Gavin Callaghan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> There was a silent film made of this book,
> starring Lon Chaney, and retitled A Blind Bargain.
> The film was lost, but MagicImage filmbooks
> released a reconstruction of it in book form. The
> film of it makes it look like a traditional mad
> scientist/evolutionary experiments with
> monkeys-type tale.

Yes, the film I know about, being an admirer of Chaney's work; though I've seen several stills from it over the years, I was not aware of the reconstruction of it. I'll have to look that up sometime. Thanks for the information!

> I read Lilith too, I think in Lin Carter's adult
> fantasy series from the seventies. It has some
> some incredible scenes/elements/ideas; MacDonald
> has effects preceding causes, and other weird
> effects, which make some portions of his book read
> almost like a fourth-dimensional novel. But I
> disliked the overall structure of the book.


I can well see that; it's a very odd book; very disorientating at times. Yet I recall being quite impressed with it overall, though it has been some years since I last read it; I have it set aside for a reread in the -- I hope -- not-too-distant future....

I just received the new Wordsworth Amelia B Edwards collection, ALL SAINTS EVE AND OTHER STORIES. Its contents appear very interesting. Also, I note that it is edited by or at least has an introduction by Richard Dalby. As he was previously mentioned in this thread as an example of someone whose work had been ripped off by Wordsworth, I suppose this means he cannot have been too upset about it.

Quote:

Isn't plagiarism illegal?

No, but copyright infringement is illegal. No need for you to be linguistically precise, though, Gavin; we all know what you mean. ;-)

By the way, with regard to editors and new copyrights, the following excerpt from Project Gutenberg's copyright FAQ is illuminating:

Quote:

What makes a "new copyright"?
1. New edition

When a text is in the public domain, anyone--from you to the world's biggest publisher--can edit it and republish the edited version. When the edits are substantial enough, the edited work is deemed a "new edition", and gets a new copyright, dating from the time the new edition was created.

How substantial must the edits be to qualify as a "new edition"? That is for a court to decide in any particular case. Changing some punctuation or Americanizing British spelling would not qualify a work for a new edition. Theorizing something about Shakespeare and rewriting lots of lines in "Hamlet" to emphasize your point would make a new edition. In between those extremes is a grey area, where each new edition would have to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Hi, Martin!

This world is very small indeed! I hope you enjoy the book from Gavin. Btw, perhaps we could add Henry S. Whitehead to our list of less known writers of weird fiction. Martin would you recommend this collection (Passing of a God and Other Stories)?

yrs,
Slawek



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 21 Sep 08 | 01:05PM by yellowish haze.

Amelia B Edwards was a leading Egyptologist. Yet as far as I can tell Egypt never figures in her fiction. This strikes me as peculiar.

It is indeed a small world. The best example I can give of that was when I was setting up a range while stationed in Korea, and one of the soldiers on my detail had my mother as a third-grade teacher!
Anyway, glad to see you posting here, Slawek. Heard from Tobias recently?

Scott

With some writers with a life beyond fiction, their "real world" interests may be too important to them to "trivialize" by being included in fiction. Other writers feel such interests too important not to include.

JBP

Hi Scott,
Good to "meet" you here. I'm glad to finally find myself posting here too. I had a small chat with Tobias last Sunday at Thomas Ligotti Online. He's doing fine.



Several days ago I received the first two volumes of Jean Ray - Oeuvres Completes. I've been trying to find those English collections of his stories, but the prices always scared me away. Then one day I realized that I'd better read him in the original language.

Does anyone know if there are plans to translate and publish some other stories by Jean Ray?

Slawek

Alas, Slawek, I haven't had the time to read it yet. :-(

J. B. Post Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With some writers with a life beyond fiction,
> their "real world" interests may be too important
> to them to "trivialize" by being included in
> fiction.

To be sure that is a possibility. But can you think of any other examples of such authors?

I have now finished ALL SAINTS EVE, and found it most satisfying, even though it mostly contains mystery rather than ghost stories.

"The Tragedy in the Palazzo Bardello" is particularly interesting, as it anticipates a certain type of Italian crime cinema of the 1960s and 70s.

SPOILER FOLLOWS

It concerns a serial killer priest who kills from bizarre motives. Compare films such as Umberto Lenzi's SETTE ORCHIDEE MACCHIATE DI ROSSO (1972), Aldo Lado's CHI L'HA VISTA MORIRE? (1972), and many others.

SPOILER FOLLOWS

Quote:

serial killer priest who kills from bizarre motives.

With regard to Italian gialli in that thematic vein, don't forget Fulci's Don't Torture a Duckling. although I gather that falls among the many others to which you alluded.

Interestingly, perhaps, in light of the "language" thread, I object to the use of the term giallo in this fashion. I would elaborate on why, except that it would be somewhat off-topic.

Quote:

Interestingly, perhaps, in light of the "language" thread, I object to the use of the term giallo in this fashion. I would elaborate on why, except that it would be somewhat off-topic.

I use the term merely because that is the genre to which these films ostensibly belong, but I haven't really given the word much thought, nor am I wedded to it as a descriptor. As I recall, the connection between the word giallo and the Italian thriller films with which it is associated is tenuous. The word giallo means simply "yellow", and is supposed to be a reference to the yellow book jackets of a series of Italian thriller novels that inspired or are otherwise thematically related to the films. My impression is that the term is much more closely associated with the films, now, than with the books.

I don't want to hijack the thread, either, so that's all for me on this sub-topic. There's no way to know for certain, of course, but I dare say that CAS would have found the gialli to be vulgar, in any case!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 30 Sep 08 | 10:02AM by Kyberean.

The thing is that the Italians use the word giallo to refer to the crime and suspense genre as such, not just specifically a handful of Italian films from the 60s and 70s featuring black-gloved killers. That is, to the Italians any mystery thriller, be it a novel or film, domestic or foreign, new or old, is a giallo. It is not clear why it should make sense for non-Italians to use this Italian word in the very restrictive sense. I have yet to identify definitively the idiot who introduced this usage, but I have my suspicions.