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Thursday, June 24, 2021

Horror Fiction Help XXIV

Some recent emails I’ve received from people hoping to find these forgotten horrors. Thanks in advance for helping to ID them! 

1. A children's horror book from the late 80s or early to mid 90s, a collection of short stories. One was about a party of kindergartners who make paper lanterns and march around, disappearing over a hill never to be seen again. Another about a child in a yellow raincoat getting hit by a car. It also included a story about a kid staying home from school "sick" but the sickness was actually that he was a werewolf or something. Found! It's a 1989 Scholastic collection:

2. Cover art: a man sitting down at a table, either with silverware in each hand or eating food, and a pig standing on two legs (possibly dressed in an apron or chef's outfit) holding a butcher's knife behind his back. (ed.—Argh! This one sounds sooo familiar!) Found! It's the 1968 Penguin edition of: 


3.
1970s: Two boys are abducted by a flying saucer, controlled by what seem to be human-sized aliens with an insectoid look. But the kids figure out all's not as it seems: the "aliens" are really evolved ants who have been living underground for ages, and they're using the UFO as a cover story for whatever their real plans might be. I don't remember much else, except that 1. I learned the word "chitin" from this book, and 2. in the scene where the kids first discuss this theory, they know the ants are listening in, so they use a private code where you spell out words with the initials of made-up names (e.g. for "ants" it'd be something like "Remember when we hung out with Amy Nugent and Todd Smith"). Found! It's a 1981 kids' book:

4. Two or 3 young kids (a teen and one much younger I think) visiting an aunt or similar. They take a train, I think, and the woods surrounding the station are covered in nightshade/belladonna. The aunt lives in some kind of old mansion and has a weird man servant/sex demon named Jared or Jarad.

12 comments:

  1. Childrens spooky story book, one of the stories was about the death of the king of cats, and the cats had a funeral and walked on hind legs, I believe the cover art was a boy in the forrest and a campfire

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  2. The pig one sounds like it MIGHT be the cover of one of those "Year's Best Horror Stories" volumes, because I seem to remember something similar to that on one... but I can't find it online so I'm probably wrong.

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  3. The book about the kids with the lanterns, the little dead kid in the slicker, the kid whose cousin (?) is a werewolf, and the kids who gets nibbled on by a vampire is called IF YOU WANT TO SCARE YOURSELF by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg, who wrote THE LITTLE VAMPIRE series as well!

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  4. Thanks Laramie, that's definitely the one! I am just no good with YA horror, so this is much appreciated. I sent the title to the searcher; you've made a horror fan very happy.

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  5. Number 3 sounds like it might be "The Deadly Hoax" by Scott Corbett.

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  6. Unknown: THE DEADLY HOAX it is! Thanks! Wow, that one is a deep cut— I'm pretty sure I never heard of Scott Corbett before or after that book, and I'm sure it was not great, it just kept nagging at my memory because I liked the premise.

    Also, I was wrong about the year, it's 1981; I guess I was thinking of the late '70s being the time for everyone to cash in on flying saucers.

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  7. I'm willing to bet number 2 is the Penguin edition for Stanley Ellin's "Specialty of the House." There's some uncertainty because the cook with the knife isn't a pig, but otherwise the description is spot on.

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    1. Oh *smacks forehead* I knew I recognized that description! I’ve seen that disturbing cover several times over the years. Thank you, I think it’s gotta be the one!

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  8. Unknown: Well, you helped ME out at least, so thanks! Specialty of the House was what came to my mind as well, but for the life of me I couldn't think of the title.

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  9. "Specialty of the House" is a really creepy short story.

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    1. I’ve heard about it for years—I need a copy of this book for my library!

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  10. I have been looking for the name of If You Want To Scare Yourself for years! Thank you so much!!! I used to love this book.

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