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Post by dem on Oct 23, 2007 10:04:12 GMT
Stephen Jones (ed.) - The Mammoth Book of Terror (Robinson. 1991)  Luis Rey
Clive Barker - The Last Illusion
David J. Schow - Bunny Didn’t Tell Us
Hugh B. Cave - Murgunstrumm -
Dennis Etchison - The Late Shift
Lisa Tuttle - The Horse Lord
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Jumpity-Jim
Ramsey Campbell - Out Of Copyright
Karl Edward Wagner - The River Of Night’s Dreaming
Basil Copper - Amber Print
Brian Lumley - The House Of The Temple
Robert Bloch - The Yugoslaves
David Campton - Firstborn
Manly Wade Wellman - The Black Drama
Charles L. Grant - Crystal
F. Paul Wilson - Buckets
David A. Riley - The Satyr’s Head
Stephen Laws - Junk
Graham Masterton - Pig’s Dinner Perhaps it's because of their size, but haven't really followed this series as anticipated when first I treated myself to a Mammoth. Some are stronger than others - can remember being disappointed with the "Dracula" one - but this is a neat selection indeed. Robert Bloch - The Yugoslaves: A youthful gang pick the pocket of an old man in Paris (an old friend of ours, as it happens). He's not worried about losing cash and credit cards, but his wallet contained a ruby-studded key of much importance. He forces one of the rogues to take him to the Fagin wannabe's hideout - the sewers - where he witnesses the gang rape of a girl of six and finds himself on the wrong end of Mr. Big's revolver. He's starting to get annoyed now. And there sure are an awful lot of rats down there ... The story has been so grim and realistic up until now that it comes as a shock - and a disappointment - when Bloch let's on that the aged fellow is none other than .. an old friend of ours. Hugh B. Cave - Murgunstrumm: The Gray Toad Inn is home to the ghoul Murgunstrumm and partner Marionaire - a vampire - who do away with any young woman they get their claws and fangs into. Only Paul and his fiance Ruth have ever escaped their clutches, but were each placed in an asylum when they told of their terrifying experiences. Paul is now on the run and has lured the psychiatrists who committed him to the Inn so that they can experience the horrors of the place first hand. Meanwhile, Ruth has affected her own escape and is heading for the same destination ... Charles L. Grant - Crystal: An old woman, rejuvenated by every death she instigates. Basil Copper - Amber Print: Silent movie buffs Blenkinsop and Carter locate an impossibly rare cut of The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari which includes some mighty sadistic scenes which didn't survive the cutting room floor. They are pursued to their doom by Caligari and Cesare. Stephen Laws - Junk: A strange guy comes to Frank McLaren's scrapyard with a list of bizarre and morbid requests: the rear seat from an Anglia in which the passenger died, preferably decapitated: An unruptured petrol tank from a Datsun Cherry, one child fatality required, etc. McClaren tolerates the man's sick shopping lists but comes the day when he can't provide a particular piece and he decides to fob him off with an ordinary windscreen (as opposed to that in which a victim suffered damage to their eyes). The customer sees through the deception and Frank brains him with a spanner then shoves his body inside a wreck destined for the crusher. Stranger and car are merged into a solid four foot cube which the murderer dumps in the centre of the yard. That's when his problems begin ...
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Post by dem on Sept 26, 2021 16:51:11 GMT
Graham Masterton - Pig's Dinner: The Bryce Prime Pork piggery, Derby, managed by brothers David and Malcolm, is in financial difficulty, not least due to the former's insistence on investment in state of the art equipment. One day Malcolm falls in the feed grinder. His lower body a mangled ruin, he begs David to switch the machine back on - not to put him out of his misery, but because: "It's wonderful. I never knew pain could feel like this. It's better than anything that ever happened. Please, switch it back on." David complies. They're family, after all.
Fearful of the interpretation the police might put on the tragedy, David informs all and sundry that his brother mentioned some business in Chester, and feeds his pulpy remains to Old Jeffries, the huge black boar. The pig develops a fondness for the new diet ....
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Post by dem on Sept 27, 2021 6:22:19 GMT
F. Paul Wilson - Buckets: The ghosts of aborted children pay Dr. Ed Cantrell a home visit on Halloween night, each carrying a silver tin pail with their bloody fetuses sloshing around at the bottom. Far as they are concerned, Cantrell murdered them for money, and no way will they allow him to live to open his pride and joy, the Midtown Woman's Medical Center. Sentiments similar to those expressed by Johnny Rotten in the Sex Pistols' harrowing Bodies. Editor Jones writes; "... the author admits that he knew it would be 'extremely unpopular with a fair number, perhaps even a majority of readers."
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