Another plea for help from my fading memory!

Way back in the early-to-mid 1970's I recall getting a hardback anthology of horror stories from my local library. In my mind's eye it had a bright yellow cover and extremely colorful, stylized cover art of monsters or creatures coming out of a large box. By 'stylized' I mean in the poster-ish style of a Bob Pepper-almost YELLOW SUBMARINEesque (though not as cute). The book's title was something like TERROR!

It had a large variety of stories from familiar names in the field, but, darn it! I can't remember a single one. I have had absolutely no luck in trying to track down this collection. Does it ring a bell with anyone?

Ken K. Wrote:
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> Another plea for help from my fading memory!
>
> Way back in the early-to-mid 1970's I recall
> getting a hardback anthology of horror stories
> from my local library. In my mind's eye it had a
> bright yellow cover and extremely colorful,
> stylized cover art of monsters or creatures coming
> out of a large box. By 'stylized' I mean in the
> poster-ish style of a Bob Pepper-almost YELLOW
> SUBMARINEesque (though not as cute). The book's
> title was something like TERROR!
>
> It had a large variety of stories from familiar
> names in the field, but, darn it! I can't remember
> a single one. I have had absolutely no luck in
> trying to track down this collection. Does it
> ring a bell with anyone?

[www.isfdb.org]

Thank you, Platypus! That's the book (and I'm amazed that I recalled the cover art so accurately).

Ken K. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you, Platypus! That's the book (and I'm
> amazed that I recalled the cover art so
> accurately).


It is an interesting selection. I think "The Haunted Island" is my favorite Blackwood story, at least it creeped me out more than "The Willows" or "The Wendigo" ever did. I have never heard of "No. 17", and I thought I had read most of E. Nesbit's weird fiction. Is it a variant title?

I have heard No. 17 read on a few podcasts, but that is a bit hard for me to search. Here is a reproduction of it from the magazine in which it appeared along with a computer reading.

[archive.org]

I just found a third variant of the "safety razor" story, called "The Ghost is Foiled in Lac Seul's Haunted Room, by R.O. Otten (Jan, 1921). But that's still not the one I remember.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12 Jun 22 | 01:06AM by Platypus.

weorcstan Wrote:
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> I have heard No. 17 read on a few podcasts, but
> that is a bit hard for me to search. Here is a
> reproduction of it from the magazine in which it
> appeared along with a computer reading.
>
> [archive.org]
> enesbitthestrandmagjun/mode/2up

Thanks. If my last post was confusing, it is because I thought I had already responded. One of those instances where posts here are lost. I read Number 17, and, though I had never read it before, I recalled reading a similar story with an "I always use safety razors, which I also sell" punchline. I think the one I recall involved a guest at a haunted castle, and included a love interest. While trying to find it, I came across a third story, which I gave just above.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 12 Jun 22 | 10:24AM by Platypus.

Platypus Wrote:
> Thanks. If my last post was confusing, it is
> because I thought I had already responded. One of
> those instances where posts here are lost. I read
> Number 17, and, though I had never read it before,
> I recalled reading a similar story with an "I
> always use safety razors, which I also sell"
> punchline. I think the one I recall involved a
> guest at a haunted castle, and included a love
> interest. While trying to find it, I came across
> a third story, which I gave just above.

I cannot recall another story with this device, but good luck hunting it down!