Robert Weinberg - Far Below

[dem bones]

Robert Weinberg (ed..) - Far Below & Other Horrors (Fax, 1974)

Cover: Lee Brown Coye

Introduction - Robert Weinberg

Robert Barbour Johnson - Far Below
Julius Long - The Execution Of Lucarno
G. G. Pendarves - Thing Of Darkness
Mary E. Counselman - The Accursed Isle
Merle Prout - Masquerade
Mindret Lord - Naked Lady
Robert E. Howard - Out Of The Deep
Earl Pierce, jnr - Doom Of The House Of Duryea
Seabury Quinn - The Chapel Of Mystic Horror
J. Wesley Rosenquest - Return To Death
Robert Nelson - Under The Tomb

Wonderfully entertaining selection, most of the stories having originated in Weird Tales: The title story features a tribe of ghastly horrors who lurk beneath the city and bear a striking physical resemblance to a well known artist's model. Quinn's The Chapel Of Mystic Horror is disappointingly sensible until the Knights Templar are revived and charge down the main street to have a punch up with the police. De Grandin succeeds in vanquishing them. The Accursed Isle, which also showed up in the Not At Night series, sees the survivors of a shipwreck possessed in turn by some kind of murderous demon. More vampire fun and games in Doom Of The House Of Duryea.

Harold S. De Lay Far Below, Weird Tales, June-July 1939.

Robert Barbour Johnson - Far Below: New York. From dusk 'til dawn a special unit of ten men led by Inspector Craig patrol the subway under Manhattan, as they have done for quarter of a century since the "giant, carrion feeding, subterranean molemen" derailed a train and ate six of the passengers, maiming several others, leading to a huge cover-up by the authorities. But the longer a man works down there, the more he takes on the characteristics of the underground-dwellers and one of the special detail has already been gunned down when the change overtook him. Craig knows that his days too, are almost numbered.

Obviously inspired by a scene in Pickman's Model - Inspector Craig even name-checks Lovecraft and boasts of having given him a tour of the tunnels!

J. Wesley Rosenquest - Return To Death: A scientist, feared by superstitious Transylvanian villagers, suffers an attack of catalepsy. He's on the verge of being buried alive when he sits up in his coffin. Fortunately, the mountain folk know a vampire when they see one .....

Earl Pierce, jnr - Doom Of The House Of Duryea: Father and son are reunited after twenty years following the death of Aunt Cecilia who insisted on their being kept apart when the father was accused of draining the blood of two of his children, a family taint going back five generations. Dad demands of his boy that he ties him to the bed to prevent him going walkabout in his sleep. Darkness falls ....

Mary E. Counselman - The Accursed Isle: When their boat goes down, seven Americans with little in common are washed up on a desert island. On their first night, the watch is savagely killed, someone or something tearing out his throat. As their number is whittled down, it becomes apparent that one of them is the killer although, as Dr. Kenshaw points out, it's likely that the man responsible is unaware of his actions. Eventually only two of the seven remain alive, the doctor and family man Landers, each of them tortured by the possibility that it is they who harbour cannibalistic urges. A ship approaches the island ...

Mindret Lord - Naked Lady: Jeremiah Von Orton, aging millionaire and art collector, commissions the talented but obscure Michael Bonze to paint a nude portrait of his faithless, gold-digging young wife, using Gilda Ransome as the model as she is a dead ringer for Mrs. Von Orton. In the paint he must agree to mix samples of her hair, nail-clippings & co., as, unknown to Bonze, the portrait is to serve the purpose of a voodoo doll.

[redbrain]

This is a great anthology. I bought it when it first appeared - and then sold it, years later, when I was strapped for cash. A couple of years ago I bought it again from a Coldtonnage catalogue. I was astonished to find that the copy from Coldtonnage was marked with a monogram with which I used to mark books in the 70s. I had re-bought my original copy!

[dem bones]

Now there's a happy ending that doesn't make me vomit . What are the chances, eh?

Weinberg's a great editor and if your tastes run to the less celebrated Weird Tales and/ or shudder pulps you're guaranteed a good time with his collections. A real nice guy, too. When I was putting together the Gruesome Cargoes board I asked if it would be OK to use his scans of the Not At Night dust-jackets. Not only did he give his consent - to a complete stranger with no track record whatsoever - he wrote a little message of support. I'll always be grateful to him for that. A class act, is Robert Weinberg.

[doug]

"Thing of Darkness" by Mrs. Pendarves was my favorite story in the entire collection. It was exactly what I was wanting at the time I was reading it. Great Cornish location. Scary house with even scarier supernatural threat. good characters for a pulp story. It impressed me enough to cough up the dough for the Midnight House Pendarves collection. And I usualy don't put out so much for a collection. Especialy when I'm basing my entire opinion on one story. I can say that it was money well spent.
The Seabury Quinn story was also a hoot. I've only read a few "Jules de Gradin" stories but so far they've all been fairly enjoyable, if maybe a little formaliac (is that even a word?).

BTW, my copy is the Wildside Press reprint.

I'm a huge REH fan, but I've always found most of his horror stories overwrought. "Out of the Deep" is a pleasant suprise. I found it very suspenseful and even if it did have a Howardian two fisted hero, REH managed to keep his enthusiasm in check. Drowned local boy washes back up on the beach of his home town and all hell breaks loose. Good fun!

take care.
Doug