Hal Dresner (1937–2023)

A solid collection of stories that perhaps had slightly misleading cover art and blurbs. Not that there is anything wrong with the cover: it's actually pretty great, featuring Hitchcock surrounded by various monsters, vampires and aliens. And Hitchcock's introduction is suitably suspenseful, warning against the perils of these stories for people who jump when a door slams or screech when someone shouts "Boo!" in their ear. (Guilty on both counts.) But the stories in this collection, while show more being weird and consistently interesting, are not really as scary as the cover would have you believe.

There's a fairly diverse group of authors and subject matter represented in this collection: Dorothy L. Sayers and Carter Dickson (aka John Dickson Carr) each contribute more mysterious sorts of stories, while Ray Bradbury and Julian May have more science fiction covered. The other stories fall toward one end or another of the mystery/sci-fi spectrum and seemed to be organized fairly well -- the long stories weren't all grouped together, and the subjects were different enough to distinguish neighbouring stories from each other. My personal favourites were probably "The Dog Died First", "The Twenty Friends of William Shaw" and "Don't Look Behind You", which frankly made me glad that I was reading with my back to the wall. I also enjoyed the Sayers novelette, "The Man With the Copper Fingers".

Overall I would recommend this collection to fans of quick, unusual short stories -- but you can probably read them at night with no fear. show less

Circle of Sinners is an early Block work, published under the pseudonym Don Holliday in collaboration with Hal Dresner. At the time this was published, Block was paying the bills by churning out tittlating tales for a sex-obsessed public who didn't yet have cable or the internet. Told at the early stages of the sexual revolution, this book is sort of like a chain mail letter. It begins with telling the tale of one man, recently divorced from a woman who turned out to be a tramp who seeks show more adventure in the hip jazzy bars of Harlem. It then traces the adventures of each partner in a short vignette with the next partner. On the way, the story stretches across prostitution, engagements, slumming in Greenwich Village, lesbianism, rape, threesomes, lushes, nymphos, and jealousy. Good writing. Good character development. Probably banned material when it first came out, but tame by today's standards. show less

Great book of short stories. Most of them were great, two were so-so. Here is my review for each one of them:

To The Future - A couple escapes a bad future to enjoy living in the past. However, they cannot escape. Excellent story! Ending was great!

River of Riches - Story about a man who plays a marble game with the different tribes along a river and keeps winning until a very smart chief pulls one over on him. Good story.

Levitation - Story about a magician who levitates a spectator when show more something goes terribly wrong. Great story and did not expect for what happened.

Miss Winters and the Wind - Strange story about the wind being evil. It was okay just really strange.

View from the Terrace - Story about a man who fell off the terrace.... or did he really fall? Good suspense story where it did shock me at the end.

The Man with Copper Fingers - I skipped this story... didn't hold my interest.

The Twenty Friends of William Shaw - Okay story about a man who is away and about his friends. Didn't really care for it.

The Other Hangman - Interesting story about a hangman and him getting a prisoner from being executed. It was a good twist and I enjoyed the story.

Don't Look Behind You - Story about a killer... it was probably the creepiest one I read in the book.. Haha I thought the killer was in the house with me... so silly.

No Bath for the Browns - Story about a couple who rents an apartment and has trouble moving a bathtub, It was an alright story.

The Uninvited - Story about two men who knew someone was coming to kill them. I enjoyed this story and reading the way they got the Colonel back.

Dune Roller - One of the biggest stories in the book. It's about a meteor that fell to earth and broke apart. The pieces try to get back to the mother meteor. People die and get scared of the big meteor coming to get her babies. Good story... ending was great!

Something Short of Murder - Wife with a gambling problem has to find enough money to pay the bookie before her husband finds out. It was okay story. Ending was alright.

The Golden Girl - Girl and man on a ship and everything thought she was pregnant... but was she? Good story did not see the ending coming at all.

The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes - My favorite story in the book. A boy can make future predictions come true but he really doesn't want to give the last prediction... it's a doozy!

Walking Alone - What would happen if you seen a crime and did nothing about it to save your job and marriage... What happened is that it drove the man nuts and he went crazy... Awesome story.

For All the Rude People - Man has 4 months to live so why not just kill all the people who are rude to him? Story makes you wonder and think.

The Dog Died First - Woman runs over dog but she goes to prison for killing a man... hmmm... things aren't always as they seem! Great story.

Room with a View - Second favorite story about an invalid bedridden and helps his nurse with her love interest and his wife... great payback story.

Lemmings - Super short story of people going into the water.. Strange little story.

White Goddess - Magic woman gets thief back for stealing her stuff.. Interesting payback story.

The Substance of Martyrs - skipped.. not interested in this one

Call for Help - Two old ladies where one thinks her relatives are trying to kill her. Some crazy stuff goes on and at the end the ladies definitely do not get what they want.

Sorry Wrong Number - The longest and most drawn out story in the book. Too long for me to drag on and on. Basically a "invalid" bedridden woman hears a weird call about someone who is going to be murdered. Throughout the night she tries to find her missing husband, talks to one of his ex girlfriends, and the doctor who says she is fine. Figured out the ending. show less

This anthology has many stories. So as a I read a story I will add it to my review.
Stories read so far:
To the Future-Ray Bradbury
River of Riches-Gerald Kersh
Levitation-Joseph Payne Brennan
Miss Winters and the Wind-Christine Noble Gowan
View from the Terrace-Mike Marner
Dune Roller-Julian May