Killer Delivery

According to his online biography at Blossoms Spring Publishing, Calum France was born in Stirling, Scotland and began writing at a young age. He holds a BA in English Literature and has authored two full-length novels and a novella in the horror genre. I acquired an ARC of the novella, Killer Delivery, published by Sapphire Creed Ink and published in 2024 as a one-dollar ebook. 

The opening chapter, “Cold Night”, places readers in a secluded mansion in the small town of Aberlea on a snowy Halloween evening. It is here that Jonathan Harker (obvious homage to Bram Stoker), successful wealthy novelist, performs the ordinary task of ordering food to be delivered to his home. But, a deranged super-fan named Karlee Monroe has been waiting outside of Harker's home for just this occasion. She savagely executes a gore-gash-to-the-door-dash and then takes on the disguise and carries the food into her literary idol's home. 

But, Killer Delivery offers readers two more surprises. Three burglars decide that this Halloween night is the perfect opportunity to break into Harker's home. Conveniently, as Karlee is inside Harker's home, the three bungling burglars tie Harker to a chair and begin the gun-wielding threats to cough over money. However, all of these intruders are shocked when they realize that Harker doesn't write his murder thrillers as fiction.

This novella slightly resembled Thurlow's Christmas Story, a short story that was authored by John Kendrick Bangs and published in Harper's Weekly in 1894. In that plot design, an author's fan surprisingly appears on his doorstep and then weird things happen. But, in a more modern sense, the novella is like a cross between Dexter and The People Under the Stairs in its clever home-invasion concept plopped neatly upon a stainless steel operating table under the gloom of a professional serial killer.  

At 100-pages, give or take a font size, the novella is presented in a smooth prose with plenty of imagery and compelling storytelling. While it is hard to create an innovative home-invasion plot with today's overuse of the plot design, France works his magic to propel this narrative into a riveting read laced with energy, violence, and a sense of lonely atmosphere that drapes the writing in a snowbound chill. Killer Delivery delivers the goods. Get it HERE.

Dracula

Dracula, written by an Irishman named Bram Stoker, was published in 1897. It was later a huge success in the 20th century and is the most popular horror novel of all-time. It inspired countless media platforms including movies, television shows, animated cartoons, action figures, comics, breakfast cereals, and costumes. The book's villain, Count Dracula, is often the icon for vampire culture - both pop-culture and the freakish folks that dress goth and avoid suntans. Dracula was, and is, a big deal.

Bram Stoker's Dracula is presented in a non-traditional way. The entire book is made up of diary entries, letters, transcripts of phonograph recordings, telegraph messages, and ship logs. It makes for a dynamic reading experience that bounces perspectives. 

The presentation begins with Jonathan Harker's diary entries. He's an attorney who has been asked to travel to the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania to visit Count Dracula at his castle. The meeting is to settle some financial affairs and complete real estate purchases. However, Harker quickly learns that he has become a prisoner and he's only able to communicate with his fiancé Mina through letters that are read and approved by Dracula himself. Harker also discovers that Dracula is a supernatural being when he sees the Count behave like a lizard and crawl down the castle walls. There are parts of the castle that are restricted, but Harker is able to discover three vampire women that are also in the castle as well as a cemetery and chapel where the Count sleeps in a dirt filled box.

Harker eventually returns to England and is admitted into the hospital where he tells Mina everything that happened. Meanwhile, the Count has purchased an old house in London and arrives by boat in a mysterious fashion. Through diaries and letters the readers are introduced to Lucy, Mina's friend. Lucy begins to behave in a strange way and readers discover that she is a victim of Dracula, evident with puncture holes on her neck and her telepathic connection with the Count. 

Dr. Seward, who is also seeing strange behavior in a patient named Renfield, asks for help from his mentor, Dr. Van Helsing who determines that Lucy is a vampire. Together, they collaborate with other men to find Dracula's home. Eventually, horrible things happen to Lucy and the book's finale has Van Helsing and the other men chasing Dracula through the snowy mountains battling gypsies to kill Dracula.

First off, for 1897, this book is extremely violent. There's women being decapitated, garlic stuffed in the mouths of corpses, a baby that is kidnapped and drained of blood, children dying, etc. These are elements that probably created shockwaves at the turn of the century with not only the level of violence but the combination of intense scenes and the fiendish despicable villain. Despite the book's unpopularity upon publication, the intensity may have drawn filmmakers to the novel. 

The book's beginning with Harker in the castle was fantastic and the last 60 pages is really good with the chase and mystery determining Dracula's whereabouts. The ending is quite epic. The middle 200 pages was my biggest issue - which is the bulk of the book. The constant perspective changes from diary entries of one character to physician notes or letters of another character and the rotation just never glued me to the story. Also, Van Helsing's presence was a real letdown. He cries a lot, speaks like a character in Shakespeare, and is just way too literary for me. These 200 pages are similar to a medical thriller with blood transfusions and endless around the clock care for Lucy. 

I wish Dracula was a traditional novel, but its wide appeal is the style of presentation. Some people love it, others are just underwhelmed by the book. Overall, I really enjoyed Dracula but I'll never read it again. I'm one and done just because of the sluggishness of the middle. But, if you like horror, then Dracula is a mandatory read. You have to read it or else you really can't substantiate your love of vampire literature for something like Salem's Lot or Interview with the Vampire. Take a leap and try the classic. You'll be satisfied.

Ranking Dean R. Koontz Books

In this exclusive video, Eric presents a top 20 ranking of his favorite Dean R. Koontz novels. Each novel includes a capsule review with tons of book covers through the years from various publishers. Also, movie clips and some other fun facts about Koontz's work is included.

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 108

Another exciting episode of the Paperback Warrior Podcast. In this episode, Eric discusses the life and work of legendary best-selling thriller writer Dean R. Koontz, complete with the numerous pseudonyms he used throughout his career and the many genres he contributed to. In addition, Eric reviews an iconic horror novel from the 1800s and reads a horrifying "when animals attack" story titled "Weasels Ripped My Flesh". You can stream the episode below, at YouTube, or on any streaming platform. Also, be sure to view the entirely different, exclusive video ranking Eric's favorite Dean R. Koontz novels HERE.

Listen to "Episode 108: Dean R. Koontz" on Spreaker.

Chopping Mall: The Novelization

Roger Corman's Concorde Pictures released Chopping Mall in 1986. The origin of the film's production stemmed from Corman's wife Julie negotiating a distribution deal with Vestron to create a horror film with a shopping mall locale. B-movie screenwriter, director, and producer Jim Wynorski joined the project to write the script (with Steve Mitchell) and direct. This was a partnership with the Cormans that would fuel future cult hits like Big Bad Mama II, Deathstalker 2, and Sorority House Massacre II and III (aka Hard to Die or Tower of Terror). Chopping Mall (initially titled Killbots) had a limited theatrical run but became rental store sustenance for millions of VCRs in the 1980s. Very few teenagers could pass up the amazing font and cover art.

In 2013, author, producer, and editor Mark Alan Miller teamed up with Shout! Factory to release the director's cut edition of Clive Barker's Nightbreed. Now, in 2024 Miller is the founder and president of the nostalgically modern publisher Encylopocalypse, which concentrates on horror, science-fiction, and action novels as both original content, reprints of prized vintage fiction, and new, fresh novelizations of cult films. His former collaboration with Shout! Factory inspired Encyclopocalypse to novelize Chopping Mall, which had previously never been novelized. Shout! Factory owns the rights to publish Roger Corman's film library. The marriage is a perfect curtain-jerk into more Corman films hitting the printed page. 

Chopping Mall's novelizations is by Brian G. Berry, an author of over fifty novels and the founder of Slaughterhouse Press. His most well-known series titles are Shark Files, Slasherback, and VHS Trash. Berry's experience with horror and his novelizations for SRS Cinema makes him the perfect fit for Chopping Mall: The Novelization (release date Nov. 19, 2024).

Berry's take on Chopping Mall mostly follows the film version, which is how I like my novelizations. After just reading Michael Avalonne's Friday the 13th 3-D novelization, which seemingly was written from a different script completely, I appreciate Berry's artistic integrity to preserve the film's original design.

The book, and film, concerns a technological advancement occurring at Park Plaza Mall. To detract theft and unruly behavior, Park Plaza has installed three robots deemed The Protector. They are armed with deadly, flesh-piercing devices like tasers, lasers, C-4 explosive, and pain-inducing pliers when in a pinch. The exterior of these robots is bulletproof. Why any of this is necessary at an average 80s shopping mall is never explained in the film other than security measures. 

One night after the mall closes for business, teenage employees stay late and converge inside one of the mall's furniture stores with their mattress mate. When a lightning storm frays the building's electronics, the robots are glitched and begin hunting the teens in the mall. These mop-headed survivors fight for their lives by stealing firearms, paint supplies (boom!), and other hardware to combat the run-amok robots. Like any 80s horror film there is the proverbial “final girl finale” to keep the faith. 

Berry's novel weighs in at 136 pages and presents these horrifying, stomach-clinching scenes of terror with enough descriptive detail to make it a bloody good time without being distasteful. I loved the breezy flow, shorter chapters, and the quick dismissal of the unimportant characters – pop, chop, and tase for (time) savings.

Unlike the film, Berry goes one step further and doesn't rely on the last page's embrace to welcome the credits. Instead, he includes a four page Epilogue titled “Protector 2.0” that explains the U.S. Army Special Weapons Division, funded by the Defense Department, staged this mall annihilation as an exercise to test how the robots would perform in combat. Berry also includes a scene from an undisclosed testing facility in California where the robots have killed a number of people before finally biting the hand that feeds in Dr. Vanders, in this case ripping her scalp from her head and shoving it in her mouth. Brian Berry can be nasty when he wants to be. 

Chopping Mall: The Novelization is a delightful retail rampage placing consumer combatants into an arena of oncoming death. Or debt from those monstrous credit card machines fueled on American capitalism and 80s excess. That's the believable horror story.

Buy your copy HERE.

Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies

Although he has written two novels, New York creative writing professor John Langan is mostly known as an author of literary gothic horror short stories. Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies is a collection of 13 short works compiled and published in 2022. I sampled four stories from the collection to see what Langon is all about.

"Kore" - This story is about a married couple with a preschooler who decide to create a Halloween haunted walk behind their house as a seasonal attraction for their kid’s classmates to enjoy. It’s filled with corny scares like rubber spiders and craft-store cobwebs. Kid stuff. Year after year the couple ups their scare game making their haunted walk more and more frightening and intricate. Could this be a vehicle to invite actual threats into the house? The climax of this very short story was plenty scary, but it really ended too soon. I wanted more, but I suppose that’s a pretty high compliment for a short story.

"Homemade Monsters" - In this one, our narrator is looking back on his childhood and his idyllic relationship with his parents among a crowded house teeming with siblings. His little rival friend gets off on destroying toys during play dates until finally enough is enough. Compelling, well-written story about childhood friendship frustrations, but not particularly scary.

"Shadow and Thirst" - August is a Newark cop visiting his father in the country. On an early morning walk, they see a ten-foot tower that has been mysteriously erected on dad’s property in the distance. The dad goes to check out this mysterious object while August heads back to the house with the family’s suddenly disturbed dog. When dad returns to the house, he’s…different. Psychotic. Dangerous. The secret to what’s happening lies in the odd tower, and the revelations are creative and satisfying. Best of the bunch.

"Corpsemouth" - The title story is the final one I read in the collection in which the narrator recalls a trip to Scotland in 1994. His father had recently died, and the trip is to visit dad’s family back in Scotland. He recalls his father’s final days in the hospital before his death, and the reader gets a glimpse into why this is a horror story. We also learn about Corpsemouth, a god/monster legend of the H.P. Lovecraft variety. The narrator also name-checks Stephen King in the story. Despite these solid ingredients, this overlong story failed to connect with me.

John Langan is a talented and inventive writer, but his work failed to frighten me in the manner Stephen King did in Night Shift or Skeleton Crew. I’d be interested in reading one of his novels because I’d really like to see what he can do with more pages to expand his thoughtful ideas.

Meanwhile, I intend to dip back into the Corpsemouth collection because these stories don’t benefit from back-to-back-to-back consumption. I’d definitely recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys their horror more cerebral and literary. Get your copy HERE. 

Sour Candy

Kealan Patrick Burke is an Irish-born contemporary horror author with a winning streak of highly-regarded terrifying novels and novellas. My first dip into his world was his 86-page Sour Candy, available as a thin paperback or a Kindle ebook.

The story opens with childless Phil grabbing some chocolate from the candy aisle of a Wal-Mart for his girlfriend at home. While browsing the sweet treats, he sees a little kid having a total meltdown in the store accompanied by his stoic and unreactive mother. Witnessing this, Phil’s primary thought is, “Man, I’m glad that isn’t my kid.”

On his way home from the store, a car plows into the back of Phil’s Chevy at a stoplight smashing the vehicle like an accordion. When the dazed Phil extracts himself from his car, he sees the driver who struck him is the lady from the store - somehow without her hellion child in tow.

That’s when things start getting scary as hell.

Giving away further plot points would spoil the fun, but if you’ve seen the terrifying film It Follows, you have an idea what’s happening. Creepy kid stories were a staple from the Paperbacks From Hell era of late 20th century horror fiction, and Sour Candy can be seen as a modern homage to that sub-genre.

I liked this story quite a bit and found it generally unnerving and quite scary in parts. I think the author was reflecting upon and playing with the anxiety that childless couples must feel at the prospect of upending their lives by having a kid. Be warned that this story won’t do much in the way of convincing young adults to take that plunge.

In any case, Sour Candy is a fun, scary ride that cemented Burke as an author to watch in the horror genre. Recommended.

Get the book HERE.

The Body Snatchers

Author Jack Finney (1911-1995) authored a number of short stories for glossy magazines like Collier's and Cosmopolitan. His career kick-started when he won a literary award from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. His first novel was 5 Against the House, originally published as a serial in Good Housekeeping in 1953 and compiled into a novel in 1954. He followed that success a year later with what is arguably his most well-known work, The Body Snatchers. It was originally published in Collier's from November through December of 1954 and then as a Dell hardcover novel in 1955. The book was such a hit that it was adapted into a film in 1956 using the familiar title Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It would be adapted to film three more times through 2007.

The Body Snatchers takes place in the northern California county of Marin. The main character is a twenty-something divorced doctor named Miles. In the beginning of the book Miles receives an office visit from an an old high-school flame named Becky. She is also divorced and the two still have a romantic chemistry. Becky is worried and explains to Miles that her cousin believes that the man claiming to be her uncle is no longer really her uncle. He looks the same, acts the same, talks the same....but something is just different. 

Later, Miles receives more patients claiming that there friends or loved ones have been replaced by an identical person (or thing!). Miles feels this is all ridiculous and could be linked to hysteria. But, he visits a guy named Jack and the narrative then takes a spin into some really dark places. 

Inside Jack's home, Miles discovers a nude body draped upon a pool table. Oddly, the body doesn't have any identifying features, as if it is still in the process of being formed or made. Jack shockingly claims that the body was infant-sized a few hours before Miles arrival. The idea is that this body is growing to eventually become a duplicate of Jack or his wife. 

Eventually Jack, Jack's wife, Miles, and Becky find seed pods around town that suggest aliens are being created to look like humans in an attempt to integrate themselves secretly into human society. The narrative's first half is built on shock, awe, and suspenseful discovery. The concept is mysterious and spirals into a paranoid sense that the town is consumed by alien beings. 

The second half of the book is a frenzied plot-development as the characters find themselves in a fight or flight situation as they prepare to leave town. Miles, again as a doctor, feels that it is his obligation and oath to protect the town. Together with Becky, he eventually talks with the alien impostors to discover their overall plan. 

As much as I loved this book and the characters, the ending was extremely disappointing. This is a common complaint with anyone who has read this book. Finney just doesn't stick the landing and it doesn't have a suitable ending. His scientific explanation for the aliens arrival doesn't make any sense when you compare it to the book's ending. But, nonetheless it doesn't ruin the entertainment factor.

There are essays and detailed reviews of this book everywhere and one can journey down any rabbit hole to find influences and critical praise of the book's underlying message. As a fan of Finney's heist novels, I've noticed that the author often creates characters that wish to be something they are not. Often young characters will dream of being wealthy and independent which spurs them into committing crimes before facing defeat, rejection, and guilt. In many ways this book has that same central theme as the alien impostors explain how things are different (better?) when the humans give into the transfer of losing themselves to become this alien form. There is also quick references about the town planning on revitalization with a proposed interstate that will bring with it more traffic and commerce. Also, Miles complains that the replacement of the town's telephone operator for an automated system seems to be a sign that humanity is replacing itself. I loved the subtext that Finney injects into his narrative. 

You owe it to yourself to read The Body Snatchers. Despite the ending, the book is frightening, thrilling, and influential to many of the “invasion” angles you see with science-fiction and horror genres to this day. Highest possible recommendation. 

Ooze

Author Anthony M. Rud authored science-fiction, horror, and detective novels and short stories between the 1920s through the 1930s using his own name and pseudonyms of R. Anthony, Ray McGillivary, and Anson Piper. He also edited Adventure magazine for three years and Detective Story Magazine for one year. He is best remembered as authoring the title novella in the historic first issue of Weird Tales – Ooze from March 1923. 

Ooze is presented in first-person narration by an unnamed narrator. The narrator learns that his former college roommate, John Cranmer, has died along with John's son Lee and his wife Peggy. The novella begins with the discovery of these deaths and then follows a non-linear narrative as the narrator pieces together the pieces of history leading to these deaths.

Working as an aggressive scientist, John purchases a swampy area of Alabama to conduct experiments on microorganisms. The idea is to somehow grow larger livestock that would provide more food to people. However, things spiral out of control when John grows a small amoeba. John's adult son Lee visits his father and purposely begins to feed the “Ooze” large animals in an effort to supersize the growth and showcase his father's scientific prowess.

I won't ruin the surprise for you but I'll hint that this slimy gelatin-encased oozy monster may or may not bite the hand that feeds. How the deaths happen, who is responsible for this creature-run-amok incident, and the mystery of where the thing lives becomes the bulk of the narrative in a fun and gross way. Literary scholars have often cited that this story may have influenced H.P. Lovecraft's style, specifically his story The Dunwich Horror. 

If you love early horror and gross-out monster mayhem, do yourself a solid and read Ooze. Get it HERE.

Blood Farm: An Iowa Gothic

Utah native Sam Siciliano earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa. His writing career includes nine Sherlock Holmes books as part of Titan's Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. His influences are genre fiction and Victorian writers, two loves that led to his three stand-alone vampire novels. I decided to read one of them – Blood Farm: An Iowa Gothic. It was published in 1988 by Pageant Books with an incredible cover by artist Hector Garrido.

In reading the book I began seeing comparisons to Bram Stoker's Dracula. After a shallow dive online I found that Siciliano used Dracula as the template for a modern retelling of the story, relocating the tale from the Carpathian Mountains to Iowa. 

The book begins with Angela, a college student, standing by the highway in a snowstorm. She wants to get to Iowa City and spends the worst possible night begging for a ride. Roy, a Vietnam War veteran, pulls over and picks her up in a long black hearse. He's on his way to retrieve a body in a small town called Udolph. Angela agrees to go along with him in exchange for the ride to Iowa City. Fair enough.

As they pull off the highway and head to the small town they find a strung out guy collapsed by a road sign. They pick him up and together the trio arrive at a derelict old farmhouse. Inside, they are greeted by a man named Blut who appears deathly white and his weirdo girlfriend. He shows them to the body which is really just a locked coffin. He offers to host the trio of travelers overnight so they can transport the body the next morning when the snow lifts. But, things go absolutely batshit crazy. Quickly.

The chaos begins when Roy and Angela have sex (graphically explained in detail by the author). Roy goes to the bathroom down the hall to freshen up and is then raped by the albino's girlfriend. She's clearly a vampire. Roy fights his way free but it is too late. The albino guy is a master vampire and he has attacked and raped Angela. Roy escapes with his life and heads to Iowa City to retrieve a horror mythology expert, a priest, and Angela's friend. They then head back to the farmhouse to do battle with vampires.

First, this book is sort of fun in a campy sort of way. It is all preposterous and the writing isn't fabulous by any means. But, it has a nostalgic charm that reminded me of the 80s classics like Fright Night and Vamp. My biggest issue with the book is that these horny vampires rape their prey. They run around groping for a good lay which erased any scare factor the author could conjure up. I just couldn't take the evil vampire leader seriously when the image is Bela Lugosi but the dialogue is Andrew Dice Clay. It was just weird for me. 

Blood Farm: An Iowa Gothic may be entertaining to vampire buffs. But, as a horror novel with an impressive cover it just doesn't work. Very mild recommendation if you can get it on the cheap. Try HERE.

Thrill

Author Patricia Wallace's literary career is closely associated with horror paperbacks of the 1980s and 1990s. Her first novel was Traces, published by Zebra in 1982. Most of her horror novels centered around children or young adults facing some supernatural force or homicidal lunatic. I chose to read her 1990 paperback Thrill, which promised thrills inside an amusement park.

Billionaire developer Sheldon Rice has created an amusement park simply titled The Park. But, its an unusual place with three levels sitting on top of thousands of acres of rural California. The niche is that most of the park features robots as the themes – robot spiders, soldiers, creatures, etc. I was getting hints of the 1970s sci-fi flick Westworld going into the book. 

To celebrate The Park's grand-opening, a Willy Wonka type of promotional gig is provided that invites a handful of troubled teens to the dazzling entertainment mecca to experience all of the thrills for the very first time. 

Wallace presents the narrative in third-person with a variety of characters. In any given chapter the book may be from the perspective of Rice, his engineer, the park's doctor, and the variety of kids that make up the park's attendance. I found that the constant changes made for a bumpy ride through the plot-development and action. Motion sickness is my weakness, but trumping the shiftiness was the book's plodding progress. 

It takes almost 200 pages for the kids to arrive at the park. There's 388 total pages which beefed up the book's first-half narrative with tons of backstory and the various maintenance and creation that Davison, the park engineer, is constructing or finishing. Each kid has a chapter of history and predicament but none of it really mattered.

Inside the park I was hoping for Die Hard with kids being slaughtered by runaway robots (Chopping Mall!) as they attempt to free themselves from the billionaire's faulty new toy. None of that really happens. Sure, there is the occasional broken bone, severe laceration, and death, but it isn't a sizable portion of the book's payoff. The substitute is a bunch of malarkey about an old Native American who feels that the land is cursed and that Rise is receiving his comeuppance for building there. 

Thrill sucks. Period. Don't waste your time. 

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 107

On this spook-filled episode, Eric takes listeners through the darkened hallways and staircases of gothic-romance novels. His feature today looks at the most prolific author of all-time, William Edward Daniel Ross. He wrote over 350 novels of gothic-romance, nurse-fiction, and short-stories. He also authored the 32-book series of Dark Shadows paperbacks that were tie-in novels to the popular supernatural ABC television show. In addition, Eric reviews a 1990 vintage horror novel about a killer amusement park and reads a short-story by Stephen Mertz titled The King of Horror. Stream the episode below or HERE and be sure to check out the companion video HERE.

Listen to "Episode 107: W.E.D. Ross - The King of Gothics" on Spreaker.

Nightmare on Ice

John Stephen Glasby (1928-2011) was a British born author that produced more than 300 novels and shorts during the mid 20th century. Most of his literary work was written using pseudonyms or house names like A.J. Merak, J.L. Powers, Victor La Salle, Chuck Adams, and John E. Muller. Bold Venture Press spotlighted Glasby's Nightmare on Ice in their 45th issue of Pulp Adventures. The novelette was originally published under the pseudonym Peter Laynham in Supernatural Stories in 1963. 

The narrative features five men living in a research station miles from civilization in the Arctic. There's three scientists, a mechanic, and a meteorologist. Inside this base sits three main buildings and each of these tiny buildings is connected by a dark narrow tunnel. One of the men mentions that he can hear animal noises outside the doors, which is unusual considering the area is in a heavy thunderous blizzard. 

Days later one of the men is alone in the storeroom and hears scratching at the outside door. Considering the temperature is hovering at 60 below zero, nothing alive should be outside in the storm. The man opens the door, begins screaming, and then the reader is left guessing at his demise. This sort of thing plays out again with another member of the research team. 

With three survivors remaining, one of them tells the others that through the frost-crusted window he could see both of the dead men standing out in the snow. There's discussion among the men that ancient people in that area believed something supernatural lived in the ice and sort of embodied the winter. Needless to say things happen and eventually we're left with one survivor who is armed with a gun and attempting to keep his sanity knowing he's the next victim. But, what is the thing in the ice? Is it a ghost, a creature, Satan himself? I like that Glasby leaves it all subjective. There is an ending to the story, but it's slippery to determine exactly what's happening. 

Nightmare on Ice is a fantastic reading experience with a sense of dread looming in every dark crevice. I love books and stories set in snowy locales or frozen settings so the atmosphere and temperature was perfect. One of my favorite horror films is John Carpenter's The Thing and this novelette contained those vibes, which in itself was based on the 1938 novella "Who Goes There". Glasby's tale is mostly what I consider a horror entry but I guess you can lump it in as a science-fiction with the possibility that the evil thing is from another world or planet. Regardless of genre, this was entertaining and highly recommended. 

You can get Pulp Adventures for ten bucks on Amazon HERE and as I mentioned earlier it contains this novella and a lot of other great content. Bold Venture Press does such a great job with this magazine and I have no qualms supporting their efforts. This issue also contains pulp fiction stories from E.C. Tubb, Shelley Smith, Ernest Dudley, and contemporary stories from authors like Jack Halliday and Michael Wexler. There's also a Rough Edges article written by author James Reasoner reviewing three novels.

Crawlspace

Occasionally, books just gut us, right? Not in a bad way. I'm referring to the way talented authors can weave compelling stories that just suck you right in. Throughout the reading experience you get this bond with the characters and you become emotionally invested. When events happen in the story you feel personally connected in some sort of literary spiritual way. Just as you become comfortable with the trick – that's the writer 's magic – the crucial plot development and engaging characters get tossed to the wind. It's a bouncy, temporarily unsafe place swooshed into the funnel cloud that quickly appeared from nowhere. If the author did their job effectively (genre plays a partial role), the aftermath is the wreckage descending from the sky to surprises the reader and crush all previous assumptions about the characters or story. Or something like that. 

Herbert Lieberman's 1971 novel Crawlspace manages to check all of the boxes. The author specialized in crime-fiction and horror, churning out 14 novels between 1967 and 2003. Crawlspace was originally published by David McKay, but was later published multiple times by Pocket Books. The book sold well and was adapted into a made-for-television film that broadcast on CBS in 1972. 

Crawlspace is a difficult novel to review for fear of giving away too much of the story. The book is a character study, and a deep psychological dive, into severe social anxiety as an elderly couple experience domestic turbulence in their quaint New England farmhouse. At over 300 pages, the book's momentum shifts from a slow character development into a more sporadic frenzy as the story changes dynamics. There are crime-fiction elements, some vigilantism, and a focal point on a corrupt sheriff. However, Lieberman's story doesn't have a convincing “bad guy”. It isn't as specific in the storytelling to assign heroism or dastardliness. That's the hook.

If you are looking for a terrific novel look no further than Crawlspace. It is a potboiler that builds in intensity as the couple's fears and suspicious grow. I've never read a book quite like it...and probably never will. Track down a copy of this one. Highly recommended. Get a copy of the book HERE. 

Houses of Horror

When I was a kid, on the third of each month I would spend long days at the grocery store and pharmacy. This was the day my grandmother, aunt, and uncle received their Social Security checks, an event celebrated by my mother driving the three of them "into town" to spend Uncle Sam's dough. My part in this parade, besides being squished into the car, was a dollar's worth of quarters for the arcade machines in the grocery store. At .25 cent a game, the money bought about eight minutes of enjoyment. The rest of the time I would camp out in the magazine aisle, which had some books, and read until the shopping finished. The grocery store at the time preyed on the lower-income, Bible-belt consumers that would believe anything. The stocked books were on UFOs, alien abductions, the Bermuda Triangle, ghosts, and of course, thick books that analyzed and dissected all of the facts about Elvis to determine he was still alive and living on a tropical island off the coast of Africa. 

I would imagine, based on popularity, that I read or thumbed through a book by shock-writer Richard Winer (1925-2016). He edited or authored a handful of spooky non-fiction books about "real" supernatural events. His books, published by Bantam, included three works on the Bermuda Triangle (The Devil's Triangle 1 & 2, From the Devil's Triangle to the Devil's Jaw) and three books on haunted houses and happenings, Haunted Houses, More Haunted Houses, and today's subject for review, Houses of Horror. It was published in 1983 with cover art by David Passalacqua Jr. (Black Christmas). 

As you can see in the photo, Houses of Horror consists of 20 short articles or tales concerning a supposed ghost, haunted house, or supernatural event. I chose three of these to cover in this review:

"The Ghosts of the Wolf House"

The ghost of Jack London? News to me. But, apparently this was a common myth in California's Sonoma Valley. In this tale, Winer outlines bestselling author Jack London's Wolf House. London, who authored the beloved Call of the Wild, The Sea Wolf, and White Fang, designed the house to have 23 rooms and a dining room large enough to seat fifty guests. The plan was to move into the house in September, 1913, but the month before the nearly-complete house burned up. London had planned to rebuild the house but died three years later. The ruins of Wolf House was acquired by Jack London State Park and visitors at the ruins claimed to hear voices and see apparitions. London's widow claimed her brother Jack refused to live in the ranch house that was on the same property. He claimed London's ghost walked the halls and watched visitors. The article also documents some of the spiritual readings that supposedly caught London's voice after his death. Spooky, and creative, stuff. 

"Wisconsin's House of Curses"

The haunted house here is the Hille Farm in Waukesha, Wisconsin, a two-hundred-acre spread that was built in 1848 by German-American John Hille. Hille died around 1900, but his two sons and daughter took over the farm. In 1916, one of the sons was killed by a bull in the barn. In 1917, a stranger came to the house and convinced the Hilles to hire him as a farmhand. After a few weeks he advised the Hilles he was really a United States Secret Service agent that was investigating reports that the Hilles were German sympathizers. This was all a ruse to extort the Hilles out of money. A confrontation occurred and all of the Hilles died. The man was later arrested for extortion. In 1927 a couple bought the farm and after a few years went bankrupt. A couple then moved in to rent the place and they experiened the death of their two children. In 1932 a man named Pratt bought the place and then accidentally blew himself up blasting trees and rocks. A Chicago couple moved into the farm house in 1948 and restored it. However, the couple's son drowned in the nearby lake and a few years later the couple separated and moved away. In 1972 the next owner's young son fell from the barn's hayloft and was impaled on an auger. Coincidental events? I think not. Something is seriously wrong with that place. This was disturbing.

"Just Like One of the Family"

May, 1968. Mac Goldfinch and his family move into a house in Conway, South Carolina. Mac was an undertaker and didn't believe in ghosts. His business is the dead and he had never experienced anything unusual. Until now. A little girl with brown hair is seen moving around the house. From outside, visitors claim to have seen her moving in front of the window. Also, loud noises of banging and crashing was often heard, but nothing to source the sounds. The television would flip channels by itself, cries of "Help Me!" were heard multiple times, and the little girl's hand could be seen holding doors. Eventually, after discovering the child meant no harm, they accepted her as just one of the family. 

The book also includes eight pages of black and white photos of various haunted places examined in the book's chapters. As a harmless, enjoyable look at the supernatural, I found it a delightful read. If you treat it as horror-fiction, and not buy into the "real" idea, then there is plenty to like here. Recommended!

Note

According to The Washington Post, Winer campaigned to have Fort Lauderdale cleared of drugs and prostitutes. On July 19, 1980, an unidentified person rigged a bomb to Winer's truck ignition. Winer tragically lost his right leg in the fiery explosion.

Torture Tomb

According to Goodreads, C. Dean Andersson (1946-2021) wrote science-fiction, fantasy, and horror novels for a variety of publishers. He authored a three-book series of sword-and-sorcery novels known as the Bloodsong Saga under the pseudonym Asa Drake. He also penned two horror novels dedicated to the icons, I am Dracula and I am Frankenstein. I decided to try one of the author's stand-alone horror novels, Torture Tomb. It was originally published by Popular Library in 1987 with a cover by Sonja Lamut (who weirdly enough does children's books).

Torture Tomb is void of a main character, instead the narrative shifts around a half-dozen characters in the third-person. First off is Jim Brock, a Vietnam Veteran and former prisoner-of-war that was tortured by the enemy before a miraculous rescue. He writes computer software manuals for a living while typing away the night as a part-time novelist. His genre is dark fantasy with an emphasis on bondage. Due to Jim's torture he now has a fascination with bondage – collects the magazines, displays the posters, watches the movies. But, he's sort of the good guy here. Weird.

Jim's ex-girlfriend Gina shows up at his office. It turns out her sister is missing, so instead of calling law-enforcement she seeks out a guy she hasn't spoken to in ten years. That specializes in writing tech language instead of finding missing people. But, she drags him into finding her sister. What does he do? He doesn't get the police either! Instead, the best hope in finding her beloved sister is consulting a group of witches. What the Hell!?!

In the meantime, Andersson spends three-fourths of the narrative describing intense torture to get his rocks off. This guy goes completely Girl Next Door Jack Ketchum for the reader. Gina's sister Bernice is kidnapped in a parking lot by a group of mobsters. They rape her and fling her into a pit that contains some sort of zombie. When they finish with that nonsense they sell her to two guys named Jock and Jack. They place her in a soundproof basement and go medieval - filming themselves torturing her for a snuff movie. They use the Middle-Ages devices like the rack, the sawhorse, thumbscrews, whips, knives, pliers, hot tongs, fire, and of course ropes. Lots of ropes. There is pages and pages of rape and torture for Bernice but also for one of the torturer's soon-to-be ex-wives. I thought divorce court was bad enough.

After skipping whole chapters of torture, I finally got to the part where Jim and Gina are surely going to align, ask some questions, interview an underground network of snuff film producers, and maybe, just maybe, smash some skulls. Jim doesn't go Mack Bolan. He doesn't even go Deputy Fife. Instead, Jim, Gina, and the circle of crazy witches get captured by the torturers and guess what...they get tortured too! 

Listen, Torture Tomb is absolutely horrible. I'd rather sign up for 50 time-share presentations than read one more page of this drivel. Do yourself a favor and absolutely avoid the Torture Tomb...unless you really like to be tortured with literary awfulness. In that case, C. Dean Andersson is your new master. Pass the ball gag bub. 

Simon Ark #06 - The Wolves of Werclaw

I reviewed a novel called Murder's Old Maid by Donald Bayne Hobart. It was published in the October 1956 issue of Famous Detective. I was happy to find a digital scan of the issue online and even more delighted when I saw that the sixth Simon Ark story, “The Wolves of Werclaw”, was included in this same issue. 

Simon Ark, written and created by Edward D. Hoch, may or may not be a 2,000 year old occult detective who is endlessly searching for Satan. He teams with an unnamed narrator who normally presents each Simon Ark story in first-person perspective. These stories have Ark and the narrator somewhere on Earth investigating a weird menace that typically has more in common with crime-fiction than the supernatural. But, Hoch writes the stories subjectively with the reader still thinking something creepy really happened long after the last page is read. That is sort of the Ark gimmick with these tales.

In “The Wolves of Werclaw” novelet, the narrator is now serving as vice-president of a major New York publishing firm. He journeys to Poland to witness firsthand the gradual lifting of the Iron Curtain. In the Polish city of Werclaw (not to be confused with the real Polish city of Wroclaw) the narrator is joined by a co-worker named Franklin Fangler. A celebration is occurring to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of a historic battle in which the tiny town held off a thousand Nazi troops. The survivors are being honored for their achievements and patriotism.

That night the narrator and Fangler are invited to the cavernous home of Berza, the town's Chief of Police. Later, the two are awakened by a frantic Berza claiming that giant wolves are savagely attacking the town. The narrator witnesses three large grey wolves running through the streets and a rifle crack as police officers attempt to stop the bloody carnage. The next morning Berza calls for a wolf expert. 

Simon Ark appears with an introduction and is pleased to discover his friend from years ago in the unnamed narrator. The two catch up and then discuss the pesky wolves. As the narrative tightens the two friends are thrust into protecting a man named Otto from the town's vigilantes. The people feel that Otto is an actual werewolf and may be behind the brutal murders (or a pack leader). But, as usual, Ark has a different theory that may suggest the real killers are the communists hoping to keep a firm foothold on Poland's throat. 

This story was just terrific with plenty of action, foul play, murder, and violence. With so much carnage and mayhem the author was still able to create an imposing chilly ambiance to the storytelling. While certainly maintaining a political vibe, this tale had more of a supernatural feeling to it than any other Ark story I've read. The white-knuckled hatred from the town combined with the innocent nature of Otto was such a great blend. The story was clever, entrancing, and just excellent. I'm loving these Simon Ark stories. Get a lot of stories starring Simon Ark HERE.

The Tent

The few stories and novellas I've read by Kealan Patrick Burke were exceptional. Burke is a veteran Irish author that won a 2004 Bram Stoker Award for his novella The Turtle Boy, a work that kicked off a series of novellas starring a character named Timmy Quinn. His work has appeared in publications by Cemetery Dance and the collections Shivers, Grave Tales, and Inhuman. I've slacked off a bit on horror but wanted to read a few of the “newish” authors that I've enjoyed in the past to get back into the genre more. I chose Burke's 2015 self-published novella The Tent as a good camping spot.

Mike and Emma are a married couple on the tattered fringes of divorce. In an effort to restore synergy back into their failing relationship the couple decide to try camping in rural Ohio with their son. When Mike's cheap tent fails to provide adequate shelter the three very-bad-campers head to the car to call it a night. However, Mike gets the family lost in the woods - in the dark in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone service. 

While Mike and Emma turn on each other they discover that their son has vanished. They conduct a frantic search for their boy and find a weird tent that seems to have been made from flesh and bone. Is the tent hiding a body? A psychotic killer? Or, is the tent itself a monster?

At roughly 63 pages The Tent delivers a spooky atmosphere, unlikable characters, and a terrifying menace to consume the unlikable characters. It is easy to compare horror fiction with horror films, so I venture to say The Tent sort of works like Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets The Blob with a companion in Jeepers Creepers. Burke changes the presentation to different characters and scenarios to give readers a break from all the shrubbery. If you need a light horror fix then this is a fun hour. Get your ebook HERE.

Oasis of the Damned

Massachusetts author Greg F. Gifune (b. 1963) has earned many accolades, highlighted by winning Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, and International Horror Guild awards. I've enjoyed reading his novels like Midnight Solitaire, Children of Chaos, and Apartment Seven. It has been a long time since I've picked up one of his books so I decided to read a military-styled horror novella called Oasis of the Damned. It was originally published in 2014 by the now defunct DarkFuse and now exists as the first half of a twofer titled Oasis of the Damned & Heretics: A Novella Double-Shot. 

The novella begins with a woman named Richter awakening from a helicopter crash. Readers learn she is a U.S. Army Transport Helicopter Pilot that has been downed somewhere in the middle of a vast scorching desert. Miraculously, a man named Owens arrives quickly on the scene and helps her gather some belongings for a long walk to a really odd place. 

Owens leads Richter to an old WWII camp that consists of one small square building and a larger tower-styled building. As Richter gets closer she sees sandbags stacked up near the entrance of the tower. Owens is fairly discreet and doesn't provide many details other than the place exists in the middle of nowhere, the chances of rescue are non-existent, and the only thing keeping him alive are the leftover rations from decades ago and the oasis of fresh water inside the camp. 

After a quick introduction Owens begins preparing for some sort of invasion. But what could possibly be happening in this doomed and desolate place? As night falls Richter learns that zombie-like creatures with razor sharp talons and teeth descend onto the camp in an effort to kill Owens. Through the battle, which includes both of them fighting hordes of monsters with guns, grenades, and swords, Richter discovers that Owens is the last survivor of a large crew of refinery engineers. Every night these creatures emerge and a battle of willpower and determination ensues. The key to success is decapitating the creatures and then burning the bodies. However, the creatures can also appear in other forms including hyenas and the bodies of the people they have killed. Needless to say these are some truly terrifying creatures.

Gifune's novella is like a cross between any first-person creature-shooter game and a deranged episode of Lost. This desolate military camp isn't all that it seems to be. When Richter decides to leave the facility the end result is something out of an old Twilight Zone episode – all roads out of town just lead back to town. To spruce up the one-dimensional “1-2-3-Kill!” action, there is a terrific backstory as Richter recalls the tragedy that befell her younger brother in their childhood home. These flashback sequences explain Richter's fighting spirit and her battles in Iraq during two years of active duty. 

Oasis of the Damned was a quick enjoyable read at roughly 90 pages, give or take a large font or two. Gifune's style has always been “hit 'em hard” while still embracing a smooth calculated delivery to spook his reader. I've never read a bad book by this author and Oasis of the Damned is another testimony to his storytelling talent. Recommended. 

Get a copy of the book HERE 

Ranking My September 2024 Reads

I rank my Top 10 reads of September 2024 with capsule reviews and photos of the books. Check it out HERE or stream below: