Book Review: 'Whispers' edited by Stuart David Schiff
'Whispers' was a semi-professional magazine published by Stuart David Schiff (b. 1946), a dentist and resident of Binghamton, New York.
'Whispers' was a labor of love for Schiff, who produced the magazine in his spare time, and sf writer David Drake, who served as editor. The first issue appeared in July, 1973 and the last (No. 11) in October 1987. In addition to the magazine, Schiff edited six anthologies, Whispers I - VI, which were published by Doubleday and Jove in hardbound and paperback versions from 1977 - 1987. The Best of Whispers, a limited-edition deluxe anthology, was published by Borderlands Press in 1997.
All of the original magazines and the anthologies can have rather steep asking prices; I was fortunate to collect some of the anthologies when they first were printed, and my review of 'Whispers II' is here.
I also was able to procure the very first anthology, 'Whispers', in hardback, as a used library book, for an affordable price. The rather unremarkable cover illustration is by Tim Kirk.
So........ what do you get in 'Whispers' (226 pp., Doubleday, 1977), the first anthology ?
All of the 20 stories compiled in 'Whispers' saw print in the interval from 1971 - 1977; about half of them first appeared in the magazine, while others were written exclusively for this anthology. Along with the stories, there are black-and-white and halftone illustrations from Lee Brown Coye, Stephen E. Fabian, George Barr, and others.
Perhaps the best story in 'Whispers' is 'Goat', by the UK writer and playwright David Campton. It is adept in bringing folk beliefs into a modern setting and features a memorable villain.
Other well-composed and readable stories include Karl Edward Wagner's 'Sticks' (Lovecraftian horror in rural New York State), David Drake's 'The Barrow Troll' (medieval souls sold for gold), Hugh Cave's 'Ladies in Waiting' (stay away from the haunted house), Brian Lumley's 'The House of Cthulhu' (old-school Lovecraft), John Crowley's 'Antiquities' (a tale told at the Traveler's Club), and Joseph Payne Brennan's 'The Willow Platform' (Lovecraftian horror in rural New England).
Also worth reading are Manley Wade Wellman's 'The Dakwa' (stay away from the haunted lake) and Charles Fritch's 'Pawnshop' (don't make a deal with the Devil). Robin Smyth's 'The Inglorious Rise of the Catsmeats Man' takes the Sweeney Todd legend and updates it to 20th century Britain.
Horror of a traditional style is represented by Fritz Leiber with 'The Glove', Robert Bloch and 'The Closer of the Way', Richard Christian Matheson's 'Graduation', William F. Nolan in 'Dark Winner', and Ray Russell's 'Mirror, Mirror'. Basil A. Smith's lengthy 'The Scallion Stone' is modeled on the classical English Ghost Story.
The remaining entries in 'Whispers' all suffer from thin plots deeply drenched in wordy prose:
Robert Aickman's 'Le Miroir' features the phrases 'sedulously eschewed' and 'aged tricoteuse'; as well as the aphorism 'Time flies when we watch it, but has no need to fly when we ignore it'.
Dennis Etchison's 'White Moon Rising', about a campus serial killer, employs his usual style of oblique prose and a denouement that is too contrived to be effective.
James Sallis and David Lunde's 'The Weather Report at the Top of the Stairs' is based on a cartoon ('And Then We'll Get Him !') by Gahan Wilson about vengeful toys, but neglects to inform the reader of this. Accordingly, the reader is left on their own to intuit the backstory, which is not helpful. Even with the knowledge of the Wilson cartoon, 'Weather Report' is too overloaded with determinedly poetic prose to be very effective.
Even Ramsey Campbell's most ardent fans are going to find 'The Chimney' to be a disappointment, as its melodramatic prose cannot inject much energy into its plot about a neurotic British boy who suspects the Boogeyman is hiding in his bedroom's chimney. But, in the interests of objectivity, I direct you to another review of this story at the 'Too Much Horror Fiction' blog.
Summing up, 'Whispers' provides a good overview of the state of horror and fantasy fiction as it was in the mid-70s. None of its entries are particularly groundbreaking or imaginative, but they are competently written. Those readers who are comfortable with the traditional horror story model will find 'Whispers' to their liking.
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