Peter Haining (1940–2007)

This truly is a "Mammoth book of haunted house stories"......there's over 40 stories by some of the most well known in the genre.....689 pages. This includes a short story/poem by Ray Bradbury and Elizabeth Albright, a foreword by Hainan, and and an index.

The stories are broken into different sections...Avenging spirits, Shadowy corners, Phantom lovers, etc. Each story starts with a prospectus, as though you are viewing the real estate associated with each story....it contains info about the property, the date the story was published, and a short bio of the writer. I really enjoyed this aspect and found it entertaining. In the first section, Haunted places (fact and fiction), these stories are associated with actual real life properties and I enjoyed being able to look up each on the internet.

Theres a wide range of stories included from many time periods...the 1800s to modern....and a diverse range of story types.

The stories are mostly good....many great stories here, only a few duds....the rest are pretty good to decent. One of the stories included is Ghost Hunter by James Herbert, this is an excerpt from the book, which I've read and enjoyed seeing here. I've listed the standouts, in my opinion, below:

The considerate host: Thorp McClusky 5 🌟
The grey house: Basil Copper 5 🌟
Watching me, watching you : Fay Weldon 5 🌟
The house of the hatchet : Robert Bloch 5 🌟
The shadowy third: Ellen Glasgow 5 🌟
The boogeyman: Stephen King 5 🌟
Ghost hunt : H. Russell Wakefield 4 🌟
Feet foremost: L.P Hartley 4 🌟
The real and the counterfeit: Louisa Baldwin 4 🌟
A night at the cottage: Richard Hughes 4 🌟
Bagnell terrace: E.F. Benson 4 🌟
The companion: Joan Aiken 4 🌟
The storm: McKnight Malmar 4 🌟
The waxwork: A.M. Burrage 4 🌟

This is, without a doubt, one of the best books of shorts I've ever read. It's unusual for me to love this many stories in one compilation.

My one gripe....the section I was most looking forward to...Little terrors ( ghost and children....was the shortest section and had only one stand out.

I would definitely recommend this for anyone who loves short stories and/or ghost and haunted house stories. Beautifully done Peter Haining!!… (mais)

An anthology of "humorous" science-fiction/fantasy stories. It includes "The Twonky." Because alien mind-control devices killing people is hilarious. I mean, "The Twonky" is an okay story, but it's a "comedy" only through comparison with the incredibly dull and humorless backdrop that is mainstream SF. Half of the stories here were genuinely funny, and half were just...stories told with some sardonic twist. All the stories here are from significant figures in the genre, so it serves as a good historical overview. But funny? Not so much.… (mais)

So, I came across this little gem when I was browsing the $5.00 rack at my local used bookstore some years back. I think I went in trying to get the "Left Behind" series, and somehow ended up with this as well....go figure.

This book is comprised of 30 or so case studies of various cannibal murderers over the ages.

It starts off in the 3rd Century AD in the British Isles with the first known cannibal, a woman named Ethne the Dread, and moves through the years giving detailed accounts of murderous cannibals including but not limited to:

Sweeny Todd, Albert Fish, Jeffrey Dahmer, an enterprising sausage vendor circa WWII Germany, and that well documented, and made into a movie "internet" cannibal" somewhere in Europe who recorded his multi-hour encounter with a stranger who agreed to meet up for the intent to be killed and eaten. This is just a small sampling of what kind of people you will read and learn about.

Honestly? This is one of the guilty pleasure reads that I freely admit to because it is an easy read but filled with fascinating accounts of people I have never heard about and people who I only knew by name but not by details, and people I recall seeing in the news when it happened.

Cannibal Killers is non-fiction, but reads like a fiction anthology, and delivers more than enough examples of how man has killed and eaten man over the ages. The bonus of reading this book is becoming knowledgeable in such an esoteric topic that the information learned will surely win you bar bets and rounds of Jeopardy and Who wants to be a Millionaire.

For those of you still in school and looking for a book or topic source to write a paper for sociology, psychology, criminology, history or even philosophy this is the book for you..tons of citable sources and lots of great details...

I would suggest getting the dead tree version of this book since it has pictures and illustrations and can easily be found used. The best part is the conversation it starts when friends come over and see it parked between your "Learning Python for Dummies" and "What to Expect When Your're Expecting" on the bookshelf..Like that white collar worker who has piercings and tattoos under his shirt.… (mais)