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"All Else Is Dust"
(as E. K. Jarvis)
© Amazing Stories, Mar 1950
--/ cool sf story
--/ rare find
"All on a Golden Afternoon"
© F&SF, Jun 1956
Blood Runs Cold, 1961
--/ cool f novella
"Almost Human"
(as by Tarleton Fiske)
© Fantastic Adventures, Jul 1943
--/ cool sf story
"The Animal Fair"
© Playboy, May 1971
Cold Chills, 1977
--/ fourth place dark f story
--/ shock value
"Atoms And Evil" (coll)
© 1962, Fawcett Gold Medal
--/ cool sf collection
--/ idea award
--/ rare find
"The Beautiful People"
(also as "Skin Deep")
© Bestseller Mystery Magazine, Jul 1960
Sci Fiction, Nov 2005
Out of the Mouths of Graves, 1979
--/ cool dark f story
--/ shock value
"Beelzebub"
© Playboy, Dec 1963
Chamber of Horrors, 1963
--/ style award
"The Big Kick"
© Rogue, Jul 1959
Blood Runs Cold, 1961
"Black Lotus"
© Unusual Stories, Win 1935
--/ fourth place f story
--/ adventure award
--/ wonder award
--/ style award
--/ rare find
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"Block That Metaphor"
© Galaxy, Oct 1958
Atoms And Evil, 1962
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"The Brood Of Bubastis"
© Weird Tales, Feb 1937
Fear & Trembling, 1989
--/ fourth place dark f story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award: caves
--/ shock value
--/ rare find
"Broomstick Ride"
© Super Science Fiction, Dec 1957
Bogey Men, 1963
--/ cool space / dark f story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea: exile witches in space
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"A Case Of The Stubborns"
© F&SF, Oct 1976
Such Stuff As Screams Are Made Of, 1979
--/ cool f story
--/ humour award
"Cantankerous grandpa won't believe he is dead, but gets up the following morning, as if it never happened - causing consternation (to say the least!) for the family. He keeps coming to meals and demands service. Even the Reverend can't convince him and finally his family resorts to voodoo." Fun and whimsical story, it was made into a TV Episode in "Tales from the Dark Side".
review: 26-Oct-06 (read in 2001)
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"Catnip"
© Weird Tales, Mar 1948
Pleasant Dreams, 1960
--/ fourth place f story
--/ style award: school bully
--/ shock value
--/ rare find
"The Chaney Legacy"
© Night Cry, Fall 1986
Fear & Trembling, 1989
--/ cool f story; movie trivia
"Change Of Heart"
© Arkham Sampler, Fall 1948
Atoms and Evil, 1962
--/ cool f story
--/ wonder award
--/ shock value
--/ rare find
"Comfort Me, My Robot"
© Imagination, Jan 1955
Atoms And Evil, 1962
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ rare find
"Constant Reader"
© Universe SF Stories, Jun 1953
Atoms And Evil, 1962
--/ fourth place f story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ rare find
"Crime Machine"
© Galaxy, Apr 1962
Fear Today, Gone Tomorrow, 1971
--/ cool sf story
--/ idea: subjectivity machine
"The Cure"
© Playboy, Oct 1957
Blood Runs Cold, 1961
"Daybroke"
© Star Science Fiction Magazine, Jan 1958
Blood Runs Cold, 1961
--/ third place apocalyptic sf story
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ emotion award
--/ shock value
"Dead-End Doctor"
© Galaxy, Feb 1958
Atoms and Evil, 1962
"Edifice Complex"
© Escapade, Feb 1958
Atoms and Evil, 1962
--/ cool sf story
"Egghead"
© Fantastic Universe, Jul 1958
Atoms and Evil, 1962
"The Egghead Plays It Straight"
(also as "The Professor Plays It Square")
© Argosy, Sep 1957
Atoms And Evil, 1962
"End of Your Rope"
© Fantastic Adventures, Jul 1950
--/ cool sf story
--/ humour award
--/ rare find
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"Enoch"
© Weird Tales, Sep 1946
Pleasant Dreams, 1960
--/ cool f story
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"ETFF"
© Odyssey, Spring 1977
Fear & Trembling, 1989
"Fear And Trembling" (coll)
© Tor Books, 1989
--/ cool dark f collection
"The Final Performance"
© Shock, Sep 1960
Blood Runs Cold, 1961
--/ cool dark f story
--/ shock value: ventriloquist
"Floral Tribute"
© Weird Tales, Sep 1949
Fear & Trembling, 1989
--/ cool dark f story
--/ style award
"Freak Show"
© F&SF, May 1979
Fear & Trembling, 1989
"The Funnel of God"
© Fantastic, Jan 1960
Fear Today, Gone Tomorrow, 1971
"Funny Farm"
© Dark Things, ed. A. Derleth, 1971
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea: comic paper monsters
--/ style award: comic fandom
--/ shock value
--/ rare find
"Genie with the Light Brown Hair"
(Lefty Feep series)
© Fantastic Adventures, May 1943
--/ cool genie f story
--/ humour award
--/ rare find
"The Girl from Mars"
© Fantastic Adventures, Mar 1950
The Living Deamons, 1967
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ shock value
--/ rare find
"The Golden Opportunity of Lefty Feep"
(Lefty Feep series)
© Fantastic Adventures, Nov 1942
Lost in Time and Space with Lefty Feep, 1987
--/ fourth place f story
--/ wonder award
--/ style award
--/ humour award
--/ rare find
"Groovyland"
© IF, May 1969
Fear & Trembling, 1989
--/ humour award: 60ties music scene
"The Head"
© The Ides Of Tomorrow, ed. T. Carr, 1976
Such Stuff As Screams Are Made Of, 1979
--/ cool f story
"The Head Hunter"
(also as "Head Man")
© 15 Mystery Stories, Jun 1950
Chamber of Horrors, 1966
--/ cool dark f story
"Head Man"
(also as "The Head Hunter")
© 15 Mystery Stories, Jun 1950
Chamber of Horrors, 1966
--/ cool dark f story
"Hell Is My Legacy"
(also as "The Tunnel of Love")
© New Detective Magazine, Jul 1948
Such Stuff As Screams Are Made Of, 1979
--/ fourth place dark f story
--/ style award: luna park
--/ rare find
"Horror Scope"
© Fear & Trembling, 1989
Fear & Trembling, 1989
"How Like a God"
© Galaxy, Apr 1969
Cold Chills, 1977
"The Hungry House"
© Imagination, Apr 1951
Pleasant Dreams, 1960
--/ third place dark f story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award: house entity
--/ style award
--/ shock value
--/ rare find
"I Do Not Love Thee, Doctor Fell"
© F&SF, Mar 1955
Blood Runs Cold, 1961
--/ fourth place f story
--/ style: psychological
--/ idea: lost identity
"I Like Blondes"
© Playboy, Jan 1956
Blood Runs Cold, 1961
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ style award
--/ shock value
"The Learning Maze"
© The Learning Maze and Other Stories,
ed. by R. Elwood, 1974
Cold Chills, 1977
--/ cool f story
"Let's Do It for Love"
© Fantastic, Nov 1953
Fantastic, Aug 1969
--/ cool sf story
--/ humour award
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"Life in Our Time"
© Ellery Quinn Mystery, Oct 1966
The Living Demons, 1967
--/ cool sf story: time capsule
Some scary implications of time capsules, but nothing to get excited about. The idea could have a real frightening potential, unrealized.
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"The Living Dead"
(also as "Underground")
© Ellery Quinn Mystery, Apr 1967
The Living Demons, 1967
--/ cool f story
"Luck Is No Lady"
© Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery, Aug 1957
Terror in the Night, 1958
"Lucy Comes to Stay"
© Weird Tales, Jan 1952
The Living Demons, 1967
--/ fourth place f story
--/ style: psychological
"The Man Who Collected Poe"
© Famous Fantastic Mysteries, 1949
--/ cool f story
"The Mandarin's Canaries"
© Weird Tales, Sep 1938
The Opener of the Way, 1945
--/ cool f story
--/ wonder award
"The Masterpiece"
© Rogue, Jun 1960
Blood Runs Cold, 1961
"The Metal Monster" (nv)
(as E. K. Jarvis)
© 1940, Amazing Stories
--/ rare find
"A Most Unusual Murder"
© Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mar 1976
Fear & Trembling, 1989
"The Movie People"
© F&SF, Oct 1969
New Worlds of Fantasy # 2, 1970
--/ cool sf story
--/ idea award
"Mr. Steinway"
© Fantastic, Apr 1954
Pleasant Dreams, 1960
--/ cool f story
"The New Season"
© Masques II, ed. J. N. Williamson, 1987
Fear & Trembling, 1989
"Nightmare Number Four"
© 1959, Science Fiction Showcase
russ. Vokrug Sveta, 1970
--/ cool f story
--/ idea award
--/ rare find
"Nina"
© F&SF, Jun 1977
Such Stuff As Screams Are Made Of, 1979
--/ fourth place dark f story
--/ shock value: weird girl
"The Opener of the Way"
© Weird Tales, Oct 1936
The Opener of the Way, 1945
--/ fourth place f story
--/ wonder award
"The Oracle"
© Penthouse, May 1971
Cold Chills, 1977
--/ cool apocalyptic sf story
"The Past Master"
© Bluebook, Jan 1955
Tales in a Jugular Vein, 1965
"Picture"
© Shadows, ed. C. Grant, 1978
--/ cool f story
--/ wonder award
--/ humour award
--/ rare find
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"The Pin"
© Amazing Stories, Dec 1953
Blood Runs Cold, 1961
Fantastic, May 1967
--/ cool sf story
--/ humour award
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"The Plot Is the Thing"
© F&SF, Jul 1966
The Living Demons, 1967
--short story: 1966 Nebula
Robert Bloch already wrote about psychedelic music-business scene (see "Groovyland"), and now he tackles the Hollywood scene. That's gotta be one ripe ground for "celluloid people" nightmare. The story, however, failed to give me the lasting impression.
review: 10-Jul-06 (read in 2006)
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"The Professor Plays It Square"
(also as "The Egghead Plays It Straight")
© Argosy, Sep 1957
Atoms And Evil, 1962
"Reaper"
© Cutting Edge, ed. D. Etchison, 1986
Fear & Trembling, 1989
--/ cool dark f story
"Return To The Sabbath"
© Weird Tales, Jul 1938
The Opener of the Way, 1945
--/ cool f story
--/ wonder award
"The Skeleton in the Closet"
(as by Tarleton Fiske)
© Fantastic Adventures, May 1943
"The Scent Of Vinegar"
© Dark Destiny, ed. E. Kramer, 1994
--novellette: 1995 Bram Stoker W
--/ fourth place dark f novella
--/ adventure award
--/ style award
"The Screaming People"
© Fantastic, Jan 1959
Chamber of Horrors, 1966
--/ cool sf novella: psychological
--/ idea: return to womb
"The Secret of Sebek"
© Weird Tales, Nov 1937
The Opener of the Way, 1945
--/ cool f story
--/ wonder award
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"The Shambler from the Stars"
(Cthulhu Mythos)
© Weird Tales, Sep 1935
The Opener of the Way, 1945
--/ fourth place f story
--/ wonder award
--/ style award
The Thirties gave history many monsters, some very real (like Stalin, Hitler, etc), but most imaginary - in the pulps. No other decade produced such a fertile crop of aliens and mad-scientist pets, and most of them were indeed pretty ugly. Witness this "star vampire" creature (part of the Cthulhu Mythos zoo of beings)... Quote from the story: "It was red and dripping; an immensity of pulsing, moving jelly; a scarlet blob with myriad tentacular trunks that waved and waved. There were suckers on the tips of the appendages, and these were opening and closing with a ghoulish lust.... The thing was bloated and obscene; a headless, faceless, eyeless bulk with the ravenous maw and titanic talons of a star-born monster"."The star vampire dwells in outer space and is characterized by its ravenous appetite for blood. The creature uses its enormous talons to capture its prey, grappling and crushing the unfortunate and then draining the victim's blood through its tubular suckers. It is normally invisible, but following a sanguine repast, the star vampire becomes temporarily visible from the undigested blood it has absorbed." (Wikipedia) The story itself is an assault on the senses in the best "weird wonder" pulp tradition. Bloch apparently had a blast writing it, even killing off his fellow writer H. P. Lovecraft at the end of the story, in his unbridled enthusiasm. Lovecraft returned the favour, killing off a Bloch character in his "Haunter of the Dark". All in good fun, fellows.
review: 30-Sep-06 (read in 1999)
----------------------------------------------
"The Shrink And The Mink"
© Hustler, 1983
Fear & Trembling, 1989
--/ humour award
"Skin Deep"
(also as "The Beautiful People")
© Bestseller Mystery Magazine, Jul 1960
Sci Fiction, Nov 2005
Out of the Mouths of Graves, 1979
--/ cool dark f story
--/ shock value
"Sleeping Beauty"
(also as "The Sleeping Redheads")
© Swank, Mar 1958
Pleasant Dreams, 1960
--/ cool f story: New Orleans
"The Sleeping Redheads"
(also as "Sleeping Beauty")
© Swank, Mar 1958
Pleasant Dreams, 1960
--/ cool f story: New Orleans
"The Spoiled Wife"
© Chrysalis # 3, ed. R. Torgeson, 1978
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ humour award
--/ rare find
"The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton"
© Amazing Stories, Mar 1939
The Opener of the Way, 1945
--/ cool f story
--/ wonder award
"The Strange Island of Dr. Nork"
© Weird Tales, March 1949
--/ cool f story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
"Such Stuff As Screams Are Made Of" (coll)
© Ballantine Books, 1979
--/ cool f collection
--/ shock value
"Sweets to the Sweet"
© Weird Tales, Mar 1947
Pleasant Dreams, 1960
--/ fourth place f story
--/ style award
--/ shock value
--/ rare find
"Talent"
© IF, Jul 1960
Atoms And Evil, 1962
"Tell Your Fortune"
© Weird Tales, May 1950
--/ fourth place f story
--/ wonder award
--/ style award
"That Hell-Bound Train"
© F&SF, Sep 1958
More Nightmares, 1962
--short story : 1959 Hugo W
--short story : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /20
--/ third place f story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
"The Tin You Love to Touch"
© Other Worlds, Jun 1951
--/ cool sf story
--/ wonder award
"Tooth or Consequences"
© Amazing Stories, May 1950
Fantastic Stories, Nov 1965
"A Toy for Juliette"
(with Harlan Ellison)
© Dangerous Visions, 1967
Partners in Wonder, H. Ellison, 1974
Fear Today, Gone Tomorrow, 1971
--/ cool sf story
"Try This For Psis"
© F&SF, Oct 1956
Atoms And Evil, 1962
--/ cool sf story
"The Tunnel of Love"
(also as "Hell Is My Legacy")
© New Detective Magazine, Jul 1948
Such Stuff As Screams Are Made Of, 1979
--/ fourth place dark f story
--/ style award: luna park
--/ rare find
"Underground"
(also as "The Living Dead")
© Ellery Quinn Mystery, Apr 1967
The Living Demons, 1967
--/ cool f story
"The Unspeakable Betrothal"
© Avon Fantasy Reader # 9, 1949
The Living Deamons, 1967
--/ cool f story: Alice
--/ rare find
"Vengeance of the Golden God" (nv)
(as E. K. Jarvis)
© Amazing Stories, Dec 1950
--/ cool time f novella
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ rare find
"A Way of Life"
© Fantastic Universe, Oct 1956
"The Weird Tailor"
© Weird Tales, Jul 1950
The Skull of the Marquis de Sade, 1965
--/ third place dark f story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea: black magic suit
--/ style award
--/ shock value
--/ rare find
"What You See Is What You Get"
© F&SF, Oct 1977
Such Stuff As Screams Are Made Of, 1979
--/ cool f story: camera photo
"Wheel And Deal"
© Atoms And Evil, 1962
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ shock value
--/ style award
--/ rare find
"Word of Honor"
© Playboy, Aug 1958
Blood Runs Cold, 1961
--/ cool sf story
--/ idea: honesty epidemic
"The World-Timer"
© Fantastic, Aug 1960
Fear Today, Gone Tomorrow, 1971
--/ cool sf novella
--/ idea: time pills
--/ humour pills
"You Could Be Wrong"
© Amazing Stories, Mar 1955
Atoms and Evil, 1962
Fantastic, Aug 1968
--/ cool f story
"You Got to Have Brains"
© Fantastic Universe, Jan 1956
Atoms and Evil, 1962
--/ cool sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ style award
--/ rare find
"Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper"
© Weird Tales, Jul 1943
The Opener of the Way, 1945
--/ cool f story
"The Yugoslaves"
© Night Cry, Winter 1985
Fear & Trembling, 1989
--/ fourth place dark f story
--/ wonder award
--/ shock value
--/ style award
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EXPLANATION OF THE RATING SYSTEM:
"SF&F Reading Experience" is part of "Dark Roasted Blend / Thrilling Wonder" family of sites. We try to highlight the most entertaining and rewarding science fiction and fantasy, with emphasis on memorable reader experience, not necessarily general acceptance by the critics. Have fun, and delve into our extensive ratings and reviews!
Most reviews are written by Avi Abrams, unless otherwise noted. Reviews also appear on our unique historical retrospective page Wonder Timeline of Science Fiction. Feel free to submit your own review, if a particular story is not listed here.
All major OFFICIAL AWARDS are highlighted in BLUE
("winner" has a letter "W" by it, otherwise it is a runner-up only)
Our PERSONAL AWARDS (ratings) are highlighted in RED and PURPLE:
--/ first place :
--/ second place :
--/ third place :
--/ fourth place :
--/ cool : (equal to fifth place)
ALL "BEST OF" LISTS ARE LOCATED HERE
These awards are given in the following categories:
- novel :
- series :
- novella :
- story :
- collection :
Also, there are our personal STYLE / GENRE SPECIFIC AWARDS.
These reflect the story's content and the lasting impression on the reader:
--/ wonder award
sense-of-wonder, "visual intensity" and inventiveness
--/ idea award
originality of idea / concept
--/ adventure award
exhilarating plot, excitement / action
--/ style award
outstanding literary qualities, inimitable style
--/ romance award
intense and beautiful love / relationships
--/ humour award
funny and cool
--/ emotion award
touching, lasting impression, sensitivity
--/ shock value
altogether wild
--/ awesome scale
mind-boggling; further enhances sense-of-wonder
--/ rare find
very hard to locate, mostly from old pulps, never reprinted, etc.
Again, please feel free to leave your own review or comment under every writer's entry; also recommend us other stories you liked.
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