Though our last meeting provided much to feast on and chew over - alien abduction; the joys/frustrations of narrative ambiguity; the merits of sharing one's tent with a burly Swede (etc) - it is time we pressed further along our dark & o'ergrown path.
If "The Willows" represented, at just under 20,000 words, something of an "outer limit" (length-wise) for the horror short story, then the two tales up for discussion at our next get-together will hopefully demonstrate what can be achieved in (very) short compass.
"Two tales?", you probably didn't exclaim. Yes indeedy…welcome to the first Dreadful Thoughts Story Club double-bill.
The first mini gem (clocking in at very manageable 2,210 words) is Edgar Allen Poe's much interpreted, adapted & parodied "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843). For those who've read it before we say go off and read it again. We want your (dreadful) thoughts to be fresh ones.
The second offering is Saki's even more compact "Sredni Vashtar" (c. 1910).1 Go forth with red thoughts and enjoy it.
We'll meet back here to natter (if there be no objections) on Monday, April 7th at 8.00 pm.
Stories:
a) "The Tell-Tale Heart" (html), (pdf)
b) "Sredni Vashtar" (html), (pdf)
Meeting: Monday, April 7, 8.00 p.m. (GMT)
P.S: For those new to the "club" here's what it's all about. Come one, come all.
- 1,786 wordeens. [back]
Hey dude,
I twittered at you re Fortean. Now I can’t relog into twitter. Funnily enough, I was only leafing through the FT t’other day in Reads and enjoying an article by a proper scientician who says he was stitched up by Dawkins and his tv cronies.
What was the mention of Fustar?
March 29th, 2008 at 8:28 pmThere was no mention of fustar.info, but there was a mention of Greetings Earthlings in a piece about “Visions and Visionaries”. It was in relation to Jean Hingley and her “Mince Pie Martians”.
Funnily enough, Dawkins gets a nod (actually, more of a head-butt) in the same article. He’s described as “an unimaginative and ill-informed buffoon”. Zing!
March 29th, 2008 at 11:48 pmGlad Fortean not in thrall to the devil Dawkins.
March 30th, 2008 at 2:03 am