A great collection of truly haunting stories
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The last book in a great series,
By E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
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This review is from: The Twentieth Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories (Paperback)
Throughout the two decades from 1964 to 1984, Fontana published a remarkable skein of ghost story collections, piloted by R. Aikman and later by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, no mean supernatural authors themselves. Some of the paperbacks in this series, which winds its way up to the "20th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories" are now collectors' items and worth over a hundred dollars apiece.
For the last book in the series, R. Chetwynd-Hayes has assembled a worthy anthology of ghost stories that are both chilling and relatively unknown. Even the humorous stories in this collection carry a supernatural bite, including the editor's "My Very Best Friend." These are the tales in the 20th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories: "Aunt Hester" by Brian Lumley--A young girl accidentally discovers that she can switch bodies with her twin brother, with unforeseen consequences. He finally walks her body out of a window to keep Hester from doing her swap. He moves to Australia to get away from her, but this isn't the end of their story. "Skin Deep" by Roger Malisson--A beautiful but insecure young woman finds work at a modeling agency and ends up marrying one of the top male models. Their problems begin even before she dies. "How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery" by E. F. Benson--"Church-Peveril is a house so beset and frequented by specters...that none of the family...takes psychical phenomena with any seriousness." Except for the ghosts of twin boys who suffered a horrible death when they were only two-years-old. "Carrie Liddicoat's Cottage" by Meg Buxton--Strange folks keep showing up at the door of Moira Montague's renovated cottage. Are they somehow connected with the ghostly cat on her mantle and the ghostly chickens roosting on her furniture? "The Diary of William Carpenter" by John Atkins--A man buys an old farmhouse for a song and discovers the diary of the previous resident. This story has a pretty standard plot, but there's a surprising twist at the end. "The Roads of Donnington" by Rick Kennett--The ghost of Lawrence of Arabia reputedly rides his motorcycle through the country lanes of Dorset. This ghost does the same Down Under on the roads of Donnington, and one of his distant relatives sets out to discover why he still rides. "The Running Tide" by Ex-Private X--A. M. Burrage (Ex-Private X) was a gifted writer of ghost stories, a couple of which are on my Top Fifty list, e.g. "The Sweeper" and "Smee." This story of a haunted inn is "creepy without being horrific and has some really first class characters" according to the editor. There is also a cool parrot. "A Lady in the Night" by Dorothy K. Haynes--Right before she gives birth, a woman thinks she hears a streetwalker tapping up and down the road by her house. Her imagination (or is it the pain medication?) supplies her with an image of the wayward woman, along with her supposedly gruesome fate. "The Villa Désirée" by May Sinclair--A young woman who can't afford an expensive hotel room in Monte Carlo, decides to spend her vacation at her fiancé's villa nearby, even though her friends beg her not to spend the night there. If not top 50, then definitely top 100 material. "Graveyard Lodge" by Heather Vineham--Ruth Ghavri and her Indian husband move into an old house that is almost surrounded by a neglected cemetery. Darshama has seen the house before in a dream and believes he has some unfinished karmic business there. "Ordeal by Fire" by Gladys Law--A young couple finally locates an affordable bungalow near Oxford, after the husband is promoted and transferred. Unfortunately, the wife has several near-misses with accidentally-started fires. "Our Lady of the Shadows" by Tony Richards--I don't think I ever want to go to Paris again after reading this story. An American college student gets lost in the dark, narrow streets of the West Bank and follows a cloaked figure down into a grubby basement apartment to ask for directions. "The Rip Current" by Daphne Froome--A rather unusual story about a ghostly surfer. Don't read this story if you have any fear at all of going into the water. I found myself gasping for breath while reading it. "My Very Best Friend" by R. Chetwynd-Hayes--A young boy acquires an over-protective guardian angel who leaves a trail of death amongst his relatives, schoolmates, and wife-to-be. I usually don't care for humorous ghost stories (yes, this one's humorous) but this is a good writer at his ironic best. Read his "The Liberated Tiger (1973)" for a really bad scare. If you are as fond of supernatural fiction as I am, and you've read through all twenty of the Fontana ghost books, check out the web site at homepages.pavilion.co.uk/users/tartarus/database.htm for additional reading suggestions.
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