R Chetwynd-Hayes - Frights and Fancies

[dem]

R Chetwynd-Hayes - Frights and Fancies: An anthology of stories edited by Stephen Jones (Robert Hale. 2002)

Blurb:

"Children of the night - what screams they make! This volume of previously uncollected fiction from 'Britain's prince of Chill' contains nineteen tales of fantasy and the supernatural from the past four decades, including four brand-new stories and an original afterword appearing here for the very first time. In these masterful tales of horror and humour, the mostly young protagonists encounter bizarre and unusual creatures of various shapes and sizes: some frightening, some funny, some sad - but all entertaining. From such masterful monsters as the Hoppity-Jump, The Slippity-Slop, The Gale-Wuggle, The Tele-mon, The Wind-billie and The Mudadora, to classic frighteners like the ghoul, the werewolf, Frankenstein's Creature and Count Dracula himself, this last collection stands a fitting tribute to a writer who shared his unique world of frights and fancies with a long and loyal readership. As R. Chetwynd-Hayes would say: 'I wish you monstrous good reading'.

Some of the stories here are frightening, some funny, and some are workaday, but all are highly diverting. A collection not to be missed.

Barry Forshaw Good Book Guide

Foreword: The Final Curtain - Stephen Jones

The Cat Room - Armada Ghost Book #12, ed. Mary Danby, 1980
The Mudadora - as Angus Campbell, 1971
Ghoul At Large Ghoul #1 , 1976
The Third Eye - Armada Ghost Book #14, ed. Mary Danby, 1982
The Floaters - After Hours , Winter 1995
The Hoppity-Jump - Armada Monster Book #4, ed. R. Chetwynd-Hayes, 1978
Bongla
The Tele-Mon - Armada Monster Book #5, ed. R. Chetwynd-Hayes, 1979
Big-Feet - Armada Monster Book #1, 1971
Package Holiday
Brownie - Armada Ghost Book #3, ed. Mary Danby, 1970
The Harpy - Armada Monster Book #3, ed. R. Chetwynd-Hayes, 1977
Walk In Darkness (aka One-Way Trip) - Dancing with the Dark, ed. Stephen Jones, 1997
The Wind-billie - as Angus Campbell, Armada Monster Book #5, ed. R. Chetwynd-Hayes, 1979
The Slippity-Slop - as Henry Glynn, 1981
High World
Homemade Monster - Armada Monster Book #2, ed. R. Chetwynd-Hayes, 1976
Great Indestructible (aka I Meet the Great Indestructible) as Hans Clutcher, - Ghoul #1, 1976
The Werewolf - as Angus Campbell, Armada Monster Book #4, ed. R. Chetwynd-Hayes, 1978
The Gale-Wuggle , 1981

Afterword: Time Travel and Me

Hadn't really intended to delve too deeply into the collections for young adults for the simple reason I know next to nothing about them. The two stories (?) I'd buy this for are Great Indestructible and Ghoul At Large from the legendary Ghoul magazine which RCH ghost-wrote for NEL in 1976! Meanwhile, here's four I found elsewhere:

The Third Eye: Uncle George fancies himself another Sherlock Holmes and lectures nephew Michael Carrington about the wonders of EOP - extra ocular perception. Michael develops the skill of seeing more than appears to be there - he even rightly identifies an escaped convict - but things take a turn for the sombre when he realises that the lodger, Mr. Manfield, is being pursued by a ghost which is forever punching him, "an old woman with a big nose, wearing a shabby green dress - someone who doesn't like you." Manfield's dead mother-in-law has returned to avenge the murder of her daughter.


Brownie: Another desolate house on the moors - Sinclair Abbey this time: he was demonstrably fond of the name Sinclair - and young Rodney and Harry are put into the care of the grim Mr and Mrs Fairweather while their widowed father goes off to fight and die in Afghanistan. Brownie is the harmless ghost of a monk who appears in the boys' room at night. He's entirely oblivious to their presence and the only way the sturdy Mrs Fairweather knows of getting rid of him is to flick his face with a towel. Boring haunting ends when timid tutor Miss Rosie Fortesque comes into her own and releases his tormented soul.

The Sad Vampire: Interview With The Vampire on the moors. When his father inherits Glendale Grange, meddling do-gooder John befriends the resident vampire, Archibald a self-pitying old fool who has sworn off the blood these past fifty years and is wasting away as a consequence. John fixes him up with a clean suit and a black pudding to eat. Finally, he insists Archibald takes a shower ...

Big Feet: Walking along to Asford to Canterbury Road, young Cary is whisked back in time and winds up in the medieval city of Ashbury, just in time to help the elderly knight Sir Morris and his decrepit, less-than trusty steed Erasmus defeat put paid to the local monster - with a big red feather.

[Johnlprobert]

The final RCH book until Steve Jones' 'Best of RCH' finally finds a publisher, I quite like Frights & Fancies. Another limited print run from Robert Hale (same with the previous Phantoms & Fiends) meant this sold out almost before it hit the shops & it's not that easy to find. The stories are quite light, being meant for kids, but sometimes RCH was better at this than when he was trying to write gentle ghost stories for old ladies. A lot better than some of the Kimber books. And that Edward Miller cover is bloody gorgeous.

[dem]

I tend to think of this one as a litmus test for those undecided on whether or not they want to be RCH completists. The only one of the Armada Monster Book's i have is the first and the impression it left on me was that some stories - Big Feet springs to mind - are abject examples of the type of children's fiction Ramsey Campbell took such exception to in The Gruesome Book on the grounds that it talks down to its audience.

Intruder2k kindly shared his opinion of Frights & Fancies on Vault MK I. Not entirely complimentary, but a neat review.

They're all kid's stories, which is why they're so... twee, but that doesn't excuse the poor writing evident in some. The best are THE MUDADORA (root-creature lurks in the forest), THE SLIPPITY-SLOP (monster comedy, but anyway), THE GREAT INDESTRUCTIBLE (a reporter interviews Dracula) and, to top them, the oddly moving THE GALE-WUGGLE, in which a terminally ill boy living at the top of a tower block becomes entranced by a creature living in the clouds - the creature is inspired by Blackwood's 'Wendigo' and Derleth's 'Ithaqua'.

The worst 'stories' are HIGH WORLD (a recent one that has no beginning, middle or end), WALK IN DARKNESS (which I'm not even sure is fiction, seems like the author reminiscing) and the absolutely appalling FLOATERS, which those little shapes you see floating in your eyes turn evil. FLOATERS is a real turd, if you'll excuse the excruciating pun...

I think the thing I hate most is that Jones markets it as an adult collection ("nineteen tales of fantasy and horror") of DECENT stories ("masterful tales of horror"). I guess the "mostly young protagonists" should have given it away, but at least I didn't buy it - I borrowed it from a library instead

Cheers

Graham

[dem]

His debut horror collection - he'd already turned fifty - and still one of the best, or so it seems to me, certainly a sight more readable than some of the Frights and Fancies abominations! There's a thread for this one - The Unbidden