Alfred Hitchcock - Witch's Brew

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Alfred Hitchcock (ed.) - Witch's Brew (Puffin 1980: Originally Random House, 1977)

Jill Murphy

Alfred Hitchcock - To Whet Your Appetite ...

Joan Aiken - As Gay As Cheese
E. F. Benson - The Wishing Well
Robert Bloch - That Hell-Bound Train
T. H. White - Madame Mim
M. Timothy O'Keefe - Blood Money
Sterling Lanier - His Coat So Gay
Doreen Dugdale - They'll Never Find You Now
Lord Dunsany - The Widow Flynn's Apple Tree
John Collier - In The Cards
Shirley Jackson - Strangers In Town
John Moore - The Proof

Back cover blurb:

Witches, sorceresses and a modern vampire feature in Alfred Hitchcock's cauldron of horrors. This heart-thumping collection of stories, put together by the man who - till his death in 1980 - was regarded as the master of terror, is guaranteed to give you the jitters!

A certain Henry Veit is thanked for his "invaluable assistance .. in the preparation of this volume" which suggests that Mr. Veit was the ghost editor this time around. Other than Benson's ultra grim The Wishing Well, of those i've read the emphasis would seem to be on 'humorous' horror stories. In Joan Aiken's case, this ain't necessarily a bad thing: As Gay As Cheese is a minor classic.

includes;

Joan Aiken - As Gay As Cheese: Mr. Pol the barber has a unique gift. Merely by laying his hands on a customer’s head he can tell all there is to know about them, what they’ve done and what they’ll go on to do. Living in a small Cornish town the potential horror of it all rarely troubles him as the transgressions of this clients are invariably mundane … until the angry, overbearing Brian and his timid wife Fanny travel down on the night train from Paddington.

M. Timothy O'Keefe - Blood Money: Ashbury, possessed of a rare blood group, makes his living from regular donations to the Hospital and Blood Bank. Comes the day when he answers an advertisement placed in the newspaper and finds himself strapped to a bed, a vampire doctor hovering over him with a syringe. The undead have learned to adapt with the times.

John Collier - In The Cards: Myra Wilkins, fortune teller, devotee of the reliable 'Vascal system'. Convinced that her latest client, an ugly, thuggish King Kong-a-like by the name of Lew, is about to come into a fortune and die suddenly shortly afterward, Myra persuades him that his interests to marry her. But the months drag by, Lew takes to beating her and still no sign of the cash. Could the Vascal system have misled her after all?

Doreen Dugdale - They'll Never Find You Now: On the run from the Police and his own men who he's double-crossed, Sweeney decides the isolated country cottage is the perfect bolt-hole until he can rejoin Vickie and the loot abroad. The frail old girl who lives here with just her cat certainly won't give him any trouble. Weird looking old bat. Looks like a witch. He'd best watch his step or she might turn him into a frog!

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From the Horror/SF/Fantasy with a hunting theme thread:

Apr 28, 2015 22:01:08 GMT mcannon said:

I don't think this one has been mentioned yet - "His Coat So Gay" by Sterling E Lanier (originally published in "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction", July 1070) . It's one of his "Brigadier Ffellowes" series of club stories, which I'd love to see to reprinted in a nice single collection.

Mark

I'd not read any of the Brigadier Ffellowes stories until yesterday. Soldier's Key impressed me so, I was soon scurrying around for more. Agree, Mark. An Omnibus would be much appreciated.

Sterling Lanier - His Coat So Gay: (Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1970). "They have let the Dead Horse loose upon us. No one can stand against that." Another of Brigadier Ffellows colourful reminiscences, this one concerning an episode during the Depression.

A young Ffellows is in Washington, working as a junior military attaché. His duties include socialising with those few families whose fabulous wealth has not been affected by the crash, which is how he meets young Canler Waldron and his beautiful-beyond-mere-words sister, Betty. The Waldrons are enthusiasts of the Hunt, and when Ffellows, who is experienced in and brilliant at everything, demonstrates his expertise in this department, Candler invites him to spend late October at the family estate to participate in his annual special hunt. This is quite an accolade, as Waldron is of Irish descent and usually hates Englishmen! Betty is noticeably put out by this development, which mortifies Ffellowes, who is in love with her and flatters himself she even likes him just a little bit. In truth, Betty is trying to save his life. Every Samhain, Waldron and his witch cult re-enact the Wild Hunt - with a despised Limey as prey.

Robert Bloch - That Hell-Bound Train: Martin is a hobo, the orphaned son of a rail-road man who died crushed between two trains while walking the line on a drunk. Despite this, Martin loves jumping the freights. His ambition is to ride the Hell-Bound train from the old song, with "the drunks and the sinners, the gambling men and the grifters, the big-time spenders, the skirt-chasers, and all the jolly crew," though he'd prefer never to arrive at the final destination. The Devil, playing on his obsession, offers him a ride. Martin demands that, in return, he be granted the ability to stop time at the moment he feels he's achieved satisfaction with his lot. Martin makes good and lives out his life cycle without ever utilising the wildcard. Now it's time to ride That Hell-Bound Train. Maybe he can still outwit Old Nick?

John Moore - The Proof: Described elsewhere. Matthew Hopkins being a slimy bastard as usual.