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Post by dem on Apr 21, 2013 19:39:18 GMT
Spinechilling Tales For The Dead Of Night (Hamlyn, 1986)  Oliver Frey Illustrated by John James John Agee - Blizzard
M. S. Goodall - Death Chase
Angus Allan - Fight For Life
Hilary Lloyd-Williams - A Rich Inheritance
Angus Allan - Door To The Beyond
Christopher Bendel - Ancient Lights
June Williams - The Eagle
John Sanders - Devil's Island
Angus Allan - Sea Mist
June Williams - A Head For Señor Morales
Ross Trapnel - The Midnight Stage
M. S. Goodall - The Six Million Dollar Boy
Angus Allan - Once Upon A Lifetime
June Williams - The Poe Fanatic
John Sanders - Deadly Shot
M. S. Goodall - Secret Devil's Spire
Angus Allan - Happiness Is the Haunting
Christopher Bendel - Is Anybody There?
Beverley Watts - Ghostly Warning
John Sanders - Voodoo
J. H. Teed - Horror House
M. S. Goodall - Banana Revenge
Angus Allan - That Summer, Far away
Found this at the market this morning. Not quite up there with the best of the Misty stories, but the three read to date are way more fun than the typical early Armada Ghost story. Cover artwork by the man who would go on to depict the notorious Eric The Pie in action on front of the banned-by-W. H. Smiths Frighteners #1. June Williams - The Poe Fanatic: August 1880. William Reynolds, a writer of macabre fiction, finds himself sharing a train compartment with Mr. Harold Pym on a journey to Baltimore. On learning of Reynolds' profession, Pym invites him to the rambling Gothic mansion cum waxwork museum which houses his collection of Edgar Allen Poe paraphernalia. Stopping before an impressive tableau depicting the torture scene from The Pit & The Pendulum, Reynolds offers his considered opinion of Poe's oeuvre - "A drunken literary fraud .... I consider his work little more than the self-pitying ravings of a madman. If i had my way, I would have his work banned ..." In the ensuing grapple, a candelabrum is overturned .... Jack Hamilton Teed - Horror House: Della Reece takes a boat ride through the Horror House at Coney Island, "the biggest, most heart-stopping fear feast" known to mankind if the barker is to be believed. The real scares come when an armed man jumps in beside her. Meanwhile, a saboteur makes modifications to the circular saw as elsewhere in the shadowy corridors, a mad axeman awaits his moment .... John Sanders - Voodoo: This one's surprisingly dark. When one of his native workers is threatened by voodoo cultist, Port au Prince plantation owner Denniston unwisely intervenes. He and two of his men escape to the caves with the intended victim, but he's already turning zombie. The cultists smoke them out with marijuana fumes (!). Four "Dead men working in the cane fields" for the price of one.  John James
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Post by dem on Sept 4, 2015 18:44:27 GMT
M. S. Goodall - Banana Revenge: Algiers. Clive Barrington, snobbish big shot oil exec, publicly humiliates Mustapha, his fifteen year old general dogsbody, by sploshing him in face with a raspberry, fresh cream, and banana dish. As Barrington's toff chums chortle their approval, Mustapha utters a chilling curse, "one day soon you will die laughing." Back in London, Barrington learns to his cost that the sons of the desert are not to be trifled with. Tales Of The Crypt lite, but OK. Contains scenes of mild joke shop rubber scorpion abuse.
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Post by ripper on Sept 11, 2015 8:23:45 GMT
This sounds as if it is not too far removed in style of story from Chris Priestley's 'Tales of Terror' series...certainly closer to it than the Armadas. I think it will be going on my 'wants' list.
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Post by dem on Sept 11, 2015 8:45:25 GMT
This sounds as if it is not too far removed in style of story from Chris Priestley's 'Tales of Terror' series...certainly closer to it than the Armadas. I think it will be going on my 'wants' list. I've read maybe half of 'em so far, and those commented upon are fun for sure, but, unlike Mr. Priestley, the authors, perhaps understandably, almost invariably settle for the "happy" ending. Christopher Bendel's Ancient Lights for instance, is a variation on A Christmas Carol/ It's A Wonderful Life where-in a thoroughly dislikeable beastly cad of a young toff is shown the error of his ways when all you want is for him to cause more mayhem and die really horribly. |
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Post by ripper on Sept 11, 2015 16:47:44 GMT
Thanks for the clarification, Dem. I was hoping that the stories would be rather grimmer. I think CP has about the right balance of producing scares for the younger, without being too descriptive. Not easy a balance to achieve. I find the Armadas a tad too 'syrupy' at times, though I'm considering 'The Green Ghost' as a 'best of...'. I was hoping that 'Spinechilling Tales...' would provide some CP-style chills :-).
By the way, has anyone read anything by Hugh Scott? His books for children include 'A Ghost Waiting' and 'The Haunted Sand'.
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Post by dem on Sept 11, 2015 19:20:31 GMT
I'd certainly not wish to put anybody off Spinechilling Tales ... (or any other book for that matter). The Green Ghost is another decent selection. It helps that the vast majority of the stories are taken from the mid-late volumes of the Armada Ghost Books. If you've not tried them, Anthony Horowitz's Horrowitz Horrors, More Horowitz Horrors, and More Bloody Horowitz Horrors each contain some seriously spiky stories. He's not shy of a downer ending, that's for sure. |
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Post by ripper on Sept 12, 2015 9:34:57 GMT
Hi Dem...I still plan to buy a copy of Spinechilling Tales and also The Green Ghost. I have read a couple of Amadas not too long ago but they were earlier volumes. Thanks for the recommendations on the other series. I can imagine that authors of children's supernatural/horror fiction have a difficult balancing act in pitching the stories without getting too syrupy on the one hand and being too frightening on the other. I'm sure the last thing publishers want is to receive letters from irate parents complaining that their book scared their little Johnny half to death. But I think the best supernatural/horror fiction, as exemplified by Priestly and Westall among others, can also be very rewarding for an adult readership.
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Post by dem on Sept 12, 2015 18:18:08 GMT
But I think the best supernatural/horror fiction, as exemplified by Priestly and Westall among others, can also be very rewarding for an adult readership. I'd add Horowitz, John Gordon and Alison Prince, Ramsey Campbell's The Gruesome Book .... Also, if you've not tried them already, I reckon you'd get along fine with Mary Danby's Nightmares trilogy. |
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Post by ripper on Sept 13, 2015 12:32:00 GMT
The Horowitz anthologies are available from our county library stock so I have put in requests for them. I've read a few stories by Alison Prince but nothing as yet from John Gordon and Mary Danby's 'Nightmares' series, so I will be sure to check them out. Ta very much for the recommendations, Dem.
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