Chris Bolton (May 22, 1999)I'm not entirely sure why, but while perusing Ash-Tree's site recently, ostensibly to look at MIDNIGHT JACK based on John's recommendation in CEMETERY DANCE, I found myself irresistibly drawn to Capes' THE BLACK REAPER. It looks very, very interesting to me. I only have the funds for *one* book at Ash-Tree's prices, so I guess I'm asking two questions here:1. What do y'all think of Capes and/or THE BLACK REAPER?
and...
2. Which of Ash-Tree's library is the absolute *must-have* for a first-timer with the money for only one?
Thanks.
Chris A. Bolton
oOo
John Pelan (May 23, 1999)
Chris Bolton wrote:
> 2. Which of Ash-Tree's library is the absolute *must-have* for a
first-timer with the money for only one?Tough, tough question...
You'll note that both the Metcalfe and Capes collections appear on my core collection list (as do a few other A-TP titles). You can get an alternative to the Capes volume by buying the Equation paperback. It's not complete, but certainly better than not having any Capes at all... The Metcalfe is a great collection and no affordable alternatives exist, I've held the Arkham edition of THE FEASTING DEAD in my hands at numerous conventions and could never bring myself to part with the $100.00+ that the book sells for. Metcalfe's other collections are quite difficult to come by and expensive so NIGHTMARE JACK would be my pick if I could buy only one...
Oh, you'll hate me for this, but you might as well put THE NIGHT WIND HOWLS by Frederick Cowles on your list as a "must have". Since it contains two books that I could never afford as well as a previously unpublished collection, it's still a bargain at $50.00.
Cheers,
John
oOo
Christopher Roden (May 25, 1999)
Though Bernard Capes is highly thought of today as a writer of supernatural/horror fiction, a large part of his reputation was made in the mystery genre. To celebrate the birthday of Sherlock Holmes this year, we published an amusing Sherlockian parody by Capes which originally formed a chapter in his THE GREAT SKENE MYSTERY (1907). Entitled A NOTABLE INTERLUDE, it's an attractive little card covered booklet, with a photograph of Capes and an Introduction by Jack Adrian, who sets the parody in the context of Capes's work and provides interesting background information on the author himself. Price isUS$7.50 plus shipping from Calabash Press.Christopher Roden
oOo
Robert Suggs (May 23, 1999)
Chris Bolton wrote:
>1. What do y'all think of Capes and/or THE BLACK REAPER?Don't have it yet, but will soon. I like the Capes I've read.
>2. Which of Ash-Tree's library is the absolute *must-have* for a first-timer
>with the money for only one?Ah, Mister Bolton has offered us a poser! Take a good look at Marjorie Bowen--though you can cheat and get the inexpensive and thoroughly rewarding Kecksies from Arkham House--but the size and selection of Twilight Tales makes it as good a buy, really, and you get a fine biographical piece and critical commentary. Neither can you go wrong with Metcalfe or Cowles. It's been a strong and prolific year for ATP, so the better course would be to buy more than one. You should be ashamed of yourself for using a phrase such as "the money for only one." Wherever you may live, whatever may be the details of your lifestyle, there are many illegal ways to procure money, some involving violence, deceit and treachery, some only the latter two. Just follow this newsgroup and you'll find many souls with far less cranial wattage than yourself, mining the Internet for money through spamming. But Chris, you need not resort to such desperate tactics as spamming or knocking off convenience stores, nor even offering weekends at resort communities through telemarketing. Someone as enterprising as I know you to be could easily buy three, four, five fine Ash-Tree volumes merely through the increasingly popular pastime of white-collar crime. Take a look around you . . .
a) Are there lonely elderly women in your apartment complex?
b) Does an idiot run the accounting department at your firm?
c) Do you have an expense account?
d) Take inventory of your office supplies. What would your computer terminal, the laser printer, or other corporate property get you on the black market?
e) How far are you from British Columbia? It would be worth the gasoline or even an airline ticket if you were able to break into the Rodens' home and come away with a few boxes. They're chasing a baby around the house and would never hear you. Tell me which night you'll be there and I'll call them on the phone as a diversionary tactic. Chris, my advice to you is get a checkup from the neck up. The only thing holding you back from a fine library is your own lack of positive thinking. Be creative. Visualize. SEE what can be.
Rob
your personal motivational trainer
P.S. How far are you from Seattle? You could hit at LEAST a couple of addresses I know of in one night. See what I mean? E-mail me and I'll tell you who I'm talking about.oOo
John Pelan (May 23, 1999)
LOL!John
--
"It's a jungle out there, try not to look like food"oOo
rbadac (May 23, 1999)
That is THE most reprehensible thing I have EVER read.Rob, I'm still waiting for you to beep me. I've been crouched in the bushes behind Bolton's house for a week. When is he leaving? I'm hungry and tired. Bugs are trying to move into my sneaker. This black wool pullover itches. The beer ran out days ago. And I gotta....oops, never mind. Okay, I can wait a LITTLE longer.
rbadac, wishing he'd gone into an honest trade and not listened to that rascally Rob...at least he left me this laptop-- hey ! Let go of that, you mangy mutt !! I'm not through typ*&@%()(^@$*^%$W#^%
oOo
Reed Andrus (May 23, 1999)
> rbadac, wishing he'd gone into an honest trade and not listened to that
> rascally Rob...at least he left me this laptop-- hey ! Let go of that, you
> mangy mutt !! I'm not through typ*&@%()(^@$*^%$W#^%Geez, John, with a last line like that you could've at least let the rest of us know if that mangy mutt had a burning three-lobed eye!
... Reed (eating habanero salsa and chips, waiting for the end of the world, and the arrival of the burning, three-lobed starfish)
oOo
rbadac (May 27, 1999)
Yum ! Don't rub your eyes. Habeneros are unforgiving.Now what's all this apocalyptic blather about a burning, three-lobed starfish? Is this a Cthulhuionic prediction I haven't been sent a memo on?
rbadac
oOo
Bill Barnett (May 24, 1999)
[LeFanu... Help!]Reading some semi-recent posts on LeFanu, I realized it's been about ten years since I read MADAM CROWL'S GHOST, and about two since finally reading "Carmilla", and that was all I'd read. So it seemed like I owed it to the rest of you to crack open BEST GHOST STORIES and fill in the gaps. Just finished the serial novel THE HAUNTED BARONET; first and foremost, I have a vocabulary question. In speaking of the late Sir Jasper Mardykes, Richard Turnbull says '"and nothin' about him, they say, to make anyone like or love him, ill-faur'd and little and dow." "Dow--that's gloomy," Doctor Torvey instructed the Captain aside.'
What does "dow" mean?! It's used a few more times in the story, and I can't find a definition that seems to fit. (Though I don't have access to an OED that I know of...) So I appeal to you worthies to help me out, please!
On reading "Carmilla" I decided that LeFanu was a master of the gothic setting, a conclusion reaffirmed in reading "Baronet". I was also pleased with the variety of supernatural elements, especially the bird- people-ghosts. Great stuff. Though in Chapter XXIII, "A Lady in Black", LeFanu seems to have suddenly decided to move things along quickly, bringing in new characters, introducing new subplots, and including the sentence "And thus several years passed."
Another question I have is about the term "county", as in "county people". I've deduced that this refers not to the entire population of the county, but only the gentry. Could someone give some history of this application of the term?
To Chris Bolton: don't worry about the first Ash-Tree Press volume you buy, once you have it you'll be hooked and will devise your own hare- brained schemes for getting more, just like the rest of us. The thing to keep in mind is, if you EVER want to read one of these books, YOU MUST BUY A COPY NOW! You will never come across a copy of GHOST GLEAMS in a used bookstore for $5; Cowles? FAGEDDABOUTIT-- buy one now! Maybe your library will get a copy, and you read that one? HA! Libraries do not have the money to buy exquisite collections of ghost stories that will be read by only a SELECT few (and rbadac too). Do you have other books? SELL THEM, and send the proceeds to Ash-Tree Press. You'll always be able to find another copy of OTHER books. And this way you'll never have to worry about getting hooked on hard drugs: you won't have the money even to BEGIN to develop a habit. (Hey, that gives me an idea... maybe we could start, in the tradition of the successful "cash for guns" programs, a "books for crack" or "books for smack" program... Call me a dreamer, but I think it could work!)
Bill B.
oOo
Randy Money (May 24, 1999)
Bill Barnett wrote:
> What does "dow" mean?! It's used a few more times in the story, and I
> can't find a definition that seems to fit. (Though I don't have
> access to an OED that I know of...) So I appeal to you worthies to
> help me out, please!Dour?
Randy
oOo
Bill Barnett (May 24, 1999)
> Dour?
>
> Randy
I actually thought of that, but wondered why LeFanu would have Dr. Torvey merely spout a synonym. My impression was that he is offering a subjective opinion of the specific condition of being "dow". Maybe it's just my natural predisposition to make things more complicated than they are.
Bill B.
oOo
Randy Money (May 24, 1999)
Or my natural predisposition to find the nearest working escape hatch.Randy
oOo
THATGuyAB (May 24, 1999)
Try using http//www.onelook.comIt looks up the words in several dictionaries (500 of em at last count) many old ones
oOo
Dan Clore (May 24, 1999)
Webster's Third New International Dictionary gives an intransitive verb dow meaning "to fade away" or "become dull and withered". Perhaps this gives the clue.Dan Clore
oOo
rbadac (May 25, 1999)
And fortunately I live at the library, where I oft take naps underneath the good ol' OED, hoping 'twill infect me whilst I sleep...So. Here's what that vererable authority has to say about 'dow:'
Listing Number One
1. to be good, strong, valiant, vigorous, etc. Nahh, that ain't it.2. To be valid or of value; to be worth or good for anything. Nope.
3., 4., 5., 6. essentially the same-- some obscure Gaelic usage, no doubt.
Listing Number Two (!)
1., 2., 3. To enrich with property, no, no, we don't want this either...!Listing Number Three (!!) 1. To lose brightness or freshness (finally !) to fade; to become dull or musty...
Listing Number Four
1. To press, squeeze, wring, oh for God's sake...Listing Number Five
1. obscure form of DOUGH-- give me a break !Listing Number Six
1. earlier and more correct form of DHOW (a boat).I vote Number Three. Remind me never to buy an Oxford. They take aeons to get to a point...
rbadac, n. prob. obsc. Gael., der. frm. Arbadach, a windy old pedant
oOo
Bill Barnett (May 25, 1999)
Thank you Randy, Dan, and rbadac. Sure sounds like "dour", doesn't it? "Gloomy" works too. I guess the good doctor was simply defining the term for the Captain, who for some reason must have a rather shallow word pool. And in writing it that way LeFanu must have been defining the term for his dimmer readers, not knowing that a century hence he would have still dimmer ones, like yours truly.No takers on the "county people" question?
From the SOME TYPOS ARE FUNNIER THAN OTHERS department: In "The Familiar", page 212:
"He had proceeded thus some way, when he, on a sudden, heard other footballs, pattering at a measured pace, and, as it seemed, about two score steps behind him."
These mysterious pursuing footballs seem to prefigure the giant single one in THE PRISONER...
Bill B.
oOo
Steve Wise (May 25, 1999)
Bill Barnett wrote:
> Thank you Randy, Dan, and rbadac. Sure sounds like "dour", doesn't it?It probably means "dull" but not "dour", which is closer to "fierce". The OED I got hold of does not list "dow" as an adjective, but as a verb it speculates that in dialectical Scottish it can mean "to dull", probably related to "dowse", as a person tends to become befuddled and tractable after being held under water for a long time, possibly an early treatment for agitation.
-Steve Wise
oOo
rbadac (May 26, 1999)
> These mysterious pursuing footballs seem to prefigure the giant single
> one in THE PRISONER...
>
> Bill B.(I loved that show...)
Yes, Kafka had read this story before writing 'Blumfeld, An Elderly Bachelor.'
That's a joke.
Hello?
(sigh)
rbadac, who not only gets no respect, but precious little comprehension
oOo
John Brower (May 25, 1999)
rbadac wrote:
> Listing Number Three (!!) 1. To lose brightness or freshness (finally !) to
> fade; to become dull or musty...This could be the origin of the currently popular exclamation "D'oh!".
John Brower
ooOoo