Philip Harbottle (ed.) - Fantasy Adventures # 13

[dem bones]

Philip Harbottle (ed.) - Fantasy Adventures # 13 (Cosmos Books, Wildside Press, 2008)

Ron Tumer

Philip Harbottle - Valedictory

Sydney Bounds - Plague Pit
Sydney Bounds - A Time for Contact
Sydney Bounds - The Second Victim
Sydney Bounds - In the Frame
Sydney Bounds - Guinea Pigs
Sydney Bounds - Serpent Dancer
Sydney Bounds - A Fool Forever
Philip Harbottle - Remembering Syd Bounds
Philip E High - This World is Ours
Philip E High - The Blackmailer
Philip E High - The Re-Conquest of Earth
Philip E High - The Wishing Stone
Philip Harbottle - Remembering Phil High
Eric Brown - The Sin of Edward Veron
Eric Brown - Op Day
Eric Brown - Uncertain World
John Glasby - Aunt Amelia
John Glasby - Village Life
John Glasby - The Martian Enigma
E. C. Tubb - Sleeve of Care
Brian Ball - Seeing Flynn
Tony Glynn - Mystery at Moon Lane
Tony Glynn - Fir Gorta
Antonio Bellomi - The Broken Sequence
John Russell Fearn - Prisoner of Time

Blurb:
PIT OF THE DAMNED!

"He went down six feet, ten, twenty; and suddenly there were bones, skeletons jumbled in a pile, intermingled as if in a grotesque dance macabre. Pike stared, suddenly chilled when he thought one skull was staring back at him.
This view lasted only a fraction of a minute and then slowly changed. A ghostly blue light seeped up from the ground and the stench became over-powering. The skeletons now wore ribbons of flesh and reared up, fighting and shrieking, bony arms reaching up towards those above."

The late SYDNEY J. BOUNDS vivid new story PLAGUE PIT tells the horrifying story of what happens when an out-of-control modern technology meshes with an Ancient Evil, and is the first of several all-new stories by the much-loved master of fantasy leading off this special collection of science fiction, fantasy and supernatural stories including:

THIS WORLD IS OURS, a bizarre tale of the future by the late PHILIP E. HIGH, another great writer who is no longer with us. Published for the first time are some of his last new stories.

PRISONER OF TIME, an engrossing short novel of the weird consequences of a scientist's revenge by JOHN RUSSELL FEARN.
SLEEVE OF CARE, a classic chilling fantasy by E. C. Tubb.

Plus many other entirely new stories by BRIAN BALL, ANTONIO BELLOMI, ERIC BROWN, JOHN GLASBY, TONY GLYNN

Sydney J. Bounds - Plague Pit: One of Syd's final stories, published posthumously by his friend, editor, collaborator and agent - who also contributes touching and informative tributes to Syd and fellow veteran Philip E. High - Plague Pit reads like a 'fifties Sci-Horror B-movie gem in miniature.

Local reporter Ken Pike suspects that Dr. Audric, mad scientist, has hit upon a new earth-shattering discovery and resolves to break the story. He finally has opportunity to penetrate Medici Clinic security following a train derailment at nearby Porlake. As the staff attend the multiple casualties, Pike heads for the lab, but soon turns back when the patients take to butchering all in their path. Dr. Audric's hush-hush advances in micro-surgery - "He insert(ed) his nano-machines into patients’ bodies - quite illegal, of course - to treat whatever was wrong with them" - are miraculous for sure; rather than restore the maimed and dying, it transforms them into blood lusting zombies.

Henry Raymond, Ministry bigwig, always argued that building on a plague pit was asking for trouble, and suggests an excavation, after which he'll have Porlake nuked before the contagion wipes out humanity. Pike survives the inevitable onslaught of cannibal skeletons and jumps a train. If he can only reach the continent he'll sell the dirt to the highest bidder.

Screams from along the carriage ....

Sydney J. Bounds - Second Victim: Reminiscent of his work for the Fontana Horror/ Frighteners series'.

The Master is dead - murdered by persons or persons unknown in his penthouse flat - and Simon Borley fancies stepping into his shoes, ridding the coven of it's hanger-on element like speccy, pimple face Paul, and all those other losers.

To this end, he hires the services of Helen, a middle aged medium who reeks of gin, to conduct a seance in the room of the deceased. The Master duly materialises, agrees to help Simon attain wealth, babe's galore, command over all men ...

And then Simon ill-advisedly demands a demonstration of his power ...

Sydney J. Bounds - In The Frame: Handsome race ace Jeff Harbin survives a car smash, but his spine is mangled. Dr. Chen is delighted; at last, an opportunity to test the prototype for the Babbington-Peters walking frame, guaranteed to "turn cripples into supermen!" As with all great inventions, one must expect a few teething troubles. Harbin fails to appreciate the frame's Iron Maiden qualities.

I don't think Syd was a great lover of leather jackets, they always portend trouble in his stories.

[dem bones]

John Glasby - Aunt Amelia: Suffocating in a dead-end job, James gratefully accepts his Aunt's invitation to stay at her tumbledown cottage in the country. It's been twenty years since last he saw her, but she's not aged a day. Amelia Dexter lives alone - Perkins, her manservant of three decades loyal service , having vanished mysteriously - and is a creature of curious habits. At night, when she thinks James is asleep, Aunt Amelia creeps down to the cemetery for reasons only known to herself, and she spends the days taking brass rubbing at the village church, except the floor plaques commemorating Sir Roger & Lady Elwyn de Courtney "keep moving." James suspects the key to the mystery is locked away in the cellar ....

Sydney J. Bounds - A Time For Contact: The three man crew of the prospecting ship, Hunter, discover an alien probe adrift in an asteroid belt. Mission control on Mars order them to leave it for the scientists, but Captain Maurey allows avarice to get the better of him.

Sydney J. Bounds - Guinea Pigs: It is THE FUTURE again. The vast majority of the population are consigned to the impoverished, crime-ridden slum-cities, imprisoned behind an electrical fence so as not to offend society's winners. Tim Wilson, high-flying executive at Pharmacie, is flavour of the month with the board, having signed globally popular champion hurdler Johnny Nelson to endorse performance enhancing drug, Andiphor. But when Johnny dies, Wilson carries the can and is thrown onto welfare. How will he survive among the losers? Is there no way back for him in the pharmaceutical industry?

[dem bones]

Brian Ball - Seeing Flynn: Here's a bonus. A nasty Welsh ghost story from the author of vampire classic, The Venomous Serpent. Seven year old Jamie swears he's seen his father, Frank Flynn, wandering in the churchyard, trademark bottle of Jameson in his hand, but his vicious Gran won't hear such of nonsense. Everyone knows that Flynn drowned when The Manx Castle went down off Hollyhead. Meanwhile, strange disturbances at the graveside of local lass, Blodwen Hughes. It takes years, but Jamie eventually works out the connection.

Sydney J. Bounds - A Fool Forever: A gentle Tarot fantasy. The fool confounds the Hanged Man, Death, the Tower Struck By Lightening & Co. with his sunny disposition and winning stupidity.

These seven stories, written when Syd knew he was dying of cancer, comprise his last works of fantasy fiction. Phil Harbottle's Remembering Syd Bounds, is, quite simply, a beautifully written tribute to a true genre-hopping pulp great.

John Glasby - Village Life: Kilmaree is a fishing village so obscure it doesn't feature on any map, the perfect bolt-hole for James Corey, who recently bumped off a former partner in crime for threatening to testify against him. But, a lack of flesh-eating ghouls to the contrary, Kilmaree has a touch of the Loughville's about it, and once entered, it is impossible to leave.

[dem bones]

Phil Harbottle has compiled a budget Fantasy Adventures mega-pack for Kindle Am*z*n.

Philip Harbottle (ed.) - The Science-Fantasy Megapack: 25 Classic Tales from Fantasy Adventures (Wildside, 2013)

Philip Harbottle - Introduction

Brian Ball - The Call of the Grave
Brian Ball - The Warlord of Kul Satu
Antonio Bellomi - The Broken Sequence
Sydney J. Bounds - Final Contact
Sydney J. Bounds - Sunskimmer
Sydney J. Bounds - A Time for Contact
David Somers [Sydney J. Bounds] - Writer for Hire
Eric Brown - The Tapestry of Time
Eric Brown - Uncertain World
Frederick H. Christian - I'll Kiss You Goodnight
Andrew Darlington - Assassin
John Russell Fearn - Prisoner of Time
John S. Glasby - The House on the Moors
John S. Glasby - The Martian Enigma
A. J. Merak [John S. Glasby] - Nightfall on Ronan
Philip E. High - The Drainpipe
Philip E. High - The Gunman
Philip E. High - The Wishing Stone
Gordon Landsborough [L. G. Holmes] - Something in the Air
E. C. Tubb - The Dilettantes
E. C. Tubb - Emergency Exit
E. C. Tubb - The Greater Ideal
E. C. Tubb - You Go
Peter Oldale - Sea Change
Eric C. Williams - Brides for Mars

About the Authors

[dem bones]

Recently learned of the legends of the Fear Gorta and Feat Gortach via Ann O'Regan's story and article, The Hunger, in The Spooky Isles Book of Horror. Wondered if there were any more stories relating to either or both? Taken by it's title, Peter Tremayne's The Hungry Grass is a contender, but I've not got a copy. Happily, there's also this!

Tony Glynn - Fir Gorta: "This bit of the field is a Famine Graveyard. About the only humane act of old Lord Hugh D'Albert in the Great Famine was to allow it to be used for the burial of his starved tenants. There's an old, old story clinging to such places. If you walk on a Famine Grave, you'll become a victim of the Fir Gorta. Some say its a stark warning that the Great Famine must never be forgotten and those of a religious complexion will say its a reminder of the gospels' instructions to feed the hungry."

Having ingratiated himself with the regulars at the village pub, Mr. Criswell, American moneybags, announces that he is buying what's left of 'the big house' and lands which he plans to restore to former glory. This is fine - until, researching his Irish ancestry, he is delighted a link to an 18th Century Lord of the manor, and appends 'D'Albert' to his surname. Henceforth he is ostracised by an entire community whose ancestor's lay a curse on the D'Albert family, retaliation for Lord Hugh's treatment of his tenants during Famine, evicting families from their homes to die in the fields. The curse is still potent.

[Dr Strange]

Jun 1, 2021 6:52:56 GMT dem bones said:

Recently learned of the legends of the Fear Gorta and Feat Gortach via Ann O'Regan's story and article, The Hunger, in The Spooky Isles Book of Horror. Wondered if there were any more stories relating to either or both?

I am reminded of a horror novel I read years ago. It was set in present day Ireland, I think with the usual "couple of townies move into an old abandoned cottage in the countryside" set-up. All I really remember about it now was that there were these "shapes" seen crawling about in the fields at night, which turned out to be ghosts of people who had been reduced to eating grass during the famine. I've tried to track it down, but got nowhere. I did find a reference to a YA novel that sounds similar, Black Harvest by Ann Pilling, but I am pretty sure that isn't what I read.

[cauldronbrewer]

Jun 1, 2021 12:01:34 GMT Dr Strange said:

I am reminded of a horror novel I read years ago. It was set in present day Ireland, I think with the usual "couple of townies move into an old abandoned cottage in the country side" set-up. All I really remember about it now was that there were these "shapes" seen crawling about in the fields at night, which turned out to be ghosts of people who had been reduced to eating grass during the famine. I've tried to track it down, but got nowhere. I did find a reference to a YA novel that sounds similar, Black Harvest by Ann Pilling, but I am pretty sure that isn't what I read.

Could this be Cast a Cold Eye by Alan Ryan?

[Dr Strange]

Jun 1, 2021 12:17:30 GMT cauldronbrewer said:

Jun 1, 2021 12:01:34 GMT Dr Strange said:

I am reminded of a horror novel I read years ago. It was set in present day Ireland, I think with the usual "couple of townies move into an old abandoned cottage in the country side" set-up. All I really remember about it now was that there were these "shapes" seen crawling about in the fields at night, which turned out to be ghosts of people who had been reduced to eating grass during the famine.

Could this be Cast a Cold Eye by Alan Ryan?

Yup, that's the one! Cheers CB! There's a good review here, and it kinda makes me want to read it again (but I don't have it anymore). Reading the review brought some more memories back to me. I think it was very "slow burn" and I got a bit bored with it, though some of the imagery obviously stuck with me.

This is the cover I remember -

[cauldronbrewer]

Jun 1, 2021 12:27:15 GMT Dr Strange said:

Jun 1, 2021 12:17:30 GMT cauldronbrewer said:

Could this be Cast a Cold Eye by Alan Ryan?

Yup, that's the one! Cheers CB! There's a good review here, and it kinda makes me want to read it again (but I don't have it anymore). Reading the review brought some more memories back to me. I think it was very "slow burn" and I got a bit bored with it, though some of the imagery obviously stuck with me.

That was about my take. I found it a sleepy but likable ghost story.

The review also mentions a Ryan novel about evil clowns menacing a snowbound town (Dead White) that's tempted me in the past, but I've never gotten around to reading it.

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

Jun 1, 2021 12:17:30 GMT cauldronbrewer said:

Jun 1, 2021 12:01:34 GMT Dr Strange said:

I am reminded of a horror novel I read years ago. It was set in present day Ireland, I think with the usual "couple of townies move into an old abandoned cottage in the country side" set-up. All I really remember about it now was that there were these "shapes" seen crawling about in the fields at night, which turned out to be ghosts of people who had been reduced to eating grass during the famine. I've tried to track it down, but got nowhere. I did find a reference to a YA novel that sounds similar, Black Harvest by Ann Pilling, but I am pretty sure that isn't what I read.

Could this be Cast a Cold Eye by Alan Ryan?

That must be a quote from Under Ben Bulben by the great Irish poet W. B. Yeats. His poetry is marvellous. Such striking imagery.

Under bare Ben Bulben's head

In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid,

An ancestor was rector there

Long years ago; a church stands near,

By the road an ancient Cross.

No marble, no conventional phrase,

On limestone quarried near the spot

By his command these words are cut:



Cast a cold eye

On life, on death.

Horseman, pass by!


It seems as good a place as any to rest I think.

sligotourism.ie/listing/4045-2/


Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

[dem bones]

From reading an interview with Phil Harbottle in (I think ?) a very early Paperback Fanatic, I got the impression that Fantasy Universe was primarily SF orientated. Maybe #13 is a one-off, as it most certainly does not lack for ghost and horror stories.

Tony Glynn - Mystery in Moon Lane: Did a London PC, searching for survivors after a German attack on St. Giles over Christmas, 1940, rescue a ghost? And what is the connection with Septimus Dacer, a Victorian Detective who vanished while investigating the laboratory of M. Auguste Duclois, sane mad scientist?

John Glasby - Aunt Amelia: On her invitation, James moves to Twyford to live with a reclusive aunt he's not seen or heard from in twenty years. Much to his disappointment, Amelia Dexter has not noticeably aged in the interim, nor is there indication of ill-health - it could be several years before he sees any inheritance. So many mysteries. James wonders at Miss Dexter's lack of concern over the sudden disappearance of Jenkins, her manservant of several decades faithful service. What to make of the surreptitious nocturnal trips to the local churchyard to commune with the dead? and why the sudden obsession with taking brass rubbings in the church without the vicar's knowledge?

[dem bones]

Sleep, sweet sleep, to knit the ravelled —

E. C. Tubb - Sleeve of Care: (Authentic SF Monthly #66, Feb. 1956; as by 'Ken Wainwrigh'). Sam Henricks, PI, is hired by Mrs. Johnson to find her missing husband, Jud, 56, a quiet, diligent man of conservative habits and no known vices. Henricks marvels at the frequency with which the likes of unadventurous Mr. J inexplicably vanish without trace. Is there more to it than fed-up people abdicating their responsibilities?