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Post by drhesselius on Jan 17, 2016 17:43:52 GMT
I recently finished getting through all 17 volumes of The Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories. I mark everything I read out of 10 (I've included these scores in brackets). Here are my top stories from each - that is those to which I have given 7 or more to out of 10 (I think I'm a harsh marker!). I'm the first to admit that I can be inconsistent with markings and if a story doesn't grab me in the first couple of pages my mind can wander, but then surely a part of writing a good short story is to grab the reader's attention quickly. What do I like in a horror story? Atmosphere above anything and stories which are different, odd even. I'm not into graphic descriptions of decapitations and blood and guts. The fact that the collections improve from Volume 5 onward speaks volumes of Mary Danby (a very fine editor and writer):-
Volume 1
A Case Of Eavesdropping by Algernon Blackwood (7)
The Pond by Nigel Kneale (7)
William And Mary by Roald Dahl (7)
Volume 2
The Spider by Elizabeth Walter (7)
Satan's Circus by Lady Eleanor Smith (7)
The Victim by May Sinclair (7)
Volume 3
The Room In The Tower by E.F.Benson (8)
Volume 4
The Flesh Is Weak by Sydney J.Bounds (7)
Volume 5
Mrs Amworth by E.F.Benson (9)
The Graveyard Rats by Henry Kuttner (8)
The Waxwork by A.M.Burrage (8)
The Blue Lenses by Daphne Du Maurier (7)
A Woman Seldom Found by William Sansom (7)
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (7)
His Brother's Keeper by W.W.Jacobs (7)
The Hand by Guy de Maupassant (7)
Volume 6
The Quest For Blank Claveringi by Patricia Highsmith (9)
The End Of The Party by Graham Greene (7)
Hard Luck Story by Pamela Vincent (7)
Miss Gentilbelle by Charles Beaumont (7)
Cold Sleep by Sydney J.Bounds (7)
Close Behind Him by John Wyndham (7)
Volume 7
The Horror Of The Heights by Conan Doyle (8)
The Manniken by Robert Bloch (7)
A View From A Hill by M.R.James (7)
The Turn Of The Tide by C.S.Forrester (7)
Volume 8
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe (8)
The Troll by T.H.White (7)
The Peculiar Case Of Mrs Grimmond by Dorothy K.Haynes (7)
Royal Jelly by Roald Dahl (7)
Mr Priapos by Pamela Vincent (7)
So You Won't Talk by Manuel Komroff (7)
Harvest Home by Mary Danby (7)
Volume 9
The Hollow Man by Thomas Burke (8)
Tomorrow's Child by Joyce Marsh (7)
The Bandaged Man by Rosemary Timperley (7)
The Sanguivites by Kay Leith (7)
A Terribly Strange Bed by William Wilkie Collins (7)
The Natterjack by Mary Danby (7)
Volume 10
A Little Knowledge by Roger Malisson (7)
The Brazilian Cat by Conan Doyle (7)
Acid Test by Margot Arnold (7)
Volume 11
Mary by Roger Pile (9)
The Eye Of The Mandala by Rosemary Timperley (7)
Buffy by Philip Welby (7)
The Salesman by Roger Malisson (7)
Volume 12
Monsieur Seeks A Wife by Margaret Irwin (7)
The Well by W.W.Jacobs (7)
The Invaders by Terry Tapp (7)
The Screaming Plant by Hal Pink (7)
Volume 13
Woodman's Knot by Mary Danby (8)
The Warrior's Return by Ken Alden (7)
The Werewolf by Frederick Marryat (7)
Volume 14
Thanatos Palace Hotel by Andre Maurois (8)
The Witness by Mary Danby (8)
So Typical Of Eleanor by Roger Clarke (7)
The Vigil by Robert Haining (7)
Volume 15
Growth by R.Chetwyd-Hayes (9)
The Wager by Harry E.Turner (8)
Shrewhampton North-East by Bryn Fortey (8)
The Lodger In Room 16 by David Dixon (7)
She'll Be Company For You by Andrea Newman (7)
In The Slaughteryard by Anonymous (7)
The Drop Of Blood by Mor Jokai (7)
Robbie by Mary Danby (7)
Volume 16
Oblige Me With A Loaf by Dorothy K.Haynes (8)
Mother's Day by Alison Prince (8)
Curlylocks by Mary Danby (8)
Blackberries by Roger Clarke (7)
Creepogs by Phillip C.Heath (7)
The Horror Of Abbot's Grange by Frederick Cowles (7)
Switching Off by Roger Malisson (7)
The Burial Of The Rats by Bram Stoker (7)
Volume 17
Where No Wind Blows by Rosemary Timperley (7)
The Laocoon Complex by J.C.Furnas (7)
Back From The Grave by Robert Silverberg (7)
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