Archive for the ‘Horror Fiction’ Category:
In the same vein as the Zombie Survival Guide, the Vampire Survival Guide and How to Survive in a Horror Movie comes a new humorous self-help book: The Werewolf’s Guide to Life. Written by Ritch Duncan and Bob Powers, this book takes a different tack from the others mentioned as instead of telling you how to fight against the titled monsters, this one teaches you how to deal and live with lycanthropy.
From what to expect with your first shape changing to how to better increase your odds of survival, the book covers everything the emerging werewolf could possibly ask about. You’ll learn how to set up a safe room to make sure that others aren’t harmed when the moon is full, what kinds of jobs are ideal for the newly furry, what to expect in the romance department, and what types of people to avoid. Throughout the book, there are little sidebars called "Famous Lycs Through History" describing several historical figures who became werewolves. There are also special warnings about certain holidays to avoid in the future, as the full moon will fall on those days.
All in all, the book was a really good read. It’s funny, informative, and definitely worth a perusal if you’re interested in the subject at all. I give it 5 out of 5. That’s all for this session. Tune in next time when I bring you a new short film with Robert Pattinson and Julian Sands, then we’re going to move for the lower end of the scale for the first time in the site’s history (at least, the first time for me). Take care, everyone, and this is Red Hawk signing out!
This book’s review has been a bit of a long time in coming. I just haven’t had much time or energy recently to get my article about it written, until now. This was the first vampire book I was sent to write a review for, and I enjoyed it, but had a few difficulties getting into it.
The book is told from first-person perspective, by a character with the author’s name, giving it a certain feel of authenticity. The book starts on the night Emma becomes a vampire, drained of her blood by an attacker who invades her bedroom. Newly risen, Emma first notices her lack of a reflection, then goes out on her first hunt. Shortly after she becomes a vampire, she decides to alleviate her lonely existence by "sharing" her affliction with three of her friends.
As the book continues, it focuses on Emma and her friends learning how to better subdue their victims, their efforts to not spread their vampirism through just their home town, their attempts to avoid Barabas, a self-styled Van Helsing who wants nothing more than to kill every vampire in town… except maybe world fame for doing it.
The narrative of the story is marred for me only by somewhat overlong character speeches. For example, early on in the story, when Emma scolds one of her friends for wanting to go after a more difficult target than she feels they’re ready for, she spends half to three-quarters of the page explaining the reasons why not and pointing out better prospects. These long paragraphs just seemed to drag the story down a little bit, and I was glad to see them disappear somewhat in the later stages of the book.
Altogether, the book was alright. The ending was a bit more positive than in some of the stories I’ve received, and that helps the story out more in my eyes. In the end, though, I have to go with my instincts and give this book a 3 out of 5. So, join us tomorrow when we unveil out first of three themed weeks. I think you’ll enjoy them. Until next time, watch your necks, and this is Red Hawk signing out!
A few weeks ago, I posted my review of the book King of Nod. Shortly after I received the offer to review KON, I also received another book review offer, this time for one called Worst Nightmares. The book’s premise fascinated me, and so I told them I’d be happy to review it.
I received the book while I was in the middle of reading King of Nod, so I waited till I finished that one before starting the new one. I have a bit of ADD, so I try to make sure I focus on one thing at a time when reading, or else I’ll never get anything finished. Also, I wanted to make sure that the storylines of the two books didn’t blend in my head while reading. And so, on to the review!
The premise of the story is twofold. First, the main character of the story is Dermot Nolan, a decorated writer who’s struggling with writer’s block. His million dollar advance is long-gone, the bills are starting to become more than he can handle, and the stress is mounting, leading to personal problems at home. Then, one day, he comes home to find an apparent street person messing with his mailbox. After chasing off the orange-haired, brown-jacketed man, he finds that the guy was stuffing something into his box… a manuscript.
The other part of the story is about a man called the Dream Healer. The Dream Healer operates from a website, offering to help cure people’s worst fears, but then targets the person using their fear against them. The book in Dermot’s mailbox is the Healer’s journal, detailing his locations and his methods. In certain chapters, we’re treated to the Dream Healer’s operations, seeing exactly how he traps and kills his victims. The ways he operates are all pretty ingenius, and some would give Jigsaw from the Saw series a run for his money.
As the book progresses, Dermot’s wife, Neela, and his best friend, Nick, both encourage him to publish the journal as his own work, hoping it’ll help him just get through the writer’s block so he can get his creativity flowing again. At first, he’s appalled at the idea. He’s not a horror writer, for one thing; for another, what they suggest is plagiarizing the journal, something tantamount to career suicide if it ever got out; third, he also struggles with the moral implications, especially if the journal turns out to be anything but fictional.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The author, Shane Briant, was very good at making me feel Dermot’s desperation and hope at the appropriate times. I’ve also always been fascinated by fear, and the villain’s use of people’s fears was very well-done. I’ll definitely give this book 4 out of 5. It’s been interesting doing two book reviews in a row. I’m a reading fan, I’m just not as practiced at covering them as I am with movies, but I hope to remedy that in the future. So, until next time, keep on reading, and this is Red Hawk signing out!
It’s been a while since I’ve done a book review, but apparently, I’ve done pretty well with them, as I received two offers recently to cover two books within a short period of time. As I’ve always been a big reader, and have been fascinated with horror fiction since I can remember seeing the freaky cat staring out at me from the cover of Pet Sematary. Needless to say, I accepted both book review offers and so here’s the first, King of Nod.
Branded on the cover as "A Southern Gothic Epic", King of Nod is the story of Robert "Boo" Taylor. Boo was born as the only son of the white doctor on Sweetpatch Island in South Carolina, which afforded him a kind of royalty. Rather than his status going to his head, however, he’s kept more down to earth by his family’s housekeeper, Eulahlah Colebriar (Miss Laylee to Boo). Miss Laylee is, by far, my favorite character in the book. While Boo’s father is a medical doctor, she’s more of a folk doctor, in addition to being the housekeeper… she makes her own wine, charms to protect against evil, and dispenses wisdom to Boo when he needs it most.
The book takes a look at Boo’s life in two time periods. Each chapter is seperated between the past and the present, with the first part of each chapter taking place in the modern day, as Boo returns to Sweetpatch to deal with his father’s mysterious death; the second half of each chapter flashes back to Boo’s thirteenth year, where he deals with the travails of early adulthood. Now, before you denounce the book as not being horror, let me assure you that there are some very strong horror elements involved. Sweetpatch Island is most definitely not the picture perfect place it appears to be on the surface. There’s a history there, and much like many old places, alot of that history is bad… and sometimes, history comes back to haunt us.
All in all, I had a very fun time reading this book. I had a little trouble at the start, adjusting to a new author’s style, but once I got into the flow of the story, I had trouble putting it down (which is a good thing, as this monster of a book clocks in at 590 pages long!). And so, it’s with great honor that I give King of Nod, author Scott Fad’s first novel, a 5 out of 5 rating. Until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!
Part Two of this review of the Skeleton Crew will now continue. Here’s the other 11 piecesthat comprise the whole of the book. You can find Part One of the Skeleteon Crew review right there.So sit back, relax and read on down…
"Beachworld" – Here’s another science fiction story with a horror twist. It was first
published in Weird Tales in 1985, just a year before Skeleton Crew was published. The story involves a starship crashing into a planet made entirely of sand. Only Rand and Shapiro, both crew members of the Federal vessel, survive the disaster. They each have a different approach to their situation. For some reason, this one seems somehow to be a rebellion against the whole beach fetish in the 80’s in a very vague way. I remember the title had me expecting something totally different from what I ended up reading, but also that it was a fun, if quick, read.
"The Reaper’s Image" – This story, centering around an antique mirror, was first published in Startling Mystery Stories in 1969. In this one we’ve got the antiques collector Johnson Spangler visiting the Samuel Claggert Memorial Private Museum, basically a sprawling mansion full of the kinds of items that’d make a junk shop dealer salivate. Spangler has come to buy Delver’s looking-glass, an Elizabethan mirror of much renown. Of course, the mirror is you know, haunted. You can probably guess fairly accurately what one might see within said mirror just by reading the title. I enjoyed the atmosphere King creates in this one because it ends up feeling like a longer story than it actually is – in a good way! That or maybe I’m just fond of all that old junk. Hard to say, really. 
"Nona" – First published in the 1978 anthology Shadows, this is the tale of a college
dropout running from the shipwreck of his life so far. He’s thumbing it somewhere when he encounters an enchanting and adventurous girl who’s known as Nona. Of course, straight romance isn’t really why we read Stephen King. Don’t worry he delivers quite a tale that’s a damned fun read. You might find yourself as surprised by where the new couple’s adventures lead as I was. In the end, they’re so alike that it’s clear they were meant for one another…
"For Owen" – The second poem in the book, this one is dedicated to Mr. King’s own son. It’s a rather whimsical piece that captures the wonderous imaginings of childhood. It concerns father and son walking to school together as the little boy weaves the tale of a school full of… well fruitlike people. Or maybe it’s peoplelike fruit. It’s just thirty-four lines of free verse, so if you’re not into it you don’t have to deal with it for too long. Personally, I thought it sort of broke up the flow of the book, but I do believe that the intent was not just to memorialize Owen at a young age. I think it was placed there as a reminder that even the grand minds of authors like King begin with childhood fantasies just like this one before the grow into the adult versions are capable of earning a person’s livelihood and fame.
"Survivor Type" – Originally, this story appeared in a 1982 horror anthology called Terrors, which was edited by Charles L. Grant. It’s written in a diary style that serves its purpose extremely well. This is the tale of one Richard Pine, a medical school dropout who’s turned to smuggling heroin while on a cruise. Like the venerable Robinson Crusoe, he too finds himself marooned on a desert isle. A very small desert isle where he is the largest occupant. That poses a problem because when you’re at the top of the food chain, it’s not as glorious as it might at first seem. If you combine that with the whole issue of having a large supply of heavy narcotics, well, you can probably see the dangers awaiting Mr. Pine. The diary will detail what he does and over time, you’ll learn what happened to him. This is a highly disturbing story that you may want to avoid if you’re a bit weak in the stomach. It’s beyond grisly and yet at heart, a psychological thriller. The saying goes, "You are what you eat."
Perhaps poor Richard is just dyslexic.
"Uncle Otto’s Truck" – Yankee magazine (which is not a "men’s magazine" as I’d thought, but rather a publication specializing in New England life) first publishes this story in 1983.
It’s about a dilapidated truck that’s been abandoned by its owners after it fell on a Castle Rock businessman by the name of George McCutcheon. Otto Schenck has since become absolutely obsessed with the vehicle since that event and this is the tale of his madness. You get to revel in the terror of a Christine-like nightmare of a truck creeping steadily towards poor old Otto.
The artist Glenn Chadbourne will be bringing this story to The Secretary of Dreams, a
collection of comics based on Stephen King’s short fiction. It’s just been published by
Cemetary Dance this summer, in fact. It’s selling like crazy already, which I imagine is due to the awesome artwork so I’ll provide the link to their site at the end of this review.
"Morning Deliveries (Milkman #1)" – I’ve never personally utilized the services of a milkman (don’t be sick!), but I’ve seen enough black and white TV shows to know what they’re about. A bit like the postman, if you actually had to rely on him to deliver your daily sustenance.
Obviously there’s a lot of trust here that things aren’t being… tampered with. Spike
Milligan is a milkman who’s about to break some trust. His customers aren’t going to get milk this morning, they’re going to get a wild assortment of unique "prizes". It’s definitely a fun read, even if it is fairly disturbing.
"Big Wheels: A Tale of The Laundry Game (Milkman #2)" – This is the sequel to the previous story, yet it was first published in 1982’s New Terrors 2, an anthology edited by Ramsey Campbell. Spike is still ye olde milkmane, but there’s a couple other characters involved, too. These two are focused solely on two goals: getting a car licensed before midnight and drinking themselves a few yards past completely plowed. Of course, the narratives must meet, atleast by the end. It gets weird and it’s a great read just to see the continuation of Spike alone, not to mention the additional boneheads. Written the way only a true drinker could do, I found this one to be quite a good story overall and a bit faster paced than some.
"Gramma" – Published first in Weird Book magazine in 1984, this story is about a young boy named George. He’s a kid who’s been left alone with his grandmother during a stereotypical dark and stormy night. That in itself is creepy enough, but when you add in the twist that lil Georgie’s gramma gained some voodoo powers by reading some unspeakable ancient texts? Well, it all gets just a little Lovecraftian. Clearly, it’s a tale destined (if not designed) for The Twilight Zone and it was in fact an episode in 1985 with its screenplay having been written by Harlan Ellison. King always excels at realistically painting childhood fears and if you doubt that, this story will paint it to you. If you were left alone as a kid or had creepy grandparents, this one may dredge up a whole lotta icky memories. If you’re bent the way I am, you’ll love it!
"The Ballad of The Flexible Bullet" – This one is probably more of a novella than a short
story. It was originally published in 1984 by The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. The gist of the story is that an editor and a writer meet. The writer is a bit weird, but the editor takes it in stride. Afterall, artist-types have their quirks, right? Well, this writer certainly tests the boundaries of eccentricity by sharing that he’s got "fornits" dusting his typewriter with magic dust. Fairy elf-type things. It’s incredibly good with plenty of humor but just enough realistic craziness to keep you a bit unnerved overall. This is probably one of my absolute favorite stories ever penned by Stephen King. You’ll never guess how it all unwinds.
"The Reach" – Finally, we have another story published in that damned Yankee magazine. This time the year is 1981 and originally, this story was titled "Do the Dead Sing?" which sounds a bit better to me. The tale here is pretty much perfectly suited for closing the book. It revolves around an elderly woman known as Stella Flanders. She is the oldest living woman on an island off the coast of Maine which has the ironic name of Goat Island. She’s an old Goat Island resident – get it? So in this story we get to bear witness to the coldest winter on record which freezes "The Reach" (the water between the island and the coast) solid so that Stella is able to make like Jesus and walk across it. It last froze like this way back in 1938, so despite her age and health condition, Stella is going to make the trek to the Maine land. This is another of the stories to be included in The Secretary of Dreams collection.
In closing, I’ve got to say this book has many, many memorable tales. Much more than you or I really deserve. You should read it anyways, though. Oh! I promised a link to that cool graphic novel, didn’t I? Well, I suppose that’ll teach you to trust me, won’t it? Just teasing… here ya go:
Secretary of Dreams
So, I must now fade back into the gnarly shadows. Until such time as I spring upon you once more, I shamelessly remain GlowStormLion, hung like a rabbit with the libido of a moose!
Wait… I think I got that backwards… Damn you Richard Pine!
This article originally published in July 2006 on a site that’s no longer up.
When it comes to Stephen King books, I tend to like almost all of them. Whether he’s writing in the genre of horror, thriller, science fiction or drama, I find them all enjoyable to various degrees. Even his technical books about writing have been great reads. If I had to pick a favorite, though, I’d have to say that I like his short stories and novellas best of all. Not to suggest that I don’t enjoy his full-length novels, because I do immensely, but a good short story is not that common. King has a definite skill for the craft.
The Skeleton Crew, which came out in the 80’s, was just such a collection. Not only does it have nineteen short stories, there are two poems and a novella included as well. Beyond this, the introduction and notes at the end go even further towards creating one hell of a good time for readers, using King’s trademark coversational style and seemingly open approach to communication. Published in 1985, just two years after Different Seasons (another of his anthology books), the works presented span 17 years and 512 pages (in the hardbound edition I read) of writing.
This article is going to be released in two parts. I’ll cover 11 of the writings in this half and the rest in the final posting. So, enough of my rambling, let’s get to the review.
"The Mist" – The opening piece isn’t a short story, it’s actually considered a novella. It was first published in Dark Forces, a horror anthology edited by Kirby McCauley, in 1980. Set in the small town of Bridgeton, Maine, the tale centers around an artist named David Drayton and his son Billy. They become trapped in their local grocery store as a mysterious layer of, well, mist smothers their town. It’s rumored that the bizarre incident is somehow related to a secret military project said to be taking place at a nearby military base. You’ll get to see King’s take on just what happens when people from our modern age get flung back through the centuries into fear and superstition.
This novella was adapted into a text-based computer game, was the inspiration for the video game Half-Life and quite possibly Silent Hill, which was not only a game but also made into a movie. An audio version of it is available on cassette or CD and it’s actually in development, at the time of this article’s publication, as a full-length feature film. Frank Darabont is set to direct. You may remember him as the director of both Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. I’m really looking forward to being able to watch this play out on screen because I found this particular novella to be extremely cinematic long before I knew of its actual production as a film. [you can read my review of the Mist now]
"Here There Be Tygers" – While it is true that Ray Bradbury has a story bearing this same title, this story is not in any way science fiction. It’s a short piece that focuses on a young boy of elementary school age who believes that there are tigers in the bathroom. Not my favorite in the book, but it’s not terrible either. My struggle with it was that it required a bit more childlike thinking than I felt like doing when I read it. It’s also interesting to note that it was written in 1968, when Stephen King was 18 years old, apparently as his first story that would one day actually be published (not his first story ever published, though).
"The Monkey" – Continuing on with the animal theme, up next we’ve got this little literary offering. Here we’re told the story of one of those little stuffed monkeys that is wound up so that it can clang a small pair of cymbals together. These things really creeped me out as a kid, so I felt instantly at home with this story. Fortunately I never encountered one similar to the toy monkey in this story, because that one predicts people’s death. This was a very classic style of horror tale. Overall, I enjoyed it quite alot.
"Cain Rose Up" – Here we’ve got a depressed college student. You know what happens when college kids get depressed, right? Yep, they go on homicidal sniper rampages from the comfort of their own dorm rooms! This one might remind you of Rage by Richard Bachman. That’s because Richard Bachman is just a pseudo-name for Stephen King, silly. This story is kind of disturbing, honestly, because it has an intensely real feel to it. I couldn’t help but think of Apt Pupil as I read it, either. One might begin to think that Mr. King has considered a career in the mercenary sharpshooting industry after reading this one.
"Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut" – Redbook magazine first published this short story in 1984. The plot stars the free-spirited character Mrs. Todd (who reminds me of The Wind in the Willows‘ Mr. Toad). She’s obsessed with finding a shorter route between her home and her workplace. She does find something, alright but I’m not going to blow the surprise by detailing that here. I really enjoyed this one because the main character is alot of fun to read about.
"The Jaunt" – First published in The Twilight Zone Magazine (1981), this story is not so much a horror tale as it is a science fiction tale. Okay, it’s actually a fine mixture of both. It’s set in a future where people, amazingly, still rent time on computers. The "jaunt" being referred to is actually a super-duper new way to travel: to planets beyond Earth. In this world, Exxon/Mobile and other giants of the petroleum industry are now water purification companies thanks to an oil crash in the earlier part of the 21st century. King mentions "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester which turns out to be the inspiration for this story. The plot centers around a family that is about to jaunt and what happens to them when something unexpected happens. If you’re at all interested in the possibilities of teleportation you’ll really enjoy this one’s imaginative presentation.
"The Wedding Gig" – Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine first published this story in 1980. It’s told from perspective of a band’s leader. Basically, this band is asked to perform at a wedding. Of course, that in itself wouldn’t really make for a tale of much interest to anyone. As expected, the situation deteriorates in typical King fashion. Though it’s not an utterly brilliant story, it’s a good one and a definite step out of what you might’ve come to expect from its author.
"Paranoid: A Chant" – Before reading this book I wasn’t aware that Stephen King wrote poetry, though I’m not flabbergasted that he has. This is one of the two poems in the book and it’s 100 lines in total. It’s a first-person narration of a person’s diary and this person just happens to be a paranoid schizophrenic. They’re seeing threats and persecution at every turn. They’re recording every wrong they perceive as having been done to them. The poem is "recursive" which means it ends the same way it began. Not only does this poem tie into the Dark Tower series, it’s also connected to The Stand. There was an 8-minute short film made about it as well, which was for some time available via download. It’s an interesting piece that changes the pace a bit, so that’s a plus.
"The Raft" – Gallery, a "men’s magazine" first published this story in 1982. The story revolves around two college aged couples who set out for a swim in a Pennsylvania lake. Of course, King can’t just tell us this story, so you know to expect some sort of danger, right? You’ll get one of his stranger "monsters" in this one. It was also committed to film in 1987 as a part of Creepshow 2, directed by Michael Gornick who used a screenplay by George Romero.
As an intriguing sidenote, King submitted this story to the magazine Adam, where it was supposed to be published in 1969. However, he’s never been able to locate a single printing of it as far as I know. He was paid for it, though and the check actually ended up preventing him from having to do jail time when he was unable to pay a fine.
"Word Processor of the Gods" – Originally titled "Word Processor", this story made its debut in the January 1983 issue of Playboy magazine. Since no one actually reads the words in that magazine, especially stories about word processors, King decided to include it with this anthology. It’s a pretty neat concept, really. Basically, the lead character is a miserable man who was gifted with a word processor by his nephew. That’d be pretty mundane, but this nephew is a marvellous genius who later perishes in a tragic accident. The man finds out that his gift can actually alter reality and that’s where things get interesting. I enjoyed this one and also learned that it was included in a November 25, 1984 episode of Tales from the Darkside, a TV series.
"The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands" – This is the final story we’ll be taking a look at in part one of this review. First published in the 1982 horror anthology Shadows 4, edited by Charles L. Grant, this story is told by a wealthy gentleman from society’s upper echelons. It’s a classic sort of tale that feels quite genuine and almost as if you’re hearing it from a cigar-smoking old timer around a fireplace rather than reading it in a book. The man referenced in the title has been cursed, but you’ll have to actually read the story in order to find out more, because I am The Man Who Will Not Spoil Stories.
Here you go: Part 2 of The Skeleton Crew by Stephen King to finish this review!
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