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Post by dem bones on Mar 4, 2008 18:42:53 GMT
Karl E. Wagner (ed.) - Years Best Horror Stories XIII (DAW, 1985) Michael Whelan Introduction: 13 Is A Lucky Number - Karl E. Wagner
Stephen King - Mrs. Todd's Shortcut Charles L. Grant - Are You Afraid Of The Dark? John Gordon - Catch Your Death Gardner Dozois - Dinner Party Daniel Wynn Barber - Tiger In The Snow Ramsey Campbell - Watch The Birdie David J. Schow - Coming Soon To A Theatre Near You Leslie Halliwell - Hands With Long Fingers Fred Chappell - Weird Tales Jovan Panich - The Wardrobe Vincent McHardy - Angst For The Memories David Langford - The Thing In The Bedroom John Brizzolara - Borderland Roger Johnson - The Scarecrow James B. Hemesath - The End Of The World John Gordon - Never Grow Up Charles Wagner - Deadlights Dennis Etchison - Talking In The Dark
John Gordon's stories come from a collection for young adults - wait until you read them! The one concerns the legendary Black Shuck (and is told from the viewpoint of the Hell Hound), the other is an utterly heartbreaking story of a teen suicide. Both are excellent. This time it's Roger Johnson's turn to represent Ghosts & Scholars with a neat slab of MRJ gone macabre. Leslie Halliwell proves himself to be adept at Gothic horror and there are strong contributions from Ansible's David Langford, David J. Schow (more cinema horrors) and Dennis Etchison. I've never quite seen the appeal of King's Mrs. Todd's Shortcut though ...
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Post by Johnlprobert on Feb 28, 2012 8:18:50 GMT
Stephen King - Mrs. Todd's Shortcut. Mrs Todd keeps trying to find shorter and shorter ways to her destination through the US countryside until somehow she hits one of those wormhole things that takes her into another dimension. I agree with Mr D above that this is never a story that's done that much for me, so I read it very carefully this time. The description of the slightly Lovecrafty other world is a bot scary but I don't think this was even meant to be 'one of his scariest' as the cover proclaims!
Charles L. Grant - Are You Afraid Of The Dark? I'm still struggling through the PS book Scream Quietly. I say struggle not because the stories are bad but because everyone on here knows I prefer noisy horror, which for one thing helps to wake me up when I'm reading, whereas with quiet horror the scary bit of the story sometimes passes me by unnoticed. Anyway, this is a good one - three naughty boys are left with a babysitter who turns out to be something quite horrible and the last two pages of this are quite deliciously frightening.
John Gordon - Catch Your Death. The story of Black Shuck kind of told from the point of the view of the dog, and with a happy ending. Sort of.
Gardner Dozois - Dinner Party. A young private gets taken out by a prominent politician and his wife for dinner. Only at the end do you find out why no-one's terribly happy about the arrangement. Not a bad twist at all, and a punishingly good last line.
Daniel Wynn Barber - Tiger In The Snow. Tiny story with a fun ending - little Justin leaves his friend Steve's house and all the way home is looking out for the tiger he's so scared of. It's waiting for him when he gets home. But is he actually at home, and was he ever at Steve's?
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Post by Johnlprobert on Feb 28, 2012 8:26:10 GMT
Ramsey Campbell - Watch The Birdie. At a Liverpool pub there's something nasty coming up the stairs from the toilets, all because of an incantation scribbled on the wall. But oh no - someone's taught it to the parrot, too!
David J. Schow - Coming Soon To A Theatre Near You. Some LA cinemas are so scuzzy and cockroach filled you'd think maybe those insects might have developed some kind of hive intelligence by now to take over all mankind. Or is it all in a one-legged Vietnam vet's head?
Leslie Halliwell - Hands With Long Fingers. Jamesian horror with a man done out of his rightful inheritance doing something quite strange with weird insects to get his revenge. Not bad at all from the author of Halliwell's Film Guide!
Fred Chappell - Weird Tales. 'Don't read this if you're depressed' say Wagner in his intro, but in fact this is a fun story about Lovecraft and some of his chums, right up until the very last paragraph which reads as if it was added by a teenaged boy who had listened to too much Echo & the Bunnymen after his girlfriend had left him.
Jovan Panich - The Wardrobe. Yes it's a scary wardrobe! But is it actually evil or is our little boy protagonist just going insane? You be the judge
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Post by Johnlprobert on Feb 28, 2012 8:40:11 GMT
Vincent McHardy - Angst For The Memories. The first one of these that's had me going back to the book as I can't remember what it was about (which isn't bad for an antho!). A bit weird, this, as it's all dialogue between voices who don't know where they are. There is a punchline, which would be clever except it leaves you thinking that what has gone before is then quite impossible. The least of the stories in here so far.
David Langford - The Thing In The Bedroom. From the least to one of the very very best. Not everyone will agree with me, especially when they find out this is one of those MRJ around the fireside recountings of a haunting, but that the thing doing the haunting is a nine inch penis, and that for no other reason that very silly comedy the storyteller recounts how he had to dress up in women's clothing to catch it. I laughed until I cried and began to annoy Lady P with my chuckling. Best avoided if you don't like the really silly ones.
John Brizzolara - Borderland. Ghost story set at the US-Mexican border. Pretty much police procedural (or border patrol procedural) up until the last couple of pages.
Roger Johnson - The Scarecrow. More good old Brit Horror, this time with a strong Paul Finch vibe to it. Some standing stones and an old curse leads to a very scary central monster that burns you to death. Good fun.
James B. Hemesath - The End Of The World. We're in one of those US states where it never rains. Ralph Watson is driving to his new job as university dean with his valium-sodden wife and little boy that the locals want to sacrifice at a petrol station to make it rain again.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Feb 28, 2012 21:40:32 GMT
John Gordon - Never Grow Up. Another JG tale, this one narrated by a young lad whose mother spent a bit too much time out at night and his father did himself in as a result. The tale's told in a graveyard and is pretty bleak, especially as this was for a book of children's stories!
Charles Wagner - Deadlights. Ghostly headlights on a deserted road result in trouble for a trio of American friends.
Dennis Etchison - Talking In The Dark. Dennis does Pan! A remarkably nasty story from Mr Etchison rounds off this volume very nicely indeed. Sad fan Victor Ripon writes a letter to Rex Christian, his favourite horror writer of all time. To Ripon's surprise Christian accepts his invitation to visit but it doesn't turn out quite as he expects. Good evil stuff!
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Post by dem bones on Feb 29, 2012 11:54:46 GMT
Thanks ever so for guiding us through #13, Lord P. I figured you'd maybe appreciate the affair of the spooky penis! This volume is among my favourite of the KEW-edited Years Best Horror's, but if there's one story I'll always remember it for it's John Gordon's beautiful-sad Never Grow Up. I first read it during a particularly bad time and found it a great comfort, though not so sure every reader would react in the same way. If KEW felt moved to warn against reading Chappell's story when you're depressed, I'd add it might not be the best idea to read Never Grow Up when you're contemplating suicide! The Scarecrow is another personal favourite, and I take you're point there's a Paul Finchiness to it. Roger Johnson is not the least of the Ghosts & Scholars crowd who should have been huge. Damn! gonna have to schedule a rematch vol. 13 on top of everything else.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Feb 29, 2012 14:26:56 GMT
A pleasure Mr D! I have to say it's one of my favourite KEW edited volumes as well. I keep toying with the idea of doing a direct comparison between YBHS and the Pan series, either by volume number or by comparing two volumes published in the same year. If nothing else it might make an interesting essay for somewhere.
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