Be sure to check out my latest review in Tor's Evil Eighties series; it's of a novel by a writer new to me, England's Stephen Laws. His 1986 work Spectre was pure '80s horror joy!
Looks like a Headline cover, Will? That, and the Sphere one are very nice - much better that the Tor. I have about six Laws books on my shelf, but haven't tried him yet. This sounds like the perfect place to start.
"Unfortunate" because as a Leisure original FEROCITY heralded his return to writing after a long hiatus -- an event I was really looking forward to as I consider him perhaps my favorite UK genre author -- and it was god-awful, certainly his worst novel by a large measure. So it was a double-whammy of disappointment. It was also his last original novel...whether that was due to poor sales of FEROCITY or it was just a one-off that Laws tossed out there, I've no idea, but I continue to hope we'll someday see new material from Laws. I just hope it's not another FEROCITY...*that* would truly be unfortunate.
Top Five Favorite Laws novels (in order): CHASM, DAEMONIC, THE FRIGHTENERS, SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF MIDNIGHT, and WYRM. All are well worth reading, however (save for, as you might guess, FEROCITY).
Hope you enjoy it, Lincoln. I often think of him as the UK's answer to Robert McCammon. Not only were they both writing Big Horror at the same time (though on different shores), but they have similar a storytelling sensibility, where character is key, the scope can be operatic or micro, and reader immersion is immediate and deep. All those things come together to form a connection in my mind between the two authors. I readily admit, though, I'm probably the only one that's made the link. ;-)
9 comments:
Looks like a Headline cover, Will? That, and the Sphere one are very nice - much better that the Tor.
I have about six Laws books on my shelf, but haven't tried him yet. This sounds like the perfect place to start.
Jeez, do you think his name is big enough here!? lol
Great review. Lincoln's right, the Headline covers were much better (I don't know if they were Steve Crisp, but they were excellent).
Laws is a great writer, a contemporary of Mark Morris and his "Ghost Train" is well worth a read too.
I'm a big fan of Laws' work, and have read and enjoyed them all, save for the unfortunate FEROCITY. My favorite is CHASM.
Hey Ron - what's unfortunate about 'Ferocity'? A poor novel, or something else?
"Unfortunate" because as a Leisure original FEROCITY heralded his return to writing after a long hiatus -- an event I was really looking forward to as I consider him perhaps my favorite UK genre author -- and it was god-awful, certainly his worst novel by a large measure. So it was a double-whammy of disappointment. It was also his last original novel...whether that was due to poor sales of FEROCITY or it was just a one-off that Laws tossed out there, I've no idea, but I continue to hope we'll someday see new material from Laws. I just hope it's not another FEROCITY...*that* would truly be unfortunate.
Top Five Favorite Laws novels (in order): CHASM, DAEMONIC, THE FRIGHTENERS, SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF MIDNIGHT, and WYRM. All are well worth reading, however (save for, as you might guess, FEROCITY).
Thanks Ron - sounds like he has a pretty good strike rate though, despite 'Ferocity'.
Started 'Spectre' last night, and thoroughly enjoying it so far
Hope you enjoy it, Lincoln. I often think of him as the UK's answer to Robert McCammon. Not only were they both writing Big Horror at the same time (though on different shores), but they have similar a storytelling sensibility, where character is key, the scope can be operatic or micro, and reader immersion is immediate and deep. All those things come together to form a connection in my mind between the two authors. I readily admit, though, I'm probably the only one that's made the link. ;-)
Somewhere south of midnight, what a nice tittle for a horror novel
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