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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 83.98.9.4
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 06:12 pm:   

We have always lived in the castle - Shirley Jackson - check this out

My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am 18 years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and amanita phalloides, the death-cap mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.151.135.41
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 06:41 pm:   

Sounds like a MySpace profile.

Shirley Jackson is brilliant.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 218.168.182.23
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 07:38 pm:   

That is one of my favourite openings and one of my favourite books ever. The opening of THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE is equally good.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.219.8.243
Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 12:01 pm:   

Yep, Jackson is superb. One of my favourite short stories ever is "The Summer People".
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Adriana (Adriana)
Username: Adriana

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 76.86.223.240
Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 09:08 pm:   

I only just read WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE. Loved it! So quiet. So stirring. So fantastic.

I wonder if anyone's tried adapting it for the screen?
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 218.168.179.94
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 12:27 am:   

Adriana, I'm sure I recall reading that Barbara Steele (the star of Bava's BLACK SUNDAY) was trying to get it made at some point.
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Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin)
Username: Richard_gavin

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 69.157.28.165
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 05:28 am:   

Gary wrote: "One of my favourite short stories ever is "The Summer People"."

Mine too, Gary.
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Adriana (Adriana)
Username: Adriana

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 76.86.223.240
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 06:18 am:   

I don't think I've read THE SUMMER PEOPLE. I'll have to remember to when I get back Toronto.
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Adriana (Adriana)
Username: Adriana

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 76.86.223.240
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 06:19 am:   

Thanks for the info HUW. I wonder if anything came of it...
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.101.203
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 08:39 am:   

It's good, but it's odd because it feels less subtle than some of her others. Her others horrify with less 'moments' and effects if you know what I mean.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.83
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 09:21 am:   

Adriana, "The Summer People" is an astonishing piece of work. I've read it many times now, and I still don't know how she pulls it off. It's one of the most subtle pieces of fiction I've ever read.
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Albie (Albie)
Username: Albie

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.195.236.131
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 12:24 pm:   

The subtle, incrimental increase from one state to another. From annoyance to unnatural malice.

You hide the leap from natural to preternatural amongst these tiny jumps.

Probably.
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Adriana (Adriana)
Username: Adriana

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 76.86.223.240
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 06:44 pm:   

Well now I can't wait. I'll have to find a bookstore here in LA. Which book does it appear in?
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Gcw (Gcw)
Username: Gcw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 88.144.54.221
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 11:41 pm:   

In LA A?

Thats sorta cool like...Life going OK I hope?

Are you hanging out at the Rainbow Bar N'Grill with Poison & Guns N'Roses et al?

gcw:-)
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 218.168.181.98
Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 01:39 am:   

Adriana, 'The Summer People' is in the posthumously published COME ALONG WITH ME. There are some other gems in this book, for example 'The Bus', 'The Beautiful Stranger' and 'A Visit'. Her collection THE LOTTERY is worth hunting down too.
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Michael_kelly (Michael_kelly)
Username: Michael_kelly

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 207.188.67.247
Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 04:47 pm:   

"The Summer People" is also in Hartwell's "The Color of Evil" anthology. I read the piece again the other day. Amazing story.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.83
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 - 03:31 pm:   

Yeah, I first enountered the story in "The Color of Evil". It's simply stunning.

I just received a copy of WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE. It's a lovely Penguin paperback edition with some emotive sketch illustrationson the cover.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 218.168.194.103
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 - 04:18 pm:   

I have the first edition with the black cat sitting in the grass on the dust jacket, but I've picked up several paperback copies over the years just for the different art. The new Penguin edition is really nice, with a slightly Gorey-esque cover.
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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 83.98.9.4
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 - 05:09 pm:   

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/edition/?isbn=0143039970

This the cover you're talking about Mr Zed?

It's the one I bought the other week.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.83
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 - 10:07 pm:   

That's the one. It's very nice.
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Adriana (Adriana)
Username: Adriana

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 76.91.168.218
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - 07:04 am:   

I'm pretty sure I have THE LOTTERY collection, but I don't think I've got COME ALONG WITH ME. Is it hard to find?

I've looked here in LA but had no luck.

Hey, GCW - Yeah life's okay. I didn't want to be here, (this city is bonkers) but now that I've settled in I'm feeling better. Not really doing much night life stuff though. Will be here another month, then back to TO. I hear they're doing a BERGMAN retrospective at one of the theaters, so I'm hoping to catch some of that.
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Allybird (Allybird)
Username: Allybird

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 79.70.77.33
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - 10:43 am:   

Incredible opening. So simple - so right. I've ordered the same edition as Zed. Only £5.75 including postage.
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Karim Ghahwagi (Karim)
Username: Karim

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 212.97.200.24
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - 10:50 am:   

Weird, I just started looking at THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE again, and I was reading that amazing opening paragraph aloud to a friend yesterday. I was trying to convince her that the opening paragraph is probably the most famous opening of any novel in any genre.
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Adriana (Adriana)
Username: Adriana

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 76.91.168.218
Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2008 - 12:20 am:   

Yippee, I have COME ALONG WITH ME at home in Toronto - will have to wait a month to get home and read it though.
:-(

I read my co-writer the opening of WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE, and now she wants to read it. Funny that I even have it here with me...
:-)
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Allybird (Allybird)
Username: Allybird

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 79.70.53.80
Posted on Friday, April 11, 2008 - 06:18 pm:   

Just got my copy of WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE today - straight to the top of my TBR pile.
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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 83.98.9.4
Posted on Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 05:00 pm:   

My TBR pile is out of control.

James Morrow, Toby Litt, China Mieville all have new books out (which I have of course bought the second I saw them in the shops) not including those I've got at least another 10 priority books at the top of the pile including more of the Thursday next novels of Jasper FForde and the opener of Karin Slaughter's new series of books. If I was to actually put my TBR pile in a single pile it would be taller than me.

It's not good. I'm actually taking a couple of days off work to try to catch up a bit.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.101.203
Posted on Sunday, April 13, 2008 - 12:23 am:   

I wish China Mieville would change his name to Melville. As is it sounds stupid, like he spelled it wrong. And it also sounds like he's a woman - I mean, China.
And i hate country names as names; people sound like wombles with them. I mean you wouldn't call yourself France or Switzerland would you, so why India and the like?
Sorry.
Hate the name Toby, too. Sounds like he frequents coffee bars and wears a little hat and is an aetheist.
And as for FForde...
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.159.156.247
Posted on Sunday, April 13, 2008 - 01:04 am:   

My TBR pile is out of control.

Me too. I still have stuff from several years back to read... Life keeps getting in the way.
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Albie (Albie)
Username: Albie

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.195.236.131
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 12:03 pm:   

I glance Toby Litt and I think it's Ligotti.

What a cruel trick.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.159.65.204
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 01:44 pm:   

"Hate the name Toby, too. Sounds like he frequents coffee bars and wears a little hat and is an aetheist."

It's likely he's an atheist. If not, he'd be too busy burning people at the stake to write so many books.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.219.8.243
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 01:48 pm:   

Atheism is a sane response to an insane world.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.159.65.204
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 02:16 pm:   

Sorry, my comment was a cheap shot. But I was a bit thrown to see 'atheist' being used as a term of abuse.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.101.203
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 02:16 pm:   

Joel; go away you self-righteous arsehole. And stop chipping in the blind monkey followers, too. You're like brick f****ing walls.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.219.8.243
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 02:53 pm:   

Take a pill, Tony - everything will be fine. :-)
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.159.65.204
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 02:59 pm:   

Goodbye.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.101.203
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 03:03 pm:   

'But I was a bit thrown to see 'atheist' being used as a term of abuse.'
Hunh? How?
Oh, bye then.
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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 212.121.214.11
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 03:34 pm:   

....Anyhoo - I've now started reading past the opening paragraph of this book and I'm loving every syllable.

She has a sort of very creepy formality to her writing. It feels so polite but with a twisted leery grin hidden behind the language, just waiting to leap out and tear your sanity into convenient bite sized chunks.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 61.216.37.225
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 03:43 pm:   

Weber, it's a wonderful book, isn't it? Jackson was so masterful at creating an off-kilter, menacing atmosphere. She also knew how to do characterisation - Merricat is a great invention.

I think I'm going to have to go and find my copy of WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE now - all this talking about it has me itching to read it again!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.101.203
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 04:53 pm:   

Damn. Joel's follow up got on as I was blasting him.
Sorry Joel, if you're there. But you know you do come on as being a more stern, over-zealous Bob Geldof sometimes. It can be darned annoying.
And it's way too easy to say aetheists are nicer than religious folk, btw; they've been shaping one another positively since history began. Even our local vicar says aetheists get it right inadvertently (am mostly agnostic myself - the logical way to be, btw).
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.159.65.204
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 05:03 pm:   

Sorry Tony. Group hug.
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Chris_morris (Chris_morris)
Username: Chris_morris

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 12.165.240.116
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 05:35 pm:   

I'll probably regret asking this, Tony, but why is "mostly agnostic" the "logical way to be"?
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 75.16.77.126
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 06:00 pm:   

I'll jump in uninvited, because I'm "mostly agnostic" too:

Logic demands agnosticism. Working upon the logic/a-priori rules within each religion, demands the ultimate truth of that religion. Working with logical rules that remove the presence of [term-for-God/s] demands a result that contains no [term-for-God/s]. Therefore, the path closest to ultimate truth that wants to stand outside any parochial/a-priori methods/system of thought/logic, must be... agnosticism.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.101.203
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 06:45 pm:   

You see, none of us here are dead, or been it; we have no way of knowing.
Actually, I know two people who have been dead; they said there was stuff there, and din't mind going back.
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Chris_morris (Chris_morris)
Username: Chris_morris

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 12.165.240.116
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 07:11 pm:   

Tony, I see what you're getting at. However, I'm not sure what is meant by "mostly agnostic." Additionally, out of curiosity, are you then agnostic on the subject of the gods of Greek myth as well? And if not, why not?
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.101.203
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 08:45 pm:   

I meant more agnostic than atheist, but then dithery about that even then. You know; nights where the panic sets in, then odd moments when that fear can't seem to be justified either.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.93.21.100
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 09:34 am:   

I've only just read most of this and wonder in what way Toby sounds atheistic. The name is a version of the Hebrew for "Jehovah is good".

Miéville is a perfectly good French name, and I can't see anything wrong with China either. Some folk think Ramsey sounds female. Let them.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.101.203
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 10:24 am:   

Sigh.
The death of fun.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.93.21.100
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 10:28 am:   

"And i hate country names as names; people sound like wombles with them. I mean you wouldn't call yourself France or Switzerland would you, so why India and the like?"

Well, there's Anatole France. Israel is quite a common first name, and England a surname. Erin is an early name for Ireland, and so on. India was used by the Mountbattens because of their connection with the country.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.101.203
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 10:29 am:   

I rest my case.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 129.11.77.197
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 10:56 am:   

...Alan Brazil who used to play for Ipswich Town.

I concede my cultural heritage in a single stroke.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 129.11.77.197
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 10:57 am:   

Clark Kent, Tony?
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.93.21.100
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 11:15 am:   

"Sigh.
The death of fun."

Sorry, am I being obtuse?
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Allybird (Allybird)
Username: Allybird

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 79.70.60.89
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 12:18 pm:   

Sarah Lancashire is okay but I wouldn't like to be named after my market town. Allyson Penistone.
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Albie (Albie)
Username: Albie

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.195.236.131
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 12:20 pm:   

You can seem quite...computerised, for someone who writes about so much weirdness, Ramsey.

(Didn't you flirt with surrealism once?)

He was just being silly. Don't know who encourages him.
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Albie (Albie)
Username: Albie

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.195.236.131
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 12:23 pm:   

I'm going to die soon, aren't I?
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.101.203
Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 12:31 am:   

'Sorry, am I being obtuse?'
It's ok Ramsey. My delivery of 'jokes' (especially of things I ever-so-slightly mean) is none too sharp either.
And I do apologise for being a bit snappy this week btw, folks.
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Albie (Albie)
Username: Albie

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.195.236.131
Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 12:02 pm:   

When was this? I recall no snap. You big liar, trying to make yourself look all edgy!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.155.222.136
Posted on Monday, November 09, 2015 - 01:24 pm:   

Jesus Christ I was tetchy.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Monday, March 04, 2019 - 04:40 pm:   

Albie, You're right. I think country names for christian (ha!) names feels pretentious and affected, but that's just me, it's a personal thing. And atheists can feel pushy and patronising. No one seems in a hurry to let others be, which if they are not hurting anybody, I think we should.
And there Joel dies. Last time he spoke. I got him to say 'Goodbye', but also 'Group hug'. :-(
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Monday, March 04, 2019 - 07:21 pm:   

Yes, I was trying to be funny and nobody realized. :-(
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.67.239
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2019 - 01:37 pm:   

God, we were interacting like ping-pong balls in a bingo machine.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.67.239
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2019 - 01:38 pm:   

I'm glad Joel's last words on here were "Group hug".
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2019 - 07:39 pm:   

Yes, that was incredible bordering on miraculous.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2019 - 07:47 pm:   

Second last was 'goodbye', too...
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.67.190
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2019 - 10:38 pm:   

They weren't his last words on the board though? That message was from 2008.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2019 - 11:43 pm:   

I did a search and they were the latest. Maybe not?
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.67.190
Posted on Wednesday, March 06, 2019 - 12:04 am:   

I was sure he was around before that. I couldn't have been more than 10 years ago surely?
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.67.190
Posted on Wednesday, March 06, 2019 - 12:05 am:   

After that, I mean. Though after about 30 I think our perception of time doesn't work much.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.67.190
Posted on Wednesday, March 06, 2019 - 12:07 am:   

Someone is dead. That's the most incomprehensible thing. I remember as a kid being both fascinated and horrified by the "disintegrate" phaser setting in the old Star Trek. I suppose it must have been my first attempt at processing the idea of non-existence.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.67.190
Posted on Wednesday, March 06, 2019 - 12:09 am:   

What's everyone up to, by the way? What's happened in the last five (ten?) years? This place does feel like a ghost town.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Monday, March 11, 2019 - 12:22 pm:   

Sorry for silence - been to Birmingham to take my son to see Crufts and spent two nights there. I really like it apart from all the homeless people (that problem really gets me down. I told one guy I'd ran out of change and was sorry, but then he said he was just glad and grateful I had spoken to him. Isn't that awful? And I saw three young guys with crazy hair and mad clothes, like hobbits or something FROM the hobbit, and it struck me they were becoming a kind of offshoot human or species, living among us like the neanderthals and cro magnons lived together. The worst thing was that they were smiling and happy and sweet-looking, and that really made me realise they had hit rock bottom, were BELOW the stage where such people sit around looking depressed; they were happy. This was their life now. I have seen dead homeless people and zombie-like homeless people, but these happy ones were the worst.
But...about me? I quit my job and haven't worked since. I am unable to because of shame. I got diagnosed autistic and ADHD (a long process that ended with 'and there you go'). I feel less human, but then I always did.
I bought a bike last year, and two days later got up at five a.m. and began cycling along Hadrian's wall, coast to coast. A real, unplanned adventure in which I nearly passed out and at times rode with my eyes closed. Three days, every minute of which I can remember. On the last day it rained and I wept when I saw the sea again, it was so moving. And with nowhere to sleep and the day closing I found a tiny church that was empty and open, and started to settle in for the night. There were loads of biscuits and tea so I had some. It was fantastic. Five or ten minutes after I got there a woman turned up to lock up. She was very kind and gave me the number of a church hall nearby that would let me have a bed in the hall for £12 (the other hotels would have been £100 plus), so I spent the night in a vast community centre/church hall complete with a stage and echoey hardwood floor and slept on and off to the sounds of howling wind and thunderstorm overhead. One of the most magical moments of my life. If I had caught that tiny church minutes later I would have missed it. It did feel like divine timing, every decision over the previous days getting me there at precisely the right moment. The memory has really stuck with me.
I had sort of stopped writing again, but recently taken up rewriting my old stuff for publication, thanks to Mark Lynch, who has formatted the book for printing. My old stories, a few are terrible, or rather have many terrible things about them. I am totally cutting swathes out and having to basically write lots of new stuff to accommodate them; I will not put shit out there if I can help it. There's enough already.
I carved for a while, got so into it that one day a piece of work I was doing blinked at me. It was as real as anything that has happened to me (exactly...I know) and felt like another key life moment, whatever it was. I think I'd encountered what every artists hopes to encounter.
I got back into reading! I don't read as much as I did a couple of years ago, but am still going. A lot of the books are oldish, though; new stuff is a tad bland, like reading screenplays, or tie ins.
I looked after my wife's demented father, then one night me and my son had a bad feeling and couldn't go up to him, he felt wrong. Then he died. It was so eerie. It felt like something was there, it really did, something big and mysterious doing something. It was very frightening, but kind of awe inspiring.
Um...
I often feel depressed and have fewer friends than I ever had. I thought guys on here were my friends, but it's a mistake to think it can happen, isn't it? It's nice, it all sticks in the mind, but it's friendship on the wind.
That sounds very insulting, but I don't mean it to be. It's just something I've observed. :-(
And you?
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Monday, March 11, 2019 - 12:23 pm:   

To go back to the first post on this thread, I have discovered most books can lose their first paragraph. Even Haunting of Hill House.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.233.147.141
Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 12:35 am:   

Lots of stuff there! I'll have to reply properly when I've a chance (a lot going on this week), but thanks!

2018 was largely interesting in that horrible Chinese proverb way for me. I'm glad to see the back of it. The most obvious was I broke my arm which was a strange experience and it made me feel very mortal. So many things happened. I don't know where to begin or if they're of interest to anyone but me.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 2.220.222.50
Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 12:08 pm:   

They’re of interest, Proto, and lovely to hear from you again. Some weird psychic vibe made me check on here today for the first time in ages! Most of my waffling is done on Facebook these days.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 04:35 pm:   

I've never broken a limb. It sounds quite interesting, maybe even beneficial. I think I missed out. Did you know various southern American tribespeople think you don't get a soul until you've killed another person? While I think that's a bit strong I think I can understand what they mean.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 04:38 pm:   

Oh, and I found this place! Your own online scrapbook. https://www.instagram.com/tony.lovell3/
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 05:04 pm:   

I had to leave Facebook. It was making me depressed.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 05:08 pm:   

I once had a screaming/throwing-things-around fit after a row on Facebook, with some US stranger, among other such meltdowns. It seems to have a knack of making ordinary people cruel and borderline psychopathic. Really, it does. And once (I am sure during that experiment they did with posting negative stories) came over all suicidal. It made me feel distant from people I think in reality I would have loved to have been around.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.233.132.169
Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 09:25 pm:   

Lots of great stuff in that link. I don't really understand Instagram - it's all links to photos and outside links, is it? (Like that Thinking Allowed about Corridors that I literally just listened to.)
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.233.132.169
Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 09:28 pm:   

It is interesting to break a limb. My first time too. And also awful. Not being able to tie your shoe laces, or do the dishes. I grew a lazy beard while I was sick and for fun changed it into an actual beard. I had two general anesthetic operations within three months (another first), one to put a plate into my arm. I'm a cyborg now, but all is grand now.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.233.132.169
Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 09:33 pm:   

Yes, Facebook doesn't make me happy either. I only use it as a shell account. I found it was changing how I thought.

Ironically (?) a much more healthy way to be connected was to buy a good desk globe. It's fascinating. Really gives one perspective. The one I got has lots of detail and raised mountains. I haven't had this sense of wonder and excitement since reading a children's encyclopedia from the 1950s.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.233.132.169
Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 09:34 pm:   

And hello Stevie!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 11:53 pm:   

That link was to my own photos. At night, when I'm not able to sleep, I take screen shots of what I'm listening to. Those pics get more likes than anything. But basically it's just a place to share and find photos. Artists are great to follow. And people like Russell T Davies are on there - and talk to you! It's quite civilized.
Jeez, saying 'like' on here feels terrible.
I have to say it, it's great talking on here again. It really is.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Wednesday, March 13, 2019 - 12:20 am:   

But HOW DID YOU BREAK YOUR ARM??
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.233.150.15
Posted on Wednesday, March 13, 2019 - 11:28 pm:   

Stupidly. I had excess energy so ran the length of an empty street, just for fun. I tried some punches while I ran like a boxer and that, and a dip in the path, did it. It was my left arm and I'm right-handed, but it wasn't fun. No pain though.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Thursday, March 14, 2019 - 06:44 am:   

That feels like another fable, but set up by someone mean.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.67.133
Posted on Thursday, March 14, 2019 - 10:45 pm:   

Yeah. But I still think I did the right thing.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.147.183.89
Posted on Thursday, March 14, 2019 - 11:37 pm:   

Yes!

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