BEYOND THE CURTAIN OF DARK
edited by Peter Haining
 
[This is one of those rare occurences where I thought I'd include both the front and back cover of a book. (See also Will Eisner's The Spirit) How could I leave the owl out? The cover is by British illustrator, Bruce Pennington. (That info comes from Mark Dillon in Canada)]

FOREWORD
By Judith Merril

I am not ordinarily partial to the weird or horror story - at least not those which depend, as many do, on nothing but the statement that something Strange and Terrible Did Happen, for their effect. But I think the Editor's selection in this volume is extraordinary, both in the selection of individual stories, and in the complementary character of the combination.

In hindsight I am not sure whether I was more pleasantly surprised at seeing such overlooked items as The Snail Watcher by Patricia Highsmith and The Other Celia by Theodore Sturgeon included, or at my own first reading of the Harold Lawlor, Francis Marion Crawford and Edogawa Rampo stories - as well as Mary Shelley's The Mortal Immortal, which I had heard of but never seen.

But, to be sure, all the stories are pleasing and I have no hesitation in recommending Beyond The Curtain Of Dark as a fine collection.


Contents

LIZZIE BORDEN TOOK AN AXE - Robert Bloch
THE SNAIL WATCHER - Patricia Highsmith
CHICKAMAUGA - Ambrose Beirce
AT LAST, THE TRUE STORY OF FRANKENSTEIN - Harry Harrison
THE HORLA - Guy de Maupassant
FEVER DREAM - Ray Bradbury
THE OTHER CELIA - Theodore Sturgeon
THE OVAL PORTRAIT - Edgar Allen Poe
THE MONSTER MAKER - W. C. Morrow
COME AND GO MAD - Frederic Brown
THE SURVIVOR - H.P.Lovecraft & August Derleth
THE ANCESTOR - H.P.Lovecraft & August Derleth
THE MORTAL IMMORTAL - Mary Shelley
Dr. HEIDEGGER'S EXPERIMENT - Nathaniel Hawthorne
BY THESE PRESENTS - Henry Kuttner
WHOSITS DISEASE - Henry Slesar
KING PEST - Edgar Allen Poe
MAYAYA'S LITTLE GREEN MEN - Harold Lawlor
FOR THE BLOOD IS THE LIFE - Francis Marion Crawford
THE HUMAN CHAIR - Edogawa Rampo
THE FORTUNES OF SIR ROBERT ARDAGH - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
RETURN TO THE SABBATH - Robert Bloch
THE WILL OF LUKE CARLOWE - Clive Pemberton
EYES DO MORE THAN SEE - Isaac Asimov


This collection © by Peter Haining 1966. First published by The New English Library Limited in October 1966, New edition November 1972.

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