Stefan Dziemianowicz

You know the nights when you're wanting something to read just before you drop off? Something that's not TOO engaging, just interesting enough to keep your attention and complete in a very short span of time? How about a hundred short stories in a 570 page volume? Would that work for you?

Chances are you've seen these titles before. Barnes & Noble marketed them in the 90s and mid 00s. There were at least a half-dozen different titles I can remember, all horror related. Apparently someone was show more trying to ride the great wave of horror genre enthusiasm and JUST missed. But that's okay; the books were mass-produced and sold fairly cheaply, even the hardcovers were under $10. If you're lucky, you can find them at used book stores for $5 or less now…this one I got for $1. And it's worth that for one story alone: "The Thing In The Cellar" by David Keller. Wow! I read that one when I was in grade school and never forgot it…that's how powerful it is, to this day. Anyone who's ever ranked on their child for being afraid of something, read this and be shamed. Yes, I'm looking at YOU, Dad.

Now, in a collection this broad there are bound to be a few clunkers. But never mind! It's a hundred stories and at most they're 15 pages or so long. Or less. It'll be over soon, enjoy the one you're laboring through for what it is and expect that the next one will be better. And it probably will be. Any collection with entries from Joe Lansdale, Hugh Cave and Chet Williamson cheek-by-jowl with Frank Belknap Long, Ambrose Bierce, and Guy de Maupassant is worth it just for the novelty. I think the stories (besides the classic Keller) that struck me the firmest were L. A. Lewis's "Haunted Air", Saki's incomparable "The Interlopers", and a jewel of a tale, "Told In The Desert" by Clark Ashton Smith which is bittersweet defined. Not scary by any means but sad and touching. I loved it.

I have several more volumes of these "hundreds" from B&N on my shelf yet to be read, and with any luck I'll be reviewing another in the next few months. Uneven or not, they're still keepers. Get 'em while you can! show less

Dime Detective was the only monthly magazine that ever offered any serious competition to the much-lauded Black Mask, where the hardboiled detective story was born. This volume reprints twenty-three selections from the pages of Dime Detective (one for each year of the periodical's existence), which succeeded in luring some of its rival's most popular authors by offering them a heftier paycheck.

Like any anthology, this is a mixed bag of the high (Raymond Chandler's "The Lady in the Lake") show more and the low ("The Crime Machine" by Carroll John Daly). Sandwiched in between are the most enjoyable stories: violent, fast-paced tales by workmanlike authors who were never in the running for any literary awards, but knew what their readers wanted and delivered it. Sometimes the screwball humor works incredibly well, as in "Something for the Sweeper" by Norbert Davis (one of my favorite hardboiled writers of the 1930s and '40s); on other occasions it almost collapses beneath its own merrily convoluted weight, as in Merle Constiner's "Strangler's Kill". Even when things get out of control, however, these stories are fitfully entertaining. A couple of them, like C.M. Kornbluth's "A Ghoul and His Money," aren't even strictly hardboiled, but that's okay: a little variety never hurts.

If your appetite has been whetted by The Hardboiled Dicks (Goulart, ed.) and Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (Pronzini & Adrian, eds.), this is the next book you should buy. Three and a half stars. show less

Takes a long, savoring, time to read because almost every story is worth a pause & a think. Most are dated, certainly... many have been collected elsewhere... many are available on gutenberg & librivox... many are more like anecdotes as they're only about 2 pp long... but as a whole the collection is great fun.

A few bookdarts:

From [a:Edmond Hamilton|61942|Edmond Hamilton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1338135286p2/61942.jpg] "Exile" is an observation of the difference between show more knowledge and belief... I want to read more of this author.

Co-credits in the Lovecraft stories is claimed by a certain Elizabeth Neville Berkeley... [a:Elizabeth Berkeley|3391843|Elizabeth Berkeley|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]?

[a:Fritz Leiber|23001|Fritz Leiber|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1423163995p2/23001.jpg], in "Later Than You Think" considers the possibility that "When an intelligent species begins to retrogress, it tends to destroy, or, rather, debase, all the things it has laboriously created.... Machines are broken up and worked into primitive tools and weapons. There is a kind of unraveling or erasing."

No notes, brief credits, no bios, simple alphabetical by title order. show less

I highly recommend skipping the legends that inspired the stories when they appear first -- at least until after the stories have been read. They contain major spoilers and you might not have heard any versions of some of these tales before.

These retellings are in seven groups: for the campfire, after dinner, urban legends, slumber parties, long car rides, Christmas, and Halloween. (I'd be wary of telling scary stories during long car rides if it's going to be dark on the way back. Imagine show more being the responsible adult stuck in a traffic jam on a desert highway at night with two teen passengers with whom you'd been gleefully sharing such horror stories. I kept thinking about how easily a serial killer could go from car to car. There weren't any street lights and the nearest houses were miles away....)

'Campfire Story': one young man tells about the time he and two friends went exploring in a cave system known as the site where half of a group of pioneers disappeared without a trace 100 years ago.

'Initiation Into Terror': the local haunted house is chosen for a fraternity initiation.

'Funhouse of Fear': a foolish boy wants to steal the new attraction from a carnival funhouse.

'Body Snatched': Although set in London at the end of the 19th century, when the days of the resurrection men were over, this is still a good story about a doctor demanding a truly fresh corpse.

'The Summer of Cropsey': John Cropsey is more than a little upset about the injustices done to him. (Why did no one involved with this book notice that the camp is called 'Beechside' in the first paragraph and 'Beechwood' for the rest of the story? How about saying that a flower shined with a special light instead of shone?)

'The Doom of the House of Gaskell': for ten generations the curse has struck them down -- is there no hope?

'Secret Ingredient': it's definitely not FDA approved.

'Just Desserts': it'll be a Christmas to remember.

'Brainy type': a promise is a promise.

'Cocoon': it seemed a foolproof plan...

'Mule': a man who makes his living doing dirty work finds the job just got dirtier.

'Coat Carrier': Susan made an unwise purchase.

'The Giving Kind': a cautionary tale about picking up a stranger in a bar.

'Crazy Sally': Sally's just crazy about her man.

'Don't Turn on the Light!': Should this college student be worried about the 'Campus Creeper'?

'Final Call': a babysitter is plagued with threatening phone calls. (At least this version of one of the most well known of such tales avoids a problem we didn't think about when I was a girl and heard/told it.)

'Why the Doctor Went Mad': I daresay I would have had it happened to me.

'Ginger Snaps': In this case, Ginger is a dog.

'Stay Away From Wilson Drive!': Our heroine is likely to need considerable therapy after her charitable deed.

'Backseat Driver': Why won't that dratted car behind her pass already? (I believe the movie our heroine is thinking of is 'Duel,' written by Richard Matheson, directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring Dennis Weaver. I don't recommend it for the faint of heart.)

'One More': a woman has a recurring nightmare.

'Death Takes Its Toll': a new tollbooth operator finds out why his predecessor left the job.

'Roadside Stop': have two women picked the wrong motel?

'Hook Ending': Terry has some groveling to do.

'He Sees You When You're Sleeping': it's a Christmas that's likely to make front page news.

'Yule Love Him': this season a woman remembers her former boyfriend whom she hasn't seen in years.

'O Christmas Tree!': Jeff Tyler should have bought himself an artificial tree.

'...In Small Packages': No one is admitting to buying or sending that last gift.

'Hearth of Horror': one almost hopes it's a rat making those scratching noises...

'Tricks and Treats': why is one child being allowed to go trick or treating by himself?

'Masquerade': it's a good costume -- perhaps too good.

'Scarecrow' -- at Halloween, scarecrows are more popular than jack o' lanterns in this hardly rural town.

'Sweets to the Sweet': Esther is determined to make the kind of Halloween treats available when she was a girl.

'Bloody Mary': will anyone at the party accept the dare?

Some of these legends I'd heard or read or seen adapted on TV before, some not. Mr. Dziemianowicz did a good job of putting in details, often adding a twist or two. I salute him for the way he successfully combined two golden oldies into one story. The main introduction and those for each section are well worth reading because they mention other legends. I'd be rather unhappy about that Christmas tradition about eating mince pies, but it says nothing about mince tarts or cookies, all the better for a mincemeat fan, heh heh.

It's a good book either for reading to yourself or reading aloud to an audience wanting to be scared. I'm a bit sorry that it contains two variations instead of the exact details of my favorite escaped homicidal maniac story, but not sorry enough to be disappointed in the book overall. show less