David A. Sutton (ed.) – Horror! Under The Tombstone

David Sutton’s Shadow Publishing is delighted to announce the publication of Horror! Under The Tombstone: Stories from the Deathly Realm selected by

Cover Artwork by James D. Oddey

Vol 1.
Kenneth Bulmer – Under The Tombstone
Richard Davis – The Time Of Waiting
Robin Smyth – The Inglorious Rise Of The Catsmeat Man
Michael G. Coney – The Hollow Where
R. W. Mackelworth – Mr. Nobody
David A. Riley – The Farmhouse
Julia Birley – The People Down Below
W. T. Webb – Phantasmagoria
Bryn Fortey – Prison
David Rome – Charley’s Chair
Ramsey Campbell – Broadcast
David Campton – Goat
E. C. Tubb – The Winner

Vol 2
David Riley – A Bottle Of Spirits
W. T. Webb – Television Wife
Robert P. Holdstock – The Darkness
James Wade – Grooley
Bryn Fortey – Shrewhampton North East
David A. Sutton – Demoniacal
Roger Parkes – Infra-Man
Rosemary Timperley – The Ghosts In The Garden
Elizabeth Fancett – Marianne’s Boy
Ramsey Campbell – The Other House

Horror! Under The Tombstone: Stories from the Deathly Realm
Shadow Publishing 2013
Paperback 240 pages, £10.99
ISBN: 978-0-9539032-6-9

IMAGINE THE SIXTIES and Seventies… Hammer films and American International Pictures… The time of Plague of the Zombies, Lust for a Vampire, Quatermass and the Pit, Tales of Terror, The Haunted Palace and The Masque of the Red Death. Imagine we’re back there now. No mobile phones, no videotapes or DVDs, no personal computers. And iPads and Kindles are decades away. Where we are now, music is played on vinyl records with a stylus picking up the recorded sound on an old fashioned “radiogram” or a “portable” record player. Horror stories had their emphasis on strong supernatural themes; this was an era when you could believe in vampires and strange otherworlds. Ghosts, demons, monsters, maniacs, black magic. These are the subject matter of this anthology of yarns from the deathly realm. A stage magician and his horrific secrets revealed to a meddling assistant. The bizarre appearance of an Arabian market in a Surrey garden. A railway station from which none of the ill-fated travellers can escape. A man searching for his lost wife in a dreamlike realm. A film director trying to capture the essence of a witches’ coven and its sacrifice. The writers in this book offer up their weird and peculiar offerings for your reading pleasure. Twenty-three short stories… start your journey now!

Fiction by Ramsey Campbell, David A. Riley, E. C. Tubb, Kenneth Bulmer, Robert Holdstock, Rosemary Timperley and others. Twenty-three stories.

Ordering & more Information: Shadow Publishing

Richard Davis – The Female of the Species & Other Terror Tales

Richard Davis – The Female of the Species & Other Terror Tales: Writers from the Shadows #1  (Shadow Publishing, April 2012)

Caroline O’Neal

Introduction by David A. Sutton

The Female of the Species
Elsie and Agnes
A Day Out
The Lady by the Stream
The Inmate
A Nice Cut off the Joint
Guy Fawkes Night
The Time of Waiting
The Sick Room
The Clump
The Nondescript

What We Were Looking for in Horror
An Interview with Richard Davis
Horror in Fiction
Bibliography

Blurb:

STORIES OF TERROR & THE SUPERNATURAL

Jim’s beautiful wife Viola is dead, but she had hidden a terrible secret… and now the cat he had brought home for her is behaving very strangely…

Mary and Johnny were hoping for a lovely weekend in the bed-and-breakfast by the sea, but there was something not quite right about their room… definitely not right at all!

Agnes was so annoying that her sister Elsie just had to kill her. But that was not the end of it, for Agnes has returned… or has she?

Richard Davis was the story editor for the BBC’s LATE NIGHT HORROR series and the editor of the landmark THE YEAR’S BEST HORROR STORIES, as well as many other horror anthologies, including the TANDEM HORROR, SPACE, SPECTRE
and ARMADA SCI-FI series.

His short stories were widely published, but THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES is the first time his fiction has been collected in one volume.

The book also contains two rare essays by the author.

Order direct from Shadow Publishing

Fred Pickersgill – And Graves Give Up Their Dead

Fred Pickersgill (ed.) – And Graves Give Up Their Dead (Corgi, 1964)

Photograph: Dunstan Pereira

William Link & William Levinson – Top Flight Aquarium
Gerald Bullett – the Elder
Roald Dahl – Royal Jelly
Charles Beaumont – Miss Gentilbelle
Richard Matheson – Girl Of My Dreams
Ambrose Birece – An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
Robert Arthur – Death Is A Dream
Richard Davis – the Female Of The Species
John Collier – De Mortius
Wilbur Daniel Steele – Footfalls

Richard Davis – Jon Pertee Book Of Monsters

Richard Davis (ed.) – The Jon Pertee Book Of Monsters (Methuen, 1978: Magnet, 1979)

Cover art by George Underwood, with illustrations by Nicholas Hockley

Introduction and Epilogue by Jon Pertwee

George Evans – The Samala Plant
Tim Stout – Night of the Sand Wolf
Philip Welby – The Nondescript
David Campton – Spawn
Guy Weiner – The Glendale Monster
Catherine Gleason – Ming
Glenn Chandler – The Intruders
Roger Malisson – The Lambton Worm
John Halkin – The Eyes Have It

Thanks to Steve Goodwin of Vault for providing the contents and cover scan.

Richard Davis – Orbit Book Horror Stories

Richard Davis (ed.) – The First Orbit Book Of Horror Stories Ed. (Orbit, 1976) *

Richard Davis – Introduction

Harlan Ellison – The Whimper Of Whipped Dogs
J. Ramsey Campbell – The Man in The Underpass
T. E. D. Klein – S.F.
Clive Sinclair – Uncle Vlad
Brian M. Stableford – Judas Story
Brian Lumley – The House Of Cthulhu
Allan Weiss – Satanesque
Steve Chapman – Burger Creature
Tim Stout – Wake Up Dead
Bernard Taylor – Forget-Me-Not
Gregory Fitz Gerald – Halloween Story
Charles E. Fritch – Big, Wide, Wonderful World
Eddy C. Bertin – The Taste Of Your Love

* Published in the USA as The Years Best Horror Stories Series III

I’d imagine this one was considered cutting edge when first published and 30 years haven’t diminished the power of these stories. More-so than David Sutton, Davis introduces SF into the mix, not my thing but there are enough out-and-out horrors to keep the likes of me happy.

Taylor’s history of Dr. Crippen’s wallpaper and the prog rock nightmare, “Judas Story”, have been commented upon elsewhere. Ellison’s opener is horror with a social conscience, the authors angry response to the big city, broad daylight murder of Kitty Genovese while people stood around and watched. Campbell locates a demon in a subway, and has a child narrate the nasty things that ensue. Ellison aside (nothing is scarier than reality), Weiss’s black magic outing, “Satanesque”, is maybe the most frightening and gory of the bunch – a statue comes to violent life and it’s none too choosy about who it kills …

Bernard Taylor – Forget-Me-Not: New Yorker Sandra, 26, arrives in London on a one year teacher exchange programme. On the tube she meets a helpful young man who, by way of chit-chat indicates the former 10 Rillington Place, once home to mass-murderer Reginald Christie. Before long Sandra is obsessing over the killer, reading all she can find about him and even hanging his photo on the wall of her new flat. When she learns that his house is due for demolition, Sandra pays it a final visit and peels a small strip of wallpaper from above the fireplace as a souvenir which she later pastes next to his image. Gradually it spreads across the flat, draining her of all vitality as it does so. Maybe as innovative a variation on the hoary vampire theme as I’ve read.

Tim Stout – Wake Up Dead: Camber Fell Prison for the Criminally Insane. Dr. Kellin invites select colleagues along to witness the unveiling of his new invention, a machine that transmits dreams as though they were regular TV shows. His volunteer is mass-murderer John Vanner who has always maintained that he committed his crimes while asleep. Vanner endured the most traumatic childhood – his father killed his mother and then came looking for him – and has been a martyr to his nightmares ever since. Should be fun getting to see what so terrorises him then …

Eddy C. Bertin – The Taste Of Your Love: Riccione, near Rimini. A serial-killer with a long history of torture-murders behind him picks up his latest intended victim at a disco and takes her back to his lodgings for a night of passion. But the girl with ‘the finely drawn features and dark lonely eyes’ is every bit his match. Soon she has him pinned to the bed in a grip of steel. And then she flicks her hair aside to show him the left side of her face, deformed by what looks like something one of Marilyn Manson’s cheerleaders would paint on her cheek ….

Steve Chapman – Burger Creature: Trudy and Maureen find him lurking around the burger joint where they work as waitresses. He’s an animated mass of hamburger, fries, onion and ketchup with pickles for eyes. Otherwise he looks like a regular guy. Trudy, the looker of the pair, falls for him – she’s suddenly very keen for Maureen to knock off early – and keeps him hidden away in the freezer. Everything’s going nicely until their appalling manager discovers the Happy meal on legs and tries to kill him …

Clive Sinclair – Uncle Vlad: Wait a minute. The Clive Sinclair? Anyhow … A descendant of the infamous impaler – with all the family niceties off pat – initiates the far-from-unwilling Madelaine into the clan.

Charles E. Fritch – Big, Wide Wonderful World: Following the nuclear holocaust, everybody is on state prescribed hallucinogenic drugs to keep them from seeing just how ugly their world really is. Thrill-seekers Chuck, Bill and Len get their kicks from sharing a “nightmare” – deliberately not taking their fix at the appointed time and resisting from doing so for as long as they can endure it. Within a few minutes they’ve all gone to pieces and there’s even a fatality. The publication details given for this story are Magazine of Fantasy & SF, 1968, but it was written at least ten years earlier and appears in the Charles Beaumont edited The Fiend In You (Ballantine, 1962).

Campbell – Gray

Angus Campbell: See R. Chetwynd-Hayes

Ramsey Campbell

Superhorror (AKA The Far Reaches Of Fear)
The Gruesome Book
New Terrors Vol 1
New Terrors Vol 2
New Tales Of The Cthulhu Mythos
Uncanny Banquet

John Carnell

Weird Shadows From Beyond

Kevin Carolan

Celtic Mysteries
Churchyard Shadows

Aidan Chambers

Bumper Book Of Ghost Stories
The Tenth Ghost Book
The Eleventh Ghost Book
Ghosts 2
More Ghost Stories

Aidan & Nancy Chambers

Ghosts

R. Chetwynd-Hayes

9th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories
10th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories
11th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories
12th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories
13th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories
14th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories
15th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories
16th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories
17th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories
18th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories
19th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories
20th Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories

Cornish Tales of Terror
Doomed To The Night
Gaslight Tales Of Terror
Tales of Terror from Outer Space
Welsh Tales of Terror

As ‘Angus Campbell’

Scottish Tales of Terror

Rex Collings

Classic Victorian & Edwardian Ghost Stories

Vere H. Collins

Ghosts and Marvels
More Ghosts and Marvels

John Robert Columbo & Michael Richardson

Not To Be Taken At Night

Michael Cox

Twelve Tales of the Supernatural

Michael Cox & R. A. Gilbert

Oxford Book Of English Ghost Stories
Victorian Ghost Stories

Kathryn Cramer & David G. Hartwell

Christmas Ghosts

Edmund Crispen

Best Tales of Terror
Best Tales of Terror 2

John Keir Cross

Best Black Magic Stories
Best Horror Stories
Best Horror Stories 2

J. A. Cuddon

Penguin Book Of Horror Stories
Penguin Book of Ghost Stories

Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl’s Book Of Ghost Stories

Richard Dalby

Chillers For Christmas
Dracula’s Brood
Ghosts For Christmas
Horrors For Christmas
Mystery For Christmas
The Sorceress In Stained Glass
Twelve Gothic Tales
Mammoth Book Of Ghost Stories 1
Mammoth Book Of Ghost Stories 2
Mammoth Book Of Victorian And Edwardian Ghost Stories
Tales Of Witchcraft
Vampire Stories
Virago Book Of Ghost Stories (1987)
Virago Book Of Ghost Stories (2006)
Virago Book Of Ghost Stories: The 20th Century: Vol  2
Virago Book Of Victorian Ghost Stories

Richard Dalby And Rosemary Pardoe

Ghosts And Scholars

Harrison Dale

Great Ghost Stories
More Great Ghost Stories

Mary Danby

5th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories
6th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories
7th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories
8th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories
9th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories
10th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories
11th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories
12th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories
13th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories
14th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories
15th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories
16th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories
17th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories

Frighteners
Frighteners 2
The Green Ghost & Others
Realms Of Darkness
65 Great Tales Of Horror
65 Great Tales Of The Supernatural
65 Great Spine Chillers

Basil Davenport

Deals With The Devil
Ghostly Tales To Be Told
Tales To Be Told In The Dark

David Stuart Davis

Return From The Dead

Richard Davis

The Price Of Fear
Spectre 1
Spectre 2
Spectre 3
Spectre 4
Tandem Horror 2
Tandem Horror 3
Years Best Horror Stories 1
Years Best Horror Stories 2
Years Best Horror Stories 3
Orbit Book Of Horror Stories
Jon Pertwee Book of Monsters
I’ve Seen a Ghost: True Stories From Show Business

Catherine A. Dawson-Scott & Ernest Rhys

Twenty & Three Stories

Colin De La Mare

They Walk Again:  An Anthology Of Ghost Stories

Kay Dick (see also ‘Jeremy Scott’)

The Uncertain Element

James Dickie

The Undead: Vampire Masterpieces

Bryan Douglas

Great Stories of Mystery and Imagination

James Doig

Australian Ghost Stories

John Edgell

Ghosts

Dr. Christopher Evans

Mind At Bay
Mind In Chains

Rick Ferreira

A Chill To The Sunlight

Paul Finch

Terror Tales Of The Lake District
Terror Tales Of The Cotswolds
Terror Tales Of East Anglia

Christopher Frayling

The Vampyre

Brian J. Frost

The Werewolf Book

Gary Fry

Bernie Herrmann’s Manic Sextet
Poe’s Progeny

John Gawsworth

Crimes Creeps And Thrills
Full Score
Masterpiece Of Thrills
New Tales Of Horror
Strange Assembly
Thrills
Thrills, Crimes And Mysteries

Adele Olivia Gladwell

Blood and Roses

Giles Gordon

A Book Of Contemporary Nightmares
Scottish Ghost Stories (AKA Prevailing Spirits)

Adam L. Gowans

Famous Ghost Stories by English Authors

Rosemary Gray

Gripping Yarns
Irish Ghost Stories
Scottish Ghost Stories