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Post by dem bones on Apr 24, 2008 17:02:18 GMT
Charles Lloyd (ed) - Monsters (Philip Allan, 1934) Vivian Meik - The Two Old Women
Timothy Leaf - Harvest
Kenneth Ingram - The Confession
E.K. Allan - The Round Graveyard
George Benwood - The Interrupted Honeymoon
Phyllis Stone - Blood for a Tiger
Edith Olivier - The Caretaker's Story
Guy Preston - A Lover Came to Sunnamees
Elliott O'Donnell - The Haunted Telephone
Michael Joseph - The Yellow Cat
Kenneth Ingram - The "Locum"
Charles Lloyd (Charles Birkin) - The Cockroach Charles Lloyd - The Cockroach: Paris. Peter arranges to meet a fellow thrill-seeker at The Blue Lizard, a notorious rough house in the shadow of the Bastille. Unfortunately, his friend cries off and Peter is not seen again. His fiance, Jane, is concerned that the police aren't taking his disappearance seriously and, together with one of the missing man's friends, pays a visit to the cafe. It isn't a particularly busy night: the place is half empty, with only themselves, "a dozen burly men of the navvy class, and maybe half as many women of the type politely known as 'unfortunates'", and the cabaret ("an old bawd ... dressed as a ballet dancer in a soiled tulle, singing filth to her apathetic audience"). When she orders some stew, there is a cockroach floating in the bowl and, furious, Jane storms into the kitchen to complain. Her search for the proprietor leads her to a filthy, bug-infested larder ... Vivian Meik - The Two Old Women: A sequel to his Honeymoon In Hate from Devil's Drums. "They are human ghouls - perverted, secret drinkers and probably given to morally corrupt practices." Meik moves into a multi-occupied house near Havestock Hill and befriends a young woman who has been kind to him from the first. He learns that she is being preyed upon by the two Mrs. Kemp's on an upper floor, a pair of voodoo-practicing horrors and the elderly relatives of Martin, whose body they claimed when he eventually died the previous year. First they accuse the girl of owing them £10 and even produce an IOU signed by her to that effect, then they waver the debt in exchange for a half a pint of her blood, which they forcibly attract. Now, they are after her flesh to revive Martin. George Benwood - The Interrupted Honeymoon: John Marshall, honeymooning with Mary in Monte Carlo, is irked by the perennial presence of Mr. Darel, an Indian old-timer who is ever leching up to his bride. After John confronts him, Mr. Darel pours some liquid in his coffee whereby they exchange bodies. John wakes to find himself trapped inside the frame of the shriveled, half-crippled Mr. Darel while that degenerate prepares to bed down with the unknowing Mrs. Marshall ... Guy Preston - A Lover Came To Sunnamees: Welsh countryside. Owen Tudor, a seriously reformed religious maniac, is merrily anticipating his midnight tryst with the virginal gypsy beauty Sunnamees. Indeed, he is so reformed that, when his conscience starts playing him up, he hurls his plaster crucifix at the walls and shatters the last relic of his monastery days. As he catnaps in his chair, an elemental, composed of all his evil, takes possession of his body and he can only watch helpless as it sets off to ruin the only woman he's ever loved. Phyllis Stone - Blood For A Tiger: Issington, Suffolk. Richard Perrin, an actor down on his luck, lands a job as tutor to Thea, the beautiful young daughter of Mr. Ashby, with free board at Top House thrown in. It soon becomes apparent to him that Thea is being held prisoner, and a look at Mr. Ashby's library - The Life Of The Marquis de Sade, Sexual Abnormalities and Murder And Cruelty Traced To Sex - suggests that he is responsible for the screams which sporadically issue from her room. When he catches Ashby standing over her bloodied form with a stick, it is all too much for him. Having bound and gagged the sinister housemaid, Meggie, Perrin and Thea make a run for it and are married at Gretna Green. When Mr. Ashby catches up with them, he explains just how wrong Mr. Perrin's reading of the entire situation has been. If he has any doubts that the kindly father is telling the truth, these are shattered when Thea helpfully chooses that moment to provide a demonstration ... Edith Oliver - The Old Caretaker's Story: The superstitious, guilt-ridden old sea salt, Horler, manfully sticks to writing up his confession even as he's cutting lumps out of his legs to feed to the seagulls. He's still penning his commentary as they attack him en masse and tear him to pieces. Michael Joseph - The Yellow Cat: Mayfair. Grey, a gambler down on his luck, is pursued home by a mangy, starving cat. Despite its loathsome personality, Grey adopts it as a mascot and his fortune takes a dramatic turn for the better. First, he is visited by Felix Mortimer who presses a fiver on him for being supportive during his own struggles. The fact that Mortimer has been dead for five years gives Grey pause for concern, but the fortune he amasses at the Green Baize Club soon takes his mind off things. His downfall arrives in the shapely form of aggressive gold-digger Elise Dyer who takes umbrage at the yellow horror. Grey grabs his pet by the throat and throws it in the Prince's Canal, thereby sealing his own doom.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 3, 2011 18:32:16 GMT
Ha! getting back into Creeps mode reminded me that I still had this, one of the more consistent volumes in the series, to finish.
Kenneth Ingram - The Confession: On the eve of Braban's execution for the murder of his wife, his defence counsel, Charles Laidon, receives a visit from a mystery woman who informs him that his client was innocent, her brother was the culprit and is willing to sign a confession to that effect. If Laidon wants to save his man's life, he must accompany the woman to her brother's hide-out at some risk to himself: her brother is a pawn of ruthless criminals and they will not be best pleased at his decision to confess before he goes on the run. Laidon takes his chances. The brother, true to his word, signs a statement, but just as the woman is ushering the lawyer downstairs, the vicious crooks return. Considering that murdering a public figure would be too risky, they tell Laidon he's free to go. Minus his eyes.
E.K. Allan - The Round Graveyard: Later revived by Richard Dalby in his first collection, The Sorceress In Stained Glass. A couple retire from London to a quiet village on the Hertfordshire-Essex border, where they soon learn that the local churchyard is an accident black spot. One night the narrator witnesses an elastic arm reach from behind a tree and hurl a little girl under the wheels of an approaching BP tanker. A study of the church records reveals a stranger of a rather extraordinarily physique was found dead in Hungredown Wood in November 1556 and buried in the round graveyard. A vicious elemental has haunted the area from that day forth. The Bishop agrees to an exorcism.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 4, 2011 17:02:20 GMT
Timothy Leaf - Harvest: Cowpat-brained farmer big George Rollins believes the new boss, Mr. Ramsden, is going to evict he, wife Belinda and their squillion kids from the disgusting hovel that's been their home for decades. This is only partly true. Gruff as he is, Mr Ramsden cares more for the welfare of his workforce than his father did, and he's already prepared a new cottage for the Rollins' to foul as they see fit. Wound up by his mates in The Duck & Drake, Rollins decides there's only one thing for it. But what to do with the body? George hits on his best plan ever, involving a sack and rabbit snares..
"I reckon as 'ow Mr. Ramsden'll be doing the first stroke 'o work 'e's ever done .... Ah, he's got an honest job hisself now, and it ain't no electric one, either."
Kenneth Ingram - The "Locum": The Vicar of a South London parish finally collars a clergyman to stand in for him while he takes a holiday abroad with his family for the entire duration of August. On the eve of his departure, there's a dreadful storm and the Vicar frets that his stand-in, Rev. Stanlaw, won't make it from Wales in time. Late into the night, a knock on the door. It's the locum, God be praised! - except the Vicar doesn't like the look of this leering, chuckling fellow one bit! And why is he so interested in the house-keeper's three-year old daughter? Still, the bloke's had the devil's own job getting here, and it's good of him to volunteer his services.
A phone-call after midnight. It's the real Stanlaw! He's terribly sorry, but he'll not be able to arrive until tomorrow because some maniac drugged him and stole his car ...
Elliott O'Donnell - The Haunted Telephone: Despite it's sinister reputation, Dr. Mike Byrne moves into number _ Barnfield Terrace, Bexhill, on Halloween. His new home is reputedly haunted by the ghost of another of his profession, Dr. Oldfield, who mysteriously vanished some years earlier. Hardly has Byrne settled for the night then he receives a telephone call from a Mrs. Delacourte who begs him to come over to Sedley at once as something terrible has happened! Dr. Byrne jumps on his motor-bike.
The door is opened to him by a gorgeous young woman, and it transpires that her husband, Alfred - at fifty, several years her senior - is dead on the couch. Phwoar!, thinks the young G.P. ("She wouldn't long remain a widow of that he was sure"), before dragging his mind back out of the gutter and considering the situation. For all her tears and amateur dramatics, it's glaringly obvious that his hostess isn't the least upset at her husband's passing, she's too impatient for him to sign a death certificate and have the poor bastard buried and done with.
Dr. Byrne examines the corpse. A tiny skull-wound confirms his suspicions that Alfred Delacourte was murdered.
The black widow realises she's been rumbled and, under the pretext of fixing Byrne a drink, locks him in, and only now does he notice the window's are barred. The heavy oak door won't budge! Still he refuses to certify that death was due to natural causes, so Mrs. Delacourte sets the house ablaze ....
In common with H. Rider-Haggard's Only A Dream, it's one of a few "and then I woke up!" horror stories that isn't garbage, brilliant last line, too. Such a shame the legendary Ghost-hunter devoted the bulk of his writing career to - ahem - "non-fiction", as he was a more than capable pulp horror author when the mood took him. The Haunted Telephone was later revived by H. Van Thal for Fourth Pan Book of Horror Stories.
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Post by paulfinch on Dec 9, 2011 13:53:36 GMT
Interesting to see another Guy Preston story there. Despite all my researches, he remains an elusive author.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 9, 2011 15:01:38 GMT
Interesting to see another Guy Preston story there. Despite all my researches, he remains an elusive author. It's a decent yarn, but after The Inn, my favourite of the few Guy Preston stories I've read is his supremely camp novelisation of The Bride of Frankenstein from 1935, as reprinted in Peter Haining's The Frankenstein Collectiom! Incidentally, chanced upon another cracking vintage 'Terror Tale From The Lake District' recently, Paul, and this one long out of copyright - A Fellside Tragedy by Hubert Crackenthorpe (born 1870 - corpse discovered floating in the Seine, Christmas Eve, 1896). John Gawsworth reprinted it twice, in Strange Assembly (1932) and Thrills, Crimes and Mysteries (1935) |
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Post by paulfinch on Dec 9, 2011 21:18:57 GMT
Interesting to learn about that, Demonik.
I've now been alerted to enough material to start thinking about a Lake District II antho, but at present we're firmly concentrating on other areas of the country.
Next book is due out around Easter. Most of the stories are now in, and the anecdote material is written and proofed. I'll keep dropping hints on my blog about where it's set.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 10, 2011 8:03:12 GMT
If it's not Lancashire next then I reckon it can only be a matter of time. you'll need to be logged in to download it, but if you want to read Guy Preston's A Lover Came to Sunnamees, here's where |
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Post by paulfinch on Dec 10, 2011 17:10:07 GMT
Thanks for that, D.
I've realised that there's no reason whatsoever for me to keep being a tease - not now the book is sorted in terms of its TOC and cover - so, and here's a small exclusive for you, the next book in the series will be TERROR TALES OF THE COTSWOLDS.
Feel free to tell everyone.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 11, 2011 22:08:55 GMT
Thank you kindly for the scoop, Mr. Finch! I think you mentioned that in future you were considering running some vintage material along with the original submissions, is that going to be the case with Cotswalds? Either way, am looking forward to it. It is heartening that what amounts to a new wave of Brit horror anthologists have appeared over recent years to freshen things up.  |
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Post by paulfinch on Dec 12, 2011 12:36:53 GMT
The overall plan is to commission as much original material as possible. However, as we did with the Lakes, I'd like to use a couple of classic reprints in each volume - so long as they fulfill the geographic critera. That doesn't just give you good, solid benchmark stories with which to balance the book, but it also adds heavyweight names to the TOC, which always helps with sales.
This will definitely happen with the Cotswolds, and the book to follow that. But I don't want to be in a situation where there is a lot of reprint material. The challenge and the fun of editing horror anthologies - at least for me - is adding new tales to the lexicon, and, if possible. giving new authors an opportunity to showcase their talent.
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