Here's the first of Amy Myers' five 'After Midnight' anthologies:*
After Midnight Stories (William Kimber, 1985)
(cover: Ionicus)
Alma Priestley - Going Up, Going Down?
J.C. Trewin - Under the Shadow
Fred Urquhart - The Straitened City
Brian Lumley - Vanessa’s Voice
Meg Buxton - The Marigold Cow
Rosalind Wade - The Cat’s Teaparty
T. Arthur Bawden - To be of Good Behaviour
A.L. Barker - Just in Time
A.L. Rowse - All Souls’ Night
Rosemary Timperley - The Ghost-House
Derek Stanford - The Old Brighton Road
Frances Stephens - The Phantom Snorer of Much Wilcombe
Mary Williams - The Ferret
Nancy Tregenna - Perseverance House
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Underground
Lanyon Jones - The Punch & Judy Man
*Details of the 4th & 5th books are on the main site; I'll add threads for the 2nd & 5th.
My copy just arrived today....
Alma Priestly - Going Up, Going Down?: Right before they close for Christmas Eve, Bellerby's dept. store elevator operator (try saying that 5 times fast) Mrs. Haynes finds herself with a passenger wanting to go to the long vanished Roof Restaurant. So far, my favorite.
J. C. Trewin - Under The Shadow: The unnamed narrator travels with his wife to the Cornish village of North Pralla, where he spent part of his childhood and where his parents still live, after the accidental drowning of two brothers. A very odd event befalls the village, and not for the first time. Nothing to do with ghosts, but a fairly good story nonetheless.
Fred Urquahart - The Straitened Cry - A mostly comedic ghost story. Aging actor Grizel Pryde is on a flight to India. Mid-flight "the solid figure of Dame Clara Scarborough, who died in 1977" appears, and she has a lot to say.
Brian Lumley - Vanessa's Voice: Another unnamed narrator described the relationship of his good friend Jim and Vanessa, an aspiring singer. Little by little, her career takes over their relationship until eventually tragedy results. Then it gets much worse.
Meg Buxton - The Marigold Cow: Well, somebody had to write a story featuring a ghost cow. Mrs. Teagle, the Devon-born widow of a Cornish village doctor ignored by the villagers for her "airs and graces" suddenly finds a companion in the form of a sweet little heifer who appears on her garden path. You won't be too surprised to learn that nothing scary happens, but it is, like the heifer, a sweet story.
Rosalind Wade - The Cat's Teaparty - Would you believe another unnamed narrator features in this story? Well, at least this one is female for a change. She's invited by a woman who's new young step-daughter who encounters "people sitting around chattering" in their new Cornish home.
T. Arthur Bawden - To Be Of Good Behaviour - Finally, a story I enjoyed as much as Going Up, Going Down? This time the narrator has a name, or at least a surname. Mr Povey finds himself at The Joint Allocation Centre, or as we might call it, Limbo. Due to a backlog, the lowest level of Heaven is unable to accept him, so he's given the choice between spending 50 years in Purgatory or becoming an earth-bound spirit at his old home. He chooses the latter, and quickly learns that his wife has help getting over her loss in the person of somebody named Carshallton Smith. He also makes some new ghostly friends while endeavoring not to interfere in the lives of those he left behind, which would result in an instant trip "down there".
A. L. Barker - Just In Time - A pointless 11-page story with nary a ghost in sight.
A. L. Rowse - All Souls' Night - An excellent story of a young man invited to an old Cornish manor house to write the family history.
His first night there will prove to be his last.
Rosemary Timperley - The Ghost-House - An amusing little tale of Paul and Cynthia's attempt to cohabit with the four ghosts in their new home.
Derek Stanford - The Old Brighton Road - I'm pleased to say this story is strongly connected to Richard Middleton's On The Brighton Road. So please read that before reading this.
Frances Stephens - The Phantom Snorer of Much Wilcombe - Reporter Clay Coppard decides to leave the past behind him after his daughter's death and his wife's desertion. He finds himself in the village of Much Wilcombe and then he.....finds himself, so to speak. Oh, and there is a phantom snorer.
Mary Williams - The Ferret - Shirin believes her late, abusive first husband is haunting her, in the form of a savage ferret, in revenge for her not stopping him driving a car with faulty brakes. That alone tells you this will be a good story, and it is.
Nancy Tregenna - Perseverance House - Another unnamed female narrator describes how she become homeless due to circumstances beyond her control and ends up housed in Perseverance House. She becomes acquainted with Win, a fellow tenant.
But is Win all she seems?
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Underground - Laura Munro begins to encounter the sad ghost of a young soldier during her nightly commute home on the Underground.
Lanyon Jones - The Punch And Judy Man - "Old Gilbert Dibble" is Castlechurch's Punch and Judy man. In the fall and winter he retreats to his shop which houses his doll collection and from where he runs his doll's "hospital", where children love to visit but adults aren't much welcome. An unlikable almost dwarf-like man with bad breath and a worse attitude, things don't go well when Ben Harper, new director of the National Doll Centre, comes calling with an offer to buy some of his dolls. For me this story is the highlight of the book; it would have made a great episode of "Thriller" or "The Twilight Zone".
