Favourite Book
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JamesWhitehead
Piffle Prospector
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Nope I'd have guessed something quite different.
Fort's The Book of the Damned is a pretty natural first
choice, for me.
Closely followed by The Road to Xanadu by John Livingstone Lewes.
And I've just got a new book of weirdness from the Oxfam Shop:
Phenomena, a Book of Wonders by Michell & Rickard.
Cor! Sleepness night ahead.
Fort's The Book of the Damned is a pretty natural first
choice, for me.
Closely followed by The Road to Xanadu by John Livingstone Lewes.
And I've just got a new book of weirdness from the Oxfam Shop:
Phenomena, a Book of Wonders by Michell & Rickard.
Cor! Sleepness night ahead.
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More Books
Well... (looks at well-stuffed bookcase and pondersfor, oh, around half an hour...)
I took advantage of the Bluesnake offer and picked up all bar vol. 2 of Fortean Studies earlier this year, and I'm still working my way through 'em! Suppose I'll have to pay full whack for vol. 7, but I'm sure it'll be worth it!
After working my way through Bernard Cornwell's Arthur trilogy, I found a battered old copy of Rosemary Sutcliffe's Sword At Sunset , which tells the same story in a third of the time, and twice as effectively!
I also liked Alan Moore's The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen . Every time I return to it I keep picking up loads more clever references to all sorts of things. I can't believe that the proposed film is going to totally remove Fun Manchu and add Tom Sawyer as a token Yank:blah:
Blimey, so many more! Naturally, lots of books on the unexplained / UFOs / ghosts - Janet and Colin Bord's Modern Mysteries Of Britain has been a big influence. Now, if only I could track down copies of those old 70s Usbourne books...
Well... (looks at well-stuffed bookcase and pondersfor, oh, around half an hour...)
I took advantage of the Bluesnake offer and picked up all bar vol. 2 of Fortean Studies earlier this year, and I'm still working my way through 'em! Suppose I'll have to pay full whack for vol. 7, but I'm sure it'll be worth it!
After working my way through Bernard Cornwell's Arthur trilogy, I found a battered old copy of Rosemary Sutcliffe's Sword At Sunset , which tells the same story in a third of the time, and twice as effectively!
I also liked Alan Moore's The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen . Every time I return to it I keep picking up loads more clever references to all sorts of things. I can't believe that the proposed film is going to totally remove Fun Manchu and add Tom Sawyer as a token Yank:blah:
Blimey, so many more! Naturally, lots of books on the unexplained / UFOs / ghosts - Janet and Colin Bord's Modern Mysteries Of Britain has been a big influence. Now, if only I could track down copies of those old 70s Usbourne books...
A
Anonymous
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Elder Edda.
I've got loads of favourites, but the ones that really stick in the mind are:
Ice by Ana Kavan - a cold, desolate tale of lost love in a world encircled by ice. The writer was a heroin addict, and the novel illustrates the world view of a heroin user.
The Chymical Wedding by Lindsay Clarke - Beautifully written story (similar in some ways to Stoppard's Arcadia) contrasting a 17th century man's attempt to discover the philosopher's stone, and a modern couple who try and unlock the past. Read it ages ago and then lost it!
The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho - A young boy sets out to discover his destiny, which he is told is situated somewhere near the Pyramids. On first read a simple piece of new age frippery, but it's deeper, humane meaning sticks with you for a long time.
And finally:
Mindswap by Robert Sheckly - Cheap holidays of the future! Exchange minds with exotic creatures on far off worlds! Free you mind Today! One of the greatest scifi comedies of all time, particualrly notable for its description of Holistic Detection (hmm Dirk Gently) and Search Theory (sit in one place long enough and every one you want to meet will turn up...eventually!). btw written c.1964...
Dot
Ice by Ana Kavan - a cold, desolate tale of lost love in a world encircled by ice. The writer was a heroin addict, and the novel illustrates the world view of a heroin user.
The Chymical Wedding by Lindsay Clarke - Beautifully written story (similar in some ways to Stoppard's Arcadia) contrasting a 17th century man's attempt to discover the philosopher's stone, and a modern couple who try and unlock the past. Read it ages ago and then lost it!
The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho - A young boy sets out to discover his destiny, which he is told is situated somewhere near the Pyramids. On first read a simple piece of new age frippery, but it's deeper, humane meaning sticks with you for a long time.
And finally:
Mindswap by Robert Sheckly - Cheap holidays of the future! Exchange minds with exotic creatures on far off worlds! Free you mind Today! One of the greatest scifi comedies of all time, particualrly notable for its description of Holistic Detection (hmm Dirk Gently) and Search Theory (sit in one place long enough and every one you want to meet will turn up...eventually!). btw written c.1964...
Dot
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Anonymous
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The Alchemist by Peter James. That book was impossible to lay down. And it is conspiratoric so a bit fortean. But the TV-series they made of it was the worst book-to-film I´ve ever seen.
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Anonymous
Guest
There´s no special effects in the book. It´s all about paranoia and creepiness.
Actually I think Contact was a good moviezation. They are rather different that´s true, but both brilliant in their own way.
Actually I think Contact was a good moviezation. They are rather different that´s true, but both brilliant in their own way.
My favourite paranormal book is The Mothman Prophecies.
It's sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying, and always leaves me wondering how much of it I should believe.
For sheer, sleep-with-the-lights-on scariness, it's hard to beat M.R. James.
It's sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying, and always leaves me wondering how much of it I should believe.
For sheer, sleep-with-the-lights-on scariness, it's hard to beat M.R. James.
FelixAntonius
Justified & Ancient
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Any one tried Ian Banks, or in his SF writing form Ian M Banks, The Wasp Factory was brilliant?
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dot23 - have you read 'Mercury', which tells the same story as 'Ice' but in the third person? Personally I think 'Ice' points to psychological conditions of which the heroin use was a symptom, though I prefer the "insideness" of the first person story-telling.
Bagins - I will defend to the death my opinion that 'Angel Heart' is far superior to 'Falling Angel'.
I really couldn't choose a favourite book for myself, but for bathtimes I like 'The New Apocrypha' by John Sladek or 'Sacred Origins of Profound Things' by Charles Panati or 'The ultimate Irrelevant Encyclopaedia' by Bill Hartston & jill Dawson - all good books to dip into.
The next book on my re-read pile is 'House of Leaves' by Mark Z. Danielewski (which first time round I got so engrossed by that I didn't mind having to hold the book upside-down to read while I was being stared at on a bus).
Currently I'm reading 'The Place of Dead Roads' by William Burroughs and enjoying it hugely.
Maybe if you could cram the complete works of P G Wodehouse into one immovable volume.......
Bagins - I will defend to the death my opinion that 'Angel Heart' is far superior to 'Falling Angel'.
I really couldn't choose a favourite book for myself, but for bathtimes I like 'The New Apocrypha' by John Sladek or 'Sacred Origins of Profound Things' by Charles Panati or 'The ultimate Irrelevant Encyclopaedia' by Bill Hartston & jill Dawson - all good books to dip into.
The next book on my re-read pile is 'House of Leaves' by Mark Z. Danielewski (which first time round I got so engrossed by that I didn't mind having to hold the book upside-down to read while I was being stared at on a bus).
Currently I'm reading 'The Place of Dead Roads' by William Burroughs and enjoying it hugely.
Maybe if you could cram the complete works of P G Wodehouse into one immovable volume.......
A
Anonymous
Guest
I've always loved"The Mothman Prophecies"or indeed,any of Keel's books.As an 11 year old back in the mid 60's,I first got onto the fortean trail through the books of Frank Edwards,which led me to the works of Fort.But I suppose my first choice would be Heuvelmans"On the Track of Unknown Animals".
I can't believe anyone else has a copy of 'the new apocrypha'! It's pretty obscure, but a great read. God knows where my copy has got to...haven't read 'mercury' (I assume it's ana kavan too) would love to though, as 'ice' really had an effect on me. In the copy of 'Ice' I've got, I'm sure the introduction says that she herself considered it to be about heroin addiction, but I could be wrong. Anyway, most drug users have some psychological reason for taking them (well, if you include alcohol as a drug then nearly everyone in the west has a psychological problem!) - from simple escapism, to blotting out bad memories of abuse.
Have read almost all Banks' books, exept 'espedair street'. Although his output has become less visceral as he's gotten older, there's still a fantastic imagination at work there. I suppose I should have included one of his, but a)don't really have a favourite - i like them all, b) he's not really a 'fortean' author - although 'the business' was a sort of debunking about multinationals conspiring + maybe all sci-fi is fortean. Hmm, perhaps I should make that a thread, waddya think...?
Have read almost all Banks' books, exept 'espedair street'. Although his output has become less visceral as he's gotten older, there's still a fantastic imagination at work there. I suppose I should have included one of his, but a)don't really have a favourite - i like them all, b) he's not really a 'fortean' author - although 'the business' was a sort of debunking about multinationals conspiring + maybe all sci-fi is fortean. Hmm, perhaps I should make that a thread, waddya think...?
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Anonymous
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I'd nominate _The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail_, not because it's especially well-written or anything, but because I first read it when I was fifteen, and it blew my mind (and then I did History A-level and discovered that most of the "facts" contained therein are, er....hotly debated). But I still dip into it now and again for a laugh. Personally, I'd _really_ like to know what was going on in Rennes-le-Chateau, but suspect the answer would be disappointing after all the speculation.
Favourite Fortean books:
Ficton: Dead Secret by Richard Milton.
This review shamelessly plagiarised from amazon.co.uk:
"That's twice now Richard Milton's scared me to death. The first time was when I read his book The Facts of Life and discovered he was making me question the foundations of my scientific training. That was scary.
Now he's done it again. And this time it's my skill as a writer he's made me question and, if anything, that's even scarier. For, as I read Dead Secret, I slowly but surely came to realise that Mr Milton is as gifted in the art of story telling as he is in the art of taking on the scientific establishment and giving it a good hard shake. Whatever will he do next I wonder, reinvent the wheel in a different shape and scare us all quite witless?
Dead Secret is a story that has it all: a terrific plot that interweaves eternal youth with alchemy and conspiracy theories; money like you've never dreamed of, sex exactly as you've dreamed of, and death as it's never quite been portrayed before, and that portrayal is a nightmare.
It has a charismatic central character too in Tony Gabriel who lives on the edge and gradually eases us over there with him as he pushes his way through the pages dragging us breathlessly behind into areas we'd never think of going in the cold clear light of day. Though we might at night, if we were foolish enough to try to do so and honest enough to admit how much we really wanted to.
For Tony has to work out why it is that, when his seemingly run-of-the-mill mother dies unexpectedly, he finds himself propelled into a world of high finance, quite literal skullduggery, intrigue, and, most unsettlingly, the supernatural.
It's a sinister and unfamiliar world too, where the enigmatic and sensually sophisticated, Eve Canning, slowly discloses long-held secrets to Tony, and where he soon discovers that the cost of knowing these secrets is...Well, let's just say, expensive.
Dead Secret has prose that's economical with words but generous in detail and dialogue that flows seamlessly as if it were speaking from the page. It also has first-rate characterisation, fascinating snippets of offbeat information and an impeccably researched historical setting that acts as a backdrop to the major action. It has a wonderfully crafted denouement too: one that made me look over my shoulder at the end, grin at my stupidity in doing so, then look over once again, just in case.
So, if you're willing to risk a sleepless night because you can't put a good book down, or, more ominously, because you're happy enough to compromise your mental stability as you fret about a storyline that both haunts and excites you in places you thought were inviolable; then get a copy of Dead Secret soon and read it.
And don't be overly concerned if it scares you absolutely stiff. For scaring people stiff appears to be what Mr Milton has a habit of doing. And he does so to everyone irrespective of the seeming solidity of their expertise, the apparent security of their professional standing or the presumed inner certainty of their moral exhortations. Me included..."
Ficton: Dead Secret by Richard Milton.
This review shamelessly plagiarised from amazon.co.uk:
"That's twice now Richard Milton's scared me to death. The first time was when I read his book The Facts of Life and discovered he was making me question the foundations of my scientific training. That was scary.
Now he's done it again. And this time it's my skill as a writer he's made me question and, if anything, that's even scarier. For, as I read Dead Secret, I slowly but surely came to realise that Mr Milton is as gifted in the art of story telling as he is in the art of taking on the scientific establishment and giving it a good hard shake. Whatever will he do next I wonder, reinvent the wheel in a different shape and scare us all quite witless?
Dead Secret is a story that has it all: a terrific plot that interweaves eternal youth with alchemy and conspiracy theories; money like you've never dreamed of, sex exactly as you've dreamed of, and death as it's never quite been portrayed before, and that portrayal is a nightmare.
It has a charismatic central character too in Tony Gabriel who lives on the edge and gradually eases us over there with him as he pushes his way through the pages dragging us breathlessly behind into areas we'd never think of going in the cold clear light of day. Though we might at night, if we were foolish enough to try to do so and honest enough to admit how much we really wanted to.
For Tony has to work out why it is that, when his seemingly run-of-the-mill mother dies unexpectedly, he finds himself propelled into a world of high finance, quite literal skullduggery, intrigue, and, most unsettlingly, the supernatural.
It's a sinister and unfamiliar world too, where the enigmatic and sensually sophisticated, Eve Canning, slowly discloses long-held secrets to Tony, and where he soon discovers that the cost of knowing these secrets is...Well, let's just say, expensive.
Dead Secret has prose that's economical with words but generous in detail and dialogue that flows seamlessly as if it were speaking from the page. It also has first-rate characterisation, fascinating snippets of offbeat information and an impeccably researched historical setting that acts as a backdrop to the major action. It has a wonderfully crafted denouement too: one that made me look over my shoulder at the end, grin at my stupidity in doing so, then look over once again, just in case.
So, if you're willing to risk a sleepless night because you can't put a good book down, or, more ominously, because you're happy enough to compromise your mental stability as you fret about a storyline that both haunts and excites you in places you thought were inviolable; then get a copy of Dead Secret soon and read it.
And don't be overly concerned if it scares you absolutely stiff. For scaring people stiff appears to be what Mr Milton has a habit of doing. And he does so to everyone irrespective of the seeming solidity of their expertise, the apparent security of their professional standing or the presumed inner certainty of their moral exhortations. Me included..."
As for non-fiction:
Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition by Ed Regis is funny, but borderline Fortean at most.
Other than that:
Forbidden Science, by Richard Milton (yes him again)
and Shattering the Myths of Darwinism, by Richard Milton (again).
Controversial that last one - I'm sure someone will pipe up and tell me it's all a load of tripe...
Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition by Ed Regis is funny, but borderline Fortean at most.
Other than that:
Forbidden Science, by Richard Milton (yes him again)
and Shattering the Myths of Darwinism, by Richard Milton (again).
Controversial that last one - I'm sure someone will pipe up and tell me it's all a load of tripe...
A
Anonymous
Guest
Not favourite book, but how many of you started on your Fortean journey after reading the late Arthur Shuttlewood's books on UFOs. in particular the Warminster Mystery?
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Anonymous
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Not a book but a short story; I defy anyone to read 'Oh whistle and I'll come to you my lad' by MR James and then take a lonely walk on a beach at night. I tried that once...
Likewise, 'The whole town was sleeping' by Ray Bradbury (actually a chapter in 'Dandelion Wine', but often published as a short story).
For pure Fortean fun, the collected 'From Hell' by Alan Moore is a must.
Likewise, 'The whole town was sleeping' by Ray Bradbury (actually a chapter in 'Dandelion Wine', but often published as a short story).
For pure Fortean fun, the collected 'From Hell' by Alan Moore is a must.
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For a great Fortean read I nominate "Forbidden Archaeology" by Micheal Cremo and some other guy. Bit like a text book but still fascinating.
The best book ever written though would have to be "Wizard and Glass" by Stephen King. Unfortunatly its book 4 in the Dark Tower series and to get to it you need to read book 1 which is the worst book ever written.
And anything by Neil Gaiman is excellent. Just finished his new one "American Gods". Great book.
The best book ever written though would have to be "Wizard and Glass" by Stephen King. Unfortunatly its book 4 in the Dark Tower series and to get to it you need to read book 1 which is the worst book ever written.
And anything by Neil Gaiman is excellent. Just finished his new one "American Gods". Great book.
A
Anonymous
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So many books... so little time...
Nobody here mentioned Lyall Watson's Supernature which was my first Fortean volume (still have my original tatty paperback c. 1973 vintage).
But of course pretty much anything is Fortean if you look at it the right way....
Nobody here mentioned Lyall Watson's Supernature which was my first Fortean volume (still have my original tatty paperback c. 1973 vintage).
But of course pretty much anything is Fortean if you look at it the right way....
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Supernature and Project Blue Book were about the first "fortean" books I read .....
... followed by von Daniken! (who makes me hoot with laughter to this day!)
David you are spot on Iain M Banks is great ...
.... my favourite novel of all time though has to be Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum ....
... although I am currently seriously grooving on Dante's Divine Comedy.
... I can't really conceive of having a favourite non-fiction book .... a lot of the "factual" material I read would be considered "fiction" by a lot of people anyway ...........
... followed by von Daniken! (who makes me hoot with laughter to this day!)
David you are spot on Iain M Banks is great ...
.... my favourite novel of all time though has to be Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum ....
... although I am currently seriously grooving on Dante's Divine Comedy.
... I can't really conceive of having a favourite non-fiction book .... a lot of the "factual" material I read would be considered "fiction" by a lot of people anyway ...........
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Oh and Lovecraft ... oh forgive me, great Cthulu ......... how could I forget H.P. Lovecraft!!!?????
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Yup, I'm there on HPL. Also Ambrose Bierce, although too much at one sitting and I have to read Schindler's Ark (later List) or 'The Good Nazi of Nanking - The diary of John Raby' to shake my faith in human nature back to being able to like humanity again. M.R. James of course.
Sheer down home nasty story by an author I can't recall - Speciality of the House- anthologised to death, so easy enough to find, and suprisingly not the basis of an Urban Legend.
Supernature has to figured as a favorite Fortean Tome, having first read it at 15
All time fiction favorite - Legend by David Gemmell. Some Fortean content, and, not being prone to hyperbole, one of the best fantasy novels of the last century, although I believe the author would dispute that . We all have things that get us through tough times. That book is one of mine. A signed dedicated copy of the first printing, I one of the few material possesions I have that I really regard as irreplacable.
Non-Fiction Frozen in Time:- The Fate of the Franklyn Expedition by Owen Beatie et al. The only truly scary stories I've read in a long time. The reconstruction of the expediton's descent in to slow poisoning and death is haunting. Not an easy read but for the 'epicure of terror' something of a must. BTW the illustrations are not for the squeamish...
8¬)
Sheer down home nasty story by an author I can't recall - Speciality of the House- anthologised to death, so easy enough to find, and suprisingly not the basis of an Urban Legend.
Supernature has to figured as a favorite Fortean Tome, having first read it at 15
All time fiction favorite - Legend by David Gemmell. Some Fortean content, and, not being prone to hyperbole, one of the best fantasy novels of the last century, although I believe the author would dispute that
. We all have things that get us through tough times. That book is one of mine. A signed dedicated copy of the first printing, I one of the few material possesions I have that I really regard as irreplacable.Non-Fiction Frozen in Time:- The Fate of the Franklyn Expedition by Owen Beatie et al. The only truly scary stories I've read in a long time. The reconstruction of the expediton's descent in to slow poisoning and death is haunting. Not an easy read but for the 'epicure of terror' something of a must. BTW the illustrations are not for the squeamish...
8¬)
A
Anonymous
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Agreed about Foucault's Pendulum, a great book, especially as I'm a self-confessed admirer of all that "Templar conspiracy" "faction" that Eco's parodying there. Although I actually prefer The Name of the Rose, which isn't really Fortean as such, but does strike me as authentically medieval in tone.
Another good, amusing, read; The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, which ventures onto similar ground to "Foucault". Or, for even lighter relief, the Illuminatus! books, which are a bit dated these days, but very funny in places. Especially good is the use made of the HP Lovecraft mythos.
Another good, amusing, read; The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, which ventures onto similar ground to "Foucault". Or, for even lighter relief, the Illuminatus! books, which are a bit dated these days, but very funny in places. Especially good is the use made of the HP Lovecraft mythos.
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Something I forgot to mention - The Brentford Trilogy (upto volume 5 I think, the spirit of Douglas Adams living on a trifle, but I digress) by Robert Rankin. Fortena and funny enoungh to make me laugh out loud
8¬)
8¬)
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I'm with you all the way PiltdownMan, man!!!
Robert Anton Wilson's books made me the lizard I am today, constant companions as they were through my early ahem altered state exploring years although I think I possibly prefer Schrodinger's Cat to Illuminatus if pressed on the matter.
Robert Anton Wilson's books made me the lizard I am today, constant companions as they were through my early ahem altered state exploring years
although I think I possibly prefer Schrodinger's Cat to Illuminatus if pressed on the matter.Couldn't agree more about Illuminatus! I suppose it was that book that sent me careering off into the world in search of 'truth' and introduced me to the comedy players in the theatre of conspiracy: the Templars, the Masons, secret Nazi orders, cultists etc.
BTW does anyone remember a recent RAW interview (bbc2 or c4). He seemed like a remarkably cheerful man, unlike the dour, obsessive type I imagined him to b
BTW does anyone remember a recent RAW interview (bbc2 or c4). He seemed like a remarkably cheerful man, unlike the dour, obsessive type I imagined him to b
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Anonymous
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One of the ones that has stayed with me the longest, and I must recommend to everyone is David Zindell's Neverness. Originally a stand alone book (I think), it is the introduction to a trilogy. It's a sort of cross between very far-future sci-fi, poetry, mathematics, space opera and theology. In it isn't debated whether the Gods exist, they are star-sytems or galaxys of silicon moons, or solar-systen sized banks of interconnected computers. Each is different, and each is also aware that there are more powerful, less tangiable forces than them. The most fearsome force in this universe are the warrior-poets, who are in love with the aesthetic beauty of the "final moment of despair and ultimate enlightenment" before death, and, due to their ability to slow down time, one of them can defeat an entire army.
It also has a smattering of it's own language that it doesn't explain (spaceships move through space by "fenestering" (and the pilots solving mathmatical equasions), people cark their conciousnesses or bodies), but doesn't need to, as they context of the word gives the meaning.
You seriously have to read this book if you want to read something very much out of the ordinary, but not hard going. Very hard to put down.
Here's a good review
It also has a smattering of it's own language that it doesn't explain (spaceships move through space by "fenestering" (and the pilots solving mathmatical equasions), people cark their conciousnesses or bodies), but doesn't need to, as they context of the word gives the meaning.
You seriously have to read this book if you want to read something very much out of the ordinary, but not hard going. Very hard to put down.
Here's a good review