1978-81 (collected 1982, revised 2003) / Audiobook / 300 pages / USA
***
I don't know how much this vacant, violent monomyth cycle was the writer's pet project to keep him entertained between more commercial projects, but that's how it comes across. It teases and rewards with mysteries as it goes on, but not enough for me to stick out the whole thing.
Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Collected from American Folklore
****
"How long do we have to put up with this dead corpse?"
I expected crap scares, but there were also ghoulish doodles, Halloween party tips and a scholarly study of persistent folklore that the author wants you to know was much more diligently researched than it needed to be.
Faves: The Big Toe, The Haunted House, The Dead Man's Brains
2011-13 (collected 2013) / Ebook / 188 pages / Various
***
Mostly forgettable tales for a worthy cause. Class clown Rhys Hughes' pisstake shows up the more earnest efforts.
Faves: Christopher Fowler's 'Mistake at the Monsoon Palace,' Rhys Hughes' 'The Swinger,' John Gaskin's 'Wolvershiel'
2013 / Ebook / 32 pages / USA/Canada
***
Sub-Gaiman elemental anthropomorphism, but presumably helpful for some people. No need to risk inducing phobias my child doesn't have though.
1964-80 (collected 1988) / Ebook / 388 pages / UK
****
Unconventional and usually unsettling stories, sometimes for want of a point.
Faves: The Wine-Dark Sea, The Fetch, The Inner Room
