Thanks Glen and Brandon for a great year. Enjoyed the wrap-up episode.
First, I have to thank you for introducing me to Caitlin R. Keirnan. I'm still working my way through her Houses Under The Sea collection, in between other reading.
I also really enjoyed The Ebony Frame. It still flips me that this is the same author who wrote The Railway Children and other kids' books.
I recall reading Jack Vance's Dying Earth a while ago (like 30 years ago, in college). Like your discussion, about Turjan of Miir, I recall the setting as really interesting and saturated, but I don't really remember the actual stories.
Yes, I like Dracula too, but I got this book because I'm now collecting the Wordsworth series 'Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural' (and that book is one of them). According to the introduction 'The Lair of the White Worm' is the second most popular book of Bram Stoker, but doesn't has the quality of Dracula by far. I agree. Some blame it on Stoker's use of drugs at the time. There were pieces in the story I thought weren't contributing to the plot and atmosphere and the characters were far too 'wise' ('Oh, ok, I think it is like this, just because I got it in my head, and - lo! I was right!'). That's also why so many prejudices, racism and sexism had the chance to enter the story, I think.
I haven't finished the other book (The Lady of the Shroud) yet. That story begins with letters about a will (that's not a problem in itself, but it is quite long). Then there is a long midsection (where I am at this moment) - this I like very much: here there is Stoker from Dracula, very gothic and atmospheric. It consists of diary entries of the protagonist. It's also very imperialistic, though. The last section, according to the introduction, is an early piece of science fiction! So, altogether it's a strange thing - but (at this moment) I like it far better than the White Worm, though not as well as Dracula.
I also want to lend my thanks to Glenn and Brandon for another excellent year of weird fiction. The situation with Covid has meant that I haven't always been able to listen to Elder Sign as it was going out, but I was reading along and have finally caught up with all the episodes from 2020 now.
There were only two stories that I felt were complete duds this year. The first was (I hate to say it) A Psychical Invasion by Algernon Blackwood. I don't know why, but I just couldn't get into it. Even the cat and dog being so important couldn't salvage it for me! Apparently supernatural investigators just aren't doing it for me, even though it seems like a genre I should love. The other was The Graveyard Heart by Roger Zelazny. I didn't find anything to like at all with that one - even the central plot point didn't hook me. To be honest, it's the closest I've come to giving up on an Elder Sign story. But, as always, the discussions in the episodes were really interesting and gave me a lot to think about (even if you didn't manage to change my mind on either of them).
The highlights were The Mask and Houses under the Sea, but I'd read them before and knew I liked them already. The very pleasant surprise of something I hadn't read before was The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. I've never read anything by Marquez before, even though he's obviously a very well known author outside the genre of weird/speculative fiction. I thought he did an absolutely masterful job of conjuring up the world of the story, and I'm definitely intrigued to read more by him. We have a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera on the bookshelf, so maybe I'll start with that.
As for themes, the one thing that came out for me in this episode in relation to Turjan of Miir and The Blue Flame of Vengeance (and has sort of come up on the forum in relation to Lovecraft) is what to do about stories that haven't necessarily aged well. For me personally, I think it's still very important to read and discuss old-fashioned stories that contain elements that seem problematic to a modern audience, not just dismiss them for being racist or sexist (or whatever else). It's then possible to examine them closely and ask fundamental questions about the stories and their authors. That's something I think you're doing a really good job of so far.
Ok, final thing: I managed to watch the film adaptation of From Beyond earlier this year. All I'll say is if you like Re-Animator, you absolutely have to watch From Beyond! It's an even less faithful adaptation, but well worth tracking down. It's on Netflix in the UK, but I don't know about availability in other countries.
I just want to gladly agree with ktvician's thanks and enjoyment about this last year's review (though that's not proper English I guess). It's great to watch all those great works that were discussed pass by again and to listen to Glenn and Brandon drawing conclusions, for example leading to the insights into the 'knight errant' motif and how that changed through time.
The '2020 Elder Sign year' for me was the year in which I used all reading and discussion to enhance (or at least think about) my own writing. Unfortunately my writing came to a halt some weeks ago, when the children weren't allowed to go to school anymore because of COVID and I became a full-fledged home teacher (which on its own is not so bad; for some time in my life I wanted to become a elementary school teacher). But I expect to pick up writing in some more weeks.
I'm really looking forward to this year's reading for and listening to Elder Sign, and to the activity in this forum!
Thanks so much for listening and for your comments throughout the year. We've gotten a lot of feedback about Jack Vance, and it seems that what people remember fondly and what was important were the later novels and not this early collection that we're going to work our way through as a series of short stories. So maybe I'll do those on Atoz some day.
I've also never read The Railway Children books but I'm considering picking them up now that I have a child to read them to. That might also make for a fun episode or two!
And Kiernan! Yes!!!!