Mary Danby ‘65′ series: Nash-Sturgeon

* Entries in blue have been or, hopefully, will be annotated in the Fontana section *

Ogden Nash – The Three D’s: Victoria, the new girl at the Misses Mallison Female Seminary, is keen to join the Sorority Club. The ‘daring’ and ‘deadly’ deeds she’s required to perform hold no fears for her, but ‘done never before’ is a stumbling block. Until the girls tell her about the grave of the executed witch in the field behind the slaughteryard. (65 Great Spine Chillers)

E. Nesbit – John Charrington’s Wedding (65 Great Tales Of The Supernatural)

E. Nesbit – Man-Size in Marble (65 Great Spine Chillers)

Alfred Noyes – Midnight Express (65 Great Tales Of The Supernatural)

Clive Pemberton – The Will Of Luke Carlowe: By the terms of the Professor’s will, his detested nephew Cyril will inherit the entire estate on condition that he agree to enter the burial vault a month to the night following his death. Only then will Carlowe – in spirit form – present him with the document of entitlement, confounding those who take him for a credulous old fool into the bargain. (65 Great Tales Of Horror)

Roger B. Pile – Mary (65 Great Tales Of The Supernatural)

Hal Pink – The Screaming Plant (65 Great Tales Of Horror)

Edgar Allan Poe – The Black Cat: (65 Great Tales Of Horror)

Edgar Allan Poe – The Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar (65 Great Tales Of The Supernatural)

Edgar Allan Poe – The Pit and The Pendulum: (65 Great Spine Chillers)

Edgar Allan Poe – The Tell-Tale Heart (Realms of Darkness)

J. B. Priestly – The Demon King: The company assembled for Mr. Tom Burt’s boxing day premier of Jack And Jill at the Theatre Royal, Bruddersford are a motley crew, the solitary performer with any kind of track record being their Demon King, Kirk Ireton, whose talent has been somewhat diminished by his capacity for alcohol. When he disappears after a session in The Cooper’s Arms mere hours before the pantomime it looks as though even the dubious talents of the Happy Yorkshire Lasses won’t salvage this turkey. But come the eleventh hour and Ireton – or, at least, somebody dressed in a most impressive Devil’s costume – shows up. The troupe go on to play a blinder. (Realms of Darkness)

V. S. Pritchett – A Story Of Don Juan: Quintero, heartly sick of his legendary guest bragging of his conquests, decides to give him the room haunted by his dead wife’s ghost to teach him a lesson. He reckons without Don Juan’s indifference to whether or not his lovers possess a pulse. (65 Great Tales Of The Supernatural)

Bill Pronzini – Peekaboo: (Realms of Darkness)

Seabury Quinn – The House Of Horror: Lost in a storm, De Grandin and Trowbridge chance upon Marston Hall, home to the brilliant surgeon Dr. John Beirsfield Marston who retired after his deformed son committed suicide when his bride to be, actress Dora Lee, jilted him. Not much has been heard of Marston since then, although a number of young girls have gone missing in the area …
Rarely was Quinn to pen anything quite as nasty as this (although he tried, and even rewrote The House Of Horror at least once: The House Where Time Stood Still). (65 Great Tales Of Horror)

Jane Rice – The Refugee: (65 Great Tales Of Horror)

Tony Richards – The Black Lake: (Realms of Darkness)

Tony Richards – Headlamps (65 Great Spine Chillers)

Flavia Richardson – Behind The Yellow Door: Mrs. Merrill, the brilliant surgeon and pathologist, advertises for a secretary. Marcia Miles is told that her main duty will be to act as a companion to her daughter, Olivette. As it transpires, Merrill only wants some of Miss Miles to act as permanent companion to the girl, who is a horror from the waist down. Together with Dorcas the ‘chambermaid’, Mrs. Merrill overpowers Marcia and straps her down on the operating table: “Assuming that the operation is successful, as it must be, you will find Olivette’s deformed legs grafted on to your body, while Olivette will at last be able to enjoy her life as a normal human being. She has waited nearly twenty years. You have had twenty years. It’s your turn.” (65 Great Spine Chillers)

Flavia Richardson – The Red Turret: Roy Errington, the last of the family line, returns to England to claim his birthright, the Errington estate. His wife, Helen, is terrified of the place, in particular, a portrait of Roy’s great grandfather who had a reputation for being an ‘evil cove’. Her fears prove justified when the sinister ancestor puts in a personal appearance, mesmerizes Roy, and entices him to sacrifice Helen at a black mass in the concealed room … (Realms of Darkness)

Lennox Robinson – A Pair Of Muddy Shoes (65 Great Spine Chillers)

Saki – The Music On The Hill: Society Girl Sylvia marries ‘Dead’ Mortimer Seltoun and relocates them in Yessney down Devon way. Farm life suits the hardworking Dead, but Sylvia is restless and scornful of country beliefs. When she snatches the grapes left on a pedestal as an offering to Pan her husband warns her “the Wood Gods are rather horrible to those who molest them” and so it proves. She dies in agony with the gloating laughter of Pan ringing in her ears. (65 Great Spine Chillers)

Saki – The Open Window: Mr. Nutter has been sent convalescing in the country to ease his nerves, so the last thing he needs is sweet little Vera confiding her dear aunt’s “tragedy” that leaves her clinging to the belief that one day her husband and two brothers will return from their resting place on the treacherous moor and step through the open window as though nothing happened. (65 Great Tales Of The Supernatural)

William Sansom – A Woman Seldom Found (65 Great Tales Of The Supernatural)

Agnes Short – Intercom:(Realms of Darkness)

Robert Silverberg – Back From The Grave (65 Great Tales Of Horror)

May Sinclair – The Villa Désirée (65 Great Spine Chillers)

Henry Slesar – Examination Day: (Realms of Darkness)

A. E. D. Smith – The Coat (65 Great Spine Chillers)

Clark Ashton Smith – The Seed From The Sepulcher: (65 Great Spine Chillers)

Lady Eleanor Smith – Satan’s Circus (65 Great Spine Chillers)

Barnard Stacey – The Devil’s Ape (Realms of Darkness)

Frances Stephens – Claws (65 Great Tales Of Horror)

Robert Louis Stevenson – The Body-Snatcher (65 Great Tales Of The Supernatural)

Bram Stoker – Dracula [extract]: (65 Great Tales Of Horror)

Bram Stoker – The Judge’s House: (Realms of Darkness)

Bram Stoker – The Squaw (65 Great Spine Chillers)

Theodore Sturgeon – It: (65 Great Tales Of Horror)