MICROGORIA 54 - The Hamlyn Book of Monsters

In this episode we look at the last of the books on the weird and the wonderful written by Daniel Farson for Hamlyn. In this colourful volume, the kids of the 1980s could learn all about assorted monsters from dinosaurs to the xenomorph! 

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MICROGORIA 41 - The Beaver Book of Horror

In this little episode, Mr Jim is once more delving into the world of horror books for kids, and the writings of Mr Daniel Farson. Following on from our discussion of the Hamlyn Book of Horror, we now turn to a much-loved paperback tome, an indispensable guide to the realms of terror,  The Beaver Book of Horror! Stop laughing at the back!

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MICROGORIA 40 - The Hamlyn Book of Horror

In this episode, Mr Jim Moon has a flip through a battered but much loved tome in the Great Library of Dreams, a huge favourite with monster-obsessed kids in the 1970s and 1980s - the Hamlyn Book of Horror by Daniel Farson! 




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TOMEGORIA 12 - The Box of Delights

As it is that time of the year again, and the wolves are running once more, Odile and Jim take a look at a classic children's book with a festive theme - John Masefield's The Box of Delights. Hurry along now - time and tide and buttered eggs wait for no man!

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MICROGORIA 21 - Usborne Supernatural Guides Mysterious Powers and Strange Forces

In this episode Mr Jim Moon turns his attention to the final tome in the Usborne Supernatural Guides series from the late 1970s - Mysterious Powers & Strange Forces, and explores the likes of ESP, astral travel and pyramid power!



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MICROGORIA 19 - Usborne Supernatural Guides Haunted Houses, Ghosts & Spectres

Mr Jim Moon returns to the late '70s and the fondly remembered Supernatural Guides series of children's books from Usborne, serving up a haunting helping of eerie delights from Haunted Houses, Ghosts & Spectres (1979).


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MICROGORIA 18 - Usborne Supernatural Guides Vampires, Werewolves & Demons

This week Mr Jim Moon is once more apprehended loitering in Memory Lane as he embarks on a new three part odyssey into horror nostalgia with a look back at the first tome in the Usborne Supernatural Guides series - Vampires, Werewolves & Demons (1979)


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GREAT GHOSTS OF THE SHELVES #20 - The Armada Monster Book

By 1975 that powerhouse publisher of children's books Armada, had successfully established a paperback anthology series The Armada Ghost Books, which now ran to seven volumes, with a eighth in the works. And with three anthologies on fantastical beasts - Witches (1972), Mermaids And Sea Creatures (1973) and Dragons (1974) - edited by Carolyn Lloyd doing well too, it is no surprise it was thought that a companion series on monsters would go down well too. 

And to helm this new vessel that would be a Noah's ark of things with fang, scale, fur and tentacle, Armada turned to one of their frequent contributors of ghostly tales, R. Chetwynd-Hayes. Now this fellow had carved out a successful career as a writer of weird fictions - and you can hear more about the great man and his works here. Now in 1974 he had taken over the reins of the Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories series from Robert Aickman, commencing at the 8th volume proving his editorial mettle, and  furthermore with his great and idiosyncratic imagination and off-beat sense of humour, Chetwynd-Hayes was the ideal man to curate a series on monsters. He had often invented his own bizarre creatures and beings for his own tales, and his penchant for liberally mixing laughs with his chills made him a perfect choice to edit anthologies for children. Chetwynd-Hayes understand perfectly well the appeal monsters had for kids, and could be relied upon to deliver a finely balanced mix of fun and thrills to stimulate under imaginations.   

And the full menagerie of monsters he assembled is as follows -

The Sad Vampire by Angus Campbell
The Last of the Dragons by E Nesbit
Dimblebee's Dinosaur by Howard Peters
A Ride to Hell by Ruth Manning-Saunders
Inside the Monster by Lucian of Samothrace
The Chimaera by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Guardian at Hell's Mouth by Sydney J Bounds
Something in the Cellar by Rosemary J Timperley
Theseus and the Minotaur by Charles Kingsley
The Sea Serpent by Gerard James
The Thing in the Pond by Paul Ernst
Big Feet by R. Chetwynd Hayes

Now then, broadly speaking good old RCH is following the template established by Christine Bernard and Mary Danby in the Armada Ghost Books, and therefore we have the familiar mix of old classics, brand new tales and a sprinkling of folklore. However for the Monster Books, we have a couple of new ingredients in the mix. Firstly, we have the introduction of classical legends, for no self respecting monster book could fail to have some famous faces from world mythology. 

And hence we have two trips to Ancient Greece - there's a recounting of the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur, which was (and is) pretty much standard for any childrens' monster book past or present. But rather than wheel out the Minotaur's usual running mates, Medusa or Polyphemus, instead RCH includes Nathaniel Hawthorne's account of the Chimaera, neatly ticking the classic literature and classical legends boxes in one fell swoop. However for extra brownie points, we have Inside the Monster - the fantastical tale of life inside the belly of a monstrous whale from Lucian of Samothrace. It's actually an extract from a longer work Verae Historiae I (True History I) a 2nd century work widely hailed as one of the first science fiction novels. 

The other new element is of course the inclusion of tales penned by the editor himself. Now it was almost traditional for an author helming such an anthology to be allowed to include a tale of his own, which indeed RCH does. However he also rather cheekily includes a second tale billed under his alter ego of Angus Campbell. Big Feet is a fun romp riffing on the cliches of dragon slaying stories, while The Sad Vampire is the story of a young boy befriending a monster, albeit one that builds up to a rather wicked blackly comic ending. Now you might say that including two of your own tales is something of a low trick for an editor, but in this case when both stories are such good fun, I'm inclined to forgive him.   

However on the other paw... if I have one criticism of this volume, it is that as a whole the book is weighted a little too heavily towards to the comedic. For E Nesbit's tale is also poking fun at the tropes of dragon slaying, Dimblebee's Dinosaur see another school boy befriending a monster, and Rosemary Timperley's Something in the Cellar has its tongue firmly in its cheek too. So then, not counting the legends retold or the entertaining folk tale from the always reliable Ruth Manning-Saunders, we only have three stories playing it straight. I'm guessing that Armada wanted to keep these book fun and frothy but all the same I can't help feeling that a few more tales with some monstrous frights in them wouldn't have gone amiss. 

But then again, maybe that's just the horror fanatic in me coming out. For unlike some of the other anthologies we've looked at in the past that have wandered off-topic from their chosen subjects, The Armada Monster Book certainly delivers a different creature in every tale, and beasts from many different historical ages. And while I might lament a lack of more scary tales, it's certainly full to the trim with monsters. 

GREAT GHOSTS OF THE SHELVES #19 - Fun To Know About Ghosts

Now previously in this little series of articles, we have chatted about the wonderful world of the Armada Ghost Books (specifically both here and there), however their fondly remembered line of anthologies wasn't their only venture into the realm of the supernatural, nor was it their only series of books. For Armada had learnt some important lessons in the publishing game, ones which made them one of the top publishers of children's book in the UK for several decades. 

Firstly their paperbacks were always the classic paperback format i.e. handily pocket sized and easily slipped into a blazer pocket or a school bag. Secondly they knew kids always appreciated good cover art, and interior illustrations were a huge bonus draw too. And thirdly Armada recognised that  most children are born collectors - hence if you release a string of books as a series and sell them at pocket money prices, the completist nature of many kids will ensure that the sale of one title will lead to them picking up the rest. 

Hence Armada had many series, often releasing three or fours books on the trot to get the ball rolling. And at the close of the '70s, they launched a new non fiction range, the Fun To Know About series. Now as far as I can tell, this series only ran to four volumes, and obviously today's volume instantly caught my eye... but for the record, the other titles in the series were - 

• Fun To Know About Dinosaurs (exciting!)
• Fun To Know About The Mysteries of Space (colour me intrigued!) 
• Fun To Know About Dogs (hang on, what's this doing in here?)

And although at the time, the volume on dogs very much looked the odd man out in the line-up, with hindsight (and adult eyes) I can see that the range was clearly trying to cover all bases in the market, looking to pick up readers of spooky tales, SF, science, and animals - four categories perennially popular with kids.

Naturally being obsessed with all things spectral and already hooked on the Armada Ghost books series, I snapped up Fun To Know About Ghosts as soon as I saw it. So then delights what did this tome deliver? Well, as was often the case with these kinds of non-fiction ventures for kids at the time (and indeed today) there was a mix of facts, lists, and fun activities with a sprinkling of humour. We kick off with an introduction that asks what are ghosts and discussing the kind of thing the books is going to serve up, and then get on a fun and informative A to Z of different types of ghosts, with related supernatural beings such as werewolves and ghouls creeping in too. Next we have a section on how to be ghost hunter, a piece on ghost photographs and how they were faked in the past, and a selection of ghostly encounters experienced by assorted celebrities. We then have a section on Halloween, in which we get a potted history of the spookiest holiday of the year, and in the most activity orientated part of the book, suggestions for holding a Halloween party. This includes a set of recipes for suitably eerie dishes such as pumpkin pie and  'Ghoul's Blood Tart'!

We then move into a historically themed set of items, which is where this book most overlaps with similar ghostly volumes. For we here have write-ups on the infamous Borley Rectory, the most haunted village in Kent (bonus points if you can name it), royal ghosts and haunted castles. After couple more short chapters detailing unusual and lesser known hauntings we have two long list style sections to round off the book - a round-up of interesting and odd ghostly facts, and finally another A to Z - this time of haunted houses and locations in the British Isles.  

It's a fun little book, and while there was several pieces on  things I was already familiar with (such as the aforementioned Borley Rectory and the pictured above Glamis Castle), there was more than enough new material to make this an indispensable guide to all things ghostly for my younger self. Given its grab-bag nature, this was an ideal tome to have by the bedside for some midnight study into the supernatural. 

Indeed I was so regularly consulting this book, I started looking for other tomes on the supernatural by Mr Sean Richards, but sadly to no avail. However, many years later I would discover that in fact I had already read and indeed owned many volumes by the same author - for 'Sean Richards' was in fact a pen-name of the great Peter Haining, an man we have already encountered several times in this series, and will no doubt be meeting again in the future too... 

And you can hear more about this little tome, including a few little readings, here - Microgoria 05 - Fun To Know About Ghosts

GREAT GHOSTS OF THE SHELVES #16 - A Book of Ghosts and Goblins

One of the things that always fascinates me is the lore of the playground - all those stories, rumours, crazes and fads that spring up in your schooldays. As we grow up we tend to forget that the world of the child is a somewhat different one, one where kids, whether at school or in the local neighbourhood, band together and form their own little communities. And unlike the world of the grown-ups, these communities are united by an oral tradition, whereby certain toys will be canonized as the coolest ever, other items deemed must-have fashion accessories or secret club symbols, and local knowledge, such as how the dog that lives at the house on the corner once bit some kid's toes off or such and such a house is haunted, is passed down through generations of children. 

And today's book came to my attention through being part of local playground lore. Now in our junior school, much like yours I'm guessing, as well as the school library, every classroom had its own mini library too. And naturally the lore of playground had something to say about their contents - a class room that had its own copies of perennial childhood favorites such as The Cat in the Hat or Tintin: Destination Moon were obviously to be envied, and naturally there was an informal waiting list to get your turn to take such a book out on loan. However my second year classroom contained a tome that was spoke of in whispers, for this was a collection of ghostly tales and therefore was not only cool to get your grubby little mitts on but it was also a badge of courage to be able to say you had read it! 

Obviously as a kid already mad keen on all things spectral and monstrous, I was desperate to get this highly coveted volume out of the class library. And as I'm sure many of have guessed, when I did at last get to borrow the book, I discovered that, like much playground lore, the claims about it had been somewhat exaggerated - sadly this book turned out not to be the promised bottomless well of nightmare-fuel. Rather than spine-chilling ghost stories or ghastly horror tales, instead here we had a collection of folk tales, fairy stories and old legends from around the world that had supernatural themes or elements. And while a couple of the stories had some spooky moments, on the whole they were somewhat less than terrifying, and certainly not the kind of tales that would, as the playground lore alleged, keep you awake for weeks...

To begin with, these stories were far removed from my immediate world - the tales here were safely tucked away in what I thought of as olden times and therefore I was fairly sure I was unlikely to encounter any of their terrors in my local area. On this matter I was very much in agreement with the great MR James who observed in his essay Ghosts- Treat Them Gently! that "the more remote in time the ghost the harder it is to make him effective". Secondly the assorted spooks and spectres often had a reason or a purpose, seeking to right a wrong for example, making then familiar and relatable rather mysterious and terrible. And thirdly, the cosy rounded nature of folk and fairy tales demanded that these assorted walkers in the night were to be comfortably laid to rest or defeated by the heroes and heroines of the tales.  

However despite not robbing me of sleep nor turning my hair white, I did thoroughly enjoy this little book. And while the stories might not have been blood chilling they were certainly entertaining and delightful. Ruth Manning-Saunders perfectly captured the tones of an old storyteller, spinning out tales packed with charm, character and imagination. Unlike many other writers who have retold old folk tales and legend, her prose was always colourful but never cute, traditional but never twee, and while she was clearly writing for a young audience her stories never talked down to their audience. 

Complimenting the stories beautifully were the illustrations by Robin Jacques. Possessing a distinct style all of his own, his art was highly detailed and simply gorgeous, and he could turn his hand to anything a tale required, being just as comfortable drawing noble princesses as he was skeletal horrors. I freely admit it spent many many hours in childhood - and in adulthood too - trying to master the kind of intricate shading and textures of his artwork.  

Indeed I was to spend a great many happy hours in the company of Manning-Sanders and Jacques, for I discovered that this volume was but one in a long running series. And so after having been delighted with the stories and art in this volume, I was soon hunting down its brethren, further retellings of folk and fairy tales from around the world, collected into themed collections. Naturally being the kind of child I was, A Book of Monsters, A Book of Dragons and A Book of Giants were high on my list to find and read. However I soon discovered there was plenty of monstrous and magical action in any book from Jacques and Manning-Sanders. And having read many volumes borrowed from local libraries, I'm still hunting downing editions of these enchanting books to this very day. 

GREAT GHOSTS OF THE SHELVES #9 - The 2nd Armada Ghost Book ed. Christine Bernard

The Armada Ghost Book had proved to be such a hit with readers that the following year editor Christine Bernard was called upon to assemble a second serving of spooky tales for younger readers. And hence in 1968, The 2nd Armada Ghost Book hit the shelves. 

This second volume followed the template of the first quite faithfully, serving up a mixture of different sorts of ghostly tales. However this time round it resulted somewhat thinner book - not only in size but in content. Like the first we have two tales drawn from folklore from Sorche Nic Leodhas, another brace of tales from HG Wells, and in addition there are yet another two stories that are from the same author, a pair by William Croft Dickinson. The full contents are as follows - 

The Ghost Who Didn't Want to be a Ghost by Sorche Nic Leodhas
The Keepers of the Wall by William Croft Dickinson
Fiddler, Play Fast, Play Faster by Ruth Sawyer
The Magic Shop by H G Wells
Mr Fox by Traditional
His Own Number by William Croft Dickinson
The Man Who Walked Widdershins Round the Kirk by Sorche Nic Leodhas
The Flowering of the Strange Orchid by H G Wells
The Uglie-Wuglies by Edith Nesbit

(As usual I have linked to my own audio readings of any of these tales)

Given that we have another chunk of folklore in the shape of the traditional old fireside tale Mr Fox, a variant on the Bluebeard story, and that the last story in the collection from E Nesbit is actually just an excerpt from her novel The Enchanted Castle, this collection feels a good deal less diverse than its illustrious predecessor. But furthermore this book is somewhat light on actual ghost stories - the Wells tales while entertaining don't exactly feature any hauntings, likewise the extract from Nesbit. Mr Fox though horrible is free of spectres, and while the tales from Leodhas and Ruth Sawyer do feature the supernatural, the ghosts and sprites from folklore are more fairy tale baddies than figures from nightmare. Thankfully William Croft Dickinson is on hand to deliver a fine eerie tale in the MR James tradition in the shape of The Keepers of the Wall and in a nice contrast, conjures some memorable unease with computers in His Own Number.   

The 2nd Armada Ghost Book isn't a terrible anthology by any means, as all its tales are good. However it does lose marks for wandering away from proper ghost stories and having a limited pool of authors. So on one hand its a fun collection to tales to have but not one of the stronger outings in the Armada series. Tellingly the third volume of Ghost Books would see a new editor taking the helm...

GREAT GHOSTS OF THE SHELVES #7 - Ghostly Gallery ed. Alfred Hitchcock

Another VIT (Very Important Tome) for me - for this was the first book of ghost stories that I ever bought. My memory is a little hazy on this but I think that this paperback may well have been the first book of proper ghost stories that I ever read too. It was first published back in 1962 in the USA, and received a UK publication in 1966. Judging from the information in the publisher's blurb page, this anthology was something of a best seller being reprinted in paperback every year, with two print runs in 1972 and 1974, and I recall it making regular appearances in bookshops for a good few years after I got my copy in 1976.

So then, what made me pick up this tome? Well it wasn't so much the stylized and oh-so-very-very-'70s cover, but the killer combination of the shuddersome quote on the back (from a tale within "The Upper Berth" by F. Marion Crawford fact fans!) and the name of Alfred Hitchcock that convinced me that this was the right book for my purposes. Even at the age of seven, I knew Hitch was a master of terror, despite having never seen one of his movies, and in conjunction with that backcover quote, it was reasonable to assume that a book from a famous director of scary movies would guarantee that this paperback would be the real deal, delivering some properly scary tales of spooks and spectres. 

And why was that so important to me back then? Well, at that time there was craze in my school for telling each other ghost and horror stories and trying the scare the life out of each other. Therefore, with impeccable childhood logic, I reasoned that a book of ghostly tales from Alfred Hitchcock would be far more frightening anything my classmates could cook up and therefore once I'd read this proper book of proper ghost stories, I couldn't be scared anymore. Plus I'd have some real skin-freezers to blow the competition out of the water with! 

Of course what I didn't realise was that this collection, was but one of a legion of anthologies bearing the Hitchcock name being published back then, and that old Hitch actually had little to do with the selections. Indeed this volume, like several others was actually edited by Robert Arthur. However in fairness, Hitch did at least supply an introduction laced with his trademark black humour to this one. 

Thankfully however, I was still in safe hands. Despite this selection of stories containing the seemingly obligatory whimsical and humourous tales that many anthologies of that era sported as standard, Mr Arthur had included some genuine classic chillers - 

Introduction by Alfred Hitchcock

The Waxwork by AM Burrage

Miss Emmeline Takes Off by Walter Brooks

The Valley of the Beasts by Algernon Blackwood

The Haunted Trailer by Robert Arthur

The Upper Berth by F. Marion Crawford

The Wonderful Day by Robert Arthur

The Truth About Pyecraft by HG Wells

Housing Problem by Henry Kuttner

In A Dim Room by Lord Dunsany

Obstinate Uncle Otis by Robert Arthur

The Isle of Voices by Robert Louis Stevenson

Of course, the keen-eyed among you will have also noticed that Mr Arthur has somewhat abused his editorial privileges. Normally in anthologies, it considered acceptable for the editor, if he is an author also, to include a tale of his own. However to put in three, and not even disguise the extra tales with pseudonyms, is a wee bit cheeky! Fortunately however Mr Arthur was a decent writer in his own right and his tales are highly entertaining - indeed it was actually Robert Arthur who created the Alfred Hitchcock's The Three Investigators series of books, and penned the first nine spooky cases for the juvenile detective trio. But more about those fellows another day...

MICROGORIA 11 - All About UFOS

Completing the trilogy of World of the Unknown books, Mr Jim Moon, in a predictably over-excitable fashion, voyages back to the 1970s to take a look at  All About UFOs (Usborne 1977)


DIRECT DOWNLOAD -  MICROGORIA 11 - All About UFOS

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MICROGORIA 08 - Christmas Annuals

In the first of our festive shows this year, Mr Jim Moon searches the Great Library of Dreams for books given as gifts on many a Christmas Past, and uncovers the history and wonders of the British Christmas Annual!


DIRECT DOWNLOAD - MICROGORIA 08 - Christmas Annuals

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MICROGORIA 05 - Fun To Know About Ghosts

Mr Jim Moon once more finds a childhood favourite lurking on the shelves in the Great Library of Dreams - a tome by one Sean Richards who turned out to be none other than legendary editor and anthologist  Peter Haining. Flipping through this vintage paperback from Armada, we indeed find much fun in knowing all about ghosts!




DIRECT DOWNLOAD - Microgoria 05: Fun To Know About Ghosts

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MICROGORIA 04 - All About Monsters

Time travelling once more on the black batwings of nostalgia, Mr Jim Moon enthusiastically rambles about World of the Unknown: All About Monsters published by Usborne back in 1978. Swearing, over-excitement and a feast of monsterdom results!




DIRECT DOWNLOAD - Microgoria 04: All About Monsters

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