Too Much Horror Fiction: Animalize!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Animalize!

It began, of course, with Jaws: the horror of our animal brethren rising against us, their appetite unending, teeth/fangs/mandibles/stingers at the ready, no matter whether they were mammal, reptile, fish, or insect. The bookstore shelves of the '70s and '80s were loaded with these cheap paperbacks, and Signet Books featured some really, really fantastic covers. Feast yourselves!

11 comments:

Tim Whitcher said...: I've had the "Killer Crabs." A little ointment cleared it right up.; November 11, 2012 at 7:58 AM
Mr Reverb said...: I have a nice collection of these books on Flickr, if you care to take a look:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/reverb1971/sets/72157629815083760/; November 12, 2012 at 7:21 AM
Doug Brunell said...: That is some great stuff!; November 12, 2012 at 10:51 AM
Alejandro Omidsalar said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; November 12, 2012 at 8:14 PM
Alejandro Omidsalar said...: Nice to see Sir Guy's Killer Crabs on the loose again.

Shame you didn't re-include David J. Michael's Death Tour. I have the lurid Signet edition with the skeletal croc on the cover and boy, oh boy... What a stinker that was. Yeesh. Read it in 3 hours. Kinda want those back....; November 12, 2012 at 8:16 PM
Doug said...: What about Herbert's "Rats"?; November 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM
Will Errickson said...: I have featured both RATS and DEATH TOUR elsewhere on this blog but I def should have put them here too! Thanks for the reminders.; November 13, 2012 at 9:37 AM
John said...: You're missing FERAL by Berton Roueché. A horror novel about a pack (is that the right word?) of wild cats on the rampage. Scared the bejesus out of me when I read it as a teen back in the 70s. NIGHTWING by Martin Cruz Smith is a good one about killer bats. Definitely better than the movie.

I've only heard of THE SWARM because of the movie and THE RATS, of course. The rest are utterly new to me and I grew up in the 70s. Guess I was more into old horror movies on TV than the books being published at the time.; November 14, 2012 at 1:55 PM
Will Errickson said...: Reverb, I have already seen your photos; in fact I believe I Tweeted a link to 'em several weeks ago! Good stuff.

John, thanks. I didn't feature either title since these are books published by Signet. In fact I reviewed NIGHTWING just a few weeks back, and I've heard good things about FERAL.; November 14, 2012 at 7:14 PM
Phantom of Pulp said...: Good round-up on killer critters.

There's also Berton Rouche's 'The Cats', a good read.; November 16, 2012 at 4:59 PM
Will Errickson said...: Thanks Phantom! Turns out CATS and FERAL are the same book. Oh horror fiction you never cease to amaze...; November 16, 2012 at 10:51 PM