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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 2d

Reading typically disturbing Shirley Jackson short stories while Humphrey Searle music fills the room. A sin of sensory context switching, I know, but it’s a poetic connection. The initiated will understand.

#ShirleyJackson #HumphreySearle @foliosociety.bsky.social

Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 4d

A reminder in case you missed it.

stephenwoolston.substack.com/p/a-return-t...

A Return to The Sundial

A reader's companion to Shirley Jackson's classic 1958 novel

stephenwoolston.substack.com

Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 5d

It was quite a good day for spinny disc soundtracks yesterday. The Miklós Rózsa title was an unexpected free gift! Thanks, guys!

“Steve, are you only just getting Thunderball?”

No. Don’t worry. This is a spare copy. I’ve had a primary copy for quite a while.

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 5d

To my point about size, here it is next to the most recent Folio Society large volume edition, which is admittedly gorgeous, just big!

Incidentally, I’m not sure who, for this new edition, decided the novel is suffixed, “A Mystery Story,” but that’s a matter I can overlook.

#Dracula #BramStoker

Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 5d

As you may know, I have a small collection of Dracula editions. I’m particularly fond of hand sized editions. Much as I love Folio Society quality, I’m not mad about large volumes. They must be hardback and bound with stitched sections. This new one, with red-gold gilding, ticks all the boxes!

Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 6d

Something I wrote on Substack: An appreciation and reader’s guide to Shirley Jackson’s THE SUNDIAL.

stephenwoolston.substack.com/p/a-return-t...

#shirleyjackson #thesundial

Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 6d

It was a pleasure to be invited by Ian Fleming Publications to the launch party for my friend Raymond Benson’s latest book in the James Bond universe: a Felix Leiter adventure called THE HOOK AND THE EYE. I look forward to getting stuck in with it!

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 8d

It’s one of Hammer’s weakest, most perfunctory films.

But...

It’s Christopher Lee doing Dracula; it’s Patrick Troughton being devilish just after Doctor Who; the James Bernard score is splendid; and it’s a beautiful looking 4K edition.

Plus, this film has a special and unique connection with me.

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 10d

Interesting. I knew there must be a market for custom amaray case insert covers, but I didn’t realise there was an underground supply of custom-made steel books.

Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 12d

Fang-tastic news.

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 13d

What you get out of a book or movie relates to what you put in. I read this as if assigned to write reader’s notes and I’m loving it. Mockery of archetypes and class structures with insiders, outsiders, and parasites locked inside the decaying prison of a house and their insular neuroses. Familiar?

Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 13d

The Spinny Disc angels who live on the other side of the letterbox have been extra generous today.

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 14d

I approve of this list!

www.bfi.org.uk/lists/news-o...

A great Hammer horror from every year (1957 to 1974)

As the first true Hammer horror, The Curse of Frankenstein, returns to cinemas in a 4K restoration, we select one essential Hammer classic from each of the famed studio’s golden years.

www.bfi.org.uk

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 14d

youtu.be/ipyIa4QIB_k

THE NEW AVENGERS - 4K Restoration Trailer starring Patrick Macnee, Joanna Lumley | STUDIOCANAL

YouTube video by StudiocanalUK

youtu.be

Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 14d

Our local Indie Cinema, the Abbeygate Cinema is screening ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN in honour of Robert Redford.

I must say, I rather fancy experiencing that film theatrically!

www.abbeygatecinema.co.uk/programme/al...

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 17d

Our pre-dinner movie. An enjoyable fusion of science fiction, nuclear tension, and spy stuff, with that enjoyable, comforting Universal films house style of the era. When I see the name of director Joseph Sargent, I’m reminded of my love for that top five Star Trek episode, The Corbomite Manoeuvre.

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 17d

That was quick. Gerhardt on SACD thanks to Dutton-Vocalion Records.

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 17d

Sunset in Alghero.

Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 17d

What having dinner looks like in Alghero in September.

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 17d

What having breakfast looks like in Alghero in September.

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 17d

It looks like a 007 villain lair, does it not? It’s actually one of the grottos at Capo Caccia near Alghero, Sardinia. We just returned from a late summer week there.

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 18d

WOW. Three landmark recordings from 1978 and the early 1990s of three legendary film scores presented for the first time in the SACD format, so they can be enjoyed in super hi-res digital quality. I’m all in!

Thank you José M. Benítez and Quartet Records!

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Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 18d

I have never seen a classic era Hammer film in the cinema. Is anyone going to one of the special Curse of Frankenstein theatrical screenings on October 2?

Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · 24d

Indeed! It's the one from the 007 store. (Quicker in UK.) One of my LLL copie is en route,l: the one with Black Sunday. The other, which I actually ordered first, hasn't been despatched yet.

Stephen Woolston @woollers.bsky.social · Aug 25

Yeah, it's not Star Trek, Star Wars, or Harry Potter! 😉

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