and Wayne eventually reach an accommodation
against their common enemy. Lansdale’s interpola-
tion and extrapolation from George Romero’s origi-
nal concept combines strong storytelling with
graphic, disturbing images and events.
“The Opener of the Way”Robert Bloch
(1936)
H. P. LOVECRAFThad an enormous influence on
other writers of his time, and not just in those sto-
ries they chose to set in his universe. His invoca-
tion of older gods, gods that existed during
prehistoric times and who were actually alien be-
ings rather than supernatural entities, shows up
again and again in short weird fiction during the
1930s and 1940s. Robert BLOCHwas one of those
who learned from Lovecraft, and in this, one of the
most famous of his early short stories, he marries
Lovecraftian imagery to an otherwise traditional
story of tomb robbers and an ancient Egyptian
curse.
Sir Ronald Barton and his son Peter have lo-
cated a tomb whose innermost secret is guarded by
a statue of Anubis, the opener of the way. The
elder Barton had long felt mistreated by the au-
thorities, unappreciated for his earlier archaeologi-
cal efforts as part of a team, so he stole an ancient
parchment that provided a clue to the location of
this present find. Sir Ronald has investigated Egyp-
tian sorcery in enough depth to have a certain de-
gree of respect for it, but he still disregards
warnings that there is a curse on the tomb and all
who enter it. According to the manuscript, the
tomb contains an image of the first true Anubis, a
sort of intermediary between humans and the older
gods.
As they draw closer, tension between father
and son increases. Sir Ronald is obsessed and se-
cretive, and Peter begins to both worry about his
father’s sanity and fear for his own safety. Al-
though they have performed all the rituals re-
quired, there is one that remains, one that Sir
Ronald has not described to his son. At last he re-
veals the truth, that the tomb can be opened only
if he hypnotizes himself and transfers his con-
sciousness into the guardian statue. This he pro-
ceeds to do, disregarding the curse, and in that
form he finds himself not only trapped for all of
eternity but compelled to viciously murder his own
son. Bloch’s tale might seem low-key by the stan-
dards of today’s horror fiction, but when it first ap-
peared it was considered a powerful and effective
story. It remains one of his best known.“The Open Window”Saki(1912)
Saki was the pseudonym used by the British writer
Hector Hugh Monroe for his very short, usually
barbed, stories, several of which involve elements
of the fantastic. This particular tale is one of his
shortest and is probably his best known. It is a
ghost story, one of the best ever written, but there
are no ghosts in it. In fact, the story is technically
neither fantasy nor horror at all, although the
reader does not know this until the final few para-
graphs. There have been many stories and novels
in which the reader is led to believe that supernat-
ural events are taking place, only to have them ex-
plained away in the final pages, such as Too Many
Magicians(1959) by Paul Gallico, The Rim of the Pit
(1964) by Hake Talbot, and The Shadow Guest
(1971) by Hillary Waugh, but none of them have
the intense, convincing impact of this simple little
vignette.
The author introduces us to Framton Nuttel,
who is recovering from a nervous disorder by
spending some time in the country making the ac-
quaintance of some of his sister’s friends. He is
calling upon one of them when he is left to be
briefly entertained by his hostess’s niece, Vera.
Vera draws his attention to an oversized window,
actually a doorway, that has been left open facing
the woodland beyond. She describes her aunt’s
tragedy, losing her husband, her two brothers, and
the family dog, all of whom died when they were
sucked into a bog three years previously, beyond
any hope of even recovering the bodies. Her aunt
was so affected that she superstitiously leaves the
window open so that they can come in if they
should ever return.
Eventually, his hostess appears, chatting about
her husband’s hunting trip, much to the dismay of
Nuttel, who believes her to be mentally ill. Then
he notices an expression of horror on Vera’s face
and follows her eyes out onto the lawn, where“The Open Window” 265