What do you think?
Rate this book
65 Great Spine Chillers
CONTENTS
Joan Aiken - Lodgers
Cynthia Asquith - The Playfellow
Enid Bagnold - The Amorous Ghost
Denys Val Baker - The Face In The Mirror
E. F. Benson - Caterpillars
Ambrose Bierce - The Damned Thing
Algernon Blackwood - A Case Of Eavesdropping
Robert Bloch - A Home Away From Home
Elizabeth Bowen - The Cat Jumps
Gerald Bullett - Dearth’s Farm
Ramsey Campbell - Calling Card
Mark Channing - The Feet
William Charlton - Undesirable Guests
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - Shona and The Water Horse
Winston Churchill - “Man Overboard!”
Michael Cornish - Superstitious Ignorance
F. Marion Crawford - The Dead Smile
Roald Dahl - Georgy Porgy
Mary Danby - Woodman’s Knot
David Dixon - The Lodger In Room 16
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventure Of The Speckled Band
Elizabeth Fancett - When Morning Comes
Rick Ferreira - The Girl From Tomango
Theo Gift - Dog Or Demon?
Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wallpaper
Anthony Gittins - Gibbet Lane
Catherine Gleason - A Question Of Conscience
Winston Graham - The Basket Chair
Stephen Grendon (August Derleth) - The Tsanta In The Parlor
Roy Harrison - The Frogwood Roundabout
William F. Harvey - The Beast With Five Fingers
William Hope Hodgson - The Voice In The Night
M. R. James - The Ash-Tree
Jerome K. Jerome - The Dancing Partner
Glyn Jones - Jordan
David H. Keller - The Thing In The Cellar
Stephen King - Suffer The Little Children
Nigel Kneale - The Pond
Henry Kuttner - The Graveyard Rats
Perceval Landon - Thurnley Abbey
Kay Leith - Avalon Heights
H. P. Lovecraft - The Rats In The Walls
Lord Lytton - The Haunted And The Haunters
Richard Matheson - Deadline
Norman Matson - The House On Big Faraway
Ogden Nash - The Three D’s
E. Nesbit - Man-Size in Marble
Edgar Allan Poe - The Pit and The Pendulum
Tony Richards - Headlamps
Flavia Richardson - Behind The Yellow Door
Lennox Robinson - A Pair Of Muddy Shoes
Saki - The Music On The Hill
May Sinclair - The Villa Désirée
A. E. D. Smith - The Coat
Clark Ashton Smith - The Seed From The Sepulcher
Lady Eleanor Smith - Satan’s Circus
Bram Stoker - The Squaw
Terry Tapp - The Invaders
Basil Tozer - The Pioneers of Pike’s Peak
H. Russell Wakefield - Blind Man’s Buff
Evelyn Waugh - Mr. Loveday’s Little Outing
Dennis Wheatley - The Snake
Mary Williams - No Ticket
P. C. Wren - Fear
John Wyndham - Close Behind Him
Joan Aiken - Lodgers
Cynthia Asquith - The Playfellow
Enid Bagnold - The Amorous Ghost
Denys Val Baker - The Face In The Mirror
E. F. Benson - Caterpillars
Ambrose Bierce - The Damned Thing
Algernon Blackwood - A Case Of Eavesdropping
Robert Bloch - A Home Away From Home
Elizabeth Bowen - The Cat Jumps
Gerald Bullett - Dearth’s Farm
Ramsey Campbell - Calling Card
Mark Channing - The Feet
William Charlton - Undesirable Guests
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - Shona and The Water Horse
Winston Churchill - “Man Overboard!”
Michael Cornish - Superstitious Ignorance
F. Marion Crawford - The Dead Smile
Roald Dahl - Georgy Porgy
Mary Danby - Woodman’s Knot
David Dixon - The Lodger In Room 16
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventure Of The Speckled Band
Elizabeth Fancett - When Morning Comes
Rick Ferreira - The Girl From Tomango
Theo Gift - Dog Or Demon?
Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wallpaper
Anthony Gittins - Gibbet Lane
Catherine Gleason - A Question Of Conscience
Winston Graham - The Basket Chair
Stephen Grendon (August Derleth) - The Tsanta In The Parlor
Roy Harrison - The Frogwood Roundabout
William F. Harvey - The Beast With Five Fingers
William Hope Hodgson - The Voice In The Night
M. R. James - The Ash-Tree
Jerome K. Jerome - The Dancing Partner
Glyn Jones - Jordan
David H. Keller - The Thing In The Cellar
Stephen King - Suffer The Little Children
Nigel Kneale - The Pond
Henry Kuttner - The Graveyard Rats
Perceval Landon - Thurnley Abbey
Kay Leith - Avalon Heights
H. P. Lovecraft - The Rats In The Walls
Lord Lytton - The Haunted And The Haunters
Richard Matheson - Deadline
Norman Matson - The House On Big Faraway
Ogden Nash - The Three D’s
E. Nesbit - Man-Size in Marble
Edgar Allan Poe - The Pit and The Pendulum
Tony Richards - Headlamps
Flavia Richardson - Behind The Yellow Door
Lennox Robinson - A Pair Of Muddy Shoes
Saki - The Music On The Hill
May Sinclair - The Villa Désirée
A. E. D. Smith - The Coat
Clark Ashton Smith - The Seed From The Sepulcher
Lady Eleanor Smith - Satan’s Circus
Bram Stoker - The Squaw
Terry Tapp - The Invaders
Basil Tozer - The Pioneers of Pike’s Peak
H. Russell Wakefield - Blind Man’s Buff
Evelyn Waugh - Mr. Loveday’s Little Outing
Dennis Wheatley - The Snake
Mary Williams - No Ticket
P. C. Wren - Fear
John Wyndham - Close Behind Him
670 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1982
10 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Read
December 11, 2025Placeholder review
"The Snake" by Dennis Wheatley is probably the first piece of short (or long) fiction I've ever read by the author - Wheatley being a figure most familiar to me as having written the source for the fun film THE DEVIL RIDES OUT. Outside of that, I'm not really in a rush - descriptions of his novels make me feel like he's some sort of reactionary Robert Ludlum writing supernatural novels. But here we have a story, told over drinks, where a rich man explains why he believes in black magic, relating a story that goes back to his poverty-stricken beginnings in South Africa, where his bootlegging/arms-dealing boss runs afoul of the local witch doctor when he tries to collect on a debt. This is one of those traditional "native magic works on unbelieving white man" stories (see the much better "Pollock And The Porroh Man" by H.G. Wells) which plays out mostly like you'd expect (although there's a final, dramatic, unexpected twist) but pretty much does so in a workmanlike way - and Wheatley lives up to my low expectations by insulting Italians, Jews and Black Africans within the first few pages. Eminently forgettable.
"The Dancing Partner" by Jerome K. Jerome - an expert maker of clockwork figures turns his skills towards the complaints of young women of his association who are unhappy with their choice of dancing partners at the grand balls. But ingenuity ends in tragedy. There's so much to like about this piece - its succinctness, its restraint (it lets you know that awfulness has happened without spelling it fully out), its prescience (as we enter the age of AI, for good or ill), its (possible) awareness its own lineage (I imagine Jerome must have read Hoffmann's "The Sandman" and incorporated its tale of the proto-android Olympia). A good 'un.
In Lady Eleanor Smith's "Satan's Circus", we are introduced to the reputation of the Austrian Circus Brandt, which, while considered a fine and professional show, has a bad reputation that follows it as it travels across Europe, especially from its workers who don't stay on very long. And one such man, a juggler, tells his story of why he left, a story involving a circus worker named Anatole, the Brandt's corrupt ways, and the sudden need for a lion tamer... Again, while a bit subdued, it has a certain European charm, with faint echoes of the Decadent writers.
"The Snake" by Dennis Wheatley is probably the first piece of short (or long) fiction I've ever read by the author - Wheatley being a figure most familiar to me as having written the source for the fun film THE DEVIL RIDES OUT. Outside of that, I'm not really in a rush - descriptions of his novels make me feel like he's some sort of reactionary Robert Ludlum writing supernatural novels. But here we have a story, told over drinks, where a rich man explains why he believes in black magic, relating a story that goes back to his poverty-stricken beginnings in South Africa, where his bootlegging/arms-dealing boss runs afoul of the local witch doctor when he tries to collect on a debt. This is one of those traditional "native magic works on unbelieving white man" stories (see the much better "Pollock And The Porroh Man" by H.G. Wells) which plays out mostly like you'd expect (although there's a final, dramatic, unexpected twist) but pretty much does so in a workmanlike way - and Wheatley lives up to my low expectations by insulting Italians, Jews and Black Africans within the first few pages. Eminently forgettable.
"The Dancing Partner" by Jerome K. Jerome - an expert maker of clockwork figures turns his skills towards the complaints of young women of his association who are unhappy with their choice of dancing partners at the grand balls. But ingenuity ends in tragedy. There's so much to like about this piece - its succinctness, its restraint (it lets you know that awfulness has happened without spelling it fully out), its prescience (as we enter the age of AI, for good or ill), its (possible) awareness its own lineage (I imagine Jerome must have read Hoffmann's "The Sandman" and incorporated its tale of the proto-android Olympia). A good 'un.
In Lady Eleanor Smith's "Satan's Circus", we are introduced to the reputation of the Austrian Circus Brandt, which, while considered a fine and professional show, has a bad reputation that follows it as it travels across Europe, especially from its workers who don't stay on very long. And one such man, a juggler, tells his story of why he left, a story involving a circus worker named Anatole, the Brandt's corrupt ways, and the sudden need for a lion tamer... Again, while a bit subdued, it has a certain European charm, with faint echoes of the Decadent writers.
September 22, 2010
Very good anthology.A lot of the stories I have seen in other books but this doesn't detract from the winning selection of horror short stories.There also is not a lot of blood and guts so fans of Splatterpunk will be let down.The stories are also a little dated but this I find that I like.
Overall a worthwhile read.
You would like it Danielle.
Overall a worthwhile read.
You would like it Danielle.
January 26, 2015
Sixty-five great old-school horror stories. These tales are more psychological, cerebral, if you will, than blood and guts. My kind of horror.
August 2, 2016
massive collection of good, some excellent, stories
January 17, 2013
Definitely a mixed bag of stories. Most tended to follow a British or European ghost story trope where somebody marries, moves into a haunted house, has a horrible time, and then something ghastly happens to make them abandon it yet again. Of course, there are always little variations, but after awhile it got stale. There are also a few more modern stories, like King's "Suffer the Little Children", and many others featuring creepy hordes of insects and psychological issues. Stories are arranged alphabetically by author, so no real organization beyond the selection by the editor, who didn't proofread my edition that well either.
Warning: There is one H.P. Lovecraft story in this collection that features a black cat the narrator has chosen to name, "Nigger-Man". (It's set in the 1920s. I'm not asking.) He plays a pivotal role in the story and sticks close to the narrator, so it's impossible to avoid reading his name multiple times. Hilarity or shock may result.
Warning: There is one H.P. Lovecraft story in this collection that features a black cat the narrator has chosen to name, "Nigger-Man". (It's set in the 1920s. I'm not asking.) He plays a pivotal role in the story and sticks close to the narrator, so it's impossible to avoid reading his name multiple times. Hilarity or shock may result.
December 15, 2012
As with any book of short stories, some were better than others. However, where else can you get Sir Winston Churchill and Stephen King in the same book?
August 18, 2024
A terrific 'all star' anthology of classic (and often hard-to-find) horror tales, from such masters of the genre as Ramsey Campbell, R. Chetwynd-Hayes, Stephen King, Robert Bloch, Dennis Wheatley, John Wyndam, and many dozens more. An invaluable addition to the collection of any fan of great horror fiction.
July 9, 2017
As I read, I look to find something about the authors, other things they have written. Quite an education, Alger self taught, about some amazing writers.
December 31, 2021
A mixed bag of horror stories but generally a great anthology with range jump scares to subtle spine tinglers!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews