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The Girl with the Hungry Eyes (Classic Avon #184)

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In 1949, Avon Books released a Fantasy Collection (edited anonymously by Donald A. Wollheim) titled "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes". It is an anthology of six stories never published before which include fantasy, horror, and science fiction as follows:

"The Girl with the Hungry Eyes" by Fritz Leiber, Jr., a short story which is probably best categorized as fiction. It is the story of a photographer whose business picks up once he an unusual model gets him to take pictures of her. Soon she is running the show, and he becomes more and more convinced that there is something sinister going on. This is probably the best story of the collection, which is why it is the title story.

"Venus and the Seven Sexes" by William Tenn (a.k.a. Philip Klass) is a novelette told from the point of view of the Plooch, a race with seven sexes, and their interaction with a human who they treat almost in a god-like way, but who in fact is a Hollywood director. It is a humorous story, with obvious science fiction and fantasy elements.

"Mrs. Manifold" by Stephen Grendon (a.k.a. August Derleth) is a short horror story told by Mr. Robinson, a man hired to be the clerk at Mrs. Manifold's Sailor's Rest inn. It is not a great horror story by any means, as it takes a little too long to setup, and the ending leaves something to be desired, but there are worse.

"Daydream" by P. Schuyler Miller is an unusual story of revenge and justice. In this story, James Payson is bullied by his cousin Charles Galt while growing up, when he creates a man (and cat) in his mind to help him survive. Years later, when James has established a successful business, Charles again tries to bully James, and runs into the power of James' mind.

"Maturity Night" by Frank Belknap Long is a short story, in the science fiction genre. It is a coming of age story set in a post apocalypse future where man has lost the secrets of technology and science, and reveres men of the past as "Mighty Men". Jal Strall is sent to spend a night in an old museum, where he is instructed to not touch anything and where he is supposed to get visions of the Mighty Men of the past. Instead he decides to try to run one of the machines, a time machine which takes him back in time.

"Come into My Parlor" by Manly Wade Wellman is a horror short story. In this story, the narrator is interested in plants which eat insects, and ignores the advice of his friend Henry about entering the Gardinel Swamp where large specimens are said to be. It is a rather predictable story with a predictable result.

This is a decent anthology, but certainly not as good as many others. It is also difficult to find, but if you do run across a copy, you could do much worse.