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Post by dem on May 25, 2018 15:41:49 GMT
John Carnell (ed.) - Weird Shadows From Beyond (Corgi, 1965)  Josh Kirby
Mervyn Peake - Danse Macabre
John Kippax - Blood Offering
Mervyn Peake - Same Time, Same Place
Michael Moorcock - Master Of Chaos
William Tenn - Wednesday's Child
Robert Presslie - Dial 'O' For Operator
Brian W Aldiss - The Flowers Of The Forest
E.C Tubb - Fresh Guy
Eric Williams - The Garden Of Paris
Theodore Sturgeon - The Graveyard Readerblurb Ten Nightmares
A freshly turned grave with one mourner filled with hate; a telephone kiosk at night with something outside trying to get in; a ghoul playing knucklebones on a tombstone, a bodiless evening dress suit dancing in a moonlight glade; an iron shark tooth; a witch and a were-leopard ....
These are but a few of the ingredients of this nightmarish collection of weird stories.These three are super. Robert Presslie - Dial 'O' for Operator: ( Science Fantasy, #27, Feb. 1958). Returning from a night on the docks, a prostitute is trapped inside the telephone booth by a formless, icy cold black thing. Charley Groom at the Telephone Exchange refers her distress call to the police, who duly investigate, only to find the booth empty. Still the terrified woman persists, insisting the thing is oozing through the roof ventilator. The blob retreats whenever she strikes a match, so Charley advises she tear up a directory, set it ablaze and make a dash for it. Theodore Sturgeon - The Graveyard Reader: ( Science Fantasy, #31, Oct. 1958). Embittered widower leaves his dead wife's headstone blank convinced that the no good bitch was having an affair when she died. A stranger informs him that a grave reveals every last secret of the deceased, it is just a case of knowing how to read it. With the old man's help, he spends a year learning to doing so. The gift is blessing or curse, depending on how you use it. "I learned how flimsy were the bases of so many of their fears, and how unimportant, in the long run, were the things on which so many of them pitifully spent their lives. More than anything else I learned how uncharacteristic of most of them were their cruelties, how excusable their stupidities; in short, how damned decent they were." Mervyn Peake - Danse Macabre: (John Carnell [ed.] Science Fantasy, #61, Oct. 1963). Harry and wife have seperated, but their best clothes continue to get it on Friday night in the woods.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on May 25, 2018 15:54:44 GMT
Josh Kirby was asked to paint something weird. So he did.
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Post by dem on May 27, 2018 4:22:12 GMT
Brian W. Aldiss - Flowers of the Forest (Science Fantasy #24, Aug. 1957). In a fit of remorse, Hopkins, a man of violent impulses, resolves to track down his wife and explain why he had to disfigure her face. Hopkins travels to Sumatra to request the assistance of Subyata, 'the spirit of the jungle,' a powerful witch. When Subyata has him confront a past he doesn't wish to acknowledge, Hopkins angrily sticks her when his knife, whereupon he's pursued to his doom by her familiar, a were-leopard. Story takes its title from the Rafflesia, the corpse plant, "the biggest, ugliest flower on the whole planet" which we get to witness in action.
Mervyn Peake - Same Time, Same Place (Science Fantasy #60, Sept. 1963). Their whirlwind romance comes to a grinding halt in a Cambridge Circus registry office when he finally catches sight of his bride in all her glory. Now the circus folk are out for his blood.
E. C. Tubb - Fresh Guy (Science Fantasy #29, June 1958). After the big bang, the few surviving humans dwell underground until such times as it’s safe to return to the surface. Their re-emergence is eagerly anticipated by Sammy the Ghoul, Lupe the Werewolf, trad. vampire Count Boris and his despised progeny, Edward Smith. Smith is insistent on running the show his way. Sammy and the Count agree that, in this particular case, they might suspend the agreement by which monster does not feed on monster.
John Kippax - Blood Offering: (Science Fantasy #47, June 1961). "He is all black, with the head of a shark and the body of a man!" Baines the village store-keeper is forced to accept there's something to ridiculous native superstitions when his hired hand invites the wrath of the local God.
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Post by Shrink Proof on May 27, 2018 6:42:51 GMT
Josh Kirby was asked to paint something weird. So he did. And then gave it a Nigel Lawson haircut.... |
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Post by helrunar on May 27, 2018 15:13:21 GMT
This collection seems to feature a selection of really offbeat material, and I don't think I've ever heard of any of these elsewhere. Thanks for the notes!
I gather the compiler was a fantasy/horror mag editor of the period.
Best, Steve
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Post by cauldronbrewer on May 27, 2018 15:54:36 GMT
This collection seems to feature a selection of really offbeat material, and I don't think I've ever heard of any of these elsewhere. A sign I may own too many books: I had to check my shelves to figure out whether this one was there (it was, ugly cover and all). |
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Post by jamesdoig on May 27, 2018 22:25:39 GMT
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Post by dem on May 28, 2018 6:34:33 GMT
It's another collection left little impression on first acquaintance, several years on it's hitting the spot. Robert Presslie's Dial 'O' For Operator is a sci-horror instant classic. Also very fond of Danse Macabre, The Graveyard Reader, and this next, the single original in the collection.
Eric Williams - The Garden Of Paris: It's Monsieur Delacroix's job to sift UNO crank mail for that rare instance of an anonymous tip which may actually require investigation. M. Abine, whose house overlooks the Zoological Gardens, is insistent that a Soviet cell are using the grounds to commit political assassinations on nights of a full moon. All nonsense, of course. The screams he reports are those of hapless passers-by being fed to a man-eating plant in the Cactus House! Delacroix and Abine learn that Philippe Medan, the MAD BOTANIST who cultivated the monster, is intent on scattering its seeds across the globe.
William Tenn - Wednesday’s Child: (Fantastic Universe, Jan 1956: Science Fantasy #26, Dec. 1957). Wednesday Gresham is one crazy mixed up young woman who, in the opinion of Dr. Lorington, was not born but made by someone with no idea where all the parts belonged. He strongly advises that she she should never have children. Fabian Balik, Wednesday's slimy boss at the Advertising Agency, ignores Lorington's warning and seduces her. We visit the maternity ward.
Michael Moorcock - Master of Chaos: (Fantastic, May 1964). Sword & Sorcery heroics. To claim the enchanted Castle Kaneloon for Queen Eloarde, , Earl Aubec of Maledor must first overcome monsters projected from his own darkest fears, including a giant steel Golem. Bloodied but unbowed, he finds his way to the boudoir of Mircella, the Dark Lady, who entices him into a fresh challenge.
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