| Author | Message | ||
     John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.142.147.219 |
I am pleased as punch to have a story in Stephen Jones' latest mass market mammoth book so I make no apologies for indulging in a bit of pluggery here.  My story is centred around a zombie attack in a hospital intensive care unit and will have all the gentle understatement and empathic sensitivity that everyone one here will be expecting. Here's the full lineup of contributors: Peter Atkins Pat Cadigan Peter Crowther Scott Edelman Paul Finch Jo Fletcher Christopher Fowler Robert Hood Tim Lebbon Tanith Lee Paul McAuley Lisa Morton Kim Newman Sarah Pinborough John Llewellyn Probert Jay Russell Mark Samuels Mandy Slater Michael Marshall Smith And there's going to be a mass signing on Saturday afternoon /evening at FantasyCon. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Oh, bravo - I'm rather jealous of you for being in this one. I'll certainly be picking up a copy at the launch. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.180.45.171 |
Looks excellent - well done Lord P. | ||
| Ian Alexander Martin (Iam) Username: Iam Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 64.180.64.74 |
This has already been ordered. It's probable that the cover will have that US city on it. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 93.186.20.144 |
Another essential purchase. Well done, John! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.142.147.219 |
Thanks chaps - I've seen the internal layout and this really is going to be something quite special. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.31.8.83 |
Nice one, John! Good fortune with the cover - to catch a shot of fans emerging from that Millwall match. Very fortuitous. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Hey, well done John. This looks brilliant. | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.9.131.115 |
I'd just like to reiterate John's sentiments. Trust me folks, this is a zombie anthology with a difference. I'm sure that readers will be astonished and delighted when they get their hands on it. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.72 |
Congrats Lord P. You can never have enough of zombies. BTW: Cracking cover. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.104.135.73 |
Congrats John and Paul! | ||
| Johnny_mains (Johnny_mains) Username: Johnny_mains Registered: 04-2010 Posted From: 82.22.75.99 |
Have been reading a proof of this over the past fortnight and it's absolutely fucking brilliant. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.31.8.83 |
I don't believe you. Show us the proof. | ||
| Johnny_mains (Johnny_mains) Username: Johnny_mains Registered: 04-2010 Posted From: 82.22.75.99 |
It's in the pudding. | ||
| Ian Alexander Martin (Iam) Username: Iam Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 207.6.255.47 |
The proof of the pudding is in the EATING! ...of brainz, probably. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.65.171 |
Are zombies popular because they allow us to enjoy wanton violence on human-shaped targets while remaining morally sound? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.186.31 |
Partly that, Proto. Zombies are the monster as Everyman, almost always plural, almost never 'evil'. They are hardly a force for good, but they can be understood to be victims of history. For some viewers (or in some films) they represent the protest and resistance of the oppressed; for other viewers (or in other films) they represent a hated and feared 'common herd', blind, ignorant, violent. Either way they are pretty much a blank screen onto which viewers can project their own emotions, thereby allowing the director to concentrate on visual composition (sometimes to remarkable effect, sometimes not). And while zombies have some literary history, the zombie apocalypse is primarily a cinematic phenomenon. Literary versions are secondary – which doesn't mean, of course, that they cannot be effective or offer new perspectives. In weird fiction the subject matter is almost never new: it's all about how you handle it and where it leads. | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 86.142.147.219 |
I knew you were gonna say that, Joel. In fact, I almost posted "Joel will be along in a minute to answer that."  But yeah, the blank canvas. And worse - the blank canvas that used to be your friends and loved ones. It's such a primal horror. Is there anything left of the person they once were? Enough that they might recognise and spare me? No? Nothing at all? Which is more horrible? Zombies do really disturb me. I, like Johnny, also have access to a proof copy (Get back, you lot! Back - now!) and am enjoying it immensely. Top-notch stuff with harrowing authenticity. Can't wait to get my hands on the paper version! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
I recently argued with Steve Jones on a panel that zombies are so popular because they're a catch-all metaphor: they are whatever you want them to be. Steve didn't get on board with the notion, but I'm sticking with it. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.86.107 |
I agree with the above. There's also Derrida's idea of the horror of indeterminacy, zoms being neither alive nor dead. The animal-lover who discovers a dying beast by the road will reach for a spade with some alacrity - not only to end the animal's pain, but his own. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.86.107 |
"...the zombie apocalypse is primarily a cinematic phenomenon." All of the classic monsters, with the exception of ghosts, are primarily cinematic, but zoms came from screen (literally, in the case of an Italian horror flick whose name escapes me) because the apocalypse is so lovely and photogenic. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
"All of the classic monsters, with the exception of ghosts, are primarily cinematic," What about Vampires? I'd say they're primarily literary myself (with good cinematic pedigree as well, much like ghosts). Werewolves have a pretty good track record as well in the lterary field. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
Most of the most famous vampire films are filmisations of novels - the ten dozen dracula films, twilight, Let the Right one in... etc. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
"Are zombies popular because they allow us to enjoy wanton violence on human-shaped targets while remaining morally sound?" Possibly because they're cheap monsters. Was it Fulci who used to pour marmalade over the actors to make them look like zombies? The most you need is torn clothes, a shambling walk, maybe a bit of blood, and if you want to really push the boat out, maybe weird contact lenses for the close up shots. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 147.252.230.148 |
From Wiki: "It was The Wolf Man that introduced the concepts of werewolves being vulnerable to silver (in traditional folklore, it is more effective against vampires) and being marked with a pentagram (a symbol of the occult); the idea of forced shapeshifting by a full moon was carried over from Universal's 1935 film Werewolf of London. These are considered by many as part of the original folklore of the werewolf, even though they were created for the films." | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 147.252.230.148 |
I think vampires are predominately cinematic now. Dracula alone has been portrayed about 200 times in feature films. (Coppola forced his cast to read the entire book together, though this is rare.) | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
Check the bookshelves in your nearest bookshop, there are hundreds of vampire novels out there. All the big vampire films are based on books, not the other way round. They're predominantly literary. I know I much preferred the book of LTROI to the film Dracula may have been portrayed more on screen than any character except Sherlock Holmes but there's no denying that they're all based on that orignal book. Would you say Holmes is primarily a literary or a cinematic creation? He's got to be literary. ergo so is Drac. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
Was it Fulci who used to pour marmalade over the actors to make them look like zombies? It was Potters' Clay and superglue. Some of the actors were scarred for life in the grand low budget Italian tradition. I think zombies work well as a 20th / 21st century monster because they make great allegories that work whatever your politics. They can represent the horrors of socialism and communism, rendering everything 'equal' no matter what the consequences, or alternatively they can be seen as the voraciousness of all-consuming capitalism. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
I've just agreed with my bromance partner again haven't I? | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
Someone used to use marmalade... I can't remember who it was now if it wasn't Fulci. One of the actors who came to talk at the fantastic film festival in Manchester told us about it - so it's got better credentials some of the things I hold to be true. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
With regards to the current spate of Vampire-as-romantic-lead" books/films/tv series is concerned, Angel from Buffy really does have a lot to answer for. I always thought he was a better character as Angelus rather than Angel personally. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Zed and Lord P sitting in a tree K - I - S - S - I - N - G  | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
Surely M-A-I-M-I-N-G would be more apt. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.118.92 |
"All the big vampire films are based on books, not the other way round." This is true of all film. | ||
| Ian Alexander Martin (Iam) Username: Iam Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 207.6.255.47 |
Marmalade would make the zombies yummy! | ||
| Ian Alexander Martin (Iam) Username: Iam Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 207.6.255.47 |
Forgot to speak to this complicated and involved question which brings to mind all sorts of difficult societal influences and tropes, never mind the fear triggers of hating ourselves while still creating the need to rid oneself of the 'other'. After careful consideration and introspection, permit me to reply thusly. Yes. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.187.179 |
Twenty years ago, I wrote an article on horror films containing the statement: The zombie is not an anti-hero but an anti-everyman. Its existence is a deconstruction of humanity. But only literally, which is why zombies behave like serial killers, and the glow in their eyes is not the arcane brightness of death but the reflection of the lights behind the camera. No wonder they devour what they cannot assimilate. I was a tad pompous in those days. But I had nice hair. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Did you wear it in a pompadour? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.167.134 |
Oh no. More like a flat-top. Short and spiky, sometimes dyed red. Honestly, you'd have wanted me. Sic transit gloria mundi. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.180.211.228 |
I was sick in a transit once. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Gloria Mundy? I used to go to school with her. What a slapper. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.180.211.228 |
Her sister Alison was a character, tho. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
<<All the big vampire films are based on books, not the other way round." This is true of all film.>> Really? - With all due respect that's a load of ****. Who wrote the novel of Night of the living dead before the film came out? Or any of the sequels? Pick any big zombie movie, it's very difficult to find one based on a book. Therefore it's accurate to say that the primary and predominant source of zombie fiction is films. The primary source of vampire fiction is still the book - Drac, Let the right one in, (God help me) Twilight, True blood, Vampire diaries etc. Therefore, despite the good showing vampires have on screen, the predominant source for the fiction is in the written word. |