Book Hauls!

[nomadman]

Seven Viking Romances
Bhagavad Gita
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling
Powers of Darkness by Robert Aickman
Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman
The Three Impostors by Arthur Machen (Chaosium release)
The Imago Sequence by Laird Barron

[j. d. worthington]

I really need to pick up a copy of The Imago Sequence -- the more I hear about it, the better it sounds... and it began by sounding rather strong in the first place....

Cold Hand in Mine? Is this the first time you've had/read this one? If so, I look forward to your thoughts, as both it and Painted Devils are superb collections of truly "strange" stories....

And I received in the mail yesterday, the third, revised, edition of Robert Bloch's Mysteries of the Worm, which includes four stories not in previous editions. Not Bloch at his best (in general), but I like a lot of his concepts and the atmosphere he wove in a lot of these tales; his development of the idea/character of Nyarlathotep; and various other aspects... and it's interesting watching him grow as a writer, from the highly imitative to someone with his own distinctive voice -- a shift from pastiche to hommage; and some of the tales are very good themselves....

[pyan]

Couldn't wait for the paperback - went out and bought Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold in h/b, an honour usually reserved for Sir Terry...

[woodsman]

Originally Posted by pyan

Couldn't wait for the paperback - went out and bought Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold in h/b, an honour usually reserved for Sir Terry...

It's well worth it in my opinion. A fair few characters you'll be familiar with as well...

Abercrombie is my find for this year I think.

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by nomadman

Seven Viking Romances
Bhagavad Gita
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling
Powers of Darkness by Robert Aickman
Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman
The Three Impostors by Arthur Machen (Chaosium release)
The Imago Sequence by Laird Barron

Nice...

I've got the first 3 plus the Machen and hope to get hold of the Imago Sequence like a few others around here.....

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Ancestral Shadows: an anthology of ghostly tales by Russell Kirk.

I've read some of his stories in anthologies, thought it would be interesting to read this collection.

[dask]

Originally Posted by knivesout

Ancestral Shadows: an anthology of ghostly tales by Russell Kirk.

I've read some of his stories in anthologies, thought it would be interesting to read this collection.

A Russell Kirk anthology? Cool! Is this a new book, or an out-of-print copy?

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by dask

A Russell Kirk anthology? Cool! Is this a new book, or an out-of-print copy?

Was curious about that myself; apparently it is a new book, and is still easily available:

Amazon.com: Ancestral Shadows: An Anthology of Ghostly Tales (9780802839381): Russell Kirk: Books

A few years ago, I picked up a two-volume set of all of his short ghostly fiction from Ash-Tree Press: Off the Sand Road and What Shadows We Pursue. I haven't yet had a chance to read them, but I have read enough of Kirk's work in the genre to know I'm in for a very special treat....

Today, I received a package in the mail containing two books whose arrival I have been quite looking forward to:

Weird Inhabitants of Sesqua Valley, by W. H. Pugmire
Lovecraft Unbound, ed. by Ellen Datlow

[dask]

Thanks for the link. Don't buy too many new books anymore but if I get any kind of Christmas bonus this year --- guess what! OLD HOUSE OF FEAR, huh? Looks interesting too.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

Weird Inhabitants of Sesqua Valley, by W. H. Pugmire

I've ordered this too. Some time back there was an interview with Pugmire on Jeffrey Thomas' blog, including a very small excerpt from a Pugmire story. The interview, and the excerpt, and JD's mention of the author earlier this momth have whetted my interest considerable.

The Russell Kirk antho is rather good. Not all the tales play out equally effective, but even in the weaker stories Kirk's mastery of character and setting is brilliant as is his slow accretion of suspenseful details.

[j. d. worthington]

Danke for the confidence....

And yes, Kirk was one of the very few who could actually do a "traditional" ghost story well. A. F. Kidd (Chico Kidd) is another -- I have her Summoning Knells, but again, have not read the collection yet. I have read a few of the stories in it before, though, hence bought the collection....

[dask]

I'm cheating. I didn't actually buy these but saw them for the first time tonight at a bookstore on the southside of town. I thought they were of enough interest to mention here.

THE VAMPIRE ARCHIVES edited by Otto Penzler. Thick softcover, $25.

VAMPIRE STORIES ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE edited by Robert Eighteen-Bisang (sic) and Martin H. Greenberg. Softcover, $14.95

RUDYARD KIPLING'S TALES OF HORROR AND FANTASY edited by Stephen Jones. Another thickie, $14.95

Wish I was rich.

[Diggler]

Originally Posted by dask

Wish I was rich.

You and I both

I bought We Can Build You and Clans of the Alphane Moon by Phil Dick. Think that makes around 20 Dick books now

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

Danke for the confidence....

And yes, Kirk was one of the very few who could actually do a "traditional" ghost story well. A. F. Kidd (Chico Kidd) is another -- I have her Summoning Knells, but again, have not read the collection yet. I have read a few of the stories in it before, though, hence bought the collection....

You're welcome...in fact the Pugmire book arrived yesterday and I began reading it. While it gets to an uneven start, it soon had me quite rapt. Pugmire writes weird fiction from the inside - as if the inhabitants of Dunwich or Arkham had started writing their own tales. Very interesting, and story by story, actually pretty horrific even if the poetic language and air of sensuality make it seem more like a decadent dream or dark fantasy.

I believe I've read stories by Kidd in anthologies - another name to track down. On a similar note, I've heard that Scott Thomas (Jeffrey Thomas' brother) writes pretty good ghost stories cast in a traditional mould.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Originally Posted by dask

VAMPIRE STORIES ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE edited by Robert Eighteen-Bisang (sic) and Martin H. Greenberg. Softcover, $14.95

Really? Doyle wrote several very fine horror stories, most of which I think I have - but I don't recall any real vampire stories among the lot, and the sole vampire encountered by Holmes is of course revealed to be nothing of the sort.

Hm, going by this, it's really a bit of a stretch and an attempt to cash in on the ongoing vampire craze.

If you are new to Doyle's horror stories, I'd suggest you skip this and try and get the omnibus The Conan Doyle Stories, a lovely collection of his non-Holmesian stories, including most if not all of his horror stories.