| Author | Message | ||
     Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.145.131.124 |
I have a book token for Waterstones; any advice? I'm in the mood for big horror movie books at the mo, but owt will do. | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.69.15.185 |
I, Zombie by Al Ewing in the Tomes of The Dead range is very good is you like horror movie style reads. That or Tomes of The Dead: The Words of Their Roaring by Matthew Smith I also highly recommend The Afterblight Chronicles: School's Out by Scott Andrews. That's got public school kids with guns and cannibals from Tunbridge Wells. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.154.242.64 |
This is a great read about Hammer stuff:- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inside-Hammer-Freddie-Francis/dp/190311120X/ref=sr_1_20? ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221503599&sr=8-20 | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
The brand new Orion paperback list of classic horror titles includes some great stuff. In particular, I think you'd love Graham Joyce's THE TOOTH FAIRY if you don't already have it. Very subtle supernatural novel about growing up in the Midlands – it was longlisted for the Booker Prize! And any books in the new Virgin horror line that you don't already have – it's a great list. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
The locktenders House by Steven Sherrill. Or The Minootaur Takes a Cigarette Break by Steven Sherrill. Or Visits from the drowned Girl by Steven Sherrill. He's a damned fine writer. Death of a Murderer by Rupert Thomson Snuff - Chuck palahniuk Hospital - Toby Litt All that lot might set you back a touch over £20 but you wouldn't regret it. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
RAIN DOGS by gary McMahon. (Ahem). :-o | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
I second The Tooth Fairy by Joyce. It's an incredible book. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.145.131.124 |
Nearly bought Snuff. Nearly bought this other book, 'LET THE RIGHT ONE IN' by some swedish author - it sounds excellent. Thing is, I went in to Waterstones in a sad mood, feeling my book, which I've been working on for ages, sucks, and is of no worth whatsoever. Heck, if cornered I couldn't even tell you what it was about. Spent over in hour in waterstones feeling jealous as well as not quite fancying anything. It's been a terrible, terrible day. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
That's how most authors visiting Waterstones can feel, mate. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.145.131.124 |
Really? But you can write! Does that never bolster you? | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Indeed, the act of writing can be the writer's solitary reassurance. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.145.131.124 |
Funny you should say that because later in the day I made myself look at the horrible stuff I'd been doing and write one line, one that turned - of course - into ten, then a page. You have a sort of fear of your own work sometimes, and a self doubt that threatens to make you want to abandon what you're doing. I'm no great shakes but sometimes stumbling on something I've written can shed new light on it, give me a bit of hope. Of course my change in proximity to Waterstones helped, too.  | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.145.131.124 |
If a guy did this in his back yard he'd be imprisoned. Why does religion hold so much sway? I'm by no means aetheist but law should always override such bananas. What to do, though, eh? | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.145.131.124 |
Unh? This reply was to the kosher thing! What the - ? | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.17.12.245 |
Actually, Tony, that's pretty good where it is... I thought you were talking about writing!... because let me tell you, I often think I should be imprisoned, and that laws should override my bananas "religion." But, alas and indeed, what to do?... Despair is: knowing you'll never give up.  | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Postings crossing threads has now happened to at least three of us. For the record, this was posted in the '£20' thread. Tony, reading your own work when depressed is like trying to have sex when you're not turned on: it makes you feel terrible just because it's the wrong mix of mood and activity. Never trust any gut reaction that tells you either that you're utterly crap or that you're a total genius: in either case, you're seeing your own emotion and not the words. As for Waterstone's, try to repress any sense of being an author before you go through the door. Otherwise Montagesque fantasies of flame-throwers come to mind. Harlan Ellison explores this quite hilariously in 'The New York Review of Bird', where an angry author ties up a bookshop manager and reads bestsellers to her until she breaks under the torture (it doesn't take long) and reveals the names of the evil clan who dictate her purchasing decisions. Just browse in sections you don't usually visit – children's fiction, gardening, poetry, whatever – and let stuff take you by surprise. Alternatively, go to a non-corporate bookshop if you can find one – there are currently three in the UK (individual shops I mean), though by the time you read this message that will probably have changed.  Or find a second-hand bookshop. Balm for the troubled soul. Great books, lovely editions, reasonable prices. The hard part is leaving. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.234.91 |
" . . . an angry author ties up a bookshop manager and reads bestsellers to her until she breaks under the torture (it doesn't take long) and reveals the names of the evil clan who dictate her purchasing decisions." Priceless!  | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 77.86.108.178 |
My brain won't do horror anymore. It won't think it. I can't think of anything scary! Erm...a ghost...erm...with a hat...has a cup of tea...ARGH!see? | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
I agree with those who've recommended The Tooth fairy. Brilliant book. Anything by Graham Joyce is worth picking up. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.114.128 |
Joel - thank you. Yes, I wanted to burn down the shop, because of the good stuff and the bad, envy and loathing. And yes, I went to the graphic novels (always worth a look) and the kids section (less so, these days), as well as art and photography. Today I tried again and still found nothing, but ended up ordering on their site, and finding stuff cheaper there - I bought Watchmen (never read it) and another GN called Exit Wounds. I usually can't afford these things but can with pressies like this, and they're nice things. I love second hand shops, btw. There's something about older covers that is just so - and the text doesn't have all this white space around it, the lines spaced out to make the book seem longer than it is. And heck, but I like the smell of old, yellow books. And their atmospheric, tangy artwork. | ||
| Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts) Username: Tom_alaerts Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.243.20.8 |
Tony, You will like Watchmen, it's a surprisingly rich comic. If you still have your voucher, perhaps you may want to check the new Peter Ackroyd: "The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein". It looks pretty interesting. And, very different, if you're prepared to cough up another 20 quid, then this one is a book you'll treasure for life: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=5247270 | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
>>Anything by Graham Joyce is worth picking up.<< Hear-hear. He's a wonderful writer - one of my favourites. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 87.102.81.100 |
A zombie pushing a pram filled with live babies. That's quite scary. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Or a shopping trolley filled with live babies. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 87.102.81.100 |
Mmm. That would be more blatant. But prams are scarier than shopping trolleys. Did I mention it was one of those old style prams? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.217.212 |
No, and it makes a difference.  | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.114.128 |
There's a lovely dene near us and it's filled with trolleys. They've turned into slime green cages and no-one's taken them away, only kept bringing them. I wish the determination for both was the other way round. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
I would love to see shoppers using slimey green trolleys. Zombie trolleys, if you will. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.114.128 |
I keep wanting to collect them all up and leave them outside a chav's house or something, or wall them in inside a moat of the things. It's a despicable sight. Oh, where i've been working, supporting a chap, we've just found out the old lady next door has been dead in her bath for THREE MONTHS. It's all boarded up there now, and feels like a haunted house. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.110.221.167 |
My girlfriend Michelle got locked in the school she attends an evening class at last night, and even though she's not a horror fan, she was very aware of all the movies she was currently auditioning for. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.110.221.167 |
if you've still any money left, Tony, I've heard good things about Peter Ackroyd's THE CASEBOOK OF VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN. |