The Satyr's Head: Tales of Terror

a selection of chilling tales almost 40 years old, this reprint of a 1975 corgi books anthology is a relic of times gone by. the ten tales owe a lot to the likes of roald dahl’s tales of the unexpected – the horror is left to the reader’s imagination, rather than explicitly portrayed in print as has proven to be so popular of recent times.

while the overall themes haven’t changed in almost 40 years, the way that they are depicted has – dramatically in some of the stories. the titular ‘the satyr’s head’ is one such tale – it merely hints at homosexuality and that a character may be that way inclined, but 37 years ago, homosexuality was not something openly discussed. a young man on his way to catch a bus meets a tramp afflicted with terrible sores, who sells him a stone satyr’s head that he claims to have found on the moors. the young man is strangely attracted to it, and soon begins having strange dreams in which he is raped and sexually abused by the satyr. not long after, he starts to find himself feeling sick with strange aches, rashes and sores appearing on his face and body.

in another, cannibal brothers prey on unwary travellers in an unnamed american town until one of them meets a sticky end. another tells about fred – a lonely man in a bar somewhere, who seems to be all but invisible to his fellow drinkers until he disappears in front of one of them.

if you’re tired of the torture porn and horror that leaves nothing to the imagination, then check out the satyr’s head – it’s likely that you’ll find solace in these tales from yesteryear. (matthew johns review, the british fantasy society).

David A. Sutton lives in Birmingham, England. He is the recipient of the World Fantasy Award, The International Horror Guild Award and twelve British Fantasy Awards for editing magazines and anthologies (FANTASY TALES, DARK VOICES: THE PAN BOOK OF HORROR and DARK TERRORS: THE GOLLANCZ BOOK OF HORROR). Other anthologies include NEW WRITINGS IN HORROR & THE SUPERNATURAL, THE SATYR'S HEAD & OTHER TALES OF TERROR, PHANTOMS OF VENICE, HAUNTS OF HORROR and DARKER TERRORS. He has also been a genre fiction writer since the 1960s with stories appearing widely in anthologies and magazines, including in BEST NEW HORROR, FINAL SHADOWS, THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF MERLIN, BENEATH THE GROUND, SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH, THE BLACK BOOK OF HORROR, SUBTLE EDENS, THE GHOSTS & SCHOLARS BOOK OF SHADOWS, PSYCHOMANIA, SECOND CITY SCARES and KITCHEN SINK GOTHIC. His short stories are collected in CLINICALLY DEAD & OTHER TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL and DEAD WATER AND OTHER WEIRD TALES. He is also the proprietor of Shadow Publishing, a small press specialising in collections and anthologies. Ramsey Campbell is an English horror writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. Two of his novels have been filmed, both for non-English-speaking markets.
Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today",and Robert Hadji has described him as "perhaps the finest living exponent of the British weird fiction tradition", whileS. T. Joshi stated, "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood".

introduction (david a. sutton), the nightingale floors (james wade), the previous tenant (ramsey campbell), the night fisherman (martin i. ricketts), sugar and spice and all things nice (david a. sutton), provisioning (david campton), perfect lady (robin smyth), the business about fred (joseph payne brennan), aunt hester (brian lumley), a pentagram for cenaide ( eddy c. bertin), the sayr's head (david a. riley).