Well, I hope you're all suitably recovered from the frights, delights and alcohol (or caffeine) poisoning of Monday evening. The pace was fast and furious - the vibe (I thought) fun and friendly. In other words - a cracking start, and one we can hopefully build on.
We've sifted and filtered through your suggestions for our next t-t-tale of terror and have decided in favour of Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows" (selected by the very wicked Niall Munnelly).
As short stories go it is, admittedly, a bit on the long side but the small bit of extra effort is well worth it. No less a personage than (the dark lord) H. P. Lovecraft described it as "the single finest weird tale in literature", so its spooky (and dread-filled) credentials are impeccable.
There are plenty of e-texts floating around in the online ether but the ones linked to at the bottom of this post are probably the easiest on the eyes. Shall we say next Thursday, 20th March, at 8.00 pm for our second DT Story Club meeting? Merely a provisional suggestion - if it's awkward or unsuitable just holler (or shriek).
One slight change to proceedings we'd like to suggest. Though the quick-fire comment deluge on Monday was frantic fun of the highest order, we thought it might benefit the discussions to have a few "points" or "observations" to focus on. So what we're suggesting is this - read the story, make your notes in the margins, have a quick think, and email me (see sidebar) or Sinéad with a brief point/observation you feel is worth observing and discussing on the night.
These should be no more than a sentence or two (the shorter, the better) and can be as casual or enigmatic as you like. They'll be listed (and numbered) in next Thursday's post and are merely intended to give us something to refer to as we chat (as in "RE: Point 2 - I think that…" etc). Hope that meets with your approval (any questions, suggestions or queries - just pop them in the comments section below).
By the way, I'm making a note of every suggested story and we'll (hopefully) work our way through them all over time.
Story: "The Willows" (pdf), (pdf), (html), (html)
Meeting: Thursday, March 20, 8.00 p.m. (GMT).
For anyone who feels like splashing the cash I heartily recommend Penguin’s handsome Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories. That’s how I’m currently re-reading “The Willows”.
Other anthologies containing Blackwood stories can be found here.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/algernon-blackwood/
Quite a few are, no doubt, out of print but some of the covers are wonderfully lurid. I’m asking my local 2nd hand bookshop to hold any cheapo paperback supernatural anthologies for me. We’ll see what the tactic yields.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:15 am