Let's Talk About Horror Fiction and Film

Speaking of things Lovecraft, this'll brighten your day:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd5gWGfnK5M[/yt]

 

I'm glad you liked it. If you're interested, the sequel will be out in October.

 

My most recent read was DWELLER by Jeff Strand. I tore through it in about two days while on vacation. It's a "boy and his best friend the monster" story, the twist being that it basically chronicles the two characters' lives together, spanning decades.

In a way, it's right up your alley. Here's a pretty good review.

It's a sweet story in its way, but just bear in mind it's definitely a horror story.

I also picked up CURSE OF THE FULL MOON. They're churning out these werewolf anthologies faster than I can read them! It was a blind buy based on some of the names in it (Campbell, Ellison, Gaiman, Lansdale, Le Guin, Moorcock, etc.). It didn't look like it had any duplicates from other recent werewolf books.

Right now I'm counteracting TWILIGHT mania by reading David Wellington's 13 BULLETS, the first in his vampire series. Pretty quick-paced read so far.

I haven't made too many movie purchases lately, but one that caught my eye in an ad between movies on TCM was the UNIVERSAL CULT HORROR COLLECTION. It's a little pricey at $50, but it's exclusive to the site, and it's a nice little package of B-horror flicks. The standout for me so far has been MURDERS IN THE ZOO. Great little pre-Code Lionel Atwill flick.

 

Today I got an email notice that HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Here's hoping it's worth the wait!

 

There was some sad news last week about Dorchester Publishing, which produces the Leisure Horror line, including the bulk of paperbacks by Brian Keene and reprints of Richard Laymon's work. Paperback sales are down 25%, so in order to stay afloat, they're switching to an all-digital and print-on-demand model. I suppose it's good that these modern publishing options allow them to stay in business, but I'll miss seeing their paperbacks in stores. They've been around since '71.

As for recent horror readings and purchases, Wellington's 13 BULLETS was a great little read, and a good antidote to the sparkly vampire craze. His vampires are some mean bastards, looking more like Count Orlock than they do Robert Pattinson.

I got the new LIO collection in the mail, complete with that awesome Calvin & Hobbes spoof cover. Even the author photo and text poke a bit of fun at Watterson. Great stuff, as always.

I had a coupon at Borders the other day, and as I was looking through the horror section, I spotted BLOODSUCKERS: THE VAMPIRE ARCHIVES. I rolled my eyes as I picked it up, expecting a TWILIGHT knock-off (for whatever reason), and I was surprised to see it's a cool little paperback collection of vampire stories from throughout the history of the genre, in the vein (hur) of THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF WOLF MEN. Some Bradbury, Manly Wade Wellman, Dan Simmons, Stephen King, etc. A lot of the stories are available elsewhere (they had to sneak "Dracula's Guest" in there, as usual), but it's nice to have them in a portable little paperback for my commute reading.

There are two more volumes in the pipeline, called FANGS and COFFINS. It looks like the three volumes are split-up versions of THE VAMPIRE ARCHIVES, which I've admired in the store a few times (great cover!), but the thing's a whopping 1,056 pages and pretty unwieldy. I kept hoping they'd publish a Kindle version, but the paperbacks will do nicely.

Lastly, I took a recent trip to Michaels crafts, and I guess they start putting up their Hallowe'en stuff this early in the year. They had the usual stuff, including the Lemax SpookyTown additions for 2010. They made some really cool ones this year. I couldn't resist snatching up a few items.

 

Be sure to give us your official reviews, there. I have The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, but I haven't gotten around to seeing it yet. Maybe in the next couple of weeks. I'll have to get that Tomb of Dracula.

Right now I'm reading King's DANSE MACABRE for the first time. I'm enjoying it so far. Between this and ON WRITING, I've really enjoyed his non-fiction work.

As for new purchases, here's my only real recent score. I read a tidbit about these Universal Horror novelizations from the '70s--that while all six books were credited to the "Carl Dreadstone" pseudonym, three were written by Ramsey Campbell. The combination of Universal and Campbell piqued my curiosity and I looked them up. His WOLF MAN is going for a good chunk, and DRACULA'S DAUGHTER can get pretty pricey, too. BRIDE can get up there, but a seller claimed to have it in "like new" condition for $10, so I had to go for it. It's obviously yellowed, being printed in 1977, but it's in remarkable shape. And from the teaser text, it looks to be a fun read.

That's about all I've got for this round. I'm making my way through the Pod of Horror podcast, which is a fun little show for horror lit. The focus is on new stuff, but everyone involved seems to know their stuff, and the host gets some good guests. Yesterday I listened to his interview with Peter Straub. Good stuff.

 

The other three Universal horror novelizations credited to Dreadstone are THE MUMMY, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON. Cool-looking little books, but Campbell says he didn't write them. I could see why he wouldn't want to write WEREWOLF OF LONDON after writing WOLF MAN.

The collector in me wants to try to get all of them, but Campbell's the tipping point. I'll probably try to get my hands on his other two entries, at least. The others, I'm not so sure. Campbell said he's not even sure who they got to write the others. And the CREATURE one is getting up there in price, like all things Gill-man related.

 

It's almost time to rename the thread again. Time just seems to go by more quickly.

I got my notification today that House of the Wolf Man has shipped.

As for reading, I'm two-thirds through the second entry in David Wellington's vampire series, 99 Coffins. This guy writes some fun horror with a breakneck pace. He's also pretty good at writing female protagonists.

Lastly, Elvira made her big return to TV on Saturday, playing Night of the Living Dead on the first episode of her relaunched Elvira's Movie Macabre. She was a lot of fun, with her framing shtick centered on cleaning out her old basement and prepping it for the new show.

Here's the new intro and local listings.

 

Man, I could not agree more. That Val Lewton set is one of my favorites. Did you get the one that includes Val Lewton - The Man in the Shadows? I got my set pretty early on, so I had to buy it separately. It's a great documentary about Lewton and his movies.

I think The Body Snatcher is one of Karloff's best performances. He's just so evil in it, with nearly every line delivered with a smile. TCM showed it a couple of weeks ago and I intended to just give it a quick peek, but I wound up finishing the movie. It pulls me right in every time.

And while it's not really scary, it's got its share of chilling moments. A great example is when the singer's voice is cut off in mid-note. Yikes.