Mary Danby - Frighteners (1974)
Apr 9, 2007 5:09:23 GMT -5
Post by Gloomy Sundae on Apr 9, 2007 5:09:23 GMT -5
Mary Danby (ed.) - Frighteners: New Stories of Horror and the Unknown (Fontana, 1974)
Kay Leith - For The Love of Pamela
Sydney J. Bounds - The Mask
Joyce Marsh - Old Heather's Picture
Bernard Taylor - Cera
Pamela Vincent - Lost Soul
A. E. Ellis - If Thy Right Hand Offends Thee ...
Martin Ricketts - Dissolving Partnership
Terry Gisbourne - The Quiet Man
Francis Stephens - A Walk Along The Beach
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Catomado
Dorothy K. Haynes - Dorothy Dean
Sydney J. Bounds - Hothouse
Julia Birley - The Old Men
Pamela Vincent - Homicidal Maniac!
Bernard Taylor - My Very Good Friend
Martin Ricketts - And Now The Pact
Adrian Cole - The Horror Under Penmire
Kay Leith - For The Love of Pamela: Joe and Pamela think they've finally found their dream home when they move in at 12 Drayfield Grove, but a restless elemental force has other ideas. It has sexual designs on Joe, but doesn't care for his wife at all ...
Sydney J. Bounds - The Mask: Len Roberts of The Echo turns up for Jane Clay's Halloween party wearing an authentic death mask. He collars Shirley-Anne - she's come as the virgin sacrifice - and explains its origin: "Remember Martin Fletcher? ... Local lad made bad. Had a nasty habit of cutting up young girls and packing their dismembered bodies in trunks." At the end of the night, Jane can't find the couple. But there are some strange noises coming from the kitchen, so that's a good sign ....
Francis Stephens - A Walk Along The Beach: Four-year-old Tod, pet-torturing little bastard, learns too late not to torment the mutated jellyfish washed up on the stony beach at Dirk Point near the nuclear power station ...
Pamela Vincent - Lost Soul: Whatever you do, don't let that miserable old widower who sits in the launderette help you load your washing into the machine!
Sydney J. Bounds - Hot House: Mr. Parker of Organic Fertilizers pays a visit to Colonel West at his country residence, The Plantation on the outskirts of Bredon Village. The Colonel reckons his beloved plants will thrive on blood. They do.
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Catamodo: " ... to the ordinary person, it's a bit off-putting to know we cannot be hurt if we fall ever so far, or if something ever so heavy falls on us. They get very narky when they realise we don't grow old, too ... we sort of curl up and fade away at the age of a hundred and four."
Martin certainly is among those who find it "off-putting" when wife Myra confesses to being a Catamodo. He's after her insurance money and has already made several attempts on her life. Finally he decides to dismember her and bury the severed portions in a variety of locations. Those familiar with Robert Bloch's Frozen Fear will know that this doesn't necessarily have the desired effect ....
RCH seems to find the Catamodo's need for a constant supply of burst sausages hilarious and he also works in one of his ghastly attempts at verse, but the macabre nature of it all just about rescues this despite his worst efforts.
Pamela Vincent - Homicidal Maniac!: A lone woman breaks down in the middle of nowhere. She's aware of a hairy, green-eyed figure watching her from the trees and fears the worst. Fortunately, a car pulls up, and two men drive her away to the safety of their secluded old house. As she flops out in a chair, she wonders at all the whips and leather gear on the wall. Reminiscent of a slightly restrained version of Alex White's notorious Never Talk To Strangers, (Pan Horror #7)
Martin Ricketts - And Now The Pact: Miller finds a book containing instructions on how to summon the Devil, which he does. They make the usual deal - Miller's soul in exchange for gold, flash cars, a beautiful woman - in a disappointingly workmanlike four pager.
Bernard Taylor - My Very Good Friend: Pierre lives in seclusion save for the visits of nearest neighbour Royston Stevens, but that's the way he prefers it. Shockingly hideous to the eye, he conducts his rapid growth experiments on a preying mantis he names Emil (later Emilie when he's ascertained its sex). There's such a thing as getting too close to your enormous pets ...
Terry Gisbourne - The Quiet Man: Good-natured Northerner Jack Prince and his wife Elsie move into Gibbet Terrace in Chingford and set up a small business. All would be well were it not for loathsome neighbours the Witlows, who deliberately make their lives unbearable until Jack is obliged to pay them for some peace and quiet. When they begin taunting him by making farmyard noises at the top of their voices, Jack falls back on his professional skills to shut them up for good.
Bernard Taylor - Cera: Bizarre vampire tale. Carl is jilted by the tall, striking Cera who surprises everyone by marrying the less than dynamic shortarse Greg Merchant. Carl swears revenge, but he needn't trouble himself. Within months his rival is a wreck of a man, shrinking, losing his teeth, hair, etc. Conversely, Cera has grown huge. Carl wonders why he can't get the memory of the Angler fish models at the museum out of his mind ...
A. E. Ellis - If Thy Right Hand Offends Thee ...: St. Chrysostum's College, 1925. A cowled skeleton walks abroad following an impromptu seance by four pupils at the nearby Hoecourt Ring. It terrifies several members of staff before it finally communicates to the medical officer what it requires of him.
Martin Ricketts - Dissolving Partnership: Brooks moves in next door to partner Crowell at Mrs. Graham's guest house following the mysterious disappearance of the previous tenant. The pair are planning their next robbery, and Crowell has finally perfected his serum that will reduce a man to under twelve inches tall ...
Adrian Cole - The Horror Under Penmire: Keen folklorist Roy Baxter disappears while investigating a mysterious village on Bodmin Moor. His friend, author Phil Dayton comes in search of him and, in a mist-shrouded valley which stinks of fish, encounters the most unfriendly pub this side of The Lough Inn (it's so rotten, it doesn't even have a name). He is taken prisoner by the Penmire villagers and chained up with his friend in a rat-infested crypt while above them the residents summon forth their God - Dagon.
Kay Leith - For The Love of Pamela
Sydney J. Bounds - The Mask
Joyce Marsh - Old Heather's Picture
Bernard Taylor - Cera
Pamela Vincent - Lost Soul
A. E. Ellis - If Thy Right Hand Offends Thee ...
Martin Ricketts - Dissolving Partnership
Terry Gisbourne - The Quiet Man
Francis Stephens - A Walk Along The Beach
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Catomado
Dorothy K. Haynes - Dorothy Dean
Sydney J. Bounds - Hothouse
Julia Birley - The Old Men
Pamela Vincent - Homicidal Maniac!
Bernard Taylor - My Very Good Friend
Martin Ricketts - And Now The Pact
Adrian Cole - The Horror Under Penmire
Kay Leith - For The Love of Pamela: Joe and Pamela think they've finally found their dream home when they move in at 12 Drayfield Grove, but a restless elemental force has other ideas. It has sexual designs on Joe, but doesn't care for his wife at all ...
Sydney J. Bounds - The Mask: Len Roberts of The Echo turns up for Jane Clay's Halloween party wearing an authentic death mask. He collars Shirley-Anne - she's come as the virgin sacrifice - and explains its origin: "Remember Martin Fletcher? ... Local lad made bad. Had a nasty habit of cutting up young girls and packing their dismembered bodies in trunks." At the end of the night, Jane can't find the couple. But there are some strange noises coming from the kitchen, so that's a good sign ....
Francis Stephens - A Walk Along The Beach: Four-year-old Tod, pet-torturing little bastard, learns too late not to torment the mutated jellyfish washed up on the stony beach at Dirk Point near the nuclear power station ...
Pamela Vincent - Lost Soul: Whatever you do, don't let that miserable old widower who sits in the launderette help you load your washing into the machine!
Sydney J. Bounds - Hot House: Mr. Parker of Organic Fertilizers pays a visit to Colonel West at his country residence, The Plantation on the outskirts of Bredon Village. The Colonel reckons his beloved plants will thrive on blood. They do.
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Catamodo: " ... to the ordinary person, it's a bit off-putting to know we cannot be hurt if we fall ever so far, or if something ever so heavy falls on us. They get very narky when they realise we don't grow old, too ... we sort of curl up and fade away at the age of a hundred and four."
Martin certainly is among those who find it "off-putting" when wife Myra confesses to being a Catamodo. He's after her insurance money and has already made several attempts on her life. Finally he decides to dismember her and bury the severed portions in a variety of locations. Those familiar with Robert Bloch's Frozen Fear will know that this doesn't necessarily have the desired effect ....
RCH seems to find the Catamodo's need for a constant supply of burst sausages hilarious and he also works in one of his ghastly attempts at verse, but the macabre nature of it all just about rescues this despite his worst efforts.
Pamela Vincent - Homicidal Maniac!: A lone woman breaks down in the middle of nowhere. She's aware of a hairy, green-eyed figure watching her from the trees and fears the worst. Fortunately, a car pulls up, and two men drive her away to the safety of their secluded old house. As she flops out in a chair, she wonders at all the whips and leather gear on the wall. Reminiscent of a slightly restrained version of Alex White's notorious Never Talk To Strangers, (Pan Horror #7)
Martin Ricketts - And Now The Pact: Miller finds a book containing instructions on how to summon the Devil, which he does. They make the usual deal - Miller's soul in exchange for gold, flash cars, a beautiful woman - in a disappointingly workmanlike four pager.
Bernard Taylor - My Very Good Friend: Pierre lives in seclusion save for the visits of nearest neighbour Royston Stevens, but that's the way he prefers it. Shockingly hideous to the eye, he conducts his rapid growth experiments on a preying mantis he names Emil (later Emilie when he's ascertained its sex). There's such a thing as getting too close to your enormous pets ...
Terry Gisbourne - The Quiet Man: Good-natured Northerner Jack Prince and his wife Elsie move into Gibbet Terrace in Chingford and set up a small business. All would be well were it not for loathsome neighbours the Witlows, who deliberately make their lives unbearable until Jack is obliged to pay them for some peace and quiet. When they begin taunting him by making farmyard noises at the top of their voices, Jack falls back on his professional skills to shut them up for good.
Bernard Taylor - Cera: Bizarre vampire tale. Carl is jilted by the tall, striking Cera who surprises everyone by marrying the less than dynamic shortarse Greg Merchant. Carl swears revenge, but he needn't trouble himself. Within months his rival is a wreck of a man, shrinking, losing his teeth, hair, etc. Conversely, Cera has grown huge. Carl wonders why he can't get the memory of the Angler fish models at the museum out of his mind ...
A. E. Ellis - If Thy Right Hand Offends Thee ...: St. Chrysostum's College, 1925. A cowled skeleton walks abroad following an impromptu seance by four pupils at the nearby Hoecourt Ring. It terrifies several members of staff before it finally communicates to the medical officer what it requires of him.
Martin Ricketts - Dissolving Partnership: Brooks moves in next door to partner Crowell at Mrs. Graham's guest house following the mysterious disappearance of the previous tenant. The pair are planning their next robbery, and Crowell has finally perfected his serum that will reduce a man to under twelve inches tall ...
Adrian Cole - The Horror Under Penmire: Keen folklorist Roy Baxter disappears while investigating a mysterious village on Bodmin Moor. His friend, author Phil Dayton comes in search of him and, in a mist-shrouded valley which stinks of fish, encounters the most unfriendly pub this side of The Lough Inn (it's so rotten, it doesn't even have a name). He is taken prisoner by the Penmire villagers and chained up with his friend in a rat-infested crypt while above them the residents summon forth their God - Dagon.