"Tales to Tremble by" - A classic collection of horror - It came from the attic! part 1

As a young child and fervent ”monster kid” when i needed a big ol’ dose of horror i had a “go to book” that had a place in my heart that could be held by no other and that revered tome was “tales to tremble by”. I still remember discovering the book on the shelves of Whsmith and being equally terrified and yet fascinated by the wonderfully creepy front cover. From the outside, the book promised a trove of terrible treasures and it certainly did not disappoint!

"Tales to tremble by" hardback front cover (1984)

Not to be confused with the better known “tales to tremble by” published in the sixties by the whitmans classic imprint which was a collection of short stories and prose from the likes of Bram Stoker and Charles Dickens. My “tales to tremble by” was published originally in 1974 and then as a second edition in 1984 both times by World International Publishing Ltd.

"Tales to tremble by" hardback back cover (1984)

The hardback second edition features much of the original content from the 1974 edition but also includes reprints of stories from the Dracula spine chillers annual released in 1982 also from World international publishing limited. Interestingly these comic book adaptions originally appeared in the pages of house of hammer magazine, so they are certainly well travelled.

Dracula annual

Various "The house of hammer" magazine covers.

The book is a bumper collection of short stories and comic strips and includes the comic-book adaptions of sherlock Holmes and the hound of the Baskervilles, as well as hammer horror’s Dracula and twins of evil. The book runs to 189 pages in total.

The full contents are:

Plants of Doom

Jettison Pod

Macabre Miscellany

The hound of the Baskervilles ( comic strip)

Tunnels of Terror

Warworld

Superior Science

Terrors of the Kalahari

The lions Mane

The Night Creatures

The frightening tale of Jamie McGregor

Life or death for Jerry

Dracula ( comic strip)

Sole survivor

Carnival at war

Death in dunstable creek

The fiery point incidents

Two in the bush

Twins of evil ( comic strip )

The body stealers

Village of fear

Computerad

And the children are quite fond of him really

The volunteer

Charles A Milverton

What has made me comeback to this book again and again over the years is that it is all chiller and no filler! The highlights for me are the comic strip adaptions which are all beautifully illustrated, highly cinematic in style and perfectly paced but this is not to take anything away from the collection of short stories. These stories cover a wide range of supernatural & sci fi staples including the ghost of a teacher in “the children are quite fond of him really”, the devil worshippers of “the night creatures” and the alien civilizations of “tunnels of terror”. Also included are three stories from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame, these are the aforementioned “hound of the Baskervilles”, “Charles .A. milverton” and finally “The lions mane”.

Interestingly not all the stories in the book are credited and the hammer horror comic adaptions feature no credits at all, however with some in depth and obsessive research i think i have been able to pin down the artist of Dracula as Paul Neary and the collaborative artists for “twins of evil” as Chris Lowder and an artist who became better known for his fantasy paintings, Blas Gallego.

Frame from "Twins of Evil" comic book adaption

In conclusion, any horror addict that owns this book will have secured a piece of horror gold! They just dont do collections like this anymore. The collection feels like it was put together by someone will a real love for the genre, and the choices in stories really thought through. Now over 35 years old the book has become an excellent nostalgia trip including as it does the hammer horror film adaptions, but also in the fact the other stories concentrate on building suspense and sinister atmosphere through proper story telling that includes a beginning, middle and end rather than just hitting readers with an endless torrent of gore for gores sake.

As a little present to my ghoulfiends and gentlecreeps, i have uploaded the "twins of evil" comic adaption in PDF format, available to download and read here: http://www.ghost-train.co.uk/twinsofevil.pdf