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More Horror World message boards 168 Fri January 03 2003 - 23:16:19 Fullname: John Pelan Email: jpelan@cnw.com Comments: Stephen wrote (in part); >Comments: Catching up on the last three months of alt.books.ghost-fiction, I have just read your 12/15 anthology announcement. The obvious problem with this scheme is that many of those best stories have been published umpteen times already, In some case this is true, in others, I think you'll be surprised. > and the other obvious problem is what to do if you can't get permission to reprint the story you favor? C'mon, I'm the guy that was able to deal with the Jean Ray Estate. After that, it gets pretty easy. >No matter how many times your favorite stories have been published, you could still be doing a great service by assembling so many good ones in one place, primarily as an introduction to the genre for those unfamiliar with it, like THE DARK DESCENT and before that GREAT TALES OF TERROR AND THE SUPERNATURAL. Trust me, there's obviously going to be some overlap, but not much... > The only problem is that if the selection is defined by your personal taste, some potential fans who read the book might end up not being drawn into the field just because their taste differs from yours. Heh-heh, of course the publisher is counting on just the reverse of that. While I may be strongly opinionated, I seriously doubt that the aggregate of what I select would run anyone off from the field (unless thay came looking for the wrong things, in which it just might). Certainly there will be lots of controversy, but just as I warn all subscribers to Midnight House and Darkside Press; you may not agree 100% with my selections but you'll readily understand *why* the selections were made. >But it does seem as though there could be a sizeable market for such a book if it carries a mass-market price. I would suggest a more flexible design, perhaps as a separate project: for each year list your favorite stories (perhaps up to 10), and include in your anthology the one of them that is most sorely in need of reprinting. For the others give a bibliography of the most available books in which they can be found. In addition you could provide two lists for each year: one list of your personal favorites and a second list of other stories that are highly regarded in many quarters even if less so by yourself. Of course, the result would be a very different book from what you have envisioned, and perhaps would not have the same appeal for the general public. Best wishes, Steve Wise I would certainly envision that a number of follow-ups could be done based on the success of this book. Rich has certainly priced this one cheaply enough at $75.00 for the set. (Before anyone screams "that's not inexpensive", let me point out that's two volumes the size of BEST OF CD, these are not small books... The trouble with a "lost classics" anthology, is that no one in New York would consider it a viable idea. I can easily do a couple dozen books of top stories that few modern readers are familiar with, but getting them published is the problem. At Midnight House we're in negotiations with George Locke to edit a series of annuals for us that would be co-branded with Ferret Fantasy and feature obscure pieces from his amazing collection. I'm also editing a series myself for Sarob gathering rare gems loosely gathered around a central theme. Both series will probably be welcomed by collectors, but the odds of ever seeing one in a B & N or Borders is about the same as the odds of me writing a romance novel. Cheers, John 169 Thu January 02 2003 - 04:29:40 Fullname: Stephen Wise Email: csaw@jhu.edu Comments: Catching up on the last three months of alt.books.ghost-fiction, I have just read your 12/15 anthology announcement. The obvious problem with this scheme is that many of those best stories have been published umpteen times already, and the other obvious problem is what to do if you can't get permission to reprint the story you favor? No matter how many times your favorite stories have been published, you could still be doing a great service by assembling so many good ones in one place, primarily as an introduction to the genre for those unfamiliar with it, like THE DARK DESCENT and before that GREAT TALES OF TERROR AND THE SUPERNATURAL. The only problem is that if the selection is defined by your personal taste, some potential fans who read the book might end up not being drawn into the field just because their taste differs from yours. But it does seem as though there could be a sizeable market for such a book if it carries a mass-market price. I would suggest a more flexible design, perhaps as a separate project: for each year list your favorite stories (perhaps up to 10), and include in your anthology the one of them that is most sorely in need of reprinting. For the others give a bibliography of the most available books in which they can be found. In addition you could provide two lists for each year: one list of your personal favorites and a second list of other stories that are highly regarded in many quarters even if less so by yourself. Of course, the result would be a very different book from what you have envisioned, and perhaps would not have the same appeal for the general public. Best wishes, Steve Wise 170 Thu January 02 2003 - 04:12:36 Fullname: Stephen Wise Email: csaw@jhu.edu Comments: Catching up on the last three months of alt.books.ghost-fiction, I have just read your 12/15 anthology announcement. The obvious problem with this scheme is that many of those best stories have been published umpteen times already, and the other obvious problem is what to do if you can't get permission to reprint the story you favor? No matter how many times your favorite stories have been published, you could still be doing a great service by assembling so many good ones in one place, primarily as an introduction to the genre for those unfamiliar with it, like THE DARK DESCENT and before that GREAT TALES OF TERROR AND THE SUPERNATURAL. The only problem is that if the selection is defined by your personal taste, some potential fans who read the book might end up not being drawn into the field just because their taste differs from yours. But it does seem as though there could be a sizeable market for such a book if it carries a mass-market price. I would suggest a more flexible design, perhaps as a separate project: for each year list your favorite stories (perhaps up to 10), and include in your anthology the one of them that is most sorely in need of reprinting. For the others give a bibliography of the most available books in which they can be found. In addition you could provide two lists for each year: one list of your personal favorites and a second list of other stories that are highly regarded in many quarters even if less so by yourself. Of course, the result would be a very different book from what you have envisioned, and perhaps would not have the same appeal for the general public. Best wishes, Steve Wise 171 Thu January 02 2003 - 04:10:49 Fullname: Stephen Wise Email: csaw@jhu.edu Comments: Catching up on the last three months of alt.books.ghost-fiction, I have just read your 12/15 anthology announcement. The obvious problem with this scheme is that many of those best stories have been published umpteen times already, and the other obvious problem is what to do if you can't get permission to reprint the story you favor? No matter how many times your favorite stories have been published, you could still be doing a great service by assembling so many good ones in one place, primarily as an introduction to the genre for those unfamiliar with it, like THE DARK DESCENT and before that GREAT TALES OF TERROR AND THE SUPERNATURAL. The only problem is that if the selection is defined by your personal taste, some potential fans who read the book might end up not being drawn into the field just because their taste differs from yours. But it does seem as though there could be a sizeable market for such a book if it carries a mass-market price. I would suggest a more flexible design, perhaps as a separate project: for each year list your favorite stories (perhaps up to 10), and include in your anthology the one of them that is most sorely in need of reprinting. For the others give a bibliography of the most available books in which they can be found. In addition you could provide two lists for each year: one list of your personal favorites and a second list of other stories that are highly regarded in many quarters even if less so by yourself. Of course, the result would be a very different book from what you have envisioned, and perhaps would not have the same appeal for the general public. Best wishes, Steve Wise 172 Fri December 20 2002 - 01:39:11 Fullname: Paul Finch Email: Comments: I've been reading the last few comments with fascination. John ... one of these days I'm going to ask you to take a week off work and assemble for me a detailed list of all the best horror stories ever written. I used to fancy that I knew about the subject, but the truth is - as I found out when we were in Seattle together, and many times since - that I've only really scratched the surface. One good thing about it though, at least my hobby (collecting short horror fiction) will not run its course in the forseeable future. By the way ... I can't wait to see that double-volume set. Go to it, young man ... 173 Wed December 18 2002 - 05:09:56 Fullname: John Pelan Email: jpelan@cnw.com Comments: Well, I said I can't comment on the suggestions, but I *can* comment on the discussion itself... On one hand, yes; classics are classics for a reason... However, remember the "one story, one author" rule. My own top 100 list has at least five Leiber and four Birkin stories on it with a bunch of folks represented with two or more selections. So there will be definition be a balancing act being done. As to influential or award-winning, I could care less if a piece won an award at the time or not; nor do I care if a story became an anthologist's darling over the years. It needs to be the best story of the year in which it was published in *MY* opinion. ;-) Jess, you're right 1980 is a bitch, and so is 1907 (and you're probably one of the only people around other than Mike A. that will instantly know why on the latter);-) Cheers, John 174 Tue December 17 2002 - 21:56:21 Fullname: Michael Cook Email: cookmichaelcharles@satx.rr.com Comments: Re: your planned two-volume collection on the best horror of the 20th century: This sounds like an absolutely gargantuan task and I can only imagine the amount of reading/research necessary to do justice to such an endeavor. Certainly some excruciating quandaries lie ahead. Jess Nevins has mentioned three strong contenders for the 1980 calendar year: "Window" and "Feesters in the Lake" (both by Bob Leman), and "The Autopsy" (by Michael Shea). I could also mention for consideration as 1980 entries Suzy McKee Charnas' "Unicorn Tapestry," Dennis Etchison's "The Late Shift," Davis Grubb's "The Crest of Thirty-Six," Stephen King's "The Mist," T. E. D. Klein's "Black Man With a Horn" and "Children of the Kingdom," Steve Rasnic Tem's "At the Bureau," and Karl Edward Wagner's ".220 Swift" and "Where the Summer Ends" (some of these are recognizable as coming from Kirby McCauley's _Dark Forces_ anthology). (Of course, some of these may be too long for your purposes, e.g., King's novella; I don't know what size constraints, if any, you might be operating under.) I do have one minor reservation about this project. More often than not classics are classics for a reason and I worry that any final result will be so overburdened with well-known chestnuts that the true aficionado may be unwilling to plunk down $75 for the set. You could, of course, try slanting the results toward lesser known works, but the more you do so, the more you run the risk of moving away from the stated goal of the exercise -- an enumeration of the "best" horror (however you choose to define best). In any case, good luck. If anyone can accomplish this, you can. Yrs, Michael 175 Tue December 17 2002 - 02:17:05 Fullname: Ass Cream Email: Comments: Three Miles Up - Elizabeth Jane Howard Blind Man's Bluff - Wakefield 176 Mon December 16 2002 - 21:35:23 Fullname: pegleg Email: strauss@wcu.edu Comments: John, RE: your new 2 vol. project, 1. At least you don't have to worry about crappy submissions! and 2. Are you going to define "best" in terms of "most influential"? Pegleg 177 Mon December 16 2002 - 20:17:03 Fullname: Jess Nevins Email: jjnevins@ix.netcom.com Comments: Best horror of the century.... I'm glad I don't have to choose between Michael Shea's "The Autopsy" and Bob Leman's "The Window" and "Feesters in the Lake" for 1980. 178 Mon December 16 2002 - 04:45:04 Fullname: Cuyler Warnell Brooks Jr Email: nedbrooks@sprynet.com Comments: With regard to your post on fictionmags about suggestions for Best Horror of the Last Century, I would suggest Cyril Kornbluth's The Words of Guru [as by Kenneth Falconer], (ss) Stirring Science Stories Jun '41 Best, Cuyler Brooks 179 Thu December 12 2002 - 13:39:49 Fullname: John Pelan Email: jpelan@cnw.com Comments: Hi James: Funny you should mention Porges... I'm reading it right now, and enjoying it very much. It's an odd sort of book for Ash-Tree (much more a Midnight House type of book, really), as Porges did a lot of work in the 1950's for The Magazine of F & SF... I've always thought of him as being one of the writers that gave F & SF its unique flavor and I was delighted to see the collection released. If you like the sort of thing that was published in Unknown, then I'm pretty sure you'll like Porges. Cheers, John 180 Wed December 04 2002 - 22:09:59 Fullname: James Email: Comments: What do you think of the upcoming volume of Arthur Progues stories from Ash Tree Press. Worth to splurge upon? << 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
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