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Post by dem bones on May 26, 2022 10:32:45 GMT
Anthony Masters - Horror Stories to Tell in the Dark (Puffin, 1994)  Mark Longworth
InterCity 509
Soul Sucker
Rats
A Deprived Child
Voodoo
The Day of the Dead
Sunday Roast
Baiting Mr. BensonBlurb: The flames flicker. The night deepens. Something's moving in the shadows.
Alone on the moors they gather round the fire, all waiting to tell their own horror story.
Just listen ...£1 from Spitalfields Crypt charity shop, Aldgate. The Dead Travel Fast man on top ghastly form. Simplest premises. Boys and girls camped overnight beside Long Heath Lake on Dartmoor exchange scary stories. Hannah sets the ball rolling with an account of a ghastly episode in the life of cousin Gwyn. The Death Tree: North Wales. Beamish estate tearaways Gwyn, Alun, Thomas and Danny goad one another to swim out to the island in the middle of the redundant Blackwater reservoir and retrieve a branch from the twisted 'death tree.' The dare proves beyond them all. Perhaps if they were to chase a boy who can't swim into the rank water he'd have better luck? Let's try it out on that pathetic little weed, Magog James! InterCity 509: April's story. Henry insists wife Annie get rid of 'Angel,' the clapped-out, petrol-guzzling death-trap of a mini she inherited from her father. The evil car fixes it for Henry and daughter Jenny to have a nasty accident on the railway crossing .... whose motor is the death trap now? Soul Sucker: Anna recalls a visit to St. Nicholas monastery, Moscow, where father is engaged in restoration work. Igor, the caretaker's son, warns that, no matter how curious she becomes, she must never peer inside a door in the perimeter wall, for they who lurk behind make for a deeply unpleasant sight. Alas, poor Igor. If only he'd followed his own advice ... Reminiscent of Gothic classic, The Monk of Horror, or, the Conclave of Corpse, except nastier.
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Post by ripper on May 26, 2022 18:02:33 GMT
Dem, do you know if this is the same Anthony Masters who wrote 'The Natural History of the Vampire' in the early 1970s?
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Post by dem bones on May 26, 2022 18:35:49 GMT
Dem, do you know if this is the same Anthony Masters who wrote 'The Natural History of the Vampire' in the early 1970s? The very same, Rip. Anthony Masters – The Natural History Of The Vampire (Mayflower, 1974) Introduction
The Human Vampire or Psychic Sponge: Origins
Vampire Traits and Practice
The Pagan Vampire
The Vampire in Christianity
The Vampire in Literature
The Vampire as Entertainer
The Vampire Today
Bibliography
IndexBlurb: A Dying Art.
They are everywhere .. from Transylvania to Haiti’s voodoo-land, lurking in dank draughty castles and on lonely mountains, waiting to plunge their fangs into the soft white throats of young girls. Vampires …
Here with a wealth of gruesome anecdotes, rites, rituals and legends, Anthony Masters unearths the history of vampires – what they are, where they are and, most importantly, how to guard against them.
Come for a terror-trip round the history of vampires – you could do with the exorcise! |
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Post by ripper on May 26, 2022 19:59:40 GMT
Dem, do you know if this is the same Anthony Masters who wrote 'The Natural History of the Vampire' in the early 1970s? The very same, Rip. Anthony Masters – The Natural History Of The Vampire (Mayflower, 1974) Introduction
The Human Vampire or Psychic Sponge: Origins
Vampire Traits and Practice
The Pagan Vampire
The Vampire in Christianity
The Vampire in Literature
The Vampire as Entertainer
The Vampire Today
Bibliography
IndexBlurb: A Dying Art.
They are everywhere .. from Transylvania to Haiti’s voodoo-land, lurking in dank draughty castles and on lonely mountains, waiting to plunge their fangs into the soft white throats of young girls. Vampires …
Here with a wealth of gruesome anecdotes, rites, rituals and legends, Anthony Masters unearths the history of vampires – what they are, where they are and, most importantly, how to guard against them.
Come for a terror-trip round the history of vampires – you could do with the exorcise! Thanks for confirming that, Dem. I bought the paperback circa 1974 for 50p from W.H. Smith in Walsall and got a telling-off from my mum, as I was on a day trip with my aunt and cousin and spending 50p left me with nothing with which to buy lunch--50p was a lot back then! Still, it was worth it as I loved that book, and it introduced me to the Warren comics and 'true' accounts of vampires, not to mention making my 12-year old eyes pop out at one of the illustrations. |
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Post by dem bones on May 27, 2022 10:41:27 GMT
Thanks for confirming that, Dem. I bought the paperback circa 1974 for 50p from W.H. Smith in Walsall and got a telling-off from my mum, as I was on a day trip with my aunt and cousin and spending 50p left me with nothing with which to buy lunch--50p was a lot back then! Still, it was worth it as I loved that book, and it introduced me to the Warren comics and 'true' accounts of vampires, not to mention making my 12-year old eyes pop out at one of the illustrations. As it happens, I've happy memories of Natural History of the Vampire, too, having first tackled it during lunch breaks in The Kings Head on Upper Street, Islington, when I was working at the Angel. It's the theatre pub with the pre-decimal £sd cash till where the protagonist commits another murder in Christopher Fowler's quiet horror offering, At Home In The Old Pubs of London (Stephen Jones & David A. Sutton [eds.], Dark Terrors 5, 2000). Used to nip into the Fantasy Centre on the way home which was only ten minutes walk away, then hit the Lord Nelson opposite, a student pub with some top stuff on jukebox. Bumped into Screaming Lord Sutch in there once — or think I did. He said it wasn't him. Sweet times  Back with Horror Stories ...Barry takes his turn. Rats: Despised Tod Marling returns to the South Coast after two years sailing the Friesian islands, his boat loaded with a lethal cargo. Old Captain Soames leaves the vicious brute in no doubt that he's as unwelcome in Sungate today as he was when they kicked him out. Marling warns; "You're going to regret the way you treated me — all of you in this hole of a town. You deserve plague and pestilence and, believe me, you'll get it." He speaks true. A Deprived Child: Gill's story of her kindly neighbour, old Mrs. Jackson, organizer, chief sponsor and hostess of the annual Little Ashington Under Wold children's party. Mrs. Jackson is so nice that even the poor little housing estate children behave impeccably in her company — with one glaring exception. Rude, pilfering Billy Baxter, school bully in waiting. Nobody likes Billy, but Mrs Jackson insists they should make allowances: the boy's dad long deserted and mum's struggling to cope. Fortunately for the reader, even Mrs Jackson's compassion has its limits .... Very Tales from the Crypt. Voodoo: Now it's Jules turn with a cautionary tale from his childhood on the Bloxham Estate, South London. Worried that her little brothers are keeping bad company — specifically, that of 14-year-old tearaway Terry Caxton, car thief and joyrider — Marie-Denise confides in her gran, Madame Simone, a native Haitian voodoo priestess, whose flat is overrun by creepy cats. The old lady supplies her with a bottle of dark liquid to toss in Terry's face, stressing that it won't work unless you truly hate the offending party and "only use [it] if there's an emergency — an emergency that might mean death." Madame Simone neglects to mention the all-important "and don't spill any on yourself!" but then she's getting on a bit and we suppose her memory is not what it was. |
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Post by andydecker on May 27, 2022 11:05:54 GMT
As it happens, I've happy memories of Natural History of the Vampire, too, having first tackled it during lunch breaks in The Kings Head on Upper Street, Islington, when I was working at the Angel. It's the theatre pub with the pre-decimal £sd cash till where the protagonist commits another murder in Christopher Fowler's quiet horror offering, At Home In The Old Pubs of London (Stephen Jones & David A. Sutton [eds.], Dark Terrors 5, 2000). Used to nip into the Fantasy Centre on the way home which was only ten minutes walk away, then hit the Lord Nelson opposite, a student pub with some top stuff on jukebox. Bumped into Screaming Lord Sutch in there once — or think I did. He said it wasn't him. Sweet times  This sounds fabulous and indeed good times. |
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Post by helrunar on May 27, 2022 13:42:13 GMT
Wonderful memories. The stories sound a bit of grisly fun.
cheers, Hel
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Post by dem bones on May 28, 2022 11:38:16 GMT
Day of the Dead: James' story, told him by a Mexican pen pal. Carlos Martinez is paying respect to his father, the local dog catcher, recently interred in the family mausoleum. A stranger, pushing a handcart marked 'Tijuana Dog Sanctuary,' briefly stops at the entrance, takes a crafty snoop around. When Carlos returns to the cemetery the next day, father's corpse is missing! Why would anyone want to steal a body? What can it all mean?
Sunday Roast: Post-divorce, the former Lady Poynton is left with but a relative pittance to live on and little option but to earn a living. She opens Nell Gwyn Tearooms, but a negligible cookery skills and lack of funds to employ competent staff make for a failing business. Lady Poynton MK II, Jocelyn "no more than a strumpet" Onions can't help but drop by to bark orders and complain at the service. Her bitter rival vows revenge. "I'll pay her out for coming in here and mocking me in my hour of need." And she does.
Baiting Mr. Benson: Shameful confession of Grant Jackson — yet another rough estate kid with an appalling home life — who takes out his unhappiness on a timid teacher. Grant's persecution of Mr. Benson drives the poor man to jump off Highwater Bridge, after which he is committed to the "nut house." Now Mr. Benson is back, a changed man, for sure, and not for the milder ...
For once it's actually a disappointment that the author has everything done and dusted in 100 pages. Personal stand out would be Soul Sucker, but they all appeal. Cannibalism, body-snatching, a killer car, rampaging rodents, dead bodies for dogfood — that will do for me.
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Post by dem bones on May 31, 2022 15:55:06 GMT
Anthony Masters - Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (Bloomsbury Reader, 2011; originally Puffin, 1992) Nasty Nanny
Kelpie
Mountain Madness
The Wrong Bus
The Ghost Mirrors
Number Nine
The Green Man
Time Trip
The Haunted Gondola
The Vampire
A Note on the AuthorBlurb (Via the Puffin 1992 edition) It's Late At Night.
The Fire's Burning Low and Something's Howling Outside.
Now it's time for a ghost story.
But just make sure you're not on your own...Sixteen boys and girls sleep over at Ramsden house, a gloomy mansion on Exmoor. They take turns to tell ghost stories. Lucy, their hostess, gets the ball rolling with the story of a now, thankfully vanquished mad guardian. Nasty Nanny: Mrs. Morris, a witch, collects creatures of the dark land — a hobgoblin, a boggard, a banshee, a ghoul, five gnomes, etc — whom she imprisons in a bound volume. Since the book's completion, she has sought out a girl with sufficient imagination to let loose her monster squad. The hour has come! Kelpie: Derek's story of what happened he accompanied his father and a neighbour, Becky Patrick, to Sula (pop. 1. The hermit MacLeish) in the Shetland Isles to search for missing TV producer, George Patrick. George vanished off the coast while seeking a colony of seal men .... Mountain Madness: A valley in the Bulgarian mountains where a sorceress lures night-skiers to her castle and transforms them into waltzing wolves. Had it not be for the sacrifice of a gallant youth, Liz and brother Jake would not have lived to tell the tale. Could be the dire packaging has knocked the stuffing out of me, but, unlike Horror Stories, this one has yet to hit the spot.
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Post by andydecker on May 31, 2022 18:27:34 GMT
Could be the dire packaging has knocked the stuffing out of me, but, unlike Horror Stories, this one has yet to hit the spot. God, this is bland. |
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Post by dem bones on Jun 2, 2022 6:15:15 GMT
The Wrong Bus: Steven Shaw becomes uncomfortably aware that he's sharing the night bus with passengers in winding sheets, until realization dawns that tonight is Halloween - they must be headed for a fancy dress party. Which still doesn't explain why they smell so horrible. The lugubrious driver detours to a lay-by inside the cemetery ....
The Ghost Mirrors: Ten-year-old Debbie Harcastle accepts soppy cousin Ben's dare to spend a night on abandoned, haunted Taymouth pier, provided he joins her. It's all a bit of a chore until a ice-cold, spectral hand beckons them inside the hall of mirrors where, back in 1956, Madam Orion, fraudulent 'fortune-teller, imprisoned PC Rivers behind glass with her dying curse.
Number Nine: A council house built on the site of the former Laurel Lodge is haunted by a trio of smugglers, two excise officers and a murderous madwoman with no eyes, doomed to re-enact a night of horror from centuries past.
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Post by dem bones on Jun 3, 2022 15:35:54 GMT
The Green Man: Grasping fatso, Mr. Jackson, is bent on chopping down Timberton Wood to make way for a housing estate. Pre-teen conservationists Lyn and Gary Belmont urge him to reconsider, but Jackson won't hear of it — until a terrifying force mobilises the trees against him. Short, slick.
Time Trip: On a winter visit to Moscow, Rik is transported back to Valentine's Day, 1917, to witness a massacre in the forest shortly prior to the Revolution. Guided by a spectral monk, Rik is at least able to save the life of a wounded boy.
The Haunted Gondola: Alison, holidaying in Venice as a guest of best chum, Gina, is fascinated by a certain bridge decorated with stone figures of children at play. As a gondola passes beneath, the strangely menacing carvings come to life, and the passengers, an elderly couple, retain the healthy bodies of their youth to spend an hour in the children's playground. Gina and Alison follow them back to a Chapel of Rest ...
The Vampire: Abby answers an appeal for help from a boy in a wheelchair. Larn Donovan, heir to Shamrock Hall, claims that he is being kept prisoner by Archie the evil chauffeur, the murderer of his parents. Abby falls for it.
Could be I read Scary Tales ... too soon after the horror book, but this batch didn't seem so powerful. There's also a Ghost Stories to tell in the Dark if anyone's feeling brave/ isn't fussed by lack of cover art.
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