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Shock!
Vivid as a flash of sheet lightning in a house of horrors, these stories illumine the strange, the weird, the unnatural world of the greatest storytelling imaginations of our day. (back cover copy)
Contents
The Destructors by Graham Greene
Evening Primrose by John Collier
Miriam by Truman Capote
Earth To Earth by Robert Graves
The Small Assassin by Ray Bradbury
The Hunger by Charles Beaumont
Thompson by George A. Zorn
Suspicion by Dorothy L. Sayers
You Can;t Run Fast Enough by Arthur Kaplan
The Man And The Snake by Ambrose Bierce
Contents
The Destructors by Graham Greene
Evening Primrose by John Collier
Miriam by Truman Capote
Earth To Earth by Robert Graves
The Small Assassin by Ray Bradbury
The Hunger by Charles Beaumont
Thompson by George A. Zorn
Suspicion by Dorothy L. Sayers
You Can;t Run Fast Enough by Arthur Kaplan
The Man And The Snake by Ambrose Bierce
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 13, 2021
I am perpetually fascinated by genre anthologies and the formulas used to devise their contents. Here is a paperback collection from 1965 - probably sold in drug stores and the like. Between the title (an exclamation point no less!) and the photo cover (blue tinted Tippi Hedren-looking type biting her knuckle on the edge of a scream), one assumes the focus here is on suspense and thrills. And that's exactly right. There are a few odd choices here, but as a whole the book is a nice reminder that the art of generating suspense has a long tradition in short fiction - the ability to slow time, pace events, recreate the atmosphere of the nightmare is not one held only by "horror" writers and is a hard-won skill in any writer's palette of tones and moods.
The book ends with probably the oldest offering here, Ambrose Bierce's perennial "The Man And The Snake". I've never been a big fan of this story - in which a man reading in bed and scoffing at old folk beliefs that snakes can mesmerize their prey finds himself face to face with a deadly serpent - but I took the few moments to reread it (to its credit, its very short). In a way, it's a "twist" story and, thus, suffers the problem that all such stories have - why reread? In this case, the mature me was able to enjoy the decidedly psychological aspect Bierce gives this tale, focusing on the build of fear and the internal struggle over relenting to it or fighting it. Still, once read...
I'd recently read "Miriam" by Truman Capote in another collection and so I will lift my review from that review, wholesale. The story is, as might be expected, extremely well-written and observed. A tale of a perfectly happy shut-in widow who extends a kindness to a small girl and then is incessantly plagued by the child's increasingly wild (if benignly expressed) demands. Is it a ghost story, a doppelganger tale, an extended metaphor on childlessness? Hard to say...
Ray Bradbury's "The Small Assassin" is a genuine classic, postpartum depression twisted into a horror tale before there was even a term for it. The last line is a killer and the modern resonances it brings - of abortion and sociopatholgy - are especially powerful. What a great story!
"Earth to Earth" by Robert Graves is a bit laid back for a suspense story, it's more of a dry, bitter little anecdote and cautionary tale relating the dangers of composting during wartime and environmental fanaticism. Those who hate Environmentalists might get a kick out of it - I thought it was cute but slight.
Arthur Kaplan's "You Can't Run Fast Enough" has a great set-up and builds some powerful momentum as a "nervous man in a four dollar room" (many thanks, Mr. Serling), a low-level police informer and drug peddler, begins to receive body-parts in the mail (first fingers, then arms). He flees, and flees, and flees some more. The mailed parts follow him relentlessly, despite his jumping from trains and hiding out in hardscrabble, jerkwater burgs. The ending is a bit unsatisfying, but the build-up was so well-done I didn't mind at all.
"The Destructors" by Graham Greene (as seen in DONNIE DARKO - not one of my favorite films, sorry) is another odd choice (and even odder to open the book with) but still an incredibly solid story. A juvenile gang sets themselves the task of destroying the insides of a man's house (a historic building that just narrowly survived the Blitz) while he's away for holidays, leaving the outside untouched, just... because. Greene's masterful knowledge of the voices, slang and dynamics of delinquent makes the story just slip along and the sketches of the boys involved is similarly incisive. What's also nice about this story is that no moral is spelled out - instead, nuanced details allow you to sense some larger criticism of the kid's worldview, the sociological and historical factors at play, the psychology of the individual boys, possibly a critique of the "destruction is a form of creation" philosophy raised here. Just a fascinating piece of good writing.
"Evening Primrose" by John Collier has been a longtime favorite (listen to an amazing audio version done on THE BLACK MASS here). The tale of a poet who withdraws from the world by settling into a nocturnal existence in a department store - only to find he's not the first one to think of the idea - is richly resonant with themes: weathering the storms of Capitalism by hiding in its interstices, like a mouse in a food warehouse (thus linking it to Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD and the realization that the temple of Capital is neither a paradise nor can it be made a home), and finding other survivors of previous financial "shipwrecks" (thus, a timely tale as well, cast ashore as we are now on the rocks of the "W" years - the liars are just better about placing the blame elsewhere nowadays, thanks to soulless media assistance and general idiocy); the fact that one can withdraw from life and still not escape death, and the finale in which . Amazing story and very creepy to boot!
A proper British businessman lives his punctual life - caring for his nervously afflicted wife, tending his garden, putting in hours at work, hiring a new cook, reading the hubbub in the news about an arsenic-poisoner on the loose - until he begins to suffer odd stomach pains in Dorothy L. Sayers "Suspicion". This is a fun read - in a way, it's using the suspense approach to play against the expected stiff-upper-lip, mustn't-jump-to-conclusions, stolid Englishman, really tightening down the screws as you sit there thinking "c'mon, man!". The last line is excellent.
Charles Beaumont, TWILIGHT ZONE writer extraordinaire, has an interesting piece here in "The Hunger". A small town is plagued by an escaped lunatic, a serial killer/rapist who preys on young women and has already struck a few times. He haunts the rail lines, lost in his own burning world of insanity. Meanwhile, a plain-jane, virginal, middle-aged woman on her way to "old maid" status and perpetually under the thumb of her overbearing older sisters, returns home through the darkened streets, fearing for her life. She makes it home, but her path is destined to cross with that of the killer. This is psychological horror at its finest - it makes me think of Bradbury's "The Whole Town Is Sleeping" - but the attention to inner emotional states and, frankly, the sexual aspect of the killer/victim dynamic, is impressive for the time. The psychosexual drives of lonely women, the outlet small-town gossip allows for the morbid and sadistic imagination, and the desire - out of frustration and ennui - to be a sacrificial lamb - well, Beaumont nails it. Surprisingly good.
The joy of anthologies like this, as I've mentioned before, is stumbling across some forgotten little gem that fell into the cracks of time. This volume holds such a story. "Thompson" by George A. Zorn is a little longer than most stories here. It tells a deceptively simple tale of a traveling businessman who gets turned around in his driving and stops to ask an average suburban housewife and her precocious daughter for directions. Then his car won't start... This is a strangely powerful story. It's one of those evocative pieces where, when it's done, you have to think awhile on what it may mean - *may* mean, because nothing is spelled out and details are obscure, so it could be taken many ways. I won't say much more than this - Thompson, our driver, who has an injured ear from some shady event at a hotel the night before, the details obscured by his (deliberately?) vague memory - finds himself inordinately scared by his situation, by the woman, by his car not starting, by his ignition key disappearing, by some sign he sees down the street. He is very afraid and the powerful evocation of this illogical, nightmarish fear makes the story compelling. Other odd details from the night before accrue and you, the reader, think "ah hah!", but then, no, stranger things await you.
Some guesses (really, don't read if you intend to hunt up this story): who can say? I'll be more than willing to discuss this story with another reader in the comments below.
So, there you are, a nice compact little paperback exploration of the many tints of suspense. Enjoy!
The book ends with probably the oldest offering here, Ambrose Bierce's perennial "The Man And The Snake". I've never been a big fan of this story - in which a man reading in bed and scoffing at old folk beliefs that snakes can mesmerize their prey finds himself face to face with a deadly serpent - but I took the few moments to reread it (to its credit, its very short). In a way, it's a "twist" story and, thus, suffers the problem that all such stories have - why reread? In this case, the mature me was able to enjoy the decidedly psychological aspect Bierce gives this tale, focusing on the build of fear and the internal struggle over relenting to it or fighting it. Still, once read...
I'd recently read "Miriam" by Truman Capote in another collection and so I will lift my review from that review, wholesale. The story is, as might be expected, extremely well-written and observed. A tale of a perfectly happy shut-in widow who extends a kindness to a small girl and then is incessantly plagued by the child's increasingly wild (if benignly expressed) demands. Is it a ghost story, a doppelganger tale, an extended metaphor on childlessness? Hard to say...
Ray Bradbury's "The Small Assassin" is a genuine classic, postpartum depression twisted into a horror tale before there was even a term for it. The last line is a killer and the modern resonances it brings - of abortion and sociopatholgy - are especially powerful. What a great story!
"Earth to Earth" by Robert Graves is a bit laid back for a suspense story, it's more of a dry, bitter little anecdote and cautionary tale relating the dangers of composting during wartime and environmental fanaticism. Those who hate Environmentalists might get a kick out of it - I thought it was cute but slight.
Arthur Kaplan's "You Can't Run Fast Enough" has a great set-up and builds some powerful momentum as a "nervous man in a four dollar room" (many thanks, Mr. Serling), a low-level police informer and drug peddler, begins to receive body-parts in the mail (first fingers, then arms). He flees, and flees, and flees some more. The mailed parts follow him relentlessly, despite his jumping from trains and hiding out in hardscrabble, jerkwater burgs. The ending is a bit unsatisfying, but the build-up was so well-done I didn't mind at all.
"The Destructors" by Graham Greene (as seen in DONNIE DARKO - not one of my favorite films, sorry) is another odd choice (and even odder to open the book with) but still an incredibly solid story. A juvenile gang sets themselves the task of destroying the insides of a man's house (a historic building that just narrowly survived the Blitz) while he's away for holidays, leaving the outside untouched, just... because. Greene's masterful knowledge of the voices, slang and dynamics of delinquent makes the story just slip along and the sketches of the boys involved is similarly incisive. What's also nice about this story is that no moral is spelled out - instead, nuanced details allow you to sense some larger criticism of the kid's worldview, the sociological and historical factors at play, the psychology of the individual boys, possibly a critique of the "destruction is a form of creation" philosophy raised here. Just a fascinating piece of good writing.
"Evening Primrose" by John Collier has been a longtime favorite (listen to an amazing audio version done on THE BLACK MASS here). The tale of a poet who withdraws from the world by settling into a nocturnal existence in a department store - only to find he's not the first one to think of the idea - is richly resonant with themes: weathering the storms of Capitalism by hiding in its interstices, like a mouse in a food warehouse (thus linking it to Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD and the realization that the temple of Capital is neither a paradise nor can it be made a home), and finding other survivors of previous financial "shipwrecks" (thus, a timely tale as well, cast ashore as we are now on the rocks of the "W" years - the liars are just better about placing the blame elsewhere nowadays, thanks to soulless media assistance and general idiocy); the fact that one can withdraw from life and still not escape death, and the finale in which . Amazing story and very creepy to boot!
A proper British businessman lives his punctual life - caring for his nervously afflicted wife, tending his garden, putting in hours at work, hiring a new cook, reading the hubbub in the news about an arsenic-poisoner on the loose - until he begins to suffer odd stomach pains in Dorothy L. Sayers "Suspicion". This is a fun read - in a way, it's using the suspense approach to play against the expected stiff-upper-lip, mustn't-jump-to-conclusions, stolid Englishman, really tightening down the screws as you sit there thinking "c'mon, man!". The last line is excellent.
Charles Beaumont, TWILIGHT ZONE writer extraordinaire, has an interesting piece here in "The Hunger". A small town is plagued by an escaped lunatic, a serial killer/rapist who preys on young women and has already struck a few times. He haunts the rail lines, lost in his own burning world of insanity. Meanwhile, a plain-jane, virginal, middle-aged woman on her way to "old maid" status and perpetually under the thumb of her overbearing older sisters, returns home through the darkened streets, fearing for her life. She makes it home, but her path is destined to cross with that of the killer. This is psychological horror at its finest - it makes me think of Bradbury's "The Whole Town Is Sleeping" - but the attention to inner emotional states and, frankly, the sexual aspect of the killer/victim dynamic, is impressive for the time. The psychosexual drives of lonely women, the outlet small-town gossip allows for the morbid and sadistic imagination, and the desire - out of frustration and ennui - to be a sacrificial lamb - well, Beaumont nails it. Surprisingly good.
The joy of anthologies like this, as I've mentioned before, is stumbling across some forgotten little gem that fell into the cracks of time. This volume holds such a story. "Thompson" by George A. Zorn is a little longer than most stories here. It tells a deceptively simple tale of a traveling businessman who gets turned around in his driving and stops to ask an average suburban housewife and her precocious daughter for directions. Then his car won't start... This is a strangely powerful story. It's one of those evocative pieces where, when it's done, you have to think awhile on what it may mean - *may* mean, because nothing is spelled out and details are obscure, so it could be taken many ways. I won't say much more than this - Thompson, our driver, who has an injured ear from some shady event at a hotel the night before, the details obscured by his (deliberately?) vague memory - finds himself inordinately scared by his situation, by the woman, by his car not starting, by his ignition key disappearing, by some sign he sees down the street. He is very afraid and the powerful evocation of this illogical, nightmarish fear makes the story compelling. Other odd details from the night before accrue and you, the reader, think "ah hah!", but then, no, stranger things await you.
Some guesses (really, don't read if you intend to hunt up this story): who can say? I'll be more than willing to discuss this story with another reader in the comments below.
So, there you are, a nice compact little paperback exploration of the many tints of suspense. Enjoy!
Displaying 1 of 1 review