Introductions

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Bob Rothwell
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Post by Bob Rothwell »

Hello Steve and welcome to you also.

An intriguing name — due to your remarks re the good life, do I assume a predilection for Captain Morgan and Ginger?
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Post by captain_ginger »

Nah, I'm mostly a whisky and water man! Nor am I ginger - it's because I used to sell ginger beer making kits as my first foray into business, and that was the name of my product. Sort of took on a life of its own. I still use it as the name of my business; it's very memorable, adaptable to different products I dabble in selling (most on the back-burner for now), and it amuses people!
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Introductions

Post by nick jones »

Hello all,
My name is nick jones,Im 39 years old,married,and have two boys.I live in a village just out side Wisbech,(Capital of the fens)And work in the cat food factory in town.(well some body has to)Ive been a fan of Dennis Wheatley for a few years now.and have quite a collection of his books.I came to reading Wheatley books, after hearing his name mentioned by Terrance Dicks,at a Dr Who convention ! He said,he had read the black magic ones when he was younger.(see dr who "the deamons") The first DW book I read was "To the Devil a Daughter",this is still one of my favourites,and I would suggest, if you have not read it yet you should.I find a good place for finding DW books has been, Charity shops and car boot sales.e-bay is very good (I have bought some books from there my self),but some people ask a lot for the p+p,or am I just tight ?I have now read about 19 of his books, and are working my way through the rest.On a recent camping holiday in the New Forest,I was pleased to see in the camp office a lending library.Which contained about 15 Heron editions of Wheatleys books.So you never know where his books will turn up! Just keep looking.
I will wish you all well for now, Nick. ;-)
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Post by maisonvivante »

Greetings, everyone. I am a 30-ish male from the United States. I was introduced to Dennis Wheatley a couple of years ago when (on a whim) I purchased the entire Heron collection of his novels off of ebay. I am a voracious reader, and English literature is my particular favorite. Having worked my way through Wilkie Collins, Sheridan Le Fanu, Agatha Christie, etc., I was interested in finding another writer who appealed to that part of me that enjoys a good mystery with at least a hint of the occult. I certainly found that in Wheatley! I've been working my way through the Richileau novels in chronological order, and I have enjoyed them immensely. I've also taken time to read "The Haunting of Toby Jugg," "They Found Atlantis," and "The Launching of Roger Brook." I've enjoyed each and every one.

I'm sad to say that in the United States Wheatley is hardly remembered at all anymore. I'm not sure he was ever particularly popular here, but he should have been. His novels are imminently readable, and just the right blend of well-drawn characters, suspenseful plots, and outlandish fun stuff! I know with Agatha Christie's work, the publishers have taken out the more overtly racist or anti-Semitic references (at least, here in the U. S. they have). I have read that these elements in Wheatley's novels are one of the reasons they have not been reprinted in recent years. I don't have any objection to slightly editing the novels to make them more palatable to modern audiences regarding racial issues, for instance; I know others may vehemently disagree. But I'm all for anything that will get people reading these vastly enjoyable books again. I wouldn't suggest a huge overhaul though.

I've been savoring each book over the course of two years. I read several other books in between the Wheatleys, and it's comforting knowing I always have another one to read! My spouse immediately read all the occult-related ones from the collection--but that's cheating, in my opinion.

I've been lurking around here for a long time and appreciate this site very much. In fact, without this site, I probably never would have bought the Heron collection outright. It's time that Wheatley's novels get a mass re-printing. Between Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, I've only found two or three of his books in the public library system. That's a real shame. The twentieth century thriller/horror novel owes so much to Wheatley--and it's time people were aware of that.
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Bob Rothwell
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Post by Bob Rothwell »

Greetings and welcome maisonvivante. We in the UK and our forefathers/mothers, who can never get enough of DW have never understood why DW never made it into the top-sellers on the other side of the pond. Perhaps you have always been a bit more sensitive as to the non-pc elements of his writing? I've also wondered if, unlike us class-ridden Brits, you didn't particularly like to be entertained with tales where the heroes/heroines were always from the upper elements of society? DW's views were always that the ordinary reader didn't want tales that identified with their own lives but wanted to be taken into areas where they could only dream of belonging.

I'm thrilled you are also educating your other half, even if she is cheating by only reading the occult titles. As you will have probably gathered from your lurking around, my favourite series is de Richleau followed very closely by Roger Brook.

Enjoy the site, your books and we look forward to hearing further from you.

Oh and a final thought/request: please don't forget I'm always on the look-out for cover pictures and details of USA publications (see http://www.denniswheatley.info/world_usa.htm for the ones I'm aware of).
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Post by maisonvivante »

Bob Rothwell wrote:Greetings and welcome maisonvivante. We in the UK and our forefathers/mothers, who can never get enough of DW have never understood why DW never made it into the top-sellers on the other side of the pond. Perhaps you have always been a bit more sensitive as to the non-pc elements of his writing? I've also wondered if, unlike us class-ridden Brits, you didn't particularly like to be entertained with tales where the heroes/heroines were always from the upper elements of society? DW's views were always that the ordinary reader didn't want tales that identified with their own lives but wanted to be taken into areas where they could only dream of belonging.

I'm thrilled you are also educating your other half, even if she is cheating by only reading the occult titles. As you will have probably gathered from your lurking around, my favourite series is de Richleau followed very closely by Roger Brook.

Enjoy the site, your books and we look forward to hearing further from you.

Oh and a final thought/request: please don't forget I'm always on the look-out for cover pictures and details of USA publications (see http://www.denniswheatley.info/world_usa.htm for the ones I'm aware of).
Thanks for the welcome, Bob! I suspect Dennis Wheatley's lack of widespread popularity in the U.S. had more to do with the marketing of his books than anything else. I really don't see any particular reason why they couldn't have been a success at the time--but marketing is everything. I'm not sure that American readers would have been offended by the class issues in the book--but the social structure may have felt a bit foreign to them. Again, though, I don't see that stopping readers of the era. From the lack of Wheatley novels that end up in used bookstores here (and believe me, I patrol them regularly) I suspect he was simply never marketed well here. I don't know--it's actually a mystery to me. Christie is wildly popular here and always has been. There is no reason that Wheatley's Englishness shouldn't have translated to readers here as well. The un-PC stuff would have been far less likely to offend then than now.

Actually, my other half is a fellow! Ahh, changing times. . . ;)

And I guess I've already addressed your request about American editions. I will keep my eyes open--but it is very, very rare that I find Wheatley in bookstores.
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Post by Bob Rothwell »

maisonvivante wrote:Actually, my other half is a fellow! Ahh, changing times. . . ;)
Please accept my sincerest apologies, particularly to your other half, but then, as I am a long-term DW aficionado, I am allowed my preconceptions?

And yes, you may be right re the marketing. I know of a few instances, particuarly in the music and film industry where the same has happened. I guess we'll never really know, but then if we did there would be no point in having discussion groups!
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Post by Michael Karnstein »

Prepare to be shocked:

Greetings everyone. I´m 22 years old young man from Finland. The first Wheatley-related work I got into were the Hammer films based (more or less) on his novels i saw years ago. During those times, I also got into occult/mystery/thriller literature and I remembered that Wheatley was the man who had written the novel that DRO movie was based on.

On my last christmas vacation, right before the end of the year, I found two Wheatley titles from my local antique book shop. Those were "Come into my parlour" and "Three inquisitive people". I remembered who Wheatley was and immediately took interest, thanks to the awesome cover illustration - a guy in a Gestapo uniform viewing above as man and a woman escape from burning castle.

After reading those two titles, I was hooked. I´ve always been interested in history, WWII, spy adventures, crime stories etc....

The next move was that I wanted to read "The Devil Rides Out" to see how the story continues for our modern musketeers. I ordered it from some kind seller in abebooks if I remember correctly. Of course I had seen the movie years ago, but the novel really made the experience complete.

Now, I am one year older and about 25 Wheatley-novels richer in experience. And I still need more. The next one will be "Mediterranean Nights" story compilation that I just received from my loyal Wheatley-source, Emma Williams of The Book Tree. I would recommend Emma´s store for Wheatley fans, unless I had bought almost all his DW titles, heh heh.

Enough said for now, I am very pleased to find a forum like this. Needless to say, DW is completely forlorn in Finland. Very satisfying to trade thoughts with people about my favourite author.
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Post by Charles »

Dear Michael

Welcome to the forum - delighted to have someone join us from Finland.

We know that DW was published in Finland, but have not yet seen any examples of the Finnish editions (see 'Wheatley around the World' in the main part of the site). I'd be grateful if you would keep your eyes open !

Re you posting on the films, you and I agree about Johnny Depp - we just have him cast for different roles - but only because of the age of the Duke.

All the best and again welcome !
Charles
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Post by Michael Karnstein »

Thanks for the warm welcome.

I forgot to mention - I have 4 Finnish editions of Wheatley. I think there´s one or two I don´t have, so about 5-6 of his books were translated for us. I can also get photos of these editions if somebody´s interested to see them. Cover illustrations are rather different than in English originals. I will make a new thread to inform about this, called "Dennis Wheatley in Finland".
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Post by Nick »

I spent some happy times in Finland when I was the entertainment on the Rosella sailing between Turku and Stockholm on the viking line (playing 60/70s songs in the bar) great money as I remember. It was many years ago now, and I remember taking DW with me to re-read in my cabin. I remember the estonian Gypsies were fascinating people. (well they would be to me see my website) Would not mind going back one day.
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Post by davehibb »

Hello everyone,

As I've been a long time listener, first time caller as it were, I thought it only proper that I post an introduction.

I was introduced to Dennis Wheatley by my mother when I was in my teens. I'm now approaching 40. Well 38 at least. My mum discovered DW in her teens also I believe and always had a keen interest in the paranormal/occult and that along with a love for DW's books is something that I've inherited from her.

I'm a proud owner of a set of the red leather bound DW novels and although many of them are not in great shape, they still have pride of place on my bookshelf. I have to admit that I've only really read DW's Occult novels with any regularity though I have also taken in one of his adventure stories (They Found Atlantis).

I do like historical fiction and wartime adventure so there's hope for the rest of the collection yet but his occult stories and his (dated) style of writing is what holds the greatest fascination for me.

I've kept an eye on the site pretty much from it's inception and was a member before the forum crash a few years back and I also had the good fortune to have a little email correspondence with Bob Rothwell before his untimely passing.

I live in the UK (Yorkshire) and I suppose I'm as hopeful as everyone here that Dw's work will make a comeback on bookshelves and TV screens and hopefully someone will pick up where he left off in terms of producing some rip roaring occult fiction as there certainly seems to be a gap in the market if my personal disappointment every time I look at the 'Horror' section in book stores is anything to go by.

I think that's about it really.

Cheers,


Dave.
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Post by Steve Whatley »

Welcome Dave.

As you may have seen, we'd been saying that we need more people participating in the Library.

Any chance you'll be interested in attending next year's Convention?

Steve[font=Courier New] [/font]
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Post by duncanpaul17 »

Hello Dave, like Steve, wish to welcome you to the forum, nice to see more genuine DW fans joining and making interesting comments

Duncan
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Post by Charles »

Hello, Dave !

I'd like to add my welcome - or perhaps I should say, welcome back - to everybody else's ...

Happy posting !

:D
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