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Post by dem bones on Jan 27, 2016 10:30:32 GMT
How could I have forgotten the EC story "The Orphan" (in Shock SuspenStories #14)? It's one of the stories that was singled out by the Senate Subcommitte! (I think it was controversial in the UK as well. The entire story was reprinted (in B & W) in the book A Haunt of Fears: The Strange History of the British Horror Comics Campaign.) A Haunt Of Fears is a fascinating read. I've still not set eyes on a copy of Frederic Wertham's Corruption Of The Innocent, but my wife has this. Frederic Wertham M.D. - The Circle Of Guilt (Four Square, 1961)
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Post by dem bones on Jan 27, 2016 22:27:38 GMT
Bobby, I think you are right about 'The Orphan' being controversial. They were also pretty rude to hillbillies, or "sons of the soil" as they prefer to be called (according to Dr Hibbert). Maybe we could try a separate thread for degenerate Hill-billies and Deliverance types? Richard Stains serves up a rancid Texan community of same in Football's Dark ArtsCharles Beaumont's Miss Gentilbelle surely qualifies as a nurture your own bad seed primer? Lynda E. Rucker's contribution to Terror Tales Of The Ocean likewise features a parent set on deliberately fucking up his children. In Stephen King's Apt Pupil young Todd Bowden befriends and manipulates a Nazi war criminal with inevitable consequences. Are the three greasers in Sometimes They Come Back too old to qualify?
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randy
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 17
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Post by randy on Jan 29, 2016 17:43:22 GMT
Read Beaumont's "Miss Gentibelle" for the first time a couple of years ago and was completely taken with it.
Anyway, I just read a novella that fits this theme: "Now There Comes a Darker Day" by Charles L. Grant from Nightmare Seasons.
A few stories on the cusp of this theme, M. Rickert's "“Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment: One Daughter’s Personal Account" and "Was She Wicked? Was She Good?", and Jonathan Carroll's "The Panic Hand."
Randy M.
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Post by bobby on Feb 5, 2016 3:34:28 GMT
The original (US) paperback edition of The Sound of Midnight by Charles L. Grant has the blurb "A pack of children more horrifying than CARRIE!" on the front cover. But it's been over 25 years since I've read it, so I honestly can't remember what it's about.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2016 22:52:02 GMT
The original (US) paperback edition of The Sound of Midnight by Charles L. Grant has the blurb "A pack of children more horrifying than CARRIE!" on the front cover. But it's been over 25 years since I've read it, so I honestly can't remember what it's about. I picked up this exact edition from one of the local second hand stores earlier this week. Expect I'll start it over the weekend. I'll report back on its evil child credentials when I'm done.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2016 11:29:00 GMT
The original (US) paperback edition of The Sound of Midnight by Charles L. Grant has the blurb "A pack of children more horrifying than CARRIE!" on the front cover. But it's been over 25 years since I've read it, so I honestly can't remember what it's about. I picked up this exact edition from one of the local second hand stores earlier this week. Expect I'll start it over the weekend. I'll report back on its evil child credentials when I'm done. Having finished this yesterday I can confirm that it most certainly belongs on this thread, containing as it does several murderous children being influenced by Oxrun Station's local witch through the use of chess pieces carved in the likeness of pagan celtic demons (or some such nonsense). I can also confirm that it's not one of Grant's better efforts. The slight story barely justifies even the fairly low page count and several passages suffer from Grant's tendency towards over-description. The lead character is also incredibly annoying, extremely wishy-washy and forever looking to the male lead for vindication. I'll be honest, I found myself skimming towards the end, so my summary of the plot in the first paragraph of this comment should be taken with a pinch of salt.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 14, 2017 16:26:28 GMT
Steve Berman (ed.) - Bad Seeds: Evil Progeny (Prime, 2013) Myriam Moreno & Samantha Thiele Steve Berman - Introduction
Charles L. Grant - If Damon Comes Norman Partridge - Treats Halli Villegas - The Family Lisa Tuttle - The Horse Lord John Schoffstall - My Name Is Leejun Michael Kelly - Princess of the Night Joe R. Lansdale - Duck Hunt Joel D. Lane - The Choir Stephen King - Children of the Corn Robert McCammon - Yellowjacket Summer Michael Marshall Smith - The Stuff that Goes on in Their Heads Charles Antin - Second Grade Ramsey Campbell - Respects - Robert McVey - Melanie Klein Said Jeffrey Ford - Gaslight Will Ludwigsen - Endless Encore Dale Bailey - Cockroach Gemma Files - By the Mark Hal Duncan - The Disappearance of James H — Stephen Graham Jones - I Was a Teenage Slasher Victim Peter Straub - Blue Rose Gary Raisor - Making Friends Alex Jeffers - You Deserve Georgina Bruce - The Queen of Knives Christine Morgan - The Naughty List Cassandra Clare & Holly Black - The Perfect Dinner Party Michael Reaves - Make Believe Blurb: Children are supposed to be all sugar and spice and everything nice . . . but we know that’s not the truth. Dark tales of wicked tykes and dangerous kids playing vicious games that lead adults — sometimes their own parents — to their demise are a staple of frightening fiction. Beware the schoolyards and playgrounds, even the sanctity of the familial home, especially after dark. And don’t be fooled by a trickle of tears or tiny hands reaching for you. These youngsters do not want to love or comfort — only to inflict pain!
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Post by andydecker on Oct 14, 2017 22:03:15 GMT
Some old and some new. Seems to be a decent collection.
But the cover is horrible.
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Post by Swampirella on Feb 5, 2020 20:17:43 GMT
September Fair - John Hynam (London Mystery Magazine #40 March 1959)
Mr. Kellam, grammar school teacher, is discussing one of his pupils, Buckley, with the headmaster in his study. He's suddenly developed a nervous stammer which is concerning. Next they briefly discuss the disappearance of Roberts, last seen at the Alfreston Road Fair last night. Another boy, Sainsby, arrives to tell them he saw Roberts with another boy of about the same age. Since he couldn't recognize him due to the failing light, he's taken to visit one of the forms (grades) and picks out Buckley. However Buckley denies being at the fair and insists he went to bed at 7:30 after doing some homework, and the child-minder Mrs. Toplin, has no knowledge of him leaving home. Mrs. Toplin didn't notice his speech defect, but admits to not liking him. His speech is fine except when he denies being at the fair, but plans to attend that evening.
Kellam decides to attend the fair himself and just happens to encounter Buckley near the Ghost Walk. He pays admission for both of them and they enter. Horrible sounds, lights, and dancing, grinning skeletons make their appearance. "Now Kellam stopped and gasped. On a raised place was the severed head of a woman; it lay on its side, and the blood seemed fresh." Kellam is appalled, more so when he realizes Buckley has been there before and is leading him out of the gloomy place in the wrong direction.
Buckley, suddenly stammer-free, blinds Kellam's sight with a powerful torch and prods him hard in the stomach with some kind of lance. "Whoever or whatever was behind the light was no longer sounding human. It made mewing and growling sounds, with its breath catching in it's throat in a horrid rasping". Kellam grabs at the lance & pulls it, along with the torch which flies away. He picks it up and sees "a small scuffed brown shoe. There was a food in the shoe." Of course, it's poor Roberts. Luckily, Kellam is a match for "the small, evil fury that leaped snarling from the dark". It turns out poor Buckley witnessed a man with thick-rimmed glasses assault and murder his sister and ever since develops a stammer whenever he sees thick spectables such as both Roberts and Mr. Kellam wore/wear. So he kills or tries to kill them. I really enjoyed the strong Jamesian feel this story has to it.
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Post by sabenaravna on Apr 19, 2020 7:00:25 GMT
Well, bullies of any horror story would fit, but then bullying is so mundane compared to demons or serial killer tykes... 😉
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