J. N. Williamson - Masques Two

J. N. Williamson (ed.) - Masques Two (Futura, 1987)



Introduction - J. N. Williamson

Stephen King - Popsy
Ramsey Campbell - Second Sight
William F. Nolan - The Yard
Robert Bloch - The New Season
Richard Matheson - The Near Departed
David B. Silva - Ice Sculptures
G. Wayne Miller - Wiping The Slate Clean
James Kisner - The Litter
Douglas E. Winter - Splatter
Richard Christian Matheson - Death Bed
Ray Russell - American Gothic
Stanley Wiater - Moist Dreams
Joe R. Lansdale - Dog, Cat And Baby
Katherine Ramsland - Nothing From Nothing Comes
Mort Castle - If You Take My Hand, My Son
James Herbert - Maurice And Mog
Dennis Hamilton - Fish Story
Charles R. Saunders - Outsteppin' Fetchit
Ardath Mayhar - In The Tank
Steve Rasnic Tem - Hidey Hole
Thomas F. Monteleone - The Night Is Freezing Fast
Richard Matheson - Buried Talents
John Robert Bensink - Lake George In High August
J. N. Williamson - Wordsong
Thomas Sullivan - The Boy Who Drowned Puppies
Alan Rodgers - The Boy Who Came Back From The Dead

Ray Russell - American Gothic: Paw Taggott, his son Jug and the Reverend Simms each take a shine to the pretty 15 year old hired gal helping out on the Taggotts farm who hails from "Hungaria or Poland or Pennsylvania or some such place." When she falls pregnant, the trio put their heads together and decide that one of the Taggotts will have to marry her, but which one? They take her behind the barn, strip and grease her, then Jug and Paw take turns at trying to wrestle her to the ground and hold her, and, to ensure fair play, whoever loses is the winner so to speak. Paw, being drunk, doesn't stand much chance and sure enough it falls to him to take the girl down the aisle. But before he can do so, the formidable Mrs. Simms intervenes: "Later on the Reverend explained it all to me ... seems like his missus knew what what we was all up against the minute she first laid eyes on the gal. Knew she wasn't like regular folk. Foreign trash, don't you see. Mrs. Simms knew about those things, her being a powerful conjure woman like I told you, and she said the gal was a suck-you-something-or-t'other, said they had a lot of them over yonder where the gal came from, there was whole books writ about them and poems too like that La Bell Dom Sawn Mare See. She was just sucking the life out of me and Jug and the Reverend. The only way to get rid of one of them is to pound a stake right through its heart ..."

Can the men bring themselves to destroy her? Whichever way you look at it, they've a great future should anybody decide to remake Deliverance. But then, so have most of Vault ...

Stephen King - Popsy: Child-abductor Sheridan gets more than he bargained for when he waylays a pale kid at the Mall. The boy has long teeth, just like his doting father. And he's thirsty.

J. N. Williamson - Wordsong: Williamson receives the finest , most original written work of his career from an anonymous source who refuses to allow publication and will only consent to sell them for cash which, he informs him over the telephone, is to be mailed to an address in a remote and very run down rural district. William is intrigued enough to fly out there and investigate. Gentle ghost story. A nice touch is when he discovers a brood of chics nestling in the mailbox atop the pile of dollar bills he'd forwarded.

Richard Matheson - The Near Departed: Man walks into a funeral parlour and makes all the arrangements for his wife's burial ...

Charles R. Saunders - Outsteppin' Fetchit: An early black movie star, "cute little Tom" Peanut Posey, is laid up in the Motion Picture & Television Hospice, passing away his final years infirm and terrified. Some time ago his son, a Revolutionary named Flame, was none too thrilled to discovering who his father was and came gunning for him. Flame was shot dead but Peanuts has been unhinged ever since, reacting to the orderly "as though he were the Klan incarnate [but] the only white thing about him was his uniform". Still, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean ...

Douglas E. Winter - Splatter: Rehnquist lives on a diet of video nasties and, appropriately enough, winds up a zombie having disfigured himself before anti-Splatter campaigner Cameron Blake. Each paragraph of the story begins with the title of a banned movie and Williamson apparently had reservations about including it due to "the power of certain images". This one also appeared in Schow's Silver Scream under the extended title Splatter: A Cautionary Tale..