HILL BEAST

HILL BEAST

"'The beasts,' she said. 'These beasts we're on.'"
'What beasts?' It was like having a personal mosquito.
'These ones with the green fur,' she said and giggled. 'People think they're just hills, but they're beasts.'

"'That's why it feels warm,' said Leslie. Don't pull on its fur, Gramma. It might hurt it. 'Nen it'd get up. And spill us on the ground. And open its big mouth - and still out its great big teeth -'"

"There were no legs under the hills - there were dozens of legs under - there were wheels - squares -flickering, firefly glitters -"

"'And he had little eyes like the light inside the refrigerator - '"

Zenna Henderson, And A Little Child -
 Read Scott's blog post about this story here.

THE NOISE-EATER

THE NOISE-EATER

"'I made it. The Noise-eater. He's asleep now. Don't make a noise or he'll get you.'"

"'Well, he had a body like Mother's vacuum cleaner - the one that lies down on the floor - and his legs were like my sled, so he could slide on the floor, and had a nose like the hose on the cleaner only he was able to make it long or short when he wanted to.'"

"'And he had little eyes like the light inside the refrigerator - '"

Zenna Henderson, Hush!Read Scott's blog post about this story here.

THE DARK

THE DARK

"The Dark didn't have any head or arms or legs or body. It didn't have any eyes either, but it was looking at Stevie. It didn't have any mouth, but it was mumbling at Stevie."

"It poured in a thin stream through the open place in the magic and shot up like a tower of smoke."

"The Dark stood up behind the magic rocks and it had made itself look like Arnold only its eyes didn't match and it had forgotten one ear and it was freckled all over like Arnold's face."

"Its Arnold-face was all twisted and one eye was slipping down one cheek."

"'The Dark!' he whispered. 'The Dark. It got out. It got in Eddie!'"

"Eddie's mouth looked full of twisting darkness and Eddie's legs had learned how a donkey runs and Eddie could outrun Stevie andy day of the week."

Zenna Henderson, Stevie And the Dark

Read Scott's blog post about this story here.

THE DARK CRUSADE PODCAST

I was a guest on an episode of the Karl Edward Wagner podcast The Dark Crusade about my favorite Wagner story Where The Summer Ends! AND IT JUST POSTED! I’m lucky enough to own copies of both of Wagner’s OOP collections (with covers by Barclay Shaw & J.K. Potter).

  You can listen HERE.

LUMINOUS WORM

LUMINOUS WORM

“Then he came to the brink; and there he saw a dreadful sight. In the water writhed large and luminous worms, that came sometimes up to the surface, as though to breathe, and sank again.” “In a moment the lantern was obscured as by the rush of 

bat-like wings.”

A.C. Benson, The Grey Cat

THE WATCHER

THE WATCHER

"It was a perfectly hairless head and face, the thin ilps were parted in a wide smile of laughter, there were innumerable lines about the corners of the mouth, and the eyes were surrounded by creases of merriment. What was perhaps most terrible about it all was that the eyes were not looking at me, but down among the leaves; the heavy eyelids lay drooping, and the long, narrow, shining slits showed how the eyes laughed beneath them. The forehead sloped quickly back, like a cat’s head. The face was the colour of earth, and the outlines of the head faded below the ears and chin into the gloom of the dark. There was no throat, or body or limbs so far as I could see."

R.H. Benson, The Watcher

PALE HORNED THING

PALE HORNED THING

“And out of the wood leaned a strange pale horned thing, very dim.”

A.C. Benson, The Slype House

SOLD OUT!!!

SOLD OUT!!!!

Thanks to everyone who bought a copy or tried to buy a copy of Yuletide Compendium II!

DEMON CAT

DEMON CAT

"It was a great grey cat, with soft abundant fur, which turned its yellow eyes upon him lazily, purred, and licked his hand."

"Then the priest was aware of a strange and horrible thing' there sprang softly on the bed the form of the great grey cat, very lean and angry, which stood there, as though ready to spring upon the bird. Then the priest signed the cross and said 'In Nominae'; and as the holy words fell on the air, the cat looked fiercely on the bird,  but seemed to shrink into itself."

A.C. Benson, The Grey Cat

HOUND OF DEATH

HOUND OF DEATH

"The light, which came from an opening immediately above the image, showed a horned and bearded head, misshapen and grotesque."

"The figure of a thing, half-man half-goat, crouched as though to spring."

"His small head was laid back on his hairy shoulders, his little eyes gleamed wickedly, and his red mouth snarling fiercely."

A.C. Benson, The Temple Of Death