Shadows 3

Read Shadows 3 Storyline:

Charles L. Grant - IntroductionDavis Grubb - The Brown RecluseBruce Frances - To See You With, My DearRay Russell - Avenging AngelR. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Ghost Who LimpedJuleen Brantingham - Janey's SmileBarry N. Malzberg & Bill Pronzini - Opening A VeinWilliam F. Nolan - The PartnershipPat Murphey - Wish HoundPeter D. Pautz - AntAlan Ryan - Tell Mommy What HappenedSteve Rasnic Tem - At The BureauChelsea Quinn Yarbro - Cabin 33Not-so-'Quiet Horror' collection, includes:Davis Grubb - The Brown Recluse:
Every year the six-strong West Virginia Chapter of the Baker Street
Irregulars award a beautiful Persian Slipper to the member who solves a
crime for which the wrong person has been prosecuted. Much to one-legged
spinster Ms. Ellen Lathrop's consternation, Charles Gribble, the town
banker, local pillar of society and the only lover she ever had, has
retained the award since it's inception - he must be in cahoots with
Sheriff Voitle or something. Ms. Lathrop detests Gribble, or the
"brown recluse" as she thinks of him after the area's most venomous
spider, not least because he called her a "cripple" during their final
row all those years ago. That slipper is rightfully hers and she must
win it to grace her shapely right foot, and not just for a year but in
perpetuary! But the only way to do that is to solve a murder - and Glory
is such a trouble-free community. Then Gribble's employee Jim
Smitherman is battered to death with a brick in the fog ...R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Ghost Who Limped:
Mother and father dote on seven year old Brian at the expense of his
sensitive, sixteen year old sister, Julia, who can never do anything
right. Their garden is haunted by a benign spook, 'Mr. Miss-One' (as in
'miss one step' on account of his limp) who is entirely oblivious to
their presence as he goes about weeding his invisible flowerbeds and
washing his ghost car. Unfortunately, being a Goth has yet to be
invented (even the punk explosion is further away than at first appears)
so Julia wills herself to fall in love with him and, after another
blazing row in which she finally lets slip that she hates her mother,
the family send her to Coventry. Julia decides that if Mr Miss-One can't
come to her, she will go to him, and sets off to the garage to hang
herself ....To say any more would be to ruin it, but Mike Ashley has described The Ghost Who Limped as "possibly his best" and it's certainly as good as anything of R. C-H's I've read up until now.Ray Russell - Avenging Angel:
"Silone stressed the ugly, specialising in vomit-encrusted wino's
sleeping it off in doorways, bloated prostitutes with grotesque, leering
masks for faces, and several gratuitously nauseating crucifixions
scenes ... Silone equated this ugliness with Truth, 'telling it like it
is'. To be blunt, he had ego but no talent.A clever variation on The Picture Of Dorian Gray
as Orlando 'No Baloney!' Silone, self-reverential, hypocritical artist,
receives his just desserts after making a disgusting exhibition of
himself and his lousy work at the Challenge Gallery where his deluded
young fans have amassed to be fleeced by 'The Master' yet again. When a
shy young girl with one arm presents her hero with the portrait she's
poured her heart into, he dismisses it as trash, lobs a half-eaten
burger at it and tells her to get lost if she's not gonna pay for a nice
signed photocopy of his latest masterpiece. As ketchup runs down the
face, something nasty begins to happen to the original ....Barry N. Malzberg & Bill Pronzini - Opening A Vein:
Short whimsical piece. The last living creature on earth is a vampire
who duly summons the Devil and begs for blood. The Devil points out
that, being one of the undead, he no longer has a soul to barter but
then relents. The vampire gorges himself on Satan's blood, becomes the
new Devil, begins the cycle of creation all over again. Bruce Frances - To See You With, My Dear:
"If you don't do what you've been told, you're not going to get to
sleep tonight. And if you do fall asleep, you'll be sorry. That could be
bad, hmm? It will, I promise."Lisa Gleason loves husband David
as he does her but, of late, his tiresome little games have taken on a
cruel twist. Now she's all snuggly settled in bed he's insistent that
she's left the light on downstairs and must go switch it off. When she
turns over, he attacks her, tearing the nightdress from her back, a
lunatic red blaze in his eyes. The guy needs psychiatric help before
it's too late ... but for which of them?