Anon - Chamber Of Horrors
Jul 29, 2007 4:25:01 GMT -5
Post by Gloomy Sundae on Jul 29, 2007 4:25:01 GMT -5
Chamber Of Horrors (Editor uncredited: Octopus, 1984)
Stuart Bodek
Robert Aickman - Wood
Thomas Burke - The Bird
Rod Serling - A Thing About Machines
William Sansom - A Woman Seldom Found
Bram Stoker - The Squaw
Seabury Quinn - The Cloth Of Madness
H. G. Wells - The Sea Raiders
H. P. Lovecraft - The Dunwich Horror
John Blackburn - Dad
Miss Braddon - The Cold Embrace
Roald Dahl - Royal Jelly
Ambrose Bierce - The Boarded Window
Robert Graves - Earth To Earth
M. R. James - A Warning To The Curious
Stephen King - The Night Of The Tiger
W. W. Jacobs - The Interruption
Robert Silverburg - Back From The Grave
William Hope Hodgson - The Derelict
Guy De Maupassant - Vendetta
Robert Bloch - Edifice Complex
H. R. Wakefield - The Red Lodge
Rudyard Kipling - Mary Postgate
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Cradle Demon
Frederick Cowles - The Horror Of Abbot's Grange
Saki - Sredni Vashtar
Robert Haining - The Wall
J. S. LeFanu - An Account Of Some Strange Disturbances In Aungiers Street
Ramsey Campbell - The Whining
Edgar Allan Poe - Berenice
R. E. Veredne - The Finless Death
E. F. Benson - And The Dead Spake
350 pages plus and another strong selection. There seems to have been some wholesale plundering of Hugh Lamb anthologies going on here - perhaps that has some bearing on the editor remaining anonymous?
Frederick Cowles - The Horror Of Abbot's Grange: Seeking whom he may devour. God frustrate him always.
Ritton. Michael and wife Joan lease the Grange which has remained untenanted for so long that the present Lord Salton has it earmarked for demolition. Terms are agreed with the agent who is insistent on one point: should they wish to visit the chapel - closed these three hundred years - they must do so only during the day and on no account allow the door to be unlocked between dusk and daybreak.
It transpires that the chapel houses the tomb of William, the first Lord Salton (1501-97), a Cistercian monk who dabbled in black magic and was dismissed from the Abbey. He was given his title in return for informing against the Abbot and his holy brethren which saw seven of them executed, and there's an impressive portrait of him hanging under the stairs. The artist was clearly a conscientious man: he's even painted in the guy's fangs.
Come the housewarming party and, of course, some fool just has to nose around the chapel. A blood-curdling laugh and - William Salton is free!
Child sacrifice, dead party-goers, a haunted portrait and a vampire with Tod Slaughter tendencies. This is Cowles at his most pulpy, cliched and unutterably entertaining. And, God help me, he even slips in some Jamesian touches.
R. E. Vernede - The Finless Death: Mexico. Kender and Flackman ignore the pleas of Don Miguel the Innkeeper and go fishing at the lagoon as planned. So two Germans failed to return from the same spot yesterday - what is that to them? Their bravado pays off when they land a peculiar catch: a rotund white fish which, truth be told, neither of them like the look of.
The boat containing the dead Germans - stood stock-still like waxworks - floats toward them. The floppy white thing - ugly brute! - oozes slime .....
W. W. Jacobs - The Interruption: With his wife dead at last Spencer Goddard can get his hands on all of her lovely money! How happy he is! For all of twenty seconds. Hannah, his cook, wastes no time in letting on that she knows more about her late mistress's "illness" - and his part in it - than he'd prefer and neither is she slow in turning the situation to her advantage. Should she die suddenly - like poor Mrs. Goddard for example - she's left a letter with her sister , the contents of which he should regret being made known to the police. Now he must think of a way to save his neck and see hers stretched he opts for a high risk solution ...
John Blackburn - Dad: Dad was a first division footballer, cross-country runner and all-round brilliant sportsman. His son was born with one leg, the other terminating in a stump just below the waist. Throughout his life the son is tormented by the sight of his fathers medals and trophies which are kept in a state of polished perfection.
When Dad dies - he either fell or was pushed under a bus by his offspring and failed to survive the operation to amputate his legs - his son gloatingly locks away all the silverware and hacks down the tree the old man used to climb.
But the old man returns.
In the guise of a surgeon.
Robert Haining - The Wall: A man wakes to find himself bricked into his flat in a high rise block. At first he suspects an elaborate practical joke but soon learns otherwise. Days pass and somehow the windows too are bricked. He gradually becomes aware of a presence. Somebody has also readied a noose.
Stuart Bodek
Robert Aickman - Wood
Thomas Burke - The Bird
Rod Serling - A Thing About Machines
William Sansom - A Woman Seldom Found
Bram Stoker - The Squaw
Seabury Quinn - The Cloth Of Madness
H. G. Wells - The Sea Raiders
H. P. Lovecraft - The Dunwich Horror
John Blackburn - Dad
Miss Braddon - The Cold Embrace
Roald Dahl - Royal Jelly
Ambrose Bierce - The Boarded Window
Robert Graves - Earth To Earth
M. R. James - A Warning To The Curious
Stephen King - The Night Of The Tiger
W. W. Jacobs - The Interruption
Robert Silverburg - Back From The Grave
William Hope Hodgson - The Derelict
Guy De Maupassant - Vendetta
Robert Bloch - Edifice Complex
H. R. Wakefield - The Red Lodge
Rudyard Kipling - Mary Postgate
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Cradle Demon
Frederick Cowles - The Horror Of Abbot's Grange
Saki - Sredni Vashtar
Robert Haining - The Wall
J. S. LeFanu - An Account Of Some Strange Disturbances In Aungiers Street
Ramsey Campbell - The Whining
Edgar Allan Poe - Berenice
R. E. Veredne - The Finless Death
E. F. Benson - And The Dead Spake
350 pages plus and another strong selection. There seems to have been some wholesale plundering of Hugh Lamb anthologies going on here - perhaps that has some bearing on the editor remaining anonymous?
Frederick Cowles - The Horror Of Abbot's Grange: Seeking whom he may devour. God frustrate him always.
Ritton. Michael and wife Joan lease the Grange which has remained untenanted for so long that the present Lord Salton has it earmarked for demolition. Terms are agreed with the agent who is insistent on one point: should they wish to visit the chapel - closed these three hundred years - they must do so only during the day and on no account allow the door to be unlocked between dusk and daybreak.
It transpires that the chapel houses the tomb of William, the first Lord Salton (1501-97), a Cistercian monk who dabbled in black magic and was dismissed from the Abbey. He was given his title in return for informing against the Abbot and his holy brethren which saw seven of them executed, and there's an impressive portrait of him hanging under the stairs. The artist was clearly a conscientious man: he's even painted in the guy's fangs.
Come the housewarming party and, of course, some fool just has to nose around the chapel. A blood-curdling laugh and - William Salton is free!
Child sacrifice, dead party-goers, a haunted portrait and a vampire with Tod Slaughter tendencies. This is Cowles at his most pulpy, cliched and unutterably entertaining. And, God help me, he even slips in some Jamesian touches.
R. E. Vernede - The Finless Death: Mexico. Kender and Flackman ignore the pleas of Don Miguel the Innkeeper and go fishing at the lagoon as planned. So two Germans failed to return from the same spot yesterday - what is that to them? Their bravado pays off when they land a peculiar catch: a rotund white fish which, truth be told, neither of them like the look of.
The boat containing the dead Germans - stood stock-still like waxworks - floats toward them. The floppy white thing - ugly brute! - oozes slime .....
W. W. Jacobs - The Interruption: With his wife dead at last Spencer Goddard can get his hands on all of her lovely money! How happy he is! For all of twenty seconds. Hannah, his cook, wastes no time in letting on that she knows more about her late mistress's "illness" - and his part in it - than he'd prefer and neither is she slow in turning the situation to her advantage. Should she die suddenly - like poor Mrs. Goddard for example - she's left a letter with her sister , the contents of which he should regret being made known to the police. Now he must think of a way to save his neck and see hers stretched he opts for a high risk solution ...
John Blackburn - Dad: Dad was a first division footballer, cross-country runner and all-round brilliant sportsman. His son was born with one leg, the other terminating in a stump just below the waist. Throughout his life the son is tormented by the sight of his fathers medals and trophies which are kept in a state of polished perfection.
When Dad dies - he either fell or was pushed under a bus by his offspring and failed to survive the operation to amputate his legs - his son gloatingly locks away all the silverware and hacks down the tree the old man used to climb.
But the old man returns.
In the guise of a surgeon.
Robert Haining - The Wall: A man wakes to find himself bricked into his flat in a high rise block. At first he suspects an elaborate practical joke but soon learns otherwise. Days pass and somehow the windows too are bricked. He gradually becomes aware of a presence. Somebody has also readied a noose.