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Post by helenspromise on May 11, 2014 9:44:08 GMT
I mentioned in my introduction post yesterday that I found this forum while searching for an old horror anthology online and I'm hoping someone will be able to help me find it! I bought it as a library deletion in my first year of high school and read it cover to cover several times, unfortunately I seem to have lost it after a few house moves. I don't remember the title but I remember the premise of a few of the stories: One of the first stories is about a lady who can grow anything she plants in her garden. At one point I seem to remember she chops off her finger and plants it in the garden. I think this story could be 'Green Fingers' by R. Cook and found some information about a short film adaptation while I was looking online. The next I remember is about a compost heap that gets out of hand, possibly suffocating someone (weirdest sentence I have ever seen myself type). There's also a story about a lady with a terminal illness who is cryogenically frozen until a point where medicine has advanced to a point where she can be cured. Unfortunately for her she is revived only to be told she is surplus to requirements and doesn't conform to 'optimum population' standards and is executed. I thought this was called 'Op pop' but again I can't find anything by searching online. There's another story towards the end of the book set in a violent, bleak future. Someone finds the rules to the now ancient game of football but misinterprets them as being to score a goal by any means. This leads to football becoming a murderous bloodsport with teams based on which tower block of flats you belong to. Now, I have found all the collections 'Green Fingers' appeared in and I think I have narrowed it down to being the 3rd Fontana book of horror or a book called 'Terrors, Torments and Traumas'. I distinctly remember it being hardback and having images from Green Fingers on the binding so I'm leaning towards the latter. I managed to track copies of both down online so I'll get my answer one way or another but I'd love to know if anyone else remembers this book or if they can point me in the direction of any other anthologies if it's wrong. Thanks in advance  |
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Post by dem bones on May 11, 2014 10:44:11 GMT
#1 is almost certainly Green Fingers, and I think #2 could be Robert Graves' Earth To Earth ( Terrors, Torments and Traumas/ Fontana Horror 6 & Co.), after which i'm lost. The late, very great Syd Bounds wrote a cryogenics story, Cold Sleep ( Fontana Horror 6 again), but the patient is male and i'm not sure it's the one you're after? Please let me know if you find the football story as that sounds right up my street. |
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Post by helenspromise on May 11, 2014 13:35:21 GMT
Thanks Demonik, you were spot on. I'm looking forward to reading 'Cold Sleep' again. I realise I must have mixed up two different books as the football story isn't listed in this one. It's hard to track down as I'm bringing up a lot of football related news! I'll keep looking for now and see if anything turns up |
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Post by jackball74 on May 11, 2014 22:57:16 GMT
"Green Fingers" was in Terrors, Torments and Traumas, but the others were not.
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Post by dem bones on May 12, 2014 5:43:30 GMT
"Green Fingers" was in Terrors, Torments and Traumas, but the others were not. I don't have a copy, but according to ISFDB, this is the table of contents. Helen Hoke (ed.) - Terrors, Torments & Traumas(Thomas Nelson, 1978) Helen Hoke - About This Book
R. C. Cook - Green Fingers
Algernon Blackwood - Keeping His Promise
Miriam Allen deFord - The Voyage Of The Deborah Pratt
Robert Graves - Earth To Earth
Fielden Hughes - "Dear Ghost . . ."
E. F. Benson - Mrs. Amworth
Richard Middleton - On The Brighton Road
Miriam Allen deFord - The CRIB Circuit
Ray Bradbury - Changeling
Evelyn Waugh - The Man Who Liked Dickens
Stanley Ellin - Robert
Franz Kafka - The Knock At The Manor Gate
Christine Campbell Thomson - Message For Margie
L. P. Hartley - W. S. |
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Post by helenspromise on May 12, 2014 7:32:58 GMT
I've ordered the Helen Hoke for the princely sum of £2.48. From what I can see Cold Sleep was only published in the Fontana 6 you mentioned although I'm not familiar with any of the other stories, I'll order it next anyway. Still at a loss on the football story. Thanks again for all your help |
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Post by jackball74 on May 23, 2014 3:38:25 GMT
Hoke put out some great anthologies. Always had unique, offbeat offerings.
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Post by helenspromise on May 23, 2014 14:04:48 GMT
When it arrived I read it all in one sitting! It was such a good mix of stories. The cryogenic story was the CRIB circuit rather than Cold Sleep, that and Green Fingers stood out to me most on my reread.
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Post by dem bones on May 28, 2014 18:06:23 GMT
When it arrived I read it all in one sitting! It was such a good mix of stories. The cryogenic story was the CRIB circuit rather than Cold Sleep, that and Green Fingers stood out to me most on my reread. Thanks for the update, Helen. Trying to identify that football story is driving me crazy, to the point where I'm half convinced I've read it. Glad you enjoyed your rematch! |
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