More Scary Books, Kiddies!

 

Scary Books, Kiddies!

 Whispers.  Edited by Stuart David Schiff.  Jove, 1979.  Copyright 1977.  Cover art by Rowena.

The creepy contents are:

· Introduction Stuart David Schiff
· Sticks * Karl Edward Wagner
· The Barrow Troll * David Drake
· The Glove * Fritz Leiber
· The Closer of the Way * Robert Bloch
· Dark Winner * William F. Nolan
· Ladies in Waiting * Hugh B. Cave
· White Moon Rising * Dennis Etchison
· Graduation * Richard Christian Matheson
· Mirror, Mirror * Ray Russell
· The House of Cthulhu * Brian Lumley
· Antiquities * John Crowley
· A Weather Report from the Top of the Stairs * James Sallis & David Lunde
· The Scallion Stone * Basil A. Smith
· The Inglorious Rise of the Catsmeat Man * Robin Smyth
· The Pawnshop * Charles E. Fritch
· Le Miroir * Robert Aickman
· The Willow Platform * Joseph Payne Brennan
· The Dakwa [*Lee Cobbett] * Manly Wade Wellman
· Goat * David Campton
· The Chimney
· Afterword * Stuart David Schiff

The tales are firmly in the pulp tradition. Nothing thrilled me, but that feminine thing on the front cover is really disgusting ...

Note the back-cover blurb misspells the name of the Fritz Leiber story as “The Grove.”

            The “Weather Report from the Top of the Stairs” is very reminiscent of an old Gahan Wilson cartoon, probably first printed in Playboy.  This single-panel gem was also featured as the cover of a 1978 Wilson collection.

            So, yes, the cartoon was around before the story.

            That’s all!   See you Thursday!