# Please help me ID this book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 9, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-id-this-book/206534 "2003-10-09T20:37:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-id-this-book/206534/1 "2003-10-09T20:37:00Z")
It’s a book of short stories. I’m not sure if it was actually aimed at children, but I always found it shelved in the kid’s section of the library I went to as a child. I think it was a collection by different authors, and it had a story in it about a mummy’s curse written from the POV of a blind newspaper vendor. Another story had the classic plot of a man whose wishes were granted but didn’t turn out the way he meant them to. For instance, he wished he knew how to make money and was given the ability to draw so well he could make counterfeit money. Another story dealt with some rare stamps that turned out to be from a completely different world. As you can see, this book really made an impression on me. Unfortunately the title didn’t. The only story from the book that I have been able to identify is The Believers, by Robert Arthur. Can anyone help me out? ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-id-this-book/206534/2 "2003-10-09T21:58:03Z")
Could the story about the stamps be a Jack Finney story? It rings a faint bell in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Stomp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@Stomp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stomp)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-id-this-book/206534/3 "2003-10-10T02:06:37Z")
I read that book too. I totally remember the mummy story and the curse the fellow was trying to run away from. I loved that book. I was a collection of short sci-fi stories. One of the stories was actually called “The haunted spacesuit”. HaHa. I loved it. Unfortunately, I left the book in another counrty. I will let you know if it comes to me. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-id-this-book/206534/4 "2003-10-10T02:49:45Z")
Arthur C. Clarke’s story, “The Haunted Spacesuit” in is _Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales_ ed. Isaac Asimov & Groff Conklin. However, there is no story by Robert Arthur in that anthology. Amazingly William G. Contento’s [Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections, Combined Edition Copyright © 2003](http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/isfac/0start.htm), the major work in the field, does not contain “The Believers” in its index. I’ve found the following anthologies containing stories by Arthur, but I haven’t checked them for contents: Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1957) The Unknown (1963) The Golden Road (1973) The 11th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories (1975) The Black Magic Omnibus Volume 1 (1976) Realms of Darkness (1985) A Treasury of American Horror Stories (1985) and “The Believers” is definitely in these two: A Treasury of American Horror Stories, ed. Frank D. McSherry, Jr., Charles G. Waugh & Martin H. Greenberg, Bonanza/Crown Books 1985 The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories 2, ed. Richard Dalby, Carroll & Graf 1991 ---
**Author:** ![Stomp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@Stomp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stomp)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-id-this-book/206534/5 "2003-10-10T03:07:29Z")
AAAH, Your right Exapno Mapcase. That was the book. Although, I do remember the blind newspaper guy and the story of the curse. Hummmm, I need to do some research. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-id-this-book/206534/6 "2003-10-10T11:42:20Z")
Wow, I really expected no answers to this thread! ( **Stomp** , I’m glad you remember it too, sometimes I wondered if I had imagined it.) **Exapno** , I will be following up everything on the list you provided. Many thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-id-this-book/206534/7 "2003-10-10T19:00:06Z")
I have this book. It’s edited by Robert Arthur himself and it’s called_Ghosts and More Ghosts_. My mom got it for us kids years ago (along with _Mystery and More Mystery_ and _The Three Investigators_ series. It’s also got the story of the crystal bell that brings a dead person back to life (in exchange for a live one), the guy who goes back in time to Rome, but appears as a goose, etc. It’s been out of print for ages, but Amazon has some used ones. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-id-this-book/206534/8 "2003-10-10T19:10:55Z")
**Myron** , I can’t tell you how happy you have made me today! I remember the stories you mentioned as well. As I said before, I expected no answer to my question, so I’m just sitting here amazed. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-id-this-book/206534/9 "2003-10-13T19:10:39Z")
You’re quite welcome. Actually, I misspoke. Arthur is the _auther_ of all the stories in the book, not merely the editor. Same with _Mystery and More Mystery_. He did edit the _Spies and More Spies_ and _Thrillers and More Thrillers_ collections of various writers. They’re all good. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-id-this-book/206534/10 "2003-10-13T19:36:55Z")
A pretty impressive guy, that Robert Arthur. I may track the rest of that stuff down as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-id-this-book/206534/11 "2003-10-13T19:56:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dung Beetle \* > \*\*Another story dealt with some rare stamps that turned out to be from a completely different world. \*\* Sounds like Borges! (I know, I know, it ain’t him.) 🆒 The world will be Tlon.