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PseudoPod 627: The Grave by the Handpost

“The Grave by the Handpost” was first published in 1897 and is part of the volume A Changed Man and Other Tales.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:35 — 33.1MB)

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Show Notes

This episode is sponsored by J.R. HAMANTASCHEN (who podcasts at The Horror Of Nachos And Hamantaschen) and his new story collection A DEEP HORROR THAT IS VERY NEARLY AWE. 

This is J.R.’s third collection, and his best yet, featuring eleven frightening, challenging stories of strange horror. This collection cages a menagerie of quiet human horror that inhabits territory in both magical realism and bizarro underpinned by sardonic humor.

As he moves into longer forms, Hamantaschen views this collection as a fitting encapsulation of the themes and motifs he’s explored in his short fiction, and a showcase of the styles that worked best in his previous two collections. In particular, the final novella in this collection is hopefully enough of an impetus to get you to read the whole book.

This plus his previous two collections, “You Shall Never Know Security” and “With a Voice that is Often Still Confused But is Becoming Ever Louder and Clearer” are all available in digital form for less than $10, so consider spending some of those gift cards here. (Such as at AMAZON or your purveyor of digital content of choice.)

The Grave By The Handpost

by Thomas Hardy

I never pass through Chalk–Newton without turning to regard the neighbouring upland, at a point where a lane crosses the lone straight highway dividing this from the next parish; a sight which does not fail to recall the event that once happened there; and, though it may seem superfluous, at this date, to disinter more memories of village history, the whispers of that spot may claim to be preserved.

It was on a dark, yet mild and exceptionally dry evening at Christmas-time (according to the testimony of William Dewy of Mellstock, Michael Mail, and others), that the choir of Chalk–Newton—a large parish situate about half-way between the towns of Ivel and Casterbridge, and now a railway station—left their homes just before midnight to repeat their annual harmonies under the windows of the local population. The band of instrumentalists and singers was one of the largest in the county; and, unlike the smaller and finer Mellstock string-band, which eschewed all but the catgut, it included brass and reed performers at full Sunday services, and reached all across the west gallery.

(Continue Reading…)

The Clan Novel Saga: Assamite

Show Notes

This blog series starts here: https://pseudopod.org/2018/10/25/the-clan-novel-saga-a-revisitation/

Clan Novel: Assamite generally remains aloof of the beginning of the war between the factions. It does not get deeply involved until the second phase of the war that was particularly highlighted in the Lasombra novel, and ends with events on October 6, 1999. It is Book 7 in the original clan novel saga, and was published in December 1999. It was written by Gherbod Fleming, who provided five of the thirteen novels in the set.

This book’s central conflict is Fatima’s assignment to kill the biggest player behind the Sabbat war on the American east coast — Cardinal Monçada, and how it conflicts with Fatima’s affection for his childe, Lucita. I’m glad the Lasombra book came before this one, as Lucita is more difficult to appreciate here; she’s more crass in this book than the brash and confident we saw previously. There’s an excellent sapphic scene between Fatima and Lucita that not only shows their affection for one another, but is strategic as well – Fatima having Lucita’s blood inside her masks her presence from the wards protecting the temple from outsiders. This plays a critical role in the showdown under the temple in the third act. This is some of the best action in the series. (Continue Reading…)

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PseudoPod 626: Blue John

“Blue John” was originally published in Shock Totem magazine, Jan. 2016

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:12 — 33.3MB)

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Show Notes

The first draft of “Blue John” centered on a demon-possessed letterpress that compelled Blue John to kill. Which, of course, meant he was simply a conduit for evil and a rather one-dimensional character. I put the story aside, returning to it only after reading “The Invention of Murder” by Judith Flanders, a non-fiction book about the reporting of crime in the Victorian-era press. I realized Blue John had plenty of motivation to kill and didn’t need any satanic prompting. As Blue John became more real to me, so did the character of Finch, and he ended up taking over the story.

This episode is sponsored by J.R. HAMANTASCHEN (who podcasts at The Horror Of Nachos And Hamantaschen) and his new story collection A DEEP HORROR THAT IS VERY NEARLY AWE. 

This is J.R.’s third collection, and his best yet, featuring eleven frightening, challenging stories of strange horror. This collection cages a menagerie of quiet human horror that inhabits territory in both magical realism and bizarro underpinned by sardonic humor.

As he moves into longer forms, Hamantaschen views this collection as a fitting encapsulation of the themes and motifs he’s explored in his short fiction, and a showcase of the styles that worked best in his previous two collections. In particular, the final novella in this collection is hopefully enough of an impetus to get you to read the whole book.

This plus his previous two collections, “You Shall Never Know Security” and “With a Voice that is Often Still Confused But is Becoming Ever Louder and Clearer” are all available in digital form for less than $10, so consider spending some of those gift cards here. (Such as at AMAZON or your purveyor of digital content of choice.)

Blue John

by D.K. Wayrd

I’m behind the bar shucking oysters when Blue John enters the tavern. He’s wearing a plain tweed suit instead of a policeman’s uniform, but still moves with a constable’s swagger. “Boy,” he says, “where’s your master?” I lay down my knife and leave to find Father, to tell him our new lodger has arrived.

That night, in the storeroom where I sleep, I drag my straw pallet to a spot over Blue John’s cellar room. Gaps between the floorboards give me a slivered view: a table, a wardrobe, a bed. The rest of the cavernous room is dark, beyond the reach of the gas lamp’s wavering light.  Blue John sits half-naked at the table, his bull-chest covered with dark curly hair. He holds a red leather journal in his lap and strokes it lightly, as though petting a cat, before opening it and beginning to write. (Continue Reading…)

The Clan Novel Saga: Tremere

Show Notes

This blog series starts here: https://pseudopod.org/2018/10/25/the-clan-novel-saga-a-revisitation/

Clan Novel: Tremere covers events that start after the fall of Atlanta and into the second phase of the war between the Sabbat and Camarilla on July 18, 1999 and continues through September 24 of the same year. It is Book 12 in the original clan novel saga, and was published in June 2000. While this book is next to last in the series, all the events within it end before the conclusion of half of the books in the series. While its placement in the series order should reveal major events leading up to the end, it never quite delivers on that promise. It was written by Eric Griffin, who also wrote the Tzimisce book. (Continue Reading…)

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PseudoPod 625: The Golgotha Dancers and These Doth The Lord Hate

“The Golgotha Dancers” was was originally published in Weird Tales, October 1937

“These Doth The Lord Hate” was originally published in Weird Tales, January 1939

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:31 — 45.5MB)

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Show Notes

“Masks of Nyarlathotep” is now available from Dark Adventure Radio Theater. This is adapted from the famous Chaosium role-playing game of the same title. The show is over 7 hours long. You can check it out here: https://store.hplhs.org/products/dark-adventure-radio-theatre-masks-of-nyarlathotep

The Golgotha Dancers

by MANLY WADE WELLMAN

I had come to the Art Museum to see the special show of Goya prints, but that particular gallery was so crowded that I could hardly get in, much less see or savor anything; wherefore I walked out again. I wandered through the other wings with their rows and rows of oils, their Greek and Roman sculptures, their stern ranks of medieval armors, their Oriental porcelains, their Egyptian gods. At length, by chance and not by design, I came to the head of a certain rear stairway. Other habitués of the museum will know the one I mean when I remind them that Arnold Böcklin’s The Isle of the Dead hangs on the wall of the landing.

I started down, relishing in advance the impression Böcklin’s picture would make with its high brown rocks and black poplars, its midnight sky and gloomy film of sea, its single white figure erect in the bow of the beach-nosing skiff. But, as I descended, I saw that The Isle of the Dead was not in its accustomed position on the wall. In that space, arresting even in the bad light and from the up-angle of the stairs, hung a gilt-framed painting I had never seen or heard of in all my museum-haunting years. (Continue Reading…)

The Clan Novel Saga: Lasombra

Show Notes

This blog series starts here: https://pseudopod.org/2018/10/25/the-clan-novel-saga-a-revisitation/

Clan Novel: Lasombra covers events that start after the fall of Atlanta and activity in Washington, D.C. really get rolling on July 16, 1999 and continues through September 22 of the same year, following the second phase of the war covering the assaults on Buffalo and Hartford. It is Book 6 in the original clan novel saga, and was published in September 1999. It was written by Richard Dansky, and this (along with one story in the Anthology) is his sole contribution to the saga. While I was updating blog posts in the back catalog, this name tickled memories. Connecting that he contributed to this series is one of the inciting events that caused me to start on this journey. He has published two original stories with PseudoPod, including “Good Advice” — the second full length story to go out across our feed — as well as “Connecting Door,” which remains one of my favorite stories about the horrors of traveling and the misery of the thin walls of hotels. He lent his voice to two more stories in our first couple of years. Checking out his other work here is worth your time.

https://pseudopod.org/people/richard-e-dansky/

https://pseudopod.org/2006/08/25/pseudopod-002-good-advice/

https://pseudopod.org/2007/11/16/pseudopod-064-connecting-door/

(Continue Reading…)

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PseudoPod 624: Flash On The Borderlands XLV: Personal Narratives

PseudoPod 624: Flash On The Borderlands XLV: Personal Narratives is a PseudoPod original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:39 — 22.1MB)

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Show Notes

“Ten Things I Didn’t Do” is a PseudoPod Original – “This was a story that I struggled with while writing it. I wanted it to have a happier, more heroic ending, but the story refused to bend: it stubbornly held on to its darkness.”

“Egg” was first printed at Aug 12, 2016 – Out of the Gutter Online

“People Watching” is a PseudoPod original  – “This story is, a little bit, about people who write stories.There’s something predatory about watching people as they go about their day and trying to extract inspiration from them.”

Ten Things I Didn’t Do

By Maria Haskins

  1. I didn’t die.

I promised you I wouldn’t, so I didn’t. I know you said the words in jest when you dropped me off at school, “Don’t die, honey!”, with that hoarse laugh and sideways wink you do, but I rolled my eyes and said “OK, mom, I promise,” and I don’t break my promises. (Continue Reading…)

The Clan Novel Saga: Ventrue

Show Notes

This blog series starts here: https://pseudopod.org/2018/10/25/the-clan-novel-saga-a-revisitation/

Clan Novel: Ventrue covers events that happen between June 25 and August 27, 1999. It is Book 5 in the original clan novel saga, and was published in August 1999. It was written by Gherbod Fleming, who provided five of the thirteen novels in the set. It picks up just before the displacement of the Ventrue prince of Washington, D.C. and follows the second phase of the war where the Camarilla attempt to defend territory and the Sabbat consolidate and slowly advance.

This book strongly follows the meta-plot, and follows the machinations of the different factions trying to defend or take territory. The major strategic change is the withdrawal of the Camarilla from Buffalo and ceding the city to the Sabbat. However, the details of this campaign are much more effectively covered in the Lasombra novel. Oh, and the Gangrel quit the Camarilla because the Ventrue ignore Xavier’s plea to stomp the grease out of the Tortured Artist with the Artifact who mopped the floor with him in the Gangrel novel. (Continue Reading…)