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megapolisomancy's review against another edition
2.0
Woof. I thought (hoped?) the Page volumes would be better than the ones that Davis edited, but that is not the case.
1. The Service (Jerry Sohl) - A man makes use of assisted suicide, but first regales the technician with tales of his life as a photographer. Told entirely in dialogue. Kind of a warm little vignette, not sure what it’s doing in a horror collection.
2. Long Hollow Swamp (Joseph Payne Brennan) - In the depths of New England, two friends explore a swamp of ill repute - surely the reputation is unfounded? No, it's full of giant killer slugs! Generic to the point of absurdity.
3. Sing A Last Song of Valdese (Karl Edward Wagner) - A murder ballad transposed to a fantasy inn. Clumsy in general; with a twist that’s somehow both over-telegraphed and totally nonsensical. KEW’s recurring character Kane is there for no particular reason.
4. Harold’s Blues (Glen Singer) - Robert Johnson’s deal at the crossroads reimagined as a Mythos tale. Can’t say it really nails the vernacular, but at least it’s trying something interesting.
5. The Well (H. Warner Munn) - The seemingly-endless story of a Rajah imprisoned underground by his twin brother. Ever wanted to see how many pages an author could devote to making miniature saws out of rat jaws? Here you go.
6. A Most Unusual Murder (Robert Bloch) - An exceptionally well-crafted opening (maybe my bar is just low for these) gives way to an utterly silly story about time travel and Jack the Ripper.
Turns out that I have a misprint that has the first half of Tanith Lee’s Huzdra printed twice (I can't claim that I was dying to read the second half anyway), omits all of Harlan Ellison’s Shatterday (whew), and then the second half of David Drake’s Children of the Forest. Oops.
7. The Day It Rained Lizards (Arthur Byron Cover) - A teenage miscreant and his witch girlfriend get in trouble when lizards invade their Va. town. Truly unpleasant characters ruin a germ of a good idea.
8. Followers of the Dark Star (Robert Edmond Alter) - An evil spirit leads treasure hunters to a lost city in Algeria. Unremarkable adventure pulp.
9. When All the Children Call My Name (Charles L. Grant) - A retired cop becomes a security guard at a playground where teenagers keep dying. It doesn’t seem to phase the smaller kids. Bradburian, but Grant is more to my taste than Ray. Very much the best selection so far.
10. Belsen Express (Fritz Leiber) - An asshole eager to ignore the fact that the Nazis ever existed runs afoul of their brand of modernism. Also very good. "Do you suppose there are some things a man simply can't escape, no matter how quietly he lives or how carefully he plans?"
11. Where the Woodbine Twineth (Manly Wade Wellman) - The Hatfields and McCoys meet Romeo and Juliet in the NC mountains, plus zombies. Wellman has never done much for me and this was particularly banal - if his backwoods prose doesn’t charm you there isn’t much else to it.
1. The Service (Jerry Sohl) - A man makes use of assisted suicide, but first regales the technician with tales of his life as a photographer. Told entirely in dialogue. Kind of a warm little vignette, not sure what it’s doing in a horror collection.
2. Long Hollow Swamp (Joseph Payne Brennan) - In the depths of New England, two friends explore a swamp of ill repute - surely the reputation is unfounded? No, it's full of giant killer slugs! Generic to the point of absurdity.
3. Sing A Last Song of Valdese (Karl Edward Wagner) - A murder ballad transposed to a fantasy inn. Clumsy in general; with a twist that’s somehow both over-telegraphed and totally nonsensical. KEW’s recurring character Kane is there for no particular reason.
4. Harold’s Blues (Glen Singer) - Robert Johnson’s deal at the crossroads reimagined as a Mythos tale. Can’t say it really nails the vernacular, but at least it’s trying something interesting.
5. The Well (H. Warner Munn) - The seemingly-endless story of a Rajah imprisoned underground by his twin brother. Ever wanted to see how many pages an author could devote to making miniature saws out of rat jaws? Here you go.
6. A Most Unusual Murder (Robert Bloch) - An exceptionally well-crafted opening (maybe my bar is just low for these) gives way to an utterly silly story about time travel and Jack the Ripper.
Turns out that I have a misprint that has the first half of Tanith Lee’s Huzdra printed twice (I can't claim that I was dying to read the second half anyway), omits all of Harlan Ellison’s Shatterday (whew), and then the second half of David Drake’s Children of the Forest. Oops.
7. The Day It Rained Lizards (Arthur Byron Cover) - A teenage miscreant and his witch girlfriend get in trouble when lizards invade their Va. town. Truly unpleasant characters ruin a germ of a good idea.
8. Followers of the Dark Star (Robert Edmond Alter) - An evil spirit leads treasure hunters to a lost city in Algeria. Unremarkable adventure pulp.
9. When All the Children Call My Name (Charles L. Grant) - A retired cop becomes a security guard at a playground where teenagers keep dying. It doesn’t seem to phase the smaller kids. Bradburian, but Grant is more to my taste than Ray. Very much the best selection so far.
10. Belsen Express (Fritz Leiber) - An asshole eager to ignore the fact that the Nazis ever existed runs afoul of their brand of modernism. Also very good. "Do you suppose there are some things a man simply can't escape, no matter how quietly he lives or how carefully he plans?"
11. Where the Woodbine Twineth (Manly Wade Wellman) - The Hatfields and McCoys meet Romeo and Juliet in the NC mountains, plus zombies. Wellman has never done much for me and this was particularly banal - if his backwoods prose doesn’t charm you there isn’t much else to it.
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