Mary Danby (ed.) - The 10th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories (Fontana, 1977)
"Fifteen tales of spine-chilling horror ..."Angus Wilson - Mummy To The Rescue
Ray Bradbury - The Smiling People
Harry E. Turner - Now Showing At The Roxy
C. D. Herriot - The Trapdoor
Charles Lloyd (Charles Birkin) - A Low Profile
John Collier - De Mortuis
Roger Malisson - A Little Knowledge
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Brazilian Cat
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - A Sin Of Omission
E. F. Benson - The Thing In The Hall
Margot Arnold - Acid Test
Elizabeth Walter - Telling The Bees
David Langford - At The Corner Of The Eye
Barnard Stacey - The Devil's Ape
Mary Danby - Keeping In TouchRoger Malisson - A Little Knowledge: Martha Hudd, an alienated 11 year-old bullied by her overbearing mother, builds a temple to Kali in the woodshed. Nobody pays any attention to her until uncle Jim comes to stay. When he sees popstar Mitchie McGee almost torn to pieces by fans after Martha has blasted him out for kissing a girl, Jim momentarily wonders if the child really does have some terrifying powers after all. But that way is madness.
Another tidy horror from the underrated Malisson.
Harry E. Turner - Now Showing At The Roxy: Stan Rabble and Lou Rouser are rival cinema owners and their war is bitter indeed. Before one of them inflicts an unmerciful double-bill on the public to top all that has gone before, between them the pair have have tortured their clientele with
The Son Of The Thing From The Slime, The Return Of The Curse Of the Hunchback Werewolf, The Nymphomaniac Mummy From 20,000 Fathoms Beneath The Earth's Crust Meets The Boneless Snakeman, I Was A Sex Mad Teenage Vampire Dolly Bird From Outer Space, Bluebeard's Journey Into The Intestines Of A Whale, I Was Dracula's Transvestite Masseur and
The Heart Transplant, Voodoo Drug Addict, Thigh Booted Nun Meets Abbot & Costello On Ice.
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - A Sin Of Omission: Putney. Mr. Faversham, 52, impossible wife, etc., is mithered by a middle aged man in a cloth cap who wants to borrow a fiver. When the stranger continues to pester with menaces - I know where you live: I only borrow from those as can afford it: "Ain't you a Christian, Guv?" - Mr. Faversham decides discretion is the better form of valour and legs it, with the beggar in hot pursuit until ... he keels over on the pavement. The wretch gasps for his digitalis pills, but Mr. Faversham slips away and leaves him to it. Later, he learns from the local newspaper that when Dr. Withers examined the body he was perplexed as to how the tattoo of the black snake coiled around the dead man's torso has disappeared ....
Angus Wilson - Mummy To The Rescue: The retarded, violent Celia is an orphan, her only real friend being Mummy, the doll she keeps beside her at all times which represents her dead mother. Now well into adulthood, Celia is proving too much of a handful for her Nanny, and grandparents the Hartleys reluctantly make plans to have her committed. On the eve of her confinement, a hateful Mummy visits her in a dream and throttles her. The following morning she's discovered dead in bed having strangled on her bed-jacket.
Not quite as unsettling as Wilson's
Raspberry Jam, perhaps, but getting there.
Margot Arnold - Acid Test: Mrs. Waddell solves the tricky problem of how to dispose of her husbands remains when she blags a job assisting Dr. Globbi at the museum. The feted anthropologist is using acid to dissolve the rock fragments from a recently discovered ape-man.
Charles Lloyd [Charles Birkin] - A Low Profile: A small community of elderly English expatriates are caught up in the invasion and occupation of Zarana, a tiny island off the coast of Africa. 'Boy' Brackett hasn't heard from his two friends Henrietta and Doris for a few days so he crosses town to see if they're alright. They're not. Looters have murdered them, tied their bodies to chairs and propped them up around a table. Doris's hand has been severed - the cats are playing with it in the dirt outside - to get at her rings. Not knowing what to do or even who to report the crime to, Brackett finishes the game of scrabble they were engaged in to see who'd have won, a final futile gesture of friendship.
John Collier - De Mortuis: When Buck and Bud surprise Dr. Rankin at work with pick, trowel and cement in his cellar, they know what must have happened - he's finally discovered he's married to the town floozie and killed Irene! Well, you couldn't say he wasn't provoked and, him being a swell guy and all, they promise they won't dob him in to the law.
Very Roald Dahl in
Tales Of The Unexpected mode.
Barnard Stacey - The Devil’s Ape: Artist Nickey and guests intercept a parcel for Hugh who lives in the flat above. Hugh is entirely humorless and his friends delight in winding him up so their first thought is to replace whatever is inside the package with some old tat. On discovering that Hugh's delivery is a book on black magic, Nickey decides it would be a great crack if they transferred Mr. Grumpy’s soul into the life-size lay-figure he’s recently acquired. They dress the dummy to resemble Hugh and read allowed the spell. Eerie laughter from the room upstairs …
C. D. Herriot - The Trapdoor: John Staines takes the top room at The Fernaham Arms, Herts., as part as the get-away-from-it-all rest cure prescribed by his doctor. His twin-obsession with the sawn-off bolt that fastens the trapdoor and the man who died on the premises do not go down well with the monosyllabic landlady, Mrs. Palethorpe, although she is entirely guiltless in the drama. It transpires that the couple who owned the property before Mrs. Palethorpe converted it into a Pub had locked the old man away up there and starved him to death. Now his ghost beats on the trapdoor, imploring to be let out.
Mary Danby - Keeping In Touch: Alistair, recovering from a breakdown after his wife fled to Amsterdam with her lover, is invited to all the best Chelsea parties by friends keen to keep an eye on him. After one such gathering, he drives home drunk and knocks down a young man with an Afro. Seeing as the lad's dead, there doesn't seem much point in his hanging around just to get into trouble. At the next night's gathering, he's imposed upon to create a Frankenstein monster for a game of charades ...
David A. RileyWhat an amazing cover. That face looks like a cross between Bela Lugosi and Frankie Howard!
Excuse me while I enrol for some therapy
I enjoyed all the stories; my favorites, for what it's worth, were " Now Showing At The Roxy" "Sin of Omission" (RCH never fails) "Acid Test" and "The Brazilian Cat"; which I feel has stood the test of time well.