shortly after his death in 2007, we ran a commemorative thread
Peter Haining: Your favourites, and the title that came up again and again was
The Unspeakable People: Twenty of the World's most Horrible Stories, (Leslie Frewin, 1969). The original line up:
M. G. Lewis – The Monk (extract)
Edgar Allan Poe – The Raven
Henry Spicer – The Bird Woman
R. H. Benson – My Own Tale
Henry S. Whitehead – Williamson
Wallace West – A Thing of Beauty
H. P. Lovecraft – The Outsider
C. M. Eddy – The Loved Dead
Captain George Eliot – The Copper Bowl
Robert Bloch – The Feast In The Abbey
John Wyndham – The Cathedral Crypt
Henry Kuttner – The Graveyard Rats
Theodore Sturgeon – Bianca’s Hand
C. S. Forester – The Head And The Feet
Jane Rice – The Idol of The Flies
Richard Hughes – A Night At A Cottage
Ray Bradbury – The Shape Of things
Tennessee Williams – The Black Masseur
Dennis Wheatley – The Coffin (extract from The Ka of Gifford Hillary
Laurence James – MercyTo faithfully replicate Peter Haining's vision as best we can, there should be a representation of Gothic, Victorian, Edwardian, pre-and-post world war pulp magazines, a contemporary story, plus a poem (can't help you with that) and at least two shock-free duffers, so strong possibility of me getting all obsessive about it and re-jigging like crazy at a later date. May also need to address the perennial 'not enough women authors' dilemma at same time.
Anon - The Spectre Bride: In terms of general unpleasantness and nihilism of ending, a near as dammit like-for-like replacement for the extract from
The Monk in Haining's collection.
Charles Maturin - The Parricide's Tale: As with above, i refer you to the thread for David Blair's
Gothic Short Stories where Lord Probert dissects the action with customary relish.
Erckmann-Chatrian - La Voleuse d'Enfant (The Child Stealer): Fritz 'The Vampire of Hanover' Haarmann would not be born until the end of the following decade, but these French gents had already anticipated his grisly crimes.
Michael Annesly - Rats: Settlers. Attacked by an army of them. None of your namby pamby
Leiningen Versus The Ants "and the hero survived" malarkey to spoil this
Not At Night gem.
'Flavia Richardson' (Christine Campbell Thomson - Behind The Yellow Door: C.C.T.'s several contributions to the
Not At Night's were competent enough though hardly a match for then husband Oscar Cook's ghoulish 'Warwick' tales. And then, as the series neared its end, she plucks this abomination out of the hat.
Donald Graham - Revelry In Hell: Think the worst excesses of the shudder pulps and 'Russell Gray's pioneering torture porn extravaganza
Fresh Fiancé's For The Devil's Daughter sticks out like a sore thumb, but he didn't have it all his own way. This Donald 'Revolt Of The Circus Freaks' Graham contribution to a 1939 issue of
Uncanny Tales isn't exactly sparing on the mindless sadism front either.
Seabury Quinn - The House Where Time Stood Still:
The House Of Horror is likely the most frequently anthologised and easily accessible of Quinn's Jules de Grandin adventures, so, spectacularly unpleasant as it is, would be a bit unimaginative. Fortunately, the great man solved the dilemma for us by rewriting it with a new mad surgeon and everything turned up to eleven.
Ray Bradbury - The Hallowe'en Game: Over-familiar much, but unspeakable assuredly. Mary Danby's outrageously cheeky rewrite,
Party Pieces, warms the substitutes bench.
Charles Beaumont - Miss Gentilebelle: A straight swap for Jane Rice's
The Idol Of The Flies in Haining's collection, though don't ask me to explain. The stories have nothing in common beyond their nasty edge - even i can't fathom the workings of my own "mind".
Charles Birkin - A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts: Really, you could pick from a good 40% of his output:
Havelock Farm,
The Happy Dancers,
Marjory's On Starlight,
Waiting For Trains - any of them would do the job. But, God is this bleak.
Alex White - The Clinic: Despite Mr. Mains' best efforts and much speculation that sometimes borders on the lunatic, i doubt we're any nearer to unmasking the version of 'Alex White' who wrote
The Clinic than we were five years ago (see also the elusive 'Pierce Nace' once Scott Gronmark very publicly ruled himself out of the running).
John Burke - The Tourists: Vivisectors vivisected by visitors from another galaxy.
Chris Miller - The Magic Show : Ira's seventh birthday party. Dr. Fun and Mr. Frog provide seriously inappropriate entertainment. 'Linda Lovecraft's
The Devil's Kisses hastily removed from sale and existing stock pulped as publishers Corgi were threatened with prosecution under the Obscene publications act.
Alan Temperley - Kowlongo Plaything : Has been known to nauseate even veteran
Pan Book Of Horror fans.
Fay Woolf - Slowly: The
Happyland funfair is anything but for little Darren, trapped beneath the rails of the Big Dipper. Don't worry. A rescue party have arrived and they'll soon have him out in one piece ....
Norman Kaufman - Lady On Display: Kaufman was/ is seemingly incapable of writing a story which doesn't pander to the most depraved and sadistic tastes, but with this worst pub landlord contender he outdoes himself. It really is quite marvellous.
Joe R. Lansdale - The Night They Missed The Horror Show: Dedicated to Lewis Shiner who'd apparently challenged Lansdale to come up with a story that "didn't flinch" ....
Richard Christian Matheson - Red: Oh ....
Graham Masterton - Eric The Pie: Any new mainstream horror fiction magazine needs to establish itself quickly, and Masterton did his bit for
Frighteners by contributing this truly disgusting effort to the debut. At least one High Street retailer, W. H. Smith, dutifully refused to touch it, and remaining stock may or may not have gone the way of
The Devil's Kisses (i've heard conflicting reports).
Nick Cave - Song Of Joy: And with one bound he solves the poetry problem! OK, so they're song lyrics to the opening track on the crowd pleasing
Murder Ballads album, and best appreciated as ta Nick & The Bad Seeds' tribute to Kurt Weill. A physician fallen on hard times grows increasingly excited as he confides details of the brutal murders of his wife and three daughters. The killer, who left blood paintings quoting from Milton's
Paradise Lost on the wall, has never been identified. Cave has written a number of horror-orientated songs throughout his career, but seldom has he sounded as disturbed as he does here.
Richard Laymon - The Good Turn: Plucky youths successfully rescue hot babe from clutches of psycho with extensively equip toolbox, just as successfully allow her to be captured all over again, themselves with her. The
Mercy of the collection.
oh confound it all to hell. that's twenty one. i'm all fed up now. oh, i don't care.
