| Author | Message | ||
     Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
I went to see Jeremy Dyson (League of Gentlemen, etc) at Ilkley Literature Festival a couple of nights ago. He was reading from his new collection of short, somewhat off-the-wall, horror stories "The Cranes That Build The Cranes", and doing an audience Q & A. It was most enjoyable. When you go to, say, a Ramsey reading, you know that the people in the audience are expecting horror. But in this case, I think the audience mainly consisted of middle-aged, middle class romance or historical fiction readers. They seemed genuinely spooked by the story he read! Anyway, what I've read so far of the book is good fun - nothing startlingly brilliant, but enjoyable spooky horror which lingers a little while afterwards. "Out of Bounds" was the story he read at the event - something nasty lurking in the cellar of a boys' school. Another one I've read is "Come April" - a Chinese monk seeking final release (!) in a Leeds brothel (no wonder he said he couldn't read that one at the event with his dad in the audience!  ). And "The Bear" is a story of an unpleasant young lawyer who gets his just desserts courtesy of an antique fancy dress costume at his office party. Good so far - looking forward to reading more. Anyone else read any of his writing? Or any League of Gentleman fans here? He seems to be a multi-talented writer who switches easily from short stories to novels to scripts, from comedy to horror to thrillers. Seems like a nice, down-to-earth chap too. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
Never trust a rabbit is an excelent short story collection and I really liked his novel wot he wrote a year or two back even though I can't remember the name of it. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
He's a fine writer of horror fiction, I'd say! And League of Gentlemen I've always thought contained quite a lot of horror disguised (sometimes only just) as comedy. | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 12.165.240.116 |
Never Trust a Rabbit is very good indeed. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
I was hoping to get a copy of "Never Trust A Rabbit" too, but they didn't have any at the event. Must be OOP? BTW I forgot to mention, he cited his literary influence as Robert Aickman. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
>>And League of Gentlemen I've always thought contained quite a lot of horror disguised (sometimes only just) as comedy.<< Agreed. I never watched it all - the same jokes kept cropping up again and again after a while - but I did enjoy it as something completely different to the norm on TV. Personally, I think it would have been better done as one long film rather than several TV series. That way, it wouldn't have got so repetitive and would have been much more enjoyable (in my opinion). Once you've seen Tubbs and Edward give their own special welcome to visitors on three or four occasions, that's enough! | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Ha! I'm laughing now. Just read another story from The Cranes That Build The Cranes - "Yani's Day". This is the story of a super-being who can strike people dead with a wave of his hand. He turns out to be a disgruntled Waterstones employee who wants to run the company HIS way. It's quite superb. Yes, I think I'm going to have to try to find a copy of Never Trust A Rabbit now too. | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
It's available for 1p (plus p&p) on Amazon, Caroline.  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Never-Trust-Rabbit-Duck-Editions/dp/0715630156/ref=sr_1_ 2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254944925&sr=1-2 | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 213.158.199.67 |
Caroline - You should go back and watch League of Gentlemen from start to finish. Quite brilliant, quite extraordinary; I think Ramsey is understating the amount of horror disguised as comedy. There's so much going on in each episode, it's a veritable treat for horror enthusiasts. Without out doubt a genuine piece of unique writing from all four of the League. Anything that Dyson and buddies turn to will always have me awaiting the results with eager breath. Oh, and Caroline, check out the film. One of the few comedy series to make the leap from small screen to big screen rather successfully. Not an easy feat. Note the sudden exclusion of a laughter track on series three. This heightens the horror so much, the comedy becomes genuinely unsettling | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.47.222.21 |
Love it! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.199.0.3 |
I loved Never Trust a Rabbit, his novel What Happens Now and the TV series he wrote with one of the Eastenders chaps Funland. Everyone already knows how mad I am about The League of Gentlemen. And of course he did that superb radio adaptation of Ringing the Changes with Mark Gatiss a few years back | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.209.11.186 |
Didn't he direct The Cicerones, as well? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.231.167 |
The League of Gentlemen Christmas special with vampires and stuff was superb. Some of the cleverest, bitterest comedy of recent years. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
OK, everyone, you've convinced me - I'll have to revisit ALL of "The League of Gentlemen" too. Apparently, his latest venture is co-writing a TV adaptation of "What A Carve Up!" No, not the 60s film with Sid James et al, but the 90s Jonathan Coe satire (which owes a lot to the former, of course). I think he said it was going to be on Channel 4 so it's worth watching out for that one. While we're talking about TLoG team, Mark Gatiss is another favourite of mine. What did you all think of the tribute to the MR James' Ghost Stories for Christmas thing which he did last Christmas? I loved it. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.47.222.21 |
"What A Carve Up!" Jonathan Coe. In my large TBR pile - Caroline. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.228 |
Caroline - I was a bit underwhelmed by Gatiss' ghost stories. I thought the finale was good but the first two were a bit unsubstantial storywise. But they were all very nicely produced and of course the last story felt like 'The Door' from From Beyond the Grave | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.106.220.83 |
"What a Carve Up" is great, although a watch of the film before reading the book make increase your enjoyment of it even more, Ally! I've read most of Coe's work and although his output can be a little uneven, he's written some great books. I'd highly recommend The House of Sleep. |