SOLVED. Middle reader/YA single author horror/fantasy short story collection. [s]

[Alison Abilene]

Looking for a single author short story collection, targeted to middle readers/YA and largely involving horror and fantasy themes. There may have been an overarching frame story about each short story being a piece in an art gallery, but that may have come from a different book. I remember two stories in particular.

The first story I remember is about a children's book illustrator who's trying to land a big illustrating job. She's very forgetful, so her friend gets her an automated coffee pot to help her stay focused on the illustrations. She is slowly consumed by the technology and all of her illustrations are creepy and weird, with an emphasis on the eyes of the children being wrong.

The second story I remember was about a family that moved into a house where all of the furniture and food and everything was left behind. They tried not to use any of the old things, but they ended up sleeping in the beds and eating the food and realized they were being consumed by the ghouls that still lived there somehow. I distinctly remember bits about there being skin flakes in the cereal and hair on the bedsheets.

This book did not achieve commercial or critical success, so my usual avenues of tracking forgotten books have failed. It was most likely published in the mid-late 1980's, I read it as a child in the mid-1990's, but it had an "older" feel to it. It had a burgundy cover with a picture of an art gallery. The title was something like "do not touch the art" or "beware of the art." My brain keeps telling me it's "The Night Gallery" which it obviously isn't ;)

Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!

[Ayshe]

I think it was solved before: Please Do Not Touch: A Collection of Stories?

[Alison Abilene]

That's it! Thank you so much! I'll move this to the solved folder.