More Philip Allan: The non-anthology ‘Creeps’
Apart from the famous anthologies, there were a number of novels and single author collections in the Creeps series. From Tales Of Fear (I’ve added the year of publication, when known)
THE FAMOUS “CREEPS” SERIES
To be successful, the gruesome story must not be too long. The most hardened of us can only take this kind of thing in small doses with a breathing space between each.
The sales of these volumes have gone into many thousands. Some have gone quite out of print; but new ones are being constantly added. Each volume has about a dozen stories of sheer, stark horror – and noone, whatever their nerve strength, should read them at night. Nervous people should not read them at all.
THE THREE FREAKS – TODD ROBBINS 1934
THE MASTER OF MURDER – TODD ROBBINS 1933
THE BUTTERFLY MURDER – CHARLTON ANDREW ????
DEVIL’S DRUMS – VIVIAN MEIK 1933
VEILS OF FEAR – VIVIAN MEIK 1934
THE STRANGE PAPERS OF DR. BLAYRE – CHRISTOPHER BLAYRE 1932
THE AIR DEVIL – BARRINGTON BEVERLEY 1934
MYSTERIES OF ASIA – SHEIK ABDULLAH 1934
TALES OF THE GROTESQUE – L. A. LEWIS 1934
VAMPIRES OVERHEAD – ALAN HYDER 1935
THE DEVIL OF THE DEPTHS – JACK McLAREN 1935
TO THE READER
If you have enjoyed the stories in this popular series – why not write one? It is very probable that other volumes will be added: and the publishers are always ready to consider the work of new, as well as established, authors.
Send MSS. to
Messrs. PHILIP ALLAN & CO., Ltd.
69, Great Russell Street, London, W.C.1
Mark envelopes ‘Creeps’
Three more books, also published by Philip Allan, which appeared too early to be considered legit Creeps were Mrs. Everett’s The Death Mask & Other Ghost Stories (1920), Tod Robbins’ Who Wants A Green Bottle? (1926) and H. R. Wakefield’s They Return At Evening (1928).
Come 1936 and the publisher seems to have veered off into a SF direction with Edmond Hamilton’s The Horror Of The Asteroid & Other Planetary Horrors and Barrington Beverley’s The Space Raiders, although that same year saw publication of Charle’s Birkin’s Devil Spawn, which collected all his contributions to the anthologies and is unquestionably a Creep!.
Gruesome Cargoes 