David A. Riley's Blog, page 96

Nunkie Audio Presents

I first watched Robert Lloyd Parry at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton in 2013 when he did two one man performances of M. R. James' ghost stories to a packed audience late one night in the convention hotel. Never have I seen James' stories brought to life more effectively nor as dramatically. It was absolutely superb and there wasn't a single member of the audience who didn't enjoy it enthusiastically.

So, when I discovered, that Robert Lloyd Parry, under his Nunkie Audio imprint, has audio versions of his performances available, I couldn't wait to get hold of some.

The first I ordered are Curious Creatures: The Shorter Horror of M. R. James and Two Strange Tales by Lucy M. Boston. Curious Creatures includes A Livermere Poem, A School Story, A Night in King's College, The Malice of Inanimate Objects, There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard, After Dark in the Playing Fields, Stories I Have Tried to Write, Rats, and A Vignette. These come on two CDs. Two Strange Tales by Lucy M. Boston includes The Tiger-Skin Rug and Curfew. Lucy M. Boston (1892-1990) was the author of the acclaimed Green Knowe novels for children.

The quality of these CDs is absolutely top notch. As is Robert Lloyd Parry's performance, bringing the written word to life as I have rarely heard it before. Even if you are completely familiar with any or all of these stories, I can guarantee they will sound fresh again as you probably thought they never would. Parry's performance, the way he uses his voice, not only creates an intense atmosphere, he also adds or highlights with impeccable skill any hints of humour in the tales without at all diminishing the impact of their climax. Stunning.

The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug

We went to watch The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug at the Vue cinema in Accrington yesterday - and thoroughly enjoyed it. A long film but, apart from some of the chase sequences perhaps going on just a little too long, far from boring. The special effects were superb and Smaug the most impressive dragon I have seen so far in any movie. I feel a bit sorry for the orcs, mind. Not only are they cursed by being ugly but are the worst fighters anywhere. For all their aggression they don't seem able, whatever their numbers, to kill even one dwarf, hobbit or elf in any of their fights, at least onscreen. If I were them I'd give up any hopes of martial victory and take up farming instead. Or wrestling. As warriors they're rubbish.

Deadwood

Watched the very last episode of Deadwood today. Sheer quality right to the very end - though I wish it had not finished mid-season. So many ongoing storylines left unresolved. Mind you, (Spoiler Alert, maybe) Ian McShane had a great last line to finish on as he's busily scrubbing away at blood (yet again).

I'll miss all the characters created in this series - and the moral ambiguity that played such a major part in it and helped to make it so realistic.

Copies of The Return arrive via UPS

My author's copies of my novel The Return arrived via UPS today from my publisher Blood Bound Books. My first copies were lost en route so Marc Ciccarone kindly arranged for a second batch to be shipped to me.

Back from the Dead - back again!

I have been informed by Johnny Mains, who edited and published the award-winning anthology, Back from the Dead in a limited 150 edition hardcover in 2010, that it will be reprinted this year in paperback format by Spectral Press, probably in September. Although there will be a few alterations to the original anthology, my story, The True Spirit, will again be in it.

This is what I have been told will be the cover art for the book:

FantasyCon 2014

Well, that's not only the convention booked, but we have also booked our room at the convention hotel for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

The Smell of Evil by Charles Birkin

THE Smell of Evilby Charles Birkin
Published by Valancourt BooksISBN: 976-1-939140-74-6December 2013, £11.99 PB
Dennis Wheatley is quoted on the back cover as stating “More than a definite touch of the great master, Edgar Allan Poe.”  Well intentioned though that comparison may have been, it is totally misleading. Birkin’s style is as far from Poe’s as it could possibly be. You’ll rarely find anything approaching the Gothic horror’s of Poe within the dark tales of human evil in Birkin’s stories. Invariably set within the contemporary world the characters in these thirteen tales are firmly based on reality, whether they be self-deceived German gardeners working within the shadow of Second World War concentration camps or young tearaways escaping from a race riot in 1960s London, the horrors within these stories are of man’s (or woman’s) own making.
With an elegant writing style, Birkin shows his complete mastery of the conte cruel, leading the reader on to some of the most sadistic climaxes in literature. He rarely uses the supernatural, though when he does, as in “Little Boy Blue”, he is as proficient in this as in his more usual kind of story.
Born in 1907, Charles Birkin (later Sir Charles Birkin) had a long literary career, editing the Creepsseries for Philip Allan in the 1930s, as well as an inaugural collection of his own stories, Devil’s Spawn (1936), before laying his writing to one side during the Second World War when he served in the Sherwood Foresters. Many of his most infamous stories stem from his experiences towards and just after the end of the war when he witnessed first hand what men were really capable of doing. It was not till the 1960s, though, that he began writing again with the encouragement of his friend, Wheatley. The Smell of Evil was the first of seven collections published during that decade, culminating in Spawn of Satan in 1970. After living in Cyprus for several years he died in the Isle of Man in 1985.
Long out of print, other than for several hard cover, now collectible volumes from Midnight House, it is wonderful  to see Valancourt Books at last bringing an easily affordable collection to a new reading public. It would be even more wonderful if over the next few years if the rest of Birkin’s collections are brought back into print.
This volume is rounded out with an insightful introduction by John Llewellyn Probert.

Sherlock

Still the best ever Holmes The Daily Telegraph has asked: Is Benedict Cumberbatch the greatest ever Holmes?

A stupid question really, which anyone who has watched more than a few intepretations of the character would be able to answer No straight away. 

The only way I can enjoy Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock is by pretending that he is a completely different character to the Holmes created by Conan Doyle and that he just happens to share the same name - which I don't think is far from the truth. 

The best Holmes interpretation relating to Doyle's original creation must, of course, be Jeremy Brett. I doubt if anyone will ever outdo him, certainly in my lifetime. I do admit that, as a quirky genius criminal investigator, Cumberbatch's Sherlock is outstanding - even if I personally feel that much of what we get in the stories is too self indulgent a lot of the time and far too daft at others. It's a comedy, on a par with Robert Downey Jnr's equally self indulgent, equally daft films. 

"Death May Die" Lovecraft Scary Solstice New Year's carol

Audio version - Fish Eye

One of the great things about having a story published in the Lovecraft eZine is that they also do an audio version. I had a story, Fish Eye, published in the 16th issue. This is a link to download the audio version of this story, superbly well read by Vincent LaRosa: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/lajcaf