The Pan Book of Horror Stories

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THE SINS OF THE FATHERS, by Christianna Brand: A young sin eater must taken on his first job to help out his struggling family. A great old-fashioned story, full of stormy nights and lonely farmhouses. Quite tragic with it. 4/5 Hand In Hand’ (M. S. Waddell). A man who has killed a woman and is dismembering the body is interrupted by callers at the door. Short, well written and enjoyable humorous horror piece that, for me, is only let down by its final sentence. I expected a bit more.

This is a very simple story told from the point of view of a very big man. He has a chance at romance, but unfortunately he doesn’t know his own strength. Again, it would never be a highlight, but, as a very short story, it adds to the variety. Case of Insanity' by Barry Martin - I enjoyed this tale of a man who murders his wife enormously, mainly because of the obvious references it makes to Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart'. An excellent, darkly humorous twist rewards at the denouement; THE TREAT, by M. S. Waddell: A husband tries to keep the truth about his job hidden from his wife. Another gleefully sadistic slice of horror from this author. 3/5 On the other hand, there are exceptions that have dated quite badly: George Fielding Eliot’s The Copper Bowl is a derring-do tale of Chinese torture that reads like a bad pulp tale of the 1930’s. Had it not been for the unforgettable portrayal of a rat, burrowing beneath the skin of a torture victim, this one would not have been memorable at all.

THE MOST PRECIOUS, by John D. Keefauver: A dentist tours the Middle East and meets a boy with perfect teeth. Keefauver had a thing for Eastern horror, but this isn't one of his best stories - it had me scratching my head in confusion rather than feeling genuinely chilled. 2/5 One odd fixation was about evil children, who are inclined to strip the flesh from your bones with their bare teeth as soon as look at you in the Pan Books. I guess these authors were working out their own difficult childhoods, and there must be a lot of wish fulfillment in here. The kids’ victims are always adults.

The Portobello Road’ by Muriel Spark – A dead woman tells the story of her relationships with her childhood friends, with one roguish character being very sinister. This classily written affair is the best story of this first collection. It flows beautifully and you’re there with the characters and situations throughout the storyteller’s life. In the meantime, here’s a brief overview of each of the 22 stories in this first, groundbreaking volume. THE LADY WHO DIDN’T WASTE WORDS is by Hamilton Macallister. It’s short and ambiguous, about a weird train passenger. Plenty of unusual stuff going on here. Chris Massie’s A FRAGMENT OF FACT is the usual spooky-house-on-the-moor stuff which has a few moments of excellence amid the typical ingredients. Flavia Richardson’s BEHIND THE YELLOW DOOR has a predictable plot but some gruelling surgical horror behind it that makes for extremely macabre reading. Angus Wilson’s RASPBERRY JAM is about a couple of grotesque old ladies and has a moment of inconsequential violence that turned my stomach more than anything in the rest of the book. After reading all 37 Fontana Books of Horror and Ghost stories, I now embark on the 30 volume Pan Books of Horror (published between 1959 and 1989). I won't bother focussing on the so-so, mediocre stories, which are all passably entertaining in their own right, just on the stinkers and the good'uns.You're afraid of your own son" she cried, struggling. "Let me go. I'm coming, Herbert, I'm coming!" Miss Fletcher's Plum Tree." Almost threw the book across the room at this point. The author is a decent writer, but the story can't decide if it wants to be shota spanking porno or a torture porn movie, and so it goes for both. urn:oclc:record:1392314528 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier panbookofhorrors0000unse Identifier-ark ark:/13960/s2dgzjj7qhk Invoice 1652 Isbn 9781509860104 In the night someone (Edward is too drunk to ascertain the gender) visits his room and treats him to an hour’s fun'n'games. Was this Edward’s wife, their handsome servant boy Ahmed, or someone else altogether?

Another enjoyable volume in this series. Of the nineteen stories, I’d rate nine of them good to very good, and five as fine. Although come to think of it he must have noticed that the case he was burying weighed less than his wife's dismembered corpse? Could be men's suits and that extra pair of brogues were really heavy in those days. That must be it. In Mother's Loving Memory." Dime-a-dozen Psycho ripoff. Kinda like watching Don't Go in the House; the tin opener scene is notable though.As perhaps you might expect from a British book of the 1950’s, it often reads with that British sense of the stiff upper lip, of facing adversity under pressure, intermingled with a feeling of distress and tension, though it must be said that not all are British. (There are two stories reprinted by permission from the great Arkham House, for example, which give a decidedly Weird Tales feel to parts of the collection.) And yet there is that thing that can only really be described as a sense of unease. Although there is, unlike other books later in the series, no profanity, comparatively little grue and a surprisingly substantial amount of psychological subtlety, there are scenes of torture, gross awfulness and violence. We also have adultery, jealousy and the odd bit of nastiness. Though time may have diluted the chills a little, it is a wonderfully nostalgic read. My first foray into the cult world of PBHS, and it's a mixed bag. The novella that opened the book is really very good stuff-pulpy and predictable, but very well written. So far the rest of the work is just...meh. It's not violent or extreme enough to be novel or transgressive; it's more of a general vibe of pornographic and shoddy bloodletting. It's kind of like watching a video nasty: The real crime is less in the content (I've read worse in Richard Laymon and Ed Lee), and more in the utter ineptness of the, ahem, execution. The early editions of the Pan Book of Horror Stories were notable for their lurid cover art [2] and Van Thal's introduction of stories by new authors alongside classics of the genre. The first edition included works by Peter Fleming, Muriel Spark, Bram Stoker and C. S. Forester. Later volumes featured Ray Bradbury and Lord Dunsany among others. Basil Copper made his debut in fifth volume, with the story "The Spider". [3] The series also published work by Charles Birkin, R. Chetwynd-Hayes and Alex Hamilton. [4] After volume nine, Van Thal placed a heavier reliance on new authors. The series grew in popularity and was the stepping stone for much new talent. [1] In the 1970s, the increasingly violent content of the Pan Books provoked some controversy. [4] In the early 1980s a slow decline in standards was observed. Popularity rose again in the late decade, but a multitude of reprint stories from Stephen King and a severe slide in quality ended the iconic series in 1989. The last book is now a rare collectors item, owing to the small print run it received. This story was filmed as part of Season 2, Episode 6 of Night Gallery, Oct 27, 1971 with Leslie Nielsen in the lead role. The character names were changed.

I feel that I’m cheating a little with this first review because I actually read the book some years ago and this is taken from my basic notes, but I will be reading from volume two onwards - now. THE TUNNEL, by Raymond Harvey: A jilted signalman decides to take revenge on his cheating wife. Little plotting or characterisation, but plenty of severed limbs here. 2/5

About Me

The early Pan collections were a mix of established writers and new writers, Stephen King had a short story included in one of these anthologies. The series ran to 30 volumes and the first 24 were edited by Herbert Van Thal, these were the books I remember most. After volume nine the emphasis was placed more on new authors. In the 1970’s the stories became increasingly more violent and graphic. The quality of the stories in the 1980’s lead to a decline in popularity and the series eventually ended in 1989. This, the twelfth volume, was published in 1971. The ‘bean-nighe’ or ‘washerwoman’ is a figure of Scottish folklore - a female spirit who is a harbinger of death. When a girl encounters this being she thinks it is obvious who is going to die, but, of course, you can’t count on the obvious in a horror story. A well-written slice of folk horror. Like Stephen King's Misery (well the movie anyway, I've never read the book), this is a writer's nightmare, and when that writer writes as beautifully as Hartley it is a joy to read. This one really had me intrigued from the first paragraph. Simon Jay is a pseudonym for Colin James Alexander, who was born in Lincolnshire but moved to New Zealand as a boy. He was a doctor and surgeon who, when not publishing in the medical field, found time to produce two detective novels. Lindsay Stewart - Strictly For The Birds: A wheelchair bound old man and his valet feeding the pigeons in Regent Park. What could be more innocent? well, the invalid is being eaten up by gangrene and the 'breadcrumbs' are evil-reeking and slimy - that should give you a clue.