Martin H. Greenberg - Mummy Stories

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Martin H. Greenberg - Mummy Stories (Ballatine, April 1990)

Introduction - Martin H. Greenberg

Ed Gorman - Masque
Arthur Conan Doyle - Lot No. 249
Donald A. Wollheim - Bones
E. F. Benson - Monkeys
Scott Parson - Asleep On The Job
Sharyn McCrumb - Remains To Be Seen
Seabury Quinn - The Man In Crescent Terrace
Edgar Allan Poe - Some Words With A Mummy
Tarleton Fiske (Robert Bloch) - Beetles
Edward D. Hoch - The Weekend Magus
Victor Rousseau - The Curse Of Amen-Ra
D. R. Meredith - Mummy No. 50
Robert Bloch - The Eyes Of The Mummy
Alan Robbins - Uncle Jack Eats A Mummy

Ancient Curses .... Modern Mayhem .... And Mummy-Inspired Terror Through The Ages.

Sharyn McCrumb's REMAINS TO BE SEEN: The mummy rests on the top shelf of the local army surplus store, waiting for the unsuspecting buyer.

Edgar Allan Poe's SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY. Around four pounds of Welsh rabbit and five bottles of stout, the gambit to shock a dead thing to life is born ... with surprisingly comic consequences.

Robert Bloch's THE EYES OF THE MUMMY. It should have been the perfect crime ... a mummy switched for a freshly murdered man.

And eleven more tales by masters of suspense and terror.[/color]

The poor old bandage brigade don't get anywhere near the look in Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies or even Frankenstein monsters do. Haining's got a Mummy collection (of course) and there's a neat Bill Pronzini anthology but as far as I'm aware that's about it. I think all of them feature the Conan-Doyle, Poe, Benson and Wollheim stories, and each has a different contribution from Robert Bloch. Conan-Doyle's is probably the nearest thing we have here to a masterpiece - and it's the genesis of the Hammer plots - but it just isn't scary.

Ed Gorman - Masque; 68 year old Mrs. Garth has idiot, mummified son whose pleasure is ripping girls apart. The doctors overlook this as Ma has just paid for a new hospital.

Edward D. Hoch - The Weekend Magus: Sir Richard Forbish discovers a pyramid on the banks of Loch Awe, north of Glasgow (!). Buried along the bandaged Satni is his mummified 'pet', Gavia, a close relative of the Loch Ness monster. Noe Forbish sets to work reviving the creature by means of radiation in between tennis matches with the lovely Minerva.

Alan Robbins - Uncle Jack Eats A Mummy; The hypochondriac of the title buys a mummified child from a Mexican dealer with a view to cooking and eating it to obtain immortal life. Allegedly humorous.

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A. R. Tilburne (The Man In Crescent Terrace, Weird Tales, March 1946). "The thing used its spear like a woman testing cake with a broomstraw - only the "cake" was a human! "

Seabury Quinn - The Man In Crescent Terrace: Grafton Loftus, obviously based on Aleister Crowley, reanimates a mummy which then sets about stalking the neighbours and slaying them with a spear. Jules De Grandin advises Trowbridge that Loftus was "also implicated in the devilries of Rowely Thorne, whose nemesis our mutual friend John Thunstone is". Handing Trowbridge an eyewitness account of a ceremony conducted by the Human Leopards of Shooters Hill (!), de Grandin awaits the usual incredulous outburst from his colleague:

"It sounds like the ravings of a hashish-eater, or the recollection of a most unpleasant dream" I ventured.

There was no hint of impatience in the smile he turned to me. "I agree, Friend Trowbridge. It are assuredly extra ordinem - outside things' usual and accepted order -as the lawyers say; but most of us make the mistake of drawing the line of the possible too close. When I read the transcription over the phone to our friend Monsieur Manly Wade Wellman this afternoon, he agreed it was entirely possible for such things to be."

De Grandin also tries to consult Thunstone by phone in Lords Of The Ghostlands, but is told he is away on business in New York.

I'm sure there are more, and also that Wellman reciprocated (via Thunstone or Judge Puirsuivant?)

Donald A Wollheim - Bones: Severus attends a late night demonstration at Boston's Museum Of Natural Sciences. Dr. Zweig is to reanimate a perfectly preserved mummy specially treated by the priests of the IVth dynasty to remain in a state of suspended animation. Unfortunately, Dr. Zweig - obviously a colleague of Robert Lory's Damien Harmon - has overlooked one slightly glaring and potentially fatal probability ...

Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle - Lot No. 249: On rereading it not so long ago, i wasn't nearly as impressed with Lot No. 249 as was once the case, but it's still a decent enough ripping yarn. Oxford student Edward Bellingham, a learned Egyptologist and specialist in Oriental languages, is unpopular with fellow students Monkhouse Lee, Peterson and Smith ("a decent Christian" and therefore, our hero) although none of them could sat why they dislike the corpulent, smug, sneaky git. Among Bellingham's prize possessions is a hideous mummy he bought at auction which, unknown to the others, he's succeeded in reanimating for use against those who earn his displeasure. Bellingham's is not the familiar plodding-man-in-rotting-bandages but a black and shrivelled thing that fair jogs around the University in pursuit of it's victims. Monkhouse Lee is fortunate to escape with his life after the grim relic effortlessly picks him up and throws him in the river and before long the mystery assailant has the entire University in the grip of panic. Where will it strike next? Up until now, it's a cracking, if not particularly frightening horror story (lack of death's), but the climax is so lame you can't help but wonder if Conan-Doyle had lost interest and just wanted it wrapped up.

Sharyn McCrumb - Remains To Be Seen: Clutie Campbell, a resident of the Warm Hearts Community for Seniors, purchases a mummy from an Army Surplus store. According to the proprietor, George Carr, 'Herman' was a roustabout who died in an accident. The Carney left town without paying the undertaker, so he kept the embalmed corpse as a floor model until George acquired it in a job lot. But why on earth would Clutie want such a thing? Well, to inject some zest into old age, she's started a Black Magic coven among her fellow geriatrics and 'Herman' could be the difference between success and failure in their proposed demon-raising ritual. Regrettably, the delinquent old bat's meddling friend, Lucille Beaumont, decides things have gone too far and what could have been a nice 'n nasty story splutters to a sickly saccharine conclusion.

[Jojo Lapin X]

Sept 8, 2010 12:24:12 GMT dem said:

you can't help but wonder if Conan-Doyle had lost interest and just wanted it wrapped up.

The pun is intentional, right?

Conan-Doyle also wrote another mummy story, "The Ring of Thoth." As it involves the theme of reincarnation, if I remember correctly, I always thought that was the inspiration for the long line of mummy movies.

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er, no, i don't think it was, actually , and you're perfectly right, Ring Of Thoth is closer in plot and spirit to the Mummy films. that'll be me trusting in addled memory again ...

'Tarleton Fiske' - Beetles: What happened to Arthur Hartley on his recent expedition to Egyptian Sudan? Suddenly our happy-go-lucky charmer has become all reclusive and paranoid, stocking up on insecticides because "the locust plagues have increased in Kansas." The answer is simple; he stole the mummy of a temple virgin and now the curse of the scarabaeus is upon him. Beetles persecute him wherever he goes. He can't sleep for the slimy black horrors trying to crawl into his mouth. Of course, that fancy dan Dr. Sherman dismisses it as a delusion brought on by guilt, but what the hell does he know about anything? Top notch 'when insects attack!' pulp from Robert Bloch!

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Robert Bloch - The Eyes Of The Mummy: Professor Weildon - archaeologist, tomb-looter, murderer, rotter - perpetrates the illegal excavation of a temple to Sebek. On prizing open the sarcophagus of a priest, he makes a terrifying discovery. The eyes of the Mummy have been scooped out and replaced with gemstones unknown to modern man! Worse, the hieroglyphs on the wall suggest the priest willingly underwent such torture. The jewels have a hypnotic quality. The professor's assistant feels himself drawn inside the withered corpse!

There the testimony might end were he not such a diligent typist.

D. R. Meredith - Mummy No. 50: Museum director John Adams Moore's pet project, an exhibition of Egyptian artefacts, does not sit well with his assistant, 'Mole', whose celebration of the Plains Indians has been cancelled to facilitate it. In retaliation, Mole removes mummy no. 50 from its sarcophagus, replacing it with Moore, now lovingly eviscerated, embalmed and bandaged in keeping with the ancient procedures.

Scott Parson - Asleep On The Job: Bone idle security guard Dell Ludy has been assigned the night shift at South Central Arizona Junior College as punishment for making unwelcome passes at female students. The latest of Dr. Diffley's accursed exhibitions shines a spotlight on ancient Egyptian culture. The pride of the display, three authentic mummies, one a tomb-raider caught in the act and taught a lesson in poetic justice. Terrific, gripes Ludy. "Babysitting dead rags"! A cruel practical joker, Ludy decides to get even with his nemesis and make some money into the bargain. What could possibly go horribly wrong, etc.?

The Poe and E. F. Benson stories we've commented upon elsewhere, so that leaves only the lengthiest and, to my mind, pick of a decent crop ....

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Victor Rousseau - The Curse of Amen-Ra: Pequod Island, a small territory on the mud-banks of Chesapeake Bay, is deserted but for Dr. Ralph Coyne's Private sanatorium, home to Virginia's wealthiest lunatics, and Egyptologist Neil Farrant's secret research laboratory.The island is out of bounds to all but the invited and there have been few in recent years. Farrant sends for a trusted colleague, Jim Dewey,to assist he and Dr. Coyne in a hush hush experiment.

Dewey finds his old friend much changed for the worst. Unkempt and barely focused, displaying worrying symptoms of a dual personality, Farrant is clearly on his way to becoming an inmate of Dr. Ralph's "looney bin." He has ghosted home five mummy caskets from a recent jaunt in Upper Egypt, one of which contains the perfectly preserved corpse of Princess Amen-Ra, the Sun-Descended One, and it seems he believes himself a reincarnation of her murdered lover, Menes. From the hour he arrived back on the island, his laboratory has been constantly under siege from vicious fish hawks and nothing can kill them.

Dr. Coyne introduces Dewey to his patient, Rita Ware, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the three thousand year old Princess. The problem being that Amen-Ra is no longer dead; Farrant has discovered a means of reanimating her! "One of them must die" warns Coyne. "If it is Rita Ware who dies, we shall be confronted with the mummy of Amen-Ra, living on earth and capable of God knows what mischief." The doctor proposes they burn the mummies to ashes. By the time they arrive at Farrants, carrying the unconscious Miss Ware between them, the madman has already lit his accursed mummy-reviving incense. The dead walk again! Overwhelmed by the fumes, Coyne and Dewey lose consciousness ....