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Urban legends like these are the stuff of nightmares. Bloody Mary and Other Tales for a Dark Night is a connoisseur's collection of thirty-five creepy contemporary tall tales. Drawing on our eeriest modern myths, Stefan Dziemianowicz crafts horror stories that will leave even skeptical readers listening for footsteps behind them and fearful of walking into darkened rooms.… (altro)
I highly recommend skipping the legends that inspired the stories when they appear first -- at least until after the stories have been read. They contain major spoilers and you might not have heard any versions of some of these tales before.
These retellings are in seven groups: for the campfire, after dinner, urban legends, slumber parties, long car rides, Christmas, and Halloween. (I'd be wary of telling scary stories during long car rides if it's going to be dark on the way back. Imagine being the responsible adult stuck in a traffic jam on a desert highway at night with two teen passengers with whom you'd been gleefully sharing such horror stories. I kept thinking about how easily a serial killer could go from car to car. There weren't any street lights and the nearest houses were miles away....)
'Campfire Story': one young man tells about the time he and two friends went exploring in a cave system known as the site where half of a group of pioneers disappeared without a trace 100 years ago.
'Initiation Into Terror': the local haunted house is chosen for a fraternity initiation.
'Funhouse of Fear': a foolish boy wants to steal the new attraction from a carnival funhouse.
'Body Snatched': Although set in London at the end of the 19th century, when the days of the resurrection men were over, this is still a good story about a doctor demanding a truly fresh corpse.
'The Summer of Cropsey': John Cropsey is more than a little upset about the injustices done to him. (Why did no one involved with this book notice that the camp is called 'Beechside' in the first paragraph and 'Beechwood' for the rest of the story? How about saying that a flower shined with a special light instead of shone?)
'The Doom of the House of Gaskell': for ten generations the curse has struck them down -- is there no hope?
'Secret Ingredient': it's definitely not FDA approved.
'Just Desserts': it'll be a Christmas to remember.
'Brainy type': a promise is a promise.
'Cocoon': it seemed a foolproof plan...
'Mule': a man who makes his living doing dirty work finds the job just got dirtier.
'Coat Carrier': Susan made an unwise purchase.
'The Giving Kind': a cautionary tale about picking up a stranger in a bar.
'Crazy Sally': Sally's just crazy about her man.
'Don't Turn on the Light!': Should this college student be worried about the 'Campus Creeper'?
'Final Call': a babysitter is plagued with threatening phone calls. (At least this version of one of the most well known of such tales avoids a problem we didn't think about when I was a girl and heard/told it.)
'Why the Doctor Went Mad': I daresay I would have had it happened to me.
'Ginger Snaps': In this case, Ginger is a dog.
'Stay Away From Wilson Drive!': Our heroine is likely to need considerable therapy after her charitable deed.
'Backseat Driver': Why won't that dratted car behind her pass already? (I believe the movie our heroine is thinking of is 'Duel,' written by Richard Matheson, directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring Dennis Weaver. I don't recommend it for the faint of heart.)
'One More': a woman has a recurring nightmare.
'Death Takes Its Toll': a new tollbooth operator finds out why his predecessor left the job.
'Roadside Stop': have two women picked the wrong motel?
'Hook Ending': Terry has some groveling to do.
'He Sees You When You're Sleeping': it's a Christmas that's likely to make front page news.
'Yule Love Him': this season a woman remembers her former boyfriend whom she hasn't seen in years.
'O Christmas Tree!': Jeff Tyler should have bought himself an artificial tree.
'...In Small Packages': No one is admitting to buying or sending that last gift.
'Hearth of Horror': one almost hopes it's a rat making those scratching noises...
'Tricks and Treats': why is one child being allowed to go trick or treating by himself?
'Masquerade': it's a good costume -- perhaps too good.
'Scarecrow' -- at Halloween, scarecrows are more popular than jack o' lanterns in this hardly rural town.
'Sweets to the Sweet': Esther is determined to make the kind of Halloween treats available when she was a girl.
'Bloody Mary': will anyone at the party accept the dare?
Some of these legends I'd heard or read or seen adapted on TV before, some not. Mr. Dziemianowicz did a good job of putting in details, often adding a twist or two. I salute him for the way he successfully combined two golden oldies into one story. The main introduction and those for each section are well worth reading because they mention other legends. I'd be rather unhappy about that Christmas tradition about eating mince pies, but it says nothing about mince tarts or cookies, all the better for a mincemeat fan, heh heh.
It's a good book either for reading to yourself or reading aloud to an audience wanting to be scared. I'm a bit sorry that it contains two variations instead of the exact details of my favorite escaped homicidal maniac story, but not sorry enough to be disappointed in the book overall. ( )
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi.Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
FOR MY MOTHER AND FATHER, WHO ALWAYS TELL GREAT STORIES
Incipit
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi.Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
We were sitting around the campfire trying to think of spooky stories to tell one another, since that was what you did on a campout. ['Campfire Story']
The Crawford house had been abandoned for as long as anyone could remember. ['Initiation Into Terror']
Kevin Clark was crazy about the carnival. ['Funhouse of Fear']
Arthur Jepson, a leading London physician at the end of the nineteenth century, was spending his usual late hours in his surgery, conversing with his daughter, Felicia, when a loud pounding sounded at the surgery's service entrance. ['Body Snatched']
Camp Beechside (sic) was once the most highly regarded of all the summer camps that hug the foothills of New York's Catskill Mountains. ['The Summer of Cropsey']
The house of Gaskell was cursed. ['The Doom of the House of Gaskell']
Jerry O'Neill tucked into his bowl of stew like a man who hadn't eaten in six days. ['Secret Ingredient']
Stella was looking forward to Christmas! ['Just Desserts']
Elsa Kincaid awoke with a start to a clinking sound. ['Brainy type']
You are a doctor. ['Cocoon']
Mike Long was a kidnapper who worked the South Texas territory. ['Mule']
For the fourth time that day, Susan Jay felt the hem of her overcoat snag on her stockings. ['Coat Carrier']
Paul Marks awoke to the sensation of fire and ice. ['The Giving Kind']
Crazy Sally was crazy about her lover's face. ['Crazy Sally']
F the past week, the newspapers had been full of warnings about the Campus Creeper. ['Don't Turn on the Light!']
Sixteen-year-old Lucy Clark was babysitting the Dillon kids the night of the breakout at the state hospital. ['Final Call']
James Koppel was a highly respected physician with a degree from a prestigious college and an enviable position as medical examiner for a major metropolitan police force. ['Why the Doctor Went Mad']
The Carlson family had just returned home from a night at the movies. ['Ginger Snaps']
In the low beams of Janine Winslow's headlights, the dense fog shrouding Wilson Drive looked like an encroaching army of ghostly beings with grotesquely shifting faces. ['Stay Away From Wilson Drive!']
Sandy Parker was traveling west from Chicago to visit family. ['Backseat Driver']
It was twilight, and Sharon Byrne was running down a dirt road, dressed in a flimsy gossamer gown not of this century that made her feel extremely vulnerable. ['One More']
James Myers wasn't always the taciturn man he is today. ['Death Takes Its Toll']
The highway motel Edna Chase pulled her car up in front of looked no different from any other she had ever stayed in: low barracks-style units stretching the length of the poorly tended asphalt parking lot, maroon paint faded and peeled by the elements, a general atmosphere of dinginess. ['Roadside Stop']
The radio was full of reports about a killer who had escaped from the local insane asylum. ['Hook Ending']
It was Christmas Eve, and one of the ice storms so common to the season had taken out the power as it whipped through the countryside. ['He Sees You When You're Sleeping']
Sarah had forgotten all about her holiday dress until two days before Christmas. ['Yule Love Him']
Jeff Tyler gaped at the Christmas tree in disbelief. ['O Christmas Tree!']
There was a funny smell in the front room. ['...In Small Packages']
It was Christmas Eve, and Ted Lang was sitting at the dinner table with his family when he first became aware of the sounds coming from the wall in the living room. ['Hearth of Horror']
It was just past dusk when Mark Hansom first saw the little boy. ['Tricks and Treats']
Al Blackwood felt stifled in his Halloween costume. ['Masquerade']
Mitch and Jean Kelly moved to their new neighborhood a week before Halloween. ['Scarecrow']
Chop! ['Sweets to the Sweet']
It all began as a dare, remember. ['Bloody Mary']
Citazioni
Ultime parole
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi.Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
The last two joints of the little finger were missing and appeared to have been nibbled off. ['Campfire Story']
The rest of the day would be an empty and unfulfilling [one?] until the evening, when Crazy Sally could return home to contemplate her lover's face again. ['Crazy Sally']
For instance, they could not explain to Janine why she found her missing sweater, with her office keys and pass, dirty but intact, hanging on the back of a child's chair buried in the charcoal rubble of a house that had supposedly burned down four years earlier. ['Stay Away From Wilson Drive!']
What he saw there made no sense: A deep gouge in the finish of the passenger side of the car, scoring it from tail to front door -- -- and dangling from the door handle, a rusty hook ending in a bloody stump! ['Hook Ending']
How else to explain the century-old remains of a tiny boy in chimney sweep garb found trapped in the bricked-over chimney -- or the tiny ivory figurine of a boy in Victorian dress found clenched in one of its skeletal hands? ['Hearth of Horror']
Urban legends like these are the stuff of nightmares. Bloody Mary and Other Tales for a Dark Night is a connoisseur's collection of thirty-five creepy contemporary tall tales. Drawing on our eeriest modern myths, Stefan Dziemianowicz crafts horror stories that will leave even skeptical readers listening for footsteps behind them and fearful of walking into darkened rooms.
Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni...
(3.67)
1
These retellings are in seven groups: for the campfire, after dinner, urban legends, slumber parties, long car rides, Christmas, and Halloween. (I'd be wary of telling scary stories during long car rides if it's going to be dark on the way back. Imagine being the responsible adult stuck in a traffic jam on a desert highway at night with two teen passengers with whom you'd been gleefully sharing such horror stories. I kept thinking about how easily a serial killer could go from car to car. There weren't any street lights and the nearest houses were miles away....)
'Campfire Story': one young man tells about the time he and two friends went exploring in a cave system known as the site where half of a group of pioneers disappeared without a trace 100 years ago.
'Initiation Into Terror': the local haunted house is chosen for a fraternity initiation.
'Funhouse of Fear': a foolish boy wants to steal the new attraction from a carnival funhouse.
'Body Snatched': Although set in London at the end of the 19th century, when the days of the resurrection men were over, this is still a good story about a doctor demanding a truly fresh corpse.
'The Summer of Cropsey': John Cropsey is more than a little upset about the injustices done to him. (Why did no one involved with this book notice that the camp is called 'Beechside' in the first paragraph and 'Beechwood' for the rest of the story? How about saying that a flower shined with a special light instead of shone?)
'The Doom of the House of Gaskell': for ten generations the curse has struck them down -- is there no hope?
'Secret Ingredient': it's definitely not FDA approved.
'Just Desserts': it'll be a Christmas to remember.
'Brainy type': a promise is a promise.
'Cocoon': it seemed a foolproof plan...
'Mule': a man who makes his living doing dirty work finds the job just got dirtier.
'Coat Carrier': Susan made an unwise purchase.
'The Giving Kind': a cautionary tale about picking up a stranger in a bar.
'Crazy Sally': Sally's just crazy about her man.
'Don't Turn on the Light!': Should this college student be worried about the 'Campus Creeper'?
'Final Call': a babysitter is plagued with threatening phone calls. (At least this version of one of the most well known of such tales avoids a problem we didn't think about when I was a girl and heard/told it.)
'Why the Doctor Went Mad': I daresay I would have had it happened to me.
'Ginger Snaps': In this case, Ginger is a dog.
'Stay Away From Wilson Drive!': Our heroine is likely to need considerable therapy after her charitable deed.
'Backseat Driver': Why won't that dratted car behind her pass already? (I believe the movie our heroine is thinking of is 'Duel,' written by Richard Matheson, directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring Dennis Weaver. I don't recommend it for the faint of heart.)
'One More': a woman has a recurring nightmare.
'Death Takes Its Toll': a new tollbooth operator finds out why his predecessor left the job.
'Roadside Stop': have two women picked the wrong motel?
'Hook Ending': Terry has some groveling to do.
'He Sees You When You're Sleeping': it's a Christmas that's likely to make front page news.
'Yule Love Him': this season a woman remembers her former boyfriend whom she hasn't seen in years.
'O Christmas Tree!': Jeff Tyler should have bought himself an artificial tree.
'...In Small Packages': No one is admitting to buying or sending that last gift.
'Hearth of Horror': one almost hopes it's a rat making those scratching noises...
'Tricks and Treats': why is one child being allowed to go trick or treating by himself?
'Masquerade': it's a good costume -- perhaps too good.
'Scarecrow' -- at Halloween, scarecrows are more popular than jack o' lanterns in this hardly rural town.
'Sweets to the Sweet': Esther is determined to make the kind of Halloween treats available when she was a girl.
'Bloody Mary': will anyone at the party accept the dare?
Some of these legends I'd heard or read or seen adapted on TV before, some not. Mr. Dziemianowicz did a good job of putting in details, often adding a twist or two. I salute him for the way he successfully combined two golden oldies into one story. The main introduction and those for each section are well worth reading because they mention other legends. I'd be rather unhappy about that Christmas tradition about eating mince pies, but it says nothing about mince tarts or cookies, all the better for a mincemeat fan, heh heh.
It's a good book either for reading to yourself or reading aloud to an audience wanting to be scared. I'm a bit sorry that it contains two variations instead of the exact details of my favorite escaped homicidal maniac story, but not sorry enough to be disappointed in the book overall. (