| Author | Message | ||
     Giancarlo (Giancarlo) Username: Giancarlo Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 85.116.228.5 |
I'm fresh from reading Algernon Blackwood's "THE DAMNED". I was scared out of my skin until the Author's mysticism spoiled it all for me in the last couple pages. Pity! Had it been otherwise, I'd have considered it even above "THE WILLOWS, that absolute master's story. It's a sad fact many of Blackwood's stories are similarly marred. Something of the kind, but not because of mysticism, I experienced with W.H. Hodgson' s "THE GHOST PIRATES" whose last but one chapter appears taken down in a hurry, as if the Author had just received some urgent call (from the Army? We know he never came back from the trenches). The novel stays however as one of the best evocations of sea-born Evil, even superior to his achievement in "THE BOATS OF THE GLEN CARRIG", imho. "HELL TRAIN" by Christopher Fowler is due December 2011 from Solaris. I caught it somewhere in Amazon.com....The blurb is exciting! | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I know where you're coming from with Blackwood, Giancarlo. As for 'The Ghost Pirates'... I consider it one of the greatest works of supernatural fiction I have ever read and am desperate to get myself a copy - having read it from the library in my teens and been as blown away by it as I was by anything Lovecraft wrote. Can you believe I have yet to read 'The Boats Of The Glen Garrig'!!!! For me it is one of those fabled "holy grail" books I have been seeking a lifetime for!  | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
Stevie. I have a copy of Glen Garrig you can borrow. Have you got my e-mail address? | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.104.137.65 |
Apart from 'The Willows' another favourite of mine is 'The Glamour of the Snow.' Just read it again and it still holds a fascination for me. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
Some of the Machen society are organising a Ghost Pirates weekend (hopefully with dressing up). We can't wait. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.133.89 |
Ancient Sorceries is hypnotic. A Case of Eavesdropping likewise. And what's the one about the vampiric student? Brilliant. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.133.89 |
But who will be able to tell you apart from Johnny Depp, John? | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 178.118.79.219 |
I had the misfortune (so to speak) to have read The House on the Borderland and the short stories "The Voice in the Night" and "The Derelict" prior to the rest of Hodgson. Glen Carrig and Ghost Pirates proved slightly disappointing when I eventually read them. I still find it hard to believe that Pirates was written after Borderland. It has its moments of course, but Borderland to me has always been the apocalypse of evil - maybe because I first read it when I was fourteen. I'm still fascinated by it. I see I have Blackwood's "The Damned" in an old anthology. I don't think I've read it. Maybe tonight? | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.133.89 |
keeping his promise | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
But who will be able to tell you apart from Johnny Depp, John? Good point, and you know how the Macehites are around movie heart-throbs. I shall have to exercise caution as well as my massive parrot. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
Machenites | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.200.89 |
An otherwise decent supernatural story by Blackwood that I felt was spoiled by the intrusion of John Silence was 'The Camp of the Dog'. I thought 'Ancient Sorceries' and 'Secret Worship' were somewhat more successful. Ally, I like 'The Glamour of the Snow' too. 'Ancient Lights', 'Confession' and 'Onanonanon' are other good ones that thankfully don't suffer from being too wordy. 'The Listener', 'The Decoy', 'The Other Wing', 'The Transfer', 'A Haunted Island', 'H.S.H', 'The Man Whom the Trees Loved', 'A Victim of Higher Space' and, of course, 'The Wendigo', are other favourites of mine. The FOAM 'pirate' do sounds great - I've never been able to make it to one of the events, despite being a member for a long time. Have fun, Lord and Lady P! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.133.89 |
The Wendigo has the unusual distinction of making big feet - traditional a source of only comedy - scary. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
I absolutely love "The Wendigo", but the "fiery feet" line never fails to amuse me...it's still one of my all-time favourite weird tales, though. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 178.118.79.219 |
Feets don't fail me now? | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
There are still loads of non-Carnacki Hodgson short stories I haven't read and his first novel. Is there a definitive short story collection? Thanks very much for the offer, Jonathan. I see it's easily available cheap enough on Amazon so will order a copy while it's in my mind. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 178.118.79.219 |
Yes, there is, though only volumes 1, 2 and 5 are still available: http://www.nightshadebooks.com/cart.php?m=product_list&pageNumber=5&c=4&sortBy=& search= | ||
| Giancarlo (Giancarlo) Username: Giancarlo Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 85.116.228.5 |
From books to DVDs: I watched "LADY IN A CAGE" last night. It is still the powerful urban noir I remember seeing many years ago. Olivia De Havilland is great, crumbling into herself as the intruders pitilessly destroy her cushioned world (yet unknowingly malignant to her only son), then coming out of her impotency by sheer principle of conservation, invoking Stone Age cruelty as she steels herself up to vengeance, it's all still very tense and enjoyable, especially as the story is etched over a b&w background of urban indifference and imbecility. A real half-forgotten cult (to me, at least). |