Books! We've not had a chatter about them printed things yet

"I am Legend" is a true classic by the literary genius that it is Richard Matheson. Also try "Stir of Echoes", "Hell House" and "Hunted Past Reason" (one of his more recent ones)....

MnS...have you read any of the screenplays for the aborted movie version of "..Legend"? The one for the Ridley Scott version is quite good.

As far as screen versions go, I still think "Last Man on Earth" with Vincent Price was rather good1

Sadly, I havent even seen the film version with Charlton Heston. I didn't know there were more film versions... However, I really hadn't thought of tracking down any more of Richard Matheson's works, so thanks for the mentions of the other titles... They'll go on my long term list.

There are a couple of nice short story collections available that you might like to try-

"Nightmare at 20'000 Feet"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312878273/ref=pd_sim_b_dp_5/202-9726184-3261406

and "Duel"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312878265/ref=pd_sim_b_dp_2/202-9726184-3261406

Of the novels, my fave is "Stir of Echoes" which was the basis for the David Koepp/Kevin Bacon movie. You could read this in broad daylight ( as I did on holiday a few years back) and it will still give you chills.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0752271946/qid=1061850131/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3_3/202-9726184-3261406

Thanks for the links. Those should keep me busy.

Sounds good

I was going to pick that one up but a friend of mine who is a big Jackson fan suggested I try "Come Along with Me" instead although she did say that "...Castle" was good too. She said CAWM would be a better intro to SJ's writing. Thanks for the info though.

Incidentally, I will be directing the play "The Haunting of Hill House" early next year for a theatre group in Falkirk...if anybody fancies the trek north..ha ha ha....

Have you read "The Woman in Black" by Susan Hill....extra super-creepy also....

I'm just finishing up Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and I read Armadillo by William Boyd recently. I really enjoyed Armadillo; it's a darkly comic look at contemporary life in Britain. Good Omens is next on my list of books to check out.

Currently re-reading Noel Carroll's "The Philosophy of Horror." A good read if you're into philosophy and/or cognitive film theory. And horror.

Also trying to find time to get going on Haruki Murakami's "Underground," a Studs Terkel-esque account of the Tokyo subway gas attacks.

When I think of horror fiction, the two books that come to mind are Joe R Lansdale's "The Drive In" which is an excellent short book that is as wonderful as it is weird and Dan Simmons "Carrion Comfort" which is epic in almost every sense.

A good anthology containing horror fiction influenced by cinema is "Silver Scream" edited by David J Schow, though it's probably a bit hard to get a copy of this now (published in 1988).

I very much enjoyed Kim Newman's "Nightmare Movies" a critical analysis of movies that quite rightly eschews the blinkered Horror genre by including films not normally regarded as such.

I'm currently very slowly going though Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake series which although slightly Buffy-esque in subject, is considerably more mature in tone. I haven't found anything else to interest me yet - probably because I haven't been looking hard enough.

I found "Across the Nightingale Floor" to be plenty corny though quite page-turning and easy to digest.

A similar series by David Duncan that can be purchased online as an e-book from: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/Series182.htm

It deals with a feudal sword-slashing culture that has a distinctly "Japanese" feel to it.

If one's taste did run into Japanese-culture inspired fantasy then Janny Wurtz's collaborative trilogy with Raymond Feist starting with "Daughter of the Empire" is also well worth a look.

I'm reading Walker Percy's 'The Moviegoer'. My best friend bought it for a dime at a book fair and I've borrowed it . Never heard of it before but it's interesting. I still can't shake off the feeling of annoyance for some of his attitudes - especially towards women (my one beef for The Catcher in the Rye - the book jacket cites 'Moviegoer' as a 'Rye' for adults coincedentally. Of course it does). He's lived a shallow life, sees money as the root of all happiness and is finally
trying to have some meaning in his life. Sort of. In a half ass not really understanding other people at all sort of way. It's the very shallowness he is sort of waking up to that bugs me to no end. I don't want to see spend the reading time with him. For every true observation there's an even more annoying one. I want to shake him by the shoulders.
Maybe it'll get better on. My friend ruined the ending for me already though so I'm not sure if I want to.

Oh yeah, the movie part. I don't feel his movie obsession either.
If you saw The Dreamers or Me Without You (a great script here, terrible performances). They give the characters *the best* taste in films and music and it's wholly unbelievable that they ever set foot in a movie theatre or put on one of the albums who's poster decorates their walls.
My biggest connection was to the films and music I love deeply, not to any shared love with the characters. That's a shame.
That's how I feel with 'The Moviegoer'.

I went on and on and no one of you are probably even interested. Or I ruined it for you if you wanted to read it.
I loved the Farenheit 451 Truffaut film with Julie Christie in it.

This week I have been mostly been reading The Witches Of Chiswick (Robert Rankin) and the previously mentioned I Am Legend. I surprisingly enjoyed Witches of Chiswick. Hollow Chocolate Bunnies Of The Apocalypes I found a bit of a chore and I'm not always a fan of Rankin's running gags. I love The Brentford Trilogy though.

Next up on the reading list is Have A Nice Day! (Mick Foley).