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100 Creepy Little Creature Stories
ACE 156619511X (ISBN13: 9781566195119)
585 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
16 people are currently reading
228 people want to read
About the author
Martin H. Greenberg
909 books163 followersMartin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and speculative fiction anthologist. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel.
For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.
For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.
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October 27, 2025PLACEHOLDER REVIEWS - as I read through some public domain stuff.
A scientist develops a chemical way of increasing intelligence in Granville S. Hoss' "The Frog," and so he uses it on the titular creature. But increased intelligence/consciousness doesn't mean the frog is happy.... eh, a fairly straightforward "mad scientist" yarn.
"The Tabernacle" by Henry S. Whitehead has a bricklayer from the old country, who keeps bees, smuggle a piece of the Holy Host into his new hive. But later, when he has to move and so must disassemble the hive, he makes a discovery. This is a pleasant little piece of religious fantasy, nothing more and nothing less.
If anyone wants proof that not all of the pulps were forgotten masterpieces, toss "Seven Drops Of Blood" by H.F. Jamison their way. A Frankensteinien yarn of a millionaire that tries to defeat death through weird science and Old Testament religion, only to find that yanking someone back from heaven doesn't make them particularly happy, is "all pulp and a mile wide," to paraphrase Jean Shepherd. Silly guff.
"The Deserted Garden" by August Derleth - Mr. Jerym Waring, amateur archeologist, travels to Wales because he's interested in reports of an ancient garden-structure on the isolated seacoast (wherein a murder occurred, be he doesn't care about that). And finding the place, he feels it may be of Roman origin - possibly tied to the worship of Pan. Which turns out to be more true than he'd like.... This is Derleth (as in the the concurrent "Old Mark") writing in something like the M.R. James antiquarian mode. While "Mark" has a better set-up, this story may beat it because (even while overly familiar in its trajectory) it has atmosphere. Also, one of these stories of the period wherein "Pan" (who had - thanks to Occultists, Theosophists, Libertines and Decadents - replaced "Satan" in a more "sex-positive"/Greek Classicalist sense for the educated classes) gets to be dangerous and not just the excuse for you being horny.
"Left By The Tide" by Edward Schiff has a man recount how, out swimming early while one vacation, he finds more than he bargained for washed into a tide pool, and how his life is imperiled in the struggle.... this is a concise little thing, more anecdote than story, but that actually works to its advantage as, freed from presenting a full narrative, it comes across almost as someone relating something that really happened to them. Also, noteworthy for featuring an atypical threat.
In "Mummy" by Kelsey Percival Kitchel - a mining operative, stuck in the middle of nowhere (ie - the coast between The Andes and the Pacific ocean) decides to use his time off to ride out to a native burial ground and do some grave robbing for trinkets. But in bringing back a mummified head, he quickly realizes the mistake he's made... Although the story is familiar (White Man violates local taboo, nearly pays the price, makes amends) I quite enjoyed this honed-down version. Partly because it was leanly told, partly because the setting just seems logical (it had never really occurred to me that employees working in faraway places for mining conglomerates really had nothing to do during their downtime - bring a book!) and partly because the "curse" for the violation (a violation blithely noted by the narrator as he's engaging in it, no less, with the usual justifications about recency and history) is atmospheric and sense-related... until it isn't. Nice little yarn.
"The Edge Of The Shadow" by R. Ernest Dupuy is a brief, interesting piece constructed as a flashback inside of a flashback inside of a flashback - as a man tells of a fellow soldier in WWI who died mysteriously in the night, and how previously the man had told him - inspired by the fact that our narrator had DRACULA on the shelf - of his love affair with a Romanian woman some years ago, and their nighttime horse ride through the forest that terminated at an abandoned house and her fear and panic engendered by the weird building, at which she had told him about her previous encounter- at 12 years old - with something monstrous and undead in her family's castle. It may be a meditation on inescapable evil and how it attaches to people and spreads, or perhaps - while the story is somewhat classical/Gothic type - the whole framing of recursion is meant to show how unfulfilling memory is in our interactions with the unknown? I dug it, regardless.
"The Avenging Hand" by Roy Wallace Davis - brothers on a tropical island run afoul of a beast man, but when the local tribe uses its amazing healing skills to replace the severed arm of one of the brothers, disaster ensues. A silly, poorly written story. Without going into why, I think this might have been more interesting if it had been written 50 years earlier, but as it stands - predictable AND poorly written.
"The Phantom Drug" by A.W. Kapfer - scientist invents a drug that can transfer consciousness between animals. Invalid athlete friend AND the scientist decide to try it out themselves, as the same time. Silly, silly story with the expected ending.
"The Owl On The Moor" by August Derleth & Marc Schorer - a woman who lives in isolation in a shack on the moors is adjudged with suspicion by the locals, and the narrator... This is such a familiar, typical piece (I forget the exact Folklore coding term but "the revealing mark" or something like that) that one feels they have read it thirty times before... and you have.
"Mive" by Carl Jacobi - A man wanders into the titular desolate marshy countryside and encounters a disturbingly large butterfly, and his efforts to catch it coat his hands with a powder that, psychoactively, might have possibly cause him to have visions of a city overrun and destroyed by these carnivorous butterflies. Or was it all just a drugged dream? Interesting, more atmospheric setting than actual story, which makes it of a piece with much other Jacobi I've read.
"Tzo-Lin's Nightingales" by Ben Belitt has a man stumble into a Chinese curio shop to get out of a storm, only to find the aged owner's claims outrageous, until he returns for the full moon. Eh... a bit of Orientalist dark fantasy, with the only thing of note (besides the overwriting, as per pulp standards) the strange shift at the end from "dark fantasy" to slightly more "horrific" (although it's hard to tell whether its justified in story, or just a sop to more easily get it into WEIRD TALES.
A scientist develops a chemical way of increasing intelligence in Granville S. Hoss' "The Frog," and so he uses it on the titular creature. But increased intelligence/consciousness doesn't mean the frog is happy.... eh, a fairly straightforward "mad scientist" yarn.
"The Tabernacle" by Henry S. Whitehead has a bricklayer from the old country, who keeps bees, smuggle a piece of the Holy Host into his new hive. But later, when he has to move and so must disassemble the hive, he makes a discovery. This is a pleasant little piece of religious fantasy, nothing more and nothing less.
If anyone wants proof that not all of the pulps were forgotten masterpieces, toss "Seven Drops Of Blood" by H.F. Jamison their way. A Frankensteinien yarn of a millionaire that tries to defeat death through weird science and Old Testament religion, only to find that yanking someone back from heaven doesn't make them particularly happy, is "all pulp and a mile wide," to paraphrase Jean Shepherd. Silly guff.
"The Deserted Garden" by August Derleth - Mr. Jerym Waring, amateur archeologist, travels to Wales because he's interested in reports of an ancient garden-structure on the isolated seacoast (wherein a murder occurred, be he doesn't care about that). And finding the place, he feels it may be of Roman origin - possibly tied to the worship of Pan. Which turns out to be more true than he'd like.... This is Derleth (as in the the concurrent "Old Mark") writing in something like the M.R. James antiquarian mode. While "Mark" has a better set-up, this story may beat it because (even while overly familiar in its trajectory) it has atmosphere. Also, one of these stories of the period wherein "Pan" (who had - thanks to Occultists, Theosophists, Libertines and Decadents - replaced "Satan" in a more "sex-positive"/Greek Classicalist sense for the educated classes) gets to be dangerous and not just the excuse for you being horny.
"Left By The Tide" by Edward Schiff has a man recount how, out swimming early while one vacation, he finds more than he bargained for washed into a tide pool, and how his life is imperiled in the struggle.... this is a concise little thing, more anecdote than story, but that actually works to its advantage as, freed from presenting a full narrative, it comes across almost as someone relating something that really happened to them. Also, noteworthy for featuring an atypical threat.
In "Mummy" by Kelsey Percival Kitchel - a mining operative, stuck in the middle of nowhere (ie - the coast between The Andes and the Pacific ocean) decides to use his time off to ride out to a native burial ground and do some grave robbing for trinkets. But in bringing back a mummified head, he quickly realizes the mistake he's made... Although the story is familiar (White Man violates local taboo, nearly pays the price, makes amends) I quite enjoyed this honed-down version. Partly because it was leanly told, partly because the setting just seems logical (it had never really occurred to me that employees working in faraway places for mining conglomerates really had nothing to do during their downtime - bring a book!) and partly because the "curse" for the violation (a violation blithely noted by the narrator as he's engaging in it, no less, with the usual justifications about recency and history) is atmospheric and sense-related... until it isn't. Nice little yarn.
"The Edge Of The Shadow" by R. Ernest Dupuy is a brief, interesting piece constructed as a flashback inside of a flashback inside of a flashback - as a man tells of a fellow soldier in WWI who died mysteriously in the night, and how previously the man had told him - inspired by the fact that our narrator had DRACULA on the shelf - of his love affair with a Romanian woman some years ago, and their nighttime horse ride through the forest that terminated at an abandoned house and her fear and panic engendered by the weird building, at which she had told him about her previous encounter- at 12 years old - with something monstrous and undead in her family's castle. It may be a meditation on inescapable evil and how it attaches to people and spreads, or perhaps - while the story is somewhat classical/Gothic type - the whole framing of recursion is meant to show how unfulfilling memory is in our interactions with the unknown? I dug it, regardless.
"The Avenging Hand" by Roy Wallace Davis - brothers on a tropical island run afoul of a beast man, but when the local tribe uses its amazing healing skills to replace the severed arm of one of the brothers, disaster ensues. A silly, poorly written story. Without going into why, I think this might have been more interesting if it had been written 50 years earlier, but as it stands - predictable AND poorly written.
"The Phantom Drug" by A.W. Kapfer - scientist invents a drug that can transfer consciousness between animals. Invalid athlete friend AND the scientist decide to try it out themselves, as the same time. Silly, silly story with the expected ending.
"The Owl On The Moor" by August Derleth & Marc Schorer - a woman who lives in isolation in a shack on the moors is adjudged with suspicion by the locals, and the narrator... This is such a familiar, typical piece (I forget the exact Folklore coding term but "the revealing mark" or something like that) that one feels they have read it thirty times before... and you have.
"Mive" by Carl Jacobi - A man wanders into the titular desolate marshy countryside and encounters a disturbingly large butterfly, and his efforts to catch it coat his hands with a powder that, psychoactively, might have possibly cause him to have visions of a city overrun and destroyed by these carnivorous butterflies. Or was it all just a drugged dream? Interesting, more atmospheric setting than actual story, which makes it of a piece with much other Jacobi I've read.
"Tzo-Lin's Nightingales" by Ben Belitt has a man stumble into a Chinese curio shop to get out of a storm, only to find the aged owner's claims outrageous, until he returns for the full moon. Eh... a bit of Orientalist dark fantasy, with the only thing of note (besides the overwriting, as per pulp standards) the strange shift at the end from "dark fantasy" to slightly more "horrific" (although it's hard to tell whether its justified in story, or just a sop to more easily get it into WEIRD TALES.
Currently reading
October 11, 2025"The Werewolf Snarls" by Manly Wade Wellman - The protagonist is talking with a man who claims to be a werewolf at a party of occultists on the night of the full moon. The protagonist tells the man that the hosts are frauds and the man admits that he now realizes they only invited him to the party in order to mock his claims. After the protagonist collects his hat and coat and leaves the party the following morning he reads in the newspaper headline that the hosts and guests of the party he attended last night have been torn to shreds as though by a savage beast.
"Night Shapes" by Robert Weinberg - Raymond lies awake at night looking out his window and making shapes out of the objects he sees. He is terrified when the dragon his sees in a tree comes to life and reaches for him. He is saved by a cloud creature floating overhead that has been hunting the dragon.
"I'll Be Glad When I'm Dead" by Charles King - Julius is a skinny man who resents his fat abusive wife so he makes a deal with a demon to die and resurrect as a vampire so he can feast off the fat hordes. The demon resurrects him as a mosquito and his wife swats him.
"The White Wyrak" by Stefan Grabinski (translated by Miroslaw Lipinski) - The disappearance of two chimney sweeps prompts their master to examine the brewery they were sent to clean and a murderous creature is discovered to reside therein.
"Something Nasty" by William F. Nolan - Uncle Gus' attempt to scare Janey by suggesting a rat-like thing lives inside her backfires when she suggests it lives in Uncle Gus and the man dies under mysterious circumstances.
"The Real wolf" by Thomas Ligotti - A werewolf transforms into his savage form and promises the moon a human life this evening but when he falls prey to a hunter's trap he realizes the life he promised was his own.
"Dog, Cat, and Baby" by Joe R. Lansdale - Dog resents the new arrival in the home and plots to kill Baby but is unaware that Cat is using the circumstances to do away with them both.
"John Mortonson's Funeral" by Ambrose Bierce - John's cat disturbs the mourners at the funeral when it gets locked inside the glass coffin and begins snacking on the corpse.
"Spidertalk" by Steve Rasnic Tem - Amie's teacher Liz waits with the panicked child when her father, who doesn't have visitation rights, shows up afterschool to collect her.
"Monsters in the Night" by Clark Ashton Smith - A werewolf makes the fatal mistake of stalking what he takes to be a human but turns out to be a robot.
"Left by the Tide" by Edward E. Schiff - A man engages in a desperate struggle to escape the clutches of a merman that he encounters in a tidal pool.
"Smoke Fantasy" by Thomas R. Jordan - A writer seeks inspiration for a character in figure made of smoke but a creature manifests and attacks him.
"The Feather Pillow" by Horacio Quiroga - Alicia dies after a parasite in her pillow drains her blood through her forehead.
"Call First" by Ramsey Campbell - Ned invades an old man's home only to discover that his wife is an animated corpse.
"Night Shapes" by Robert Weinberg - Raymond lies awake at night looking out his window and making shapes out of the objects he sees. He is terrified when the dragon his sees in a tree comes to life and reaches for him. He is saved by a cloud creature floating overhead that has been hunting the dragon.
"I'll Be Glad When I'm Dead" by Charles King - Julius is a skinny man who resents his fat abusive wife so he makes a deal with a demon to die and resurrect as a vampire so he can feast off the fat hordes. The demon resurrects him as a mosquito and his wife swats him.
"The White Wyrak" by Stefan Grabinski (translated by Miroslaw Lipinski) - The disappearance of two chimney sweeps prompts their master to examine the brewery they were sent to clean and a murderous creature is discovered to reside therein.
"Something Nasty" by William F. Nolan - Uncle Gus' attempt to scare Janey by suggesting a rat-like thing lives inside her backfires when she suggests it lives in Uncle Gus and the man dies under mysterious circumstances.
"The Real wolf" by Thomas Ligotti - A werewolf transforms into his savage form and promises the moon a human life this evening but when he falls prey to a hunter's trap he realizes the life he promised was his own.
"Dog, Cat, and Baby" by Joe R. Lansdale - Dog resents the new arrival in the home and plots to kill Baby but is unaware that Cat is using the circumstances to do away with them both.
"John Mortonson's Funeral" by Ambrose Bierce - John's cat disturbs the mourners at the funeral when it gets locked inside the glass coffin and begins snacking on the corpse.
"Spidertalk" by Steve Rasnic Tem - Amie's teacher Liz waits with the panicked child when her father, who doesn't have visitation rights, shows up afterschool to collect her.
"Monsters in the Night" by Clark Ashton Smith - A werewolf makes the fatal mistake of stalking what he takes to be a human but turns out to be a robot.
"Left by the Tide" by Edward E. Schiff - A man engages in a desperate struggle to escape the clutches of a merman that he encounters in a tidal pool.
"Smoke Fantasy" by Thomas R. Jordan - A writer seeks inspiration for a character in figure made of smoke but a creature manifests and attacks him.
"The Feather Pillow" by Horacio Quiroga - Alicia dies after a parasite in her pillow drains her blood through her forehead.
"Call First" by Ramsey Campbell - Ned invades an old man's home only to discover that his wife is an animated corpse.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 31, 2017
Copyright 1994. A Barnes & Noble special. This one is MUCH better than the 100 horror story book.
Even still, I read other books at the same time. Unrelenting creepiness gets old after a while.
Even still, I read other books at the same time. Unrelenting creepiness gets old after a while.
February 14, 2017
I have owned this book for years and I had never actually managed to finish. I'd get maybe half way through and then I'd stop short. So, this time, I was determined to finish it. I have to say, I really didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. Most of the stories were either predictable or made no logical sense. Some of the stories didn't even bother to stick with the main topic of being creepy creature stories. Apparently aliens also counted as creepy creatures, which I wasn't really anticipating. I was also under the impression that these would all be creepy - however, a few were just stories with creatures in them that weren't actually creepy or scary in any way, shape, or form. I can gladly say I'm finished with it and that I'm never going to reread this book.
I actually wrote out mini reviews for all of these, but I can't put all of them in this review because I'm limited on how many characters I can use. So, instead, I'll tell you my favorites, my least favorites, and then see if I can comment the reviews I can't fit in.
My favorite stories, going in alphabetical order like the book, were: A Birthday Present for Tommy, Call First, Dark Brother, Dummy, Father's Vampire, The Gargoyle Sacrifice (which is one of the few that has always stuck out in my mind), Ghouls of the Sea (my ABSOLUTE favorite of the bunch), The Inn, My Father The Cat, and The White Wryak.
My least favorite stories, going in alphabetical order like the book, were: The American's Tale, The Devilish Rat, The Edge of the Shadow, Familiar Face, The House on the Rynek, Indigestion, The Keen Eyes and Ears of Kara Kedi, Laura, The Marmot, The Necromancer, The Plant-Thing, The Real Wolf, Seeing the World, Snail Ghost (my absolute least favorite), The Tabernacle, The Toad Idol, Tzo-Lin's Nightingales, and The White Dog.
Here are the full mini-reviews for each short story. Again, see the comments for the rest of them. I can't fit them all in here because of the character limits.
I actually wrote out mini reviews for all of these, but I can't put all of them in this review because I'm limited on how many characters I can use. So, instead, I'll tell you my favorites, my least favorites, and then see if I can comment the reviews I can't fit in.
My favorite stories, going in alphabetical order like the book, were: A Birthday Present for Tommy, Call First, Dark Brother, Dummy, Father's Vampire, The Gargoyle Sacrifice (which is one of the few that has always stuck out in my mind), Ghouls of the Sea (my ABSOLUTE favorite of the bunch), The Inn, My Father The Cat, and The White Wryak.
My least favorite stories, going in alphabetical order like the book, were: The American's Tale, The Devilish Rat, The Edge of the Shadow, Familiar Face, The House on the Rynek, Indigestion, The Keen Eyes and Ears of Kara Kedi, Laura, The Marmot, The Necromancer, The Plant-Thing, The Real Wolf, Seeing the World, Snail Ghost (my absolute least favorite), The Tabernacle, The Toad Idol, Tzo-Lin's Nightingales, and The White Dog.
Here are the full mini-reviews for each short story. Again, see the comments for the rest of them. I can't fit them all in here because of the character limits.
July 26, 2018
Oof, what a tome. Since it was 100 short stories, I would pick it up, read a few, put it down, read something else...lather, rinse, repeat.
The stories themselves are solid and well-curated. They're mostly older stories, but there are some late 20th century ones, too. (NB: this anthology was published sometime in the 90's, I think.) I recognized a lot of names: Joe Landsdale, Thomas Ligotti, and H.P. Lovecraft, to name a few. One advantage to curating an anthology of creature stories as opposed to, say, ghost stories, is that there are many more directions that an author can take when writing a "creature story." They can be large, small, true to life, or wholly imaginary.
It took me a while, but I had fun reading this one.
The stories themselves are solid and well-curated. They're mostly older stories, but there are some late 20th century ones, too. (NB: this anthology was published sometime in the 90's, I think.) I recognized a lot of names: Joe Landsdale, Thomas Ligotti, and H.P. Lovecraft, to name a few. One advantage to curating an anthology of creature stories as opposed to, say, ghost stories, is that there are many more directions that an author can take when writing a "creature story." They can be large, small, true to life, or wholly imaginary.
It took me a while, but I had fun reading this one.
September 2, 2022
Tons of little stories. Best read before bedtime, giving you those "ghost stories". Some stories took me a while to get into but overall I enjoyed every bit. Don't want to say much more about the stories because I definitely don't want to be giving spoilers.
December 11, 2008
It seems like I've been reading this book forever. I actually started it before Halloween and finally finished it. It's basically a comprehensive presentation of 20th century horror fiction. Classic authors like Lovecraft, Derleth, Cave, MR James and EF Benson are all represented, along with more modern authors like Stephen Rainey and Steve Rasnic Tem and William F. Nolan.
Most of the tales are excellent, of course, well-written and creepy. It is a chore to get through it, but well worth the effort.
Most of the tales are excellent, of course, well-written and creepy. It is a chore to get through it, but well worth the effort.
February 5, 2009
There were some pearls in this collection, there was some poop in this collection but it was all worth everything to me to read H.P. Lovecraft's, "The Unnameable." WOW, hadn't even heard of that story - it's Lovecraft arguing with his own detractors, maybe himself, great to read. Many of the stories read like slush pile rejects someone gathered up and noticed there was enough to throw out an anthology, some of them are old and charming in what was thought to be horror then or how "horrible" it was. Good to read on a rainy day when you want to relax.
May 20, 2012
I liked this book for the old stories that it contained. I love the old fashioned language, the feeling of another time that they evoked and some genuinely creepy tales. since there are 100 I am not going to try and give a review of them, just to say that I found it enjoyable and am glad that I read it.
September 23, 2011
Out of all the horror authors I read H.P. Lovecraft is one author I can not finish, he stuff is so scary it's not even funny. I love this book tho!
August 20, 2012
Above average animal/monster-themed anthology. Incredibly enjoyable title with many great tales.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews