Lost horror short story

dubdec99 · 13-12-2019 12:29pm #1

I'm trying to find the name of a book of horror short stories I read well over 35 years ago...

The one story from it that I can vaguely remember is one told from a first person perspective and the protagonist has an ability to possess any life form....it ends up with him possessing a fly but he gets swatted and ends up under a chair or sofa and sees a spider scurrying towards him.

I know the above is very sketchy (and probably fairly inaccurate other than the end) but does anyone know the book?

Thanks in advance

The White Feather · 14-12-2019 12:24am

The only book that I can think of would be this one but the only thing it has like yours would be that he becomes a fly and its a short story.

S-F the Year's Greatest Science-Fiction and Fantasy : Third Annual Volume

https://www.amazon.co.uk/S-F-Years-Greatest-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/0440201195?tag=duc08-21

It is a book from 1958 of old Sci Fi/Horror that had the the short story The Fly by George Langelaan. He is most famous for that short story and it has been made into numerous films. One with Vincent Price in 1958 and another in 1986 with Jeff Goldblum. Its about a guy who is experimenting on teleportation and tries it on himself and ends up half a fly and half human.

From a review on Amazon is the list of the books content that may be what your looking for or maybe I am way off

(1) “Let’s be Frank” by Brian W. Aldiss First lines: “Four years after pretty little Anne Boleyn was executed in the Tower of London, a child was born into the Gladwebb family – an unusual child.”

(2) “The Fly” by George Langelaan
Yes this is the original short story, reprinted from Playboy, which subsequently became the well-known films. Excellent story.

(3) “Let’s Get Together” by Isaac Asimov
First lines: “A kind of peace had endured for a century and people had forgotten what anything else was like.”
Then Elias Lynn, Chief of the Bureau of Robotics, gets some disturbing news.

(4) “The Wonder Horse” by George Byram
This is indeed about a wonder horse.

(5) “You Know Willie” by Theodore R. Cogswell
The local leader of the Ku Klux Klan is sweating. This is a 1957 story.

(6) “Near Miss” by Henry Kuttner
This concerns the prawns fished on the Gulf of California by the small village of Pueblo Pequeno, an unscrupulous American business man, and the local brujo, Tio Ignacio.
Good story.

(7) “Game Preserve” by Rog Phillips
A story about Big One, Fat One, and their peers.

(8) “Now Let Us Sleep” by Avram Davidson
Harper is horrified at the treatment of the Yahoos on Barnum’s Planet.
Remarkable story.

(9) “Wilderness” by Zenna Henderson”
Dita has started teaching at a remote primary school but is struggling with the flood gates inside her.
An excellent example of the People Stories

(10) “ Flying High” by Eugene Ionesco
“Ah, I’m lazy, indolent, disorganized, exhausted by doing nothing! I never know where I’ve put things.”
And there’s the matter of the dead body in the other room.
Wonderfully surreal.

(11) “The Edge of the Sea” by Algis Budrys
Dan Henry sees something unusual in the rocks of a desolate coastal key. Ther’s also a hurricane coming.
Nominated for the 1958 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

From Science Fiction to Science Fact: Sputnik and Beyond
(These thoughts on Sputnik are relatively brief, totalling just thirty pages).
(12) “How Near is the Moon” by Judith Merril
(13) “Transition – From Fantasy to Science” by Arthur C. Clarke
(14) “Sputnik: One Reason Why We Lost.” By G. Harry Stine
(15) “Going Up” by Dennis Driscoll
(16) “Where Do We Go From Here?” by Willy Ley
(17) “Science Fiction Still Leads Science Fact” by Anthony Boucher

(18) “The Year’s S-F: Summation and Honorable Mention” by Judith Merril

Lost horror short story

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