Dennis Wheatley Podcasts

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ken68
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Post by ken68 »

Interesting stuff as usual Darren,.my good lady bought me a copy of night of the demon for Christmas because it's one of kate bushs favs and the line "it's in the trees, it's coming" at the start of hounds of love is lifted from the film.
I haven't read the story before or any james for a long time so once I've seen the film I'm going to start reading them.
Darren
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Post by Darren »

That opening to Hounds of Love is an absolute killer.

Night of the Demon was one of my best childhood scares so when Kate Bush first released Hounds of Love with the now famous "It's in the trees - it's coming" excerpt with the accompanying loud hammering it sent a bolt straight through me. It still works to this day.


There are at least 2 radio plays of Casting the Runes.

The first one is from 1947, and the following link offers it in 2 formats. The HQ version is the best.

http://www.escape-suspense.com/2009/10/ ... runes.html


The second one is a CBS Radio Mystery Theater (US spelling) episode from 1974, with the title This Will Kill You, M R James was uncredited at the time.

http://www.cbsrmt.com/episode-50-this-w ... l-you.html
Regards,

Darren.
shanedwyer
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Post by shanedwyer »

Casting the Runes is my favourite M R James story. And has been since I first came across it in the Alfred Hitchcock: Stories they wouldn't let me do on TV anthology at the age of 13. It's stood up to umpteen re-readings. Thank you for the links Darren.
Darren
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Post by Darren »

Apologies for remaining off topic, but just to complete the M R James discussion, I have discovered a lot of black magic elements to his stories - the sacrifice of a black cockerel (The Residence at Whitminster) and child sacrifice (in the disturbing Lost Hearts that M R James was reluctant to publish) are two examples that spring to mind.

There is a one day conference organised by the University of Leeds called M R James and the Modern Ghost Story on 28 March, the following link takes you to the programme for the day.

https://mrjconference.wordpress.com/programme/
Regards,

Darren.
Darren
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Post by Darren »

To bring this discussion back to Dennis Wheatley it is interesting to note if you look at the original flyer for DW’s Library of the Occult, DW was initially going to include M R James’ Ghost Stories of an Antiquary as Volume 24. This includes Casting the Runes and a few other stories with Black Magic rituals (e.g. Lost Hearts).

Look at the right hand column of DW’s promotional flyer:

http://www.denniswheatley.info/lointro.htm

Volume 24 ended up being The Monk by Matthew Lewis and the M R James book was not published as part of the series. There is another book on the flyer that wasn't used in the series - The Hindu Book of Astrology and the Yoga System.

I would be interested to know what DW would have written about MRJ in his introduction. He may have already written an introduction before copyright costs (or whatever changed their minds) removed MRJ from the series. I have often wondered whether DW used Julian Karswell from Casting the Runes when forming the character of Mocata. There has been speculation that MRJ based Karswell on Aleister Crowley.
Regards,

Darren.
Charles
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Post by Charles »

You are your usual observant self, Darren !

I had often wondered why DW hadn't included M R James in the series - now your sharp eyes have revealed that he intended to.

I'm so glad as the stories are among my favourites.

All best !
Charles
Jim
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Post by Jim »

Darren wrote: To bring this discussion back to Dennis Wheatley it is interesting to note if you look at the original flyer for DW’s Library of the Occult, DW was initially going to include M R James’ Ghost Stories of an Antiquary as Volume 24. Volume 24 ended up being The Monk by Matthew Lewis and the M R James book was not published as part of the series. There is another book on the flyer that wasn't used in the series - The Hindu Book of Astrology and the Yoga System.
I also wonder which Conan Doyle book DW had in mind...
Charles
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Post by Charles »

I'd have gone for 'The Maracot Deep', Conan Doyle's last (I think) novel ... and a novel which ends with a climatic Black Magic versus White Magic battle.

What do you reckon, Jim ?

It's too short as it's a short story, but 'The Brown Hand' was also pretty marvellous ...

All best as always !
Charles
Darren
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THE CHURCH OF DENNIS WHEATLEY

Post by Darren »

Hi folks,

This podcast is hot off the press – being released yesterday (11th February).

And it’s a curious one - titled Dualism Clinic with Dennis Wheatley

The series is produced by an American Christian ministry "that seeks to connect the Christian faith with the realities of everyday lifeâ€￾.

This episode is all about Dennis Wheatley.

The first part explains how important and significant this “unknownâ€￾ writer is with a brief biography. The host (PZ) then discusses the modern criticisms of DW and spends a lot of time and effort valiantly defending our hero.

PZ focuses on The Devil Rides Out and gives passing mention to Unchartered Seas, To the Devil a Daughter, The Haunting of Toby Jugg and The Ka of Gifford Hilary.

It is a religious show all about DW, and the most enjoyable part of the podcast is when PZ starts sermonizing with great gusto and passionately quotes lengthy DW extracts. The podcast is bookended to great effect with extracts from James Bernards’ TDRO music.

PZ even raves about The Ka of Gifford Hilary, recommending it to those listeners who are interested in what happens immediately after death, “some of the parts are so turgid you will grind to a haltâ€￾ he warns, but he encourages listeners to work through these parts.

I don’t know how popular the series is, but the related MOCKINGBIRD webpage suggests a significant organisation.

Type in Dualism clinic dennis wheatley in your iTunes search engine or click on EPISODE 182 on the following link:

http://www.mbird.com/2015/02/pzs-podcas ... -wheatley/

It’s only 22 minutes long and I thoroughly recommend it. Great fun, an enjoyable, alternative take on Dennis Wheatley - but seemingly a serious one.

Are we witnessing the birth of the Church of Dennis Wheatley? [-o<
Regards,

Darren.
Darren
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Review of the film, To the Devil.... A Daughter

Post by Darren »

The Professor Cushing's Crypt of the Macabre podcast series has finally reviewed the film, To the Devil.... A Daughter. The US hosts have obviously been looking at this website as they mention it when explaining that the DW community are split in our opinion of it.

They don't rate it as high as I do but they do generally give it a good review - 6.5 out of 10 I think is their joint rating. The review starts 58 minutes into the show.

They also briefly discuss the Brides of Fu Manchu for you Sax Rohmer fans and give that a positive review.

http://cryptofthemacabre.blogspot.co.uk/
Regards,

Darren.
Darren
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Post by Darren »

Another couple of recent DW related podcasts:

The April episode of the Waffle On Podcast series discusses the film the Devil Rides Out. Very positive review, a couple of nice lads presenting but nothing new to say. I enjoyed the show. They start talking about TDRO at 12:50.

http://waffleon.podbean.com/

The latest Kiss The Goat episode discusses the film To The Devil...A Daughter. This is an odd US show. The presenters are a US husband and wife team that annoyingly keep laughing at each other's childish observations that are meant to be humorous but simply are not funny. I think they try to come across as serious exponents on satanism and offer their expert "in the know" view of satanic films. They give the film an average score and state that John Verney's character was based upon Dennis Wheatley himself, which I thought was an interesting observation as DW had just published The Devil and All His Works and was into his Library of the Occult at the time so I can see how they made that connection. They start talking about the film at 17:00: http://kissthegoat.weebly.com/episode-archive1

In the first 17 minutes they provide an update of Satanism in the news and made a brief mention of "Bolsover, England" which was so obscure you couldn't make out any satanism connection. I live only a few mules from Bolsover so was curious. I googled "Bolsover satanism" and found that in February, the Daily Mail claimed it was the satanic capital of Britain: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... Wales.html
Regards,

Darren.
Steve Whatley
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Post by Steve Whatley »

So Darren, you live 'only a few mules from Bolsover'?

How far can a mule go with you on its back?

And what would the few mules' range equate to in miles?

All Best (and Sorry) Steve

PS And where the devil is Bolsover?[font=Courier New] [/font]
Darren
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Post by Darren »

You raise an interesting point, Steve.

A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.

Although it depends on the individual animal, an army mule can carry up to 72 kg and walk 26 km without resting. In general, a mule can be packed with dead weight of up to 20% of its body weight, or approximately 90 kg (198 lb). However, it can carry up to approximately 30% of its body weight in "live" weight, such as a rider. Some mules can carry live weight up to 160 kg (353 lb), and the superiority of the mule becomes apparent in their additional endurance.

So, as the actual distance to Bolsover is just 10 miles, my earlier post is, in fact, wrong. I only live 1 mule from Bolsover. :rofl
Regards,

Darren.
Steve Whatley
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Post by Steve Whatley »

Excellent Darren!

A better response than I deserve!

All Best, Steve[font=Courier New] [/font]
Darren
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Post by Darren »

A very enjoyable and highly recommended podcast is the recent Radio 4 documentary Black Aquarius that was broadcast on 25 April 2015.

It is described as:

“Matthew Sweet explores the dawning of the age of Black Aquarius - the weirdly great wave of occultism that swept through British popular culture in the 1960s-70s. From journals like the Aquarian Arrow to the diabolical novels of Dennis Wheatley, lurid accounts of satanic cults in the Sunday papers and the glut of illustrated books, part-magazines, documentary film and TV drama, it was a wildly exuberant seam of British pop culture.â€￾

DW turns up after 10 minutes and is given a generous amount of time and is portrayed positively. But the rest of the documentary is also a lot of fun and will be nostalgic for those of you who lived through it. I read a lot about of what they discuss when I was a young teenager, so I also found it fun and nostalgic.

There is a big contribution from Mark Gatiss, and DW biographer Phil Baker also appears.

Enjoy. :smt077

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qvr63
Regards,

Darren.
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