All posts by greydogtales

John Linwood Grant writes occult detective and dark fantasy stories, in between running his beloved lurchers and baking far too many kinds of bread. Apart from that, he enjoys growing unusual fruit and reading rejection slips. He is six foot tall, ageing at an alarming rate, and has his own beard.

A Chill Equation – John Coulthart and More

May 1, 2016 greydogtales 2 Comments

We’re back, with bumper fun in the form of the wonderful Equation Chillers series, including Algernon Blackwood. We’re also going to enjoy the work of a couple of weird artists in the field – the renowned John Coulthart’s Lovecraftian art and the mysterious Boris Dolgov with his pulp illustrations from the forties and fifties.

We’ll start with John Coulthart, because we’ve been in touch with him recently. When we interviewed him at length on greydogtales at the end of last year (see john coulthart – axioms & other dark beasts), he alluded to various forthcoming projects, and two of these are here, or on their way soon.

The first is the new collection from Barnes and Noble, The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales by H P Lovecraft, a massive book of six hundred pages in their Collectible Editions line. As you might expect, it contains twenty three of those Lovecraft stories which relate to what later became a whole myth cycle (for which August Derleth is mostly to be praised or blamed). The book includes six collaborative “revisions”, and has an introduction by Lovecraft scholar S T Joshi.

Mostly importantly for us (we have read a lot of HPL already, after all), it has wonderful front and back covers, plus endpapers, by John.

We haven’t yet seen a UK distributor for this, but here’s the link to the US source:

cthulhu mythos- barnes and noble

Also worth a mention is John’s work for a new collection, Out of Tune Book Two, for which he has provided fifteen new illustrations. This is due to be published by JournalStone sometime soon.

####

Right, let’s go back a few years. Nearly three decades, in fact. One of our finds of the late eighties was the short-lived Equation Chillers series. Sadly, only eight books were ever produced directly under the imprint. We have battered copies of all of them which we bought at the time, thank goodness.

They were, in a way, the precursor of the Wordsworth Editions, where lost, rare or unusual stories of the supernatural suddenly became available at an affordable price. Equation revived a whole haunted house full of Victorian and Edwardian short stories, and it’s worth noting all eight volumes here, with the occasional comment from us.

1) THE FLINT KNIFE. Further Spook Stories by E.F. Benson
Selected and introduced by Jack Adrian (1988).

2) IN THE DARK. Tales of Terror by E. Nesbit
Selected and introduced by Hugh Lamb (1988).

(No, you’re right – we couldn’t find our copies of the two above to scan them. It’s that damned Magic Loft again…)

3) WARNING WHISPERS. New Weird Tales by A.M. Burrage
Selected and introduced by Jack Adrian (1988)

4) STORIES IN THE DARK. Tales of Terror by Jerome K. Jerome, Barry Pain, and Robert Barr
Selected and introduced by Hugh Lamb (1989)

An uneven but fascinating collection from the author of Three Men in a Boat and two of his friends and colleagues. Jerome and Barr founded The Idler magazine together in the late 19th century, though Barr is best remembered for his crime and detective novels. Pain was a writer and editor himself, producing a lot of non-supernatural work. Readers may already be familiar with his story The Undying Thing.

The Haunted Mill by Jerome himself is an especially wonderful example of his dry sense of humour.
5) BONE TO HIS BONE. The Stoneground Ghost Tales of E.G. Swain
Introduced by Michael Cox (1989).

We daren’t say much about this one, because we’ve often droned on about E G Swain being one of our favourite writers of the supernatural. Gentle, humorous and wonderful little stories with perfect characterisation, to be read again and again.

Uniquely, this volume not only reprinted the 1912 edition of The Stoneground Ghost Tales but included six stories by David Rowlands, excellent later pastiches of Swain’s content and style. Rowlands has also written many tales of his own, including those concerning “the endearing Father O’Connor, who is constantly brushing up against the supernatural and the uncanny in stories that range from the whimsical to the terrifying”.

6) THE MAGIC MIRROR. Lost Supernatural and Mystery Stories by Algernon Blackwood
Selected and introduced by Mike Ashley (1989)

An interesting and diverse collection, particularly as it includes a number of Blackwood’s tales for the BBC, including the text of the very first official radio ‘talk’, by Blackwood, from July 1934 – The Blackmailers. The BBC director responsible apparently commented “I don’t doubt that we shall have a good many letters from listeners saying that we are corrupting the youth of England with morbid fancies and distasteful subjects”.

Blackwood went on to make over sixty radio broadcasts, and you can listen to one of them here:

7) DRACULA’S BROOD. Neglected Vampire Classics by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood and Others
Selected and introduced by Richard Dalby (1989).

A most fine collection because Dalby deliberately avoided well-known or commonly anthologised tales. His choice of twenty three stories ranges from 1867 to 1940, and includes Mary E Braddon, Vernon Lee, Alice and Claude Askew, M R James and Frederick Cowles. Worth trying to find because of its range and the rareness of some of the stories.

8) THE BLACK REAPER. Tales of Terror by Bernard Capes
Selected and introduced by Hugh Lamb (1989).

After this the series folded, rather tragically. They had announced, but never released:

FEAR WALKS THE NIGHT. Tales of Terror by Frederick Cowles
To be selected and introduced by Richard Dalby.

Equation Chillers can still be found second hand. Amazon even has a few on offer through its marketplace dealers.

####

While musing on Blackwood and looking at related illustrations of his work, we were reminded of the artist Boris Dolgov. A New York artist, virtually nothing is known about him, not even the dates of his birth and (presumed) death.

Dolgov produced seven (we think) covers for the magazine Weird Tales, and numerous interior illustrations, a few of which we’ve included in this post, from the mid-forties to the early fifites.

It is known that Dolgov was a friend of the artist Hannes Bok, and he collaborated with Bok a few times under the name Dolbokov. He also produced at least one book cover, that of A E Van Vogt’s 1952 book Destination: Universe!

You can see more of Dolgov’s work here:

dolgov on monsterbrains

And to close, a mention that Equation also produced the book Ghost and Scholars: Ghost Stories in the Tradition of M.R. James. This fine collection was not under the Chillers imprint, though. Selected and introduced by Richard Dalby (as mentioned above) and Rosemary Pardoe, this came out in 1989, and included an essay by MRJ, himself, “Ghosts–Treat Them Gently!”

“Following James’s lead, the writers represented here conjure up an ordered, placid world into which the supernatural–usually in malevolent form–slowly but surely intrudes itself.”

Unfortunately, this is now both hard to find and expensive. Bums.

We’ll be back later in the week, dear listeners, with more weird fiction, weird art and even weirder lurchers…

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Lurcher for Beginners 9: Bitey Face!

April 28, 2016 greydogtales 6 Comments

Get the bandages out, it’s time for some violence – although this may not be what you think. We’re not talking about horror stories where body parts get eaten or pulled off, or weird stories of people’s heads going wrong today. Instead, we’re back among the lurchers and longdogs, and we have some guests along for a change.

Not only are there some jolly good photos provided by Mandy Locky, Gina Beck, Richard Woolley and Julie Stringer. More about them in a minute, but first, the Great Game…

sykes and sui, from julie – apparently the dribble fallout was extensive

Lurchers are weird. Yes, they do share many characteristics with other dogs, but they have peculiarities which seem to be seen more often in the type. We’ve said before that many lurchers don’t like to sit, that their deep chests and joint articulation give them a gait and posture of their own, that they like sleeping upside down with their legs in the air and so on.

And though almost all dogs play, our extensive scientific studies show that bitey face is more common in lurchers and sighthounds than in other dog breeds or crosses. You might be able to prove us wrong, but do you really have the time and resources of the dedicated greydogtales research team to do so? We think not.

Bitey face is a game well known to lurcher enthusiasts. Basically, it consist of two or more lurchers posturing and doing play-bows, bums in the air and tails wagging furiously. Before you can say “How sweet,” and pour another cup of tea, they are launching themselves at each other with their jaws wide open.

where lurchers get it from - jurassic bitey face — where lurchers get it from – early bitey face

It is, on the surface, a game which looks like two insane predators trying to eat each other. Teeth clash audibly, heads end up in mouths, ears get put at serious risk and so on. You think it’s over, and then one of the little darlings does that play-bow again, and they’re off for a second or third round.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — the classic play-bow: roxy and lizzie, from katrina

The play-bow is, incidentally, a good sign that your dogs are having fun, not itching for actual violence. Bodies are generally relaxed, they will take pauses, and sometimes swop who’s on top. There will be fur grabbing and snapping, but not ‘sink your teeth in’ biting.

NOTE: Lurchers are generally good-natured, but can and do fight under certain circumstances, especially if stressed, or defending territory, or if they’ve had an abusive background. Always watch and make sure what’s happening. Bitey face is NOT fighting.

Lurchers may have long, slender muzzles, but they still have serious teeth. Django has teeth which belong in Jurassic Park. Let’s not kid ourselves – bitey face is an alarming sight. The first time our neighbours saw it, they were almost shrieking with concern, convinced that Django and Chilli had decided to murder each other. Two pleasant, licky dogs had turned into a blurred ball of bared canines, wild growls and quite a lot of legs. The dogs were fine, but we did have to sedate the neighbours. Who’d have thought chloroform was so expensive?

odin and scully, from gina and mandy – hey, that’s my head!

Is bitey face actually dangerous? The general answer is no. Dogs aren’t stupid (except the odd one who is). A lot of the time it’s only a fun muzzle-rubbing bit of rough and tumble. The dogs take it in their stride.

OK, they can very occasionally catch each other’s lips, noses and ears by accident. Ears, for some reason, bleed like a blood transfusion centre during a January sale, even though the wound itself is quite minor. But we’ve not had a bitey face game so far where anyone got seriously damaged, so we don’t worry about it too much, just monitor things.

If it’s getting out of control, and we’re sick of the noise and the over-turned chairs, we spray the dogs with a house plant sprayer full of cold water. All this does is surprise them, and they stop the game to see what’s going on. Bitey face is an important part of their play. They don’t unplug your television, so why should you stop them enjoying their own entertainment?

Bitey face on the run is hard work to keep an eye on. Once they get up to speed and start snapping at each other as they charge (their idea of fun and egging each other on), the lip cuts get more likely – not because they’re being nasty, but their momentum is so great. Even then no harm is usually done. As we tend to run ours with open basket muzzles on, the loudest sound is of them bashing the plastic muzzles together, which they seem to enjoy.

We have heard of humans trying to play a version of bitey face with their lurchers. We do not recommend this. Firstly, you will lose. Make sure that you haven’t wagered any money (or chicken carcasses) on the outcome. Secondly, there may be parts of your face which you quite like. We suggest that you hang onto them. Time alone will do enough damage there without helping it along.

It may also be relevant to point out that the pain of having a dog’s tooth accidentally rammed up one of your nostrils is, well, not to be sneezed at. We have experienced this. Trust us.

13078373_570457566459912_1240232398_o — time to take a break – rudy and maggie, from richard

Finally, we were sent a couple of short bitey face videos by a nice chap called Richard Woolley, who clearly knows the phenomenon well. Richard says “We adopted Maggie in August. A very shy and timid girl and didn’t come out of the kitchen or conservatory for about 6 weeks! That’s when she bolted out of the front door! Missing for 4 days. At Xmas we adopted Rudy, a big lump who loves attention but very calm and a great influence on other dogs including Maggie. She’s much better but still very timid, still keeps her distance but the two of them are joined at the hip.”

Here’s one of the vids – Maggie and Rudy.

We thank all our contributors, and wonder if we actually managed to match all the right dogs and people in the photos. Probably not.

Do join us again on greydogtales at the weekend. It may be weird fiction or art next time, we’re never quite sure…

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The Wet World of British Comics

April 25, 2016 greydogtales Leave a comment

Once upon a time there was a house. Then some idiot filled the loft so full of books, comics and vinyl LPs that the entire building collapsed into a rubble-filled crater. Luckily the idiot was out with his lurchers at the time. The idiot’s partner tried to comment, but little could be heard through her insane frothing. The dogs nodded, peed on the wreckage and wandered off…

317809-20703-124116-1-fish-police — the fish police never sleep

It hasn’t quite happened yet. However, whilst delving through mounds of really dodgy seventies science fiction and fantasy novels up there, we do regularly find a lot of comics and graphic novels. Many of these have been carefully stored (to maintain their pristine condition and collectable value) by shoving them under pieces of an old bunk bed to stop the rafters giving way.

They are in surprisingly good shape, the ones that the rats and squirrels haven’t found over the years. After many hours of going “Blimey, this one’s complete pants,” and “Wow! Tomb of Dracula,” we finally excavated the Fish Police. As we’d recently asked about aquatic-style comics on Facebook, and received some great suggestions, we decided to return to our nautical weird theme. It’s…

Stranger Seas Ten

We’re actually going to show off some British comics aquatic heroes today, but the Fish Police should never be forgotten, so we will mention them. This was a great series by cartoonist Steve Moncuse. It concerned an underwater city populated entirely by talking fish (why not?) and its law enforcement problems. Inspector Gill floated round in a sort of Bogarty, noir way, facing organised crime and generally being… a fish policeman. We like a title that sticks to the point.

The original Fish Police stories were published from 1985 to 1991, and for added greydogtales amusement, we note that it was made in to a short-lived Hanna-Barbera animated show for TV in 1992. Apparently only six episodes were made, and only three were ever aired in the States. Here’s an episode you can watch:

But let’s get down to a handful of aquatic characters from dear old Britishland. Time for Aquavenger, Norstad, Fishboy and more. Only two more actually, in case you get over-excited. We’ve tried to credit sources at the end of the article, but anyone is welcome to say “This is wrong,” or “This is mine, give it back,” and we’ll happily do the necessaries. We’re comics fans, not experts.

Aquavenger is triffid, as we say here. He emerged in (and only in) Pow! Annuals, from Odhams. Pow! was one of those British comics which tried to have more mergers than editions – well, almost. After a short run in 1967 and 1968, Pow! absorbed Wham!, but was itself eaten by Smash! This was a time when every magazine was soon to be called “The Amateur Angler, incorporating Lady Bicyclist and Boy’s Own Spiffing War Adventures”.

Bob Shane, captain of a rusty little ship called the Crab, somehow rescues an old chap who he finds clinging to wreckage at sea. Much to our surprise, the old chap turns out to be Neptunius, a being who possesses “ageless powers”. In order not to be confused with anyone else, Neptunius has thoughtfully left his trident at home.

Despite the fact that he doesn’t appear to have enough power to stop himself having to cling to wreckage, he offers our Bob “unlimited power in the crusade against the powers of darkness”. As far as we can tell, Bob then goes back to limping around in his ship most of the time. Except when he yells “Aquavenger” and transforms into a superhero.

We find it particularly fine that Aquavenger’s nemesis disguises his intentions by calling himself… Admiral Nemesis. Clearly a villain with a taste for wordplay.

Creative attribution – we think Aquavenger was created by Philip Hebden, and mostly drawn by Victor Ibanez at one of the Spanish comics studios.

Norstad of the Deep, on the other hand, is a heart-warming story of a fishman with an axe. Also from Pow! Annual, Norstad was definitely not human. Or a god.

In fact, he is the deposed rule of an underwater kingdom in the Pacific, who loses his strength and courage, and as a result is doomed to be picked up by yet another interfering human ship.

We see that you can still buy some of the original 1971 artwork for Norstad, watercolour on board:

SONY DSC — 11″ x 15″, ortiz, book palace

book palace comics art

Creative attribution – Leopoldo Ortiz for the art.

From fishman to Fishboy: Denizen of the Deep. This young chap appeared in the Buster comic from 1968 onwards, ending in 1975. Buster was a more long-lived comic than Pow!, and is fondly remembered from our own youth.

In a typical story of the time, Fishboy was abandoned at an early age somewhere on a remote island. Naturally under such circumstances he learned to breathe underwater and converse with fish. How could he not? Turning aquatic, he soon had slightly webbed extremities, and possibly super-speed or something like that. We got hung up on how exactly a small Brit mutated so violently without radioactive waste or cosmic rays. And also why they keep emphasising that his hands and feet are only slightly webbed.

Creative attribution – written by Scott Goodall and drawn by John Stokes.

The Jellymen strikes out in a new direction, and their story is one of those “invasion from the deep” tales quite popular with British writers. Remember 1953’s The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham?

This strip was in The Beezer in 1960, and starred the jellymen themselves, who rose from the sea bottom to take over Britain. We have no idea why. Rationing in the UK had only ended six years earlier. Perhaps they felt some kin with the gelatine we were using in our trifles and plates of brawn, and sought to liberate wobbly food items everywhere.

Anyway, the jellymen were sort of see-through purple-grey creatures with lots of limbs and suckers, vaguely humanoid, who ‘bubbled’ on things, including people, and trapped them for later usage.

Fortunately, as so often happens, a science teacher was at hand. One “Potassium” Roberts, in this case, who mobilised his students and, with a knowledge of chemistry which somehow eclipsed that of the major academic and engineering institutes of the day, dissolved the jellymen’s plans. Our old chemistry teacher, dear “Bugsy” Blythe, would have been proud of him.

Creative attribution – all we can find is that the strip was drawn by Ken Hunter.

Almost finally, from The Hornet, which ran from 1963 to 1976, comes Dolphin Patrol, completely different again. The Hornet, as you might guess, then merged with The Hotspur, which was later incorporated into The Victor. After this they all became a wool-pattern magazine called Knitting for Boys (& Junior Taxidermy).

This one is set during World War Two, and describes the thrilling adventures of young Johnnie Dawson and his trained dolphins. Presumably refused entry by Brisbane Marineworld, Johnnie decides to spend his time fighting the Japanese in the Pacific. An odd choice which hardly seems fair on the dolphins, but that was how comics were at the time.

NOTE: Our researcher Django couldn’t find a decent-sized illo for this one. So it’s not our fault.

Creative attribution – art by Dave Sutherland and Shone.

We said almost finally because we’re going to end with another US aquatic hero whom we have only just encountered. Dolphin first appeared as far back as 1968 in DC Showcase #69. At this stage she looks sort of period-wholesome, like something from Bunty.

Later she was revamped, gained some sort of darker ‘alien experiment’ vibe, and turned into someone who seemed a lot more kick-ass. She started hanging out with the Aquaman gang, and even became Aquaman’s lover at one point. Whether this change is good or bad we leave up to you.

Creative attribution – Dolphin was conceived of by Jay Scott Pike.

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A number of the characters featured above were suggested by the Mighty World of British Comics group on Facebook, and we duly thank them. Snippets and some illos have also been drawn from the following sites, who deserve full credit:

http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogspot.co.uk

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk

http://kidr77.blogspot.co.uk

http://mangamax-aieeee.blogspot.co.uk

http://britishcomicart.blogspot.co.uk

Next time on greydogtales – Barring unforeseen events, Bitey Face: An illustrated guide to how your lurchers are not actually killing each other, and after that – more horror!

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Five Books What I Did Not (Quite) Write

April 23, 2016 greydogtales 5 Comments

Do you have an unsold novel under the bed? Did you write Larry Potter and the Chamberpot of Secrets years before J K Dowelling even thought of the endearing Weasel family? You are not alone, dear listener, for I, J Linseed Grant, have been there and wept the bitter tears of Why Didn’t I Get My Act Together Sooner.

hey, we can't play bitey face with these on... — hey, we can’t play bitey face with these on…

We’re going to return to the lurchers next week, including a post on the super game of bitey face, which is a common cause of sheer terror and misunderstanding if you come across it without warning. However, as it’s the weekend, we’re relaxing and throwing yellowed, crumbling manuscripts up in the air for fun.

All these money-making plot ideas were mine, once. Brooding young vampires called Edwin who are covered in shiny sprinkles when you get them in the sunlight, and who have a troubled relationship with a nearby clan of were-badgers. Found footage horrors such as the Bleurgh! Witch, in which a group of students drink too much pale ale and wander off in the woods only to become terrified by their lack of proper sanitary facilities. And my classic Fifty Shades of Beige, where a woman is lead into the strange world of Dulux paint charts, a journey of self-discovery which exposes her desire to paint her house in taupe, oatmeal and barley all at the same time.

SW_Neutral_04 — an unexpurgated version of that dulux chart

A long time ago, way back before I started greydogtales, before I began to write short stories, I produced big, solid novels. We’re mostly talking the late eighties and early nineties here. They were very big, solid novels. The sort where you settle for a rough weight in kilos rather than a word-count. I didn’t do much with any of them, I merely added to the stack every year or so. It wasn’t long before being in paid employment became more important than constant editing and re-writing for no tangible reward, and the process was pretty much abandoned.

But the ‘stack’ still existed in principle, and over these last few months I’ve been finding out where the little poppets were – under a table, in the loft, propping up an old printer etc. I’m pretty sure I’ve found all of them now, and I’ve even glanced through sample chapters. Having done so, I think it’s likely that most won’t ever see the light of day again (the only obvious exception is the horror novel I mentioned a few days ago, House of Clay, which which may yet happen -see author writes book).

You see, I didn’t write those books. Another me, many years ago, wrote them. It’s very tempting to go back and reflect on old, cherished things. You only need a shovel, a lantern and easy access to a cemetery, and you’re away… no, that wasn’t what I was talking about, was it?

The temptation I meant was that one where you get your early work out and wonder if you can still peddle it somewhere. A tweak here, maybe an ‘in’ phrase there, make that character a woman and take out the references to Disraeli…

The truth is that in most cases their time has passed. Some have concepts that were new and exciting when written, but are now commonplace. It’s quite irritating, really, to write something in 1986 and then see your idea used as a regular formula thirty years later. Whining “I thought of it first” will not get you gold stars, or even a pint at the bar.

Some were never the books I wanted them to be. In at least one case I no longer care if the characters accidentally fall down a well and drown en masse. I’d even push some of them. Let’s face it, most of your old work is… old work.

Anyhow, out of curiosity, I looked at five of my (roughly) completed manuscripts, and decided to grade them. Boy, do I know how to have fun? The answer’s still No, by the way.

A Song of Ice and Turkeys

Our number one spot goes to one of my first novels, The Path of Years. This gets an A for effort, and an F for any possibility of it ever being published or even understood. It’s a deep religious fantasy based on the politics of a monotheistic Aztec/Mayan-type culture riven by internal power struggles. It has maps! Dynasties! Betrayals! It has a culture so well-imagined that you’d be better off reading a history book, and you’d need a glossary for every page. It includes its own languages, based on Meso-American tongues and even some song extracts. Verdict: One absolutely for the Vault, or even under it.

I See Far Too Many Dead People

Number two, far more readable than Path of Years, is the oddly titled Shasten. A sort of horror novel, this recounts the problems of a medieval spiritual order taking refuge on an island off Tunisia, where they are in conflict with a growing Islamic movement. Not because they’re Christian or Jewish, but because they happen to be contemplative necromancers who use the withered dead as servants. There’s nothing particularly wrong with it – and it has the occasional cracking scene – but it’s hard now to imagine why anyone would want to amble through it. Verdict: Another for the Vault.

The Malazan Book of the Complicated

The third novel is almost sellable – The Wavedancer’s Daughter. It’s one of my Os Penitens fantasies, set in a culture where face-changing and manipulation of the flesh are commonplace, where grievances last for millenia and The Silence of His Voice can still be heard. Grimdark in a way, if you know the fantasy term. The Chrisante Gate watches the Gynarch’s dream unfold, and huge cultures clash at every level. There’s a lot of betrayal, and some great ideas. The trouble is, I can’t stand the main character any more and want to push her down that well I mentioned earlier. The rewrites would be enormous. Verdict: To be used to keep the Vault Door open.

High Plains Slaughterer

Number four, and we’re getting closer to something we could possibly use – Pale Woman, which was never properly finished off and yet has some of the bits I most like. A dark fantasy again, but not medieval, not quite like anything I’ve seen elsewhere. Its roots are a touch Anglo-Saxon, but more plain weird. Closer to horror, with a main character I loved: Pale Woman herself. She’s dead, restless and bound to a perverted form of justice, a thin, lonely figure with lank hair who destroys as much as she saves. One of the books I’d most like to risk re-visiting. Verdict: Near the Vault, but not quite in it.

The Starvation Games

The fifth and last – Strange Weapons. The only novel I submitted a few times, and one which almost got there. Read and re-read by more than one agent, praised but not taken at the last hurdle, very popular with its beta-readers. It needed a rewrite, and I didn’t have the energy at the time. This one, surprisingly, is a contemporary dystopian tale set in a world falling apart. Britain is engulfed in civil war, Europe has closed its borders, the States have descended into isolationist in-fighting. Across Africa, moderates, animists and Muslims alike struggle to hold back a right-wing Christian movement which seeks to establish the Black Cross over every city and village on that continent. Verdict: I’d need a lot of pale ale, but…

My concluding advice to me, and to others, would be to be brutal. Best use for old manuscripts:

steal any characters which worked in their own right – intriguing personalities, traits etc. – but don’t keep them just because you were vaguely fond of them.
check if there are plot-lines which were sound when the book itself wasn’t, and nick those at the same time (did they really work that well though, honestly?).
admire the amount of effort you put into get the hang of this writing thing, and feel pleased with yourself for once.
lock that vault up again and get on with writing something new.

My advice is, of course, quite worthless because I’m too busy producing short stories to concentrate properly.

Join us next time on greydogtales for something which is… not about me as much, at least.

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Stranger Seas Ten

A Song of Ice and Turkeys

I See Far Too Many Dead People

The Malazan Book of the Complicated

High Plains Slaughterer

The Starvation Games

Literature, lurchers and life