Book Review: Galaxy of Ghouls edited by Judith Merril
October is scary stuff season, so let’s look at a book of creepy tales. This collection of 16 “science-fantasy” stories is themed around various monsters, from the classic to the out-there.
We open with “Wolves Don’t Cry” by Bruce Elliott, turning the traditional werewolf story upside down when a wolf inexplicably turns into a human being. It’s an emotionally muted tale, with the primary sensation being loneliness. The ending story is “”Mop-Up” by Arthur Porges. The last human on Earth after the War and Plague meets the last monsters. But none of them imagined there were other threats…some nice imagery in this one.
Notable stories include Manley Wade Wellman’s “O! Ugly Bird”, the first of the John the Balladeer stories, in which John and his silver-stringed guitar go up against a hoodoo man and his flying familiar; “Fish Story” by Leslie Charteris, a non-Saint story about a man who is far more familiar with the sea than you’d think, and “Desertion” by Clifford D. Simak, which inquires into why no explorer returns from Jupiter
The general quality is high, although a couple of stories have become dated and creak a bit. Judith Merril provides her usual helpful introductions to the tales and their authors.
This book seems never to have been reprinted, so you will need to haunt your local used bookstore or E-bay. Well worth a look for fans of science fantasy.
