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Post by dem bones on Oct 12, 2016 18:07:50 GMT
Charles L. Grant (ed.) - Shadows 6 (Berkley, 1986)  Les Edwards
Lori Allen - We Share
Leslie Alan Horvitz - The Appearances of Georgio
Wayne Wightman - The Touch
Marc Laidlaw - Sneakers
Jack Dann - Reunion
Joe R. Lansdale - By the Hair of the Head
Elisabeth Erica Burden - Dreams
Steve Rasnic Tem - Crutches
Pat Cadigan - Eenie, Meenie, Ipsateenie
Peter D. Pautz - Cold Heart
Jesse Osburn - Peppermint Kisses
J. Michael Straczynski - A Last Testament for Nick and the Trooper
Melissa Mia Hall - Mariana
Al Sarrantonio - The Man with Legs
Leigh Kennedy - The Silent Cradle
David Morrell - But at My Back I Always Hear Blurb: IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE
.... a terrified school teacher, a lonely housewife or a small, frightened child.
IT CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE
... on a desolate highway, in an empty house or a dark, secluded graveyard.
IT CAN HAPPEN ANY TIME
... in the dead of night, in the light of day, or while reading a book.
IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU
... but one way or another, it‘s going to happen — and screaming won't stop itJoe R. Lansdale - By the Hair of the Head: A fledgling author rents a room up top of a disused lighthouse to concentrate on his craft. The single other occupant is a pensioner, Howard Machen, the former keeper, who loves the decrepit old place so much that he bought it when it was taken out of commission. One night during a whiskey binge, Machen opens up on aspects of his colourful past. He once worked as a ventriloquist, opening for a gifted stage magician named McDonald, but the real force behind their success was Marilyn, McDonald's wife and a powerful witch. During a subsequent binge, Machen confesses that he had it bad for Marilyn, and she him, but he abandoned her when she fell pregnant. To this day he is eaten up with remorse over his betrayal. The child died very young, but not before Marilyn had transferred the little girl's soul into a suitable earthly receptacle.... Late into the night, our narrator hears Machen rehearsing, the responses to his drunken beseeching to "keep quiet, he'll hear" coming in the pleading voice of an unhappy little girl. Lighthouses have a habit of driving men mad, and Machen is clearly a very disturbed individual. Lori Allen - We Share: Despite suffering from night terrors, narrator has been a horror fan ever since childhood when mum let her listen to macabre radio shows like Suspense and Inner Sanctum. A Frankenstein - Dracula phase followed, then it was the bloodiest splatter films. Now she prefers studying monsters. A particular favourite read is the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould's Book of the Werewolf, and recently she's developed a taste for good-as-raw steaks. Trouble is, she can only enjoy the movies and books as a shared experience, and, these days, husband, Kevin, and son, Jeff, never have time for her. When Kevin messes up their anniversary by rolling in drunk from work, our girl hits the bottle ... and transforms .... Al Sarrantonio - The Man with Legs: Not especially Shadowy, but certainly bizarre. Nellie and Willie locate their dad to a house down town a mere bus ride away. Mom told the kids their father was dead, but he brushes this off by explaining he has been in hiding for five years. Willie neither likes or trusts the guy, but Nellie, the older of the two, who first traced Daddy to his bolt-hole, won't hear of any dissent. She realises it is too early to let on about so-called Daddy's extensive collection of human legs - "straps at the top and fine webbing and clasps and snaps and thongs " - most of them robbed from graves. What does he want with them? All is revealed when Willie challenges fake-pop who shape-shifts into his original form {Spoiler}akin to "an albino insect with two deformed legs" ... Promising start to vol 6. By the Hair of the Head is especially effective.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 12, 2016 19:14:59 GMT
I own this volume, and I even know where I have it! Also, I feel Al Sarrantonio, a master stylist, is somewhat underappreciated. His novels are often very odd. One is about people turning into skeletons (not through the usual process).
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Post by dem bones on Oct 12, 2016 20:35:57 GMT
I own this volume, and I even know where I have it! Also, I feel Al Sarrantonio, a master stylist, is somewhat underappreciated. His novels are often very odd. One is about people turning into skeletons (not through the usual process). Not come across any of Mr. S's novels, but I love his short Pumpkinhead, the first thing I read of his. The Man With Legs is indeed pretty "odd," compellingly so. The Shadows anthologies as a whole were certainly underappreciated by then-me. Guess I was more of a blood, guts and sadism merchant than I thought. |
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