Two Good Horror Anthologies from DAW Books: 1976 / 1977

Two Good Horror Anthologies from DAW Books: 1976 / 1977

Time for a nostalgia trip: hard to believe that fifty (!) years ago, I went to Gordon's Cigar shop and picked up these two high-quality DAW horror anthologies, each for my precious dollar-fifty (I was sixteen years old, and had a modest disposable income).

 

Nowadays you can go to amazon and with a Search for 'horror anthologies books,' call up over a hundred entries . These books can be delivered to your address within a few days. Amazing ! 

 

Back in the mid-70s paperback horror anthologies were quite rare; DAW book's 'The Year's Best' franchise was pretty much the only game in town, aside from the Alfred Hitchcock anthologies. While there was a surge in horror magazine publishing starting in the seventies, led by semi-professional periodicals such as Whispers, newsstand distribution of these titles was spotty at best and you had to find a specialty shop, or risk snail-mail ordering, if you wanted copies.

 

'The Disciples of Cthulhu,' released with apt timing in October, 1976, featured 'Where Yidhra Walks' by Walter C. DeBill, Jr.; ‘The Feaster from Afar’ by Joseph Payne Brennan; ‘Darkness, My Name Is’ by Eddy C. Bertin; and ‘The Fairground Horror’ by Brian Lumley.

'The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series V' (July 1977) contained a number of quality entries, including 'Long Hollow Swamp' from Brennan; Karl Edward Wagner’s ‘Sing A Last Song of Valdese;’ Manly Wade Wellman’s ‘Where the Woodbine Twineth;’ Arthur Byron Cover’s ‘The Day It Rained Lizards;’ and H. Warner Munn’s ‘The Well.’

 

 

If you can find copies of these two volumes for under $20, by all means, grab them ! I note that on eBay, someone recently had the entire set (23 volumes) of 'mint condition' DAW 'Year's Best Horror Stories,' for sale for $800..........