Pan Horror 18: Scary Skull

[erebus]

There doesn't appear to be much love for poor old Volume 18. Even Dem had a little pop at it in a previous post ( 25th volume ) Shame on you Dem. Shame.
In seriousness I happen to like this one quite a lot. Of course there are the mundane boring pointless fillers like Fly Eater . And Meat is also a little boring, and dare I say it The Island of the Seals offers little if nothing. But lets look at the good stuff.
Coffin Flies is brilliant. And well up there in my personal Pan favourites. I mean come on folks it begins with a young girl getting her head split open in a creepy forest by an Axe-man, then goes even more grisly. The subject matter is grim, as should all horror be, and the outcome of the main protagonist is equally horrific. I would say Coffin Flies is essential Pan Horror reading.
Norman Kaufman always gives us the outlandish gore. Here we get a crushed shattered women getting melted and roasted alive in a burning car in his tale Rest in Peace.
But for me the most violent story is Quod Erat Demonstrandum. by Judith Eleanor Green. Love the way the narrative bounces back and forth between the two main characters. And the descriptions of the subsequent head bashing and brain fondling is superb....reservoir of gore indeed .
Rosemary Timperley is the master of the subtle ghost story, and here she delivers yet another little yarn,which although doesn't stand above her other efforts, still delivers the chills, and for me Unknown Caller does the business.
Tape Worms and spiders and bugs and stuff always go down a treat, hence The Boy with the Golden Eyes and Its Hungry being winners. As for Belvedere's Bride. Of course you establish where its going pretty early on, but it still evokes a shiver or two.
Stevie by Monica Lee is superb. And a far greater effort than her story in the previous volume, which was far to overlong and did nothing for me in the long run.And as for the remaining stories, whilst not memorable or stand outs they are far more superior than some I can point too ( Anybody read volume 28 can testify )
So theres my view. I won't have any more bullying of Volume 18. Its better than its predecessor. And for Coffin Flies alone deserves some credit. Plus I like the cover too.

[dem]

Feb 11, 2015 11:26:55 GMT erebus said:

There doesn't appear to be much love for poor old Volume 18. Even Dem had a little pop at it in a previous post ( 25th volume ) Shame on you Dem. Shame.

Me like being shameful! Odd thing is it's only Stevie and Alan Timperley's atypical The Boy With Golden Eyes I remember fondly from this volume and for some reason I never wrote about the latter (or, it seems, several of the other stories). The Bravest Little Rat In Venice is decent, too. But many of the others struck me as Pan Horror by numbers. Seemed to me like Norman P. Kaufman and Harry E. Turner, both capable of excellent work, were going through the motions. Have stuck PH18 on the re-read pile but not very near the top.

[Craig Herbertson]

Feb 15, 2015 21:16:28 GMT dem said:

Feb 11, 2015 11:26:55 GMT erebus said:

There doesn't appear to be much love for poor old Volume 18. Even Dem had a little pop at it in a previous post ( 25th volume ) Shame on you Dem. Shame.

Me like being shameful! Odd thing is it's only Stevie and Alan Timperley's atypical The Boy With Golden Eyes I remember fondly from this volume and for some reason I never wrote about the latter (or, it seems, several of the other stories). The Bravest Little Rat In Venice is decent, too. But many of the others struck me as Pan Horror by numbers. Seemed to me like Norman P. Kaufman and Harry E. Turner, both capable of excellent work, were going through the motions. Have stuck PH18 on the re-read pile but not very near the top.

Interestingly gets a 4-25 out of 5 rating on good reads with a lot of people giving it big thumbs up. maybe be the tide is turning.

[dem]

Fresh from a thoroughly rewarding rematch with PH 19, this might be a good time to reassess its immediate predecessor. At least half of the stories come in at less than ten pages, so will start with these small fry and try build a head of steam.

Rosemary Timperley - The Unknown Caller: She thought she was rid of her estranged husband Nigel when he took a fatal overdose six months ago, but now she's plagued by his nuisance phone calls from beyond the grave! Or could it be his secret gay lover, Frank Eldrige, the famous singer, playing spiteful tricks? Her doctor steals the best line. "If the death wish is part of his nature, then it's sheer chance which particular incident is his 'last straw.' The suicide hates life. Sooner or later he'll find an excuse to get out."

Samantha Lee - The Island of the Seals: Who'd be a were-seal during the culling season? The sad story of Miss Moira Spencer, a reclusive fifty year old author whose body was washed up on the shore of a wildlife sanctuary shortly after she made a terrible discovery on the beach. Samantha Lee's previous appearance in the series was as 'Maggie Webb' (Dark Reflections in PH #15). Those who like their horror full-on nasty are advised to check out her Aversion Therapy in Dark Terrors 6.

Barry Tonkin - The Fly-eater: Barry Tonklin's solitary contribution to the series sees Mr. Hayes, the best-selling occult author, consult a librarian with a keen interest in Black Magic and a humongously long tongue. Moving on ... (Josef F. Pumilia introduced the similarly endowed Toad to 'Linda Lovecraft's erotic horror collection, More Devil's Kisses. You can guess.)

Norman P. Kauffman - Rest in Peace: Read enough of NPK's horror stories and its apparent his protagonists share a world view: Let the other guy delude himself with grand notions of 'humanity' bullshit. Its a dog eat dog world so best torture the next loser before he tortures you - but don't rush it. Enjoy it! No surprise that R.I.P again finds him playing to his spiteful strengths. Properly vile, sadistic for its own sake, but his finest Pan moment was one volume away.

Maureen O’Hara - The Atheist: Surely not the Maureen O’Hara? Meet the Flaherty's, an elderly couple freezing to death in their snowbound new old house on Christmas Day. Lilly has made Padraig's life a misery ever since he confessed that, despite being born into the faith he'd long since lapsed into atheism. Not that it spared him the despised traipse to church. All these years Lilly's had him keep up the pretence until his attendance record puts even the Pope to shame. Half past hypothermia and still she's reading the riot act. Padraig spies the defunct oil stove with the paraffin can patiently beside. A nasty idea takes root in his tormented mind.

[ripper]

I have been scouring the charity shops around here--the only shops that sell used books--but no Pans have turned up for years, and it's the same for the Fontanas etc. I am usually forced to resort to on-line sources where prices for the later Pans/Fontanas seem fairly high, and there's the addition of postage to further bump up the cost. Not sure why the later books are so much more pricey than the earlier ones but I suppose it's something to do with the number of copies printed, so fewer later books still in circulation.

[dem]

Feb 25, 2015 9:46:29 GMT ripper said:

Not sure why the later books are so much more pricey than the earlier ones but I suppose it's something to do with the number of copies printed, so fewer later books still in circulation.

That's about the strength of it, Rip. Courtesy of Mr. Mains, those sales figures in full. So when Pan attempted their short lived revival a few years back, they reprinted the one that far outsold all the rest and was still easily available in first edition at £2 a pop!

[ripper]

Wow those sales figures really show clearly why the later Pans are so expensive, and it is no wonder that they called it a day with vol 30. I suppose the Fontanas would reveal a similar story. Perhaps some enterprising company might consider bringing out e-book editions but I am not holding out too much hope.

[ripper]

Thanks for pointing me to the thread, Dem. I will just have to keep looking for affordable copies :-).

[dem]

Carolyne L. Bird - Meat: Think I probably called this right the first time. A good read let down by a disappointing denouement. Imagine if Sir George Brand's revelation as to how the old Russian really lost his arm was even more outrageous than Petrovsky's ravening wolf-pack/ Egyptian crocodile inventions?

Myc Harrison - The Coffin Flies: Yorkshire, A.D. 1792. Professor Garron's determination to solve "the single most gruesome mystery of life" - how can the hump-backed coffin fly thrive independent of oxygen? - has seen him ostracised by friends and colleagues who regard his passion as macabre and pointless. Undeterred, Garron quits London for a remote Manor House on the Moors, there better to continue his research in privacy. It is imperative that he study the gestation of the flies and for that he requires a fresh corpse. Emma Watson, a local girl making her way home through the woods after dark, will do nicely.

It's promising student Martin Ashley's misfortune that his essay on the miracle flies has come to Garron's attention. The Prof bestows upon him the rare honour of an invitation to Maltby Manor to witness his finest hour.

There's a winning Hammer Horror vibe to this one right down to the aggrieved villagers storming the mad prof's laboratory of doom. Have to feel sorry for young Ashley who has done nothing to deserve his Poe-esque fate. The real villain of the piece gets off lightly in comparison.

[erebus]

Totally agree with your summary of Coffin Flies Dem. The angry mob certainly does have the Hammer vibe. Its a wonderful yarn in my opinion. Although I always wondered just how difficult it would be to get a thick long piece of glass in place of a wall down in your basement, all the hard graft, labour and even a big piece of glass for that matter. This being 1792 and all.

[dem]

Alan Temperley - The Boy With Golden Eyes: So very different to his subsequent work for the Pans, and, bar the outrageous 'monster arachnid' moment, so different to the way I (mis)remembered it.

An eventful school cruise for fourteen year old Andy Turnbull. When the ship docks in Corfu, Andy goes AWOL, eventually falling asleep by a woodland pool. By the time the search party reach him, he's cocooned head to toe in spiders webs.

A week later, back home in England, Andy slips into a coma. The medics are mystified as they can find nothing wrong with him - to all intents and purposes he has merely slipped into a profoundly deep sleep. Weirder still, on reawakening none the worse, the boy's eyes have changed colour from brown to gold.

Within days of Andy's return to school, there's a golden eye epidemic among the students and a spate of cannibal murders in the immediate vicinity! The earliest victims include Mr. Harris, the mad maths master, and the Turnbull's miserable old git of a next door neighbour who refuses to give Andy his ball back when it lands in a flowerbed. It's only when Mrs. Turnbull mum looks in on her son as he sleeps that we get our first glimpse of the culprits.

Feb 26, 2015 13:30:33 GMT erebus said:

Totally agree with your summary of Coffin Flies Dem. The angry mob certainly does have the Hammer vibe. Its a wonderful yarn in my opinion. Although I always wondered just how difficult it would be to get a thick long piece of glass in place of a wall down in your basement, all the hard graft, labour and even a big piece of glass for that matter. This being 1792 and all.

There's dedication for you. Weird thing is, the very atmospheric axe-murder in the mist opening rang no bells with me whatsoever. It was only when we joined Ashley at close of his coach journey that it all started to come back.

Am enjoying 18 a whole lot more the second time around - Coffin Flies, The Boy With The Golden Eyes, Stevie and Bravest Rat in Venice being the stand-out performers.

[dem]

Harry E. Turner - It's Hungry: Great fun for sure. Salaman's prodigious appetite outstrips even that of Simon Aaron in Gateway To Hell, and I adore Dr. Gregory Turner's regular updates on his salacious holiday reading. Even the monster tapeworm, when we eventually get to meet it, is no disappointment, so why of why did HET have to ruin it with a happy ending?

It's still The Tunisian Talking Ferret (PH 16) and Love Bites (PH 22) for me.

Charles Thornton - Double Puppet: They hate one another most of the time, but when push comes to shove, Arthur Day, third-rate Music Hall ventriloquist, and Boris, his doll, are soul mates. When Boris is trapped in a fire at the theatre, Arthur, who left him locked in the dressing room, thinks nothing of risking his neck to attempt a rescue. All that is left is for booking agent Frank Seymour to provide a supremely cynical epitaph.

[andydecker]

As the synopsis are so well done, again I skip them.

Pan 18 has not been so well received in here. I have read the half so far and am in two minds. I can understand the impression. A lot seems to be written to the Pan formular. There are - until now - not a lot of surprises, it is more of the same. On the other hand this is in this case not necessarily a bad thing, but there seem to be missing some spark. I have to reserve judgement of course until I have read the last books, but it appears that by 1977 the Pan Book has reached its peak.

And I love the cover. Yes, it is not the most gruesome, it may even be harmless. But the picture has something iconic.

Now to work.

Carolyn L. Bird: Meat
I liked the exotic setting, but this is a bit between two chairs. It is a grusesome costum story and it evokes atmosphere of The Fearless Vampire Killers. This does it even well. But as a horror story it doesn‘t work.

Patricia Highsmith: The bravest rat in Venice
Rat horror. In Venice. I love the setting, I still wait to find the quintessential Venice horror novel, with gruesome deeds, horrible secrets of the past, lots of sex and drowning in the canals. But as a true Pan this just scratches the surface. The will is there, but Patricia Highsmith doesn‘t embrace the topic with the required meanness. It still throws me to find a world famous writer like Highsmith in Pan.

Judith Eleanor Green: Quod erat demonstrandum
Snobish writer of the bird age - we are in decade of The Sweeney - meets unattractive, uptight and prudish librarian. Instant hate ensues which ends in gory murder. Where the plot crosses into the ridiculous fast. Even if I had to chuckle, my suspension of disbelief was not enough for this OTT end. Which basically make me dismiss this story as not working. Especially this is an example of the Pan formula I wrote about. Some meanness followed by ultra-violence. This is too much the ticking of the boxes. But as an antidote to politicial correctness this is fun.

Jane Gregory: Belvedere‘s bride
This is a twist of Beauty and the Beast, but the twist is not very shocking. And more important, it hasn‘t dated terribly well. Also in this case it is too mellow for Pan.

Myc Harrison: The coffin flies
The Hammer horror mini-movie of the book. As old-fashioned and conventional this is, I loved it. It is colourful, gruesome and just fun.

Norman Kaufman: Rest in peace
While I salute Norman Kaufman‘s unending creative imagination for gore and violence, this left me rather cold this time. Maybe because this has barely a plot.

Monica Lee: Stevie
Another complex story by Lee. Again I think it is too long for its own good. This could be tighter. But it is very memorable and no doubt one of the highlights of 18. It would have made a first class Italian giallo movie. It has everything a good giallo needs, violence, depravity, sex. It is hard to believe that Monica Lee only published this two stories. Or is this another case of a pseudonym?

Samantha Lee: The island of the seals
Frankly I thought this over-written and dull at first. The twist seemed by-the-number and pompous, which was emphasized by the lack of any dialogue. But the end was a surprise and provides – in hindsight – much needed ambiguousness. It couldn't save this, but it made it better.

TBC

[dem]

Nov 13, 2022 20:20:43 GMT andydecker said:

Pan 18 has not been so well received in here. I have read the half so far and am in two minds. I can understand the impression. A lot seems to be written to the Pan formular. There are - until now - not a lot of surprises, it is more of the same. On the other hand this is in this case not necessarily a bad thing, but there seem to be missing some spark. I have to reserve judgement of course until I have read the last books, but it appears that by 1977 the Pan Book has reached its peak.

I'd agree with that. They all have their moments, and Kowlongo Plaything was looming horribly on the horizon, but coming to this directly after, say, vol's eight or nine, is most likely to invite disappointment. As you point out, even Norman Kauffman is on autopilot (though he'd storm back to form the following year). I do love Coffin Flies, though!

[andydecker]

And now the conclusion ...

Maureen O‘Hara: The atheist

This is nicely written, but nowhere the strength of her earlier contributions. It lacks plot, doesn't it?

Alan Temperley: The boy with golden eyes
This was a nice one. Good, original idea, gruesome ending, maybe a bit too long.

Charles Thornton: Double puppet
After the flood of killer puppets in movies – and its thorough assimilation into the mainstream - this topic bores me. But this is not the fault of the writer. I blame the editor for including this lame story into this book. It misses everything what Pan is about.

Rosemary Timperley: The unknown caller
At first I thought this at least a bit suspenseful and read on. But the ending was a heartfelt disappointment. Another story which falls apart.

Barry Tonkin: The fly-eater
This, on the other hand, didn‘t work at all. I was prepared to ignore the lame begining – the first page could be cut and nobody would know otherwise – as it became interesting for a while. Black magic, a library, a mysterious director. But the end made no sense and in hindsight there is no plot.

Harry E. Turner: It‘s hungry
It is no The Tunisian Talking Ferret or The Hypnotist, but it is a fun. Turner sure likes his larger than life settings, and of course the story is preposterous, but who cares?

(Has anybody read Turner‘s collection The Man who could hear fishes? Seems there are a few originals included.)

Well, Pan 18 is indeed a mixed bag. There is the distinct impression that it lacks effort. Quite a few stories seem not ready for publication or are just weak.

I wonder if this lacklustre edition hurt the line. The sales were already down but took another big plunge with 19. Maybe 18 was a drop-off point for many readers.