Product Description
The definitive collection of tales by the award-winning horror writer includes such classics as "The Hunger," "Miss Genibelle," and "Free Dirt," and features introductions by Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Roger Corman, and others. Reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

One book you won't trade
I do from time to time cull my collection of books I've already read. I will usually carry them to my local used book store (or send them to my brother who has his own store, A Latte Books and Music, in Hobart, Indiana) so as to help out the folks who provide me with so much reading material.

There are, however, some books that simply cannot be traded away. "The Howling Man" is one of them, and it was a lucky find for me at just such a used book store. Author Charles Beaumont's legacy is usually that of his "Twilight Zone" scripts or his screenplays for Roger Corman, but that just doesn't do the man justice. This book contains a goodly heping of his short stories, some of which were adapted into TZ scripts, and a portion of the original manuscript for "The Intruder", which is quite possibly the best movie you've never seen. Read this book and gain an appreciation for a talent that was taken from us WAY too soon.

It is a crying shame that TOR or some far-sighted indy publisher hasn't seen fit to reprint this work and perhaps collect all of Beaumont's published works in one collection. Till then, hold on to your copy of THM for dear life. I certainly will.

Something to Howl about
I bit the bullet and bought this Beaumont collection and I'm glad I did.Some publishing company needs to reprint this material so that the masses can experience Beaumont.He is largely forgotten except by those who have seen the Twilight Zones that he wrote or the handful of movie scripts that he did.

WHY IS THIS OUT OF PRINT ?
I'll keep this brief. The stories in this book are terrific.
Some creepy, some scary but all are just extraordinarily well written stories. It truly is a shame this book is out of print. Fans of horror, sci-fi and just plain well written short stories will eat this up. Someone re-print this !!!

The Howling Man is Head and Shoulders Above Other Short Fic.
Charles Beaumont was a visionary unappreciated in his time and unlikely to be appreciated since his passing.His mastery of short fiction characterization and plot is unparalled by Stephen King and is only approached by the Short Fiction in Orson Scott Card's Unaccompanied Sonata.

Brilliant writer and storyteller.The Howling Man' great!
The Howling Man and other stories in this collection are outstanding.Beaumont is a great talent of the writing craft and writers like King and Straub stand on his shoulders.He's the most gifted and least recognized writers I've had the pleasure of reading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Final Treasures from a Twilight Zoner
The question that will immediately come to the minds of many Charles Beaumont fans regarding this new collection of thirteen previously-unseen stories is: What could possibly be left to publish? The author, best remembered for his outstanding teleplays for "The Twilight Zone," passed away over thirty years ago; and two earlier retrospectives--"Best of Beaumont" and "The Holwing Man" (a.k.a. "Selected Stories")--contained a total of eight unpublished (and uneven) tales between them. The happy news here is that, indeed, there are good pieces still remaining, and Subterranean (in full cooperation with Beaumont's son Christopher) has found several to include in "A Touch of the Creature."

The best among these is certainly "Adam's Off Ox," a charming backwoods deal-with-the-Devil tale written in an amusing country vernacular. Here is Beaumont's Devil: "He was a study, let me tell you. A big man it was, standin there laughin at Billy Spiker--big and ornry looking and by no stretch of the imagination just exactly right. For one thing, he didn't have no hair on his whole body, and you could say this for a fact because the old vulgarian was naked as a jaybird, without even nothin to cover his modesty! Head slicker'n a bean and flatter on top than two pancakes...When he smiled, you could see his sharp pointy little teeth set in a row, and his bitty eyes, like a fish's eyes, ony a deep bright bloody red."

There are at least three other very good stories in the book as well: "The Indian Piper," a strange and beautiful tale of a would-be criminal's redemption; "The Junemoon Spoon," more backwoods fun with a marvelous sting-in-the-tail at the end; and "Mr. Underhill," an ambiguous, unsettling offering which might have made an excellent "Twilight Zone." Along with a couple of near-misses--the interesting but overwrought "Resurrection Island" and "Fallen Star," which appears to be unfinished--there is enough quality material here to make the book worthwhile.

Alas, it must also be reported that about half the works in "A Touch of the Creature" are weak, uninspired efforts which will do Beaumont's reputation no good at all. Worst are four stories ("A Long Way From Capri," "Lachrymosa," "The Rival," and "A Friend of the Family") seemingly written for the women's magazine market of the 1950s--hackneyed, half-baked "relationship" tales with substandard characterization and pat, formulaic happy endings. Utterly without individuality or style, it is difficult to imagine Charles Beaumont having written them at all.

Yet lovers of Beaumont's work will feel nothing but gratitude to Subterranean Press for publishing "A Touch of the Creature." The reader unfamiliar with Beaumont should certainly not start here--"Best of Beaumont" or "The Howling Man" would be much more appropriate--but longtime fans will be surprised and delighted by the best of what this new volume offers. It is a tribute to the depth of Beaumont's genius that, more than three decades after his death, he still has a few wonderful tales left to tell. ... Read more

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Macabre ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Future of War
I read this book, along with its two sequels, over 20 years ago and was greatly impressed by its scholarship.The stories selected all had a pertinent point to make about the future of war for man.This first volume dealt with future war on earth.It included stories such as "The Man in the Gray Weapons Suit (future air combat)," "A Scenario for the Fall of Night (A successful Soviet invasion of the US in the 1990s)" and "The Screwfly Solution (Alien invaders use a unique biological warfare solution to rid Earth of those pesky humans).Well developed and insightful in its day, and still a good read for those who like military science fiction. ... Read more

Product Description
Mary was a misfit. She didn't want to be beautiful. And she wasted time doing mad things--like eating and sleeping...

This story was the basis for a classic episode of "The Twilight Zone" TV show!
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Best of the Best
Charles Beaumont's life was cut short, tragically short.What he could have accomplished had he lived to a ripe old age is one of the great "if only's..."of American literature.Along with Richard Matheson, Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, Jerome Bixby, Jack Finney and a select few others, Beaumont did much to breathe new life and originality into the genre of suspense, setting the stage for classic TV shows like "The Twilight Zone" (for which he wrote some memorable scripts), "The Outer Limits", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", etc. This collection brings together the best proseworks Beaumont created and is an excellent starting place for those who treasure tales that intrigue, entertain and raise the gooseflesh on cold, blustery nights. Mr. Anker has worked closely with Beaumont's son to put together this book as well as anthologies of Beaumont's TV scripts and unpublished manuscripts.Anker is to be commended for his efforts at keeping the writings of this American master of the macabre in print and available to discerning readers. ... Read more

Product Description
This title has fewer than 24 printed text pages. Elegy is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Charles Beaumont is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Charles Beaumont then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Bible of fencing
The Bible on fencing. The most complete and comprehensive guide to strategy and tactics of fencing I have ever come across. This classic will appeal mostly to serious practitioners of the art, who will appreciate thedepth and intricacy of C.L. de Beaumont's discussions on swordplay. Allthree weapons are covered along with principles of offense, defense,counter-offense, similar and distinct for all three weapons. Each type ofstroke is dealt with, not only in the ways to do them but with variousconsiderations such as timing, circumstance, rationale, appropriacy. Also,copious guidelines for honing practice and aims for developing high-calibreproficiency. If you have read Roger Crosnier's books (out of print) ontactics, this book goes much beyond that. A very business-like treatment offencing, where tactics and strategies are dissected and analyzed in minutedetail. A definite must for serious fencers. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the text that can both be accessed online and used to create new print copies. This book and thousands of others can be found in the digital collections of the University of Michigan Library. The University Library also understands and values the utility of print, and makes reprints available through its Scholarly Publishing Office. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the text that can both be accessed online and used to create new print copies. This book and thousands of others can be found in the digital collections of the University of Michigan Library. The University Library also understands and values the utility of print, and makes reprints available through its Scholarly Publishing Office. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the text that can both be accessed online and used to create new print copies. This book and thousands of others can be found in the digital collections of the University of Michigan Library. The University Library also understands and values the utility of print, and makes reprints available through its Scholarly Publishing Office. ... Read more