The Year's Best Horror Stories No. 3

by Richard Davis (Editor), Robert Aickman, Kit Pedler

The pick of a nightmare crop of darkly devilish stories of the past year, selected with fiendish care from the masters of horror.

Contents:
Introduction
Pages from a Young Girl's Journal by Robert Aickman.
The Long-Term Residents by Kit Pedler.
The Mirror from Antiquity by Susanna Bates.
Like Two White Spiders by Eddy C. Bertin.
The Old Horns by Ramsey Campbell.
Haggopian by Brian Lumley.
The Recompensing of Albano Pizar by Basil Copper.
Were-Creature by Kenneth Pembrooke.
Events at Poroth Farm by T. E. D. Klein.

Genres: Horror

173 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Richard Davis is an Australian author who writes in two genres:
* biographies of opera singers and classical musicians, and also
* popular ghost stories.

His full name is Richard Michael Davis.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Silke Eloot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Idk, misschien zijn er dat jaar gewoon niet zo veel goede horrorverhalen geschreven

[Johnny · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first story I find to be such a bore in storytelling as the young girl records facts of her daily life in a journal, where almost nothing (or nothing at all) of interest or anything entertaining occurs. There is very little in the way of plot, so instead of writing about what she did on the previous day she writes instead of things she thinks about. It is one of the least interesting pieces I have read.
Oh wow what a fun little story the second one was! I can't say it is well worded but the story turns into pure horror in the end as a man takes a room for only a few days away from the city only to find that no one is even aware of the hotels existence. But the real horror is only beginning as people thought to be dead (or maybe are) begin to appear as some shocking surgery occurs in the last couple of pages.
Such a terrifying ending.
After reading several others I found to dislike a tale of man whose love for the sea and even the fish held me in wonder. A deep dreading tale about a the love for what a creature of the sea could bring to this man slowly destroys his life but also changes him. Horribly. Love it and almost made me wanting more.
Subsequent stories I found boring did not like much at all. Especially the Poroths diary in which a man describes his day to day life in a small town and the many books and newspapers he reads while passing the time.

[Angela Maher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nicely varied collection of horror short stories.