Magic Terror

Magic Terror
Peter Straub

A new collection of award-winning short stories from the acclaimed master of horror – author of the bestselling MR X, KOKO, THE TALISMAN and BLACK HOUSE.Welcome to another kind of terror as Peter Straub leads us into the outer reaches of the psyche. Here the master of the macabre is at his absolute best in seven exquisite tales of living, dying and the terror that lies in between…No one tells a story like Peter Straub. He dazzles with the richness of his plots and the eloquence of his prose. He startles you into laughter in the face of events so dark that you begin to question your own moral compass. Then he reduces you to jelly by spinning a tale so terrifying – and surprising – that you have to sleep with the lights on. Now, with these seven acclaimed stories he has given us his finest and most imaginatively unsettling collection yet.‘WHEN STRAUB TURNS ON ALL HIS JETS, NO ONE IN THE SCREAM FACTORY CAN EQUAL HIM.’STEPHEN KING

Peter Straub

MAGIC TERROR

[7 tales]

Copyright (#ulink_87187298-7853-5810-81c3-644217631cea)

Grateful acknowledgement is made to Georges Borchardt, Inc., for permission to reprint six lines from ‘Down by the Station, Early in the Morning’, from A Wave, by John Ashbery (New York: Viking, 1984). Copyright © 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984 by John Ashbery. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., for the author.

All of the pieces in this work have been previously published: ‘Ashputtle’ was originally published in Black Thorn, White Rose, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (William Morrow, 1994); ‘Isn’t It Romantic?’ was originally published in Murder on the Run, by the Adams Round Table (Berkley, 1998); ‘The Ghost Village’ was originally published in The Mists from Beyond, edited by Robert Weinberg, Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, and Martin H. Greenberg (ROC, 1993); ‘Porkpie Hat’ was originally published in Murder for Halloween, edited by Michele Slung and Roland Hartman (Mysterious Press, 1994); ‘Bunny Is Good Bread’ was originally published, under the title ‘Fee’, in Borderlands 4, edited by Elizabeth E. Monteleone and Thomas F. Monteleone (Borderlands Press, 1994); ‘Hunger, an Introduction’ was originally published in Ghosts, edited by Peter Straub (Borderlands Press, 1995); and ‘Mr Clubb and ‘Mr Cuff was originally published in Murder for Revenge, edited by Otto Penzler (Delacorte Press, 1998).

HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk (https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/)

First published in Great Britain by HarperColIinsPublishers 2001

First published in the USA by Random House 2000

Copyright © Peter Straub 2000

The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN; 9780007109906

Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2016 ISBN: 9780007401574

Version: 2016-08-10

Dedication (#ulink_27bc8a91-47ca-567d-a45b-0b85577acfea)

For Lawrence Block

Epigraph (#ulink_147a72d1-0d53-52e3-843f-2ea25ddc8450)

The result is magic, then terror, then pity at the emptiness, Then air gradually bathing and filling the emptiness as it leaks, Emoting all over something that is probably mere reportage. But nevertheless likes being emoted on.

… the light

From the lighthouse that protects us as it pushes us away.

‘Down by the Station, Early in the Morning.’ JOHN ASHBERY

Contents

Cover (#u418505ca-3440-5c66-9f6a-37574efab2c9)

Title Page (#u2dbce574-3aaa-57d3-9954-037bde3e42a9)

Copyright (#u4b33fcbe-e034-5a4f-af30-6851db6fcc93)

Dedication (#u9ca484f8-bb68-5ad9-8812-62881ab8404c)

Epigraph (#ud0c1a810-00c2-58f8-9f66-4f6d08417df5)

Ashputtle (#uea48de23-b621-5159-a09a-568cfe333d92)

Isn’t It Romantic? (#ufa0029e7-67f0-5ac8-9cf2-aad44a0ede18)

The Ghost Village (#u445acca6-804f-5917-9500-e790fdf32e41)

Bunny Is Good Bread (#litres_trial_promo)

Porkpie Hat (#litres_trial_promo)

Hunger, an Introduction (#litres_trial_promo)

Mr Clubb and Mr Cuff (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Peter Straub (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Ashputtle (#ulink_7acf1fdc-007e-5027-ae13-1452e83e2897)

People think that teaching little children has something to do with helping other people, something to do with service. People think that if you teach little children, you must love them. People get what they need from thoughts like this.

People think that if you happen to be very fat and are a person who acts happy and cheerful all the time, you are probably pretending to be that way in order to make them forget how fat you are, or cause them to forgive you for being so fat. They make this assumption, thinking you are so stupid that you imagine that you’re getting away with this charade. From this assumption, they get confidence in the superiority of their intelligence over yours, and they get to pity you, too.

Those figments, those stepsisters, came to me and said, Don’t you know that we want to help you? They came to me and said, Can you tell us what your life is like?

These moronic questions they asked over and over: Are you all right? Is anything happening to you? Can you talk to us now, darling? Can you tell us about your life?

I stared straight ahead, not looking at their pretty hair or pretty eyes or pretty mouths. I looked over their shoulders at the pattern on the wallpaper and tried not to blink until they stood up and went away.

What my life was like? What was happening to me?

Nothing was happening to me. I was all right.