Group Read: Fruiting Bodies...the first attempt

[Nathan]

These are my comments, questions, and notes. Some of the questions do not require the reading of the story, so if you wanna jump in with an answer...cool. smile.gif

Any comments, questions, or notes of your own welcome... smile.gif

The Man Who Felt Pain

Whoa! Not much you can say about that...it would suck! I think I'd be hoping that we were the only beings in the universe too! Human and animal pain is quite enough, thankyou very much...who knows what kind of pain aliens endure!! I don't get into SciFi a whole lot anymore but, as usual, BL can put a scary twist on just about anything and make it cool...and different!

Question--There's a paragraph on the second page that talks about a bush thats leaves react to heat applied to a single leaf...and all the other bushes like it in the vacinity as well! And also the organisms in the ocean...polyps, coral, etc. that react to the pain of their entire colony. Does anyone know the name of either the bush or the organisms? Or if they are in fact in existence or just fictional?

Note--In that same paragraph, it gives me yet another clue on something that I always wonder about my favo(u)rite authors...especially BL...Is he a believer? I asked that question here before and no one really wanted to discuss it. And really no need here either...just an observation. smile.gif

The Pit-Yakker

This one I had already read. I didn't remember it from its title but as I started reading, I knew I'd already read it...somewhere. Probably one of many short story collections I have read that included other authors...I don't think I even knew who Brian Lumley was when I read it! Regardless, I liked it as much now as I did then! Classic tale of brutal justice. As much as I like horror (and even at times like seeing the "good guy" get slaughtered) stories like this leave me depressed. Starting off with the nostalgic topic of first love, making you care about the character. Making you remember your own fond experiences only to have the rug yanked from under you at the last moment...or the lovely young lady get brutalized!! The justice Josh dealt was good, but the depression was not...

Question--Not to get the whole "Info on British Culture" thing going again, but...what is meant by the phrase, "smelled of bread and dripping...? And what's a florin? Trivial yes...but I'm curious!! :D I love the way you guys talk! :D

Note--This is not something I'd have noticed when I first read it but Harden? Hartlepool? Umm...yeah...that's where Harry went to school, right? I got kinda the same feel of Josh that I got from Harry's classmates...a loner, dreading the life of a miner that seemed to be the fate of every male growing up in the area. Could he have been a classmate? Think Brian felt that way? His note at the top seems to indicate it... And Raymond reminded me a little of Stanley Green too. Not really a bully like Stanley but definately a little twisted...probably just the location that makes them seem the same.

The Thin People

Hmmm...Crouch End. I do indeed remember the Stephen King story! I don't know where you guys are reading these stories, but Fruiting Bodies has little notes about each story before it begins. For this particular story, Brian mentions Stephen King, Peter Straub, Peter Tremayne, and Clive Barker as well as himself, having been to or lived in Crouch End. It's gotta be a freaky place. I think the first I'd heard of Crouch End was in Clive Barker's Imajica. It was a long time ago, but I seem to remember Crouch End being where Gentle discovered his way into one of the Dominions...or something...? Imajica itself...?

Anyway...from what Brian said in his little introduction and the way the story is told, it seemed to me like it's a true story about something Brian had experienced while living there. Told in the first person, I really had to keep reminding myself that it was just a story! But was it? Aside from the Thin People themselves, (which Brian's mind could probably really see when he walked down the street) I wonder if it is accurate. Is Balmy Bill someone he really knew? Did he really live in Larches...where it is scariest...in a thin house?

Question--Have any of you ever been to Crouch End? And where exactly is it? (If you know about Imajica, feel free to refresh my memory if I'm wrong. smile.gif)

Note--We've seen artwork for the Wamphyri, Cthulhu, Psychomech, etc. etc. I want to see someone's rendition of Balmy Bill...as he turned out. :D C'mon!! Seriously!!

[topol_sheap]

N*,

DOes it help if I say I work and live near Crouch end.... It's about halfway bewteen work and home. Never actually been there though,although it does have a magnetism now!

I am sure it's like most London suburbs, although I believe it's different now as London is a very different place from when I lived here last... I was a way for 5 years, and the difference is madenning!

Later,

TOps

[Nathan]

Hmmm...I thought it sounded like part of a bigger city, but I had no idea it was London! Like I said...it's been a long time since I read any of the three 'Crouch End' stories. (Lumley, King, Barker)

In The House of Doors it says that Alec Haggie thought of Newcastle as "London as it had been five years ago..."

Hmmmmmmmmm..........

[Jason of Khem]

N8 - Answers to a couple of your questions.

I guess "smelt of bread and dripping" would allude to the snobby description of someone from a poor background as they'd look, smell and live shabbily, (given that the story was set in post-war Britain) and also that was probably all they could afford to eat.

A florin is a pre-decimal coin. Looked it up and it was worth 2 shillings in the old coinage.

Not been to Crouch End, but in a few of Brian's tales, there are times when even everyday familiar tasks and circumstances can suddenly twist and take on a chilling aspect.

I'm sure wherever you live, there's occasions when you're walking along, mind in the clouds, and you take a wrong turning or try a new short-cut.

Even though you can be right near your house and have lived in the area for years, you suddenly end up on a street you don't recognise or recall being on before, but where the houses and surroundings somehow just don't seem to quite fit in.

The architecture looks like it belongs to another era and you feel like you've stepped into Lovecraft country.

Jason

[Jason of Khem]

With regards to The Man Who Felt Pain, it reminds me of a similar themed story by Roald Dahl that I read in school.

I can't remember the title and the plot is a bit vague but it appeared in one of his "Tales of the Unexpected" anthologies and was also on the TV Show.

The story was a chap could hear all forms of plant life talk. I can't remember if this was a natural ability or if he had built a listening device that enabled him to do so.

Anyway, although it was a fantastic ability, on the downside he could hear the cries of a flower being crushed underfoot or the screams of a tree being chopped down.

The poor sod lost it completely when he walked past a wheat field during harvest time.

I'm not really into Brian's Sci-Fi stories, but you have to feel sorry for the 2 brothers, with one going to live in a (hopefully) relatively safe state from his curse, moving to a lighthouse in the middle of nowhere, only to have a beached whale die on his doorstep and the other brother in turn planning a trip to Saturn to escape the World's pain.

[Jason of Khem]

N8 I agree with the Pit-Yakker being a depressing story.

In my view it gives yet another sad example of the human race. When even Raymond, the local village idiot in the story stoops to murdering Moira, it brings home that anyone of us is capable of true horror that puts the antics of Vampires and their ilk in the shade.

[Nathan]

That reminds me of something I read when I was about twelve! Ever heard of Xanth? A fantasy series by Piers Anthony? That's not the name of the series but the name of the planet...Earth was Mundania. I can't remember the name of the first book, but there were about 15 books in all. I think it was the second book where Dor, son of Bink, had the talent of speaking with inanimate objects...I can't remember if it said anything about feeling their pain though...

I did get what Brian meant by "smelled of bread and dripping," but I couldn't for the life of me figure out where an expression like that could possibly have come from. It just sounds so disgusting!

I've never seen a part of where I live (other than cemetaries) that freaks me out. I guess there's really nothing old enough atround these parts that's very creepy. I sure would like to see Europe to be able to compare my mental visions to the real thing! Even pictures I've seen don't seem to do it justice...

[Nathan]

Good point Jase! At least the Wamphyri have a leech to blame their transgressions on!

At least BL didn't go into too much description on her state...it was horrible enough as it was...all those tools!! :(

[Jason of Khem]

Hiya N8
Nope, never read any Piers Anthony.

I suppose in Raymond's case, poverty does have a certain Dickensian smell to it, that comes from bad housing, sanitation and living near a pit, tannery or workhouse wouldn't help either.

Death by Swiss Amry knife, Ugh! horrible way to go.

At least we'll never know if Raymond finished off Moira with that funny knife attachment, the one that's used for getting stones out of horses' hooves.

You gotta hit Europe mate, just so you can walk down dodgy looking streets.

[Nathan]

Fruiting Bodies

This one reminded me a lot of Gray Matter, a short story by Stephen King...only better. At least with this, we know where the infection came from! The whole idea of an entire town dropping into the ocean is creepy enough without the whole dry rot problem to worry about! I can see why the
story won the award and headed up the book!

What I don't get is why Garth's long-dead wife would be sitting on his couch when Greg went back to check on him. I assume he'd gone and dug her up before she could fall into the sea with her casket, but...why? And why the heck would Ben be in a closet and Garth inside a grandfather clock?


The Man Who Photographed Beardsley

Sick, sick, sick!! The homocidal and homosexual undertones of this one were very disturbing. (EDIT--not that there's anything wrong with that! :D This guy just seemed to take it a bit far. Sorry if I offended anyone...)That is one sick dude! I mean, he says the kid isn't really his type and then proceeds to...well you know. What might he have done to someone that was his type?! Sheesh...those crazy artsy types and their inspirations and methods! I guess it would turn out looking a lot more realistic when the work is done!

Only one question...who's Beardsley? The name is familiar and I feel I should know, but...


The Cyprus Shell

This one sort of went over my head. Someone help me out with what the hell actually happened to the poor sap. Was he turning into what was inside the shell? And in turn, the thing inside the shell taking on his form?


The Deep-Sea Conch

This one didn't get to me too much. Swallowing an ancient species of clam (or whatever) doesn't really freak me too much after reading of Rod Denholm in The House of Doors and his encounter with a certain species of tridacna!

Notes

Being a Stephen King fan, I'm constantly looking for ways in which his stories are connected or related...you have to with him or you don't understand about a quarter of the things he writes! They're all connected in some way. Consequently, I do the same with the other authors I read. I'm sure these observations I have on Lumley might not have been planned. but they are interesting to me nonetheless...

John Beale, from The Deep-Sea Conch was a professor at the same school where Harry was tested as a child. Think Beale might have been a colleage of Jamieson? The man who ultimately introduced Harry to Keenan Gormley and E-branch?

Think Sergeant Graham Lane might have left "The Old Folks" and his brother, Greg for the army, eventually settling "up north" in Hartlepool where he'd become an ally of young Speccy?

I'd also like to add a recommendation for Lumley's books written by F. Paul Wilson that most have probably seen the short version of. I've seen the short version on a couple of Lumley's books, but looking at the back of Fruiting Bodies, I saw the long version and liked it much better...so for those of you who might not have the book...

"At last--something new under the moon. Brian Lumley's skillful mix of epic fantasy and vampire mythology offers wide-angle horror of a scope too rarely seen in modern fiction. His Wamphyri are vicious, savage, ruthless, and unrepentently evil--a feast for the horror fan."

...just thought that was cool. smile.gif The one by Rex Miller is pretty good too.

<FONT COLOR="#660000" SIZE="1">[ 06-21-2001 09:06 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Nathan ]</font>

[Lagula Longarm]

Hi N8...dear oh dear I have the attention span of a potted plant(or words to that effect)I read the stories and then proceded to read most of the others.
I have to agree with most of what you say except for the Cyprus shell which i enjoyed, I'll have a quick scan through them again tonight then post my feelings smile.gif By the way the Viaduct is a most awesome short story, I can't wait to see what you all thought of that. :D

[Lagula Longarm]

Ok you'll have to forgive me because I've never written a revue before, so if it dosen't make any sense...well that's me all over. ;)
Fruiting Bodies

Ihave to agree with N8, if I had to guess the author I would have gone for Steven King. I enjoyed this story, but fekt sorry for poor old Garth. I must admit I was suprised he succumbed to the spores.The thought of turning brittle and then eventually disintergrating into tiny particles of desicated flesh and bone....truly scary.
I would have liked to have found out more about the voodoo, where it came from and why the wood was cursed.

The man who photographed Beardsly

Absolutely marvelous story. The character reminded me of Hanibal Lecter. He was obviously well educated, also an eloquent speaker and I imagine if you had the miss fortune of actually meeting him(God forbid) he would probably be a rather charming character...but wow what a psycho, this guy would shock the wamphyri. It is apparent that he was clinically insane, so he would infact make a perfect murderer, in the respect that he wouldn't bat an eye lid,in deciding either to make you a decent cup of earl grey or slitting your throat.

The Cyprus shell & Deep sea conch

These 2 would be perfect candidates for the twighlight zone. I'm not sure if I find the hypnotic mollusc more scary than a mollusc which trys to inhabit your body.
When I was a small kid, I was playing in a local field when I felt something tickle my ear. When I touched my ear I found a small caterpillar had settled on it somehow. This in itself was no problem until I told my mum !!
She went into great detail telling me about bugs that nter your ear and eat their way through your brain :eek: (thanks mum)
So ever since that day, the thought of a foreign living object entering a persons body, brings back vivid memories of my mothers story about a slow torture, leading to insanity and ultimately a very painful death.

[Jason of Khem]

Better late than never......FB pt II

Have to agree with the other chaps on the twists of the title story, I've read it a few times over the years and still can't work out if Garth's wife comes back from the dead or if he digs her up from her rotting grave to bring her home to spend their final days together.

I would have liked the storyline to have developed the background of the Haitian wood, however that horror does complement the true-life horror of the sea encroaching upon communities around Britain's coastline and making them disappear.

The man who photographed Beardsley

Seeing as this horror / black comedy was written in 1976 of an artist using dead bodies to create his art masterpiece, it's bang up to date with today's shock-art. Damien Hirst exhibiting cut up cows in formaldehyde and calling it art, Bennetton using images of a man on death row and an Aids victim to advertise clothes.

When even pictures of children are made into a collage of Myra Hindley, maybe the day isn't far off when cadaver parts will be used in an art show.

Cyprus Shell / Dead Sea Conch

Shell is a fairly disturbing tale of mesmerism reminiscent of Poe. A chap apologises to his friend after leaving him abruptly mid-meal at a restaurant, we discover the reasons for his actions and the shocking climax this entails.

Conch works well as a follow-up story.
The idea is expanded upon in "The Return of the Deep Ones", which in turn uses the short story "Haggopian" as a background narrative.

Jason

[Nathan]

The guy was a cadaver?! I sure missed that one! I thought he was brought there alive and killed just as the camera was clicking automatically..

Now it's even sicker! :eek:

Both of ya'll make good points. Nice insight on things I'd missed too. smile.gif

I too was hoping for more of an explanation on the Haitian wood but in short stories, sometimes the mystery, and that thing that makes you go "hmmmmm," is much better than dragging it out...IMHO smile.gif

No one has any clue on the bush and organisms from The Man Who Felt Pain? Beardsley?

[Nathan]

Born of the Winds

Hmmm...there seems to be a connection here...with something...

[Lagula Longarm]

Born of the Winds

I'd like to start by saying what an excellent story this is smile.gif

My parents are not religious, so I was brought up with an open mind as far as religion goes.
Mandy was brought up in the catholic faith. I tell you this only because we both believe in a 'higher being'but we are not sure of who or what the 'higher being'is.

The only thing the both of us is sure of is the power of 'Mother Nature' We both like to believe in the old pagan ways (which I might add, a lot of Christian festivals are based on). Ideas like gods of the elements, Earth, Fire, water & WIND, as well as others like the god of trees.
I mean don't laugh but last year Mandy's father asked me to dig a hole in his garden. I dug down a couple of feet, and came across some tree roots. Mandy's father was adamant that the hole had to be in that exact place, so reluctantly I had to cut through the roots :( I was absolutley gutted, and was constantly appologising to the tree for the pain I was obviously subjecting it to, and to this day I still feel awful about what I did.

You may well laugh, and perhaps I deserve a bit of stick, but as you can see I have strong beliefs as far as how much we humans are destroying this planet we share with the rest of creation.

So as you can see, I love this story, and would like to believe that there are gods of nature, and perhaps that one day soon they might come down and save this planet from us ! (as long as they don't kill all us believers, like in the story) smile.gif

In closing, if you like horror stories of old Indian gods, try reading Graham Masterton. He has a series of books about a teacher called Jim Rook who seems to have pupils at his school who are always upsetting some native American god or two smile.gif

[Nathan]

Ahhh...finally some emotion! smile.gif Very nice words Deano! smile.gif

If you liked it that much...have you read In the Moons of Borea or Spawn of the Winds?

They are two in the Titus Crow books and they deal just a little with Ithaqua and his minions...

...and the "Spawn" is better lookin' than the "Born"... :D (Strange family tree Ithaqua has...or would have if he'd (it'd) control his (its) temper!)

<FONT COLOR="#660000" SIZE="1">[ 06-26-2001 06:42 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Nathan ]</font>

[Lagula Longarm]

Funny you should mention, Spawn of the winds, as I was about to start the Mythos omnibus books, when you suggested reading Fruiting bodies... smile.gif
So hopefully I'll start reading them very soon.
ps...what story are we reading next?

<FONT COLOR="#660000" SIZE="1">[ 06-26-2001 01:22 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by deano ]</font>

[Lagula Longarm]

The Viaduct

Another Gem, from Brian's pen...sounds like I'm a poet and I didn't even know it.. :D
Ahem enough of that, I know I keep saying what a great story, but....dam it it is another great story. Theres something spooky going on, like... I haven't read anything by Brian that I don't like..yes, yes I know this is a site for people who love his work, but you'd think he throw the odd turkey in, here or there, but as of yet I haven't found it... smile.gif

Anyway as you may have already guessed, I quite liked this story smile.gif
In the past I have done many jobs, and one of them was a Fireman.
Now I have always had an aversion to heights, and I have usually got round the problem of dealing with this, by bluff and bravado, so why you ask did I decide to join the Firebrigade, where you spend the best part of your career up a ladder !!....well I guess it was the uniform, you see in my early days of searching for the perfect job, I had a fixation with uniforms ;) I left school and joined the Royal Navy, then five years later I was in the Firebrigade.
Ok I can hear you all saying what the hell has this to do with The Viaduct...well nothing, other than the fact that I have a uniform fetish :D ....oh and it was during my time in the Firebrigade that I discovered the true fear of heights.
In basic training you have to climb out of a fourth floor window, onto a ladder carrying another Fireman on your back !and to compound matters he has the luxury of a safety rope being attached, while I had nothing but pure adrenilin and copiuos amounts of fear to ensure that my every move would not be my last :eek:

So I have every sympathy for poor old John, like him I am a big lad, and as you are aware being big lads, in a macho world, we are not afforded the luxury of outwardly showing emotions, such as Fear.
The story tells of how the so called 'weaker' of the two lads, actually has the strengh to pull himself through the ordeal, even though only just, and at a cost.
But I must admit I was left feeling sorry for John, he had his faults like many young lads, but the final indignity of wetting himself before his eventual eye gouging and then fall was a bit too much for one young life.....hey but then again it makes for great reading :D

[Nathan]

The Viaduct

You were right, Deano. I liked this one a lot. Probably the best so far in the book. (Although I've already read Necros in another book and really enjoyed that one too.) Being in high places doesn't bother me too much though. But that doesn't mean I'm not afraid of falling! I don't think I'd attempt what the boys did...with or without the vengeful town idiot on my trail. If I'm gonna be 150 feet from the ground, I'm gonna find a spot that's safe! Like on top of the walkway!

If there's one thing more thrilling to me than the sudden death of a "good guy," it's the appropriate and fitting death of a "bad guy." David and John weren't necessarily bad but what they did to impress each other (for their own separate reasons...John to uphold his studly image and David attempting to gain that level of studliness) was definately wrong, if not bad.

Nothing wrong with their daredevil attempt at crossing the bridge, but again, those same reasons they had for hurling the stones came into play with this as well. It's a lesson I wish I'd have learned much earlier in life than I did...Don't do sh*t that you know is stupid just to make yourself look cool in the eyes of others. Whether it be someone you admire or someone who admires you, their approval is not always worth the consequences.

The other lesson in this story (that I think is a good one) is something I did learn at an early age. My dad's older brother, (who might also be called my uncle :D) has cerebral palsy and while he's by no means an idiot, he moves very slow and has definately been picked on all his life. One day when I was about ten years old, my brother and I were razzing him and running away just laughing up a storm. Now he's very good natured and understands by this point of his old age how kids are, but especially his nephews who have been strangly fascinated with giving him grief for
many years...as long as I can remember. Well, on this particular occasion, I wasn't quick enough. He got ahold of my arm and while he wasn't mad at me but just retaliating to my honriness, I discovered just how strong he was! Holding on with one hand, he began smacking my forearm with the other saying, "You boys are a mess!" (he still refers to us as "a mess" or "a pill") Smack, smack, smack. Over and over until my laughing started to turn into complete hysterical fear that he would never let go and stop. After a few smacks, he did what he still does and kinda forgot what was going on and said, "How are you?" (another of his favorite lines.) The relief I felt when he let go was indescribable...I didn't razz him too much after that.

The point is (as I'm sure you got from the BL story) don't f**k with what you don't understand. You never know what someone with a disability, mental or physical, is capable of.

There at the end I thought I was gonna be disappointed. I absolutely loved the way it ends. David thinking he's all right only to look down and discover his body hanging broken and in tatters. The mental image of the look on his face was classicly horrifying! Loved it!!

[Lagula Longarm]

I'll have to go along with you, there N8, 'you should never judge a book by It's cover' ...which reminds me of another old saying smile.gif ..........

Recognition

'Ignorance is bliss' which I suppose is the moral of this story. We all have our fears, like as a child, when in bed on a dark night, the light of a full moon occasionally breaking through brooding storm clouds, and casting eerie shadows in your bedroom.
Your imagination run's riot, what was that sound?...did something move over there in the corner of the room!!
You bury your head beneath the sheets so as not to see what it could be, and then of course it happens......you have had too much to drink before retiring to bed, and you need the toilet :( ...But then you remember the monster that lives under your bed, who given the chance will sink his teeth into your ankles, the moment they slide out of the bed.
I bet there isn't a single person who hasn't imagined that there was something lurking under the bed. I always imagined it was a wolf that hid there. Probably because, the first horror film I ever saw, was an old black and white werewolf film.
As we grow older we manage to overcome our fears (at least I hope we do) realising, obviously that there is nothing hiding under the bed, and the memory of it all fades into the past.....
Our main character from the story however has the misfortune of being shown what, we hoped and prayed we would never see, I for myself would like to carry on hoping never to see what might be lurking under my bed, for as the old saying goes 'Ignorance IS bliss' :D

ps...if you like horror films, that let you use your imagination. Try and see a film called the Haunted or the Haunting(It's a few years since I saw it :confused: ) The movie is in black and white.The film uses sound as the medium to scare you, and at no point do you see what ever it was that haunted the house. I saw the remake staring Liam Neeson & Katherine Zeta Jones, please ignore it and get the origanal you won't be dissapointed.

[Jason of Khem]

No Way Home

Read this on the way to work this morning. This is one of my favourite stories and Brian doesn't get much better than when he's writing about distorted/parallel dimensions.

I did though keep going off at a tangent, due to the main character being called George Benson. I thought that at any minute he'd chase the horrors away by playing a jazzy lick on his guitar. ;)

The funny thing is, last night I watched the Sam Neill film, "In the Mouth of Madness", which is of a similar theme and heavily inspired by HPL's tales.

In the film, Sam Neill investigates the case of a missing horror novelist, Sutter Cane, who disappeared in the middle of writing his next book. Due to a twisted reality, Neill's search takes him to Hobbs End, the fictional town setting of Cane's stories. Neill enters a world made real by the writer's imagination.

In No Way Home, Benson, returning to the UK after living in Germany for many years, befriends a man called Kent at a roadside cafe, who has been trying to get home for the last 15 years. This is where the first chill sets in, the Cafe owner says he's tried helping Kent but the village of Middle Hamborough doesn't appear on a map. He reckons it's just the ramblings of a friendly drunk.

However, Benson who has already passed this village on his journey, believes he's being wound-up, but it's seems no great deal to drop Kent off.

Although he can't find the turn-off at first, Benson eventually manages to drop Kent off at home and is shocked to find Kent's appearance has changed making him look 15 years younger. His doubts start to grow.

Of course, because Benson has crossed tracks and entered Kent's dislocated world, he can't get back to his own reality.

Like in the Neill film, various attempts to drive from the village find him returning there shortly after.

As in the best of Brian's stories, there's a great sting in the tail, Middle Hamborough alters a couple of more times.
Finally Benson accepts that he's stuck in this slightly different world, he may as well throw in his lot and visit Mr Kent which leads to the final horror.

Can't say much more apart from that this is yet another bloody brilliant tale from a master of the genre.

Jason

[Nathan]

Recognition

There's not much I have to say about this one except to agree with Deano's statement that ignorance is bliss. If you know there's something freaky about your house but it doesn't seem to be bothering you...leave it alone! Or if it does bother you? Just leave it! That's what always gets me about cheezy horror flicks...why do they always have to know, understand, or even taunt the menace? Why not just get the hell outta Dodge?

I also wonder who's the narrator. It's reminiscent of d'Mariginy's tale of The Burrowers...

No Way Home

Ah yes...parallel dimensions and such...wonderful subject. Dean Koontz tale of Bartholemew and a demented man called Junior has a very similar theme as well, Jase.

Bartholemew, a three year old prodigy, discovers that he is able to feel "all the way things are." Which is to say, dimensions where his Daddy didn't die the night of his birth. Places where Junior isn't obsessed with tracking and killing him for unknown reasons. Worlds where he hasn't had to have his eyes removed due to a rare disease of the retina. And oh yeah...he can walk in the pouring rain, coming out completely dry...walking where the rain isn't.

Great story. smile.gif

<FONT COLOR="#660000" SIZE="1">[ 06-30-2001 08:44 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Nathan ]</font>

[Nathan]

Oh yeah...back to The Man Who Felt Pain...

That McCammon book, Swan Song, has a character named, of all things, Swan, who seems to be able to not only feel the pain of plants and bugs and such, but also seems to be able to heal them or at least help them to grow...and understand them.

Kinda weird how all these stories seem to relate to other things I've been reading lately. smile.gif

[Lagula Longarm]

ok I'm feeling a bit jaded this morning so I'll keep my opinions brief(I heard that cheering).... ;)

The Mirror of Nitocris

If I was a collector of fine art and old relics, and an expert in ancient Myths and legends, I would find it difficult to ignore a chance to buy something which was supposed to be mentioned in the Necronomicon

But by admitting to the existance of the Necronomicon, I would then have to believe that what it says could be true.

So herein lies the dilema, if I believe in the book and what the mirror is capable of should I buy it, and if I do what do I do with it...
Do I...1,Treasure the mirror and perhaps fall in thrall to it, and use it or be used by it!
or...2,Bury the mirror, so no-one could ever use/be used by it.

I suppose it all comes down to your state of mind, if you are weak, you could perhaps give in to the power of the mirror.
I would like to think, that I am strong, so I would have buried the mirror.....but does strengh = power ? and if so what of the old saying..Power Corrupts!!!

Necros

Peter Collins was very lucky to escape from the clutches of the Necros.
I'm not so sure I would have managed to flee in time.

After suffering rejection, to be confronted with such a stunningly beautiful women, who only wants you for one thing :D and with no apparent strings attached, add to this a delightful meal washed down with copius glasses of claret.........scrub the 'I'm not sure' bit, there's no doubt, by now I'd probably be doing my impression of a shriveled prune. :eek:

[Jason of Khem]

The Mirror of Nitocris

A good solo outing in a short story setting for de Marigny, where he isn't playing second fiddle as Dr Watson to Crow's Sherlock Holmes.

The plot inter-weaves from the present day back into the mists of time. The notes from "The Book of the Dead" chart the history of the mirror and the fates of its previous owners.


Necros

I think Brian's only story to have an Italian setting. (The tanks have reverse lights OIE!)

Right from the start of the story, from the curses shouted by the peasant woman and the telling of local legends and folklore, the reader, like Collins, is lulled into thinking Nichos Karpethes is the Devil Spawn of the tale.

That is, until the last couple of pages and Collins, although highly bewitched, finds out the truth and identity of the Necros.

One story to put you off holiday romances. :D

[Nathan]

Just a couple of questions on The Mirror of Nitocris...

What do you think the thing is that he uses for a paper weight? He speaks of it as though we should know what it is...star stone perhaps?

And what the heck does "niggardly" mean?

Necros

I read this one a while back in The Mammoth Book of Vampires just before the April Newsletter came out...check out GG's article. :eek:

Really good story and I gotta go with Deano again...the prune analogy pretty much sums it up! :D

[DaveStrorm]

I also wondered about the thing used as a paperweight. My first thought was the Shining Trapezohedron, but that may have been influenced from it being mentioned earlier in the story. I'd like to hear other people's ideas on what this was.

Oh, I looked up "niggardly": Grudging and petty in giving or spending.

<FONT COLOR="#660000" SIZE="1">[ 07-03-2001 06:45 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by DaveStrorm ]</font>

[Nathan]

Whoa! Howdy Davestrorm! Glad you could join us. smile.gif

I'm also glad to know that someone around here has a dictionary! Thanks. smile.gif

But still, no one has been able to tell me who Beardsley was. :confused: Any clue? How 'bout the plants and organisms from The Man Who Felt Pain? I got no time for reference books... smile.gif