| Author | Message | ||
     Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
I'm not sure what or how much I can really say about this one without spoiling aspects of the plot. Maybe when more people have read it we can chat about it with spoiler warnings in place. For now let me just say that I really enjoyed it. It's a perfect example of the "Is this real or am I going mad?" psychological horror that Ramsey does so well. There are several weird and unsettling scenes and one frankly heartbreaking moment near the end. Gormley's Another Place (Google it) is a key location and the eerie and melancholy figures are used to great effect in the story. If you've never been there, I definitely recommend a visit. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.244.154 |
Can't wait for this. Come on, Pete, pull ya finger out! | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.115.63 |
You should have bought the normal person's version, Gary! | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
I very much enjoyed Ramsey's reading of the first chapter (or was it the epilogue?) at FCon - made me yearn for more. But I confess I haven't bought it yet. Will probably have to wait for a cheaper copy.  | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.244.154 |
Mick, you gotta make an exception for the guvnor. I always get the traycased RCs. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.115.63 |
I guess so - I just try to get first editions - that'll do for me, although sometimes the firsts are slipcased and/or special in some way, such as the Scream/Press editions of "Scared Stiff" and "Cold Print".. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 220.138.165.83 |
I've pre-ordered mine - can't wait! Like Gary, I always get the signed, deluxe copies of Ramsey's books (unless they're gifts for lesser mortals). Kate, the Gormley sculptures are amazing! I'd never heard of him/them before, but after researching it a bit online I definitely want to go there one day. Does anyone else have the Centipede Press edition of The Influence? Now there's a 'deluxe edition' worthy of the title. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Gormley's Angel of the North is one of those pivotal pieces of art for me: it made me realise how powerful this kind of sculpture can be. One of my personal wonders of the world...my heart sings whever I see it. | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
Huw, we have the Centipede Influence and it's a work of art!  **sigh** | ||
| Lincoln Brown (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 203.171.196.117 |
Huw, have you seen the Alpenhouse Apparitions edition of 'The Decorations'? Another book worthy of the 'deluxe' description. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.14.80 |
Huw, we have the Centipede Influence and it's a work of art! **sigh** Not the Human Centipede one, I hope?  | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.44.124 |
Lincoln, I have The Decorations too! I agree, it's a lovely, sumptuous book. | ||
| Giancarlo (Giancarlo) Username: Giancarlo Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 85.116.228.5 |
Ramsey's "THE SEVEN DAYS OF CAIN" and Gary's " THE HOUSE OF CANTED STEPS" are in PS Current Catalogue now, so shipping should have just begun or beginning soon! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.244.154 |
Hurrah! | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Zed - I remember trying to have a coherent conversation with 'some' people from Sunderland about 'The Angel of the North.' All I got in response to my praise of it, was: 'We don't need this this shite, we need the money it cost it put it up going into schools and hospitals.' Again, I paraphrase. It was really quite sad listening to this. BUT, I also met lots of local people who thought it was wonderful. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.244.154 |
Yeah, I bet if you'd given them the money they'd have donated it to schools and hospitals. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
And it isn't even in Sunderland...so the money came from Gateshead. I remember when it was first commissioned. I was working for Gateshead Council at the time, in the Structures Section. The foundations are deep as hell to hold the thing up. I was the only person in te office who liked the sculpture; all the other morons couldn't understand why it had to be "rusty". Sgh. | ||
| Giancarlo (Giancarlo) Username: Giancarlo Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 85.116.228.5 |
Received both "Days of Cain" and "Canted Steps" yesterday in Rome. Faster than lightning! I'll be a happy man for some time. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.170.240 |
Excellent, news, Giancarlo! Hope you enjoy them! Btw, the Finch is now available, if you're still interested: http://www.grayfriarpress.com/catalogue/monster.html | ||
| Giancarlo (Giancarlo) Username: Giancarlo Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 85.116.228.5 |
Yes, Gary, I'd be interested but... Europe has been expunged from Gray Friar Press order page (did you have any problem with European orders?). I could do with sending you a check but I found it a longish complicated process the last time I did it and I am quite paranoical about paying thru the PayPal system when it's not already offered by the bookseller's order page. So, I think I'll be waiting to be able to read information on Amazon so I can try ordering directly at my local Anglo-American dealer or, better still, to buy the book online thru Cold Tonnage if and when they have it in their selling list. So, I'll keep my watch! Thank you for rememebering me. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.170.240 |
Cold Tonnage are definitely stocking it, Giancarlo. | ||
| Giancarlo (Giancarlo) Username: Giancarlo Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 85.116.228.5 |
Thank you, Gary. Good news! I'll be stalking Cold Tonnage for the book! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
I finished the Seven Days of Cain this morning. Has anyone else read this yet? And in particular has anyone else spotted the in-jokes in the first chapter? Or the reference to a character from a work of Ramsey's from over thirty years ago? Should I be as worried as my darling Lady P that I spot these things? Anyway, the book: For those who haven't read it I'll avoid talking about it in detail. I will say that it has a splendid central idea peppered with Mr Campbell's usual obsessions (long misinterpreted conversations, threatening messages that tale off into unsettling incoherence, the normal and everyday appearing sinister & threatening, cold unfriendly members of the establishment, the occasional, almost 'corner of the retina' bit of gruesomeness). I would have loved more backstory, particularly in relation to how everything had been allowed to develop in the way that it had, but of course that would have led to less blurring of reality and fantasy, and I am someone who likes everything to be more rigidly set out than Ramsey often does. That said I raced through it and it's certainly one of his books, like Obsession and The Overnight, that I found a real page turner. I do wish I could work out if the book titles he mentions on page 84 have any significance, though. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
They do, John, and failure to decode their significance has dire consequences.  | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.194.128 |
I'm still waiting for my posh edition from PS! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
Ah - the reading upper classes. Not happy with a good old fashioned dust-jacketed hardcover  Frank - since neither Kate nor I could work it out I imagine we're in double the peril! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.194.128 |
I only make this exception for the guvna. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.68 |
"I do wish I could work out if the book titles he mentions on page 84 have any significance, though." They do indeed, but don't post it here if you get it! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.29.126.12 |
At last my posh edition showed up. Have reached chapter 7 already. God, I just love how the guvna writes. A pleasure for me unrivalled by anyone other than Martin Amis. The last lines of chapter 1 are chilling in their stark obliqueness. Page 19, para 2, reveals an effortless descriptive beauty. The dialogue throughout is an masterclass in the pared-down generation of tension. More soon . . . | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.29.126.12 |
By in-jokes, John, I assume you mean a certain few Spanish directors of rather good horror films . . . Haven't come across the 30 year-old reference yet, nor the book titles on page 84. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.29.126.12 |
But now I've got my eyes peeled for Horridge . . . before he captures me and peels them for me, perhaps. I wonder how sharp that razor remains . . . | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.131.0.116 |
Haven't come across the 30 year-old reference yet Yes you have, Gary ;-> JLP | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.29.126.12 |
Oh. Hmm. Right . . . | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.29.126.12 |
You do realise I'm going to spend all friggin evening rereading what I've already read now, don't you? | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.131.0.116 |
Just emailed you so you can use the time to read the rest of the book! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.29.126.12 |
Hmm. I never got your email, mate. But I did get a message from 518400@frugonet. I'm dealing with it. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.148.243.133 |
Do you think Frugo would release my new album..? gcw | ||
| Frugo_records (Frugo_records) Username: Frugo_records Registered: 11-2010 Posted From: 86.29.126.12 |
Drop us a line, GCW. Musicians like lines, isn't that so? It's music to our ears, at any rate. Yes, we have many between us, and much between every pair. We're watching, you see, and we know. Ears aren't the only thing that come in pairs. So keep your peepers peeled, my friend, and we'll see if your peals appeal. And yeah, drop us a line. We won't keep you hanging on the end of our line. It's a cut-throat business, rather than one in which folk are often left hanging around. We'd sooner let down than leave to stew. You hear me? You see? Well, come ahead - it's got all the features we need to dazzle the senses of customers. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.148.243.133 |
Distribution by Smilemime mayhap? gcw | ||
| Frugo_records (Frugo_records) Username: Frugo_records Registered: 11-2010 Posted From: 86.29.126.12 |
We had to let Smilemime go, alas. Misuse of office PCs. | ||
| James Armstrong (James_armstrong) Username: James_armstrong Registered: 10-2010 Posted From: 86.184.185.69 |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaCzCf-SD-U I'm loath to find out the secret ingredient. | ||
| Ziwxbeheld (Ziwxbeheld) Username: Ziwxbeheld Registered: 08-2011 Posted From: 94.192.121.234 |
I'm a bit late to the party, but thanks to Samhain Publishing I've just bought and read The Seven Days Of Cain. Is anyone up for giving me some clues as to the significance of the book titles mentioned - River Spree by Anne Tenant etc? | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 92.8.30.21 |
Ah! Email me if you like at ramsey@ramseycampbell.com - I'd rather folk discover the secret for themselves (hence the lack of explanation in the book) rather than have it revealed here. |