Pan Horror #7: Walking Dead/ Pissed Bat

[dem bones]

Herbert Van Thal (ed.) - The 7th Pan Book Of Horror Stories (1966)

Charles J. Benfleet - The Man Who Hated Flies
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Thing
G. M. Glaskin - The Return
David Grant - The Bats
Dulcie Gray - The Fur Brooch
Dulcie Gray - Dream House
Harry Harrison - The Streets Of Ashkelon
Patricia Highsmith - The Snail Watcher
W. W. Jacobs - The Monkey’s Paw
John D Keefauver - The Last Experiment
John D Keefauver - Mareta
Rene Morris - I’ll Never Leave You - Ever
William Sansom - A Smell Of Fear
William Sansom - The Little Room
Rosemary Timperley - Street of the Blind Donkey
Martin Waddell - Cannibals
Martin Waddell - The Old Adam
Elizabeth Walter - The Island Of Regrets
Alex White - Never Talk To Strangers

Charles J. Benfleet - The Man Who Hated Flies: Hugo Laytimer, retired chemistry teacher, is the man with the aversion. He also has an unwavering belief in reincarnation and promises ex-pupil now close friend Charles he'll find a way of demonstrating the truth of the matter when he dies. This he does, but at fatal cost to his new host body. An underwhelming choice for opener if ever there was.

R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Thing: A dressy West End bar, a favourite with theatre goers, and there's RCH, dapper in his roll neck jersey and corduroy trousers to impress upon the world that he is a writer and therefore, different. While he's indulging in his regular scotch binge - he shouts up six shots at a time to save his and the barman's legs - he's joined by a prostitute and, figuratively speaking, proceeds to bore the arse off her, having no inclination to become her client. In walks Rodney, a young man who affects a cockney accent to sound like a pop singer, and the girl is terrified. RCH is more unsettled by the gloating phantom that dogs the youth's every step and is clearly directing his actions. Rodney pulls out a gun.

I must admit, this is better than I remember it.

W. W. Jacobs - The Monkey's Paw: The Whites are entertaining Sergeant Major Morris. Morris has recently returned from India and shows them the idol in question. An old fakir had cast a spell on it because "he wanted to show how fate ruled peoples lives, and that those who interfered with it did so at their sorrow." Those who possess the idol are reputedly granted three wishes, but Morris isn't for putting it to the test and lobs it in the fireplace. Mr. White retrieves it and jokingly wishes for £200. The following day his son, Herbert is mutilated at the factory. His firm accept responsibility for the tragedy and offer compensation to the tune of £200. But the distraught Mrs. White just wants her boy back ...

Jacobs handles this story with remarkable economy, racing to a satisfying grim conclusion. Stephen King reworked this for his ace novel Pet Sematary and - of course - there's that EC variation, Wish You Were Here which shows up in Tales From The Crypt.

Dulce Grey - The Dream House: In the past I've moaned that she wasn't an author I considered one of the more exciting of Van Thal's regulars, most likely because she's very sparing with the gratuitous gore. Not that it matters a jot, but I've since warmed to her and The Dream House is another of her neat, frightfully British little gems. The insufferable, loudmouthed, tight-fisted Marjory Denchworth and her subdued, affable Aussie husband Henry take Lord Drummond's magnificent Milton House on an 18 month lease. While Madge sets about making herself unpopular with the Blayddon villagers, Henry toils over renovations to the old house to the delight of Lord Drummond who recognises him as a highly skilled construction worker. Well, Henry's had plenty of practice and there's more than a touch of the Edgar Allen Poe's about him ...

Patricia Highsmith - The Snail-Watcher: Peter Knoppert learns the hard way that a man can have too many snails. Beginning with just a handful of specimens, he allows them to reproduce unchecked until they’ve taken over the study and sets himself up for a slimy doom. Highsmith in gross out mood.

Elizabeth Walter - The Island Of Regrets: "We Bretons say it is a magic island. It grants the first wish you make when you set foot there, but grants it in such a way that you will wish it had not been granted. That is why it is called the Island of Regrets."
Dora is having none of this "peasant superstition" and cons the locals into hiring a boat, dragging reluctant fiance Peter with her. The only living soul they encounter on the island is a madman, and the Hotelier later advises the pair that there is always one in residence although nobody knows how they get there. Back in England, the couples wishes are horribly granted.

David Grant - The Bats: The Windrop's eight-year-old son, Melvyn, is a neglected child whose one love is his strange assortment of pets. When he loses the use of a hand following an accident with a chisel while his parents are out partying, the shamed parents decide it is time for his menagerie to go ...

Dulce Gray - The Fur Brooch: A spurned lover's revenge. Eighteen-year-old beauty Sheila Francis is engaged to marry John, but reluctantly agrees to a parting date with Henry Mallory, a man she's always found disagreeable. When she refuses to change her mind about wedding John, Henry tells her a little more about the origins of the brooch she's wearing on her coat ...

Alex White - Never Talk To Strangers: The first of the legendary Miss White's contributions to the series and the shape of sick things to come. Young Lottie Blake leaves Birmingham for London where she's landed a well paid job and will be sharing digs with her friend Stella. It's so exciting! Except Stella's stood her up and she's stranded at Paddington Station being pestered by a swarthy "villainous-looking" man! Fortunately, a nicely dressed Good Samaritan comes to her aid ....

[Scott Wood]

"The Monkey's Paw" is one of the best horror stories ever. It's in the top 10.

Do we have a 'desert island horror story list' here?

[dem bones]

Not quite, skits, but we have a section for DIY Anthologies, themed or otherwise, so you could always put your top ten in there?

[dag]

The Seventh Pan Book of Horror Stories is an interesting volume containing a number of stories by authors not generally associated with horror fiction. 'The Return' by GM Glaskin is a beautifully-written, poignant tale about growing old. The story was first published in 'Summer's Tales #3' edited by John Iggulden (Melbourne, 1966) then reprinted in 'Coast to Coast: Australian Stories 1965-66' selected by Clement Semmler (1966).

While GM (Gerald Marcus) Glaskin wrote a small amount of science fiction, he's more widely known (although still neglected) as a trailblazing gay writer whose novels ran up against the Australian censors in the 1960s. He also wrote non-fiction works exploring the mechanics of guided imagery techniques for evoking past-life experiences; and at least one young adult novel, 'A Waltz Through the Hills' about the Australian outback, which was turned into a film. Over the years I've read three of four of his novels, and I really ought to make the effort to seek out more by this writer. His ' The Mistress', about an amorous affair between a 14-year-old boy and a wealthy widow, appeared a couple of years after the publication of Nabokov's 'Lolita', and is one of his best novels, in my opinion.

As a schoolboy I used to annotate the margins of my Pan anthologies with biro rankings: I see I gave 'The Return' 1/10 - but today I would give it an 8, perhaps.

Regards

DAG

[dem bones]

Thanks for supplying the background information, Dag. Much appreciated.

Jan 25, 2009 17:37:24 GMT dag said:

As a schoolboy I used to annotate the margins of my Pan anthologies with biro rankings: I see I gave 'The Return' 1/10 - but today I would give it an 8, perhaps.

Regards

DAG

I used pencil rankings! A red asterisk denoted a particularly good story, double blue was very good, blue was OK-good and a miserable tick meant the story didn't cut it with me. G. M. Glaskin's The Return, inevitably, received the dreaded tick. Rereading it last night, i can see what my problem was. Like the William Samson stories, it was way too subtle for me at the time. For those who need a refresher, it's the sad story of simpleton Maisie, the youngest of five daughters whose mother died giving birth to her. Today is her seventeenth birthday and she's looking forward to returning home to bundles of presents and the big party her father and sisters are doubtless organising even now! But .... somethings wrong. The scary, wrinkled face of an old hag glares out at her from the river and in her fright and confusion she must have run to the wrong house as this one has been gutted by fire ....

If i revived my tragic marking system today, The Return would be upgraded to a blue, maybe a double blue if i was in a good mood.

[David A. Riley]

"Dag"?

That's worrying. I'm sure the main villain in my own Pan Horror story was called that.

David

[carolinec]

Jan 26, 2009 13:33:14 GMT David A. Riley said:

"Dag"?

That's worrying. I'm sure the main villain in my own Pan Horror story was called that.

David

He must have come to life to haunt you, David!

[dag]

What are you insinuating, David? That my hot breath stinks of damp rottenness? There's a character in one of Graham Masterton's novels with exactly the same name as mine, but on balance I think I prefer the frisson of being mentioned in a David A. Riley Pan Horror tale... To be honest, I'd never picked this up before: thanks for pointing it out.

Demonik: you're dead right. As a youngster reading the Pan Horror stories (or any other fiction for that matter) I suppose I tended to give top marks to the overly sick and grisly stories, while the quieter, most sophisticated yarns (The Chicken-Switch, Raspberry Jam) completely sailed over my head. But that's OK: it means you can re-read Pan Horror stories in middle-age and find entirely new dimensions to entertain you....

David

[dem bones]

While i have the book at hand, thought i'd re-read these three very different stories, none of which strike me as typical of the Pan Horror story at all.

John D Keefauver - The Last Experiment: "The project was to discover the effects of solitude and monotony on human efficiency. What happens to a man when he is completely shut off from society for a number of hours or days: when he has absolutely nothing to do?"

Private Neff Nelson volunteers to undergo the experiment, hoping that the unspecified period he will spend in a darkened cell will rid him of his need for a loud soundtrack to his every waking hour. The story within the story - Nelson recalls a 30 minute radio play concerning a lighthouse keeper set upon by an army of starving rats - is of interest. Does anyone recognise it? It sounds as though it might be Vincent Price's adaptation of George G. Toudouze' s Three Skeleton Key for Escape in 1950.

William Sansom - A Smell Of Fear: Shy, lonely Diana Craig believes she is being stalked by a dangerous madman with a limp and a livid birthmark on his arm. To avoid him on her way home at night, she ducks into the local pub. Two youths follow her out .....

Strikes me as another variation on Sansom's The Man With The Moon In Him from Pan Horror 5.

Harry Harrison - The Streets Of Ashkelon: This one reads like one of the very best episodes of Twilight Zone. The amphibious inhabitants of Wesker's World in the outer reaches of the galaxy have acquired all of their knowledge from John Garth, an intergalactic trader who happens to be an atheist. Consequently, the Weskers are a carefree, peace-abiding bunch with no concept of sin, guilt, superstition, hatred, pain ...

All of that changes for the worst when missionary Father Mark arrives on the planet intent on converting them to Christianity. The Holy man certainly makes inroads - they even build a church - but the Weskers are an honest race and require a miracle to prove the existence of God ....

[erebus]

Is it me or has that bat got a Windsor Davies style moustache .

[Nightmare]

I just finished reading Pan Horror 7 and the bat cover is too silly with the beard and expression!

1. The Man Who Hated Flies - Nice idea and ending!

2. The Thing - Good story. If I'm correct, is the Thing Death?

3. The Return - Decent story. It reminded me of The Face from Tales for the Midnight Hour.

4. The Bats - So-so story.

5. The Fur Brooch - I mostly remember the Night Gallery episode, but decent story.

6. Dream House - Good descriptions and decent.

7. SOA - The ending was decent.

8. The Snail Watcher - I didn't think the story was scary or that interesting.

9. The Monkey's Paw - I always enjoyed this particular story. I remember Anthony Horowitz writing his version of it.

10. The Last Experiment - Rats don't bother me, so the story wasn't very interesting to me.

11. Mareta - The dialogue and descriptions were decent.

12. I'll Never Leave You - Ever - The story and descriptions were very good. Wasn't this a Night Gallery episode?

13. A Smell of Fear - The story wasn't bad, but it seemed to drag a bit.
The ending was a bit confusing. *Spoiler question* - The man following Diana was a painter and went to jail for assaulting the two youths, correct?

14. The Little Room - Good story, but it could have been a bit shorter.

15. Street of the Blind Donkey - I find present tense stories to be a bit jarring.

16. Cannibals - I liked the character descriptions and the ending was amusing.

17. The Old Adam - The story wasn't interesting to me.

18. The Island of Regrets - The story seemed a bit long, but the plot was interesting.

19. Never Talk to Strangers - The story seemed a bit too predictable. It seemed like every other story about (spoiler...)


Amputation

[franklinmarsh]

Charles J. Benfleet - The Man Who Hated Flies

Yep, this is a tad underwhelming. Nice meander, up to the punchline...and it's over. Not too bad, but nothing earth-shattering.

R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Thing

I've been meaning to investigate RCW properly, to the extent of obtaining The Elemental & Other Stories so this was a pleasant surprise. A cracking story with some great writing. I don't think the black-cowled bastid is death as, at one point, there's a whole line of 'em. Gratifyingly old-fashioned (pound note) yet bang up to the minute (breast enhancement) at the same time. Thought the ending was going to be a howling disappointment but the twist involving Rodney and the haunting denouement were great.

[dem bones]

Feb 14, 2017 19:43:52 GMT franklinmarsh said:

R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Thing

I've been meaning to investigate RCW properly, to the extent of obtaining The Elemental & Other Stories ...

Glad you mentioned The Elemental as I never did finish the commentary - not even sure if I saw book through to bitter end. It's not a bad one to start on. The Jumpity Jim is a corker, Someone Is Dead is a Francis St Clare & Frederica Masters adventure, The Wanderer a particularly miserable manifestation of the author's confirmed bachelor angst.

The Man Who Hated Flies apart, am very fond of Pan Horror 7, esp. the stories by 'Alex White' and Elizabeth Walter.