20th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories
Jun 1, 2007 9:11:51 GMT -5
Post by Gloomy Sundae on Jun 1, 2007 9:11:51 GMT -5
R. Chetwynd-Hayes (ed.) - The 20th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories (1984)
Introduction - R. Chetwynd-Hayes
Brian Lumley - Aunt Hester
Roger Malisson - Skin Deep
E. F. Benson - How Fear Departed From The Long Gallery
Meg Buxton - Carrie Liddicoat's Cottage
John Atkins - The Diary Of William Carpenter
Rick Kennett - The Roads Of Donnington
'Ex-Private X' (A. M. Burrage) - The Running Tide
Dorothy K. Haynes - A Lady In The Night
May Sinclair - The Villa Desiree
Heather Vineham - Graveyard Lodge
Gladys Law - Ordeal By Fire
Tony Richards - Our Lady Of The Shadows
Daphne Froome - The Rip Current
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - My Very Best Friend
Having fifty books on the go at one time has to be a personal worst, but I'm determined to work my way through these bloody things and the Danby "65 Tales ..." efforts too. Jerry mentioned recently that the Fontana's go for ridiculous prices on-line and Amazon have a copy of #20 on sale for $300 plus! f**king outrageous!
This is the first 'Roger Malisson' story I've read since reading on Locus that 'he' is actually a pseudonym of Catherine Gleason. Skin Deep is written from a female POV , so there's a tendency to think "I should've known all along!", but if you read, say, ]The Thirteenth Kestral in Frighteners 2, would you ever have doubted that it was written by other than a man?
Anyway ....
Brian Lumley - Aunt Hester: Aunt Hester , Spiritualist and all-round Black Sorcery dabbler, has the ability to project her mind into the body of another while theirs are temporarily transferred into hers. As a result of this, her family have shunned her from a young age, particularly her brother George who despises her as a witch. Hester is obsessed with the idea of meeting her niece and nephew, if only for a few moments, and to do so she decides to use George's as her host body.
Pity she didn't check on his current state of health first.
Roger Malisson - Skin Deep: After a whirlwind romance, 42 year old male model Julian Haymer-Knight marries up and coming star Sophie Seaton, 17, but within weeks of the happy event, she is killed in a car accident. At first Julian is supremely flattered that this girl loved him so much her beautiful spectre comes to visit him in their bedroom any night, but then the ravages of death start going to work ...
Dorothy K. Haynes - A Lady In The Night: A woman on the verge of childbirth hears the click of high heels in the street below and envisions a french prostitute visiting devout church-goer Mr. MacKenzie to give him a private Can-Can. Enter his wife. A fracas ensues, ending with the tart's body being dumped in the quarry. of course, it's all a drug-induced hallucination, but strange how the MacKenzie's moved away so suddenly ...
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - My Very Best Friend: An orphan’s progress. Following the death of his parents in a car accident, the narrator is shunted from puritanical relative to puritanical relative, his constant companion a beautiful woman that others sometimes sense and fear but only he can see. She acts as his Guardian Angel, a malevolent one at that, prone to playing cruel pranks but invaluable for settling scores and maiming school bullies. On the minus side she’s fanatically possessive and won’t have him lusting after pretty Josie Bakewell when his hormones start kicking in. At the close of his teens he wants rid of his dark benefactor and approaches Clapham’s finest, Madam Orloff, Psychic Extraordinary (The Elemental, The Holstein Horror and Co.) to exorcise her. Now free to wed his childhood sweetheart, he gets Josie as far as the altar before the parson gets it into his head to give the ceremony a “forgive thy enemy” theme. Caught up in the moment, our man absolves his Fallen Angel who immediately marches down the aisle and karate chops his bride with the result that “I must be the only husband who was made a widower before the register was signed.”
Introduction - R. Chetwynd-Hayes
Brian Lumley - Aunt Hester
Roger Malisson - Skin Deep
E. F. Benson - How Fear Departed From The Long Gallery
Meg Buxton - Carrie Liddicoat's Cottage
John Atkins - The Diary Of William Carpenter
Rick Kennett - The Roads Of Donnington
'Ex-Private X' (A. M. Burrage) - The Running Tide
Dorothy K. Haynes - A Lady In The Night
May Sinclair - The Villa Desiree
Heather Vineham - Graveyard Lodge
Gladys Law - Ordeal By Fire
Tony Richards - Our Lady Of The Shadows
Daphne Froome - The Rip Current
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - My Very Best Friend
Having fifty books on the go at one time has to be a personal worst, but I'm determined to work my way through these bloody things and the Danby "65 Tales ..." efforts too. Jerry mentioned recently that the Fontana's go for ridiculous prices on-line and Amazon have a copy of #20 on sale for $300 plus! f**king outrageous!
This is the first 'Roger Malisson' story I've read since reading on Locus that 'he' is actually a pseudonym of Catherine Gleason. Skin Deep is written from a female POV , so there's a tendency to think "I should've known all along!", but if you read, say, ]The Thirteenth Kestral in Frighteners 2, would you ever have doubted that it was written by other than a man?
Anyway ....
Brian Lumley - Aunt Hester: Aunt Hester , Spiritualist and all-round Black Sorcery dabbler, has the ability to project her mind into the body of another while theirs are temporarily transferred into hers. As a result of this, her family have shunned her from a young age, particularly her brother George who despises her as a witch. Hester is obsessed with the idea of meeting her niece and nephew, if only for a few moments, and to do so she decides to use George's as her host body.
Pity she didn't check on his current state of health first.
Roger Malisson - Skin Deep: After a whirlwind romance, 42 year old male model Julian Haymer-Knight marries up and coming star Sophie Seaton, 17, but within weeks of the happy event, she is killed in a car accident. At first Julian is supremely flattered that this girl loved him so much her beautiful spectre comes to visit him in their bedroom any night, but then the ravages of death start going to work ...
Dorothy K. Haynes - A Lady In The Night: A woman on the verge of childbirth hears the click of high heels in the street below and envisions a french prostitute visiting devout church-goer Mr. MacKenzie to give him a private Can-Can. Enter his wife. A fracas ensues, ending with the tart's body being dumped in the quarry. of course, it's all a drug-induced hallucination, but strange how the MacKenzie's moved away so suddenly ...
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - My Very Best Friend: An orphan’s progress. Following the death of his parents in a car accident, the narrator is shunted from puritanical relative to puritanical relative, his constant companion a beautiful woman that others sometimes sense and fear but only he can see. She acts as his Guardian Angel, a malevolent one at that, prone to playing cruel pranks but invaluable for settling scores and maiming school bullies. On the minus side she’s fanatically possessive and won’t have him lusting after pretty Josie Bakewell when his hormones start kicking in. At the close of his teens he wants rid of his dark benefactor and approaches Clapham’s finest, Madam Orloff, Psychic Extraordinary (The Elemental, The Holstein Horror and Co.) to exorcise her. Now free to wed his childhood sweetheart, he gets Josie as far as the altar before the parson gets it into his head to give the ceremony a “forgive thy enemy” theme. Caught up in the moment, our man absolves his Fallen Angel who immediately marches down the aisle and karate chops his bride with the result that “I must be the only husband who was made a widower before the register was signed.”
