The 5th Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories

Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories #5

by Mary Danby

Grisly, Gruesome and Grotesque! 15 of the Blood-curdling Best!

The Graveyard Rats: "The long-dead corpse made a faint groaning sound as it crawled towards Masson, stretching its ragged lips in a grin of dreadful hunger..."

To Reach the Sea: "There was no doubt about it, absolutely no doubt at all. The wig was growing..."

The Sea Raiders: "Their bodies lay flatly on the rocks, and their eyes regarded him with evil interest... Then, slowly uncoiling their tentacles, they all began moving towards him..."

Contents:

* The Blue Lenses by Daphne du Maurier
* The Man Upstairs by Ray Bradbury
* A Woman Seldom Found by William Sansom
* The Graveyard Rats by Henry Kuttner
* The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
* The Sea Raiders by H. G. Wells
* The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
* Georgy Porgy by Roald Dahl
* To Reach The Sea by Monica Dickens
* The Monster by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
* His Brother’s Keeper by W. W. Jacobs
* The Hand by Guy de Maupassant
* Mrs. Amsworth by E. F. Benson
* The Waxwork by A. M. Burrage
* Quid Pro Quo by Mary Danby

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

189 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Steve Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were seventeen volumes in this series (running from 1966 to 1984) - with the first four being edited by Christine Bernard; but when Mary Danby took over the editing with this fifth volume and for all remaining volumes, there was a sharp rise in quality and consistency. Of the fifteen stories here, I'd say there are three duds (The Man Upstairs, The Sea Raiders and Quid Pro Quo), four ok stories, and a wopping eight very good ones. For me, EF Benson's Mrs Amworth is the classic here, closely followed by Henry Kuttner's atmospheric giant rats story The Graveyard Rats and AM Burrage's The Waxwork. Other fine stories are The Blue Lenses, A Woman Seldom Found, The Lottery, His Brother's Keeper and The Hand.

It's a generally fine series of books with many atmospheric stories, and whatever edition you get (they were reprinted many times) you'll probably be getting a stylishly grisly cover into the bargain!

[Johnny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didnt really enjoy this one as much.. unlike most short story collections where all stories are great this one had a few which dragged on a bit.. still a somewhat fun book

[Steve Matthewman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable collection of horror chillers

[Vincent Darkhelm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty good collection.

[Bill Borre]

"Georgy Porgy" by Roald Dahl - A curate has a disturbing experience with his mother as a child when she takes him to watch a rabbit giving birth and then it devours the newborn. He sees his mother's mouth approaching him and he pulls away from her to run down to the road. The mother follows and is struck by a car and killed. As an adult the curate is sexually attracted to women but finds the idea of physical contact repulsive. When one attempts to kiss him he knocks out her teeth and winds up in an asylum under the delusion that he has been swallowed and resides inside her stomach.

"To Reach the Sea" by Monica Dickens - A woman is shocked to discover that the wig she purchased is growing its hair.