MU Podcast 074 - Uncommonly Commonplace

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Scriven
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Re: MU Podcast 074 - Uncommonly Commonplace

Post by Scriven » Thu Mar 19, 2015 2:19 pm

trevlix wrote:
Scriven wrote:Great show, guys. Makes me wonder whether a crowdsourced Commonplace Book could feasibly work...I suppose it would just amount to a compendium of plot hooks.
And thats a bad thing?
Not at all!
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Re: MU Podcast 074 - Uncommonly Commonplace

Post by Graham » Fri Mar 20, 2015 3:33 am

Graham wrote:Enjoyed the episode, especially the part on using HPL's commonplace book to generate scenario ideas. It made me search for my copy of the Wordsworth Classics version of M. R. James' "Collected Ghost Stories" (Wordsworth Classics, 1992). That volume ends with a short article written by James entitled "Stories I have Tried to Write" in which he describes several story ideas that failed to come to fruition, as well as a few dark hints. if a copy can be found of the book, these too may prove of use.
I've managed to find a readable copy of "Stories I have Tried to Write" on Google Books:

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=x4 ... &q&f=false

There is also a reading of the piece on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIpbPgund10

Further notes on the article and what came of it....

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pardo ... ories.html

I finish with the conclusion of the article:
M.R. James wrote:Late on Monday night a toad came into my study. And, though nothing has so far seemed to link itself with this appearance, I feel that it may not be quite prudent to brood over topics which may open interior eye to the presence of more formidable visitants.

Enough said.
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Re: MU Podcast 074 - Uncommonly Commonplace

Post by Dr. Gerard » Fri Mar 20, 2015 5:39 am

Great find once again, Graham. Yes, this is another excellent resource for parbaked ideas.
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Re: MU Podcast 074 - Uncommonly Commonplace

Post by Shannon Mac » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:02 am

Another fine podcast. Thanks for sharing.
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Re: MU Podcast 074 - Uncommonly Commonplace

Post by Dr. Gerard » Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:07 pm

Thanks, Shannon!
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Re: MU Podcast 074 - Uncommonly Commonplace

Post by Eibon » Fri Mar 20, 2015 2:45 pm

The M. R. James plots have been exploited several times, notably Sheila Hodgson who wrote a set of radio plays based on them (she turned them into stories as well, collected in Fellow Travellers (Ash Tree Press, 1998) which is an expensive limited edition, but an e-book version does exist at a more reasonable price -- http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-FELLOW-TRAV ... B006HLA35S (Amazon UK); http://www.amazon.com/FELLOW-TRAVELLERS ... la+Hodgson (Amazon US).

In Mythos terms, Ramsey Campbell based a couple of his early mythos stories on M. R. James' "Stories I Have Tried To Write" plots. I can't remember the details but I think he mentions the "masks" plot (he gives details in the introduction to Cold Print).

For more Jamesian goodness, including a reading of "Stories I Have Tried To Write", check out A Podcast to the Curious -- http://www.mrjamespodcast.com/.

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Re: MU Podcast 074 - Uncommonly Commonplace

Post by Keeper Jon » Fri Mar 20, 2015 3:03 pm

Eibon wrote:For more Jamesian goodness, including a reading of "Stories I Have Tried To Write", check out A Podcast to the Curious -- http://www.mrjamespodcast.com/.
This is an amazing podcast.

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Re: MU Podcast 074 - Uncommonly Commonplace

Post by Gladius » Fri Mar 20, 2015 3:24 pm

(re: postcards) Wish I'd thought of this! I need to pick up De Profundis, it's right up my alley (props and all).

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Re: MU Podcast 074 - Uncommonly Commonplace

Post by Graham » Sat Mar 21, 2015 2:03 am

Dr. Gerard wrote:Great find once again, Graham. Yes, this is another excellent resource for parbaked ideas.
The rest of the Ghosts & Scholars archive is also worth looking through, as they reprint several stories in a similar style by unknown authors ('B', 'D.N.J' and Anon.), as a final tip'o the hat to James, here is a link to his longest work at Project Gutenberg:

The Five Jars by M. R. James

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24089

To get a feel for this work, I recommend you read this 2000 review by Paul Di Filippo:

https://www.sfsite.com/fsf/2000/cur0001.htm
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Re: MU Podcast 074 - Uncommonly Commonplace

Post by Dr. Gerard » Wed Mar 25, 2015 12:44 pm

A little correction. Tsathoggua's relation to Cthulhu was not contrived by August Derleth. The connection was made by Lovecraft himself. In a letter that appears in the Arkham House collection's 5th volume, he wrote that Tsathoggua is the offspring of the deity Yeb, whose twin Nug spawned Cthulhu. The citation I have seen is "letter 617," but I don't know who the letter was to.
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