General Weird discusion thread

[Lobolover]

Ellison-I HAVE read "I have no mouth and I must scream" and ,well,I think modernity kind of hurts it,though it is stil very good.

 

[j d worthington]

Ellison-I HAVE read "I have no mouth and I must scream" and ,well,I think modernity kind of hurts it,though it is stil very good.

Ummm... how could you even have that tale without the modernity? Or are you meaning the term differently than I'm taking it? And I'd be curious to know what you mean by it hurting the tale...?

In any event, try some of Ellison's other work -- he has been quite prolific -- as he's come a long way since that very important, very powerful, and very seminal story.

 

[Lobolover]

I mean that,wel,the thing about "the computer"-I know how it was meant,but somehow it seems cold war esque to me.

And-finished "sea raiders" from Wells Thirty.Im curious as to why HPL didnt refernce this particular tale,as I know this would probably be what he liked.

 

[j d worthington]

On "The Sea Raiders" -- there may be a reference to this in some of his letters; I don't recall if he mentions this one specifically, but he did talk about Wells and his reaction to his work in a way which probably explains his
not mentioning this one in particular.

As for the Ellison story -- well, it was somewhat "Cold War-esque", as it was written in the middle of the Cold War, when many of the concerns behind the tale were particularly high -- especially about the stupidity of either or both sides continuing to escalate the technology of destruction without regard to human life (recall the neutron bomb, which was supposed to destroy organic life, but leave structures intact, for instance). You cite "the computer" and say you know "how it was meant" -- there have been varying interpretations of this story over the years, so I'm curious: what do you have in mind there?

In this case, I would hardly agree that such points harm the tale; rather they provides its center. Ellison does sometimes write a tale just to entertain; but in general he's a writer very driven by moral and ethical concerns, which he conveys with great passion.

 

[Dee_hee]

I've just ventured away from my YA writing and gone into SF/Paranornal.

A tale of weird teenagers, called "Children of Another Mind."

When it comes out I'll post some more

 

[Lobolover]

Incidently,.yesterday I lonaed myself two colections-one is one called "Thirteen strange stories" by Hans Henny Jahn-ever heard the name?

The other is a colection of short stories by Gustave Meyrink,having both his fragment of a novel "The house of the alchemist",but also his short stories-though they seem to apear more as essays in the beginign on things like tantrism,zen and all that,they develop-"The Strange City",even if it is kind of essaic in Nature evokes both the strangeness of old Prague * and a certain horror of a decaying coprs,lying for centuries in a deep hole.Then theres "the clock maker/repairer" (do you have any ONE word for that),which, even if reminescent of some of the existentionalist or essayist short stories,stil has its moments.

Hoping to start the short "Woman without a mouth" (what a joy that would be ) soon-as ive only managed to finish those two stories till now.

 

[j d worthington]

On the word: usually that's referred to simply under the umbrella title of "clock (or watch) maker" or "horologist"....

The name rings a bell (is it Jahnn, with two n's?), but nothing definite comes to mind.

Of Meyrink's work, I've only read The Golem and a short story or two, and that was long, long ago... I really need to look into more of his tales....

 

[Lobolover]

Hnas Henny Jahnn-1894-1959-wrote things like Pastor Ephraim Magnus (1919)
Ill try to transcript some of theese Meyrink stories and hurry them of to you
.

 

[j d worthington]

Hnas Henny Jahnn-1894-1959-wrote things like Pastor Ephraim Magnus (1919)
Ill try to transcript some of theese Meyrink stories and hurry them of to you
.

While I appreciate the offer, there really is no hurry; I'm having trouble keeping up with any reading at the moment, what with the work schedule, trying to find a new place to live, and packing for the move. But thank you, nonetheless....

 

[Connavar]

I finally read Harlan Ellison and my first was the fantasy short story Paladin of The Lost Hour.

A very nice tale. What i liked was the energy and emotion he put into the story. You didnt care there was nothing fantastic about the story until the last pages.


Is it something wrong with the search option or is there really no Ellison thread ?

I think i read a thread of his before in chrono.

 

[j d worthington]

Yes, passion is one of the great strong points in Ellison's writing. His aren't tales you can easily pull back from and coolly examine -- people tend to either love or hate his work, there are very few who maintain a middle ground.

As for threads here... there are a couple:

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/11559-harlan-ellison-bibliography.html

(which I need to update a bit)

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/11547-h-e.html

for more discussion...

I also brought him up in one of the general fantasy discussion threads, along with Moorcock:

Deeper Than the Darkness

and he's been mentioned elsewhere as well, of course....

 

[Connavar]

Ah good to see some threads of his.

It was so good that i had the urge to read more of his as soon as i finished the story.

I enjoy urban/contemporary fantasy it was nice seeing a story like by a writer of his quality. He is at the top of the list of my next book haul ! I will get some really tick collection of to satisfy my urge for his stories

 

[Lobolover]

well,finished Alraune yesterday.

Heres my review:a nice and capable weird book with litle to no ,pardon my french, ˝screw-ups˝.Im a bit curious how HPL felt about some of the erotical implications at bits throughout the book.

Also-to Frank Braun-In the first half of the book hes a ˝literary *******˝ of a quality ive yet to see equaled.He calms down later but this would actualy make me want to go and read ˝The sorcerors aprentice˝-however thats gonna be a tad dificult.

 

[AE35Unit]

I read my first Robert Bloch story last night. A short piece called Hungarian Rhapsody in The Mammoth book of Vampires. Its from the 50s but I loved the sense of humour in it,despite it being a horror tale,very good. Now I want to find more of course! Did he write novels too?

 

[j d worthington]

Indeed he did. The most famous, of course, being Psycho, upon which the Alfred Hitchcock film was based:

Robert Bloch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bloch was a prolific writer in several fields: science fiction, fantasy, horror, humor, mystery/suspense... not to mention plenty of screenplays for both the silver and the small screen... and non-fiction, as well....

His work is noted for his often dry, sometimes outrageous, sense of humor, but he could also write a perfectly straightforward tale, often grim and atmospheric. He was a much more versatile writer than, from what I've seen, most people seem to realize....

 

[Lobolover]

Well,I finished The Beckoning Fair One and The Isle of Voices.Well,I know what youve been saying about the Stevenson.Could you please mention the Stevenson stories again ?

Also,have just started Dwellers in the Mirage.What I wanted to ask is how did you like Brood of the Witch Queen,as im geting to that shortly.

 

[AE35Unit]

:





He was a much more versatile writer than, from what I've seen, most people seem to realize....

Yes i think due to Psycho I imagine he could be one of the most underrated authors out there! Thats the trouble with a big hit,it tends to take over and people forget the author. I call it the Sherlock Holmes effect.

 

[Lobolover]

Well,yes,but Doyle wrote alot of surprisingly mediocre stories of the ˝ghostly˝ or strange kind.Take The Beetle Colector-All that buildup ruined.

 

[j d worthington]

Doyle wrote a fair number of mediocre stories, period. Alongside those, however, he also wrote some true gems in various genres.

As for the Rohmer -- oddly enough, I had never been able to find a copy of that one until fairly recently, so I've not read it at this point. On the Stevenson stories, the ones I'd most recommend would be The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, "Olalla", "Thrawn Janet", "The Body Snatchers", "Markheim" and (albeit in a much less "weird" sense than is usually meant here) "Will o' the Mill"....

 

[Lobolover]

Olalla sounds well.And Doyle had most of his mediocre works in things like Round the fire stories.Then again,Jellands jounrey,though fairly short,is utterly chilling,even if it lasts shortly and has litle to no macabreness-maybe besides a certain cruelty of fate.