The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson by Stephen King
Sea Lovers by Valerie Martin
Psychopomp by Haydn Middleton
A Glowing Future by Ruth Rendell
The Tiger Returns to the Mountain by T L Parkinson
Consanguinity by Ronald Duncan
Keeping House by Michael Blumlein
The Villa Desiree by May Sinclair
Cleave the Vampire, or, A Gothic Pastorale by Patrick McGrath
The Swords by Robert Aickman
Salon Satin by Carolyn Banks
How Love Came to Professor Guidea by Robert Hitchens
Wings by Harriet Zinne
The Basilisk by R Murray Gilchrist
A Quarter Past You by Jonathan Carroll
The Master Builder by Christopher Fowler
Festival by Eric McCormack
Ladies in Waiting by Hugh B Cave
Death and the Single Girl by Thomas M Disch
Master by Angela Carter
The Conqueror Worm by Stephen R Donaldson
Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament by Clive Barker
Published in 1991, the subtitle of this one is "22 Tales of Sex and Horror." I didn't expect it to be so good. I think it was Aickman who said that all good horror stories were about sex? Someone will correct me if I'm mistaken. The King story here is reworked from The Tommyknockers. This is or was 'British Horror Anthology Hell', and I think the Brits put in a pretty strong showing here, let down only briefly by the Ruth Rendell story. The Stephen Donaldson piece was a surprise - his epic fantasies bored me, but The Conqueror Worm is a lively piece of horror. Hugh Cave kept me reading, entertained, right up to the comic book ending, and I suppose I can't really ask much more of any story. The Master Builder is a powerful thriller, The Basilisk magical, and 'Professor Guildea completely frightening. I picked this one because I just put up the page in my site - and because I think this is a very good collection.
Slung also provides notes on the authors.
The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson by Stephen King: When I first put this review up in the Dolls House, I wrote that Stephen King's story was taken from
The Tommyknockers, but in fact I was wrong. Recently I found a private message in the guestbook. The message explained that:
'"Becka P." precedes The Tommyknockers and ran on its own in Rolling Stone in the '80s, where the editor encountered it. It's long ago and I'm not an SK scholar --- Stephen King reworked it into the novel later.'
Shudder does give a 1986 previous printing date for the story (no mention of Rolling Stone in my copy); The Tommyknockers came out in 1988. I should have noticed that. My apologies for the error, and thank you for the information!
The story tells how 'Becka Paulson starts getting messages from Jesus, in the shape of the 3D plastic picture of Jesus, on top of her TV set. One difference from the story's later appearance in the novel is the way 'Becka's revelations are initiated; there are no Tommyknockers here, just an accidental bullet in the head. Quietly hysterical stuff.
The following scribbles are new to the Vault, as I was obviously a lazy git when I arrived and didn't bother adding them...
Sea Lovers by Valerie Martin: is an odd piece about a drowning witnessed by a mermaid, and what follows. Exactly just what does follow you might find not exactly clear (I didn't), but the story is weird enough to hang around in your head a long time after.
Psychopomp by Haydon Middleton: Red is going through mid-life crisis, and his attention has been caught by an odd magazine article, Death by Longing, which discussed nostalgia as a physical disease (an old idea rediscovered, apparently). His wife is getting pretty tired of his moping about, so when he says he's thinking of going back to visit his old home town, she says Fine, get it out of your system, or words to that effect. There he
encounters the girl of his dreams, but gets sucked into a Freudian nightmare. A psychopomp is a conductor of souls to the underworld.
A Glowing Future by Ruth Rendell: Betsy is in love with Maurice and has been living with him, but Maurice is a bastard and has decided to live with Patricia in Australia, which he thoughtfully neglects to mention until after bonking Betsy one last time. This is really about it, apart from how Betsy resolves the situation - which is signalled a mile off. Highly readable, but outclassed by others already in this collection.
The Tiger Returns to the Mountain by T L Parkinson: A kind of Beauty and the Beast reworking about a rapist-murderer known as the Tiger Man who escapes from a prison on a hill overlooking the town where Molly lives. Molly's husband Carl had been in jail with the Tiger Man, and has told Molly about him; their meeting is inevitable. Editor Michele Slung describes this as "...a daring act of the male psyche imagining a female dream (or nightmare)... a story within a story within a story..." It's certainly intriguing, with a nice ambiguity. Vauguely reminiscent of Charles Beaumont's
The Hunger?
Consanguinity by Ronald Duncan: First published in
The Fourth Ghost Book, this is a beautifully erotic, sophisticated study of a woman's incestuous desire for her brother, which she deliberately chanels into a more socially acceptable relationship. Slung insists that a single reading is not enough to perceive wholly Duncan's design. It certainly deserves more than one reading.
Keeping House by Michael Blumlein: If a fetish for cleanliness is indicative of insanity, then Curtis's wife is definitely not well. Blumlein has here created a descent into madness on a par with
The Yellow Wallpaper; even a night excursion killing snails in the garden takes on the nightmare aspect of jungle warfare, while taking a bath becomes an ordeal.
The Villa Desiree by May Sinclair: Mildred Eve is to marry Louis Carson, and prior to the marriage they will stay in Cannes, he at the hotel, she at his house, the Villa Desiree. It was at this villa, and in this room, upon this bed, that Carson's previous young wife had died on their honeymoon. Whether Sinclair actually believed that male sexuality (or simply, sexuality) is an evil and uncontrollable force in its own right, I can't say; but it makes a neat idea for a story. Sinclair is also the author of
Where Their Fire is Not Quenched, similar to this piece, but passed over as it has been too frequently anthologized elsewhere.
Not Cricket by Patrick McGrath: Lady Hock of Wallop Hall has not been taking her medication, Harry is waxing lyrical about vampires, daughter Hilary will not marry Tony Piker-Smith because he's a drip, it's the day of the village cricket match, blistering hot, and now Lady Hock can see clearly that playing for the other team is a vampire. Not cricket but great fun.
The Swords by Robert Aickman: A young commercial traveller in Wolverhampton visits a seedy fairground, where, at a sideshow, he sees the shapely Madonna being pierced by swords wielded by members of the audience. Later he encounters Madonna and her
manager in a cafe, and an arrangement for a "private viewing" is made. Aickman was on great form when he wrote this and it has a brilliantly sleazy feel.
.
Salon Satin by Carolyn Banks: In a story reminiscent of Stephen King's
Quitters Incorporated, we read how Joyce determines to lose thirty pounds and gain the favours of the devilishly well-endowed owner of Salon Satin. In order to do this she will, she says, "do anything". Wickedly funny.
How Love Came to Professor Guildea by Robert Hichens: The famous turn-of-the-century story about the professor who neither wants nor gives love, but who suddenly finds himself the subject of some very unwelcome attentions, remains one of the most frightening stories ever published. It's impossible to discuss it without giving away too much; but I remembered it as a good story and, reading it late at night, I found that I was genuinely reluctant to go to sleep afterwards in case, well...in case I dreamed. The shivers keep up remorselessly through several pages towards the end.
Wings by Harriet Zinnes: Suppose you came home to find the things in your home just slightly disarranged, and suppose you then find the intruder lying in wait - and suppose that nothing you do can make the slightest difference? This story details an encounter between a gay male and a very determined and feminine succubus. Stylish and funny.
The Basilisk by R Murray Gilchrist: A sort of "Aubrey Beardsley in prose" is how Gilchrist has been described. This lush piece of nineteenth century prose has an almost operatic quality as Marina and her lover set out to follow a path into the marsh where she
will confront the basilisk whose stare, during her youth, has turned her to stone so that she cannot return love. Now she will undo the spell, it is a simple matter of buying and selling; and
she is prepared to pay any price. This is like almost every pre-Raphaelite painting you have ever seen, suffocatingly atmospheric. I have to admit I loved it. I'll put the longer write up on the R Murray Gilchrist thread when I transfer it.
A Quarter Past You by Jonathan Carroll: Between two people who truly loved one another, they decided, there should be no secrets. So as a token of trust, why not share their most intimate fantasies?
The Master Builder by Christopher Fowler: Laurie Fischer is delighted with her new apartment with its fine view of the Hudson. The apartment is badly in need of renovating, though, so one of her friends recommends a brilliant young master builder. Ray Bellano provides more than bricks and mortar. But the chills begin after he leaves. Just what is the thing that Laurie can hear skittering about the floor in the middle of the night?
Festival by Eric McCormack: Almost indescribable, this extremely strange story involves a couple attending a very weird festival indeed. The ambiguity of their relationship (their sex is never made clear, which somehow seems unimportant within the framework
of the story) - and what they are expected to contribute to the festival forms the focus upon which the story hinges. As editorSlung notes, this one "reaches far beyond mere tragedy to a
fantastical, breath-stopping perversion of tragic fate." Breath-stopping is exactly right.
Ladies In Waiting by Hugh B Cave: Linda Wilkins is keen to buy the old Creighton place. Her husband Norman is baffled because on a previous visit to the place they had got snowed-in, and Linda, left alone in an upstairs room, was a nervous wreck when he had
gone to fetch her. Now it seems that nothing can deter her from the idea of living there. Not even the way smoke seems to drift through the halls, and shapes move in the corners of the
bedrooms. The original Pulp Man strikes again, keeping us engaged up to the last few lines, where the creepy mood collapses into absurdity.
Death and the Single Girl by Thomas M Disch: Jill Hollzman realised there is no point in going on when she is surrounded by LPs out of their covers, overflowing ashtrays, is baking yet another batch of chocolate chip cookies that she won't permit herself to eat, it's been raining for five days and she simply can't face another episode of
The Flintstones. Death seems the perfect solution. But even he's out when she calls. Fortunately he has an answering machine...
Master by Angela Carter: The man's propensity for violence and death has taken him to the Amazon, where he barters the spare tyre of his jeep for the pubescent girl who will be his slave. She carries his guns, shares his sleeping bag, watches the ghosts who gather around them in the forest clearings at night, and awaits those moments of solitude when she can examine the guns and learn a little of Master's magic. Rich, sensual stuff from a late mistress of the art.
The Conqueror Worm by Stephen R Donaldson: Creel Stump believes his wife Vi is being unfaithful to him, feels neglected, thinks he's being neglected, thinks a lot of things; but maybe at some primitive atavistic level (because Creel's mind doesn't work much on any other level) he knows that he's just plain baffled by life. An evening's drinking and a row with Vi is suddenly livened up by the introduction of a wriggling visitor come in out of the cold in search of small warm places to sleep. I wasn't all that keen on Donaldson's novel
Lord Foul's Bane; but on this more intimate level he proves he can really tell a story. Great!
Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament by Clive Barker: When her pompous and unfaithful husband sends her to consult a psychiatrist, Jacqueline Ess discovers a terrible power within herself, a power which enables her to shape and reshape the men around her and also her own body. She embarks on a quest to learn the secret of power, only distracted from it briefly by her love for Oliver Vassi, the one man to love her completely for who and what she is. The story is told from the two viewpoints of Jacqueline Ess and Vassi, and leads inevitably from their meeting and separation to their final terrible reuninion. An extremely compelling piece of writing, this is one of Barker's best.Editor Slung comments "I could be mistaken, but I do think that Barker provides in 'Jacqueline Ess' an utterly original expression of admiration for and homage to the smouldering primal force that is women's sexuality."
So many good ones here it's difficult to pick favourites so I won't even try. Even Hugh B Cave's story has its moments. One really great collection.