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COLD FEAR: New Tales of Terror by Hugh--Ed. Lamb

COLD FEAR: New Tales of Terror

By

Pub Date: March 8th, 1978
Publisher: Taplinger

Fifteen previously unpublished horror and ghost stories, almost all British and almost without interest except for devoted fans of the ghoul genres. Robert Aickman's contribution, though maddeningly thin, is the sole piece of real writing--he wrests something akin to atmosphere from nothing more than a woman's recurring appearances through a man's lifetime. And Ramsey Campbell's two entries at least latch onto vivid images (a plastic bag, an empty movie theater), while newcomer Kathleen Murray rescues her rehash of the Evil Inn with a lovely, winking pun, and Adrian Cole adds Mahler and such to freshen up another ""Demon in the Stone"" story. On a far lower, moldier level are David Sutton's walking mummy, silly Satanisms from Ken Alden and Charles Birkin, Robert Haining's tarot cards, and Eleanor Inglefield's cursed ancient disk. The other contributors of, at best, lukewarm fear, are Frederick Cowles, John Blackburn, Brian Lumley (more sci-fi than horror), Rosemary Timperley, and Arthur Porges (frontal lobotomy vs. voodoo).