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Post by dem on Jun 20, 2008 7:50:05 GMT
R. Chetwynd-Hayes (ed.) - Tales Of Terror From Outer Space (Fontana, 1975)  Justin Todd
Ray Bradbury - I, Mars
Ray Nelson - Eight O'Clock In The Morning
Robert Bloch - Girl From Mars
Brian W. Aldis - Heresies Of The Huge God
Ralph Williams - The Head-Hunters
Sydney J. Bounds - The Animators
Robert Presslie - The Night Of The Seventh Finger
Charles Birkin - No More For Mary
Bob Shaw - Invasion Of Privacy
Arthur Porges - Ruum
Claude Veillot - The First Days Of Spring
Robert Scheckley - Specialist
Arthur C. Clarke - No Morning After
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - Shipwreck Ha! Perhaps one of our Vault of Sci-Fi heads can pick the bones from this one? Includes: Robert Bloch - Girl From Mars: what with the bad weather, poor takings and his girl Mitzie running off with Rajah the magician, Carney boss Ace Lawson hasn't had much luck of late. It seems all that is about to change when the Platinum girl walks in, asking to see the Girl from Mars. Ace explains that she, Mitzie, was a fake, bat wings and all, but hits on the idea of hiring this bombshell to take her place. She gives him some spiel about being from Mars - or "Planet Rekk" as it's known to its inhabitants - her rocket having crashed to Earth during an electrical storm. She also keeps reminding him that she's very hungry ... Charles Birkin - No More For Mary: One of Birkin's rare and increasingly bizarre excursions into SF. Author Toby Lewis, holidaying in San Bernando, discovers a beautiful jewelled insect and decides it will do nicely for sister Mary who's something big in Lepidoptera at Oxford. The "bug" is actually Zeon, a visitor from a far more developed and benevolent society than our own who are intent on colonising Earth by peaceful means and saving us from ourselves. After the hapless Toby has left him exposed near an ants nest, Zeon suffers a cruel and agonising death while trying to free himself of his spacesuit. Sydney J. Bounds - The Animators: Harrington and the geologist Pugh are collecting rock samples on Mars when the ground opens up and swallows Pugh. He smashes his visor and suffocates, but he won’t stay dead. Soon he has killed four colleagues back at the Base and they too are zombified. Now these undead pursue Brunel across the blood red desert. Can he hold out until the rescue ship arrives? Syd also appears as Sydney J. Beecham, a victim of the blob from outer space in ..... R. Chetwynd-Hayes - Shipwreck: Starts well as a spaceship falls to earth, bringing with it Sarcan, a translucent blue formless mass who can drain every living thing of its essence and assume its identity. After experimenting with a tree and a hare, Sarcan encounters his first human being, South Londoner Sydney J. Beecham who is motorcycling home to wife Sylvia and her domineering mother, Mrs. Hatfield. Up until now, it's been very enjoyable in a 'fifties, The Blob-like way, but once he's introduced the women, RCH gets stuck in another of his "aren't mother-in-laws interfering old battle-axes?" ruts and the story fizzles out. - For more SF anthologies, see Sean's thread, SF anthologies!
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Post by sean on Jun 25, 2008 17:08:01 GMT
I've only encountered three or four of these stories.... BUT today I found a copy in the local second hand bookshop (and tommorow I intend to actually buy it...)
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Post by dem on Jun 25, 2008 17:21:19 GMT
Ooh, I should, Sean. The Tales Of Terror series is great fun and i enjoyed ... From Outer Space far more than I thought I would. Read it cover to cover, too, but that was before I fell on my head and began compulsively hacking out rubbish plot summaries.
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Post by Dr Terror on Jun 25, 2008 21:43:48 GMT
I've only encountered three or four of these stories.... BUT today I found a copy in the local second hand bookshop (and tommorow I intend to actually buy it...) If my experience is anything to go by, it'll be gone. |
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Post by sean on Jun 30, 2008 16:55:00 GMT
Shockingly enough, it was still there!
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Post by allthingshorror on Feb 9, 2009 16:05:48 GMT
Artwork is by Justin Todd - he also did the art for Cornish, London, Scottish, European, Welsh Tales of Terror.
Have sent off an interview - now to wait and see what else he has done!
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Post by dem on Feb 9, 2009 19:37:34 GMT
The very fetching Ripper-type versus chorus girl painting for Gaslight Tales Of Terror is one of his too. There's only a smidgen of info on this thread but it might be of interest to you: Justin ToddSadly the link in the second post no longer works 'cause those imbeciles at the wretched Or*ng* murdered our site! |
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Post by allthingshorror on Feb 19, 2009 22:22:37 GMT
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Post by dem on Feb 20, 2009 23:35:47 GMT
A very talented man, Mr. Todd! If he was responsible for the Montague Summers two volume job for Penguin i'm thinking of, then I prefer those paintings even above his wonderful work for the Tales Of Terror series.
Nice interview. Hope our old friend paramanjara still stops by occasionally as he's sure to get a kick out of it!
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Post by Johnlprobert on Nov 5, 2010 21:10:51 GMT
Ray Bradbury - I, Mars. Barton, stranded on Mars since his early 20s is now approaching 80. As loneliness has set in so has his rather constructive use of the numerous pieces of telecommunication and recording equipment that seem to have been left behind by the settlers who fled the place, meaning he's been able to ring himself up as he gets older. But he never reckoned he'd get fed up with it...
A lot of people love Ray Bradbury. I can't count myself among them & I realise fully that by posting that statement that I'm probably going to face a deluge of 'How Could You's but that's the way it is - I've read far too much of his stuff that's too twee and rose-tinted for my taste. Having said that I thought this story was a real goodie, and an excellent one to start this volume off with.
Ray Nelson - Eight O'Clock In The Morning. Filmed as 'They Live' by John Carpenter, fans of the movie may be disappointed to learn that this story does not feature an unnecessarily protracted wrestling scene. But it does sum up the good bits of the picture in a few pages. George Nada awakes from hypnosis one day to find that humankind isn't what he thought it was, and neither is TV or the newspapers. Another little gem. In fact I'd go so far as to say this one's a classic.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Nov 6, 2010 8:47:54 GMT
Robert Bloch - Girl From Mars. Carnival sideshow antics from Mr Bloch that pan out as Dem has described above.
Brian W. Aldiss - Heresies Of The Huge God. Aldiss in a cheeky and defiantly anti-religious mood as we get to read the new Bible of a post-Event world, that Event being the landing of an enormous eight-legged creature the size of a continent on the planet. The creature is treated as a God by the religious types, with only a few mentions of the opinions of 'heretical science' that it's probably some galactic insect hopping onto then planet and then off again but because of its size the process takes years. Besides, all the scientists have been put to death after the 2nd or 3rd War On Insurrection. The creature finally leaves, the act of its leaping propelling the earth away from the sun and into a new winter. The Priests' solution? One of the best closing lines to a story I've read in ages:
"I ask also that the sacrifice rate be stepped up again. It is useless to skimp things just because we are running out of women"
I read a lot of Robert Bloch when I was younger & that was probably the right age to appreciate him. Likewise I read quite a bit of Aldiss later on and was right to wait until I was older to find a lot of his stuff good value.
Ralph Williams - The Head-Hunters. I think the first page of this is RCH intro but it's hard to tell. Anyway, this is the story of a big-game-human-hunting alien that resembles a Panda bear with tentacles. Other than that rather extraordinary conceit the story follows pretty predictable lines.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Nov 6, 2010 10:24:56 GMT
Ray Bradbury - I, Mars. Barton, stranded on Mars since his early 20s is now approaching 80. As loneliness has set in so has his rather constructive use of the numerous pieces of telecommunication and recording equipment that seem to have been left behind by the settlers who fled the place, meaning he's been able to ring himself up as he gets older. But he never reckoned he'd get fed up with it... A lot of people love Ray Bradbury. I can't count myself among them & I realise fully that by posting that statement that I'm probably going to face a deluge of 'How Could You's but that's the way it is - I've read far too much of his stuff that's too twee and rose-tinted for my taste. Having said that I thought this story was a real goodie, and an excellent one to start this volume off with. Ray Nelson - Eight O'Clock In The Morning. Filmed as 'They Live' by John Carpenter, fans of the movie may be disappointed to learn that this story does not feature an unnecessarily protracted wrestling scene. But it does sum up the good bits of the picture in a few pages. George Nada awakes from hypnosis one day to find that humankind isn't what he thought it was, and neither is TV or the newspapers. Another little gem. In fact I'd go so far as to say this one's a classic. Let me be the first of the 'how could you' deluge.  I love Bradbury of course but I recognize the failings nowadays. This story was one of his better efforts and is truly nasty. Strangely I just read this anthology about a month ago |
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Post by Johnlprobert on Nov 7, 2010 10:05:14 GMT
Hi Craig - I did read The Illustrated Man when I was a lad and remember liking that - in fact I should revisit it sometime when I can find a copy!
Sydney J. Bounds - The Animators. An absolutely cracking zombies-on-another-planet tale that probably the best SJB story I've ever read. Fast paced, scary and a pulpy standout. Highly recommended.
Robert Presslie - The Night Of The Seventh Finger. Not so recommended. Chav girl (or 1970s equivalent) on her way home on a Saturday night gets abducted by alien who claims to be her great-great grandson. Apparently he's responsible for the end of the world and he begs her not to have kids so the crisis can be averted. Which means never having unprotected sex again. You can probably guess the ending of this one, involving as it does local band singer Simon and his less than romantic dormobile...
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Nov 8, 2010 8:31:18 GMT
Hi Craig - I did read The Illustrated Man when I was a lad and remember liking that - in fact I should revisit it sometime when I can find a copy! Strangely I have only a few of Bradbury books left and I don't think I've got the illustrated man - a good story and a good example to mirror his 'illustrated woman' which from memory is a weak story with all the faults that have been adumbrated the Vaultees |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Nov 8, 2010 9:19:57 GMT
I wish Bradbury had written more stories like "The October Game," which I only discovered thanks to the Vault and which is completely outrageous. In fact, "The October Game" makes up for many of his sins, I would say.
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I love Bradbury of course but I recognize the failings nowadays. This story was one of his better efforts and is truly nasty.