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Post by dem bones on Mar 27, 2016 12:24:01 GMT
A. Finnis (ed.) - Point Horror: 13 Again (Scholastic, 1995) Laurence Staig - Anjelica's Room
Susan Price - Foxgloves
Malcolm Rose - The Ultimate Assassin
Garry Kilworth - The Rattan Collar
David Belbin - Boomerang
Maresa Morgan - The Delinquent
Lisa Tuttle - The Ghost Trap
Philip Gross - Close Cut
Colin Greenland - Grandma
John Gordon - Vampire In Venice
Stan Nicholls - Picking Up The Tab
Graham Masterton - Evidence Of Angels
Dennis Hamley - Hospital TrustBlurb: The Nightmare Continues!
Just when you thought it was safe to pick up a book again, here are thirteen more tales of horror to thrill, chill and terrify ...
Tremble as you hurry with Sean along the riverbank one hot, dark night ... who, or what, is following him?
Take a deep breath and join Tara in her tiny sanctuary ... but expect to find it infinitely too close for comfort ...
Peel back the secret of Anjelica's room ... and shiver at the gruesome truth hidden underneath ...
Accept the invitation at your own risk, but these thirteen spine-chillers promise fear you dare not resist. Lock your doors and prepare for a truly horrible read ...Are they all like this? To date have avoided this franchise with a contempt usually reserved for Top Gear annuals/ Thatcher hagiographies/ a Playgirl Ian Duncan Smith special/ anything by Anne Rice, etc., but three stories into Thirteen Again and I'm wondering if we've a mid-nineties equivalent of Mary Danby's Nightmares on our hands. Liza Tuttle - The Ghost Trap: "You see, there's a ghost in this house that looks exactly like you". Never meet your heroes. The Warburton family are holidaying in Lincolnshire. From the train, Antonia is delighted to recognise the twin gargoyles of Teind House, the setting for her favourite horror author, Mark Eglinton's most terrifying story, The Ghost Trap. So it actually exists! Laura, her little miss common-sense sister, tends to pooh-pooh all this "supernatural" nonsense ("People have seen Elvis shopping in Safeway - that doesn't mean it happened."), and tries to dissuade Antonia from paying Eglinton a visit - it's not like he's Stephen King or anything. Would that Antonia had listened! The author is a creep with a fondness for teenage girls and worse, he claims Teind House is haunted by ghosts of the living - one of whom is the likeness of Antonia right down to the anorak and jeans. He'll show her if she likes. Antonia wisely legs it but a gloating Engleton assures her that she'll return one of these nights whether she fancies it or not. Thereafter, Antonia's dreams are haunted by the unhappy spectre of herself. Eventually she confides in sensible Laura who agrees they must sneak into Tiend House after dark and confront the apparition on its own turf .... John Gordon - Vampire In Venice: Evidently they can cross running water - plenty of it. Teenage pals Gemma and Jane are touring Europe. Jane is frightfully put out that last night in a Florence, Gemma drank too much wine at a restaurant and suffered herself to be chatted up by a waiter - at least, that's what the swarthy so-and-so looked like in his dark suit. She even allowed him to kiss her neck. How disgusting! Gemma recalls nothing of the incident, save that the handsome chap has promised to see her again when she arrives in Venice. No sooner have the girls arrive at their destination, than a couple of local lads try their luck, only to lose interest when Jane's cut finger bleeds copiously onto a sandwich, which, the moment her friend's back is turned, Gemma wolfs down. That night, true to his word, the "waiter" visits Gemma in her hotel room. Both turn their attention to the sleeping Jane. See how her lovely jugular vein pulses just so in the moonlight! Garry Kilworth - The Rattan Collar: "You shouldn't have found out - you shouldn't have meddled - now you must pay". On arriving home from Borneo, Jack Hammond, anthropologist, rolls up unannounced at brother Harry's sheep farm with a new pet - Tippo, the pot-bellied pig. Their visit coincides with a series of inexplicable disasters which affect the family finances to the extent that they face eviction. The adults fail to make the connection but Ruth and David are on the ball: Tippo is demoniacally possessed and only an ancient native fire ceremony will cleanse the farm of evil!
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Post by dem bones on Mar 28, 2016 19:31:24 GMT
Another good 'un. I'm impressed.
Maresa Morgan - The Delinquent: On the death of parents she never cared for, Tara Prince, sadistic bully and casual criminal, stands to gain a fortune on her eighteenth birthday. Problem is, she's spend the intervening two years in a maximum security detention centre having just been sentenced for almost killing an old woman during a burglary. It's no joy ride. Tara is singled out for special treatment by the other delinquents who detest her on sight. She's kicked, tripped, sploshed with porridge and beaten up on a regular basis until she can take no more. When a deadly strain of measles does for two of the girls, Tara persuades the kindly old black caretaker to help her escape by concealing her in a coffin with one of the victims. The plan is for Mason to dig her up once the undertakers have left the cemetery. What could possibly go right?
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Post by bluetomb on Apr 7, 2016 12:48:54 GMT
I remember reading Thirteen: 13 Tales of Horror (1991) and 13 More Tales of Horror back when I was 8 or 9. Or at least a good smattering of the stories within, it was before I was in the habit of always reading everything in an anthology and I don't recall being totally impressed by their hit rate. Looking over the names, Collect Call (Christopher Pike) and Dedicated to the One I Love (Diane Hoh) stand out from the first collection, J.R.E. Ponsford (Graham Masterton) from the latter. The Hoh and Masterton were good nasty supernatural revenge stuff. Some of the other names bring back a sort of whisper of familiarity but they don't have anything solid attached.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 11, 2016 8:07:03 GMT
I remember reading Thirteen: 13 Tales of Horror (1991) and 13 More Tales of Horror back when I was 8 or 9. Or at least a good smattering of the stories within, it was before I was in the habit of always reading everything in an anthology and I don't recall being totally impressed by their hit rate. Looking over the names, Collect Call (Christopher Pike) and Dedicated to the One I Love (Diane Hoh) stand out from the first collection, J.R.E. Ponsford (Graham Masterton) from the latter. The Hoh and Masterton were good nasty supernatural revenge stuff. Some of the other names bring back a sort of whisper of familiarity but they don't have anything solid attached. Would certainly pick up these earlier volumes should they show up in any of my regular haunts. Malcolm Rose - The Ultimate Assassin: Charing X station, late at night. An MP, notorious on account of his back-stabbing, inexplicably steps off a platform in front of the incoming train. Thirteen year old Kate knows instinctively that it was the thin man in a raincoat willed him to do so. She and her family are travelling to Edinburgh to meet Dr. Stead, the brilliant psychiatrist they hope will finally rid her of her affliction; Kate is so unusually receptive to the silent emotions of others as to hear them as a constant din in her ears. The deadly mesmerist knows that Kate is onto him which won't do at all. She and her family must be eliminated! Soon a somnambulant Kate is attempting to jump from the train, only for a vigilant guard to save her. But how long can her luck hold? For me, 'The Ultimate Assassin' is the stand-out of the 13. Great opening scene on platform features obligatory monosyllabic skinhead giving everyone the stares and a splendid wino. Dennis Hamley - Hospital Trust: Like so many before him, Morley Cartwright learns to his cost that speaking out versus Dr. Grout, a supremely incompetent locum, is most certainly not in a patient's best interests. Under cover of a mysterious fog, Cartwright is whisked away to St. Sebastian's for a check up. Cryogenics, MAD SURGEONS, medical malpractice, macabre jokes, etc. Stan Nicholls - Picking Up The Tab: A suicide on a railway bridge. The leaper, Mr. Craig Lambert, stockbroker, belatedly learned that MONEY is pure EVIL, and THEY, the age-old enemy, are out to get us all. Unfortunately, he confided as much to Adam Ferguson, luckless sixth former, moments before his death. Adam soon discovers that Mr. Lambert's "paranoid delusions" were anything but, when the Fergusons are targeted by a second, dominant species, resentful at sharing a planet with puny humans. THE THEM are shape-shifters, feared throughout history as angels and demons, vampires and werewolves, Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, and the technological age has provided them with the means by which to to destroy the ancient enemy - hideously inflated household bills. With Det. Inspector Ingram convinced that Adam mugged Lambert and pushed him to his death, our beleaguered friend turns to his old maths master, Cyrus Archer, for help. Will Archer's expertise in matters folklore and the occult be enough to conquer this most evil face of CAPITALISM? Talk about preparing the youngsters for the nightmare that is adulthood. |
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Post by dem bones on Nov 4, 2018 12:49:14 GMT
T. Pines [ed.] - Thirteen: 13 Tales of Horror (Scholastic, 1991) T. Pines - Introduction
Christopher Pike - Collect Call
Lael Littke - Lucinda
Jay Bennett -The Guccioli Miniature
D.E. Athkins - Blood Kiss
Patricia Windsor - A Little Taste of Death
Carol Ellis - The Doll
J.B. Stamper - House of Horrors
Caroline B. Cooney - Where the Deer Are
R.L. Stine - The Spell
Diane Hoh - Dedicated to the One I Love
Sinclair Smith - Hacker
A. Bates - Deathflash
Ellen Emerson White - The Boy Next DoorBlurb: Can you face your worst nightmare? These thirteen horror stories guarantee to chill you to the bone.
Read about the mysterious Black Walker and discover his grim secret.
Shiver in fevered anticipation as Mark enters the House of Horrors, perhaps for the last time ...
And uncover the truth of the murderer who leaves a message on his victim's computer before he leaps in for the kill.
Each tale draws you further into a web of horror exquisitely woven by thirteen master storytellers. Prepare to be terrified!I remember reading Thirteen: 13 Tales of Horror (1991) and 13 More Tales of Horror back when I was 8 or 9. Or at least a good smattering of the stories within, it was before I was in the habit of always reading everything in an anthology and I don't recall being totally impressed by their hit rate. Looking over the names, Collect Call (Christopher Pike) and Dedicated to the One I Love (Diane Hoh) stand out from the first collection, J.R.E. Ponsford (Graham Masterton) from the latter. The Hoh and Masterton were good nasty supernatural revenge stuff. Some of the other names bring back a sort of whisper of familiarity but they don't have anything solid attached. Was disgustingly made up to land a copy of the first volume for 50p at Sclater Street this morning. Particularly looking forward to the C. Pike, J.B. Stamper, D. Hoh, and L. Littke (our Lady of the Prom Dress). To-Read list now restored to healthy totally unreasonable glory, but this one may jump queue: I've a long coach trip scheduled for next month if it fancies a day out to the seaside.
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Post by andydecker on Nov 4, 2018 16:49:22 GMT
Never could stand Stine, which even for YA I thought too simple. But Pike wrote some very good novels, until he lost steam.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 9, 2018 21:11:21 GMT
Off to a good start with this pair. Proper 'horror' endings, too, if you get my meaning.
J.B. Stamper - House of Horrors: Nasty episode in the wax museum. Mark, chief usher, and Lisa, library tour guide, dupe a new employee into remaining behind after lock up for a "staff party." It takes a nervy tour of the premises for Mark to realise that he's been stitched up. The young man is nervous around the gruesome models at the best of times and this ain't one of them. It's the model of the blonde vampire woman freaks him out the most - funny how he never noticed her before. Footsteps follow him down to the cellar dungeon. Maybe his spiteful colleagues have had their fun for the night, returned to let him out.
Diane Hoh - Dedicated to the One I Love: Furious on discovering randy college heart-throb Richie Creek has been three-timing each of them, pals Marla, Carrie and Lee swear to get even. A brazen Richie decides he's had enough of this town, time to move on. To show what good sports they are, the girls offer him a lift to the airport. The plan is to abandon him at the swamp so he'll miss his plane, but Richie's tie gets caught in the door as they pull away. Marla's been driving some distance before Lee noticed they're dragging a human hamburger. Rather than report what happened, the girls dispose of the thing that doesn't look like pretty boy Richie any more in the slimy depths.
But now a mystery admirer is calling the Bobby Gee show on Kool-98, dedicating grimly ironic love songs to each girl in turn ....
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Post by dem bones on Nov 15, 2018 22:36:27 GMT
Lael Littke - Lucinda: Lucinda threw herself in the lake following a row with boyfriend Brandon at the Graduation party. By the time she'd decided drowning wasn't such a great idea, it was too late. A tragic case of attention seeking gone too far, or did someone, or something drag her under?
Six years of intensive therapy later, Brandon returns home with his sixteen-year-old sister. Severe drought has since drained Lake Isadora dry, revealing the remains of the old town, sacrificed when a dam was erected as a conservation measure. Somewhere among the ruins rest Lucinda's bones. It's in a third party's interests that they are never recovered.
Author evidently has a fondness for doing away with young women in red dresses.
Sinclair Smith - Hacker: Violet stays late at the Community College to impress dishy computer tutor, Mr. Umberto. Meanwhile prolific serial killer 'Hacker' ("everyone's favourite cut up!") composes another of his dreadful verses ...
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Post by dem bones on Nov 26, 2018 17:56:37 GMT
Carol Ellis - The Doll: The Rodgers family move into an old Victorian home. Abby, sixteen, overcomes her claustrophobia to explore the attic: she just knows there's something great up there waiting for her to root out - and so it proves. An antique doll in a coffin-shaped box. Shame the blue eyes are jammed open and creepy, but Abby is otherwise delighted with her find. Until ...
A series of "accidents" befall her closest friends. Erin takes a header downstairs. A glass lamp near brains Holly. Little sister narrowly escapes cremation when the tree house goes up in flames. Worst of it is, Abby dreamt of these near tragedies before they occurred. Common factors in these nightmares are a disembodied hand and a ghost with a ghastly chuckle.
The final premonition is the nastiest yet as it involves Abby's hunky boyfriend, Mark Helpern. Perhaps she should call off their date? Too late, he's already set out in his flashy sports car ...
Jay Bennett -The Guccioli Miniature: Venice. A ragged stranger prevails upon American tourist Jerry Moore to buy a superior 'copy' of the priceless Guccioli miniature for a paltry $10. It is, of course, the original, famously stolen from the Pitti gallery. So why is this shady fellow desperate to offload it for a pittance? The portrait is cursed. The ghost of Lord Byron's lover torments Jerry to the brink of madness until he's forced to take extreme protective measures.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 23, 2019 16:09:45 GMT
A Finnis (ed.) - 13 More Tales of Horror (Scholastic, 1994) Susan Price - The Cat-Dogs
Diane Hoh - The Piano
Malcolm Rose - The Devil's Footprints
Stan Nicholls - Softies
Garry Kilworth - The House That Jack Built
Colin Greenland - The Station With No Name
Philip Pulman - Something To Read
Jill Bennett - Killing Time
Graham Masterton - J.R.E. Ponsford
David Belbin - The Buyers
Chris Westwood - Closeness
Margaret Bingley - The Ring
John Gordon - Bone MealBlurb: The Nightmare Returns!
A terrifying journey into horror - thirteen more tales guaranteed to fill you with fear.
What are the mysterious creatures stalking the woods at night, and who will be their next prey? A chilling game of cat and mouse.
Who is the mysterious party guest in the frighteningly real costume? Every breath he takes is death.
Isn't it lucky that the beautiful ring is so cheap? It's all she wants for her birthday. Only this gift drives Kate out of her mind...
Thirteen master storytellers invite you on a roller coaster ride through the imagination. How much terror can you take? Graham Masterton - J.R.E. Ponsford: Bullied, beaten up and racially abused by Benson and his upper class cronies, Keiran O'Sullivan summons the ghost of the greatest cricketer Heaton (Harrow?) Public School ever produced to take them out. Aboriginal voodoo, proper violence, busted skulls, etc. Another for the Sport is supernatural file. Margaret Bingley - The Ring: Kate has never craved anything so strongly as the gold band in the window of a mysterious pop-up antique shop, but no way will her paltry sixteenth birthday money cover it. Or so she thinks. The devilishly handsome proprietor practically gives it to her for £20, but warns that there may be an additional cost. Kate soon she realises that, while she's wearing the ring, she can hear the deeply unpleasant thoughts of her family and supposed "friends" ..... Malcolm Rose - The Devil's Footprints: Dawlish, February 8th 2004. Darren hosts a fancy dress party for his school mates. Disastrously, it coincides with the 150th anniversary of the Devil's last visit to Devon in 1855. The gatecrasher in the goat mask first destroys eminently fanciable Kelly, works through entire guest list including Super Mario, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Batman and Robin, a fairy and an amorous Monk, etc. Fans of reeking yellow vomit are in luck.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 24, 2019 6:48:57 GMT
Several months exhaustive research (trans. I read a Wiki entry) has established the 13 series ran to three volumes. They are very recommended! Diane Hoh - The Piano: Now that she's exhausted her late husband's fortune, beautiful but bone idle Sally has resolved that her seventeen-year-old stepdaughter will become a rich concert pianist if it kills her. Laura is resentful of spending her every waking hour at the keyboard - until the murderously protective piano begins to communicate with her via snatches of melody from her favourite songs (the Beatles, Ricky Vallance & Co.). Philip Pullman - Something To Read: "Did you think I'd enjoy dancing with you. Touching you, perhaps? Squirming and writhing and grunting. Do you think I want to look like those people? No, thank you. I'd rather die." Annabel, fourteen-year-old superiority complex on legs, storms out of the school disco, breaks into the swimming pool to read her library book in peace. Annabel is soon made uncomfortably aware that she is neither alone nor welcome. Recently picked up a few Point Horror novels. A. Bates - Mother's Helper (Scholastic, 1992) Blurb: Becky can hardly believe her luck when she's offered a job as mother's helper on a holiday island. She can work on her tan and earn money at the same time. It's the perfect holiday job, or so Becky thinks.
But then the accidents start to happen, and the frightening phone calls begin. Suddenly Becky's island paradise seems more like a prison, and her dream job is turning into a nightmare. Mother's helper is going to need all the help she can get. Caroline B. Cooney - Freeze Tag (Scholastic, 1993) Blurb: Meghan and West, girl and boy next door, play an innocent game of Freeze Tag with their neighbour Lannie. But Freeze Tag is no ordinary game… when Lannie is playing. For when she tags someone, they really do freeze-like an ice blue statue-like death.
One that same day, ice hearted Lannie extracts a horrible promise from Handsome West: “You must always like me best…”
Now they’re older and Meghan and West are in Love. That one terrifying game has been forgotten… until Lannie reminds West of the promise he was forced to make all those years ago.
And if he refuses, she will freeze Meghan… to death.Richie Tankersley Cusick - Fatal Secrets (Scholastic, 1995: US, Simon & Schuster, 1992) Blurb: When Marissa fallsto her icy death, her sister Ryan believes she could have done more to save her. If only she'd got there quicker, if only they hadn't argued, if only she'd listened ....
Because Marissa had a secret that was scaring her to death. And now that secret is haunting Ryan ....
Sometimes, knowing the truth can be like skating on thin ice. And when the ice breaks .... no one can save you ... |
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Post by dem bones on Apr 25, 2019 8:54:38 GMT
Susan Price - The Cat-Dogs: A five-strong pack of horrible foxy hybrids unleash bloody carnage on Bowyer's show farm. Ideal opener sets the tone.
John Gordon - Bone Meal: He's just about the last author I'd associate with full-on proper horror but 'Bone Meal' is nothing if not grisly. Eunice Barnes will never forgive Richard for have the gall to end their relationship. Fortunately, over-protective, green-fingered Mr. Barnes will not have his wife or daughter insulted. Strong best-of-book contender, though all those mentioned to date have plenty to recommend them.
Stan Nicholls - Softies: Sick and tired of man's brutality toward them, the teddy bears, dollies and cuddly toys wage war on their self-styled "masters."
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Post by dem bones on Apr 25, 2019 15:16:45 GMT
Garry Kilworth - The House That Jack Built: A remote house on Bodmin Moor takes a hapless motorist prisoner. Caleb is forced to renovate the property under threat of violent death by forces unseen.
Colin Greenland - The Station With No Name: A graffiti artist breaks into a ghost station on the District line, descends to platform intent on redecoration. The phantoms of those killed in a World War II bombing raid fail to appreciate Mark's handiwork.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 18, 2023 10:34:44 GMT
I am looking for a horror or ghost anthology I read between 1990- 1996,I should think published between 1980 and then. It was a UK anthology and the stories were set in the UK.The story I remember was about a boy who was nearly lured in the river by a river-hag, clearly based on Jenny Greenteeth but I think might have been called Meg or Mag in the story. I would think this was aimed at middle schoolers so scary rather than horrific. Any ideas would be very welcome! I have looked through the forums here but haven't spotted any books that sounds right or looks familiar,although found some other old favourites. I have now found this. The story was Foxgloves, by Susan Price, in the anthology Thirteen Again. : Late on June 23, Sean is waylaid heading home through the woods by a girl in apparent distress. Essyit asks to walk with him as "I am lonely and afeared." Approaching the river, Sean recalls his gran's story of Meg Greenteeth, cursed to drown two boys and two girls every midsummer's eve or die herself. As they approach the main road, the strange, clingy girl vanishes, only to reappear before him by the water's edge. "I'm cold, keep me warm." Don't know how/ why I overlooked this first time around - glad to have put it right. Thanks, Rose! |
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