Mummy: A Chrestomathy of Cryptology

By Alex Brown

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 087795271X
• ISBN13: 9780877952718
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Arbor House Pub Co
• Length: 273 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Curses! Trapped in the Mummy's Tomb!

_Mummy! A Chrestomathy of Crytology_ (1980), ed. Bill Pronzini might be called a "balanced" anthology of mummy stories. Fifty percent of the stories are old classics-- oft-reprinted mummy tales from times past. And fifty percent of the tales are bran' new, never before published mummy stories. I admit a slight preference for the older tales, but both groups are well-represented. The older tales are: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Lot No. 249" (_Harper's new Monthly Magazine_, 1892); Edgar Allan Poe's "Some Words with a Mummy" (_The American Review: A Whig Journal of Politics_, 1845); E.F. Benson's "Monkeys" (_Weird Tales_, 1933); Donald A. Wollheim's "Bones" (_Stirring Science Stories_, 1940); Tennessee Williams' "The Vengeance of Nicrotis" (_Weird Tales_, 1928); Theophile Gautier's "The Mummy's Foot" (1840; from _One of Cleopatra's Nights_, 1888); and Robert Bloch's "The Eyes of the Mummy" (_Weird Tales_, 1938). The Doyle story is a crisply told account of some dirty doings at Oxford involving a reptilian student of languages and the mummy in his room. The Poe is a political spoof: What would a revived mummy and nineteenth century politicos have to say to one another? It is a reminder that Poe could be funny as well as horrific. The Benson and the Wollheim are two horror stories. The Benson is about the doctor who practices vivisection who runs afoul of a mummy's curse. The Wollheim is a straightforward piece of grue. The Williams was his first published story, and is more of a curiosity piece than anything else. It is the least of the oldish tales in the anthology. The Bloch is about a couple of grave-robbing scoundrels who run into more than they bargained for. And the Gautier is a surprisingly charming mummy story that is one of the best stories of its kind. The never before published tales are: Talmage Powell's "Charlie," Edward D. Hoch's "The Weekend Magus," Joe R. Lansdale's "The Princess," Ardath Mayhar's "The Eagle-Claw Rattle," Charles L. Grant's "The Other Room," and Barry Malzberg's "Revelation in Seven Stages". I particularly liked the Hoch, a mystery involving a Scottish mummy, the Lansdale, a chiller set in California, and the Grant, a suspenser set in New England. The Malzberg, involving a mummy's curse carried into the far future, is also of interest. As a bonus, this book also contains an excellent bibliography of mummy books and films.