Results
ANCIENT LIGHTS.
New York: The Viking Press, [1982]. Octavo, printed wrappers. Advance uncorrected proof. "A picaresque tale of a battle between light and darkness set in rural West Virginia, from the author of the celebrated NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. A bawdy blend of the Rabelaisian and the Gnostic, the novel chronicles at sprawling length the bizarre rise of a messianic figure and is never less than intriguing." - Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 4A-126.
THE SIEGE OF 318: THIRTEEN MYSTICAL STORIES.
Webster Springs, West Virginia: Back Fork Books, Inc., [1978]. Octavo, cloth. First edition. A number of these stories take place in Glory, Grubb's imaginary town in West Virginia. Several of the fantastic tales "are quasi-allegorical, including the title story, in which a toy soldier collection magically crystalizes prowar and antiwar sentiments between a young boy and his father, and "The Blue Spectacles," in which the eyeglasses of a benevolent doctor convey a vision of humanity's basic goodness to the hellfire preacher who inherits them." - Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror (1999) 6-154. "In addition to the stories described by Barron, the most notable stories first published in this collection include 'Bitter Almonds,' a somber tale of a small-town sheriff investigating a murder committed via a hollow tooth and cyanide; 'The Burlap Bag,' a macabre Christmas fantasy about two five-year-old twins playing with the corpse of their stillborn half-brother because there are no toys in their house; and 'The Baby-Sitter,' a dark thriller of a teenage girl confronted during the night by two five-year-old brothers fighting over their father’s M-16, one of the most remarkable pieces of fiction to grow out of the social and political turmoil of the Vietnam War." - Boyd White.
TWELVE TALES OF SUSPENSE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1964. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Includes Grubb's classic "One Foot in the Grave" and "The Horsehair Trunk." Three of the twelve stories were adapted for broadcast on television. [Reference: Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror (1999) 6-154. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 4-131. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 721. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 4-111].
TWELVE TALES OF SUSPENSE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, [1964]. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Includes Grubb's classic "One Foot in the Grave" and "The Horsehair Trunk." Three of the twelve stories were adapted for broadcast on television. [Reference: Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror (1999) 6-154. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 4-131. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 721. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 4-111].
YOU NEVER BELIEVE ME AND OTHER STORIES.
New York: St. Martin's Press, [1989]. Octavo, boards. First edition. A posthumous collection of eighteen stories, including several dark fantasies, with an introduction by his brother Louis Grubb. "Includes three stories previously collected in THE SIEGE OF 318 (1978), as well as 'The Horsehair Trunk,' 'The Return of Verge Likens,' and 'You Never Believe Me' ('Where The Woodbine Twineth'), three of Davis’ most famous horror stories from TWELVE TALES OF SUSPENSE AND THE SUPERNATURAL (1964). In addition to 'The Crest of ’36,' a darkly humorous tale of river spirits and reincarnation written for Kirby McCauley’s seminal anthology DARK FORCES (1980), of the eight stories original to YOU NEVER BELIEVE ME, three are criminous or supernatural. 'And Presently He Died' details the grim reckoning between a spinster and her emotionally and physically abusive brother. 'Green Thumb' describes the justice wrought by the spirit of a murder victim through a lush, flowering vine. Best of all is 'The Last of the Chiefs,' a variation of the Pygmalion myth in which a skilled woodcarver is saved from his cruel, alcoholic brother by a Cherokee princess he sculpts from a maple tree." - Boyd White. [Reference: See Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror (1999) 6-154].