Ivor Pelham Morley - Tales Of Terror For Tiny Tots

[dem bones]

Ok, children of the grave. running order might need a little work but the contents of Ivor Pelham Morley's notorious Tales Of Terror For Tiny Tots revealed at last (somehow resisted the temptation to include Chris Miller's The Magic Show)!

Michael Arlen - The Gentleman From America: ... spends a night in an allegedly haunted house for a bet ...

Richard Matheson - Blood Son: Aka Drink My Blood. Morbid kid upsets class with "what I wanna be when I grow up" essay.

John Burke - Party Games: Mrs. Jarman makes fatal mistake of inviting bullied, fatherless kid to her spoilt son's birthday bash.

Alex Hamilton - The Attic Express: At last, Brian can share dad's enthusiasm for his model railway!

Sydney J. Bounds - Young Blood: Syd goes Glam Rock! A cheery one to lull you into false sense of security before the emotional upheaval of ....

Dorothy K. Haynes - "Up, Like A Good Girl": Grim goings-on in Victorian orphanage.

Henry Kuttner - The Graveyard Rats: As included by our popular Dennis Wheatley correspondent in The Gruesome Book, which, to my mind, makes it fair game for inclusion.

Sydney J. Bounds - The Pauper's Grave: Mad artist persuades model to pose for him in the graveyard.

Alison Prince - The Looney: Cathy's family moves into her new home. Previous occupant, a ferocious madwoman abandoned to starve to death.

Mary Danby - Nursery Tea: Nanny made their childhoods a misery. Now it's her turn to suffer.

John Gordon - Never Grow Up: Abused teenager pours heart out at lonely grave of a Victorian suicide.

Michael Kernan - The Doll Named Silvio: A little girl playing with her dollies. Admittedly, some have had their eyes gouged, but what is there for the new governess to get so frightened about?

Pamela Hansford Johnson - The Empty Schoolroom: Ghost of dunce-girl takes revenge on embittered headmistress.

Brian Lumley - The Viaduct: Beware of the village idiot!

Al Sarrantonio - Pumpkin Head: Initially, Miss was delighted when shy little Raylee bravely stood up in class and volunteered a Halloween story ....

Robert Westall - The Last Day Of Miss Dorinda Molyneaux: Because one day, all infant teachers will be the lovely Miss M!

Anthony Horowitz - The Hitch-hiker: Stop for a strange man in the vicinity of a Maximum Security Prison and you're asking for trouble.

Chris Priestly - Nature: Man-eating sea-slugs ahoy!

Ray Bradbury - The October Game: Quite possibly the nastiest story he's ever written.

Anna Taborska – Bagpuss; By now, gentle reader almost certainly destined for a lifetime's counselling. But let's not take any chances.

[cauldronbrewer]

The ones that I've read are all great (the Matheson, Arlen, Kuttner, Danby, Bradbury, Priestley, and Sarrantonio entries); the ones that I haven't all sound intriguing.

Here are nine more, all originally published in books or magazines for children or young adults:

The Grey Lady - Mary Danby (Tenth Armada Ghost Book, ed. Mary Danby, 1978): A down-on-his-luck doll seller botches his attempt to make a new doll—and then meets a strange woman dressed just like the doll.

Time to Laugh - Joan Aiken (Touch of Chill, 1979): Matt picks the wrong house to burglarize and discovers that sometimes it’s easier to break in than to get back out again.

The Girl in the Cellar - Tony Richards (Thirteenth Armada Ghost Book, ed. Mary Danby, 1981): Years ago a girl was left to starve in a cellar. She died, but something still wants to escape.

The Junk Room - Terry Tapp (Fourteenth Armada Ghost Book, ed. Mary Danby, 1982): Woe unto those who uncover the painted eyes in the old house’s junk room.

The Servant - Allison Prince (Fifteenth Armada Ghost Book, ed. Mary Danby, 1983): Ginny didn’t need to follow the strange old woman’s orders, and yet she found it difficult to resist doing so.

Bang, Bang–Who’s Dead? - Jane Gardam (Beware, Beware!, ed. Jean Richardson, 1987): “When you’ve been in the house as long as I have,” she said, “let’s hope you’ll know a bit more."

One Size Eats All - T. E. D. Klein (Outside Kids magazine, 1993): Your sleeping bag is hungry.

Monster - Kelly Link (Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things . . . , ed. Ted Thompson & Eli Horowitz, 2005): “Okay,” the monster said. “How about this. I’m thinking of a number between one and ten. You say a number and if it’s the same number, I won’t eat you.”

The Un-Door - Chris Priestley (Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror, 2007): The young assistant of a fraudulent medium learns that just because she can open a door, that doesn’t mean she should.

[dem bones]

Thanks so much for the additions/ replacements, CB. Merge the two selections and i reckon you'd have a hell of a book and in a good way. Am looking forward to finding an hours peace so I can concentrate on The Grey Lady, The Girl In The Cellar and The Servant. Joan Aiken was on my first list - with As Gay As Cheese - don't know why it didn't end up including her. I certainly didn't think of Kelly Link and not read Monster, but now you've mentioned her, maybe The Specialist's Hat for Volume II? ;D

The Mary Danby story is from 11th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories. On another day I might have gone for Robbie, Party Pieces, Mr. Jones, The Engelmeyer Puppets, The Ghost Writer .... Same thing with Chris Priestly: eventually went with Nature, but it could just as easily have been any one from the Tales Of Terror books.

One of many things I like about Anthony Horowitz is that he'll sometimes give you a non-supernatural horror story, The Hitch-hiker being among his very best. Of his ghost stories, Twist Cottage could slot into any 'adult' series you care to mention. The gruesome Bath Night would have fitted just so in the aforementioned Gaslight Tales Of Terror. Am so grateful to lemming for putting me on to him!

Dorothy K Haynes Up, Like A Good Girl and Syd J. Bounds' The Pauper's Feast are two highlights from the Chetwynd-Hayes-edited Gaslight Tales Of Terror, technically an adult collection but nothing you'd be reluctant to share with your infant daughter. Well, not if she's Wednesday Addams, in any case.

I had such a struggle trying to come up with an appropriate R. Chetwynd-Hayes story that I forgot to include him! It's a toss-up between The Treasure Hunt from The Unbidden, the slightly naughty, AA rated Under The Skin from The Unbidden, the title story from The Cradle Demon or The Ghost Who Limped from Night Ghouls .....

Anna Taborska's Bagpuss from Sixth Black Book Of Horror is quite the bleakest story I've read in years, but you have to start the little ones on the hard stuff at some point.

[cauldronbrewer]

Apr 6, 2012 6:21:26 GMT dem bones said:

I certainly didn't think of Kelly Link and i've not read Monster but now you've mentioned her, maybe The Specialist's Hat for Volume II? ;D

.... Same thing with Chris Priestly: i eventually went with Nature but it could just as easily have been any one from the Tales Of Terror books.

One of many things i like about Anthony Horowitz is that he'll sometimes give you a non-supernatural horror story, The Hitch-hiker being among his very best. Of his ghost stories, Twist Cottage could slot into any 'adult' series you care to mention. The gruesome Bath Night would have fitted just so in the aforementioned Gaslight Tales Of Terror. i'm so grateful to lemming for putting me on to him!

Dorothy K Haynes Up, Like A Good Girl and Syd J. Bounds' The Pauper's Feast are two highlights from the Chetwynd-Hayes-edited Gaslight Tales Of Terror, technically an adult collection but nothing you'd be reluctant to share with your infant daughter. Well, not if she's Wednesday Addams, in any case.

"The Specialist's Hat" is my favorite Link story (and it's included in her Young Adult collection Pretty Monsters, so certainly fair game here).

I had a tough time choosing one Chris Priestley story, too.

I definitely need to look into Anthony Horowitz's work. And Gaslight Tales of Terror just went onto my list of books to buy.

[dem bones]

The Tales Of Terror series is a big favourite of mine (Paul Finch's recent revival is shaping up nice, too). Each of the volumes has much to recommend it, but if pushed would go for Gaslight and European as those I found the most enjoyable. Letting the usual Fontana Ghost/ Horror faces loose on the Victorian era was inspired. Dorothy K. Haynes' stories are seldom cheerful and, on this occasion, she outdoes herself. Alison Prince's The Looney would feel at home in this book!

[dem bones]

As a New Year bonus, here's Marion Hough's Spider Woman from the 1984 Misty Annual. My first thought was to include this on CB's wonderful Weird Tales By Women Writers thread as a 'rivals of ...' , but in truth it's more a contender for Mary Danby's Nightmare series. I love it to death and hope you soon will too.

Attachments:

[cauldronbrewer]

Jan 3, 2013 12:38:56 GMT dem bones said:

As a New Year bonus, here's Marion Hough's Spider Woman from the 1984 Misty Annual.

I'm completely unfamiliar with the Misty phenomenon, but this was fun. I loved the illustration, as well.

I did feel sorry for Beth, what with her friend introducing her to the narrator as "the tubby one." At least she didn't end up as a meal for spiders, which is where I thought the author was going with that. I suppose that looking for subtle foreshadowing in a story with a character named "Arachna Threadmore" is probably reading too deeply.

[dem bones]

Here's the uncredited title page illustration (again).

The Bride has four of the annuals and they each include three-four short stories in with the strips, but Spider Woman is the only one with a name against it. In truth, big-boned Beth and her frightfully nice dorm chums were never in any real danger - Misty always favours a happy ending - but at least Arachna and her brood come to a nasty end. There's another decent one, Voodoo, will try type for you when time permits.

[dem bones]

Now here's a treat for at least one of you. From Misty Annual (1981), an uncredited story, Voodoo, remarkably grim for a girl's comic you might think, and, like Spider Woman, deserving of a wider readership.

Phil Harbottle's tribute to the late, great Syd Bounds in Fantasy Adventures 13 has been an education. According to Mr. Harbottle:

"Over the following decades, Bounds wrote scores of children's stories, in comics and countless annuals. Many of his stories appeared in top markets, such as the famous boys’ comic Eagle (keeping company with Arthur C. Clarke) .... Like E.C. Tubb, Bounds went on to write many scripts for the pocket comic libraries published by Fleetway and D. C. Thomson."

It's probably too much of a stretch, but I wonder if he wrote anything for Misty?

Voodoo - Misty 81.pdf (52.25 KB)

[cauldronbrewer]

I think I liked this one even more than "Spider Woman"--particularly the ending. Are any of the other Misty stories worth looking into?

[dem bones]

Feb 27, 2013 16:57:37 GMT cauldronbrewer said:

I think I liked this one even more than "Spider Woman"--particularly the ending. Are any of the other Misty stories worth looking into?

Very pleased to hear it. The stories are typically in three column so they're not the easiest to transcribe, but if I come across any more (still have three or four of the annuals to work through) will give it a go. They're back in Bride of Dem's custody at the moment, but the 1984 includes at least two more shorts, Somewhere ..., a disobedient girl witnesses a re-enactment of a young highwayman's capture in the local haunted house; he's dragged off to the gallows. It's pretty much mid period Armada Ghost Book standard, not quite up there with Voodoo and Spider Woman, but decent enough. I still have Ghost Hunters to read.

[ripper]

I read the two stories from Misty last night. I thought that both were enjoyable, particularly Voodoo, which had a surprisingly grim ending.

[dem bones]

Assuming that at least half of the Misty fiction is of similar standard to above, you'd have enough for an anthology without even dipping into the weekly comics.

The Annuals:

1979

Short fiction:

Friend Of Alison
Terror On A Day Trip
The Ghost Girl
Looking After Georgy

1980

Something On The Stairs
Hannah Comes Home
Three Wishes To Send
The Cupboard

Plus non-fiction shorts, Girl In The Graveyard (concerning an account of a prophetic nightmare, sent to J. B. Priestly who had placed a newspaper advertisement for 'real-life ghost stories').
The Woman And The Wolf: Author Ann Hathaway suffered nightmares of dogs and wolves during pregnancy.
Witchfinder General. Two pages on the Satanic reign of Matthew Hopkins.
A True-Life Tale To Sink Your Teeth Into .... Dracula. Vampire lore.
Borgia: House Of Horror

1981

Somewhere ...
Voodoo
The Weird Sisters

Also includes Write Your Own Ghost Story, M. G. Lewis's Alonzo The Brave And Imogen The Fair and easy to follow step-by-step instructions on how to Make Your Own Shrunken Head.

1982 (not seen: according to the Misty site, includes:)

The Green China Man
The Thing In Chains
The Green Lady Of Thorpe Hall – A True Ghost Story
A World Elsewhere: Part 1
Weird Music
A World Elsewhere: Part 2
Down in The Cellar – A True Ghost Story
The Snow Girl

1983 (not seen)

Winter Jasmine
When The Sky Fell In
The Bedtime Visitor

1984
The Wicked Gnome
Spider Woman
Ghost Hunters
The Black Cat

1985 (not seen)

When The Earth Caught Fire
Lottie Comes Back
The House On The Hill
The Forest Of Dean

1986 (not seen)

The Day Of The Troll
Tales From The Arthurian Legend
Mary Trelawny And The Merman

As yet, I've not found any short fiction in The Best Of .... magazines, but if you visit the Cavern Of Dreams on the Misty site and - provided you've good eyesight (the scans ain't the best) - you can read The Takeover (Misty Holiday Special 1979) and The House That Waited .... Misty Holiday Special, 1980).

[ripper]

There are some interesting-sounding titles in those Misty annuals, Dem. Do you know if they were original to the annuals or were some re-prints from the comics? Some annuals were a bit naughty in that they would re-print strips/stories in the annuals that had already been featured in the weekly comics. I received the first Mighty World of Marvel annual one Christmas only to find that all of the strips had already been published in the weekly comic.

I expect that most board members will have happy memories of buying holiday specials of their favourite comics and reading them in the back of their parents' car while on the way to a seaside resort. Nowadays, the kids in the back will doubtless be texting, playing a video game or listening to their MP3 player :-).

[andydecker]

Mar 3, 2013 12:14:19 GMT ripper said:

I expect that most board members will have happy memories of buying holiday specials of their favourite comics and reading them in the back of their parents' car while on the way to a seaside resort. Nowadays, the kids in the back will doubtless be texting, playing a video game or listening to their MP3 player :-).

Some great Guy N Smith novels begin that way