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Fiends and Creatures
Greatest terror tales by Ray Bradbury, Lord Dunsany, Tennessee Williams, Robert Bloch, M. R. James and others.
190 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
2 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Marvin Kaye
144 books83 followersMarvin Nathan Kaye was an American mystery, fantasy, science fiction, horror author, anthologist, and editor. He was also a magician and theater actor. Kaye was a World Fantasy Award winner and served as co-publisher and editor of Weird Tales Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 15, 2020
I picked this book up because Marvin Kaye is the current editor of Weird Tales, and I wanted to see more of his work. He first began publishing in 1975 at the ripe age of 37. This anthology because it came out in 1975 is therefore his earliest published work, or close to it. They are mostly all Weird tales. In fact, some of them first appeared in that very magazine.
The premise for the anthology is "tales of absolute terror." That is probably just publisher's blurb hype. The stories mesh well. A common theme is a protagonist making a deal with the devil, getting what he wants out of it, and then trying to welch on the deal in some way or another. Not all of the stories are exactly this theme, so Kaye in his introduction broadens the scope by writing that the common thread is stories about fiends in general. The 16 stories all fit into 178 pages, some of which are blank, so they are on average rather short.
**** 13 • Enoch • (1946) • short story by Robert Bloch. This one is a quite disturbing view into the mind of a mass murderer.
*** 29 • Babylon: 70 M. • (1963) • short story by Donald A. Wollheim. A mildly entertaining musing on the antiquity of an obscure nursery rhyme.
*** 37 • A Midnight Visitor • (1892) • short story by John Kendrick Bangs. A slow-moving tale of a protagonist trying to outwit a devil.
**** 51 • The Vengeance of Nitocris • (1928) • short story by Tennessee Williams. An enjoyable if simple story set in ancient Egypt of a noblewoman exacting revenge.
***** 65 • The Three Infernal Jokes • (1915) • short story by Lord Dunsany. A clever tale of the devil's trickery almost succeeding.
** 73 • An Episode of Cathedral History • (1914) • short story by M. R. James. Early M. R. James. He got better. The title says exactly what the story is. If that sounds at all interesting to you, go for it.
*** 91 • Damned Funny • (1975) • short story by Marvin Kaye [as by Eugene D. Goodwin]. Kaye wrote an original story for his anthology. It is a light-hearted telling of how a modern man overestimates his cleverness and almost gets taken by the devil when he strikes a bargain only to discover his plan to welch on the deal doesn't come off as smoothly as expected. Not the devil's first rodeo.
**** 105 • Interim • (1947) • short story by Ray Bradbury. Great beginning of a story in this short short.
***** 107 • The Bottle Imp • novelette by Baron Friedrich de La Motte Fouqué (trans. of Das Galgenmännlein 1814) [as by La Motte Fouque] The oldest and still best version of this oft-told story of a bottle imp that grants the holder unlimited wealth at too high a price. It's easier to find the inferior versions of this story than this original one. Stevenson's version, for example, was actually made into a Classics Illustrated comic book.
** 131 • Crescendo • (1963) • short story by Richard Matheson. Somewhat silly story about a haunted church organ.
**** 141 • In the X-Ray • (1949) • short story by Fritz Leiber. A story of one twin haunting another.
*** 155 • The Generous Gambler • (1918) • short story by Charles Baudelaire (trans. of Le joueur généreux 1868) [as by Charles Pierre Baudelaire]. Maybe the devil doesn't so deserve his bad reputation after all.
*** 159 • Captain Murderer • (1860) • short story by Charles Dickens. More like a vignette of a Dickens character.
**** 163 • Bubnoff and the Devil • (1842) • short story by Ivan Turgenev. Very odd story of a Cossack's encounter with a devil.
***** 171 • The Shadow Watchers • (1975) • short story by Dick Baldwin. I loved this devil outwitting and what it ultimately says about human nature.
**** 185 • The Faceless Thing • (1963) • short story by Edward D. Hoch. This read a lot like a Stephen King or Peter Straub story. It was a revisiting by an old man of a childhood horror, but it was so short.
The premise for the anthology is "tales of absolute terror." That is probably just publisher's blurb hype. The stories mesh well. A common theme is a protagonist making a deal with the devil, getting what he wants out of it, and then trying to welch on the deal in some way or another. Not all of the stories are exactly this theme, so Kaye in his introduction broadens the scope by writing that the common thread is stories about fiends in general. The 16 stories all fit into 178 pages, some of which are blank, so they are on average rather short.
**** 13 • Enoch • (1946) • short story by Robert Bloch. This one is a quite disturbing view into the mind of a mass murderer.
*** 29 • Babylon: 70 M. • (1963) • short story by Donald A. Wollheim. A mildly entertaining musing on the antiquity of an obscure nursery rhyme.
*** 37 • A Midnight Visitor • (1892) • short story by John Kendrick Bangs. A slow-moving tale of a protagonist trying to outwit a devil.
**** 51 • The Vengeance of Nitocris • (1928) • short story by Tennessee Williams. An enjoyable if simple story set in ancient Egypt of a noblewoman exacting revenge.
***** 65 • The Three Infernal Jokes • (1915) • short story by Lord Dunsany. A clever tale of the devil's trickery almost succeeding.
** 73 • An Episode of Cathedral History • (1914) • short story by M. R. James. Early M. R. James. He got better. The title says exactly what the story is. If that sounds at all interesting to you, go for it.
*** 91 • Damned Funny • (1975) • short story by Marvin Kaye [as by Eugene D. Goodwin]. Kaye wrote an original story for his anthology. It is a light-hearted telling of how a modern man overestimates his cleverness and almost gets taken by the devil when he strikes a bargain only to discover his plan to welch on the deal doesn't come off as smoothly as expected. Not the devil's first rodeo.
**** 105 • Interim • (1947) • short story by Ray Bradbury. Great beginning of a story in this short short.
***** 107 • The Bottle Imp • novelette by Baron Friedrich de La Motte Fouqué (trans. of Das Galgenmännlein 1814) [as by La Motte Fouque] The oldest and still best version of this oft-told story of a bottle imp that grants the holder unlimited wealth at too high a price. It's easier to find the inferior versions of this story than this original one. Stevenson's version, for example, was actually made into a Classics Illustrated comic book.
** 131 • Crescendo • (1963) • short story by Richard Matheson. Somewhat silly story about a haunted church organ.
**** 141 • In the X-Ray • (1949) • short story by Fritz Leiber. A story of one twin haunting another.
*** 155 • The Generous Gambler • (1918) • short story by Charles Baudelaire (trans. of Le joueur généreux 1868) [as by Charles Pierre Baudelaire]. Maybe the devil doesn't so deserve his bad reputation after all.
*** 159 • Captain Murderer • (1860) • short story by Charles Dickens. More like a vignette of a Dickens character.
**** 163 • Bubnoff and the Devil • (1842) • short story by Ivan Turgenev. Very odd story of a Cossack's encounter with a devil.
***** 171 • The Shadow Watchers • (1975) • short story by Dick Baldwin. I loved this devil outwitting and what it ultimately says about human nature.
**** 185 • The Faceless Thing • (1963) • short story by Edward D. Hoch. This read a lot like a Stephen King or Peter Straub story. It was a revisiting by an old man of a childhood horror, but it was so short.
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December 4, 2022PLACEHOLDER REVIEW:
"The Bottle Imp" ("Das Galgenmännlein") by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué - I decided to "check out" of my current read to re-read this story from 1814, after just having re-read the Robert Louis Stevenson version from 77 years later (in my current read), because I wanted to compare them. The set up is the same - a man obtains a small bottle containing an imp from hell, which gives the owner the ability to wish for almost anything, but the bottle must be sold for less than it was purchased for lest the owner die and be damned to hell. While Stevenson used the basic idea to explore ideas about love, duty and the transience of material wealth. Fouqué, in the original, gives us some of the main points (you can't cast away/lose the bottle while you own it - it will only return, invariably after getting rid of it you find reason to need it again) while changing some others (there's no mention that one can't wish for immortality, you CAN trick someone into buying it WITHOUT informing them and ACCIDENTALLY buy it back, the imp in this version haunts you un-endingly with dreams of damnation (and actually speaks to you in your dream in one instance!), the fortunes you gain will inevitably vanish after you sell it on). Fouqué's story, like Stevenson, is presented like a fable - or perhaps it's just more like the Romantic/German Gothic works of the time. Fouqué's main character starts as so poor that he initially offers even less than the current holder asks (which is extremely lower than the Stevenson tale). In the end, I like Fouqué's work better - as I noted in my review of the Stevenson story (in Famous Tales of the Fantastic), Stevenson kind of bogs down the ending to make his point about love. In Fouqué's case, the ending involves the unexpected appearance of a sinister stranger who offers a way to solve the problem - for his own strange reasons. Sure, it's a deus ex-machina (or, honestly, a diabolus ex-machina) but entertaining!
"The Vengeance Of Nitocris" by Tennessee Williams - The Pharoah's sister, Nitocris, plans a revenge against the priest class of Osiris for rewarding her brother's blasphemy with mob vengeance. She succeeds admirably. This is a strange one - essentially, a juvenile Williams' first sale (to WEIRD TALES, no less), he seems to be deliberately emulating the French conte cruel, writing in a Decadent mode (the Decadents enjoyed recalling the savage excesses of Biblical, Roman and Egyptian societies), with perhaps a little Poe as well. For all that, it sprawls a bit and plays its hand too early - sins certainly forgivable in a first writer! Not amazing but admirable.
"The Bottle Imp" ("Das Galgenmännlein") by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué - I decided to "check out" of my current read to re-read this story from 1814, after just having re-read the Robert Louis Stevenson version from 77 years later (in my current read), because I wanted to compare them. The set up is the same - a man obtains a small bottle containing an imp from hell, which gives the owner the ability to wish for almost anything, but the bottle must be sold for less than it was purchased for lest the owner die and be damned to hell. While Stevenson used the basic idea to explore ideas about love, duty and the transience of material wealth. Fouqué, in the original, gives us some of the main points (you can't cast away/lose the bottle while you own it - it will only return, invariably after getting rid of it you find reason to need it again) while changing some others (there's no mention that one can't wish for immortality, you CAN trick someone into buying it WITHOUT informing them and ACCIDENTALLY buy it back, the imp in this version haunts you un-endingly with dreams of damnation (and actually speaks to you in your dream in one instance!), the fortunes you gain will inevitably vanish after you sell it on). Fouqué's story, like Stevenson, is presented like a fable - or perhaps it's just more like the Romantic/German Gothic works of the time. Fouqué's main character starts as so poor that he initially offers even less than the current holder asks (which is extremely lower than the Stevenson tale). In the end, I like Fouqué's work better - as I noted in my review of the Stevenson story (in Famous Tales of the Fantastic), Stevenson kind of bogs down the ending to make his point about love. In Fouqué's case, the ending involves the unexpected appearance of a sinister stranger who offers a way to solve the problem - for his own strange reasons. Sure, it's a deus ex-machina (or, honestly, a diabolus ex-machina) but entertaining!
"The Vengeance Of Nitocris" by Tennessee Williams - The Pharoah's sister, Nitocris, plans a revenge against the priest class of Osiris for rewarding her brother's blasphemy with mob vengeance. She succeeds admirably. This is a strange one - essentially, a juvenile Williams' first sale (to WEIRD TALES, no less), he seems to be deliberately emulating the French conte cruel, writing in a Decadent mode (the Decadents enjoyed recalling the savage excesses of Biblical, Roman and Egyptian societies), with perhaps a little Poe as well. For all that, it sprawls a bit and plays its hand too early - sins certainly forgivable in a first writer! Not amazing but admirable.
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