Second Time
March 3, 2009 at 12:16 pm (Uncategorized) (beneath the surface, ghost stories, horror, hp lovecraft, strantzas)
So it’s two or three days after setting this damn thing up and I’m beginning to think to myself, what is there to say? I’m reminded horribly of my attempts to keep a diary when I was younger, all disastrous through a mix of laziness and the general mundanity of my life. By that I don’t mean my life is dull, or boring or in some way lacking – it’s not (although a slightly bigger house so I could own more books and DVDs would be nice!), it’d just that it only seems to be of interest to me (and, where diaries are concerned, even I can’t see the benefit years from now of knowing what I did on, say, May 3rd 1992 – “Bored. Watched TV. Drank.”). My friend Simon Strantzas (www.strantzas.com) always seems to be able to write insightful, intersting blogs and I can’t help but think, I’m going to be such a disapointment in comparison. Oh well.
So, we’ve established that I’m not going to stun or enlighten you, but I may as well at least inform you:
Go and read Rob Shearman’s excellent Tiny Deaths collection – won a World Fantasy Award (well deserved, I might add), and a story from it (Damned if you Do) was nominated for a WFA. It didn’t win (and my personal favourite in the collection is actually So Proud), which is a huge shame because it’s a stunning story, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Read John Probert’s Coffin Nails (published by the ever-excellent AshTree Press), it’s a gleefully brilliant, fun collection.
Read Simon Strantzas’ Beneath the Surface – very dour and excellent collection of tales. Oh, wait, you can’t ‘cos it’s sold out. Never mind – I’ll reread it and tell you how good it is.
Don’t watch Simon Mason’s The Devils’ Chair – it’s crap.
Listen to the HP Lovecraft Historical Society’s audio dramas of At the Mountains of Madness, The Dunwich Horror and Shadow Over Innsmouth – all brilliant.
Listen to the BBC’s dramatisation of The Midwich Cuckoos – excellent, and Bill Nighy just drips class.
I think that’s enough for now. I’ll add more as I think about it, or when I’ve actually got something worth saying.
