What do you think?
Rate this book
Flights of Fear
Following FORTNIGHT OF FEAR a further collection of fourteen stories of horror and suspense, each set in a different country around the world. From the author of PREY.
316 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
5 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Graham Masterton
422 books1,969 followersGraham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946. His grandfather was Thomas Thorne Baker, the eminent scientist who invented DayGlo and was the first man to transmit news photographs by wireless. After training as a newspaper reporter, Graham went on to edit the new British men's magazine Mayfair, where he encouraged William Burroughs to develop a series of scientific and philosophical articles which eventually became Burroughs' novel The Wild Boys.
At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.
Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.
Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.
He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.
Since then Graham has published more than 35 horror novels, including Charnel House, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; Mirror, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books; and Family Portrait, an update of Oscar Wilde's tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger in France.
He and his wife Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork, Ireland.
At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.
Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.
Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.
He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.
Since then Graham has published more than 35 horror novels, including Charnel House, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; Mirror, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books; and Family Portrait, an update of Oscar Wilde's tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger in France.
He and his wife Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork, Ireland.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 6, 2025
An unfairly overlooked collection from a great author
When Graham Masterton is mentioned in the horror community, people tend to mention and focus their attention on his most famous books such as The Manitou , Feast , etc. They would comment on the novels’ fast-pace, gruesome violence, and the insanity of the whole concept of ancient demons waking in the modern world to kill/destroy/ rape humans. Two results are conceived: One group loves Masterton and hails him as a “Master” of this particular sub-genre of horror and the other group condemns him as a hack; a writer of dirty, gory paperbacks that “demean” the horror genre. The defenders, thankfully, outnumber the snobs and recent retrospective works like Paperbacks From Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction praise Masterton’s outlandishness as well as his comfy, easy-going style.
The novels are great entertainment and some of them are arguably the best in horror fiction (My top picks will always come from the triumvirate: Feast , Death Trance , and Master of Lies ) but most of the time the concept they carry is stretched unnecessarily into novel-length. I don’t blame Masterton (a man has got to make a living) but this leads to my contention: Masterton’s short stories are even better than his novels. This assertion has never been more apparent than in his second collection Flights of Fear .
1. Egg
A man is preparing his breakfast when he finds what seems to be a small child inside his egg. Dumbfounded, he soon makes it his goal to take care of the child. But where did the child come from and what are the consequences for such a selfless act?
Egg is a bizarre short that jumpstarts this collection. The concept is intriguing, as well as the eventual execution of the story. The main character is sympathetically portrayed and we feel for him despite the shortness of the tale. Masterton adds his trademark mythology and I am certain it could have been more effective had he kept the entire cause shrouded in mystery.
To that reviewer calling it “clichéd”, what cliché is used in this story? Children born in bizarre situations? Finding mystical objects in eggs? There have been hoarier clichés used by recent authors; take a look at how many books this year used the “stuck in a remote cabin with evil entity/psychos” trope. (Hint: one of them is a bestseller). I haven’t seen this concept in horror tackled in this fashion let alone explored. Not my favorite story but it is still very interesting.
2. The Gray Madonna
A man searches for the last person to have reportedly been with his wife immediately before her death: a gray-hooded nun. As he traverses the statue-ridden streets of Bruges, he comes to know about the secret protectors of the place: statues that are harbingers of God’s justice. But what has that got to do with his wife?
One idea that is often not discussed or tackled in horror fiction is the idea of evil patiently waiting in the place previously encountered. It does not follow or hunt you; it waits for your curiosity to get the better of you. This is the underlying theme of this story and it is much creepier because of it. A noted reviewer mentioned the similarities of this story to the Nicolas Roeg film Don’t Look Now and it does resemble the said film but only to the extent of the infamous ending.
This tale was featured in Stephen Jones’ Best New Horror 7
3. J. R. E. Ponsford
Kieran is a newcomer in a boys’ public school and instead of the warmth of a great welcome, he gets demeaned and bullied. Day after day of constant attacks, Kieran can only look up to one person: J. R. E. Ponsford, School Cricket Captain 1931-1936 and Public schools’ champion batsman. But as the beatings and the racism get worse, Kieran may truly need his help.
GRAHAM MASTERTON WRITES HORROR FOR KIDS!
Despite the statement above, this is still a great horror tale with a rather disturbing ending. The constant racist insults are over-the-top and thus funny. (“You’re a sneaky Irish cretin, that’s what you are. You eat potatoes and you live in a bog and you say begorrah at the end of every sentence. And your old granny knitted your uniform.”) If it’s any consolation, this just proves that racism is not just limited to some skinhead in a swamp somewhere; it is universal and practiced even by kids.
It is also worth noting Graham Masterton’s change of style, with touches of sly and irreverent humor which is normally not noticeable or present in his novels. Every encounter that Kieran has with either his schoolmates or his teachers makes us laugh although no character seems to be making jokes. Luckily, there’s still some of that patented Masterton brutal violence that is still satisfying as it is disturbing.
Appeared in: Thirteen More Tales of Horror ed a. Finnis
4. Voodoo Child
Jimi Hendrix is back from the dead and is looking for the Voodoo doll that granted him extraordinary success in his life and he will not let anyone get in his way.
Masterton seems to love attaching themes of Voodoo to famous people. (He made JFK into a not-quite-a-zombie-but-still-kind of in Jack be Quick ) Here, Masterton adds a touch of 60s and 70s nostalgia to the horror through his constant name-dropping of real musicians, their managers, and the events/concerts they attended. My mentioning of Jimi Hendrix as a zombie will not diminish the enjoyment of the tale as there is a gruesome twist presented in such a mundane manner that will remind you this is still a horror story and not a Rolling Stone article. Add an even more grisly ending and you have a nifty tale.
Featured in: Shock Rock, Volume I Ed. By Jeff Gelb
5. Sex Object
The wife of an affluent but perverted man blackmails a prominent surgeon into surgically implanting another vagina into her body. What starts as an act of self-indulgence gone too far ends up as a debauched nightmare of sexual humiliation and degradation.
Whew. Sex Object has to be the most repulsive Graham Masterton short story I have ever read. Sure there are the “classics” such as Eric the Pie , Pig’s Dinner , and Sepsis , but they at least had a compelling narrative drive. Sex Object is just a display of depravity all around and these acts are committed by people who you can’t relate to since their minds operate on another level from those of normal persons. I was reminded of David Cronenberg’s Crash as the film was also about extreme body modification to suit the lust and emptiness of the main characters. (Coincidentally, I could not relate to those characters, too.)
I wouldn’t blame the editors who thought Sex Object was repulsive for the sake of repulsiveness; I happen to believe that assertion, too. I would also add that this hard-edged approach is needed to deliver a message: lust is eternal but the human body is not.
This story appeared in Hottest Blood Ed. By Jeff Gelb and Michael Garrett and it is a welcome addition to the host of excellent and extreme stories found therein.
6. The Taking of Mr. Bill
There is a stranger in Kensington Gardens attacking babysitters and abducting the children in their care. He has a hook and appears to be long dead. A mother whose son is abducted by this mysterious assailant learns about its possible origins and the only thing she can do to get her son back.
The Taking of Mr. Bill is an effective horror tale. It features a villain born out of urban myths (a la Candyman), a fascinating pseudo-historical explanation for such a myth, uncompromising content, and a shock ending. In short, it is perfect.
Featured in: The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventh Annual Collection Ed. By Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.
7. Rug
A boy living with his foster family in post-war Germany (specifically and appropriately in Münster, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) after the divorce of his parents learns about a strange wolf-skin rug found inside their house. He later finds out about a beast that once stalked their area and was seemingly killed. But what secrets does the rug hold? And is the beast truly dead?
Rug is Graham Masterton’s take on the werewolf mythos and he has once again gone back to the basic lore regarding … well, you figure it out. (He does the same for his take on vampires in Descendant and that is to follow the lore as the locals would have it) The ending is mean-spirited and depressing and perhaps that is appropriate for a werewolf tale.
This story reminded me of the later Laird Barron work (which I read first) The Carrion Gods in Their Heavens concerning… ah read it yourself.
Featured in The Mammoth Book of Wolf Men by Stephen Jones.
8. Mother of Invention
David’s life takes on a puzzling turn when he discovers discrepancies in the photographs of his old mother. The catch is she appears to look different year to year as if she were changing. David also has to contend with another mystery: where did his “aunt” (his father’s secretary) come from and how does she share passing similarities with his mother?
Mother of Invention is Masterton’s other Frankenstein tale (the other is Making Belinda from Fortnight of Fear ) and this one is closer to the mad scientist spectrum of things. I must confess that Frankenstein never scared me; I saw it more as a cautionary and sad tale of Man interfering with Nature. This story, however, managed to creep me out especially when the revelations start coming. And knowing the “origin” of his “aunt” is a great twist, too.
Appeared in: The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein Ed. By Stephen Jones.
9. Bridal Suite
They are the only guests and are seemingly welcomed by the caretaker Mrs. Gaylord. They are offered the Bridal Suite as their room and as soon as they are alone they consummate their marriage. But when the wife wakes up, the husband is no longer there, leaving his clothes and belongings. What is the significance of the room and where could the husband be?
Bridal Suite is an effective erotic horror tale, one that again calls on the myths and legends of the place it is set. The revelation in the story is shocking and perverse and the story’s resolution is inventive in bringing the proceedings back into the real world. The setting invokes claustrophobia and fear of newly-met strangers and it hits you hard but only after exposing you to graphic sexual thrills.
Appeared in: New Terrors Omnibus A Bumper Collection of 37 Terrifying Tales edited by Ramsey Campbell.
10. The Root of All Evil
A kind-of-bigoted New York Taxi Driver has his ordinary day turned upside-down when a simple drop-off of a black investment banker in Harlem leads to a gruesome crime scene. It turns out that the black man, John Bososama, is out to prevent the second coming of Iblis, the demon from Islamic lore. He recruits the taxi driver and readies him for the battle in case he fails again. But can the driver fight an ancient evil present since the time of Adam?
The Root of All Evil is your typical ancient-demon-returns horror Masterton is known for and yet this succeeds because of two things: 1. It captures the feel New York with the snappy dialogue and realistic situations (“All right. But make it quick, please. Even twenty isn’t worth a mugging.”) and 2. It comments on the racial relations between the characters and how acceptance of another’s culture is the key to preventing evil. Take note this was written in the 80s which was way before stuff like The Ballad of Black Tom and Lovecraft Country did the same. It is also bombastic, creepy, and offers a glimpse into Muslim demonology way before the insane film Born of Fire played in theatres.
Appeared in: Modern Masters of Horror edited by Frank Coffey.
11. Will
The excavation of the famous Globe Theater by archaeologists unearths the body of an actor. Who is it and what is its relationship with Shakespeare? After one of their colleagues is ripped apart near the site by an unknown creature, the remaining archeologists must try to solve the riddle of the body and perhaps put to rest the mysteries surrounding the life of the world’s most famous playwright.
Will was written by Masterton as a tribute to the works of H. P. Lovecraft. As mentioned in other reviews, Masterton fills in the gaps in Shakespearean studies with musings on a “deal” made by the Bard of Avon with an alien cosmic entity. Forget your Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe theories; this one makes more sense to a horror fan.
Featured in Lovecraft's Legacy ed. by Robert E. Weinberg & Martin H. Greenberg
12. The Heart of Helen Day
An insurance salesman named Martin stops by a motel during a rainy night and tunes in to what appears to be a WWII-era radio drama titled “The Heart of Helen Day”. Before he could finish the same, the woman on the radio was seemingly butchered by a killer on-air. Martin investigates the occurrence and realizes that although the show existed, the killing of the actress was never aired. What did Martin hear and would the same bring his death?
This story should have been in an anthology I was reading called Lost Signals . Why? This is a creepy ghost tale that would have made a great Giallo movie, with its baffling mystery, shocking violence against women (a staple in such movies), and a surprise ending. The prose is creepy, too, with the constant radio interference popping up between paragraphs.
Featured in: Darker Masques ed. By J. N. Williamson.
13. The Jajouka Scarab
The hunt for the rare and notorious “Jajouka penis-beetle” brings Professor Grant Donnelly, his sexually active assistant Susan, and guide Hakim to the Little Hills of Morocco where it is presumed to be safeguarded and used by the local tribe in exchange for goods. The beetle is supposed to increase sexual pleasure when used in intercourse and is highly addictive as well as quite dangerous. When Donnelly and his team witness a graphic demonstration of the “power” of the beetle, they can’t wait to try it for themselves. They want great pleasure but the beetle also brings terrifying suffering as they soon find out.
When Graham Masterton is mentioned in the horror community, people tend to mention and focus their attention on his most famous books such as The Manitou , Feast , etc. They would comment on the novels’ fast-pace, gruesome violence, and the insanity of the whole concept of ancient demons waking in the modern world to kill/destroy/ rape humans. Two results are conceived: One group loves Masterton and hails him as a “Master” of this particular sub-genre of horror and the other group condemns him as a hack; a writer of dirty, gory paperbacks that “demean” the horror genre. The defenders, thankfully, outnumber the snobs and recent retrospective works like Paperbacks From Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction praise Masterton’s outlandishness as well as his comfy, easy-going style.
The novels are great entertainment and some of them are arguably the best in horror fiction (My top picks will always come from the triumvirate: Feast , Death Trance , and Master of Lies ) but most of the time the concept they carry is stretched unnecessarily into novel-length. I don’t blame Masterton (a man has got to make a living) but this leads to my contention: Masterton’s short stories are even better than his novels. This assertion has never been more apparent than in his second collection Flights of Fear .
1. Egg
A man is preparing his breakfast when he finds what seems to be a small child inside his egg. Dumbfounded, he soon makes it his goal to take care of the child. But where did the child come from and what are the consequences for such a selfless act?
Egg is a bizarre short that jumpstarts this collection. The concept is intriguing, as well as the eventual execution of the story. The main character is sympathetically portrayed and we feel for him despite the shortness of the tale. Masterton adds his trademark mythology and I am certain it could have been more effective had he kept the entire cause shrouded in mystery.
To that reviewer calling it “clichéd”, what cliché is used in this story? Children born in bizarre situations? Finding mystical objects in eggs? There have been hoarier clichés used by recent authors; take a look at how many books this year used the “stuck in a remote cabin with evil entity/psychos” trope. (Hint: one of them is a bestseller). I haven’t seen this concept in horror tackled in this fashion let alone explored. Not my favorite story but it is still very interesting.
2. The Gray Madonna
A man searches for the last person to have reportedly been with his wife immediately before her death: a gray-hooded nun. As he traverses the statue-ridden streets of Bruges, he comes to know about the secret protectors of the place: statues that are harbingers of God’s justice. But what has that got to do with his wife?
One idea that is often not discussed or tackled in horror fiction is the idea of evil patiently waiting in the place previously encountered. It does not follow or hunt you; it waits for your curiosity to get the better of you. This is the underlying theme of this story and it is much creepier because of it. A noted reviewer mentioned the similarities of this story to the Nicolas Roeg film Don’t Look Now and it does resemble the said film but only to the extent of the infamous ending.
This tale was featured in Stephen Jones’ Best New Horror 7
3. J. R. E. Ponsford
Kieran is a newcomer in a boys’ public school and instead of the warmth of a great welcome, he gets demeaned and bullied. Day after day of constant attacks, Kieran can only look up to one person: J. R. E. Ponsford, School Cricket Captain 1931-1936 and Public schools’ champion batsman. But as the beatings and the racism get worse, Kieran may truly need his help.
GRAHAM MASTERTON WRITES HORROR FOR KIDS!
Despite the statement above, this is still a great horror tale with a rather disturbing ending. The constant racist insults are over-the-top and thus funny. (“You’re a sneaky Irish cretin, that’s what you are. You eat potatoes and you live in a bog and you say begorrah at the end of every sentence. And your old granny knitted your uniform.”) If it’s any consolation, this just proves that racism is not just limited to some skinhead in a swamp somewhere; it is universal and practiced even by kids.
It is also worth noting Graham Masterton’s change of style, with touches of sly and irreverent humor which is normally not noticeable or present in his novels. Every encounter that Kieran has with either his schoolmates or his teachers makes us laugh although no character seems to be making jokes. Luckily, there’s still some of that patented Masterton brutal violence that is still satisfying as it is disturbing.
Appeared in: Thirteen More Tales of Horror ed a. Finnis
4. Voodoo Child
Jimi Hendrix is back from the dead and is looking for the Voodoo doll that granted him extraordinary success in his life and he will not let anyone get in his way.
Masterton seems to love attaching themes of Voodoo to famous people. (He made JFK into a not-quite-a-zombie-but-still-kind of in Jack be Quick ) Here, Masterton adds a touch of 60s and 70s nostalgia to the horror through his constant name-dropping of real musicians, their managers, and the events/concerts they attended. My mentioning of Jimi Hendrix as a zombie will not diminish the enjoyment of the tale as there is a gruesome twist presented in such a mundane manner that will remind you this is still a horror story and not a Rolling Stone article. Add an even more grisly ending and you have a nifty tale.
Featured in: Shock Rock, Volume I Ed. By Jeff Gelb
5. Sex Object
The wife of an affluent but perverted man blackmails a prominent surgeon into surgically implanting another vagina into her body. What starts as an act of self-indulgence gone too far ends up as a debauched nightmare of sexual humiliation and degradation.
Whew. Sex Object has to be the most repulsive Graham Masterton short story I have ever read. Sure there are the “classics” such as Eric the Pie , Pig’s Dinner , and Sepsis , but they at least had a compelling narrative drive. Sex Object is just a display of depravity all around and these acts are committed by people who you can’t relate to since their minds operate on another level from those of normal persons. I was reminded of David Cronenberg’s Crash as the film was also about extreme body modification to suit the lust and emptiness of the main characters. (Coincidentally, I could not relate to those characters, too.)
I wouldn’t blame the editors who thought Sex Object was repulsive for the sake of repulsiveness; I happen to believe that assertion, too. I would also add that this hard-edged approach is needed to deliver a message: lust is eternal but the human body is not.
This story appeared in Hottest Blood Ed. By Jeff Gelb and Michael Garrett and it is a welcome addition to the host of excellent and extreme stories found therein.
6. The Taking of Mr. Bill
There is a stranger in Kensington Gardens attacking babysitters and abducting the children in their care. He has a hook and appears to be long dead. A mother whose son is abducted by this mysterious assailant learns about its possible origins and the only thing she can do to get her son back.
The Taking of Mr. Bill is an effective horror tale. It features a villain born out of urban myths (a la Candyman), a fascinating pseudo-historical explanation for such a myth, uncompromising content, and a shock ending. In short, it is perfect.
Featured in: The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventh Annual Collection Ed. By Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.
7. Rug
A boy living with his foster family in post-war Germany (specifically and appropriately in Münster, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) after the divorce of his parents learns about a strange wolf-skin rug found inside their house. He later finds out about a beast that once stalked their area and was seemingly killed. But what secrets does the rug hold? And is the beast truly dead?
Rug is Graham Masterton’s take on the werewolf mythos and he has once again gone back to the basic lore regarding … well, you figure it out. (He does the same for his take on vampires in Descendant and that is to follow the lore as the locals would have it) The ending is mean-spirited and depressing and perhaps that is appropriate for a werewolf tale.
This story reminded me of the later Laird Barron work (which I read first) The Carrion Gods in Their Heavens concerning… ah read it yourself.
Featured in The Mammoth Book of Wolf Men by Stephen Jones.
8. Mother of Invention
David’s life takes on a puzzling turn when he discovers discrepancies in the photographs of his old mother. The catch is she appears to look different year to year as if she were changing. David also has to contend with another mystery: where did his “aunt” (his father’s secretary) come from and how does she share passing similarities with his mother?
Mother of Invention is Masterton’s other Frankenstein tale (the other is Making Belinda from Fortnight of Fear ) and this one is closer to the mad scientist spectrum of things. I must confess that Frankenstein never scared me; I saw it more as a cautionary and sad tale of Man interfering with Nature. This story, however, managed to creep me out especially when the revelations start coming. And knowing the “origin” of his “aunt” is a great twist, too.
Appeared in: The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein Ed. By Stephen Jones.
9. Bridal Suite
They are the only guests and are seemingly welcomed by the caretaker Mrs. Gaylord. They are offered the Bridal Suite as their room and as soon as they are alone they consummate their marriage. But when the wife wakes up, the husband is no longer there, leaving his clothes and belongings. What is the significance of the room and where could the husband be?
Bridal Suite is an effective erotic horror tale, one that again calls on the myths and legends of the place it is set. The revelation in the story is shocking and perverse and the story’s resolution is inventive in bringing the proceedings back into the real world. The setting invokes claustrophobia and fear of newly-met strangers and it hits you hard but only after exposing you to graphic sexual thrills.
Appeared in: New Terrors Omnibus A Bumper Collection of 37 Terrifying Tales edited by Ramsey Campbell.
10. The Root of All Evil
A kind-of-bigoted New York Taxi Driver has his ordinary day turned upside-down when a simple drop-off of a black investment banker in Harlem leads to a gruesome crime scene. It turns out that the black man, John Bososama, is out to prevent the second coming of Iblis, the demon from Islamic lore. He recruits the taxi driver and readies him for the battle in case he fails again. But can the driver fight an ancient evil present since the time of Adam?
The Root of All Evil is your typical ancient-demon-returns horror Masterton is known for and yet this succeeds because of two things: 1. It captures the feel New York with the snappy dialogue and realistic situations (“All right. But make it quick, please. Even twenty isn’t worth a mugging.”) and 2. It comments on the racial relations between the characters and how acceptance of another’s culture is the key to preventing evil. Take note this was written in the 80s which was way before stuff like The Ballad of Black Tom and Lovecraft Country did the same. It is also bombastic, creepy, and offers a glimpse into Muslim demonology way before the insane film Born of Fire played in theatres.
Appeared in: Modern Masters of Horror edited by Frank Coffey.
11. Will
The excavation of the famous Globe Theater by archaeologists unearths the body of an actor. Who is it and what is its relationship with Shakespeare? After one of their colleagues is ripped apart near the site by an unknown creature, the remaining archeologists must try to solve the riddle of the body and perhaps put to rest the mysteries surrounding the life of the world’s most famous playwright.
Will was written by Masterton as a tribute to the works of H. P. Lovecraft. As mentioned in other reviews, Masterton fills in the gaps in Shakespearean studies with musings on a “deal” made by the Bard of Avon with an alien cosmic entity. Forget your Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe theories; this one makes more sense to a horror fan.
Featured in Lovecraft's Legacy ed. by Robert E. Weinberg & Martin H. Greenberg
12. The Heart of Helen Day
An insurance salesman named Martin stops by a motel during a rainy night and tunes in to what appears to be a WWII-era radio drama titled “The Heart of Helen Day”. Before he could finish the same, the woman on the radio was seemingly butchered by a killer on-air. Martin investigates the occurrence and realizes that although the show existed, the killing of the actress was never aired. What did Martin hear and would the same bring his death?
This story should have been in an anthology I was reading called Lost Signals . Why? This is a creepy ghost tale that would have made a great Giallo movie, with its baffling mystery, shocking violence against women (a staple in such movies), and a surprise ending. The prose is creepy, too, with the constant radio interference popping up between paragraphs.
Featured in: Darker Masques ed. By J. N. Williamson.
13. The Jajouka Scarab
The hunt for the rare and notorious “Jajouka penis-beetle” brings Professor Grant Donnelly, his sexually active assistant Susan, and guide Hakim to the Little Hills of Morocco where it is presumed to be safeguarded and used by the local tribe in exchange for goods. The beetle is supposed to increase sexual pleasure when used in intercourse and is highly addictive as well as quite dangerous. When Donnelly and his team witness a graphic demonstration of the “power” of the beetle, they can’t wait to try it for themselves. They want great pleasure but the beetle also brings terrifying suffering as they soon find out.
January 21, 2024
Good old Graham never lets you down. Here we will enjoy a gallery of perversity, moving from one end of the world to the other, most of the time stopping in the United States or the UK, but always witnessing the encounter of ordinary people with the impossible, the strange and the morbid. Is there a murderer with a hook raping and mutilating nannies and their babies in Kensington Gardens?
In the dark German forests it seems that the myth of the werewolf is still valid, but not in the way we always knew the story.
In the French town of Bruges, witchcraft is rampant and religious statues can become true demons of revenge.
And leaving the environment of the supernatural, we will meet a demented mad scientist, an update of the myth of Frankenstein with disastrous results.
Also in New York, an Islamic demon is released and roams freely wreaking havoc... each stop on this amazing flight is a morbid nightmare from which we will not wake up without consequences for our sanity.
In the dark German forests it seems that the myth of the werewolf is still valid, but not in the way we always knew the story.
In the French town of Bruges, witchcraft is rampant and religious statues can become true demons of revenge.
And leaving the environment of the supernatural, we will meet a demented mad scientist, an update of the myth of Frankenstein with disastrous results.
Also in New York, an Islamic demon is released and roams freely wreaking havoc... each stop on this amazing flight is a morbid nightmare from which we will not wake up without consequences for our sanity.
September 14, 2017
Co to za ohydne, przerażające pomysły?! Masterton przeszedł samego siebie. Szkoda, że niektóre opowieści istnieją w tak krótkiej formie, bo chętnie przeczytałabym je bardziej rozbudowane.
September 3, 2007
Pamiętam, że to też była jedna z moich pierwszych tego typu książek... zafascynowany byłem Mastertonem i nawet jeszcze mnie szokowała ;) więc to musiało być wcześnie jak ją czytałem. "Obiekt seksualny" pamiętam, "Skarabeusz z Jajouki" też :P i pierwsze opowiadanie - "Jajko" takie absurdalne, a też zapadło mi w pamięć.
January 8, 2013
Recueil de nouvelles d'un maître de l'horreur, qui comporte beaucoup de nouvelles très courtes. Peu de nouvelles m'ont véritablement fait frissonner, mais certaines me restent à l'esprit, telles que Le Scarabée Jajouka, Absence de bête ou encore La Source de tous les maux.
Toutes ces histoires feraient de bons petits films d'horreur, en tout cas, et cela donne une bonne idée de comment tourner des histoires courtes.
Une lecture sympa, à prolonger avec d'autres recueils dans ce style (de King notamment)
Toutes ces histoires feraient de bons petits films d'horreur, en tout cas, et cela donne une bonne idée de comment tourner des histoires courtes.
Une lecture sympa, à prolonger avec d'autres recueils dans ce style (de King notamment)
April 3, 2011
Fourteen horror stories with fantastical premises:a man finds a live human baby in his breakfast egg, a wealthy woman gets extra vaginas surgically implanted to increase her sexuality, Jimi Hendrix's zombie returns to the site of his death to claim his inspirational voodoo doll. Or even story about Peter Pan and why babysitters should be afraid of him. These stories are gripping and absorbed me. But other Masterton's books are much more better than that one, so that's why only 2 stars...
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews