The Tenth Pan Book Of Horror Stories ed. Herbert Van Thal (Pan, 1969)
The Acid Test - Chris Murray
Something In The Cellar - AGJ Rough
Ringing Tone - John Christopher
The Necklace - Dulcie Gray
Self-Employed - Walter Winward
Supper With Martha - Rosemary Timperley
Punishment By Proxy - James Connelly
The End Of The Line - Frances Stephens
The Fat Thing - Martin Waddell
The Flatmate - B Lynn Barber
The Ski- Lift - Diana Buttenshaw
Magical Mystery Trip - C A Cooper
Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat - Frances Stephens
Long Silence, Old Man - David Lewis
Terror Of Two Hundred Below - William Sinclair
The Cure - Dorothy K Haynes
The Image Of The Damned - Alex Hamilton
A Sharp Loss Of Weight - Norman P Kaufman
An Experiment In Choice - Desmond Stewart
The Evil One - Robert Duncan
Marmalade Wine - Joan Aiken
Monkey Business - John Arthur
It's 1969 OK - got a war across the USA. Yes the US is reeling from Vietnam,Charles Manson and Altamont while things are much more cheery in the UK what with the Krays being sentenced and the abolition of capital punishment. Buckethead's Summer Of Lurve has been washed away with the smoke from the Paris riots (as seen by the green mummy). This collection is presided over by the dead-eyed gaze of a baldy with a creepy-crawly tonsure. And I've got the 12th 1981 reprint. With a torn spine. No matter! The FM attention-span-of-a-gnat still stymied by The Janissaries of Emillion back in Vol 8, I flipped to Vol 10 where the stories seem to be shorter. So far......
The Acid Test - great opener! The horror of something nasty about to happen and there's nothing you can do - mixed with the horror of watching something nasty and not being able to tear yourself away.
Something In The Cellar - curse that ending! I had high hopes for AGJ and while 75% of this is top EC style entertainment there's a catch....
Ringing Tone - not sure what to make of this one - thought provoking and different. But no real horror.
The Necklace - OK DG tells the tale - no surprises.
Self-Employed - I like the ending here - if a tad harsh on the lady
Supper With Martha - lovely little tale - obvious but very good.
Punishment By Proxy - Well, what can I say. More telegraphed ending but compensations along the way.
That's it so far - except to mention the back cover. Tantalising hints of what the stories contain. Memories of checking the back after each story to see whether you'd caught one of them....
The bedroom that was deep in blood....
The girl who slept with Satan...
The rocking horse that became a whipping post.....
The rubber-faced man who left a trail of slime...
A soft-voiced innocence that surrendered itself to corruption......
The Fat Thing - utterly stupid, ridiculous and clever-clever - but a welcome burst of levity. You're not keen on Waddell M are you Demonik?
The Flatmate - I loved this. So bizarre and (in a way like Ringing Tone) very sad. Odd. Some black humour in there.
The Ski Lift - I must have read this before when a youngster. Not too horrible but a good time passer
Fought my way through Magical Mystery Trip and Frances Stephens effort. The former - how much acid did C A Cooper take? Very much of its time but entertaining and different. Can't say much for PCPC. OK but not earth shattering
Dem - Reread "Magical Mystery Trip" last night, one of those stories that must have been great fun to write as you can go just about anywhere you want with it. It's not exactly convincing, is it?: how could he have functioned, passed exams and made a success of his life if he was living in a constant state of hallucination. Full marks for (partly) blaming it on the Beatles and having the shape-shifting girl quote from I am the Walrus, though.
FM - Long Silence Old Man - can't really recommend this beyond the atmospheric description of a journey through a desert at the beginning.
Terror Of Two Hundred Below - This is brilliant. It was a dark & stormy. Desperate,terrified girl rushes up to unsuspecting bloke - 'Don't let them get me!' He takes her back to his flat, assures her she's safe and she begins to explain what has happened to her. This story has everything. Weird science (always scarey). A villain called Jason Sloane (the 70s are a-comin'!) and lines like 'What have you done to him ,you fiend!' and 'You won't get away with this!' Bugger Euterpe's plans to film all these stories, this needs a stage adaption along with a couple of others (at least one grand guignol gorefest) so that our local am dram hams (or failing that, next year's Edinburgh fringe) can enjoy An Evening Of Hallowe'en Delights From The Vault Of Evil.
Dorothy K Haynes' The Cure is pretty good too.
The Image Of The Damned - quite a nice little story this. Written in an absurd old-fashioned way.
A Sharp Loss Of Weight - another good little story but ....is it horror?
An Experiment In Choice - now this is horror! You're going to die - but you have a choice....