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When Norman Huntley and Henry Beddow, sheltering from the rain in a dismal Irish country church, placate the sexton by telling him that they knew of his beloved pastor (now departed), there is no reason to suppose that there is any harm in the invention. It is purely for their own amusement that they create a fictional mutual friend: an elderly lady, Miss Hargreaves...

The sexton does not doubt her existence. For him, Miss Hargreaves is as real as you or I. And she gradually assumes a fully-rounded character in the imaginings of the two young men as they while away their holiday in expanding the details of her life: her book of poetry, her parrot Dr Pepusch, her harp, and her hip-bath. It is merely a continuation of their little joke when they write to invite her to visit them back in their cathedral home-town of Cornford.

It is something of a surprise when Miss Hargreaves accepts their invitation. And their disbelief turns to confusion and horror as, one evening soon afterwards, her train pulls into Cornford Station...

First published in 1983 and long unavailable, Stories of the Strange and Sinister collects ten of Baker's short stories and displays the versatility of his work. Included are wonderfully macabre tales like 'The Chocolate Box', in which a discarded box found on a Cornish moor contains a gruesome surprise, and 'In the Steam Room', where a man enjoying a sauna believes he glimpses a horrible event through the steam, as well as more subtle tales of the fantastic like 'My Lady Sweet, Arise', in which a woman's compulsion to sing ends with strange consequences, and 'Quintin Claribel', the story of a rude young man who must - quite literally - eat his words.

Contents:

• Art Thou Languid? - (1947) - short story
• Coombe Morwen - (1983) - shortfiction
• Flowers I Leave You - (1983) - shortfiction
• In the Steam Room - (1966) - short story
• My Lady Sweet, Arise - (1983) - shortfiction
• Quintin Claribel - (1983) - shortfiction
• The Chocolate Box - (1973) - short story
• The Green Steps - (1951) - short story
• The Sack - (1977) - short story
• Tyme Tryeth Troth - (1950) - short story

Those who are old enough to remember still speak of the days "before the birds came." For the birds did come, descending on London by the thousands or even millions, inexplicably and seemingly out of nowhere. At first, the birds did little but congregate and watch, and Londoners found them amusing, if perhaps a bit odd. But then they began to show their sinister side: attacking, maiming, and even killing in incidents of tremendous brutality and violence. Were they a force of nature, or a supernatural manifestation? No one knew. The only thing that was clear was that the birds' aim was the destruction of mankind, and no one had any idea how to stop them....

The Birds (1936) went largely unnoticed when originally published, but after the release of Alfred Hitchcock's popular film in 1963, Frank Baker (1908-1983) threatened to sue, believing the film had borrowed from his book. The Birds was last reprinted in 1964, in a "revised" edition that in fact failed to incorporate hundreds of additions, deletions, and corrections Baker had made. This new edition is based on the author's personal copy of the revised text, making this definitive edition available for the first time. Also included is a new introduction by Hitchcock scholar Ken Mogg.

Despite the above, Daphne du Maurier's 1952 short story The Birds is widely credited as being the basis for Hitchcock's The Birds.