|
|
Post by dem bones on Jul 3, 2022 13:06:30 GMT
'Alfred Hitchcock' [Harold Q. Masur] - Alfred Hitchcock's Supernatural Tales of Terror & Suspense (Target, 1977; originally Random House, 1973) Acknowledgements
'Alfred Hitchcock' - Attention, Suspense Fans!
H. Russell Wakefield - The Triumph of Death
T.V. Olsen - The Strange Valley
Dorothy B. Bennett - The Christmas Spirit
Raymond Chandler - The Bronze Door
Sheila Hodgson - Slip Stream
Patricia Highsmith - The Quest for "Blank Claveringi"
Muriel Spark - Miss Pinkerton's Apocalypse
Alexis Tolstoy - The Reunion After Three Hundred Years
Alex Hamilton - The Attic Express
A.W. Bennett - The Pram
H. Russell Wakefield - Mr. Ash's StudioBlurb: "Here I am again,' says Alfred Hitchcock, 'with as spooky a collection of ghosts and supernatural things as ever kept anybody awake at night.'
That master of Suspense has assembled eleven spine-chilling, blood-curdling tales. 'Happy reading!' he urges. Or should that be happy shuddering?Sheila Hodgson - Slip Stream: ( London Mystery Selection #93, June 1972). Captain Armitage is flying a noisy mob of London jazz fans to a pop festival in the Channel Islands. When the plane runs into difficulties, the ghost of a legendary swing era band-leader intervenes to save fellow music lovers. Dorothy B. Bennett: ( London Mystery Selection #91, Dec. 1971). The Cottage Hospital, December 24. Dvala Svenbert, doctor turned author of black sorcery paperbacks, is admitted comatose to the emergency ward following a car smash. Found about his person, a magazine of short stories. Nurse Helen is unimpressed. "I couldn't think why anyone would buy such a collection of bizarre, gruesome stories; tales of mystery, horror, rape, torture, vampires, and things that go plop in the night." Svelbert quit the profession having gone native on a visit to the Far East to research the Black Arts & Co. As Helen reads, the patient's lucky charm falls from the magazine to contaminates the ward with the ghastliest stench of purification. A vampire bat wing! Enter the consultant, Dr. Kafters, who everyone despises. Kafters ill-advisedly deposits the charm in a bin, whereupon the patient expires - but not for long! A. W. Bennett - The Pram: ( London Mystery Selection #92, March 1972). True to form, Chorn, the meanest undertaker in the trade, ignores Old Sam's deeply personal final wish — that he cremate an old pram he used to transport Barmy Betty's corpse to the funeral parlour, and scatter the ashes over their grave. The dead couple take terrible revenge. Muriel Spark - Miss Pinkerton's Apocalypse: ( The Go Away Bird & Other Stories, 1958). Laura Pinkerton, antique dealer, and George Lake, art framer, are enjoying a drink when a saucer flies through the window. She identifies it as spode ware and both agree it is piloted by a tiny person. They inform the local newspaper, who dutifully despatch reporter and photographer for an exclusive interview. And there you have it.
|
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jul 5, 2022 14:26:16 GMT
H. R. Wakefield - The Triumph Of Death: (August Derleth [ed.], The Arkham Sampler, Autumn, 1949). If there were hideous sights and sounds in the big old house, why did the owner insist that it was not haunted/
Mrs Redvale, the new rector's wife, is concerned that Miss Amelia Lornin, Miss Prunella Pendleham's companion/ general factotum at Carthwaite Place, is not long for this world. Amelia, 48, is showing the strain of skivvying for the embittered Miss Prunella Pendleham, the last of a notorious line of Gilles de Rais fans who, disappointed in love, has waged thirty-five year war on her own sex. It doesn’t help that Carthwaite Place is haunted, quite possibly by Amelia’s immediate predecessors, who were literally frightened to death. Can Mrs Redvale persuade her spineless husband to confront his wealthiest parishioner?
I’ve seen Wakefield’s post-1940’s work dismissed as rather misogynistic variations on well-worn revenge themes, but this one certainly has a spirited nastiness about it. Ending reminiscent of Damp Sheets climax.
Patricia Highsmith - The Quest For Blank Claveringi: (Saturday Evening Post, 17 June, 1967). Were there man-eating snails on the uninhabited island? Dr. Clavering was determined to find out ..... 48-years-old-and desperate to leave his mark, Avery Clavering, professor of zoology, travels from California to Kuwa island to seek out the last of a colony of carnivorous giant snails. Dr. Stead, long familiar with this part of the world, assures him he's pursuing a fantasy, but what does that sour, drink-addled old has-been know about anything?
|
|
|
|
Post by Dr Strange on Jul 5, 2022 15:34:37 GMT
Patricia Highsmith - The Quest For Blank Claveringi: ( Saturday Evening Post, 17 June, 1967). Were there man-eating snails on the uninhabited island? Dr. Clavering was determined to find out ..... 48-years-old-and desperate to leave his mark, Avery Clavering, professor of zoology, travels from California to Kuwa island to seek out the last of a colony of carnivorous giant snails. Dr. Stead, long familiar with this part of the world, assures him he's pursuing a fantasy, but what does that sour, drink-addled old has-been know about anything? Not sure where I first read this - possibly The 6th Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories. Apparently there are some differences between the original story as it appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1967 and the version in the Hitchcock book from 1973 (don't know about the Fontana version from 1971) - billchance.org/2012/06/02/the-quest-for-the-blank-claveringi/Nice illo from Saturday Evening Post -  |
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Feb 19, 2024 10:49:44 GMT
T. V. Olsen - The Strange Valley: (Betty Baker [ed.] Great Ghosts of the Old West, 1968). Truckers driving through Dakota come under attack from phantom Sioux warriors. A time slip.
|
|
