Neil Davies - The Midnight Hour

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Neil Davies - The Midnight Hour: 14 Tales Of Dark Imagination (Screaming Dreams, 2007)

Cover Art & Design: Steve Upham

Introduction

The Midnight Hour
Argument
Ribbons Of Blood
The Shadow
When The Fires Die
Photographs
The Perfect Marriage
Road Rage
Virgin Flesh
Death By Popcorn
Frozen Food
Away With The Fairies
Bonding
The Extreme Makeover Of Helen Watson

If, like me, you've a fondness for the (then) contemporary shockers Mary Danby ran in her Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories series, you're likely have a good time with the laudably unpretentious terror tales of Neil Davies. The introduction is plenty fun, too!

Includes:

Bonding: "I hate your voice because it's softer and quieter than mine. I hate your hair because it's a different colour from mine. I hate your clothes because they're cheaper than mine. I hate your tits because they're bigger than mine ... I just hate you." What was the boss thinking of when he gave ultra-pregnant bitch Linda and nice Jill £150 each to blow on a meal as part of a bonding exercise? Linda talks her easy-going colleague into splashing out on a happy meal and blowing the rest on clothes as she has a "friend" who's just about to set up shop in the arcade and will sell designer gear to them at cost price. Jill complies - anything that will make Linda readier to accept her - little realising the older girl has a fiendish plan to do away with her, but slowly ....

Virgin Flesh: "It's hard to find mature virgin flesh these days ... too much permissiveness". A tribute to R. Chetwynd-Hayes and his beloved vampires and ghouls. Janet Stevens is pursued through the woods by the ghastly residents of Oak Church cemetery, overjoyed that they've chanced upon an eighteen year old who's never been shagged! Despite the author's note that it was heavily influenced by The Monster Club, the story it put me in mind of was E. C. Tubb's Fresh Guy.

Death By Popcorn California. Another young woman in peril. This time it's cleaner Crystal Roberts, 17, trapped in an otherwise empty cinema by an unseen sadist. Four girls have been raped and mutilated in the Ravensville area these past few weeks but is her stalker the culprit? And how comes her fellow captive, that nice Richard she's fancied from afar, is so eager to obey the mysterious voice as it instructs him: "You, Richard, will play the part of the brutal interrogator. Think Spanish Inquisition. Think Nazi. think Witchfinder General"? A convenient, supremely unlikely twist ending adds a tasty Amicus feel to this, probably my favourite of those I've read so far.

The Perfect Marriage: The narrator meticulously records his every failed attempt to kill his despised wife. She finds his diary ...

Road Rage: Jennifer, 22, lands what should be the scoop of her fledgling career in journalism when professional contract killer Harry agrees to be interviewed about his 107 kills (108 if you include the death of Ricky the Rodent, which Harry doesn't). As he drives her through the Lake District to the road beneath which he buried his victims, the hit-man explains that he's been forced into early retirement due to the wishes of their restless ghosts. While he's showing her over this scene of so many happy memories, a shot rings out in the dark and .....

[David A. Riley]

Sounds like something I would enjoy reading too.

Screaming Dreams are a brilliant publisher. Hope Steve Upham, who runs it, get better soon after his recent, serious illness.

David

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I wish Mr. Upham a swift and complete recovery. A very talented gent! I adore his cover for The Midnight Hour and have enjoyed the odd copy of Estronomicon in as much as I'm ever likely to get into a pdf.

Am no judge in these things but will hazard you'd find much to like in The Midnight Hour, Mr. Riley, and I'll bet Lord Probert will be up for checking out his RCH tribute. Perhaps Charles could press gang Neil Davies and Shaun Jeffrey into a future Black Book of Horror line up!

You can contact him via his homepage at ww.nwdavies.co.uk where you'll find on-line versions of several of the stories from The Midnight Hour in the Free Fiction section.

[Johnlprobert]

I'll bet Lord Probert will be up for checking out his RCH tribute

Already done it!

Screaming Dreams will of course be publishing my own tribute to the RCH Fred & Francis stories called 'Against the Darkness' - 11 romantic supernatural detective adventures with a bit more swearing and a lot more blood than RCH used but then I'd hate to disappoint anyone

And yes, I sincerely hope poor old Steve gets better soon.

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The Midnight Hour: when the world succumbs to plague, Claire (that's her on the cover), uniquely immune to the virus, discovers a bloodthirsty flair for extreme mercy killing.

Frozen Food: As a parole condition, Rick Bolger, twenty, accepts a low paid job as delivery boy for Woodrow's Grocery. When a widowed customer declines to leave him a tip, he burgles her home in revenge. Mrs Veronica Wilson and her hungry chest freezer makes short work of him.

The Extreme Makeover Of Helen Watson: Sweet sixteen, ignored by the Jocks on account of she's plain, and bullied by the cheerleaders because her mum is a cripple and she's never had a date, Helen's miserable life is transformed when Miss Eileen Tasker, "the coolest and hottest teacher in Rosemont High," bestows the vampire kiss. Time to get even. Cheryl Mortimer , the bullies' ringleader, had best watch her step.

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Photographs: (Steve Upham [ed.], Estronomicon #6, 2005). "People do not just get up and walk out of one picture and into another." Except they do if they're the man in the broad-rimmed hat and business suit who begins by photo-bombing Karen's holiday snaps then progressively stalks her to a mental breakdown - and still it's not over. Personal favourite of the stories to date, closes on a suitably haunting final image.

When The Fires Die: The Stokers of Hell call a strike. The repercussions are universal.

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Finally for The Midnight Hour, a community under attack from non-boring vampires, an uncanny instance of road rage, eyeballs in peril and a fatal run in with the little people.

Ribbons Of Blood: Sheldsville comes under attack from a swarm of laboratory created vampires akin to flying jellyfish. Their blood lust temporarily sated, the translucent beings float to earth like wisps of red silk. When Jane Walker finds one in the street she mistakes it for a top of the range designer scarf. She'll not be the last to die horribly.

Paul Walker, who has a fondness for vampire literature, realises what the community is up against, but the police take him for a lunatic until a lugubrious ministry official confirms all. The Government, mindful of a public outcry should word of the incident reach the media, can allow no survivors. Despite contemporary setting, feels like a sci-horror throwback that might have been written any time between the 'thirties and early 'seventies.

The Shadow: Richard Hamilton's anger and hurt at Lisa's desertion manifests as failing sight, the persistent sense of being stalked by a shadowy presence, and a recurring nightmare in which he blinds his beloved ex with a knife (bizarrely, she adopts Victorian fancy dress for the occasion). Dr. Charles prescribes anti-depressants and recommends a break. Richard complies, enjoys a holiday fling in Brittany, but on his return home the crisis intensifies.

Argument: Seven years into their marriage, Sarah grows resentful of husband's devotion to his job - perhaps all this "working late at the office" is a euphemism for screwing a secretary? The resulting confrontation takes a turn for the supernatural. Proper miserable!

Away With The Fairies: When trucker Ron Thomas knocks down a small creature on the highway, he doesn't bother to stop. Pulling in at a diner, he watches an attractive young hitcher cadge a lift from a businessman, secretly wishing she'd chosen him. Driving through the night, Ron spots their car abandoned in the desert, and dutifully investigates. Sure enough, the driver has taken liberties, and the half-naked girl falls into Ron's arms, claiming to have escaped the fiend by flooring him with a rock. She needs to know the would-be rapist is dead. Ron reluctantly sets out with her to find the body, and walks straight into a trap. The little "animal" he killed has relatives with human accomplices.