FFB: FANTASTIC STORIES: TALES OF THE WEIRD AND WONDROUS ed. Martin H. Greenberg and Patrick Price (TSR, 1987)...among some "hidden" fiction magazine best-ofs...

cover illo by Janet Aulisio, for Robert
Bloch's "The Double Whammy"

Fantastic, as a magazine, for most of its 28 years and some months of existence (from launch in 1952, early absorption of its predecessor Fantastic Adventures in 1954, and folding into companion title Amazing Science Fiction Stories in early 1981), was usually an example of at least someone involved doing the best they could with the magazine, in the face of serious obstacles. Sometimes the chiefest obstacle was the apathy of the editor, particularly true during the latter years of founding editor Howard Browne's tenure, and those of his former assistant and heir Paul Fairman...the magazine, starting out with a large budget and some fanfare by a serious, though not quite top-of-the-industry, publisher (Ziff-Davis), achieved initial sales beyond reasonable expectation (the third issue featured a story attributed to Mickey Spillane, at the early height of his popularity, which had been highlighted--and "spoiled" with extensive description--by a Life magazine profile of the Mike Hammer creator, on newsstands before the Fantastic issue was published...so Browne quickly ghosted a new story, "The Veiled Woman," and published it as by Spillane)(in later accounts of the incident, Browne also notes that he thought the genuine Spillane story terrible; the Browne counterfeit is a reasonably good, and probably intentionally slightly parodic, pastiche).

The first issue, a cover much referred to in
James Gunn's introduction and that of
the source of Asimov's story in the book...and 
not included in the selected cover images...
illo by Barrye Phillips and Leo Morey

However, those high circulation figures were not sustained into the second year of publication, and with the folding in of FA, Fantastic's budget was cut and Browne went back to the usually relatively indifferent efforts he'd been making at Fantastic Adventures, accepting and publishing good work when it was offered by writers but just as happy to run that good work alongside no-more-than-readable hackwork by regular Ziff-Davis writers, much of the latter published under "house names" such as "Lawrence Chandler" and "Ivar Jorgensen"--the actual authors could be any number of contributors including Browne and Fairman themselves (many of the stable of contributors in those years haven't remembered clearly [or didn't choose to] who wrote what among the less memorable items, and the office records of the era have apparently not all been retained; among the best writers who didn't always do their best efforts for Ziff-Davis fiction magazines in their Chicago-based days were Robert Bloch and William McGivern). When Browne officially resigned in 1956 (having checked out to the degree of spending much of his office time writing his crime fiction, and deciding that the relocation of the editorial offices from Chicago to New York City were his cue to try his luck as a screenwriter in Hollywood), newly official editor Fairman went even further along into systematization of Fantastic and Amazing, depending not entirely but largely on four relatively young writers to produce wordage that would be accepted and published unread (under a variety of bylines), as long as the manuscript delivery was punctual and the stories didn't cause any problems that might interfere with Fairman's own in-office writing for other markets...and even this arrangement managed to bring in some good or promising work among the acceptably mediocre, since the quartet was comprised of Milton Lesser (who would publish most of his better work as Stephen Marlowe), Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett. And Fairman had as his assistant a young and

illo by Richard Powers

inexperienced but diligent and talented recent Vassar graduate, Cele Goldsmith, who would dig through the "slushpile" of submitted manuscripts and would occasionally find very interesting work indeed, including what would be the first published story by Kate Wilhelm. When Fairman left, in 1958 (primarily to be a full-time freelance writer, but briefly taking on managing editorship of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, by then published by Ziff-Davis co-founder B. G. Davis, who'd quit ZD in 1958, as well), Goldsmith was elevated to editorship (at 25 years of age), and with far less cynicism if also less of a sense of the history of fantastic fiction, she would go on at the magazines to put together issues that would mix brilliantly innovative, interesting if more traditional, and sometimes merely notional work, till the magazines were sold by Ziff-Davis in 1965.  Under Goldsmith (who took through marriage the name Cele Lalli during her tenure), the fiction magazines had lost their champion at ZD with Davis's departure, as William Ziff, Jr. began his successful focus of ZD on hobbyist and highly specialized magazines, which meant that for most of her career with them, Fantastic and Amazing were secondary projects, with art direction and packaging that was somewhat less consistently good than her editorial product deserved. A fellow named Norman Lobsenz was given the task of overseeing her work, though apparently he mostly wrote the consistently trivial editorials and responses in the reader letters columns in the magazines. Among the writers she "discovered" through first professional publication as editor, were Ursula K. Le Guin, Thomas M. Disch, Sonya Dorman (her prose, at least, aside from a student story in Mademoiselle--as with Disch only even moreso, Dorman's career as a poet was at least as prominent as that as a fiction-writer),  Roger Zelazny, Ben Bova, Ted White, Keith Laumer, and Piers Anthony (when still a promising young writer, well before he made jejune fantasy novel-series his primary occupation). Her magazines were one of the primary markets for the mostly young writers who were shaking up fantasy and particularly sf in the early 1960s, along with Avram Davidson's editorship of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and, increasingly, Frederik Pohl's work at Galaxy magazine and its siblings. Among those she worked with closely was

One of the better covers from the Goldsmith/
Lalli years...Jakes, who wrote many sorts of
fiction, made his biggest splash in historical
fiction in the mid-1970s. Illo by 
Vernon Kramer.

Fritz Leiber, though the reports of her courtesy and quick and enthusiastic response, trumping even the withered budget she had for her version of the magazines, is the common narrative (much noted by Le Guin and others) of her career at the magazines (and her later work on Ziff-Davis bridal magazines, which comprised most of her career), and is one of the more important points made by James Gunn in his introduction to the volume theoretically under review here. Gunn's introduction, for what it's worth, is rather short, Very oddly copy-edited and is the Only editorial matter in the book to give any sense of the context the collected stories were published in, aside from the copyright acknowledgements page bearing the years of publication; there aren't even headnotes to any of the stories nor contributor notes. That is most assuredly Strike One against this anthology, despite it being only the third book (I believe; please see below) to collect a sampling specifically from Fantastic, the heftiest of the three volumes, and the last so far (this latter fact is Strike One against the publishing industry).  There is also a rather offhandedly selected set of plates in the center of the book, on heavy slick paper displaying in color some of the front covers from some of Goldsmith's and later editor Ted White's issues, with minimal comment there, and a set of new illustrations for the stories, by such talented artists as Janet Aulisio and Stephen Fabian, which nonetheless mostly seem rather uninspired and oddly out of place in the anthology, rather than magazine, format...indicative of TSR's stewardship of Amazing (combined with Fantastic Stories) and their publishing efforts generally...haphazard tossing around of money, with rather half-assed follow-through (aside from all the Dungeons & Dragons product money TSR had at hand, they'd also gotten a windfall from Steven Spielberg's renting of the Amazing Stories title, and a/v rights to as many of the stories in the back issues as possible, for his misbegotten and shortlived tv anthology series). Also included in the volume, for no obvious reason and probably in part because Martin Greenberg had made an error in his famous filing system and indexed a short story by Lester Del Rey, published in 1955 in the unrelated magazine Fantastic Universe, as a contribution to Fantastic...or perhaps Greenberg just wanted an excuse to run the story, and hoped no one would notice. Together, let's call those Strikes Two and Three against this book being taken too seriously by the casual browser of bookstands, particularly if she knows anything about the magazine whose provenance was one of the primary selling points here. And I haven't even gotten to the contributions of the editors who worked with publishers Sol Cohen and Arthur Bernhard, who ran the magazines on the thinnest of shoestrings, from 1965 through the sale of Amazing to TSR in the early '80s, and all the roadblocks they threw up against good work by subsequent editors Joseph "Ross"/Wrocz, Harry Harrison, Barry Malzberg, longest-serving Ted White, and Elinor Mavor (who for no good reason called herself "Omar Gohagan" in her first issues). Of course, the anthology editors and Gunn don't mention these folks' efforts, either, even if they include some of the fiction White published. (I've personally had the good fortune to speak and correspond with

A typically handsome (and comics-
influenced) cover from Ted White's term
as editor and art director; illo by Douglas
Chaffee

Harrison, Malzberg and White, if very briefly in the first case, about their experiences as editors for Cohen's Ultimate Publications; Harrison was breezily philosophical, looking upon his short tenure as just another part-time job that helped keep body and soul together during a brief period of living back in the US again; Malzberg I think found the experience as fascinating as it was frustrating, for what it told him about the nature of the markets he was working in as writer, editor and agent; White, who stuck with it for a decade despite eventually qualifying for welfare payments, since his stipend as editor and designer was so slight, was nonetheless devoted to the task and willing to put up with the strictures he faced, however grumpily...his next job after leaving Fantastic and Amazing was a year as editor of the then-flourishing, and very well-budgeted, adult fantasy comic Heavy Metal.)

The earmarks of nonchalance all over this anthology are a pity, because the selection of stories is pretty good, though not reasonably representative of the best of the magazine's career. It's also notable which of the contributors whose work is collected here have gone onto ever greater fame in the years since this 1987 book was published, much less their stories' original publication (pretty obvious examples: J. G. Ballard and particularly George R. R. Martin), those whose fame has been sustained (Le Guin and Philip K. Dick), those whose star has dimmed (almost inarguably unfairly, given their best work: Roger Zelazny, John Brunner and to a much lesser extent Isaac Asimov) and those who remain stubbornly underappreciated (Ron Goulart, David Bunch, and to too great an extent Robert Bloch...Judith Merril is perhaps as well-remembered today as a mover and shaker in the Toronto countercultural scene in the 1970s and '80s as she is for her extensive work in sf and related literatures).

Courtesy the Locus Index: 
Fantastic Stories: Tales of the Weird and Wondrous ed. Martin H. Greenberg & Patrick L. Price (TSR 0-88038-521-9, May ’87, $7.95, 253pp, tp) Anthology of 16 stories from the magazine, with an introduction by James E. Gunn plus a selection of color cover reproductions.

• 7 · Introduction · James E. Gunn · in
• 11 · Double Whammy · Robert Bloch · ss Fantastic Feb ’70
• 21 · A Drink of Darkness · Robert F. Young · ss Fantastic Jul ’62
• 33 · A Question of Re-Entry · J. G. Ballard · nv Fantastic Mar ’63
• 59 · The Exit to San Breta · George R. R. Martin · ss Fantastic Feb ’72
• 70 · The Shrine of Temptation · Judith Merril · ss Fantastic Apr ’62
• 85 · Dr. Birdmouse · Reginald Bretnor · ss Fantastic Apr ’62
• 97 · Eve Times Four · Poul Anderson · nv Fantastic Apr ’60
• 126 · The Rule of Names [Earthsea] · Ursula K. Le Guin · ss Fantastic Apr ’64
• ins. · Artists’ Visions of the Weird & Wondrous · Various Hands · il
• 135 · The Still Waters [“In the Still Waters”] · Lester del Rey · ss Fantastic Universe Jun ’55
• 144 · A Small Miracle of Fishhooks and Straight Pins · David R. Bunch · vi Fantastic Jun ’61
• 148 · Novelty Act · Philip K. Dick · nv Fantastic Feb ’64
• 174 · What If... · Isaac Asimov · ss Fantastic Sum ’52
• 186 · Elixir for the Emperor · John Brunner · ss Fantastic Nov ’64
• 202 · King Solomon’s Ring · Roger Zelazny · nv Fantastic Oct ’63
• 220 · Junior Partner · Ron Goulart · ss Fantastic Sep ’62
• 229 · Donor · James E. Gunn · nv Fantastic Nov ’60

Two weeks ago, I gave a quick gloss of a review of Ted White's The Best from Fantastic, and the other anthology drawn largely from Fantastic, even earlier than White's and including stories from Fantastic Adventures and one from Amazing, is Ivan Howard's Time Untamed, mentioned here briefly some time back (with its original ugly cover, as cheerfully reproduced by an Award Books reprint); the slightly less ugly second edition and UK covers are below.  This volume is an example of the "hidden" anthology drawn from a given magazine, or in this case a magazine group (as is the Weird Tales magazine anthology The Unexpected, mentioned in that same post), as are Ivan Howard's several other anthologies for the publisher Belmont/Belmont Tower, which drew from Science Fiction, Future Fiction, Dynamic Science Fiction and the other sf magazines Robert Lowndes edited for Columbia Publications, owned by Louis Silberkleit, who also owned the later, and similarly low-budget Belmont books concern (Silberkleit was also a partner of Archie Comics guy Martin Goodman in several projects over the decades) ...no mention, or essentially so, in the book's packaging that all the collected stories are from the one source, or related group of sources.  Fantastic Universe, mentioned above as the source of the Del Rey story that has no reason to be in a Fantastic anthology, had one obvious anthology drawn from its pages, The Fantastic Universe Omnibus, but FU (and The Saint Mystery Magazine) editor Hans Stefan Santesson later published several anthologies that draw all but exclusively from FU's pages, while not advertising that fact, beginning with Rulers of Men. I recently suggested to the editors of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction that not only Samuel Mines's The Best from Startling Stories should be noted in the entry for Thrilling Wonder Stories, Startling's older sibling which the anthology also draws from, but that Damon Knight's anthology The Shape of Things should also be cited in both magazines' entries, as it's also an anthology drawn intentionally and exclusively from both magazines (and quite a good one)...another "hidden" example (as the Mines Startling volume almost is for TWS...). Joseph Ferman's No Limits (quite possibly co- or ghost-edited by his son, Edward Ferman) is an anthology drawn from the 1950s version of Venture Science Fiction magazine; Once and Future Tales, an all-but "hidden" anthology from Venture's sibling The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (and commissioned by a short-lived publishing project, and outside the then-regular set of Doubleday's Best from F&SF volumes). I hope to add other examples to an ongoing list here...I've also briefly reviewed a vintage pirated volume taken from Christine Campbell Thomson's legitimate UK anthology series Not at Night that drew regularly on the early Weird Tales for its contents...the pirated volume published here as one of the early products of The Vanguard Press, co-founded by Rex Stout, no less.

For more of today's books, please see Patti Abbott's blog.

FFB: THE WESTERN HALL OF FAME and THE MYSTERY HALL OF FAME ed. Bill Pronzini, MH Greenberg (& Chas. Waugh), HIGH GEAR ed. Evan Jones

Some quick takes this week, but nonetheless some important books, the first one at least to me.
The first edition.

High Gear was the first anthology of sports fiction I read, as a kid; my father was a (mostly) amateur auto-racing driver (mostly sports cars, both track and auto-cross racing--the latter long-term road-racing, sometimes with my mother as navigator) in Alaska in the early and mid 1960s, and the Bantam Pathfinder edition of this anthology presumably caught his eye at the racks or someone else's eye who thought it would be a good gift. Certainly it was to me...it was my first encounter with the fiction of William Campbell Gault, William F. Nolan, John D. MacDonald, William Saroyan (beating out first exposure to My Name is Aram by a year or two), war-correspondent legend Bill Mauldin and some guy named Steinbeck; it wasn't my first experience with Thurber, but close, as well as with such sports-fiction specialists (along with Gault) as Ken Purdy and Henry Gregor Felsen. I don't know anything about this Evan Jones (there seem to be, possibly, several active in the literary world in the last century) except that he also seems to have edited some western and otherwise frontier-oriented anthologies...and that he had excellent taste as an editor here.

(High Gear and The Western Hall of Fame contents courtesy the Contento indices)
High Gear ed. Evan Jones (Bantam Pathfinder EP32, Jul ’63, 45¢, 184pp, pb); Reissue (original: Bantam, Mar ’55).

1 · First Skirmish · Henry Gregor Felsen · ss, 1954
16 · Change of Plan · Ken Purdy · ss Atlantic Monthly Sep ’52
23 · Dirt-Track Thunder · William Campbell Gault · ss Argosy, 1946
38 · The Ragged Edge · William F. Nolan · ss Sports Car Journal, 1957
52 · The Affair of the Wayward Jeep · Bill Mauldin · ss The Saturday Evening Post Jun 27 ’53
68 · Elimination Race · John D. MacDonald · ss Colliers Sep 13 ’52
83 · Smashup · James Thurber · ss New Yorker Oct 5 ’35
89 · Head-On · Robert Switzer · ss Esquire Feb ’53
94 · Hearse of the Speedway · Peter Granger · ss Esquire, 1936
105 · 1924 Cadillac for Sale · William Saroyan · ss, 1948
110 · Money on Morgan · Robert Westerby · ss Esquire, 1938
117 · The $20,000,000 Decision · Cameron Hawley · ss Colliers Jan 22 ’54
136 · Throttle Shy · Frank Harvey · ss Argosy Sep ’52
150 · The Phantom Flivver · Frank Luther Mott · ss The Saturday Evening Post Jan 28 ’50
161 · A Model T Named “It” · John Steinbeck · ss Ford Times Jul ’53
165 · The Magnificent Torpedo · Dean Evans · ss Argosy Oct ’51
178 · Flags in Castelfiorentino · Francis Steegmuller · ss New Yorker, 1951

A rather blurry image of the Pathfinder reprint edition my father had, which he's given to me.

The Western Hall of Fame ed. Bill Pronzini & Martin H. Greenberg (William Morrow and Co. 0-688-02220-0, 1984, $17.95, 376pp, hc, cover by Terry Fehr) [Western]

5 · Introduction · Bill Pronzini & Martin H. Greenberg · in
11 · The Blue Hotel · Stephen Crane · nv Colliers Nov 26, 1898
45 · The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County · Mark Twain · ss, 1867
53 · The Outcasts of Poker Flat · Bret Harte · ss Overland Monthly Jan, 1869
67 · An Afternoon Miracle · O. Henry · ss Everybody’s Magazine Jul ’02
81 · Tappan’s Burro · Zane Grey · nv Ladies Home Journal Jun ’23
131 · Wine on the Desert · Max Brand · ss This Week Jun 7 ’36
141 · Stage to Lordsburg · Ernest Haycox · ss Colliers Apr 10 ’37
159 · A Day in Town · Ernest Haycox · ss Colliers Jan 1 ’38
177 · The Indian Well · Walter Van Tilburg Clark · ss, 1943
197 · A Man Called Horse · Dorothy M. Johnson · ss Colliers Jan 7 ’50
215 · Outlaw Trail · S. Omar Barker · ss The Saturday Evening Post Jan 3 ’59
231 · Blood on the Sun · Thomas Thompson · ss The American Magazine Jun ’54
249 · Stubby Pringle’s Christmas · Jack Schaefer · ss (YA chapbook, Houghton Mifflin, 1964)
265 · The Winter of His Life · Lewis B. Patten · ss The Colorado Quarterly, 1953
275 · Isley’s Stranger · Clay Fisher · ss (Legends and Tales of the Old West, edited by S. Omar Barker for WWA, Doubleday 1962)
309 · Lost Sister · Dorothy M. Johnson · ss Colliers Mar 30 ’56
323 · Paso Por Aqui · Eugene Manlove Rhodes · nv The Saturday Evening Post Feb 20 ’26 (+1)

What's notable to me in this anthology, with its stories chosen by polling the members of the Western Writers of America, with a simplified Australian ballot (essentially, please name your choice for best western short story ever, and your four or so [more if you like] other suggestions for the anthology) is in who isn't in the book...such younger writers as Joe Lansdale and Loren Estleman were still establishing themselves in 1983-84, but the absence of the Els--Elmer Kelton and Elmore Leonard--seems a bit odd, though perhaps their stars have risen among their peers in the last quarter-century. (Old favorite of mine Shirley/Lee Hoffman barely wrote any short fiction in the western field, pretty much going straight into the novels with The Valdez Horses and her first-novel Spur; rather comparable to Samuel Delany's entry into the sf scene.) Also, and even more surprising to me, is that not a damned one of these stories was first published in a western-fiction magazine, pulp, digest or otherwise, though the "Clay Fisher" story was apparently first published in the "1962 Doubleday WWA anthology," as the Spur Awards page on the WWA site puts it (not bothering to name the anthology!--though Pronzini and Greenberg fail to do so, as well, in the copyrights detail page). I've just received this book, so haven't yet had the opportunity to go through it...though it does look inviting, save the Zane Grey story (which, I'm amused to note, was first published in The Ladies Home Journal...given the machismic anxiety of some western readers, I'm sure that datum wouldn't help, but of course Grey, in the manner of Stephen King, wrote badly enough on a regular basis to transcend the usual audiences for his kind of fiction at the time...and perhaps, as I occasionally am with King, I'll be pleasantly surprised by this novella).









(courtesy WorldCat)
The Mystery Hall of Fame.
New York : Morrow, 1984
edited by Bill Pronzini; Martin Harry Greenberg; Charles Waugh; from polling of the Mystery Writers of America.
467 pp. ; 22 cm.

Contents: The purloined letter / Edgar Allen Poe --
The adventure of the speckled band / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle --
The oracle of the dog / G.K. Chesterton --
The monkey's paw / W.W. Jacobs --
The problem of cell 13 / Jacques Futrelle --
The hands of Mr. Ottermole / Thomas Burke --
The two bottles of relish / Lord Dunsany --
The gutting of Couffignal / Dashiell Hammett --
Accident / Agatha Christie --
Red wind / Raymond Chandler --
Rear window / Cornell Woolrich --
The house in Goblin Wood / John Dickson Carr --
Don't look behind you / Fredric Brown --
The nine mile walk / Harry Kemelman --
The specialty of the house / Stanley Ellin --
Love lies bleeding / Philip MacDonald --
Lamb to the slaughter / Roald Dahl --
No parking / Ellery Queen --
The oblong room / Edward D. Hoch --
Sweet fever / Bill Pronzini.

Now, this selection seems less surprising, though to find Kemelman muscling past the likes of Ross Macdonald, or John D. McD for that matter, seems not so much a gross injustice as a product of the time of the polling. However, as wonderful a story as W. W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw" is, it has essentially no business being in this book...as opposed to the Silverberg and Greenberg The Horror Hall of Fame. The Pronzini was polled in, and published here over Pronzini's objection (a jusst case of modesty overruled). There is perhaps one too many classic stories here of murder and eating the evidence, but the gimmick was pretty irresistible, and the stories are indeed classics (though John Collier's "A Touch of Nutmeg Makes It" might still be the most insidious of this class among the early stars). (Also notable to me is the number of typos in some WorldCat listings...fixed above...) Another recent purchase (simultaneous, actually), but I've read more of the selections above before, and don't actively dislike the work of any of the writers collected here, so expect to have a more familiar good time going through this one.

For more of this week's books, please see Patti Abbott's blog.

And, a late bulletin: it seems that, even as Robert Silverberg has edited or co-edited two poll-driven Fantasy Hall of Fame volumes, that Dale Walker (again with the WWA polled? Yes, as it turns out) produced a 1997 Western Hall of Fame (index from Contento):


The Western Hall of Fame Anthology ed. Dale L. Walker (Berkley 0-425-15906-X, Dec ’97, $5.99, 268pp, pb) [Western]

vii · Introduction · Dale L. Walker · in
xi · Author Notes · Dale L. Walker · ss
1 · The Defense of Sentinel · Louis L’Amour · ss 5 Western Novels Magazine Oct ’52
11 · Gun Job · Thomas Thompson · ss Colliers Feb 28 ’53
33 · The Luck of Roaring Camp · Bret Harte · ss Overland Monthly Aug, 1868
45 · The Blue Hotel · Stephen Crane · nv Colliers Nov 26, 1898
77 · To Build a Fire · Jack London · ss The Youth’s Companion May 29 ’02
95 · The Burial of Letty Strayhorn · Elmer Kelton · ss New Trails, ed. John Jakes and Martin H. Greenberg, Doubleday, 1994
109 · Hell on the Draw · Loren D. Estleman · ss The New Frontier, ed. Joe R. Lansdale, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1989
125 · A Horse for Mrs. Custer · Glendon Swarthout · ss
145 · The Face · Ed Gorman · ss The Best Western Stories of Ed Gorman, Swallow Press, 1992
159 · Candles in the Bottom of the Pool · Max Evans · ss, 1973
189 · The Shaming of Broken Horn · Bill Gulick · ss The Saturday Evening Post Feb 13 ’60
207 · No Room at the Inn [Sabrina Carpenter; John Quincannon] · Bill Pronzini · ss Crime at Christmas, ed. Jack Adrian, Equation, 1988
221 · Geranium House · Peggy Simson Curry · ss Frontiers West, ed. S. Omar Barker, Doubleday, 1959
233 · Three-Ten to Yuma · Elmore Leonard · ss Dime Western Magazine Mar ’53
249 · The Tin Star · John M. Cunningham · ss Colliers Dec 6 ’47
267 · Permissions · Dale L. Walker · ms

--that certainly redresses some of the slights of the first set...while adding some more! At least this one (and the second Silverberg) could've been, as the SFWA sf HOF volumes were, tagged Volume 2...

...and, for the hell of it, here's the comparison of the two Fantasy Hall of Fames, the first from a World Fantasy Convention attendees poll, the second from a SFWA poll a decade and a half later:

The Fantasy Hall of Fame ed. Robert Silverberg & Martin H. Greenberg (Arbor House 0-87795-521-2, Oct ’83, $16.95, 431pp, hc)

9 · Introduction · Robert Silverberg · in
13 · The Masque of the Red Death · Edgar Allan Poe · ss Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine May, 1842
21 · An Inhabitant of Carcosa · Ambrose Bierce · ss San Francisco Newsletter Dec 25, 1886
26 · The Sword of Welleran · Lord Dunsany · ss The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories, London: G. Allen, 1908
42 · The Women of the Wood [earlier version of “The Woman of the Wood”, Weird Tales Aug ’26] · A. Merritt · nv The Fox Woman & Other Stories, Avon, 1949
76 · The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan · Clark Ashton Smith · ss Weird Tales Jun ’32
86 · The Valley of the Worm [James Allison (past lives of)] · Robert E. Howard · nv Weird Tales Feb ’34
110 · Black God’s Kiss [Jirel of Joiry] · C. L. Moore · nv Weird Tales Oct ’34
143 · The Silver Key [Randolph Carter] · H. P. Lovecraft · ss Weird Tales Jan ’29
157 · Nothing in the Rules · L. Sprague de Camp · nv Unknown Jul ’39
191 · A Gnome There Was · Henry Kuttner · nv Unknown Oct ’41
221 · Snulbug · Anthony Boucher · ss Unknown Dec ’41; F&SF May ’53
239 · The Words of Guru [as by Kenneth Falconer] · C. M. Kornbluth · ss Stirring Science Stories Jun ’41
248 · Homecoming · Ray Bradbury · ss Mademoiselle Oct ’46
263 · Mazirian the Magician [Dying Earth] · Jack Vance · ss The Dying Earth, Hillman, 1950
282 · O Ugly Bird! [John] · Manly Wade Wellman · ss F&SF Dec ’51
296 · The Silken-Swift · Theodore Sturgeon · nv F&SF Nov ’53
318 · The Golem · Avram Davidson · ss F&SF Mar ’55
325 · That Hell-Bound Train · Robert Bloch · ss F&SF Sep ’58
341 · Kings in Darkness [Elric] · Michael Moorcock · nv Science-Fantasy #54 ’62
375 · Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes · Harlan Ellison · nv Knight May ’67
399 · Gonna Roll the Bones · Fritz Leiber · nv Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967
424 · The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas · Ursula K. Le Guin · ss New Dimensions 3, ed. Robert Silverberg, Nelson Doubleday, 1973

The Fantasy Hall of Fame ed. Robert Silverberg (HarperPrism 0-06-105215-9, Mar ’98 [Feb ’98], $14.00, 562pp, tp) Anthology of 30 fantasy stories from 1939 to 1990, chosen by SFWA members. Introduction by Silverberg; individual story introductions by Martin H. Greenberg.

vii · Introduction · Robert Silverberg · in
1 · Trouble with Water · H. L. Gold · ss Unknown Mar ’39
21 · Nothing in the Rules · L. Sprague de Camp · nv Unknown Jul ’39
47 · Fruit of Knowledge · C. L. Moore · nv Unknown Oct ’40
77 · Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius [1941] · Jorge Luís Borges · ss Labyrinths, New Directions, 1962
91 · The Compleat Werewolf [Fergus O’Breen] · Anthony Boucher · na Unknown Apr ’42
137 · The Small Assassin · Ray Bradbury · ss Dime Mystery Magazine Nov ’46
153 · The Lottery · Shirley Jackson · ss New Yorker Jun 26 ’48
161 · Our Fair City · Robert A. Heinlein · ss Weird Tales Jan ’49
177 · There Shall Be No Darkness · James Blish · nv Thrilling Wonder Stories Apr ’50
211 · The Loom of Darkness [“Liane the Wayfarer”; Dying Earth] · Jack Vance · ss The Dying Earth, Hillman, 1950
221 · The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles [as by Idris Seabright] · Margaret St. Clair · ss F&SF Oct ’51
225 · The Silken-Swift · Theodore Sturgeon · nv F&SF Nov ’53
243 · The Golem · Avram Davidson · ss F&SF Mar ’55
249 · Operation Afreet [Steven Matuchek; Ginny Greylock] · Poul Anderson · nv F&SF Sep ’56
277 · That Hell-Bound Train · Robert Bloch · ss F&SF Sep ’58
289 · Bazaar of the Bizarre [Fafhrd & Gray Mouser] · Fritz Leiber · nv Fantastic Aug ’63
311 · Come Lady Death · Peter S. Beagle · ss Atlantic Monthly Sep ’63
327 · The Drowned Giant · J. G. Ballard · ss The Terminal Beach, London: Gollancz, 1964
337 · Narrow Valley · R. A. Lafferty · ss F&SF Sep ’66
349 · Faith of Our Fathers · Philip K. Dick · nv Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967
379 · The Ghost of a Model T · Clifford D. Simak · nv Epoch, ed. Roger Elwood & Robert Silverberg, Berkley, 1975
393 · The Demoness · Tanith Lee · ss The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories #2, ed. Lin Carter, DAW, 1976
405 · Jeffty Is Five · Harlan Ellison · ss F&SF Jul ’77
423 · The Detective of Dreams · Gene Wolfe · nv Dark Forces, ed. Kirby McCauley, Viking, 1980
439 · Unicorn Variations · Roger Zelazny · nv IASFM Apr 13 ’81
461 · Basileus · Robert Silverberg · ss The Best of Omni Science Fiction, No. 5, ed. Don Myrus, Omni, 1983
477 · The Jaguar Hunter · Lucius Shepard · nv F&SF May ’85
501 · Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight · Ursula K. Le Guin · nv Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences, Capra Press, 1987
527 · Bears Discover Fire · Terry Bisson · ss IASFM Aug ’90
537 · Tower of Babylon · Ted Chiang · nv Omni Nov ’90

Two covers that leave much to be desired...the newer book's being a bit less dire...

FFB: THE HOUSE OF THE NIGHTMARE, Kathleen Lines, ed.; several Bill Pronzini anthologies (some edited with Barry Malzberg and MH Greenberg)

Well, an old horror enthusiast like myself couldn't hold out against Hallowe'en all month, now, could I? (Even if Blogspot pulls a little trick on me in dumping the final several drafts of this message, with no means of recovery. Imagine my carefully considered response, albeit silent.) Particularly as one of the first half-dozen most important books of my youthful development as a horror reader remained unremarked:



Contents courtesy of Vault of Evil:

The House Of The Nightmare and Other Eerie Tales
Chosen by Kathleen Lines

Originally published by The Bodley Head (1967)
Later (paperback) editions published by Puffin Books; US edition 1968 from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

CONTENTS:
Foreword - Kathleen Lines
FROM IMAGINATION
The House of the Nightmare - Edward Lucas White
The Hauntings at Thorhallstead - Allen French
His Own Number - William Croft Dickinson
Gabriel-Ernest - Saki
Hand in Glove - Elizabeth Bowen
Mr Fox - Traditional
Curfew - L.M. Boston
John Bartine's Watch - Ambrose Bierce
The Monkey's Paw - W.W. Jacobs
My Grandfather, Hendry Watty - Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
A School Story - M.R. James
The Red Cane - E.F. Bozman
A Diagnosis of Death - Ambrose Bierce
Bad Company - Walter de la Mare
Proof - Henry Cecil
The Amulet - Thomas Raddall
The Hair - A.J. Alan
The Return of the Native - William Croft Dickinson
The Earlier Service - Margaret Irwin
FROM LIFE
'Here I am Again!' - Charles G.S.-, Esq.
The Man who Died at Sea - Rosemary Sutcliff
The Wish Hounds - Kathleen Hunt
The Man in the Road - F.M. Pilkington
My Haunted Houses - M. Joyce Dixon
In Search of a Ghost - Eric Roberts
The Limping Man of Makin-Meang - Sir Arthur Grimble
Acknowledgements

This would be my first encounter, at age 8 in 1973, with Elizabeth Bowen, W.W. Jacobs and his "Paw," M.R. James, E. L. White, Lucy Boston, only the third and most memorable so far with Saki, similarly early experience with Ambrose Bierce (interesting that he and only he gets two entries...both their excellence and their public-domain status might've played a role) and Walter de la Mare (particularly as prose-writer and not poet); the only prose I've probably seen from Henry Cecil, whose name I'd forgotten for decades, though I might well've seen some of his television scripting, for Alfred Hitchcock Presents:; his "Proof" was a deft, neat (in all senses) vignette that is particularly the kind to stick with a young reader (not unlike, say, Jerome Bixby's "Trace" or Ted Thomas's "Test" or Joseph Payne Brennan's "Levitation"). And, with the retelling of the "Mr. Fox" folktale, I had my first insight into the true meaning of my given name. The "true" encounters section was vaguely irritating, to the young skeptic I was, even when contributed by Rosemary Sutcliff, but I was a catholic reader at the time, willing to give the account a chance to spook me on its own terms (after all, slightly later, the usually fraudulently "true" Ghosts was one of the less-bad DC horror comics available, and at least one Strange, Unsolved Mysteries volume, probably from Dell but I have no memory of author, was kicking around the house with some interestingly sexually-explicit accounts among its other "true" hauntings and such). Lines, primarily a writer for young readers, would eventually produce a comparable sequel anthology, The Haunted and the Haunters (1975; with the US edition having a much better package), by which time I'd already been more than introduced to the Algernon Blackwood (multiply represented) and Joan Aiken and even Anthony Boucher and Graham Greene it proffered, though the title story was one of my first encounters with Bulwer-Lytton, before the bad-fiction contest in his dishonor was founded.



While Richard Robinson did Midnight Specials as one of his FFBs in 2009, I note it was the first anthology edited by Bill Pronzini I'd read, just after it was published in 1977 (and for good reason as it's only the second he published, I think, after a fine-looking collaboration with Joe Gores I'd missed altogether); it turned out to be an excellent and comparable supplement and peer to the eclectic Alfred Hitchcock Presents: and similar anthologies, edited by Robert Arthur, Harold Q. Masur and others, I was tearing through in the mid-'70s. All built up around trains and train-travel, it ranges from Barry Malzberg's first-publication-here sf story (which gave its title as well to one of his richest collections, the 1980 wrap-up of the previous decade) to my own first encounters with Edith Wharton, Irvin S. Cobb, and Howard Schoenfeld (like William Stafford interesting not only for his art but for his pacifism), among an otherwise stellar lineup (including a few already old favorites of mine, very much including the Bloch and Noyes stories). Pronzini's own fiction I was familiar with from various sources, mostly Hitchcock-branded (including the back-issues of AH's Mystery Magazine I'd read), but his name in the editorial by-line became one to look for. Turns out, that was a good bet.

(All the Pronzini indices from the Contento/Locus/Stephensen-Payne sites.)
Midnight Specials ed. Bill Pronzini (Bobbs-Merrill 0-672-52308-6, 1977, $10.95, hc); Also available in pb (Avon Apr ’78).
· The Signalman · Charles Dickens · ss All the Year Round Christmas, 1866
· The Shooting of Curly Dan · John Lutz · ss EQMM Aug ’73
· The Invalid’s Story · Mark Twain · ss The Stolen White Elephant, Webster, 1882
· A Journey · Edith Wharton · ss Greater Inclination, Scribner, 1899
· The Problem of the Locked Caboose [Dr. Sam Hawthorne] · Edward D. Hoch · nv EQMM May ’76
· Midnight Express · Alfred Noyes · ss This Week Nov 3 ’35
· Faith, Hope and Charity [Judge William Pitman Priest] · Irvin S. Cobb · nv Cosmopolitan Apr ’30; EQMM Apr ’52
· Dead Man · James M. Cain · ss The American Mercury Mar ’36; EQMM Oct ’52
· The Phantom of the Subway [“You Pays Your Nickel”] · Cornell Woolrich · nv Argosy Aug 22 ’36; EQMM Jun ’83
· The Man on B-17 [as by Stephen Grendon] · August Derleth · ss Weird Tales May ’50
· The Three Good Witnesses · Harold Lamb · ss Blue Book Jan ’45
· Snowball in July [“The Phantom Train”; Ellery Queen] · Ellery Queen · ss This Week Aug 31 ’52; EQMM Jul ’56
· All of God’s Children Got Shoes · Howard Schoenfeld · ss EQMM Aug ’53
· The Sound of Murder · William P. McGivern · ss Bluebook Oct ’52; ; as “The Last Word”, EQMM Feb ’63
· The Train · Charles Beaumont · ss The Hunger and Other Stories, Putnam, 1957
· That Hell-Bound Train · Robert Bloch · ss F&SF Sep ’58
· Inspector Maigret Deduces [Insp. Jules Maigret] · Georges Simenon · ss, 1944; EQMM Nov ’66
· Sweet Fever · Bill Pronzini · ss EQMM Dec ’76
· The Man Who Loved the Midnight Lady · Barry N. Malzberg · ss *
· Bibliography · Misc. Material · bi

Pronzini began editing one impressive anthology after another, many of them, from the end of the '70s till the imprint's fading away, for Arbor House, who really didn't know how to package a horror book, as the covers for these examples make entirely too clear (when The Arbor House Necropolis was reprinted by a remainder publisher as Tales of the Dead, it actually had a better and subtler cover [see below], which might be almost a unique occurrence in such relations). Nonetheless, the series was uniformly excellent, featuring as it did a lot of my favorite chestnuts along with good to great less-obvious or blatantly overlooked items to fit each monstrous category. I might've added Malzberg's "Prowl" to Werewolf!, but Malzberg (or his Doubleday editor) had left it out of his Midnight Lady collection, too, and perhaps I like it a lot better than Barry does.

Werewolf! ed. Bill Pronzini (Arbor House 0-87795-210-8, 1979, $12.95, 201pp, hc); subtitled "A Chrestomathy of Lycanthropy"

xiii · Introduction · Bill Pronzini · in
1 · Loups-Garous · Avram Davidson · pm F&SF Aug ’71
5 · The Were-Wolf · Clemence Housman · nv Atalanta Dec, 1890
37 · The Wolf · Guy de Maupassant · ss
43 · The Mark of the Beast · Rudyard Kipling · ss The Pioneer Jul 12&14, 1890
55 · Dracula’s Guest [Dracula] · Bram Stoker · ss Dracula’s Guest, London: Routledge, 1914; written in 1897 as part of Dracula, this chapter was omitted from the published book for reasons of length.
67 · Gabriel-Ernest · Saki · ss The Westminster Gazette May 29 ’09
77 · There Shall Be No Darkness · James Blish · nv Thrilling Wonder Stories Apr ’50
127 · Nightshapes · Barry N. Malzberg · ss *
135 · The Hound · Fritz Leiber · ss Weird Tales Nov ’42
149 · Wolves Don’t Cry · Bruce Elliott · ss F&SF Apr ’54
160 · Lila the Werewolf [“Farrell and Lila the Werewolf”; Sam Farrell] · Peter S. Beagle · nv guabi #1 ’69
183 · A Prophecy of Monsters · Clark Ashton Smith · vi F&SF Oct ’54
187 · Full Sun · Brian W. Aldiss · ss Orbit 2, ed. Damon Knight, Berkley Medallion, 1967
199 · Bibliography · Misc. · bi

As the very fact of the of the omnibus status of the Necropolis suggests, Werewolf! was just one of a line of single-theme volumes, though by 1981 Arbor House was apparently suspecting that large anthologies were easier to market, in trade paperback as well as hardcover, than smaller ones...the Necropolis has been much easier to find in libraries and such over the years than, say, component volume Ghoul! published on its own (the omnibus title just sounded that much better on the New Adds list, too, I suspect). It's also worth noting that after Werewolf!, Pronzini was buying new stories for anthologies in the series, which would continue as the themed anthologies gave way to the more eclectic volumes below.

The Arbor House Necropolis ed. Bill Pronzini (Arbor House 0-87795-338-4, Nov ’81, $11.50, 850pp, tp); Contains the books Voodoo!, Mummy! and Ghoul!. Tales of the Dead (Bonanza/Crown 1986), an instant remainder reprint, drops "The White Rabbit" by Joe R. Lansdale (originally published in the first edition).

· Preface · Bill Pronzini · pr
17 · Voodoo! · ed. Bill Pronzini · an New York: Arbor House, 1980; A Chrestomathy of Necromancy
19 · Introduction · Bill Pronzini · in
33 · Papa Benjamin [“Dark Melody of Madness”] · Cornell Woolrich · nv Dime Mystery Magazine Jul ’35
77 · “...Dead Men Working in the Cane Fields” [from The Magic Island] · William B. Seabrook · ar New York: Harcourt Brace & World, 1929
89 · Mother of Serpents · Robert Bloch · ss Weird Tales Dec ’36
101 · The Digging at Pistol Key · Carl Jacobi · ss Weird Tales Jul ’47
118 · Seven Turns in a Hangman’s Rope · Henry S. Whitehead · na Adventure Jul 15 ’32
179 · The Isle of Voices · Robert Louis Stevenson · ss The National Observer Feb 4, 1893
201 · Powers of Darkness · John Russell · ss Colliers Mar 30 ’29
216 · Exú · Edward D. Hoch · ss Voodoo!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor, 1980
223 · Seventh Sister · Mary Elizabeth Counselman · ss Weird Tales Jan ’43
244 · The Devil Doll · Bryce Walton · ss Dime Mystery Magazine Nov ’47
254 · Kundu · Morris West · ex Kundu, Morris West, Dell, 1956
271 · The Candidate · Henry Slesar · ss Rogue, 1961
281 · Mummy! · ed. Bill Pronzini · an New York: Arbor House, 1980; A Chrestomathy of “Crypt-ology”
283 · Introduction · Bill Pronzini · in
301 · Lot No. 249 · Arthur Conan Doyle · nv Harper’s Sep, 1892
337 · Some Words with a Mummy · Edgar Allan Poe · ss American Whig Review Apr, 1845
356 · Monkeys · E. F. Benson · ss Weird Tales Dec ’33
374 · Bones · Donald A. Wollheim · ss Stirring Science Stories Feb ’41
382 · The Vengeance of Nitocris [as by Thomas Lanier Williams] · Tennessee Williams · ss Weird Tales Aug ’28
397 · The Mummy’s Foot [1863] · Théophile Gautier; trans. by Lafcadio Hearn · ss One of Cleopatra’s Nights and Other Fantastic Romances, New York: B. Worthington, 1882; “Le Pied de Momie”
410 · The Eyes of the Mummy [Sebek (unnamed narrator)] · Robert Bloch · ss Weird Tales Apr ’38
429 · Charlie · Talmage Powell · ss Mummy!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor House, 1980
447 · The Weekend Magus · Edward D. Hoch · ss Mummy!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor House, 1980
459 · The Princess · Joe R. Lansdale · ss Mummy!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor House, 1980
474 · The Eagle-Claw Rattle · Ardath Mayhar · ss Mummy!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor House, 1980
482 · The Other Room · Charles L. Grant · nv Mummy!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor House, 1980
503 · Revelation in Seven Stages · Barry N. Malzberg · ss Mummy!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor House, 1980
509 · Ghoul! · ed. Bill Pronzini · an *; A Chrestomathy of “Ogrery”
511 · Introduction · Bill Pronzini · in
523 · The Edinburgh Landlady · Aubrey Davidson · pm EQMM Jun 30 ’80
525 · The Body-Snatchers · Robert Louis Stevenson · ss Pall Mall Christmas Extra, 1884
546 · The Loved Dead [ghost written by H. P. Lovecraft] · C. M. Eddy, Jr. · ss Weird Tales May-Jul ’24
559 · Indigestion · Barry N. Malzberg · ss Fantastic Sep ’77
569 · The Chadbourne Episode [Gerald Canevin] · Henry S. Whitehead · ss Weird Tales Feb ’33
586 · Disturb Not My Slumbering Fair · Chelsea Quinn Yarbro · ss Cautionary Tales, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978
600 · Quietly Now · Charles L. Grant · nv *
629 · The Ghoul · Sir Hugh Clifford · ss The Further Side of Silence, 1916
644 · The Spherical Ghoul · Fredric Brown · nv Thrilling Mystery Jan ’43
671 · Corpus Delectable [Gavagan’s Bar] · L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt · ss Tales from Gavagan’s Bar, Twayne, 1953
681 · Memento Mori · Bill Pronzini · ss AHMM Apr ’74; revised
689 · The White Rabbit · Joe R. Lansdale · ss *
702 · Gray Matter · Stephen King · ss Cavalier Oct ’73
717 · Bibliography · Misc. · bi

Pronzini, in beginning to put together rather more sweeping surveys of the literature of terror, brought in his friend and collaborator on both fiction and earlier anthologies, Barry Malzberg, and Martin Harry Greenberg, only beginning to become an anthology industry. And they put together some pretty damned impressive books, too...with Pronzini and Greenberg going on to do similarly impressive work in the western field as well as others, and Pronzini on his own and with Ed Gorman continuing to produce extraordinary anthologies for Arbor House and such successors as Robinson and Carroll & Graf in the "Mammoth Book" series, and more. While it fell to Robert Silverberg, who had edited The Science Fiction Hall of Fame's first, short-fiction volume (as president of the SF Writers of America at the time), to go on to edit fantasy and horror "Hall of Fame" volumes, Pronzini would do similar volumes for mystery and western fiction. While there have been similar attempts at sweeping anthologies of horror and of suspense fiction since (such as Charles Grant's similar, contemporary volume for Dodd, Mead, Peter Straub's fine recent two-volume Library of America horror set, David Hartwell's good [if not so well-introduced] historical omnibus of horror, and Jeffery Deaver's unsurprisingly somewhat disappointing suspense-fiction roundup), the Pronzini, et al., volumes compare favorably with any similar productions before or since. They certainly brightened and further broadened my reading experience toward the end of my high-school career, though by then only a few of these bylines were unfamilar. And it's notable that Arbor House had opted for rather tasteful, bold all-text covers...a wise choice.



The Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural ed. Bill Pronzini, Martin H. Greenberg & Barry N. Malzberg (Arbor House 0-87795-349-X, 1981, $20.95, hc)

11 · Introduction · Stephen King · in
25 · Hop-Frog · Edgar Allan Poe · ss The Flag of Our Union Mar 17, 1849
32 · Rappaccini’s Daughter · Nathaniel Hawthorne · nv United States Magazine and Democratic Review Dec, 1844
62 · Squire Toby’s Will · Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu · nv Temple Bar Jan, 1868
91 · The Squaw · Bram Stoker · ss Holly Leaves Dec 2, 1893
103 · The Jolly Corner · Henry James · nv The English Review Dec ’08
135 · “Man Overboard!” · Winston Churchill · ss The Harmsworth Magazine Jan, 1899
139 · The Hand · Theodore Dreiser · ss Munsey’s May ’19
157 · The Valley of the Spiders · H. G. Wells · ss Pearson’s Magazine Mar ’03
168 · The Middle Toe of the Right Foot · Ambrose Bierce · ss San Francisco Examiner Aug 17, 1890
177 · Pickman’s Model · H. P. Lovecraft · ss Weird Tales Oct ’27
190 · Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper · Robert Bloch · ss Weird Tales Jul ’43
207 · The Screaming Laugh · Cornell Woolrich · nv Clues Nov ’38
228 · A Rose for Emily · William Faulkner · ss The Forum Apr ’30
238 · Bianca’s Hands · Theodore Sturgeon · ss Argosy (UK) May ’47
247 · The Girl with the Hungry Eyes · Fritz Leiber · ss The Girl With the Hungry Eyes, ed. Donald A. Wollheim, Avon, 1949
262 · Shut a Final Door · Truman Capote · ss Atlantic Monthly Aug ’47
276 · Come and Go Mad · Fredric Brown · nv Weird Tales Jul ’49
317 · The Scarlet King · Evan Hunter · ss Manhunt Dec 25 ’54
328 · Sticks · Karl Edward Wagner · nv Whispers Mar ’74
347 · Sardonicus · Ray Russell · nv Playboy Jan ’61
380 · A Teacher’s Rewards · Robert S. Phillips · ss The Land of Lost Content, 1970
388 · The Roaches · Thomas M. Disch · ss Escapade Oct ’65
397 · The Jam · Henry Slesar · ss Playboy Nov ’58
403 · Black Wind · Bill Pronzini · ss EQMM Sep ’79
408 · The Road to Mictlantecutli · Adobe James · ss Adam Bedside Reader #20 ’65
422 · Passengers · Robert Silverberg · ss Orbit 4, ed. Damon Knight, G.P. Putnam’s, 1968
435 · The Explosives Expert · John Lutz · ss AHMM Sep ’67
442 · Call First · Ramsey Campbell · ss Night Chills, ed. Kirby McCauley, Avon, 1975
447 · The Fly · Arthur Porges · ss F&SF Sep ’52
452 · Namesake · Elizabeth Morton · vi Amazing Jul ’81
454 · Camps · Jack M. Dann · nv F&SF May ’79
480 · You Know Willie · Theodore R. Cogswell · ss F&SF May ’57
485 · The Mindworm · C. M. Kornbluth · ss Worlds Beyond Dec ’50
498 · Warm · Robert Sheckley · ss Galaxy Jun ’53
507 · Transfer · Barry N. Malzberg · ss Fantastic Aug ’75
514 · The Doll · Joyce Carol Oates · nv Epoch, 1980
536 · If Damon Comes · Charles L. Grant · ss The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series VI, ed. Gerald W. Page, DAW, 1978
548 · Mass Without Voices · Arthur L. Samuels · vi Nightmares, ed. Charles L. Grant, Playboy, 1979
550 · The Oblong Room [Captain Leopold] · Edward D. Hoch · ss The Saint Detective Magazine Jul ’67
560 · The Party · William F. Nolan · ss Playboy Apr ’67
570 · The Crate · Stephen King · nv Gallery Jul ’79

This one has had a long life as an instant-remainder reprint, usually in some diminished-contents way...last year, it was reprinted as Masters of Horror & the Supernatural: The Great Tales (Bristol Park Books, which I believe is a Barnes & Noble imprint), with, as ISFDb notes, three stories (by Faulkner, Capote and Samuels) dropped.

(I here poach the index of one of the instant-remainder editions for this one, for convenience/laziness's sake...)

Great Tales of Mystery and Suspense ed. Bill Pronzini, Martin H. Greenberg & Barry N. Malzberg (A&W/Galahad 0-88365-700-7, 1985 [Jan ’86], $8.98, 601pp, hc) Reprint (Arbor House 1981 as The Arbor House Treasury of Mystery and Suspense) anthology. This edition omits one story, “Crime Wave in Pinhole” by Julie Smith, in order to make it an abridgement of the original. This is an instant remainder book.

11 · Introduction · John D. MacDonald · in
17 · The Gold-Bug · Edgar Allan Poe · nv Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper Jun 21-28, 1843
48 · Hunted Down · Charles Dickens · nv New York Ledger Aug 20-Sep 3, 1859; EQMM Jan ’47
67 · The Stolen White Elephant · Mark Twain · nv The Stolen White Elephant, Webster, 1882; EQMM Jul ’43
85 · Ransom · Pearl S. Buck · nv Cosmopolitan Oct ’38; EQMM Jun ’55
108 · The Adventure of the Glass-Domed Clock [Ellery Queen] · Ellery Queen · ss Mystery League Oct ’33
126 · The Arrow of God [Simon Templar] · Leslie Charteris · nv EQMM Sep ’49; The Saint Detective Magazine (UK) Nov ’62; The Saint Detective Magazine Jan ’63
147 · A Passage to Benares [Prof. Henry Poggioli] · T. S. Stribling · nv Adventure Feb 20 ’26
174 · The Case of the Emerald Sky [Dr. Jan Czissar] · Eric Ambler · ss The Sketch Jul 10 ’40; EQMM Mar ’45
183 · The Other Hangman · John Dickson Carr · ss A Century of Detective Stories, ed. Anon., London: Hutchinson, 1935; EQMM Jan ’65
196 · The Couple Next Door [Inspector Sands] · Margaret Millar · ss EQMM Jul ’54
211 · Danger Out of the Past [“Protection”] · Erle Stanley Gardner · ss Manhunt May ’55; EQMM Mar ’61
223 · A Matter of Public Notice · Dorothy Salisbury Davis · nv EQMM Jul ’57
239 · The Cat’s-Paw · Stanley Ellin · ss EQMM Jun ’49
254 · The Road to Damascus [Daniel John Calder; Samuel Behrens] · Michael Gilbert · ss Argosy (UK) Jun ’66; EQMM May ’67
272 · Midnight Blue [Lew Archer] · Ross Macdonald · nv Ed McBain’s Mystery Book #1 ’60; EQMM Jul ’71
299 · I’ll Die Tomorrow · Mickey Spillane · ss Cavalier Mar ’60
310 · For All the Rude People · Jack Ritchie · ss AHMM Jun ’61
323 · Hangover · John D. MacDonald · ss Cosmopolitan Jul ’56
333 · The Santa Claus Club [Francis Quarles] · Julian Symons · ss Suspense (UK) Dec ’60; EQMM Jan ’67
344 · The Wager [Kek Huuygens] · Robert L. Fish · ss Playboy Jul ’73; EQMM Nov ’78
353 · A Fool About Money · Ngaio Marsh · ss EQMM Dec ’74
358 · And Three to Get Ready... · Horace L. Gold · ss Fantastic Sum ’52
368 · “J” [87th Precinct] · Ed McBain · nv, 1961
414 · Burial Monuments Three · Edward D. Hoch · ss AHMM May ’72
425 · The Murder · Joyce Carol Oates · ss Night-Side, 1977
434 · Fatal Woman · Joyce Carol Oates · ss Night-Side, 1977
439 · Agony Column · Barry N. Malzberg · ss EQMM Dec ’71
446 · Last Rendezvous · Jean L. Backus · ss EQMM Sep ’77
453 · The Real Shape of the Coast · John Lutz · ss EQMM Jun ’71
464 · Hercule Poirot in the Year 2010 [Hercule Poirot] · Jon L. Breen · ss EQMM Mar ’75
472 · Merrill-Go-Round [Sharon McCone] · Marcia Muller · ss The Arbor House Treasury of Mystery and Suspense, ed. Bill Pronzini, Barry N. Malzberg & Martin H. Greenberg, Arbor House, 1981
484 · A Craving for Originality · Bill Pronzini · ss EQMM Dec 17 ’79
491 · Tranquility Base · Asa Baber · ss, 1979
506 · The Cabin in the Hollow · Joyce Harrington · ss EQMM Oct ’74
519 · Peckerman · Robert S. Phillips · ss The Arbor House Treasury of Mystery and Suspense, ed. Bill Pronzini, Barry N. Malzberg & Martin H. Greenberg, Arbor House, 1981
531 · A Simple, Willing Attempt · Elizabeth Morton · ss The Arbor House Treasury of Mystery and Suspense, ed. Bill Pronzini, Barry N. Malzberg & Martin H. Greenberg, Arbor House, 1981
535 · Watching Marcia · Mike Resnick · ss The Arbor House Treasury of Mystery and Suspense, ed. Bill Pronzini, Barry N. Malzberg & Martin H. Greenberg, Arbor House, 1981
545 · Somebody Cares · Talmage Powell · ss EQMM Dec ’62
555 · Jode’s Last Hunt · Brian Garfield · ss EQMM Jan ’77
572 · Many Mansions · Robert Silverberg · nv Universe 3, ed. Terry Carr, Random House, 1973
596 · My Son the Murderer · Bernard Malamud · ss Esquire Nov ’68

For links to more of today's books, please see Patti Abbott's blog.

FFB/"forgotten" stories: UNCOLLECTED CRIMES edited by Bill Pronzini & M. H. Greenberg; UNCOLLECTED STARS edited by Barry N. Malzberg, Piers Anthony, Charles Waugh, & M. H. Greenberg; FINE FRIGHTS edited by Ramsey Campbell

from the Contento indices: 

Fine Frights: Stories that Scared Me ed. Ramsey Campbell (Tor 0-812-51670-2, Aug ’88 [Jul ’88], $3.95, 309pp, pb) Anthology of 12 horror stories.

• ix · Introduction · Ramsey Campbell · in
• 1 · Child’s Play · Villy Sørensen; trans. by Maureen Neiiendam · ss Strange Stories, 1956
• 15 · More Sinned Against · Karl Edward Wagner · ss In a Lonely Place, Scream/Press, 1984
• 43 · Lost Memory · Peter Phillips · ss Galaxy May ’52
• 67 · The Fifth Mask · Shamus Frazer · nv London Mystery Magazine #33 ’57
• 91 · The Horror at Chilton Castle · Joseph Payne Brennan · nv Scream at Midnight, New Haven, CT: Macabre Press, 1963
• 119 · The Clerks of Domesday · John Brunner · nv *
• 157 · Thurnley Abbey · Perceval Landon · ss Raw Edges, Heinemann, 1908
• 187 · Cutting Down · Bob Shaw · ss IASFM Dec ’82
• 219 · The Necromancer [as by Ingulphus] · Arthur Gray · ss The Cambridge Review Oct 17 ’12
• 235 · The Greater Festival of Masks · Thomas Ligotti · ss Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Silver Scarab Press, 1985
• 251 · The War Is Over · David Case · ss *
• 269 · Upon the Dull Earth · Philip K. Dick · nv Beyond Fantasy Fiction #9 ’54

Uncollected Stars ed. Piers Anthony, Martin H. Greenberg, Barry N. Malzberg & Charles G. Waugh (Avon 0-380-89596-X, Feb ’86 [Jan ’86], $3.50, 312pp, pb) Anthology of 16 previously uncollected stories, with a foreword by Anthony and an afterword by Malzberg.

• 1 · Introduction · Piers Anthony · in
• 6 · Time Enough · Lewis Padgett · ss Astounding Dec ’46
• 26 · The Soul-Empty Ones · Walter M. Miller, Jr. · nv Astounding Aug ’51
• 62 · Defender of the Faith · Alfred Coppel · ss Science Fiction Quarterly Nov ’52
• 76 · All of You · James V. McConnell · ss Beyond Fantasy Fiction Jul ’53
• 82 · The Holes · Michael Shaara · ss Fantastic Jun ’54
• 91 · Beast in the House · Michael Shaara · ss Orbit #4 ’54
• 102 · Little Boy [as by Harry Neal] · Jerome Bixby · ss If Oct ’54
• 116 · Unwillingly to School [Lizzie Lee] · Pauline Ashwell · nv Astounding Jan ’58
• 163 · Brother Robot · Henry Slesar · ss Amazing May ’58
• 178 · The Risk Profession · Donald E. Westlake · nv Amazing Mar ’61
• 205 · The Stuff · Henry Slesar · ss Galaxy Aug ’61
• 211 · Arcturus Times Three [Jerry Norcriss] · Jack Sharkey · nv Galaxy Oct ’61
• 244 · They Are Not Robbed · Richard M. McKenna · nv F&SF Jan ’68
• 275 · The Creatures of Man · Verge Foray · ss If May ’68
• 291 · Only Yesterday · Ted White · ss Amazing Jul ’69
• 301 · An Agent in Place · Laurence M. Janifer · ss Analog May ’73
• 311 · Afterword · Barry N. Malzberg · aw

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Update: the FictionMags Index TOC:

Uncollected Crimes ed. Bill Pronzini & Martin H. Greenberg (Walker US, 1987, 0-8027-0967-2, $15.95, 203pp, hc, an)     Also available in pb (Berkley June 1989). ix · Introduction · Bill Pronzini & Martin H. Greenberg · in 1 · Two O’Clock Blonde · James M. Cain · ss Manhunt August 1953 11 · Riddle of the Marble Blade [Hildegarde Withers] · Stuart Palmer · nv Mystery November 1934 34 · The $5,000 Getaway · Jack Ritchie · ss Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine May 1959 49 · Squealer · John D. MacDonald · ss Manhunt May 1956 60 · The Cackle Bladder · William Campbell Gault · nv Detective Tales March 1950, as “The Corpse and the Cackle-Bladder” 83 · Everybody Needs a Mink · Dorothy B. Hughes · ss The Saint Mystery Magazine (UK) June 1965 90 · I Still See Sally · John W. Jakes · ss Shell Scott Mystery Magazine July 1966 108 · Homecoming · Michael Collins · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine September 1964, as by Dennis Lynds 115 · The Deadly Mrs. Haversham · Helen Nielsen · ss Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine October 1957 128 · The Problem of the County Fair [Dr. Sam Hawthorne] · Edward D. Hoch · ss Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine February 1978 148 · The Tree on Execution Hill · Loren D. Estleman · ss Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine August 1977 156 · Bank Job · Bill Pronzini · ss Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine August 1978 167 · Discount Fare · John Lutz · ss Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine April 1979 175 · Consolation · Ed McBain · nv Mystery Monthly June 1976

and from the original post:

 from the Paperback Swap citation (which refers to "Manjunt" magazine) 

Uncollected Crimes, edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin Harry Greenberg, 

fiction contents (w/o accounting the introduction, etc.) 

Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Book Type: Paperback ISBN-13: 9780425116135 - ISBN-10: 0425116131 

Publication Date: 6/1/1989 

Pages: 240 (after the Walker hardcover, 1987) 

[original publication sources taken from Contento/Stephensen-Payne indices and The Thrilling Detective citations of the individual stories, for the most part, when I could find such citations.]  

Two O'Clock Blonde -- James M. Cain (Manhunt, August 1953) 

Riddle of the Marble Blade -- Stuart Palmer ([Hildegarde Withers], nv Mystery, Nov 1934; reprinted The Saint Detective Magazine [UK] Nov 1962) 

The $5,000 Getaway -- Jack Ritchie (ss AHMM May '59) 

Squealer -- John D. MacDonald (Manhunt, vol. 4 # 5, May 1956) 

The Cackle Bladder -- William Campbell Gault (originally as “The Corpse and the Cackle-Bladder”, nv Detective Tales Mar 1950; reprinted Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine [Australia] Jan 1961)

Everybody Needs a Mink -- Dorothy B. Hughes (ss The Saint Mystery Magazine [UK] Jun 1965; The Saint Mystery Magazine [US] Jul 1965) 

I Still See Sally -- John Jakes 

Homecoming -- Michael Collins 

The Deadly Mrs. Haversham -- Helen Nielsen (AHMM, Apr. 1958) 

The Problem of the County Fair -- Edward D. Hoch ([Dr. Sam Hawthorne], ss EQMM Feb 1978) 

The Tree on Execution Hill -- Loren D. Estleman (ss AHMM Aug 1977) 

Bank Job -- Bill Pronzini (August 1978, EQMM) 

Discount Fare -- John Lutz (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, April 1979) 

Consolation -- Ed McBain (1976, Mystery Monthly) 

While Ramsey Campbell was recalling the "lost" stories that had made the greatest impression on him, Martin Greenberg and his collaborators sought out the stories that had never been collected in book form (I could dig out online the magazine appearances for the Unollected Crimes stories faster than I could dig out my copy from storage and copy from the acknowledgements page, I suspect, though maybe not--the only one I'd read in its original magazine appearance was Pronzini's own "Bank Job," in one of the first Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazines I purchased off the newsstand)...so the average quality of the Campbell is greater, but all three books will amply reward the Forgotten Books reader's efforts in finding them...it's almost but not quite an inevitable irony that all of these have fallen out of print, in their efforts to revive interest (Barry Malzberg, never one to let an irony slip away from him, has noted that this was the first book published under Piers Anthony's byline not to earn out its advance--I certainly picked up my copy from a huge remaindered stack in a bookstore, a relative rarity for a mass-market paperback...and, I note, nearly a quarter century later [time does fly] Anthony is now a less potent commercial force than he was in the '80s and has less presence in the marketplace than Greenberg, if still a fair amount in print--and, in a 2021 note while reformatting--thanks a lot, Blogspot, btw--now Greenberg fades from view). The notion that these might be rare treasures or near-(enough-)treasures, often from writers whose careers (at least in the fields the anthologies collect) were unfairly and/or unfortunately brief, is perhaps just not a sufficient motivation to the casual readership, however much it might draw readers such as you or me. The supporting material is useful and interesting in each volume, if thinner than one would like in a few instances (and most amusingly the editors of Stars are not afraid to disagree with and correct each other in their notes.) All three, in the paperback editions (Crimes had a hardcover edition, too...from Pronzini's publisher Walker & Co. in 1987) were produced using acid-soaked paper, undistinguished at best covers (see above), and rather weak bindings (even for paperbacks of their era), so somewhat battered examples of the books are more likely than near-mint ones. But any books that will give you examples of solid work by good, and sometimes even continuingly famous, artists in the fields, and such bonuses in the Campbell as the best unfamous story by Joseph Payne Brennan I've read (and one of the best by him, better than such well-known items as "Gavagan's Back Yard") and Philip Dick's brilliant "Upon the Dull Earth" (I first read it here), are worth the quick search and reasonable expense online or at your favorite well-stocked second-hand store. For much more prompt Friday "Forgotten" Books, see George Kelley's blog, where the vacationing Patti Abbott has apparently made her displeasure with Suicide Girl mascots for the FFB known...