The Third Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories

Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories #3

by Christine Bernard (Editor), R.C. Cook (Contributor), H.P. Lovecraft (Contributor)

Henry James... H. P. Lovecraft, Roald Dahl, David Ely--masters of the spine chiller, authors established and new, write in this superb collection of the horrific and the macabre.

Contents:

• Green Fingers (1968) by R. C. Cook
• The Specialty of the House (1948) by Stanley Ellin
• The Room in the Tower (1912) by E. F. Benson
• The Academy (1965) by David Ely
• Cut-Throat Farm (1909) by J. D. Beresford
• The Romance of Certain Old Clothes (1868) by Henry James
• Poison (1950) by Roald Dahl
• Lucky's Grove (1940) by H. Russell Wakefield
• Housebound (1968) by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
• The Shuttered Room (1959) by August Derleth and H. P. Lovecraft
• At the End of the Passage (1890) by Rudyard Kipling

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Sad but true, these anthology collections were better off when they could draw on stories from older authors; the difference in overall tone between this and volume 11 is quite marked, and so is the difference in quality. These stories are more subtle, and more consummately eerie and strange and the prose is more consistent than in later volumes where grue and psychosis form a more central theme.

* Green Fingers by R. C. Cook
A slow builder with a nasty twist. Quite a weird tale in its own way.
* The Specialty of the House by Stanley Ellin
This was very chilling, although its horror is literally visceral.
* The Room in the Tower by E. F. Benson
An old chestnut, but deservedly so. One of my favourite horror stories ever.
* The Academy by David Ely
A very effective story in which a man goes to visit an academy he wishes to enroll his son in. I actually know of a couple of schools that would like to run themselves on these lines.
* Cut-throat Farm by J. D. Beresford
Obvious and not well-developed.
* The Romance of Certain Old Clothes by Henry James
Not all of James' ghost stories work equally well for me, but the depth of characterisation makes this gripping all the way through and to the right reader, the ending suggests a most horrific scene.
* Poison by Roald Dahl
Interesting; gripping but with an unexpected ending that suggests that some of the poison alluded to in the title lies in our attitudes to each other.
* Lucky's Grove by Herbert Russell Wakefield
Another masterpiece of the genre.
* Housebound by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
Chetwynd-Hayes was so great at capturing the states of mind his characters, dead and alive and that is what makes this dark little tale about being careful what you wish for so effective.
* The Shuttered Room by H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth
Not quite a classic? One of Derleth's more memorable pastiches anyway.
* At the End of the Passage by Rudyard Kipling
Great atmosphere but I was unable to empathise with the characters - a bunch of men in the colonial service in India. Eh whatever. Go back home.

[Daniel Lorn]

RV TO FOLLOW

[Simon Hedge]

"Green Fingers" by R. C. Cook
This story does a great job of starting out as a cheerful slice-of-life type story that gradually changes as things get creepier and creepier. A strong start to this anthology.
"The Speciality of the House" by Stanley Ellin.
An incredibly predictable story (you can see where it is going from the first page) that is so well written that you won't mind.
"The Room in the Tower" by E. F. Benson
Maybe I missed something really obvious, but I don't think this story made any sense. There seems to be no reason why any the events transpired.
"The Academy" by David Ely
Nice high 'creepiness' factor in this short tour of a military academy that is so good you won't want to leave!
"Cut-throat Farm" by J. D. Beresford
A very short piece of whimsy about country folk and their curious ways...
"The Romance of Certain Old Clothes" by Henry James.
I found this one a bit of a slog. James is not into paragraphs, it seems. And unless I missed the point, nothing ghostly or horrific, or even creepy happens until the last page.
"Poison" by Roald Dahl
Cool, tightly written story about the dangers of falling asleep with a good book in the days of The Raj.
"Lucky's Grove" by Herbert Russell Wakefield
It is written like a dreadful mis-match of P.G. Wodehouse and M.R. James, but I quite enjoyed this tale of christmas creepiness.
"Housebound" by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
Very good twist on the haunted house story. I'm sleeping with one eye open tonight!
"The Shuttered Room" by August Derleth
Poor fanfic connecting The Dunwich Horror and The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
"At the End of the Passage" by Rudyard Kipling
Horror in the time of The Raj. An engineer is scared to death by his own nightmare.

[Algernon Wyck]

This was a mixed bag, but with a couple definite gems.
GREEN FINGERS- She can grow anything? Oh, yes she can... I often wish that this little story got more attention. 5 stars.
THE SPECIALTY OF THE HOUSE- An interesting story about a very interesting restaurant. Some readers used to gory, fast-paced horror may find it tedious, but connoisseurs of the subtle will be satisfied. 5 stars.
THE ROOM IN THE TOWER- This well-written story about a recurring dream actually scared me, which is saying something. Definitely a favorite of the genre. 5 stars.
THE ACADEMY- Eh. Just eh. That's all I have to say.
3 stars.
CUT-THROAT FARM- A nice retreat into TERROR... okay, it's not that scary. 3 stars.
THE ROMANCE OF CERTAIN OLD CLOTHES- I was pretty bored with most of this, although the ending was all right. 3 stars.
POISON- This is one of those stories that make you think. 3 stars.
LUCKY'S GROVE- Demonic trees??? This was somewhat entertaining, but nothing special, really.
3 stars.
HOUSEBOUND- A ghost story. 3.5 stars.
THE SHUTTERED ROOM- This was weird, which is what Lovecraft is known for, although this story was a little more ridiculous than his other works I've read. 3.5 stars.
AT THE END OF THE PASSAGE- I feel like I missed something in this story about annoying people. 3 stars.
Most of these stories were mediocre, but Green Fingers, The Specialty of the House, and The Room in the Tower changed my 3 stars to 4 stars.

[Shawn]

PLACEHOLDER REVIEW:

"Lucky's Grove" by H.R. Wakefield is a reread for me. Wealthy Mr. Braxton and his wife are hosting a large Christmas celebration/visit for the extended family at his expansive manor home. Unfortunately, the tree selected as the centerpiece has been uprooted from a sacred grove... I still think it's one of Wakefield's best (I wanted to run it on PSEUDOPOD as a Christmas episode but we could never get confirmation on who held the rights). It's longer than usual for him, has some surprisingly well done bits of characterization/psychology (Mr. Braxton, at length, and little glimpses of his children and grandchildren) and does a good job capturing what Christmas festivities were like in an upper-class (if nouveau riche) British household in the late 30s. The funny thing is that the story is very much a straight-line plot - things just get worse and worse for the characters (nicely deployed atmospherics), until we reach the almost apocalyptic, cruel ending. I still think it carries a nasty, nasty punch!

[Johnny]

A woman finds that whatever she pushes into her garden will begin to grow. Things such as a fingernail or even the bones of a deceased animal. The prose is great to read but doesn't bring much terror to this horror story until nearing the end when a body of a woman begins growing in the back dark corner of the garden.

A fun culinary tale of two men who can't help but dine a the mysterious and secret restaurant of Sbirro. Over many nights they arrive to feast on the specialty meal, while hoping to be there for the rare dish which is quite hard to find. I loved this one. Though the story is simple it holds enough character to make for a great horror story.

The next is a man's obsession with nightmares and hearing the same elderly voice of a woman almost beckoning him to the room in the tower. A well written story which I didn't really enjoy

The Romance of certain old clothes is a romantic love story of two competing women. Such a terrible story to place in a horror book. I began expecting a horror story, then tried to enjoy the love story..
I won't be reading this one again

Also a couple of other very interesting stories.

[Steve Payne]

For me this is possibly the weakest book in the 17 volume series, with quite a few duds and only 1 standout story. The classic is E.F.Benson's weird 'The Room In The Tower' - a man's nightmares come true.