N S Ford

The time-travelling bookworm: ‘Point Horror 1’ collection

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The first collected edition of Point Horror novels was published in 1993 and contained Mother’s Helper by A Bates, The Invitation by Diane Hoh and Beach Party by R L Stine. The cover showed a weird skeleton in the sand dunes.

I read it in 2002, which was the era I consumed a lot of Point Horror (including my previous time-travel feature, The Yearbook). However, according to my database, I only read this particular collection once. I think once was probably enough. I have a feeling that Diane Hoh’s contribution was the best. There seem to have been 10 of these ‘three in one’ collections published but I didn’t have any, other than the first. No doubt if I re-read this (if I was inclined to source a copy) I would find a lot of flaws in the writing and probably roll my eyes at the inevitable stereotypes and unoriginal plots.

Catch up with recent posts in this series: Northern Lights, The Story of an African Farm, Zarconi’s Magic Flying Fish.

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Comments

6 responses to “The time-travelling bookworm: ‘Point Horror 1’ collection”

  1. Lashaan Balasingam @ Bookidote avatar
    Lashaan Balasingam @ Bookidote

    This does sound interesting and terrifying! Thanks for sharing. 😀

    Reply
    1. nsford avatar
      nsford

      I have no doubt it was terrifying 🙂 Although of its time.

      Reply
  2. Gerry@TheBookNookUK avatar
    Gerry@TheBookNookUK

    I absolutely loved Point Horror when I was a teenager and read all of the collections! There’s still a few short stories that stick in my mind today so even if I end up re-reading them as an adult and rolling my eyes they still did their job – to scare teenage me! Oddly I think I’d love to read them again now just to see how they stand up (or not) with the passage of time.

    Reply
    1. nsford avatar
      nsford

      I used to borrow a lot of PH from the library! (the public one, as my school wouldn’t lend me them until I was 15!) – interestingly, after staying away from horror for years, I’m getting interested in it again 🙂 But I don’t think I’ll try re-reading PH.

      Reply
  3. (Kitty) Cat Strawberry - Meow! avatar
    (Kitty) Cat Strawberry – Meow!

    Wow, nostalgia trip! I loved Point horror books although I didn’t read that many of them, they were my favourite book to read at some point. I think that cover is pretty scary, probably more scary than the stories inside, lol. I haven’t read any of those stories mentioned but I did think Diane Hoh was one of the best authors back then. I read Funhouse by her and it was the only Point Horror that gave me a shock when I was reading it.

    I know this sounds stupid but I didn’t know that there were Point Horror collections. I don’t think I ever saw them at my local shops or library and the only collection I ever saw and got was a Point Crime one (which embarrisingly I still haven’t read 😮 ) I think I need to re-read all these old books too, although like you I’d probably find them a bit cringy now, lol

    Reply
    1. nsford avatar
      nsford

      Great comment! Thanks 🙂 I’m pretty sure I read Funhouse too. The books could vary a lot in how good the stories were, I think. I probably wanted all the collections (having a collector mentality!). If you do re-read any Point Horror I would be very interested to hear what you think!

      Reply

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