the Dead (1984)Crime, Espionage & SuspenseDead Man Running (1960)Blue Octavo (1963) US title: Bound to KillColonel Bogus (1964) US title: Packed for MurderThe Winds of Midnight (1964) US title: Murder at MidnightDead Man's Handle (1978)
John Blackburn - The Face of the Lion another Colonel Bill Lawrence novel, it is a little tricksy but follows the formula of his other novels in the series. As usual he's very readable.
Which reminds me....I've been trying to track down a tale I read many moons ago but can't recall the title or author. It's a short story in which a young woman spending Christmas (Victorian times ISTR) at some country estate house party and is alone in her bed in the pitch dark when she becomes aware that someone/something evil has crept into her room without noticing her presence. She has to pass the whole night totally immobile and barely breathing for fear that the 'thing' will spot her and do dreadful things to her. In the morning her hosts discover her and are horrified to see that her ordeal has transformed her from a bright young thing into a grey haired old hag. Anybody here able to identify the story?
just finished a Graham Masterton crime novel, although at the end he does go horror, but there is a serial killer so it's not a massive stretch from his usual stuff. If you like his usual stuff you'll like this.
Picked up the Drowning Pool by Syd Moore from the library, I probably wouldn't have bought this, it's readable but has already has given quite a bit away. ' A stunning reinvention of the ghost story.' The Guardian. We'll see about that so far we're wading through cliches.
Not horror but sometimes horrible (as well as interesting up to a point)
In a laudable attempt to show the positive effects of incoming foreign nationals, the author does rather sledgehammer the point, to the extent that it often seems as if the Brits would still be living in caves were it not for the successive influxes of Roman legions, Flemish weavers, German steelmakers, Jewish moneylenders, Huguenot glassmakers, Dutch land drainage engineers, Italian bankers...and we're only up to the 14th century so far.
It must be said that many of the tales in this volume (and in HPL in general) are very samey. Bloke (had HP never heard of women?) inherits creepy old house 'shunned by all', discovers The Necronomicon et al plus the deceased's notes about weird cults in remote parts and strange experiments, is troubled by fantastic dreams and / or phenomena and proves to be always three steps behind the reader before having his wits shattered by the predictable confrontation with something unnameable.
I've just finished the the sixth (and last) Charlie Chan novel 'The Keeper Of The Keys', and blow me down if I didn't start reading only to realise it was the story which was serialised on radio in the 1950s (as 'The Landini Murder Case'), and which I listened to only last month.
Currently reading 'I'm The King Of The Castle' by Susan Hill. A gripping exploration of a troubled 11 year old's mind.
Jeanette Winterson's The Daylight Gate, another Hammer novella. Pendle, 1612, witchy nonsense. I'm not doing an "Unfilmed Hammer" for this one as, technically, I think it's still in development. I was extremely disappointed with this one which isn't terribly well written and lacks an interesting story or characters. It's also quite absurdly rapey as well as a bit pretentious. I've no idea what they'd do with a film version but I suspect we'll never find out.
The Cellar by Minette Walters, one of the Hammer Books series of novellas. A young African girl gets revenge on the family who stole, enslaved and abused her. Not bad but let down by a rushed and almost incomprehensible final page.
On Ronan's recommendation, current reading Laird Barron's The Imago Sequence & Other Stories and damn fine it's turning out to be - a little Thomas Ligotti, a whiff of Burroughs and a lot of Lovecraft influences.
There are a number of reoccurring character's in his books, the main one is General Charles Kirk, although he isn't in this, Lawrence I think was in some of the others, I could be wrong, but Marcus Levin and Tania are in this and who are in several books with Kirk, so it links to his first book in '58 a Scent of New-Mown Hay. Kirk was in Scent and he was in Broken Boy with Levin.
Here is an over view from Pretty Sinister Books blog, it's a splendid site if you like crime and supernatural books.
The General Charles Kirk Supernatural Thrillers # also with Marcus Levin and Tania
John Blackburn, circa 1959A Scent of New-Mown Hay (1958) US paperback reprint title: A Reluctant Spy A Sour Apple Tree (1958) #Broken Boy (1959) The Gaunt Woman (1962) #A Ring of Roses (1965) US title: A Wreath of Roses Children of the Night (1966) Nothing But the Night (1968) #The Young Man from Lima (1970) The Household Traitors (1971) #For Fear of Little Men (1972) #The Face of the Lion (1976) - Marcus Levin only #The Sins of the Father (1979) A Beastly Business (1982) - crossover book features Bill Easter & Peggy Tey (see below) The Bad Penny (1985) - with Bill Easter Other Supernatural & Bizarre Thrillers * feature Bill Easter & Peggy Tey Bury Him Darkly (1969) Blow the House Down (1970) Devil Daddy (1972) *Deep Among the Dead Men (1973) Our Lady of Pain (1974) *Mister Brown's Bodies (1975) *The Cyclops Goblet (1977) A Book of the Dead (1984) Crime, Espionage & Suspense Dead Man Running (1960) Blue Octavo (1963) US title: Bound to Kill Colonel Bogus (1964) US title: Packed for Murder The Winds of Midnight (1964) US title: Murder at Midnight Dead Man's Handle (1978)
https://prettysinister.blogspot.com/2011/04/ffb-broken-boy-john-blackburn.html
Moo.
I've never heard of Col Bill Lawrence. Is it a long series?
John Blackburn - The Face of the Lion another Colonel Bill Lawrence novel, it is a little tricksy but follows the formula of his other novels in the series. As usual he's very readable.
Moo. 🐮
Which reminds me....I've been trying to track down a tale I read many moons ago but can't recall the title or author. It's a short story in which a young woman spending Christmas (Victorian times ISTR) at some country estate house party and is alone in her bed in the pitch dark when she becomes aware that someone/something evil has crept into her room without noticing her presence. She has to pass the whole night totally immobile and barely breathing for fear that the 'thing' will spot her and do dreadful things to her. In the morning her hosts discover her and are horrified to see that her ordeal has transformed her from a bright young thing into a grey haired old hag. Anybody here able to identify the story?
Rereading this.
just finished a Graham Masterton crime novel, although at the end he does go horror, but there is a serial killer so it's not a massive stretch from his usual stuff. If you like his usual stuff you'll like this.
Picked up the Drowning Pool by Syd Moore from the library, I probably wouldn't have bought this, it's readable but has already has given quite a bit away. ' A stunning reinvention of the ghost story.' The Guardian. We'll see about that so far we're wading through cliches.
Moo.
Not horror but sometimes horrible (as well as interesting up to a point)
In a laudable attempt to show the positive effects of incoming foreign nationals, the author does rather sledgehammer the point, to the extent that it often seems as if the Brits would still be living in caves were it not for the successive influxes of Roman legions, Flemish weavers, German steelmakers, Jewish moneylenders, Huguenot glassmakers, Dutch land drainage engineers, Italian bankers...and we're only up to the 14th century so far.
It must be said that many of the tales in this volume (and in HPL in general) are very samey. Bloke (had HP never heard of women?) inherits creepy old house 'shunned by all', discovers The Necronomicon et al plus the deceased's notes about weird cults in remote parts and strange experiments, is troubled by fantastic dreams and / or phenomena and proves to be always three steps behind the reader before having his wits shattered by the predictable confrontation with something unnameable.
Panther Books paperback (printed in Frogmore, St Albans!) of Lovecraft stories
The last tale, The Mound, was particularly nasty.
I've just finished the the sixth (and last) Charlie Chan novel 'The Keeper Of The Keys', and blow me down if I didn't start reading only to realise it was the story which was serialised on radio in the 1950s (as 'The Landini Murder Case'), and which I listened to only last month.