Brian's NASTY STORIES collections
james ambuehl
I'm curious to get them, but I've got a good-sized selection of your
stories already, and so may everything therein. Also, if you do list
them, can you denote the Lovecraftian stories somehow?
I hate to have to ask, but there's so much good stuff out there right
now that I have to plan where to spend my hard-earned cash carefully.
;-)
-- Jim
Q. What's 600' tall, British, tentacled and green, and dwells in a
non-Euclidian police box sunken beneath the Pacific?
A. Doctor Cthul-Who!!!
Brian McNaughton
(james ambuehl) wrote:
>Brian, is it possible for you to post a list of the stories in these?
>I'm curious to get them, but I've got a good-sized selection of your
>stories already, and so may everything therein. Also, if you do list
>them, can you denote the Lovecraftian stories somehow?
>
>I hate to have to ask, but there's so much good stuff out there right
>now that I have to plan where to spend my hard-earned cash carefully.
>;-)
Jim, at the risk of seeming less than modest, I must say that you
cannot spend your hard earned cash less wisely than on my stuff.
Wait a minute...was that what I meant to say?
Anyway, everything offered on that site --
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=9711170099802&author=McNaughton,+Brian
--is more or less Lovecraftian, in that he has always been my model.
Two of the novels, DOWNWARD TO DARKNESS and WORSE THINGS WAITING (and
a third that will soon be posted, GEMINI RISING), incorporate overt
references to the Necronomicon, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, and James
Ambuehl. THE THRONE OF BONES, also available at a cheaper price on
that site, is pretty Lovecraftian.
As for the NASTY collections -- I just don't have the energy to pick
through them all, but some of the titles should be suggestive.
NASTY STORIES
The Conversion of St. Monocarp
Nothing But the Best
Drink Me
Interrupted Pilgrimage
The Hole
Changes
Lovelocks
Fantasia on "Little Red Riding Hood"
ystery orm
Water and the Spirit
Congratulations!
Why We Fear the Dark
The Disposal of Uncle Dave
Getting It All Back
Undying Love
Child of the Night
The Dunwich Lodger
Annunciator
Rubber-Face
The Horror from the Holy Land
Many Happy Returns
La fille au yeux d'émail
Star Stalker
Marantha's Tale
To My Dear Friend, Hommy-Beg
EVEN MORE NASTY STORIES
The Doom that Came to Innsmouth
Business Image
Vision
Getting Around
Marticora
Fragment of a Diary Found on Ellesmere Island
Malpractice
Ghoulmaster
A Donation to the Homeless
Impatience
The Flight of the LZ-D1
Magpie
Mr. Entwistle's Sovereign Snuff
Another Night
The Benevolent Emperor
Beyond the Wall of Time
The Number You Have Reached
DREAD!
Smell
Self-Restraint
The Return of the Colossus
Hope that's helptful. Thanks for asking.
--Brian McNaughton
james ambuehl
immensely, and there is some damn good stuff therein, indeed! Of the
Lovecraftian stuff I've read, I'll denote it for other interested
A.H.C.ers:
NASTY STORIES:
-- ystery orm -- Ligotti-ish, but also very Mythos reminscent; would fit
well in a Yig anthology.
-- The Dunwich Lodger -- Short, but very good, and dedicated to another
decent author, Ben Adams. (Wonder where Ben and John Pelan's CHILDREN
OF CTHULHU anthology is?)
-- The Horror from the Holy Land -- an installment in the "Herbert West
-- Reincarnated" series.
-- To My Dear Friend, Hommy-Beg" -- Features a character based on the
late, great Karl Edward Wagner -- and again the Mythos stuff sneaks in.
-- The Star Stalker -- also sounds likely to be Cthulhoid, but it's a
new story on me.
MORE NASTY STORIES:
-- The Doom That Came to Innsmouth -- This was in TALES OUT OF
INNSMOUTH, which book still sits on my shelves unread, actually (I made
a not to read it soon though, especially since the title is reminiscent
of my own "The Horror That Came to Innsmouth" and I'm curious to see how
they differ . . . the "Horror" in mine, incidentally, was Man, and his
propensity for violence, even religious persecution and total genocide!
-- Ghoulmaster -- One of the better stories in MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY, of
course.
-- The Flight of the LZ-D1 -- This isn't really Lovecraftian, actually,
but it's a damned imaginative story and I urge you to read it as well.
-- The Benevolent Emperor -- This is from THE LAST CONTINENT, which I
never saw a copy of despite my being an especial CAS fan. Probably at
least semi-Cthulhoid, as were a handful of CAS' Zothique tales, of
course (and many later acolytes, especially Henry J. Vester III).
-- Beyond the Wall of Time -- The final installment of the very
intriguing round-robin "The Challenge from Below".
-- The Return of the Colossus -- A very worthwhile sequel to CAS' "The
Colossus of Ylourgne," one of my very first-read, and favorite CAS
tales.
So, all in all, from a Lovecraftian's viewpoint a very worthwhile
collection. And to be fair to Brian's more original stuff, I've set a
pile of his horror tales aside to give a thorough reading to as well.
Unfortunately, I still don't know if I'll get these volumes. But if you
haven't read many of the above-mentioned stories, I do urge you to get
it -- and then give us a proper review here, perhaps!
Bravo, Brian! Nice to see your work getting the recognition it so
thoroughly deserves!
james ambuehl
haven't read THRONE OF BONES (aside from a few stories I found in
magazines before it came out), but it is on my list. Even better, my
Public Library, right next door, incidentally, has a copy. I've got to
go over there tonight and print out some new Delta Green stories, so
I'll check it out then as well.
But the SATAN books (now re-released under new, less-embarrassing
titles; though I think it should have been titled the YOG-SOTHOTH
Trilogy originally) I do have cops of (the first 3 anyway), and SATAN"S
MISTRESS and SATAN"S SEDUCTRESS are definitely worthwhile reads. The
Mythos pours on thick in them, especially in MISTRESS. Now I'm
wondering if GEMINI RISING is a reprint of the first volume, SATAN"S
LOVE CHILD, or of the particularly rare SATAN"S SURROGATE (more King in
Yellow, that one, rather than Yog-Sothoth)? Brian, can you enlighten
us?
Anyway, again, yahoo! First Rainey collections and novels, now Brian
McNaughton. Now if someone would just go ahead and get the C. J.
Henderson one out, and get Will Murray to do enough for a book as well,
we'd be perfectly happy wallowing in our slime with our shiny new toys!
agor...@my-deja.com
Jim,
You don't actually like CJ Henderson, do you? I mean, have you read
THE ONLY THING TO FEAR? Horrible, horrible stuff (and not in a good
way)!
The Jewish janitor packing a machine gun I liked though.
Hey, have you read the Winds of Zarr by Tierney? Is it any good?
alex
In article <10035-39...@storefull-248.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Brian McNaughton
(james ambuehl) wrote:
>But the SATAN books (now re-released under new, less-embarrassing
>titles; though I think it should have been titled the YOG-SOTHOTH
>Trilogy originally) I do have cops of (the first 3 anyway), and SATAN"S
>MISTRESS and SATAN"S SEDUCTRESS are definitely worthwhile reads. The
>Mythos pours on thick in them, especially in MISTRESS. Now I'm
>wondering if GEMINI RISING is a reprint of the first volume, SATAN"S
>LOVE CHILD, or of the particularly rare SATAN"S SURROGATE (more King in
>Yellow, that one, rather than Yog-Sothoth)? Brian, can you enlighten
>us?
>
Thanks for all those very kind words, Jim.
GEMINI RISING, which hasn't been posted on the site yet, is a rather
extensive rewrite of SATAN'S LOVE CHILD.
If I may digress a bit... . I had written a few horror stories that I
couldn't sell anywhere by the early 70's and was somehow managing to
make a living (if you can call it that) in New York City by writing
dirty books, mostly for a company called Bee-Line. The editrix told
me they were branching out, hoping to publish some less reprehensible
stuff, and asked me if I could write a horror novel. Wow! Could I!!!
Actually, she asked me if I could write a ripoff of THE OMEN. I read
that book and found nothing in it worth ripping off, so I wrote my own
novel, SLC. She liked it, but then she got back me and said that the
head honcho wanted a slightly more Bee-Linish book. I inserted some
rather mild sex-scenes, using euphemisms and metaphors for all the
hard-core boinking that was Bee-Line's stock in trade.
That didn't satisfy him, so I got on the phone with him and asked him
what the hell he wanted. "The words!" he said. "Use the words!"
I daresay you can't imagine how disheartening this was. Here, at
last, I had been given an opportunity to write a horror novel, I
thought I had done a pretty good job, and this scumbag wanted me to
turn it into a jerkoff book.
I told him I would use "the words" if he added another $500 to my
advance. "You're holding a gun to my head!" he screamed. "Yeah," I
said, "so?"
I added those words and got the money, but I'm not proud of the
result.
It turned out that this guy had recently left another publisher, and
his contract barred him from "producing" any book that the other
company might publish. In other words, he could only publish dirty
books.
You might say that I am the only writer who has ever been required by
law to write a pornographic novel.
Anyway, GEMINI RISING repairs all the damage that guy did to my
original conception. I think it's not such a bad read.
SATAN'S SURROGATE (the one with all the KING IN YELLOW references)
will be called THE HOUSE ACROSS THE WAY. I haven't delivered it to
the new publisher (Wildside) yet.
--Brian McNaughton
In case anybody missed it:
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=9711170099802&author=McNaughton,+Brian
james ambuehl
Well, the only Henderson novel I read was THE THINGS THAT ARE NOT THERE,
his first and most Cthulhoid Teddy London book. I loved it though
(especially the shocking cataclysmic ending), and all his short stories
I've read, either with Teddy London or Inspector Legrasse or with
neither. Of course, he does write the London novels under a pseudonym
so maybe it's not his best work according to his own standards?
I have read THE WINDS OF ZARR a long time ago, and it's great stuff!
Tierney knows how to bring his fiction, especially his sword and sorcery
fiction (ZARR is S&S-ish, sort of; as are the SCROLL OF THOTH stories,
of course), to life. And in fact Tierney's "The Lords of Pain" is
available right here on the Net, a further (or previous? I forget the
order of the novels, actually) noovel in the series with ZARR. Go to:
http://www.toddalan.com/~berglund/
and look under the NIGHTSCAPES link (I think it's issue #7, but don't
quote me on that) and read it. Be warned, it is a full-length novel
though . . . but like all Tierney's stuff it's excellent!
-- Jim
PS: I gave a really vague description of THE WINDS OF ZARR, I think.
Actually, think of something like A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR"S
COURT, but set in ancient Khem and with the Old Ones lurking palpably
over all. The advertizements of the day said it combined to excellent
effect such disparate elements as The Bible, Cecil de Mille movie epics,
REH, CAS and HPL (and the sci-fi vision of someone too, but I can't
recall whom that might be) -- and you know, they were exactly right! A
must-buy, and hopefully someday it will see the light of day in THE
YOG-SOTHOTH CYCLE, as intended!
agor...@my-deja.com
I read some of Henderson's short stories and THE ONLY THING TO FEAR and
I thought most of them were poor. BUT, I'm not a big fan of Mythos as
adventure story. The novels appear to be somewhat similiar to Lumley's
Elysia cycle concept with a lot of repetition, recurring characters and
themes, and unfortunatly, the quality of writing declining as the
series progresses.
alex
In article <16502-39...@storefull-244.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,
Edward P. Berglund
> I have read THE WINDS OF ZARR a long time ago, and it's great stuff!
> Tierney knows how to bring his fiction, especially his sword and sorcery
> fiction (ZARR is S&S-ish, sort of; as are the SCROLL OF THOTH stories,
> of course), to life. And in fact Tierney's "The Lords of Pain" is
> available right here on the Net, a further (or previous? I forget the
> order of the novels, actually) noovel in the series with ZARR. Go to:
>
> http://www.toddalan.com/~berglund/
>
> and look under the NIGHTSCAPES link (I think it's issue #7, but don't
> quote me on that) and read it. Be warned, it is a full-length novel
> though . . . but like all Tierney's stuff it's excellent!
"The Lords of Pain" by Richard L. Tierney is Nightscapes # 3. It is
actually a novella (at 44,000 words!).
Edward P. Berglund
http://www.toddalan.com/~berglund/
Brian McNaughton
(james ambuehl) wrote:
>
>-- To My Dear Friend, Hommy-Beg" -- Features a character based on the
>late, great Karl Edward Wagner -- and again the Mythos stuff sneaks in.
>
although others have made this misidentification.
In creating the character, I tried to imagine how I myself would
behave if I were as rich and famous as Stephen King, and I even
thought -- not very seriously -- of calling it, "If I Were King."
I didn't know Wagner, never met him, hadn't even heard any gossip
about him. I of course knew of him as a splendid fantasist and
anthologist, and we exchanged some cordial letters near the end of his
life when I was trying to weasel my way into one of his "Year's Best"
anthologies.
But, apparently, I stumbled upon some of his well-known foibles while
creating the character of Hal Kane.
The name "Kane" causes the problem, I think. I wasn't thinking of
Wagner's fictional hero, but of (Thomas) Hall Caine, an egomaniacal
and enormously successful author in the 1890's. Nobody now would ever
have heard of him, except that he gained immortality as a footnote to
DRACULA, when Bram Stoker dedicated that book "To My Dear Friend,
Hommy-Beg." A pet name, I guess. Those guys!
So I wasn't, honest, dissing Wagner. Myself, mostly. And King,
perhaps. And if you want to know whom I really dissed, consider the
character in that story called "Richard Priest."
My stories aren't called "nasty" for nothing.
--Brian McNaughton
Decide for yourself:
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=9711170099802&author=McNaughton,+Brian
agor...@my-deja.com
Yes, I've read the Lords of Pain. Interesting setting in the first
Arab-Israeli war. I thought the hero coming from the distant future a
bit excessive but nevertheless, very interesting.
alex
In article <3A000931...@toddalan.com>,
Edward P. Berglund
> Yes, I've read the Lords of Pain. Interesting setting in the first
> Arab-Israeli war. I thought the hero coming from the distant future a
> bit excessive but nevertheless, very interesting.
The Taggart and Pitts characters abound through many a story and are time
travelers. Thus enabling Tierney to place his characters at any strategic
event in history of "fictional history". One novella, "Let There Be
Darkness," which will never be published, because we can't get permission
from the George Orwell Estate, uses the main character from Orwell's 1984.
"Countdown to Kalara" explains what happen to the planet between Mars and
Jupiter than now forms the asteroid belt.
james ambuehl
SATAN'S LOVE CHILD (now called GEMINI RISING). I'll definitely be
buying this one, and probably THE HOUSE ACROSS THE WAY (formerly SATAN'S
SURROGATE). Incidentally, any major editing jobs on the other two
novels, or is having SATAN'S MISTRESS and SATAN'S SEDUCTRESS good
enough? And, any chance reprinting TIDE OF DESIRE, the Deep One love
story?
As for being part of the 80's supermarket horror novel boom, yours were
some of the more Lovecraftian such novels I saw (but not in
supermarkets; I had to look high and low for these rarities). Others of
the time I recall somewhat fondly were the novels of William Schoell
(DRAGON is somewhat Cthulhoid), Gene DeWeese (I see he was a
contemporary of yours, by a long-crumbling copy of SHANADU with your
story "The Black Tower", I think it was), Douglas Borton (DEATH SONG,
Cthulhoid) and James Tarabilda (BLACK SUN, again Cthulhoid).
But anyway, as I've said before, great to see your novels finally
getting some of the acclaim they deserve (and nice to see they've had
some of the 'naughty bits' edited out)! ;-)
-- Jim
PS: I especially love some of the Mythosian tomes you've created for
these novels: De Artibus Magicis; Strategemata Satanae; The Pittsfield
Ghouls; The Mt. Tabor Massacre (or something on that order). Jeez, I
really need to re-read these (or better still, the new editions!) and
post some proper comments / reviews.
Alan Rodgers
(james ambuehl) wrote:
> Thanks, Brian, for the further info on the new, edited version of
> SATAN'S LOVE CHILD (now called GEMINI RISING). I'll definitely be
> buying this one, and probably THE HOUSE ACROSS THE WAY (formerly SATAN'S
> SURROGATE). Incidentally, any major editing jobs on the other two
> novels, or is having SATAN'S MISTRESS and SATAN'S SEDUCTRESS good
> enough? And, any chance reprinting TIDE OF DESIRE, the Deep One love
> story?
These are all sitting on my desk -- I'm waiting for Brian to
get THE HOUSE ACROSS THE WAY back to me before I dump another on
him.
> But anyway, as I've said before, great to see your novels finally
> getting some of the acclaim they deserve (and nice to see they've had
> some of the 'naughty bits' edited out)! ;-)
I'm a pretty gentle editor, particaly with folks (like
Brian) whose work I respect. The filth seemed out of place and
forced; I encouraged him torewrite but didn't insist on it.
> PS: I especially love some of the Mythosian tomes you've created for
> these novels: De Artibus Magicis; Strategemata Satanae; The Pittsfield
> Ghouls; The Mt. Tabor Massacre (or something on that order). Jeez, I
> really need to re-read these (or better still, the new editions!) and
> post some proper comments / reviews.
They're wonderful, aren't they?
______________________________________
http://www.sff.net/people/alanr/
news://news.sff.net/sff.people.alan-rodgers
Alan Rodgers
McNaughton) wrote:
> Anyway, GEMINI RISING repairs all the damage that guy did to my
> original conception. I think it's not such a bad read.
It's a wonderful book, Brian.