Back in the 80's, I believe, I used to buy used volumes of collections titled "Whispers", edited by Stuart David Schiff.

To my mind, there were some excellent pieces of post-modern horror, like Sticks, THe Night of River's Dreaming, The Cat's Meat Man, etc.

Some really good stuff.

Anyone else?

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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I once had a few issues of the fanzine, or semi pro zine, itself, but I didn’t really like them much, and probably tossed them out years ago. I do remember submitting a story to editor Schiff, who turned it down, as I kind of wish the fanzine editor who did take it had. It was Night Gallery-type rubbish.

If you have the Whispers anthology with Robert Aickman’s little essay, what do you think of it? It seems relevant to the poetic consciousness versus sociological consciousness topic.

Dale Nelson Wrote:
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> I once had a few issues of the fanzine, or semi
> pro zine, itself, but I didn’t really like them
> much, and probably tossed them out years ago. I
> do remember submitting a story to editor Schiff,
> who turned it down, as I kind of wish the fanzine
> editor who did take it had. It was Night
> Gallery-type rubbish.
>
> If you have the Whispers anthology with Robert
> Aickman’s little essay, what do you think of it?
> It seems relevant to the poetic consciousness
> versus sociological consciousness topic.

The collections (anthologies) are all I have, no issues. Not even sure which ones I have.

But I'll check tonight.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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I think the Aickman essay actually was in The Second World Fantasy Awards or some such title, come to think of it.

Dale Nelson Wrote:
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> I think the Aickman essay actually was in The
> Second World Fantasy Awards or some such title,
> come to think of it.


In the first, not second WF Awards volume Aickman's short essay on his "work and inspiration" is a historical perspective on the "wrong turning" away from "religion, poetry, art, the imagination, and the spirit" (63). Stuart Schiff's WHISPERS had very good reviews and articles, but other than the Fritz Leiber and Manly Wade Wellman special issues the fiction wasn't much imo. Schiff was understandably upset when Necronomicon Press began publishing Lovecraft's off-trail things.

jkh

Kipling Wrote:
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> Dale Nelson Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I think the Aickman essay actually was in The
> > Second World Fantasy Awards or some such title,
> > come to think of it.
>
>
> In the first, not second WF Awards volume
> Aickman's short essay on his "work and
> inspiration" is a historical perspective on the
> "wrong turning" away from "religion, poetry, art,
> the imagination, and the spirit" (63).
> Stuart Schiff's WHISPERS had very good
> reviews and articles, but other than the Fritz
> Leiber and Manly Wade Wellman special issues the
> fiction wasn't much imo. Schiff was understandably
> upset when Necronomicon Press began publishing
> Lovecraft's off-trail things.

Last night I found what I have of Whispers. An anthology published in 1977, and there are memorable stories in it: Sticks, The Scallion Stone, The Inglorious Rise of the Catsmeat Man, Le Miroir.

I also have what appeared to be a sort of amateurish magazine with stories and articles. This is probably a single volume of Whispers. It was an off side and of a strange construction--more like a cheap book than a magazine.

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kipling Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> In the first, not second WF Awards volume
> Aickman's short essay on his "work and
> inspiration" is a historical perspective on the
> "wrong turning" away from "religion, poetry, art,
> the imagination, and the spirit" (63).
>

I would like to read that essay, but don't have it.

There is a new book by Aickman in the works, Go Back at Once.

Knygatin Wrote:

> I would like to read that essay, but don't have
> it.

I have scanned it. Feel free to email me & I can send it to you as an attachment: extollager

It's a gmail.com account.

Thank you Dale, I appreciate it very much. You can email it to nylenpost at aol.com

Thank you very much Dale, for the scans of the Aickman essay. I have read it, it has some interesting points, and believe I have learned something from it, about the worthwhileness of the indefinable spiritual quality as opposed to the definite materialistic perspective; although it wasn't particularly well written, a bit muddled and unfocused. He is similar to Lovecraft in his perspective, saying that the only thing that makes life worthwhile is the escape from life into art and aesthetics and the dreaming of elsewhere.

I believe the correct title of Wagner's story is "The River of Night's Dreaming."