Richard Davis: Attempted Bibliography

[dem]

Richard Davis was born in London and educated at Stowe. A connoisseur of the world of horror, he has worked for BBC television as an assistant
story editor for Out of the Unknown and as story editor for Late Night Horror. A film columnist and reviewer for Films & Filming, producer and writer of the film Viola, Mr. Davis is at present working as a literary agent. A prolific writer of horror stories, he has contributed to many anthologies including Graves Give Up Dead, No Such Thing As A Vampire and New Writings In Horror and Fantasy.

From The First Orbit Book Of Horror Stories, 1976.

UK

Tandem Horror 2 (1968)
Tandem Horror 3 (1969)
The Years Best Horror 1 (Sphere, 1971)
The Years Best Horror 2 (Sphere, 1972)
The Years Best Horror 3 (Sphere, 1973)
Spectre 1 (Abelard 1974)
Spectre 2 (Abelard 1975)
Spectre3 (Abelard, 1976)
1st Orbit Book Of Horror Stories (1976)
Vincent Price Presents: The Price Of Fear(Everest, 1976)
Spectre 4 (Abelard, 1977)
Jon Pertwee Book Of Monsters (Magnet, 1979)
Animal Ghosts (Hutchinson, 1980)

'Non-Fiction'

I've Seen a Ghost: True Stories From Show Business (Hutchinson, 1979)
The Octopus Encyclopedia Of Horror (1981: paperback edition The Encyclopedia Of Horror (Hamlyn, 1987)

USA

The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series I (DAW, 1971)
The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series II (DAW 1974)
The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series III (DAW, 1975)

Series I is a straight reprint of the Sphere #1. Series II is a selection from the Sphere #2 and #3. Series III is original, and was published in the U.K. the following year as The First Orbit Book of Horror (Orbit 1976), which also turned out to be the only Orbit Book of Horror as far as I've been able to establish.

Short Stories

A Nice Cut Off The Joint (No Such Thing As A Vampire, 1964)
A Day Out (5th Ghost Book, 1969)
Guy Fawkes Night (4th Pan Horror, 1963)
The Female Of The Species (And Graves Give Up Their Dead, 1963)
The Inmate (Fred Pickersgill: Horror 7, 1964: 6th Pan Horror 1965)
The Time Of Waiting (New Writings In Horror & Supernatural, 1971)
Elsie and Agnes (6th Ghost Book, 1970)
The Sick Room (Tandem Horror 3, 1969)
The Lady by the Stream (Tandem Horror 2, 1968)

***

Updated 14 Nov. 2024

***

Davis (born January 27th, 1945) also edited several volumes of the young adult SF series Space for Abelard and Fantasy Fiction mention an Animal Ghosts about which I know nothing. If anyone can list the contents for The John Pertwee Book Of Monsters, Spectre 1 and/ or I've Seen A Ghost I'd be mighty grateful. The latter looks like it might be fun - contributors include Kenny Everett, Terry Scott, John Pertwee, Vincent Price, Pat Phoenix, Roy Hudd, Vince Hill and Bob Monkhouse!

[weirdmonger]

Tandem Horror 2 has a story in it written by Michel Parry.
When I find my copy I will post an image etc. here.

PS: I've now found my copy but I see it is already shown here:
terribletandems.wordpress.com/2007/08/19/richard-davis-tandem-horror-2/

[Steve]

admin said:

...If anyone can list the contents for The John Pertwee Book Of Monsters...

THE JON PERTWEE BOOK OF MONSTERS
Ed. Richard Davis
Methuen Children's Books, 1978; Magnet Books, 1979
Cover art by George Underwood, with illustrations by Nicholas Hockley

Introduction and Epilogue by Jon Pertwee

The Samala Plant - George Evans
Night of the Sand Wolf - Tim Stout
The Nondescript - Philip Welby
Spawn - David Campton
The Glendale Monster - Guy Weiner
Ming - Catherine Gleason
The Intruders - Glenn Chandler
The Lambton Worm - Roger Malisson
The Eyes Have It - John Halkin

[franklinmarsh]

A short story from Glenn Chandler and one from John Hlkin - and the Damt..sorry Lambton worm? This has CLASSIC written all over it.

[dem]

Thanks for posting this Steve. Very impressive line-up too. Is it a young adult book along the lines of Davis's Spectre series - stories given the all-clear for children but can be enjoyed by any age group? I can't really see him compiling something like the dreaded Armada Monster Book.

[zyx]

I'm trying to recall the name of a creepy story I read about 25 years ago - I *think* it was in one of the "Spectre" anthologies. As I recall it was set in Victorian times and is about a group of young coal miners, both male and female (this was the days of child labour), who are trying to escape from a cave-in. They get attacked by scary snake-like monsters, stumble across the bones of some previously trapped miners who resorted to cannibalism, and very few of them survive the story.

Title/Author anyone?

[jamesdoig]

"What happened in the Mine" by Guy Weiner in Spectre 3?

[zyx]

Thanks, that's the one. Found a plot summary on this messageboard.

[dem]

Jun 18, 2010 9:20:38 GMT zyx said:

Thanks, that's the one. Found a plot summary on this messageboard.

that miserable bastard gloomy sundae strikes again. how i wish he'd hurry up and die!

[oatcakeredux]

Don't forget the Space short stories collections that he did. At least two of them, which also manage to drag in such borderline horror pieces as Environmental Problem by Michael Moorcock, that Basil Copper one about an alien invasion ("ZHRO AN CHEDZOY!"), Project D, and a nasty Incredible Shrinking Man variation.

(In fact, a quick online search suggests that there were at least FIVE of them.)

[dem]

Sept 26, 2010 17:02:09 GMT oatcakeredux said:

Don't forget the Space short stories collections that he did. At least two of them, which also manage to drag in such borderline horror pieces as Environmental Problem by Michael Moorcock, that Basil Copper one about an alien invasion ("ZHRO AN CHEDZOY!"), Project D, and a nasty Incredible Shrinking Man variation.

(In fact, a quick online search suggests that there were at least FIVE of them.)

Cover illustration by Peter Elson

Blurb;

`Let me see now,' he said thoughtfully. 'Last week we had one hundred and fifty faints, thirty-three fits, scores were sick all over the polished floors and three tried to jump out of the window before opening it ....'

Four million years from now, the sight of a surviving man exhibited in a museum is enough to strike terror into the inhabitants of Earth. The eight Science Fiction stories in this book take you into this strange world and to other times and places where people live to the age of two hundred, fly spaceships two kilometres long and spend twenty-year journeys in suspended animation in a deep-freeze.

For older readers


That it should come to this. If somebody told me five years ago that one day i'd become even more of a girly, buy a book with a soppy spaceship on the cover ....

Actually, it's the later volumes that most interest me as, by then, Davis was regularly including work by the Fontana Ghost/ Horror crowd including Tim Stout, Julia Birley, Tony Richards, Pamela Cleaver, Roger Malisson, David Campton and Terry Tapp. Peter 'Chopper' Cave makes number 3 with Scoop, a story reprinted from the much-loved Tit-Bits for September 16th 1967 (Davis also dipped into Reveille for Nancy Tregenna's Time To Go) and the legendary John 'Squelch' Halkin puts in an appearance with something called What d’Ye Think o’ Mother Reilly. Shipwreck, R. Chetwynd-Hayes' cute blob of slime from outer space saga, comes back for more in #8. Below, an index to the series, scavenged from here, there and Locus. Do you recognise your "nasty Incredible Shrinking Man variation" from this lot, oatcake?

Richard Davis (ed.) - Space 1 (Abelard-Schuman, 1973, Beaver, 1979)

James Hamilton-Peterson - The Teddysaurs
Gerald W. Page - The Mercyship
E. C. Tubb - Mistaken Identity
James White - Christmas Treason
Michael Moorcock - Environment Problem
Elizabeth Fancett - Museum Piece
Clifford D. Simak - Neighbour
James Blish - No Jokes on Mars

Richard Davis (ed.) - Space 2 (Abelard-Schuman, 1974: Beaver, 1980

Peter Elson cover art

Richard Davis - Introduction

Ray Bradbury - Tomorrow's Child
Ken Bulmer - Aquaman
Tim Stout - Living Fossil
Brian W. Aldiss - The Thing Under the Glacier
Elizabeth Fancett - The Refugees
Frances Stephens - Project D
Basil Copper - Message From The Stars
T. E. D. Klein - Renaissance Man
Pamela Cleaver - The Harmony Aggro

Richard Davis (ed.) - Space 3 (Abelard-Schuman, 1977)

Richard Davis - Introduction

Brian Moony - Supply Point
Rosemary Timperley - Scarbo
Isaac Asimov - It’s Such a Beautiful Day
David Campton - A Walk in the Woods
Ray Bradbury - The Veldt
David Campton - Cradle Ship
John Wyndham - Pawley’s Peepholes
Lee Harding - Night of Passage
Peter Cave - Scoop

Richard Davis (ed.) - Space 4 (Abelard-Schuman, 1977)

Richard Davis - Introduction

Gerald W. Page - Enigma Ship
Martin Martinsen - Dead Alien
Pamela Cleaver - A Clone of Espers
Tim Stout - The Sting from the Stars
Catherine Gleason - The Stranger
John Halkin - What d’Ye Think o’ Mother Reilly
Samantha Lee - The Chosen
Tim Stout - Christmas with Frankenstein

Richard Davis (ed.) - Space 5 (Hutchinson, 1979)

Cover: David Hardy

Richard Davis - Introduction

Ray Bradbury - A Sound of Thunder
Glen Chandler - Bobo’s Star
Tim Stout - The Specimen
Martin Martinsen - Mind Bend
David Campton - The Giftie
Arthur C. Clarke - Summertime on Icarus
Guy Weiner - Johnson
Tony Richards - Out of an Ocean, Long Ago
Richard Matheson - Little Girl Lost
Adrian Cole - Offside

Richard Davis (ed.) - Space 6 (Hutchinson, 1980)

Richard Davis - Introduction

Glenn Chandler - The Little Drummer Boy of Phobos
John Wyndham - Survival
David Campton - Missing Link
Ray Bradbury - There Will Come Soft Rains
Julia Birley - Hindsight
Frances Stephens - Mole People
Terry Tapp - That’s Show Biz!
Anne McCaffrey - The Smallest Dragonboy
Tony Richards - The Guardians
Adrian Cole - Krobar the Unbelievable

Richard Davis (ed.) - Space 7 (Hutchinson, 1979)

Cover: David A. Hardy

Richard Davis - Introduction

Richard Faust - Shadows
Glenn Chandler - Survival Plan
Arthur C. Clarke - Who’s There?
Frances Stephens - Fool on a Hill
David Campton - A Quiet Night at the Embassy
Roger Malisson - See You Tomorrow
Richard Matheson- The Curious Child
Gordon R. Dickson - Listen
Terry Tapp - The World Within
Ray Bradbury - The One Who Waits
Tony Richards - Summertime
Edmond Hamilton - Exile
John Duncan - Blast-Off for Znerk

Richard Davis (ed.) - Space 8 (Hutchinson, 1983)

Richard Davis - Introduction

Tim Stout - Close Encounters of the Worst Kind
Adrian Cole - Snow Demons
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - Shipwreck
Robin Smyth - The Boy from Terpzia
Nancy Tregenna - Time to Go
Pamela Cleaver - What of the Night?
Nancy Tregenna - Take Me to Your Leader
Bob Shaw - Light of Other Days

Richard Davis (ed.) - Space 9 (Hutchinson, 1985)

Cover: Alan Daniels

Richard Davis - Introduction
Ray Bradbury - R Is for Rocket
Clifford Simak - Skirmish
Tony Richards - Rain
Julia Birley - Come the Revolution!
Charles E. Fritch - No World for the Timid
Rita Morris - The Waiting Game

[oatcakeredux]

Indeed I do recognise the Shrinking Man variation from that list, demonik. I've managed to pick up copies of volumes 1 and 2 from Hay-on-Wye, and - perhaps unsurprisingly - it's one of the Tim Stout yarns. Namely, "Living Fossil" from volume 2.

It all starts when a brilliant but clearly naive scientist manages to create a tiny tyrannosaurus rex from a preserved sample of its tissue (this was long before Jurassic Park, as well). However, Rexy is a bit alarmed, bites off the end of the boffin's finger, and the poor chap promptly has a fatal heart attack from the shock.

But...the fingertip falls into the replicating field of the scientist's doo-hickey, and a complete miniature version of him is promptly created...with - ultimately - not-so-hilarious consequences...

[piglingbland]

Richard Davis fans may like to know that David Sutton's Shadow Publishing is pleased to announce that The Female of the Species & Other Terror Tales by Richard Davis (1935-2005) will be published late Spring this year. Richard never saw a collection of his stories publishing in his lifetime and this book will include all of the author's short stories, culled from as far back as 1963 and 'The Fourth Pan Book of Horror Stories' up to the 1980s. The collection will include an introduction about his life, the fiction and anthologies, including his work as story editor for the BBC's Late Night Horror series. The book will also feature two rare articles and an interview with the author, from the late 1960s.

"At the time I interviewed Richard for my small press magazine in 1969, he was already an established short story writer, had compiled two anthologies for Tandem Books and the BBC series Out of the Unknown, for which he worked as assistant story editor, had been on air since 1965... Yet, some forty plus years later, Richard’s fiction has largely been forgotten. Although not prolific, he was widely published in anthologies in England. Yet he never saw a collection of his tales published during his lifetime. Hence this book and its integration into a projected series under the collective tag, Writers from the Shadows." (From the Introduction).

The cover artist will be the painter and illustrator Caroline O'Neal. Caroline has done dark fantasy illustration for Bad Moon Books, Premonitions and Midnight Street magazines, among others.

For more information contact via the website at: davidasutton.co.uk/Question.html

[dem]

Thanks for the update, P! Mr. Riley mentioned these forthcoming Shadows publications on the The Satyr's Head & Other Tales Of Terror thread. i'm particularly interested in Female Of The Species and The Shadow Book of Horror. Can you give us some more detail as to price, format and, if possible, a table of contents? Thanks and best luck with these. For what little good it will do you, I rate Voices From Shadows and On The Fringes ... very highly indeed!

[piglingbland]

The Female of the Species will hopefully be published by April this year, but I don't have a price yet. Probably paperback format. Eleven stories in all, plus an interview and two articles. I will post on the BFS website and blog. Also you can receive updates from my webpage at davidasutton.co.uk/Question.html, if you fill in the reply form there.