Christine Bernard

Your Swift Annual author of the day...

Christine Bernard I expected to find information on fairly easily because she edited a whole host of anthologies. But, no...

Apart from the fact that she was born in 1926, I can't find much at all. She was on the staff of Swift and Robin in the late 1950s and contributed to Swift Annual 6 and 7 (1959-60). From the mid-1960s, she edited a number of well-received horror anthologies for Fontana Books and Armada. I used to love these when I was a kid and they went through a load of editions. But, suddenly, from The 5th Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories (1970), the series was edited by Mary Danby, who also took over the Armada Ghost Book series.

She died at her home in France on 31 January 2000.

Anthologies
The Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories. London, Fontana Books (1465), 1966.
The Armada Ghost Book, illus. Gino d'Achille. London, May Fair Books (Armada C197), 1967.
The 2nd Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories. London, Fontana Books (1466), 1967.
The Second Armada Ghost Book, illus. Gino d'Achille. London, May Fair Books (Armada C253), 1968.
The 3rd Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories. London, Fontana Books, 1968.
The 4th Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories. London, Fontana Books, 1969.
The First Armada Book of True Ghost Stories. London, Collins, 1974; as A Shiver of Spooks, London, London, Armada Books, 1976; as A Host of Ghosts, Philadelphia, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1977; with some stories revised, as True Ghosts, London, Armada, 1979.
The Book of Fantastic Boats, illus. Ray Coombs. London, Octopus Books, 1975.
The Book of Fantastic Fish, illus. Norman Weaver. London, Octopus Books, 1975.