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Post by ohthehorror on Nov 4, 2016 8:28:42 GMT
I'm pretty sure I bought this one specifically due to seeing it on this very site somewhere, but I'm damned if I can find a thread for it, so here goes. It's a collection rather than an anthology so I hope it's ok to put it here. First published in Great Britain in 1986 by Sphere Books. This ebook edition published in 2013 by Jo Fletcher books, an imprint of Quercus Editions Ltd.
(hmm... doesn't seem to be a credit for the cover artist) Contents
Bug House Dollburger Community Property Flying to Byzantium Treading the Maze The Horse Lord The Other Mother Need The Memory of Wood A Friend in Need Stranger in the House Sun City Another one I've just discovered hidden away in depths of my kindle. I made the mistake of diving into this sometime after midnight sitting in bed. I'm prone to nightmares about spiders at the best of times so I can say in all honesty that even though few horror stories actually make me feel scared or fearful or even a little uneasy, this however, now has that honour. Bug house. Ellen goes to visit her ailing aunt who lives in a large old house of the wooden type. It's in an advanced state of disrepair and is practically rotting around her. The termites aren't helping either. In the three years since she last saw her, her aunt's health has clearly deteriorated leaving Ellen visibly shocked. The following day a man turns up at the door with groceries. He does this out of the goodness of his heart apparently and soon busies himself unpacking and putting away, clearly he's done this before. Ellen is increasingly worried about her aunt's health and repeatedly attempts to convince her to accept some help, but her aunt is adamant that ' There's no cure for dying except death, Ellen.', which is fair enough I suppose. Ellen, accepting that her aunt is resigned to her fate, goes for a walk along the beach and is surprised to find Peter, he of the groceries, standing in her path. He grasps her arm, wanting to show her something. Crouching down, they both watch as a wasp and a spider circle each other(hence last nights nightmare), both attempting to get the upper hand. Peter explains that the wasp will sting the spider, dig a hole and drag it in, paralysed but still alive, and lay it's eggs in it. The babies will then have a nice breakfast waiting for them when they hatch. At this point, and as Ellen's aunt lays in bed on her last legs, we can pretty sure what's likely to happen. And so right on cue, something scuttles out of the corner of her mouth. The crushing kiss that Peter then extracts from poor Ellen doesn't bode well for either her, nor me and any hope of future restful sleep. With hindsight, this probably wasn't the story I should have tackled in the darkness of the early hours. It was a fantastic story though, and to be honest, it's kind of nice in a warped sort of way to be 'actually' left scared after reading a horror story. Although having said that, Lisa Tuttle was always onto a winner in that sense where I'm concerned due to that damned wasp and spider scene. Really good story. Especially scary if you're not too keen on spiders. |
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Post by ohthehorror on Nov 4, 2016 11:56:18 GMT
Dollburger. Well, I didn't see this ending coming, although I probably should have. It's a lot less nightmarish than the last one but somehow still manages to have that weird, creepy vibe going on. Karen has lost her favourite doll, Kristina, and after getting the brush off from Daddy, goes looking for her. There are little clues here and there that amount more or less to fragments of doll and the odd eyeball, but not much else to indicate that poor Kristina ever existed. Her friend, Louisa, calls round with an invitation to a tea party with her and her doll, Isabella, to which Karen replies that she'd love to come but since Kristina has been kidnapped she'll have to bring Elizabeth, a talking doll who's place of favourite was usurped by Kristina. Elizabeth, it turns out, didn't take at all kindly to being passed-over for this new Kristina upstart and is last seen with crumbs of plastic falling from her open, hungry mouth.
A novel idea I thought, and well carried off. The fact that they're dolls and not real people sort of drains any real sense of horror out of it though, but it's suitably strange to warrant a satisfied grin afterwards.
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