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Post by dem on Nov 20, 2011 23:23:18 GMT
Anthony Horowitz (ed.) - The Puffin Book Of Horror Stories (Puffin, 1986: Viking 1984)  Stephen Player
Pete Johnson - Secret Terror
Stephen King - Battleground
Robert Westall - The Vacancy
Guy De Maupassant - The Twitch (trans Anthony Horowitz)
Laurence Staig - Freebies
Roald Dahl - Man From The South
Kenneth Ireland - The Werewolf Mask
Bram Stoker - Jonathan Harker's Journal (extract from Dracula)
John Gordon -Eels
Anthony Horowitz - Bath Night
AcknowledgementsBlurb: Whether it's vampires, werewolves, ghouls or huge hairy spiders, whatever makes your flesh creep, you'll find it in this chilling collection of horror stories edited by Anthony Horowitz.
Robert Westall's 'The Vacancy' puts a horrific new perspective on being unemployed and John Gordon's 'Eels' turns those slimy creatures into grisly instruments of torture. Classic horror stories such as 'Dracula' and 'The Twitch' are combined with contemporary horror from Stephen King, the master himself, to make a collection that lingers in your mind long after the lights go out!Found this glaring out from a box of Religious books at the market this morning. OK, so it's not quite another The Gruesome Book, but, even discluding the King, Dahl and de Maupassant stories, this snappy collection contains at least two minor classics, Eels from the ever dependable John Gordon's The Burning Baby & Other Ghosts and the editor's own Bath Night from Horowitz Horror. Eels is Oh, Whistle And I'll Come To You, My Lad ... if M. R. James had written it as a best 'when seafood attacks' contender, while Bath Night, featuring the ghost of a Victorian axe murderer, would not have been out of place in Chetwynd-Hayes' Gaslit Tales Of Terror. Made a start on the rest earlier and, while this pair are not really in the same league as the aforementioned, they held my attention and i can think of worse ways of spending precious reading time. Pete Johnson - Secret Terror: Clare, sixteen, has been terrified of spiders since childhood, a situation not helped by her last-stepfather-but-one lobbing one at her across the kitchen. Alone indoors one evening she prepares for bed only to find a bloated eight-legged monster dozing in the bath. An epic struggle ensues with one party coming off a whole lot worse than the other. Kenneth Ireland - The Werewolf Mask: Peter tests out his new jokeshop werewolf mask and hairy hands on the neighbours, one of whom, the elderly Mr. Anthrope, decides the town ain't big enough for both of them.
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Post by dem on Nov 21, 2011 12:57:36 GMT
Guy De Maupassant - The Twitch: "They reminded me, straight away, of characters from Edgar Allan Poe. And yet there was a sort of charm about them, a feeling of sadness." A cataleptic is unwittingly rescued from premature burial by the intervention of a grasping manservant. As the girl lies in her coffin, the wannabe grave-robber sets about relieving her of her jewellery. Unsurprisingly, the episode has affected the young woman badly, but if anything, her return from beyond the grave has made an even more devastating impact of her father. Gorgeously morbid. Read this before some place, but it certainly wasn't under this title. Any ideas?
Robert Westall - The Vacancy: The unemployment rate is such that there are several thousand more people out of work than in, and the Government no longer even bother to massage the figures. The hardest hit of all are the youngest (we should remind ourselves this is only a story, it can't happen here,etc). Martin, nearing his twenties, is both bright and resourceful - he runs an underground newspaper and has built his own bicycle, scavenging parts from under the noses of the Unemployment Police. When he learns of the vacancy at Mr. Boston's mysterious plant, he just knows it's a waste of time applying, but with nothing better to do he gives it a go. Unfortunately for Martin, Boston decides that he's just the kind of chap he's looking for.
Stephen King - Battleground: Shortly after carrying out the hit on businessman Hans Morris, founder and owner of the Morris Toy Company, hired assassin John Renshaw receives a parcel in the post from the dead man's "number one idea's girl" - and is soon re-enacting Vietnam in the comfort of his own home!
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Post by Dr Strange on Nov 21, 2011 16:50:58 GMT
Maupassant's "The Twitch" is more usually published under the title "The Spasm". However it is also a very common folk tale with various supposedly "true" versions recorded all over Europe - so maybe you've come across it that way? Some examples from wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_with_the_RingI am pretty sure someone turned up with a ring and this "family story" on the Antiques Roadshow not so long ago! |
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Post by dem on Nov 21, 2011 19:10:05 GMT
I am pretty sure someone turned up with a ring and this "family story" on the Antiques Roadshow not so long ago! Did you see the episode showcasing Peter Chapman's massive pulp paperback collection? Was chatting with him at Zardoz, said he eventually sold the lot for fifteen grand to someone who watched the show. They sure got their money's worth. Thanks for providing the origins of The Spasm/ The Twitch, etc. i know where i first read it now. Arnold Kellett translated the title as The Spastic Mannerism for Tales Of Supernatural Terror Pan, 1972), the 'Spastic' being discreetly dropped when Xanadu republished it in 1989. |
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Post by dem on Nov 22, 2011 7:32:46 GMT
'"Herbert nodded and exhaled cigarette smoke. Rather upsettingly, he exhaled it through the side of his neck and I found myself wondering just how bad his injuries were.... 'I don't want a collection that exploits children. You know what I mean. Lurid cover. Silver letters and dripping blood. But just rubbish inside.'
'And i don't want a collection that disappoints the reader,' I replied: 'If it says horror, it's got to mean horror. I want stories that bite.'" (from the Introduction) Man From The South and the extract from Dracula (the three brides attack) are super but over-familiar from countless other anthologies, which leaves only the following, happily one of the best (and creepiest) in a very tidy collection. Laurence Staig - Freebies. It's their first Christmas without Grannie (RIP), and dad has dragged Sarah uptown to get Mum a present. Sarah, sharp as a tack, doesn't have much time for her "progressive" parents, Dad ("Call me Jim") in particular, who, she know, detested Gran living with them. She's not much impressed with her parents' hi-falutin friends either. This whole Christmas shopping lark is a crushing bore until, on Brewer Street, they encounter an ancient one-eyed Chinese trader who gives Sarah a free gift - a key-finder. It's a neat scam. Dad has to buy batteries from the old boy to get the thing to work (which it refuses to do ... until necessary). Sarah is delighted. Her passion is for collecting free gifts, most of which wind up attached to her cat, Dylan's collar (a Dr. Who energiser ring, gratis from the Croydon Arndale Centre). Dylan has so much crap around his neck it's the best he can do to struggle through the cat flap, and no surprise when he gets flattened under a car on Brixton Hill. He's buried with honours in the back garden. The next full moon, and the keyfinder comes into its own. As Sarah lies awake in bed, she hears a disturbance outside, like something is digging itself out of the earth ... And, Horowitz's amusing introduction aside (a hoary old horror story in itself) that's just about it. Dem advice. If you're a fan of the contemporary stories in the Fontana horror books and you see a copy of The Puffin Book Of Horror Stories hanging around, trust me, it was waiting for you. 
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noirist
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 13 
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Post by noirist on Feb 24, 2014 21:11:04 GMT
Oh my gosh, I used to have this book! I remember from the brilliant cover! Hopefully I can find this again one day...
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Post by Swampirella on Mar 24, 2017 18:16:13 GMT
Anthony Horowitz (ed.) - The Puffin Book Of Horror Stories (Puffin, 1986: Viking 1984) Stephen Player Anthony Horowitz - Introduction
Pete Johnson - Secret Terror
Stephen King - Battleground
Robert Westall - The Vacancy
Guy De Maupassant - The Twitch (trans Anthony Horowitz)
Laurence Staig - Freebies
Roald Dahl - Man From The South
Kenneth Ireland - The Werewolf Mask
Bram Stoker - Jonathan Harker's Journal (extract from Dracula)
John Gordon -Eels
Anthony Horowitz - Bath Night
AcknowledgementsBlurb: Whether it's vampires, werewolves, ghouls or huge hairy spiders, whatever makes your flesh creep, you'll find it in this chilling collection of horror stories edited by Anthony Horowitz.
Robert Westall's 'The Vacancy' puts a horrific new perspective on being unemployed and John Gordon's 'Eels' turns those slimy creatures into grisly instruments of torture. Classic horror stories such as 'Dracula' and 'The Twitch' are combined with contemporary horror from Stephen King, the master himself, to make a collection that lingers in your mind long after the lights go out!Found this glaring out from a box of Religious books at the market this morning. OK, so it's not quite another The Gruesome Book, but, even discluding the King, Dahl and de Maupassant stories, this snappy collection contains at least two minor classics, Eels from the ever dependable John Gordon's The Burning Baby & Other Ghosts and the editor's own Bath Night from Horowitz Horror. Eels is Oh, Whistle And I'll Come To You, My Lad ... if M. R. James had written it as a best 'when seafood attacks' contender, while Bath Night, featuring the ghost of a Victorian axe murderer, would not have been out of place in Chetwynd-Hayes' Gaslit Tales Of Terror. Made a start on the rest earlier and, while this pair are not really in the same league as the aforementioned, they held my attention and i can think of worse ways of spending precious reading time. Pete Johnson - Secret Terror: Clare, sixteen, has been terrified of spiders since childhood, a situation not helped by her last-stepfather-but-one lobbing one at her across the kitchen. Alone indoors one evening she prepares for bed only to find a bloated eight-legged monster dozing in the bath. An epic struggle ensues with one party coming off a whole lot worse than the other. Kenneth Ireland - The Werewolf Mask: Peter tests out his new jokeshop werewolf mask and hairy hands on the neighbours, one of whom, the elderly Mr. Anthrope, decides the town ain't big enough for both of them. Just finished this one it was quite enjoyable. "Bath Night" is was outstanding! Not just for the YA audience, or is it that I just never grew up?  |
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Post by ripper on Nov 4, 2017 19:26:37 GMT
The plot from the Westall story sounds familiar, though I cannot remember where I might have read it, as I don't think I ever owned this collection.
Battleground by Stephen King reminded me so much of General Jumbo from (I think) The Hotspur.
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Post by Dr Strange on Nov 6, 2017 9:50:19 GMT
Battleground by Stephen King reminded me so much of General Jumbo from (I think) The Hotspur. I'm pretty sure that I actually saw a comic strip version of the King story in one of those old black and white "horror" comics I used to get when I was a kid in the 70s. |
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Post by ripper on Nov 7, 2017 20:30:05 GMT
Battleground by Stephen King reminded me so much of General Jumbo from (I think) The Hotspur. I'm pretty sure that I actually saw a comic strip version of the King story in one of those old black and white "horror" comics I used to get when I was a kid in the 70s. That is ringing the very faintest of bells. |
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