Carl Dreadstone – The Classic Library Of Horror Omnibus

Carl Dreadstone – The Classic Library Of Horror Omnibus (Allan Wingate, 1978)

 

Introduced by Ramsey Campbell

The Mummy and The Werewolf Of London – two of the greatest horror films ever made, have inspired the two spellbinding novels in this volume.

The Mummy takes the reader back to the mysterious and fascinating world of Ancient Egypt – what hideous crime had caused the Grand Priest Imhotep to be buried alive? Thirty centuries later the answer remained a mystery. Yet somehow his deadly scroll of Thoth retains its power, fatal to all who come into contact with it. Beautiful Helen Grosvenor was vulnerable but Muller, a man who understood the secrets of the ages, battled against them for her sake, so too did a young archaeologist who loved Helen and then finally there was the courtly yet forbidding Egyptian Ardath Bey, the role played by the master of horror, Boris Karloff, tinged with an ancient guilt.

The Werewolf Of London [by Walter Harris]  tells of the savage curse which followed William Glendon from the snows of Tibet to the fogs of London. Once honoured as a distinguished scientist he now cowers in his laboratory, revolted by his own weird transformation but unable to control it. Every phase of the moon brought destruction nearer and none knew more fully than he how desperate the danger – or how impossible the cure.

See Ian Covell on the confusing history of the ‘Carl Dreadstone’/ ‘E. K. Leyton’ Classic Horror series here.

E. K. Leyton – Dracula’s Daughter

E. K. Leyton – Dracula’s Daughter (Star, 1980)

As she sprinkled salt on the flames and watched him burn, she hoped that the curse of her dreadful father had finally been overcome. But still she could not account for the
irresistible urges that sent her gliding out into the London night. Only Van Helsing could possibly stop her – and he was on trial for the murder of a man who never lived. She was beautiful and she longed to be human… but when night fell, she was still her father’s daughter!

E. K. Leyton – The Creature From The Black Lagoon

E. K. Leyton  [Walter Harris] – The Creature From The Black Lagoon (Star, 1980)

Hidden, it watched her swimming in the lagoon…
It was hideous, bizarre, perhaps a throwback to the age of reptiles, perhaps an awful promise of things to come. Suddenly into its steaming domain came the expedition, intrusive, inquisitive, hostile.
Afraid but undaunted, the creature tried again and again to destroy the invaders. Nothing stood in its way-except its own inexplicable fascination with Kay Lawrence, the only woman aboard the riverboat Rita.
What primitive emotion had caused the monster to spare Kay when others had perished so horribly? And now it had her in its grip, what did the monster want from her…?