Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Book Review: Harvest Home

Book Review: 'Harvest Home' by Thomas Tryon

2 / 5 Stars

Harvest Home' came out in hardback in 1973, with a paperback edition (415 pp.) issued by Fawcett Crest in June, 1974. Both editions feature cover art by Paul Bacon.

I remember reading this book way back in the early 70s, as a ‘Book of the Month’ club hardbound edition with the untrimmed page edges and cheaper binding (‘special book club edition’ indicated in small italic font on the inside flap of the dust jacket). In a fit of nostalgia, 50 years later I decided to take a second look at the novel.

Thomas Tryon was one of a triumvirate of authors, such as Ira Levin (‘Rosemary’s Baby’) and William Peter Blatty (‘The Exorcist’), who were on the leading edge of the horror fiction movement back in the late 60s – early 70s. Tryon’s previous novel ‘The Other’ (1971) was made into a feature film in 1972, so he was riding considerable momentum when ‘Home’ was issued in 1973.

‘Home’ takes place in 1972 in the bucolic New England town of Cornwall Coombe. Ned Constantine, the first-person narrator, his wife Beth, and daughter Kate, have just moved to the village from New York City. Cornwall Coombe has plenty of Yankee charm, a hint of mystery, and a large cast of eccentric characters: there is a kindly Widder Woman with a ‘Foxfire’ homeliness about her; an older married couple in the house next door, who are full of facts and observations about life in the village; a scraggly but lovable peddler; Tamar, the Town Hussy; and her odd little daughter, who is gifted with prophetic and disturbing visions.

Ned discovers that much of the social and economic life of the village revolves around adherence to pastoral rituals and beliefs that are seemingly drawn from medieval England, rather than 20th century America. While at first these beliefs seem quaint and harmless to Ned and his family, he gradually realizes that there is a dark and dangerous undertone to Cornwall Coombe’s customs. There is an encounter with what seems to be a ‘ghost’ and an eerie tableaux in the deep woods. Soon Ned is forced to a fateful decision: does he step over the line into being a participant, or does he reject the Old Ways and in so doing becomes the interloper who must be eliminated ?

The main drawback to ‘Harvest Home’ is its leisurely pacing; so leisurely, in fact, that I suspect anyone under the age of 40, raised on the more graphic horror that has defined the Paperbacks from Hell era, will find it boring. The Portents of Doom that Tryon sprinkles through the early pages of the book are too thin a gruel to nourish modern readers more used to violence and action within the first 50 pages of their novels. When the horror tones of the story do finally kick in, they are relatively weak and rely more on subtlety and atmosphere than overt gore.

In some ways I suspect the languid tenor of ‘Home’ led to Tryon’s somewhat premature eclipse in the world of horror fiction. The same year that ‘Home’ appeared on store shelves, Stephen King would publish ‘Carrie’, and then in 1975, his own Haunted Village novel, ‘Salems Lot,’ which is superior to Tryon’s works.  In the wake of the King juggernaut, the horror tales of Tryon, Blatty, and Levin came across as rather mannered and sedate.

Readers willing to indulge in a slow-paced, character-driven novel set in the early 1970s will want to give ‘Home’ a try. But anyone expecting an intense dose of horror will need to look elsewhere.

Sunday, October 27, 2024

Questar magazine October 1980

Questar magazine
October, 1980
Questar was a short-lived science fiction magazine that ran for 13 issues, from Spring 1978 to October 1981. It began life as a semiprofessional zine, then briefly flourished in 1980, when it received national distribution. One problem the magazine experienced was its irregular publishing schedule, which meant it was months behind other genre magazines (like Starlog) in covering prominent films. This is apparent in the October, 1980 issue, where films like The Empire Strikes Back are being reviewed some three months after release. This was a disadvantage in terms of maintaining circulation. 
 
According to the entry for the magazine at the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction website, in 1981, Undercapitalized and undersold, Questar sank: lamented by a few, unnoticed by many
Over the years I've collected six or seven issues, and the October, 1980 issue is one of the best. It features a striking Frazetta painting on the cover. The advertising, while rather limited, directs readers to vinyl LPs of soundtracks to lower-budget horror films:
There's an ad for the Roger Corman film Battle Beyond the Stars, a reasonably engaging Star Wars ripoff. And Marvel promotes its new magazine Epic Illustrated.
 
Looking through the movie reviews in the back pages reveals some strange and long-forgotten enterprises. Such as Cheech and Chong's Next Movie, a 1980 followup to Up in Smoke. During the course of Next Movie our stoner duo wind up inside a UFO, hence the sci-fi connection. Stretching things a bit, Questar lumps the disco musical Xanadu in with Cheech and Chong, something of an awkward juxtaposition.
Also reviewed are two low-low-budget sci-fi films. One, Scared to Death, was an Alien copy. You can watch the film here. Showing that no scrap of pop culture ever is lost to perpetuity, in 2022 a novelization of the film was published under the auspices of the 'Encyclopocalypse Movie Tie-In' series.
 
Alien on Earth, aka Alien Contamination, was a drive-in obscurity from 1980. Another Alien ripoff, this time from an Italian film studio, Alien Contamination since has earned a place in the demented hearts of trash film fans. It can be viewed here.
The book review pages deal with some novels and short story collections from Pohl, Wolfe, Niven, and Vance. I wouldn't consider any of the profiled works to be gems of early 80s sci-fi.
One thing about the October issue is it has outstanding illustrations, such as this one for the short story 'Youth in Asia' ('euthanasia'.....get it ?). 
The main feature in this October issue is a tribute to the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. It leads off with a powerful illustration whose artist is, sadly, un-named. The article provide capsule reminiscences of the cast and crew, looking back at their work from twelve years previously.


This October issue of Questar is sufficiently interesting that if you see it on the shelves of a secondhand bookshop, or an antiques store, it's worth paying a little extra for it, in order to have your own copy. Eighties nostalgia, for sure......

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Book Review: New Terrors Omnibus

Book Review: 'New Terrors Omnibus' edited by Ramsey Campbell
3 / 5 Stars

‘New Terrors Omnibus’ (649 pp.) was published by Pan Books (UK) in 1985. The cover illustration is credited to Matt Mahurin. This omnibus compiles the contents first printed by Pan in 1980 in the two-volume ‘New Terrors’ and ‘New Terrors Two’ paperbacks. In the U.S., Pocket Books published the two-volume set in 1982 and 1984.

Most of the entries in the Omnibus are specially commissioned, and have not previously been published. 

The Omnibus is a thick chunk of a mass-market paperback, with 6 point font, and single-spacing. Rather than read it all at once, I periodically worked my way through it over the course of nearly two and-a-half years. 

I was well aware that the omnibus would contain stories and novelettes particular to Campbell’s view of horror prose, circa 1980: namely, a focus on stories that emphasized mood, atmosphere, and setting over plotting. The horror content is subdued, ambiguous, and oblique.  

I debated whether or not to provide capsule summaries of each entry, as it would be a long list. But given the time I put into reading ‘New Terrors Omnibus’, it seems justifiable. So here goes:

The Stain, by Robert Aickman: Stephen, wandering the soggy and overgrown English moors, comes upon a mysterious young girl named Nell, and promptly becomes infatuated with her. There are hints that Nell originates from a strange place. As is typical with Aickman stories, this one features an enigmatic female; is slow-paced, subdued, and noncommittal. Its ‘folk horror’ theme is something that Robert Holdstock later would cover in his writings such as ‘Mythago Wood’.

City Fishing, by Steve Rasnic Tem: friends Jimmy and Bill go with their dads on a trip into the city. They bring along much hunting equipment. Good things do not happen.

Sun City, by Lisa Tuttle: on vacation in Mexico, Nora sees something she shouldn’t have seen. An effective story, with a Clive Barker-ish flavoring.

Yare, by Manley Wade Wellman: a confrontation with the supernatural, in the wilds of North Carolina. Silver John does not make an appearance.

A Room with a Vie, by Tanith Lee: The typo is deliberate. Caroline rents a room that turns out to be haunted. Much figurative language, and a vague denouement.

Diminishing Landscape with Indistinct Figures, by Daphne Castell: strange things are going on at a sanitarium in rural England. This story’s interesting premise ultimately is frittered away by the author’s insistence on keeping the horrors too indistinct to be effective. 

Tissue, by Marc Laidlaw: Paula accompanies her boyfriend Daniel on a visit to his childhood home. Daniel’s father is a creepy sort of fellow. The theme of ‘body horror’ surfaces, albeit in a tamer way than how it’s done nowadays.

Without Rhyme or Reason, by Peter Valentine Timlett: Deborah takes a job at a country estate as a maid to the eccentric Mrs. Bates. This story benefits from a Roald Dahl-ish quality.

Love Me Tender, by Bob Shaw: on the run from the law, Massick heads for the remote swamplands of Florida, and finds what seems to be the perfect hideout……….moreso than many of the other entries in this anthology, ‘Love Me Tender’ adheres to the formatting of a traditional horror story and perhaps because of this, is one of the better tales in the collection. 

Kevin Malone, by Gene Wolfe: a tepid ghost story about a young couple invited to take up residence in a palatial estate.

Time to Laugh, by Joan Aiken: a burglar discovers that a crumbling mansion might not be the best place to rob. The story doesn’t satisfy, due to an inconclusive ending.  

Chicken Soup, by Kit Reed: a Momma’s boy, and his problems. 

The Pursuer, by James Wade: first published in 1951, and resurrected by editor Campbell for inclusion in this anthology. It’s a short-short psychological drama. I didn’t find it all that impressive. 

Bridal Suite, by Graham Masterton: I’m not sure how Masterton snuck into this anthology, but his entry is a fun one, mixing the concept of the succubus with that of the haunted house. There is over-the-top, facetious humor in the mix. One of a few entries that could possibly be said to have splatterpunk leanings, and thus, very much a winning entry ! 

The Spot, by Dennis Etchison and Mark Johnson: in sunny California, a two-man crew that cleans up the apartments of the deceased learns some troubling things about fame, aging, and death. Yet another Etchison tale that delivers atmosphere and setting, but little (if any) horror content. 

The Gingerbread House, by Cherry Wilder: Amanda discovers her brother is living in a house haunted by a possessive spirit. 

Watchers at the Straight Gate, by Russell Kirk: on a cold, dark, and gloomy night, Father O’Malley has a supernatural encounter with a ghost, one with a story to tell. As with most (all ?) of Kirk’s ‘horror’ stories, ‘Watchers’ relies heavily on a rather ponderous ‘literary’ prose style, and serves as a vehicle by which he can expound on death, the afterlife, sin, and purgatory. I thought ‘Watchers’ was boring. 

0.220 Swift, by Karl Edward Wagner: in rural North Carolina, rumors of caverns excavated deep in primordial limestone formations are investigated by the archeologist Morris Kenlaw. Wagner’s contributions to horror anthologies could be hit-or-miss, but this one is a quality contribution, relying to some extent on the ‘Shonokin’ mythology of writer Manly Wade Wellman.

The Fit, by Ramsey Campbell: ‘on holiday’ in Cumbria, whilst hiking across the fells, a boy comes across a dilapidated cottage. Its occupant must not be trifled with. Focusing more on plot, and less on his traditionally florid diction, this is a decent entry from editor Campbell. 

The Mysterious Cairn, by Christopher Priest: set in the same imaginary nations of the Dream Archipelago that Priest later would use in his 1981 novel ‘The Affirmation’, this novelette follows the first-person narrator on a return visit to the windswept Northern isle of Seevl. There is much descriptive prose centered on entropy-stricken landscapes, and an unpleasant incident that may – or may not – be a hallucination. The novelette’s ambiguity works against it.

The Man Whose Eyes Beheld the Glory, by John Brunner: strange doings on a remote Greek island.

The Rubber Room, by Robert Bloch: Emery, a paranoid schizophrenic, has done some Bad Things. The Voices told him to !

Drama in Five Acts, by Giles Gordon: a short tale that showcases ‘experimental’ prose. I found it incoherent.

The Initiation, by Jack Sullivan: riding the New York City subway trains induces frightening hallucinations (or are they not hallucinations ?! Bwa-ha-ha !!) in the anonymous protagonist. The story’s thin plot gets overwhelmed by too much figurative prose.

Lucille Would Have Known, by John Burke: a group of Britishers ‘on holiday’ miss their dear, departed majordomo. Another tale with a Roald Dahl sensibility.

Teething Troubles, by Rosalind Ashe: a brand-new college campus is afflicted with noxious odors.

The Funny Face Murders, by R. A. Lafferty: not a horror story at all, but a ‘fabulation’. I’m guessing Campbell thought having a Lafferty story gives the anthology a New Wave flavoring. The problem is, Lafferty’s fiction is an acquired taste, and ‘Funny Face’ is awful. 

Femme Fatale, by Marianne Leconte: translated from the French by John Brunner. A memorable tale, with a Metal Hurlant sensibility, about a postapocalyptic Paris.

Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game, by Stephen King: two drunks roam the late-night roads of rural Maine. A weird, unconventional entry from King.

Richie by the Sea, by Greg Bear: something strange is going on at the beach fronting the Pacific Ocean. A genuinely creepy tale, and one of the best in the anthology.

Can You Still See Me ?, by Margaret Dickson: a ghost story that’s too vague and figurative to be effective.

A Song at the Party, by Dorothy K. Haynes: domestic horror, in England. Subdued, but leaves an impression.

One Way Out, by Felice Picano: a hitchhiker witnesses some startling things. The plot will become recognizable to anyone with a familiarity with sci-fi cliches. 

The Ice Monkey, by M. John Harrison: rock climbing, and the entropic landscapes of modern Britain. Not a horror story.

Symbiote, by Andrew J. Offutt: a variation on the theme of homicide as a manifestation of disease. Offutt works in some splatterpunk shadings.

Across the Water to Skye, by Charles L. Grant: a man approaching middle age, and coping with personal tragedy, learns that the end of the summer season at the beach is a potent metaphor for the transitory nature of human life and by extension, society itself. Aren’t you glad editor Campbell put this kind of profoundly moving tale in ‘New Terrors’ ? I’m not……….

The Dark, by Kathleen Resch: an affectless young woman named Charlene Armstrong wanders the late-night streets of New Orleans, looking for romance, mystery, and intrigue. She finds these in a vampire named Lesta- errr, ‘Desmond.’ This novelette is melodramatic, probably too much so for ‘New Terrors.’

The verdict on ‘New Terrors Omnibus’ ? It’s a Three-Star compilation, demonstrative of horror short fiction as it stood on the eve of the Paperbacks from Hell era. With the exception of the entries from Shaw, Masterton, Tuttle, Wagner, Leconte, and Bear, there are few stories that do anything novel or unique with the genre. This should be considered before sitting down with a book as thick as this one is !

Monday, October 21, 2024

At the Library Sale October 2024

At the Library Sale
October, 2024

Earlier this month, it once again was time for the local library's biannual book sale. On a crisp October afternoon, I set out in search of some worthy paperbacks. It was a weekday, so it was mainly older folks like myself perusing the tables and shelves.

The science fiction and fantasy section had the usual Dealers patrolling the inventory, regularly consulting their phone-based scanners.

For my part, I wound up with an eclectic selection of items. Somebody had dropped off a bunch of Paperbacks from Hell from the mid- to-late 1990s and early 2000s. Generally, I'm not overly impressed with the titles in that era, but for a couple of bucks each, well, why not pick them up. The Ronald Kelly novel 'Fear' apparently has gotten good reviews, as has 'Fireworks' by James A. Moore, 'Fatalis' by Jeff Rovin, and Thomas Tessier's 'Finishing Touches.'

I also found a vintage copy of the sci-fi novel 'Nightmare Blue'; a trade paperback anthology of Brian Lumley novellas; an old Sword and Sorcery paperback edited by Sprague De Camp; a vintage Alfred Hitchcock anthology; an entry in Damon Knight's 'Orbit' franchise; and, believe it or not, Stephen King's 'Carrie' ! I've never read 'Carrie' and I figure I am overdue to sit down with a Signet copy so I can recapture that groovy, far-out 1970s vibe.

Then, there's Harlan Ellison. With each passing year I find it harder to access his writings, knowing what an utter asshole Harlan was. But maybe it's all about respecting the writing, not the writer. Or something like that.........?

Anyways, always interesting to see what you can find at the library sale.........

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Book Review: Cage of Night

Book Review: 'Cage of Night' by Ed Gorman

1 / 5 Stars

Founded in 1991 as the publisher of the popular 'World of Darkness' (WoD) franchise of tabletop role-playing games, White Wolf earned sufficient revenue to expand into publishing books in the fields of 'dark fantasy' and horror. Although the Paperbacks from Hell boom was losing momentum by mid-decade, White Wolf continued issuing books (primarily novelizations of WoD content) until 2006, when it was bought by another gaming company. 

White Wolf was notorious for having awful covers on their books. In an essay titled 'Just the Covers,' posted to the long-since defunct 'SF Site,' by former bookstore manager Rick Klaw, White Wolf covers could be 'ugly' and 'indecipherable,' which are bad things in terms of trying to sell books..........

''Cage of Night' was published by White Wolf in 1996. The cover design is by Larry S. Friedman. This novel is an expansion of a story, 'The Brasher Girl,' Gorman first published in a 1995 hardcover, small-press anthology titled 'Cages.'

'Cage' is 286 pages long, but a quick read; the pages are center-justified, in large type, and double-spaced.

This novel has one of the lamest premises of the Paperbacks from Hell era: a centuries-old malevolent alien (?) living at the bottom of a well (?) somehow telepathically coerces a small town's homecoming queen into seducing lovestruck young men, and then forcing these young men to commit violent crimes- !

Yeah..........

'Cage' takes place in the early 1990s in a small Midwestern town. The first-person protagonist, Spence, is twenty-one years old and returning to his hometown after a stint in the Army. Spence still is young enough to attend keggers put on by the high school kids, but when he starts community college, he'll be aging out of the local scene and into an uncertain adulthood.

Spence meets, and becomes head-over-heels in love with, the homecoming queen, Cindy Brasher. A late bloomer and something of a nerd, Spence is thrilled to be dating the hottest chick in town. Even if so doing earns him the enmity of her former boyfriend, a thug who likes to use violence to solve his problems.

For all her beauty and sweetness, Cindy is a troubled girl. She spent time in a psychiatric facility. And she insists on showing Spence the old well in the woods outside of town. Cindy says there is an alien in the well. When they visit the well, Spence hears what sounds like a voice emanating from the well, speaking to him.

Spence isn't sure what, exactly, he has heard. But he soon learns that Cindy has brought other boys to the well, and those boys wound up doing things that they shouldn't have done. Is Spence the latest in a line of boys who somehow have been suborned into........ Evil ?!

'Cage of Night' not very good. It's true that Gorman is a skilled prose stylist, putting lots of Stephen King-ish interior monologues and pop culture allusions about small town life into the narrative. But the plotting just gets more contrived with each successive page. As a protagonist, Spence is remarkably dumb, and reading yet another passage in which he moons over Cindy, and refuses to accept the obvious, gets very stale very quickly.

The novel's ending has a flaccid quality that does little to redeem one's plowing through the preceding eight chapters.

This is one Paperback from Hell that even the most devoted fans of the genre are going to want to avoid.

Sunday, October 13, 2024

My Top 22 Horror Short Stories: October 2024

My Top 22 Horror Short Stories
October 2024

Every October, I post a listing of my Top 22 horror stories. 
 
I've altered one entry from last year. Otherwise, the list remains unchanged.
 
I've been reading horror stories since 1970, when I was 9 years old and I saw a copy of Alfred Hitchcock's Monster Museum (Random House, 1965) on the shelf of my grammar school library. 

While most of the stories in the book were rather tame - it was aimed at an audience of juvenile Baby Boomers, after all - Joseph Payne Brennan's story 'Slime' immediately gripped my attention, and from then on, my interest in the genre began, and has lasted since.

After some contemplation, I've decided to stand forth with a list of 22 short stories that in my humble opinion are the better ones I've encountered in 50 years of reading all manner of horror fiction. Since it's the interval covered by this blog, I've concentrated on stories that first saw print from the early 1960s into the mid-1990s. 

I've posted a brief, one-sentence synopsis for each story, to jog memories or to give the reader a sense of what to expect.

One problem with focusing on such stories is that in many instances the books where they first appeared long are out of print, and copies in good condition have steep asking prices. Accordingly, where available, I've tried to provide alternate sources for obtaining these stories.

My Top 22, in chronological order:

The First Days of May, by Claude Veillot, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1961; Tales of Terror from Outer Space, 1975

‘Alien invasion’ theme, well done. A pdf copy is available here.
***
One of the Dead, by William Wood, The Saturday Evening Post, October 31, 1964; Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Scream Along with MeA Walk with the Beast, 1969; Great American Ghost Stories, 1991

Although a bit over-written, this is a well-crafted melding of the haunted house theme with the anomie of mid-1960s life in suburban Los Angeles.  

***
The Road to Mictlantecutli, by Adobe James, Adam Bedside Reader, 1965; The Sixth Pan Book of Horror Stories,1965; The Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural, 1981

Morgan, a ruthless criminal, is travelling on a mysterious road in Mexico. The strange sights and passions he encounters will lead him to change his life........for good, or for ill.

'Adobe James' was the pseudonym of American writer James Moss Cardwell (1926 – 1990), who had his short stories published in a variety of magazines and anthologies during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. 
***

Longtooth, by Edgar Pangborn, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 1970; The Best of Modern Horror, 1989

A resident of rural Maine discovers something disturbing in the deep, dark woods. A pdf copy is available here.

***
Goat, by David Campton, New Writings in Horror and the Supernatural #1, 1971; Whispers: An Anthology of Fantasy and Horror, 1977

Creepy goings-on in an English village.

***
Satanesque, by Alan Weiss, The Literary Magazine of Fantasy and Terror, #6, 1974; The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series III, 1975

Starts off on a thoroughly conventional note, then unexpectedly transitions into something entirely imaginative and offbeat.

***

The Shortest Way, by David Drake, Whispers #3, March 1974; From the Heart of Darkness, 1983; Vettius and His Friends, 1989;  Night & Demons, 2012

A 'Vettius' story set in the days of the Roman empire. Our hero elects to travel on a road that the locals take care to avoid. An atmospheric, memorable tale.

***
The Taste of Your Love, by Eddy C. Bertin, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series III, 1975; The Whispering Horror, 2013

One of the better Serial Killer tales I’ve read.

***
The Changer of Names, by Ramsey Campbell, Swords Against Darkness II, 1977; The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories: 4, 1978; Far Away and Never, 2021.

I've never been a fan of Campbell’s horror stories and novels, but his sword-and-sorcery stories featuring the ‘Ryre’ character are entertaining exercises in creepiness. There are metaphors and similes abounding in the Ryre tales, to be sure, but as compared to Campbell's horror stories the purple prose is reduced in scope, and plotting receives due consideration. 

While the Swords Against Darkness paperbacks have exorbitant asking prices, a new (October 2021) reprint of Far Away and Never from DMR Press collects all four of the Ryre stories, along with other fantasy tales from Campbell's early career.  

***
Long Hollow Swamp, by Joseph Payne Brennan, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, January 1976; The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series V, 1977

Another great 'monsters-on-the-loose' tale from Brennan.

***
Sing A last Song of Valdese, by Karl Edward Wagner, Chacal #1, Winter 1976; The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series V, 1977; Night Winds, 1978, 1983

One of two entries by Wagner, who wrote a lot of duds, but when he was On, he was On. In a remote forest, a lone traveler comes upon an inn filled with sinister characters. A pdf copy is available here.

***
Window, by Bob Leman, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1980; The 1981 Annual World’s Best SF, 1981; The Best of Modern Horror, 1989

A neat mix of sci-fi and horror, revolving around a portal to another dimension. A pdf copy is available here.

***
Where the Summer Ends, by Karl Edward Wagner, Dark Forces, August 1980; In A Lonely Place, 1983; The American Fantasy Tradition, 2002
 
A second entry from Wagner. It’s hot, humid, and dangerous in 1970s Knoxville. Stay away from the kudzu !

***
The New Rays, by M. John Harrison, Interzone #1, Spring 1982, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series XI, 1983; The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories, 2012

A disturbing tale with proto-steampunk leanings. 

***

After-Images, by Malcolm John Edwards, Interzone #4, Spring 1983, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series XII, 1984; Interzone: The First Anthology, 1986

Another fine melding of sci-fi and horror, this time set in an English suburb. It’s too bad that Edwards, a playwright and editor, didn’t write more short stories. A pdf copy is available here.

***
The Man with Legs, by Al Sarrantonio, Shadows No. 6, October 1983, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series XII, 1984

Two kids learn some disturbing secrets about their family history.

***

High Tide, by Leanne Frahm, Fears, 1983

Frahm, an Australian writer, sets this novelette in the vicinity of the Newry Islands in coastal Queensland. A family camping trip to Mud Island discovers something strange is going on amidst the mangrove swamps: Eco-horror at its creepiest !  

***
Mengele, by Lucius Shepard, Universe 15, 1985, The Jaguar Hunter, 1988

Troubling things are going on at an estate located in a remote region of Paraguay.

***

Red Christmas, by David Garnett, The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XIV, 1986

What seems like a conventional Mad Slasher story has a neat little twist at the end.

***

The Picknickers, by Brian Lumley, Final Shadows, 1991, The Year's Best Horror Stories: XX, 1992.

Unsettling events are happening in the graveyard of a Welsh coal-mining village.

***
Aftertaste, by John Shirley, Bones of the Children, 1996, Black Butterflies, 2001.
 
The Zombie Apocalypse comes to the ghetto. A great tale from Shirley, mixing splatterpunk with irreverent humor.

***
Shining On, by Billie Sue Mosiman, Future Net, 1996

A mutant suffering from severe handicaps finds a friend online. But you know what they say about online friends: just who are they in person ?