The Mammoth Book of Monsters (Mammoth Books)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Product Description
Review
"'An essential volume for horror readers.' Locus 'The must-have anthology for horror fans.' Time Out 'This volume deserves to be on everyone's shelf.' Prism"
Product Description
This title features monsterrific stories by top names in horror writing. vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghouls...these and many other creatures of the night are featured in this bumper collection of stories by such authors as Clive Barker, Harlan Ellison, Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, Tanith Lee, Michael Marshall Smith, Kim Newman, Joe R. Lansdale, Lisa Tuttle, R. Chetwynd-Hayes, Basil Copper and many others. Here you'll discover creatures both unnatural and manmade, as the walking dead rise from their graves, immortal blood suckers seek human nourishment, deformed monstrosities pursue their victims across the countryside, and the ugliest of nightmares is revealed to have a soul. Drawn from the pages of legend and literature, these stories feature things that slither, stagger, swoop, stomp and scamper. So bolt the doors, lock the windows and shiver in the shadows, because no-one is safe when the monsters are loose.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Mammoth Book of Monsters" is a satisfying collection of monsterrific tales of various types. Not every one is a hit, but if you buy this book you will undoubtedly find a few that tickle your fancy. I may as well tell you what my favourites - and least favourites - were.
I particularly enjoyed three stories, which also happened to be some of the longer ones in the collection. The first is THE HILL by Tanith Lee. The language this story is written in is bizarrely old-fashioned given it isn't THAT old, but it is genuinely disquieting and original. The second story I liked was THE FLABBY MEN by Basil Copper. This is a slightly sci-fi story about parasitic blob monsters on a government research island. And the third story, which was probably the best in the collection, was Clive Barker's RAWHEAD REX. Rawhead is an original monster, and this story devotes a good deal of time to his point of view, which was interesting, and it reads quite like a mini-novel, so complete is the story Barker concocts. This story is what this collection is all about.
Other stories which intrigued and entertained me, but not so much as those listed above, were DOWN THERE by Ramsey Campbell (takes a while to get going, but suitably horrific by the end), THE HORROR FROM THE MOUND by Robert E. Howard (a vampire tale from the 1930s which reads surprisingly modern today), THE THIN PEOPLE by Brian Lumley (a weird, largely goreless and non-violent tale, but fun nevertheless), OUR LADY OF THE SAUROPODS by Robert Silverberg (bio-engineered dinosaurs...inspiration for "Jurassic Park", perhaps?)and SOMEONE ELSE'S PROBLEM by Michael Marshall Smith (in which a man sees - or thinks he sees - monkey-like monsters on a train; has a bit of the feel of the classic Twilight Zone episode starring William Shatner on the plane to it). All of these contain fun takes on monsters, although only the first two could be truly said to be horror stories.
As for ones to avoid: don't bother with VISITATION by David J. Schow. It has a reasonable premise - that of a certain hotel which acts as an inter-dimensional gateway for various nasty creatures - but it overwhelms the plot with tons of spiritualist mumbo-jumbo that turned me right off. Also steer clear of Scott Edelman's THE MAN HE HAD BEEN BEFORE; it markets itself as an apocalyptic zombie story, but is really just a story about a kid with a mean daddy. I'm not averse to having character drama and human monsters in stories, but in this case the zombies might as well not have been there, rendering it largely pointless in this collection.
Any other stories that I have not mentioned here (there are eleven others) are ones that simply made no impression on me at all. You may enjoy them; you may not, but I think my above lists of the ones that I enjoyed are sufficient to allow you to decide whether this collection is your cup of tea or not.
I particularly enjoyed three stories, which also happened to be some of the longer ones in the collection. The first is THE HILL by Tanith Lee. The language this story is written in is bizarrely old-fashioned given it isn't THAT old, but it is genuinely disquieting and original. The second story I liked was THE FLABBY MEN by Basil Copper. This is a slightly sci-fi story about parasitic blob monsters on a government research island. And the third story, which was probably the best in the collection, was Clive Barker's RAWHEAD REX. Rawhead is an original monster, and this story devotes a good deal of time to his point of view, which was interesting, and it reads quite like a mini-novel, so complete is the story Barker concocts. This story is what this collection is all about.
Other stories which intrigued and entertained me, but not so much as those listed above, were DOWN THERE by Ramsey Campbell (takes a while to get going, but suitably horrific by the end), THE HORROR FROM THE MOUND by Robert E. Howard (a vampire tale from the 1930s which reads surprisingly modern today), THE THIN PEOPLE by Brian Lumley (a weird, largely goreless and non-violent tale, but fun nevertheless), OUR LADY OF THE SAUROPODS by Robert Silverberg (bio-engineered dinosaurs...inspiration for "Jurassic Park", perhaps?)and SOMEONE ELSE'S PROBLEM by Michael Marshall Smith (in which a man sees - or thinks he sees - monkey-like monsters on a train; has a bit of the feel of the classic Twilight Zone episode starring William Shatner on the plane to it). All of these contain fun takes on monsters, although only the first two could be truly said to be horror stories.
As for ones to avoid: don't bother with VISITATION by David J. Schow. It has a reasonable premise - that of a certain hotel which acts as an inter-dimensional gateway for various nasty creatures - but it overwhelms the plot with tons of spiritualist mumbo-jumbo that turned me right off. Also steer clear of Scott Edelman's THE MAN HE HAD BEEN BEFORE; it markets itself as an apocalyptic zombie story, but is really just a story about a kid with a mean daddy. I'm not averse to having character drama and human monsters in stories, but in this case the zombies might as well not have been there, rendering it largely pointless in this collection.
Any other stories that I have not mentioned here (there are eleven others) are ones that simply made no impression on me at all. You may enjoy them; you may not, but I think my above lists of the ones that I enjoyed are sufficient to allow you to decide whether this collection is your cup of tea or not.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a mixed bag, some great tales, some novellas or short books virtually reproduced (Rawhead Rex) and all the authors featured are either well enough known for horror writing or are likely to be of interest to anyone enjoying that style of writing.
I suspect that my favourite stories where the two which where adapted to film, Clive Barker's Rawhead Rex and The Shadmock, although the film story adaptation (by Amicus films, The Monster Club) was not the same as the story itself. These both introduced new creatures which where unmistakeably monsterous, Barker's a child eating giant, The Shadmock a descendent of interbreeding between vampires, werewolves and ghouls.
There are other tales which prove memorable and amusing but which are shorter or even humourous, such as Godzilla's 22 Step programme, which involves monsters attempting to overcome their addiction to trashing entire cities. Downmarket is a pretty formulaic tale of human sacrifice, a little reminiscent of a snap shot from The Wicker Man, only featuring a monster as opposed to a bunch of mad yokels. It was a quick tale but one of the best.
There are some rotten tomatoes, including tales by popular writers such as Brian Lumnley or Robert Silverberg, really the story of the blob in the basement in Down There seemed like free wheeling and Silverberg's queen of the dinos tale was silly compared with the good work he has produced.
The book has a good introduction and each chapter and story begins with an introduction to the writer and their writing, sometimes with some note about the story itself. This permits some anticipation of the style, pace and content of each tale which is helpful. I would recommend this book to fans of the mammoth books series or monster stories. The cover art is good because it provides a clue that this book does contain some scary stories, I wouldnt recommend it for younger or adolescent readers. That said there are no adult themes of a sexual nature. General readers could enjoy it too because of the variety of tales.
I suspect that my favourite stories where the two which where adapted to film, Clive Barker's Rawhead Rex and The Shadmock, although the film story adaptation (by Amicus films, The Monster Club) was not the same as the story itself. These both introduced new creatures which where unmistakeably monsterous, Barker's a child eating giant, The Shadmock a descendent of interbreeding between vampires, werewolves and ghouls.
There are other tales which prove memorable and amusing but which are shorter or even humourous, such as Godzilla's 22 Step programme, which involves monsters attempting to overcome their addiction to trashing entire cities. Downmarket is a pretty formulaic tale of human sacrifice, a little reminiscent of a snap shot from The Wicker Man, only featuring a monster as opposed to a bunch of mad yokels. It was a quick tale but one of the best.
There are some rotten tomatoes, including tales by popular writers such as Brian Lumnley or Robert Silverberg, really the story of the blob in the basement in Down There seemed like free wheeling and Silverberg's queen of the dinos tale was silly compared with the good work he has produced.
The book has a good introduction and each chapter and story begins with an introduction to the writer and their writing, sometimes with some note about the story itself. This permits some anticipation of the style, pace and content of each tale which is helpful. I would recommend this book to fans of the mammoth books series or monster stories. The cover art is good because it provides a clue that this book does contain some scary stories, I wouldnt recommend it for younger or adolescent readers. That said there are no adult themes of a sexual nature. General readers could enjoy it too because of the variety of tales.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a great collection if you're looking for stories about monsters that aren't among the "classics". Not all of the stories are great, but there are some really good ones in there. One of the better Mammoth book of books.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
