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The Seventh Pan Book of Horror Stories
contents:
Charles J. Benfleet, ‘The Man Who Hated Flies’
R. Chetwynd-Hayes, ‘The Thing’
G.M. Glaskin, ‘The Return’
David Grant, ‘The Bats’
Dulcie Gray, ‘The Fur Brooch
Dulcie Gray, ‘Dream House’
Harry Harrison, ‘The Streets of Ashkelon’
Patricia Highsmith, ‘The Snail Watcher’
W.W. Jacobs, ‘The Monkey’s Paw’
John D. Keefauver, ‘The Last Experiment’
John D. Keefauver, ‘Mareta’
Rene Morris, ‘I’ll Never Leave You – Ever’
William Sansom, ‘A Smell of Fear’
William Sansom, ‘The Little Room’
Rosemary Timperley, ‘Street of the Blind Donkey’
Martin Waddell, ‘Cannibals’
Martin Waddell, ‘The Old Adam’
Elizabeth Walter, ‘The Island of Regrets’
Alex White, ‘Never Talk to Strangers’
Charles J. Benfleet, ‘The Man Who Hated Flies’
R. Chetwynd-Hayes, ‘The Thing’
G.M. Glaskin, ‘The Return’
David Grant, ‘The Bats’
Dulcie Gray, ‘The Fur Brooch
Dulcie Gray, ‘Dream House’
Harry Harrison, ‘The Streets of Ashkelon’
Patricia Highsmith, ‘The Snail Watcher’
W.W. Jacobs, ‘The Monkey’s Paw’
John D. Keefauver, ‘The Last Experiment’
John D. Keefauver, ‘Mareta’
Rene Morris, ‘I’ll Never Leave You – Ever’
William Sansom, ‘A Smell of Fear’
William Sansom, ‘The Little Room’
Rosemary Timperley, ‘Street of the Blind Donkey’
Martin Waddell, ‘Cannibals’
Martin Waddell, ‘The Old Adam’
Elizabeth Walter, ‘The Island of Regrets’
Alex White, ‘Never Talk to Strangers’
239 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
About the author
Herbert van Thal
96 books37 followersHerbert Maurice van Thal (1904-1983), known as Bertie van Thal, was a British bookseller, publisher, agent, biographer, and anthologist.
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August 4, 2019PLACEHOLDER REVIEW:
As I'm working through a list of short fiction authors in the early W's (Karl Edward Wagner through Ian Watson, if you must know), I'm currently reading some Elizabeth Walter pieces, and pulled this off the shelf to read "The Isle of Regrets"
An engaged couple (she, a bit controlling, he a bit milquetoast and regretting the engagement) stop in a remote Breton town while on holiday, and hear legends about the small island in the bay - that the first wish one has on landing there will be fulfilled, but in an unexpected and negative way, and that the island houses a madman, always houses a madman who is periodically replaced. And, of course, (despite the wishes of the husband and the superstitious town folk), they rent a boat and go to the island, where unconscious wishes are made and a madman is met. This is essentially a curse story, with the second half featuring a desperate trip to attempt to undue it. While perhaps a bit too long in the set-up (and some moments of the desperate trip pay-off), and despite the fact that you know where it's going, this has atmospheric moments (the exploration of the island, the finding of the dilapidated house) and a clear, straight-ahead story title. The "floating, leering faces" of the final dash are a nice touch. Again, nothing to write home about, but a solid story.
As I'm working through a list of short fiction authors in the early W's (Karl Edward Wagner through Ian Watson, if you must know), I'm currently reading some Elizabeth Walter pieces, and pulled this off the shelf to read "The Isle of Regrets"
An engaged couple (she, a bit controlling, he a bit milquetoast and regretting the engagement) stop in a remote Breton town while on holiday, and hear legends about the small island in the bay - that the first wish one has on landing there will be fulfilled, but in an unexpected and negative way, and that the island houses a madman, always houses a madman who is periodically replaced. And, of course, (despite the wishes of the husband and the superstitious town folk), they rent a boat and go to the island, where unconscious wishes are made and a madman is met. This is essentially a curse story, with the second half featuring a desperate trip to attempt to undue it. While perhaps a bit too long in the set-up (and some moments of the desperate trip pay-off), and despite the fact that you know where it's going, this has atmospheric moments (the exploration of the island, the finding of the dilapidated house) and a clear, straight-ahead story title. The "floating, leering faces" of the final dash are a nice touch. Again, nothing to write home about, but a solid story.
November 24, 2007
Contains one of PB's All Time Greats :
"The Monkey's Paw" by WW Jacobs (1902)
The ending is so poignant, not a quality often found in a horror story. The monkey's paw grants wishes. The old woman makes the old man use it and wish for their son back alive (after he was mangled in a gruesome industrial accident). And then...nothing. And then... a loud knock on the cottage door.
"What are you holding me for? Let go. I must open the door."
"For God's sake, don't let it in" cried the old man, trembing.
"You're afraid of your own son" she cried, struggling. "Let me go. I'm coming, Herbert, I'm coming!"
More knocks on the door - a fusillade of them. The old woman gets to the door and climbs on a chair to unbolt it. She draws the bolt and the old man frantically scrabbling around in the bedroom finally finds the monkey's paw again. "He breathed his third and last wish."
"The knocking ceased suddenly, although echoes of it were still in the house. He heard the chair drawn back and the loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave him courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond. The street lamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road."
***
There, I spoiled it now, but you should have read it already! I bet Stephen King stole this idea and used it somewhere.
"The Monkey's Paw" by WW Jacobs (1902)
The ending is so poignant, not a quality often found in a horror story. The monkey's paw grants wishes. The old woman makes the old man use it and wish for their son back alive (after he was mangled in a gruesome industrial accident). And then...nothing. And then... a loud knock on the cottage door.
"What are you holding me for? Let go. I must open the door."
"For God's sake, don't let it in" cried the old man, trembing.
"You're afraid of your own son" she cried, struggling. "Let me go. I'm coming, Herbert, I'm coming!"
More knocks on the door - a fusillade of them. The old woman gets to the door and climbs on a chair to unbolt it. She draws the bolt and the old man frantically scrabbling around in the bedroom finally finds the monkey's paw again. "He breathed his third and last wish."
"The knocking ceased suddenly, although echoes of it were still in the house. He heard the chair drawn back and the loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave him courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond. The street lamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road."
***
There, I spoiled it now, but you should have read it already! I bet Stephen King stole this idea and used it somewhere.
July 4, 2022
3.5
With the previous book in this series easily being the weakest so far, it was good to find things almost back on course with this one. I say almost as I found five of the nineteen to be not just below, but well below par. But moving on, I found eight to be good to very good. These are:-
‘The Man Who Hated Flies’ (by Charles J. Benfleet). A man who believes in reincarnation dies. This may be slow for much of its time but it builds to a truly surprising climax.
‘The Thing’ (R. Chetwynd-Hayes). A macabre and atmospheric story of a couple haunted by an eerie figure robed in black.
‘The Bats’ (David Grant). A boy who is brought up by distant parents gets his love from rearing animals in the garden shed. A good, dark family story with only a rather predictable and flattish ending spoiling the effect.
‘The Fur Brooch’ (Dulcie Gray). A woman who is the fiancé of a good-looking man is constantly irritated by her mother pushing her towards an odd and creepy man. The creepy man is none too pleased at her choice! This is a beautifully written character horror story with a good central idea and a heavy foreboding atmosphere.
‘Dream House’ (Dulcie Gray). Two good one’s in a row from this writer whose style is a pleasure to read. A large overbearing woman and her skinny quiet husband take out a long term lease on a large country house. This is another character horror. I wasn’t expecting the denouement.
‘Mareta’ (John D. Keefauver). Story of a serial husband murderer. Beautifully written with a strong hint of eroticism running throughout. Heavy on atmosphere and sense of impending doom.
‘I’ll Never Leave You – Ever’ (Rene Morris). A woman, whose husband is dying, has an affair with a younger fitter man. I’m not a voodoo fan, but this one does have a different take on the theme and is so beautifully written that I can forgive it. Both dark and tender, it’s another character driven horror story.
‘The Island of Regrets’ (Elizabeth Walter). An engaged couple, despite mysterious (though of course unspecified warnings!), visit a strange island on a trip to France. On leaving the island, the woman realises that she has inadvertently taken a tree cone. When she falls seriously ill, the husband-to-be races back to the island in order to return the cone – believing it to be the cause of her illness. At 39 pages long, this is positively an epic in the series. It’s a very fine, quirky, mysterious story with lots going on. My only little gripe would be a slightly flat ending. Given what a curiously ghostly character on the island has told them earlier in the story (almost suggesting that he’s waiting to be replaced) I thought (if I dare to suggest) that a better end would have been for the man racing to the island to discover on his arrival that when the ghostly character turns around this time, it is his wife’s figure looking back at him. He has been too late!
With another half dozen stories that are fine (‘The Return,’ ‘The Snail Watcher,’ ‘The Last Experiment,’ ‘Street of the Blind Donkey,’ ‘Never Talk To Strangers,’ and the much anthologised ‘The Monkey’s Paw’) this is an enjoyable enough collection, if not quite up to the standards of volumes 2, 3, 4 and 5.
An odd little curio jumped out at me as I read through the titles, and is surely an in-joke? Martin Waddell has two stories that follow each other here. The first is called, 'A Smell of Fear' - which in a horror collection can raise a few titters, but even more so on seeing that his very next story is entitled, 'The Little Room' - which is perhaps where the smell of fear should be kept!
With the previous book in this series easily being the weakest so far, it was good to find things almost back on course with this one. I say almost as I found five of the nineteen to be not just below, but well below par. But moving on, I found eight to be good to very good. These are:-
‘The Man Who Hated Flies’ (by Charles J. Benfleet). A man who believes in reincarnation dies. This may be slow for much of its time but it builds to a truly surprising climax.
‘The Thing’ (R. Chetwynd-Hayes). A macabre and atmospheric story of a couple haunted by an eerie figure robed in black.
‘The Bats’ (David Grant). A boy who is brought up by distant parents gets his love from rearing animals in the garden shed. A good, dark family story with only a rather predictable and flattish ending spoiling the effect.
‘The Fur Brooch’ (Dulcie Gray). A woman who is the fiancé of a good-looking man is constantly irritated by her mother pushing her towards an odd and creepy man. The creepy man is none too pleased at her choice! This is a beautifully written character horror story with a good central idea and a heavy foreboding atmosphere.
‘Dream House’ (Dulcie Gray). Two good one’s in a row from this writer whose style is a pleasure to read. A large overbearing woman and her skinny quiet husband take out a long term lease on a large country house. This is another character horror. I wasn’t expecting the denouement.
‘Mareta’ (John D. Keefauver). Story of a serial husband murderer. Beautifully written with a strong hint of eroticism running throughout. Heavy on atmosphere and sense of impending doom.
‘I’ll Never Leave You – Ever’ (Rene Morris). A woman, whose husband is dying, has an affair with a younger fitter man. I’m not a voodoo fan, but this one does have a different take on the theme and is so beautifully written that I can forgive it. Both dark and tender, it’s another character driven horror story.
‘The Island of Regrets’ (Elizabeth Walter). An engaged couple, despite mysterious (though of course unspecified warnings!), visit a strange island on a trip to France. On leaving the island, the woman realises that she has inadvertently taken a tree cone. When she falls seriously ill, the husband-to-be races back to the island in order to return the cone – believing it to be the cause of her illness. At 39 pages long, this is positively an epic in the series. It’s a very fine, quirky, mysterious story with lots going on. My only little gripe would be a slightly flat ending. Given what a curiously ghostly character on the island has told them earlier in the story (almost suggesting that he’s waiting to be replaced) I thought (if I dare to suggest) that a better end would have been for the man racing to the island to discover on his arrival that when the ghostly character turns around this time, it is his wife’s figure looking back at him. He has been too late!
With another half dozen stories that are fine (‘The Return,’ ‘The Snail Watcher,’ ‘The Last Experiment,’ ‘Street of the Blind Donkey,’ ‘Never Talk To Strangers,’ and the much anthologised ‘The Monkey’s Paw’) this is an enjoyable enough collection, if not quite up to the standards of volumes 2, 3, 4 and 5.
An odd little curio jumped out at me as I read through the titles, and is surely an in-joke? Martin Waddell has two stories that follow each other here. The first is called, 'A Smell of Fear' - which in a horror collection can raise a few titters, but even more so on seeing that his very next story is entitled, 'The Little Room' - which is perhaps where the smell of fear should be kept!
May 25, 2014
The seventh of this endless anthology series. This one's noticeably weaker than the first instalments of the Pan Books of Horror, but there are still plenty of interesting stories to attract the attention; just that they're padded with more average fare. Contents are as follows:
THE MAN WHO HATED FLIES, by Charles J. Benfleet: A man asks his friend to prove to him the existence of reincarnation, with unexpected results. A very slight and comic story, but written in a style that's designed to entertain. 3/5
THE THING, by R. Chetwynd-Hayes: A man enters a pub with the Grim Reaper behind him, much to the consternation of the patrons. Not a bad idea behind this one, but there's too much waffle and the humour is decidedly iffy. 2/5
THE RETURN, by G. M. Glaskin: A 17-year-old girl, dozing in the grass, is assailed by a horrible sight. Verbose, purple prose thought = a chore to read. 1/5
THE BATS, by David Grant: A young boy breeds some unusual pets in the garden shed. There's a bleak, E.C. Comics-style atmosphere to this one, but Grant shies away from the expected grue. 3/5
THE FUR BROOCH, by Dulcie Gray: A young woman is desperate to get rid of her slimeball suitor, but he has other ideas. Written in a very genteel and decidedly old-fashioned style, but this somehow works; a gore story written by a prim and proper old lady - at least that's what it feels like. 3/5
DREAM HOUSE, by Dulcie Gray: A married couple rent their dream home, but their relationship is troubled. A mundane-feeling tale, without much to recommend it, aside from the very funny letter at the end. 3/5
THE STREETS OF ASHKELON, by Harry Harrison: A man's existence on a remote alien planet is disturbed by Christian missionaries. The first great story in the book! I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, but this one hits the nail right on the head and is a delight to read. 5/5
THE SNAIL WATCHER, by Patricia Highsmith: A man's obsession with collecting snails has a dark outcome. An early companion piece to Hutson's SLUGS, and as slimy, ghoulish and nasty as you'd expect. 5/5
THE MONKEY'S PAW, by W. W. Jacobs. No need to go over this much-anthologised classic again, only to say it's a classic for a reason; it's brilliant. 5/5
THE LAST EXPERIEMENT, by John D. Keefauver: A man is locked in a room without sensory input as part of an experiment. A study of psychological terror, and entertaining with it. 3/5
MARETA, by John D. Keefauver: A man uncovers his wife's dark past. The story of a femme fatale with a strong psychological angle, topped off by a climax straight out of Hammer Horror. 4/5
I'LL NEVER LEAVE YOU - EVER, by Rene Morris: A woman's terminally ill husband refuses to die, getting in the way of her life with her new lover. The most unpleasant story in the book and the first sign of the way these anthologies would go: cold, hard and merciless gore. 2/5
A SMELL OF FEAR, by William Sansom: A woman is followed through the streets of London by a limping stranger. A great study of psychological horror, with some great frights - the 'fleas in the bath' scene is my favourite. 4/5
THE LITTLE ROOM, by William Sansom: A nun is walled up alive in a room and begins to suffer the effects of suffocation. Unsurprisingly, this is an utterfly depressing effort, and the nastiest yet from this author. 3/5
STREET OF THE BLIND DONKEY, by Rosemary Timperley: A woman escapes her unhappy marriage and ends up in Bruges, but has her husband followed her? No ghostly stuff here, just psychology gone wrong, with hallucinations and abuse. A great setting, and a disturbing story. 3/5
CANNIBALS, by Martin Waddell: A young, put-upon man decides to get revenge on everybody in his life. A grand and gory offering that'll have you reaching for the sick-bag. 3/5
THE OLD ADAM, by Martin Waddell: In a futuristic world, an entity called Adam exists inside a bottle. The author's best effort yet: a sci-fi romance with an unexpectedly macabre climax. Very weird, but it works somehow. 4/5
THE ISLAND OF REGRETS, by Elizabeth Walter. A newly-engaged couple's holiday to Brittany turns sour. Tons of atmosphere and suspense in this old-fashioned ghost story which is up there with the best of M. R. James. It sits out of place in this anthology, almost as if it's too good for it. 5/5
NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS, by Alex White: In which a woman finds herself assailed by a hulking man at a train station. Viciously nasty serial killer thrills on offer here. It's a story that benefits from heightened realism, if you can handle it. 3/5
THE MAN WHO HATED FLIES, by Charles J. Benfleet: A man asks his friend to prove to him the existence of reincarnation, with unexpected results. A very slight and comic story, but written in a style that's designed to entertain. 3/5
THE THING, by R. Chetwynd-Hayes: A man enters a pub with the Grim Reaper behind him, much to the consternation of the patrons. Not a bad idea behind this one, but there's too much waffle and the humour is decidedly iffy. 2/5
THE RETURN, by G. M. Glaskin: A 17-year-old girl, dozing in the grass, is assailed by a horrible sight. Verbose, purple prose thought = a chore to read. 1/5
THE BATS, by David Grant: A young boy breeds some unusual pets in the garden shed. There's a bleak, E.C. Comics-style atmosphere to this one, but Grant shies away from the expected grue. 3/5
THE FUR BROOCH, by Dulcie Gray: A young woman is desperate to get rid of her slimeball suitor, but he has other ideas. Written in a very genteel and decidedly old-fashioned style, but this somehow works; a gore story written by a prim and proper old lady - at least that's what it feels like. 3/5
DREAM HOUSE, by Dulcie Gray: A married couple rent their dream home, but their relationship is troubled. A mundane-feeling tale, without much to recommend it, aside from the very funny letter at the end. 3/5
THE STREETS OF ASHKELON, by Harry Harrison: A man's existence on a remote alien planet is disturbed by Christian missionaries. The first great story in the book! I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, but this one hits the nail right on the head and is a delight to read. 5/5
THE SNAIL WATCHER, by Patricia Highsmith: A man's obsession with collecting snails has a dark outcome. An early companion piece to Hutson's SLUGS, and as slimy, ghoulish and nasty as you'd expect. 5/5
THE MONKEY'S PAW, by W. W. Jacobs. No need to go over this much-anthologised classic again, only to say it's a classic for a reason; it's brilliant. 5/5
THE LAST EXPERIEMENT, by John D. Keefauver: A man is locked in a room without sensory input as part of an experiment. A study of psychological terror, and entertaining with it. 3/5
MARETA, by John D. Keefauver: A man uncovers his wife's dark past. The story of a femme fatale with a strong psychological angle, topped off by a climax straight out of Hammer Horror. 4/5
I'LL NEVER LEAVE YOU - EVER, by Rene Morris: A woman's terminally ill husband refuses to die, getting in the way of her life with her new lover. The most unpleasant story in the book and the first sign of the way these anthologies would go: cold, hard and merciless gore. 2/5
A SMELL OF FEAR, by William Sansom: A woman is followed through the streets of London by a limping stranger. A great study of psychological horror, with some great frights - the 'fleas in the bath' scene is my favourite. 4/5
THE LITTLE ROOM, by William Sansom: A nun is walled up alive in a room and begins to suffer the effects of suffocation. Unsurprisingly, this is an utterfly depressing effort, and the nastiest yet from this author. 3/5
STREET OF THE BLIND DONKEY, by Rosemary Timperley: A woman escapes her unhappy marriage and ends up in Bruges, but has her husband followed her? No ghostly stuff here, just psychology gone wrong, with hallucinations and abuse. A great setting, and a disturbing story. 3/5
CANNIBALS, by Martin Waddell: A young, put-upon man decides to get revenge on everybody in his life. A grand and gory offering that'll have you reaching for the sick-bag. 3/5
THE OLD ADAM, by Martin Waddell: In a futuristic world, an entity called Adam exists inside a bottle. The author's best effort yet: a sci-fi romance with an unexpectedly macabre climax. Very weird, but it works somehow. 4/5
THE ISLAND OF REGRETS, by Elizabeth Walter. A newly-engaged couple's holiday to Brittany turns sour. Tons of atmosphere and suspense in this old-fashioned ghost story which is up there with the best of M. R. James. It sits out of place in this anthology, almost as if it's too good for it. 5/5
NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS, by Alex White: In which a woman finds herself assailed by a hulking man at a train station. Viciously nasty serial killer thrills on offer here. It's a story that benefits from heightened realism, if you can handle it. 3/5
November 15, 2020
Classic collection of short horror stories. You cannot go wrong with pan!
February 19, 2020
This volume is one which I read when I was about thirteen, so, in revisiting it, it was interesting to see which stories I remembered and which I didn't. Actually, I think there were only three which I remembered vividly, others had only a subliminal sense of familiarity. Of course, The Monkey's Paw was familiar, but I didn't specifically remember having read it in one of these books.
As usual what makes this collection impressive is the high quality of the writing and the variety of approaches to the horror story, from the subtly psychological to the viscerally gruesome.
Charles J. Benfleet - The Man Who Hated Flies
I loved this story centring around two characters speculations about life after death. Just the kind of neatly constructed story to leave a twisted smile on your face.
Benfleet doesn’t seem to be known for anything but this story.
R. Chetwynd Hayes - The Thing
A jaded character is given a stark vision of the self-destructive side of the human psyche in this grim tale. Not surprising that the description of “the thing” was excerpted as part of the blurb on the back of the book. It makes an impact.
Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes (1919-2001) was a highly regarded British writer of creepy stories. Some of his stories were adapted into the British horror film The Monster Club (1981) (dir. Roy Ward Baker), in which John Carradine played a fictionalised version of him.
G. M. Glaskin - The Return
Stories related by a character with an unreliable grip on reality are a standard in these anthologies. This one is a beauty. I was playing with a couple of ideas about what might be going on, but where it ends up feels just right.
Gerald Marcus Glaskin (1923-2000) was a Western Australian author, famous for the novel A Waltz Through The Hills (1961), which was filmed in 1988. No End To The Way, which he published under the pseudonym Neville Jackson, was banned in Australia for it’s depiction of homosexual love. Glaskin claims that, because it was illegal to ship copies to Australia, the publisher flew them in.
David Grant - The Bats
The problem with this story is that you are bound to know exactly what is coming from the title and the first two paragraphs. It’s well enough written, but no surprises.
I couldn’t find any information on the author.
Dulcie Gray - The Fur Brooch
This nasty little story of male possessiveness is one which stayed with me from when I read the book as a teenager, probably because of its grotesque and gruesome imagery. Creepy stuff.
This story was filmed - under the title A Feast of Blood - as part of Episode 16 of the second season of Night Gallery - 12 January 1972.
Dulcie Gray (1915-2011) was a British singer and actress, on the stage, in movies and on television, who also wrote mystery novels, radio plays and short stories. She was a lepidopterist and Vice President of the British Butterfly Conservation Society.
Dulcie Gray - Dream House
This is another story where the relationship between the sexes takes a decidedly brutal path, with black humour make it all the more deliciously poisonous.
Harry Harrison - The Streets of Ashkelon
This is a brilliant science fiction tale which explores the danger in trying to bring one’s own religion to an alien culture. A priest comes as a missionary to a society of amphibious creatures on another planet who, unfortunately, have very practical minds. A humanistic (or should that be alienistic?) story which is as sad as it is horrific.
Harry Harrison (1925-2012) began as a comic book artist working for EC Comics, especially in Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, before going on to become one of the great American science fiction authors, famous for a series of novels about a character known as The Stainless Steel Rat, beginning in 1961, and also Make Room! Make Room! (1966), which was the inspiration for the movie Soylent Green (1973).
Patricia Highsmith - The Snail Watcher
This story of an ordinary man who develops an obsessive fascination with the sensual breeding habits of snails is another which really made an impression on me as a teenager. It seems to resonate with the human propensity for sexual fetishes.
Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for Strangers on a Train (1950), filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951, The Price of Salt (1952), reputed to be the first lesbian novel with a happy ending - basis of Todd Haynes’ film Carol (2015), and a series of novels about the charming sociopath Tom Ripley, beginning in 1955.
W. W. Jacobs - The Monkey's Paw
This is a classic fable that makes the point that you should be very careful what you wish for. A man comes into the possession of a dried monkey’s paw which he is told will grant him three wishes. He is warned not to use it. He doesn’t heed that advice. He ends up wishing he had.
This story was first filmed in 1915 and has been filmed many times since.
William Wymark Jacobs (1863-1943) was an English author of short stories and novels. Although most of his writing was humorous, it is his horror stories, particularly The Monkey’s Paw, for which he is most famous today.
John D Keefauver - The Last Experiment
A soldier volunteers to stay in a lightless soundless room for an extended period of time to test the psychological effects of isolation. The efforts he makes to stay sane may have the opposite effect. A clever portrait of a mind hunting for something to cling to and being undermined by what it finds.
John D. Keefauver had a story each in the fifth and sixth volumes in this series. He is also known for the bisexual-themed pulp novel Tormented Virgin (1962).
John D. Keefauver - Mareta
A man finds out that his wife killed her previous husband. Understandably, this makes him nervous, but there is a more gruesome discovery yet to be made. The ending may not come as too much of a surprise when you get there, but the story effectively conveys its sense of dread.
Rene Morris - I'll Never Leave You
A young woman with a lover is impatient about the death of her sick husband. She resorts to magic. Always a bad idea. Captures a sense of panic as a serious enough crime turns unexpectedly into something truly hellish.
This story was filmed as part of Episode 20 of the second season of Night Gallery.
I can’t find any more information about Morris.
William Sansom - A Smell of Fear
There is nothing supernatural or outlandish about this story. It is a realistic tale of social isolation and the anxiety it elicits. We are very effectively taken into the nervous world of the female protagonist, and drawn along inexorably toward violence and tragedy.
William Sansom (1912-1976) was a British novelist, travel and short story writer. Sansom spent time in banking, advertising and as a firefighter before becoming a full-time writer. He has a number of stories included in the early books of this series.
William Sansom - The Little Room
This is another realistic tale of a woman’s thoughts. Realistic except that I don’t know of any orders of nuns which give the death penalty by suffocation in an air tight room as a punishment for the sins of the flesh. I thought that this story might take a surprising direction, but it is simply a depiction of the processes of the mind when confronted with imminent death. Sensitive and perceptive as well as grim.
Rosemary Timperley - Street of the Blind Donkey
A woman comes to Bruges in Belgium after escaping from her abusive husband. But has she really escaped? Could he have followed her? A very clever psychological tale of human bondage.
Rosemary Timperley (1920-1988) was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter, most famous for her ghost stories.
Martin Waddell - Cannibals
“It was not remarkable that he had killed his wife, but he should not have cooked her,” begins this gleefully gruesome tale of class conflict.
Martin Wadell is an Irish writer who is now best known for children’s books, especially the Little Bear picture books he began writing in the late 80s. Early volumes in Pan’s horror anthologies contain quite a few stories he wrote when he was young.
Martin Waddell - The Old Adam
Specimen 223367/Qlt/MZ is an artificial humanoid with blood made from pig urine who has been put into storage in a large bottle by his Soviet inventors following an incident which caused them public embarrassment in this bleak exercise in black humour.
Elizabeth Walter - The Island of Regrets
Curiosity tempts an engaged couple to visit a reputedly cursed island while travelling in France. According to legend it grants the first wish of those who visit it in a way which they will regret. While it plays out in a way that you might expect, it is well-told with plenty of atmosphere.
Elizabeth Walter (1927-2006) was an English author known for her ghost stories, often inspired by her travels in other countries.
Alex White - Never Talk to Strangers
This story about an innocent seventeen year old girl coming to live in London and anxious about a serial killer active in Paddington, where she will be living, is certainly very coldly gruesome and horrifying, but, in terms of plot, it is exactly what you expect.
I couldn’t find out much about Alex White, except that she’s a she. Six more of her stories would appear in later volumes in this series. Fans appear to have been unable to track down anything else she has written.
As usual what makes this collection impressive is the high quality of the writing and the variety of approaches to the horror story, from the subtly psychological to the viscerally gruesome.
Charles J. Benfleet - The Man Who Hated Flies
I loved this story centring around two characters speculations about life after death. Just the kind of neatly constructed story to leave a twisted smile on your face.
Benfleet doesn’t seem to be known for anything but this story.
R. Chetwynd Hayes - The Thing
A jaded character is given a stark vision of the self-destructive side of the human psyche in this grim tale. Not surprising that the description of “the thing” was excerpted as part of the blurb on the back of the book. It makes an impact.
Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes (1919-2001) was a highly regarded British writer of creepy stories. Some of his stories were adapted into the British horror film The Monster Club (1981) (dir. Roy Ward Baker), in which John Carradine played a fictionalised version of him.
G. M. Glaskin - The Return
Stories related by a character with an unreliable grip on reality are a standard in these anthologies. This one is a beauty. I was playing with a couple of ideas about what might be going on, but where it ends up feels just right.
Gerald Marcus Glaskin (1923-2000) was a Western Australian author, famous for the novel A Waltz Through The Hills (1961), which was filmed in 1988. No End To The Way, which he published under the pseudonym Neville Jackson, was banned in Australia for it’s depiction of homosexual love. Glaskin claims that, because it was illegal to ship copies to Australia, the publisher flew them in.
David Grant - The Bats
The problem with this story is that you are bound to know exactly what is coming from the title and the first two paragraphs. It’s well enough written, but no surprises.
I couldn’t find any information on the author.
Dulcie Gray - The Fur Brooch
This nasty little story of male possessiveness is one which stayed with me from when I read the book as a teenager, probably because of its grotesque and gruesome imagery. Creepy stuff.
This story was filmed - under the title A Feast of Blood - as part of Episode 16 of the second season of Night Gallery - 12 January 1972.
Dulcie Gray (1915-2011) was a British singer and actress, on the stage, in movies and on television, who also wrote mystery novels, radio plays and short stories. She was a lepidopterist and Vice President of the British Butterfly Conservation Society.
Dulcie Gray - Dream House
This is another story where the relationship between the sexes takes a decidedly brutal path, with black humour make it all the more deliciously poisonous.
Harry Harrison - The Streets of Ashkelon
This is a brilliant science fiction tale which explores the danger in trying to bring one’s own religion to an alien culture. A priest comes as a missionary to a society of amphibious creatures on another planet who, unfortunately, have very practical minds. A humanistic (or should that be alienistic?) story which is as sad as it is horrific.
Harry Harrison (1925-2012) began as a comic book artist working for EC Comics, especially in Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, before going on to become one of the great American science fiction authors, famous for a series of novels about a character known as The Stainless Steel Rat, beginning in 1961, and also Make Room! Make Room! (1966), which was the inspiration for the movie Soylent Green (1973).
Patricia Highsmith - The Snail Watcher
This story of an ordinary man who develops an obsessive fascination with the sensual breeding habits of snails is another which really made an impression on me as a teenager. It seems to resonate with the human propensity for sexual fetishes.
Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for Strangers on a Train (1950), filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951, The Price of Salt (1952), reputed to be the first lesbian novel with a happy ending - basis of Todd Haynes’ film Carol (2015), and a series of novels about the charming sociopath Tom Ripley, beginning in 1955.
W. W. Jacobs - The Monkey's Paw
This is a classic fable that makes the point that you should be very careful what you wish for. A man comes into the possession of a dried monkey’s paw which he is told will grant him three wishes. He is warned not to use it. He doesn’t heed that advice. He ends up wishing he had.
This story was first filmed in 1915 and has been filmed many times since.
William Wymark Jacobs (1863-1943) was an English author of short stories and novels. Although most of his writing was humorous, it is his horror stories, particularly The Monkey’s Paw, for which he is most famous today.
John D Keefauver - The Last Experiment
A soldier volunteers to stay in a lightless soundless room for an extended period of time to test the psychological effects of isolation. The efforts he makes to stay sane may have the opposite effect. A clever portrait of a mind hunting for something to cling to and being undermined by what it finds.
John D. Keefauver had a story each in the fifth and sixth volumes in this series. He is also known for the bisexual-themed pulp novel Tormented Virgin (1962).
John D. Keefauver - Mareta
A man finds out that his wife killed her previous husband. Understandably, this makes him nervous, but there is a more gruesome discovery yet to be made. The ending may not come as too much of a surprise when you get there, but the story effectively conveys its sense of dread.
Rene Morris - I'll Never Leave You
A young woman with a lover is impatient about the death of her sick husband. She resorts to magic. Always a bad idea. Captures a sense of panic as a serious enough crime turns unexpectedly into something truly hellish.
This story was filmed as part of Episode 20 of the second season of Night Gallery.
I can’t find any more information about Morris.
William Sansom - A Smell of Fear
There is nothing supernatural or outlandish about this story. It is a realistic tale of social isolation and the anxiety it elicits. We are very effectively taken into the nervous world of the female protagonist, and drawn along inexorably toward violence and tragedy.
William Sansom (1912-1976) was a British novelist, travel and short story writer. Sansom spent time in banking, advertising and as a firefighter before becoming a full-time writer. He has a number of stories included in the early books of this series.
William Sansom - The Little Room
This is another realistic tale of a woman’s thoughts. Realistic except that I don’t know of any orders of nuns which give the death penalty by suffocation in an air tight room as a punishment for the sins of the flesh. I thought that this story might take a surprising direction, but it is simply a depiction of the processes of the mind when confronted with imminent death. Sensitive and perceptive as well as grim.
Rosemary Timperley - Street of the Blind Donkey
A woman comes to Bruges in Belgium after escaping from her abusive husband. But has she really escaped? Could he have followed her? A very clever psychological tale of human bondage.
Rosemary Timperley (1920-1988) was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter, most famous for her ghost stories.
Martin Waddell - Cannibals
“It was not remarkable that he had killed his wife, but he should not have cooked her,” begins this gleefully gruesome tale of class conflict.
Martin Wadell is an Irish writer who is now best known for children’s books, especially the Little Bear picture books he began writing in the late 80s. Early volumes in Pan’s horror anthologies contain quite a few stories he wrote when he was young.
Martin Waddell - The Old Adam
Specimen 223367/Qlt/MZ is an artificial humanoid with blood made from pig urine who has been put into storage in a large bottle by his Soviet inventors following an incident which caused them public embarrassment in this bleak exercise in black humour.
Elizabeth Walter - The Island of Regrets
Curiosity tempts an engaged couple to visit a reputedly cursed island while travelling in France. According to legend it grants the first wish of those who visit it in a way which they will regret. While it plays out in a way that you might expect, it is well-told with plenty of atmosphere.
Elizabeth Walter (1927-2006) was an English author known for her ghost stories, often inspired by her travels in other countries.
Alex White - Never Talk to Strangers
This story about an innocent seventeen year old girl coming to live in London and anxious about a serial killer active in Paddington, where she will be living, is certainly very coldly gruesome and horrifying, but, in terms of plot, it is exactly what you expect.
I couldn’t find out much about Alex White, except that she’s a she. Six more of her stories would appear in later volumes in this series. Fans appear to have been unable to track down anything else she has written.
January 29, 2015
I read this book when I was a kid back in the 70s. I found some second hand copies and I am rereading as many of this series as I can. They were one of my sources of inspiration to write horror stories.
My favorites are:
Harry Harrison, ‘The Streets of Ashkelon’
WW Jacobs, ‘The Monkey’s Paw’
Rene Morris, ‘I’ll Never Leave You – Ever’
Rosemary Timperley, ‘Street of the Blind Donkey’
My favorites are:
Harry Harrison, ‘The Streets of Ashkelon’
WW Jacobs, ‘The Monkey’s Paw’
Rene Morris, ‘I’ll Never Leave You – Ever’
Rosemary Timperley, ‘Street of the Blind Donkey’
May 17, 2016
I'm not usually a great reader of horror but this was a good anthology peppered with a bit of sci-fi, not everything was too my liking but there were enough good stories to outweigh the ones I didn't get on with so well.
September 23, 2013
I'm always drawn to these kinds of collections, though they're usually completely rubbish. There were a few decent ones in here, alongside the duds.
December 11, 2021
Wonderful tales of terror.. longer ones drag out a little but always end in satisfying horror
November 14, 2022
Got about halfway through then had to stop.
Some of the stories are good, but many of them are just very average or kind of crap.
Some of the stories are good, but many of them are just very average or kind of crap.
Read
July 9, 2024"The Island of Regrets" by Elizabeth Walter - Peter loses his sanity after sailing to the Island of Regrets.
"The Man Who Hated Flies" by Charles J. Benfleet - wc
"The Return" by G. M. Glaskin - wc
"The Bats" by David Grant - wc
"The Fur Brooch" by Dulcie Gray - wc
"The Streets of Ashkelon" by Harry Harrison - wc
"The Snail Watcher" by Patricia Highsmith - wc
"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs - wc
"I'll Never Leave You - Ever" by Rene Morris - wc
"Never Talk to Strangers" by Alex White - wc
"The Man Who Hated Flies" by Charles J. Benfleet - wc
"The Return" by G. M. Glaskin - wc
"The Bats" by David Grant - wc
"The Fur Brooch" by Dulcie Gray - wc
"The Streets of Ashkelon" by Harry Harrison - wc
"The Snail Watcher" by Patricia Highsmith - wc
"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs - wc
"I'll Never Leave You - Ever" by Rene Morris - wc
"Never Talk to Strangers" by Alex White - wc
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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