1. 1980s. A man contacts various individuals and tells them they have magic potential, and he will chose one to be his successor. They all travel to his big ol’ gothic home to compete. The story switches perspective between the people. They kill each other off in magical ways over the days, until one person is left who (I think) didn’t kill anyone. Turns out the gothic house guy actually wants them all dead as threats rather than looking for a successor. The last man standing is special (of course) and more magical and can transform into animals, which is this big deal. The last man and gothic house guy do battle as various animals, last man manages to kill gothic house guy, the end. I know there’s a scene where one of the characters is on a commercial flight headed to the gothic house, and another character almost succeeds in bringing down the plane through magic - the character on the plane stops it, also through magic. Found! It's:
2. It wasn’t scary but it was all about ghosts. I think it was about a kid that moved into a new house that had a whole family of ghosts living there. There was a bit where the family of ghosts went on a trip to the beach but the moment that really stuck with me but I can’t seem to turn up anything on was that the little boy ghost got stuck between the sheets of double glazing when trying to pass through the window which turned out to be a big hazard for little ghosts. I must have read it ten times and this is all I can remember! It had illustrations throughout and I believe the front cover might have been the beach scene. It might be that it’s some very niche little British book that just happened to be in my library.
3. Very early '90s, vampire performs oral sex on women and drinks their menstrual blood (not Memnoch the Devil). A scene early in the book.
4. Scientists have literally run out of things to study -they know everything. One scientist comes across a spell for conjuring a demon. Hmm, something that hasn't been studied. He runs it through his computer and presto! a demon appears and asks his bidding. Scientist has a back and forth with the demon, demon surprised humans are no longer grasping and lustful, so decides to kill/eat the scientist. Scientist pulls out a ray gun and stuns the demon and locks him up for further study.
18 comments:
Not sure, but 3 might be LIVE GIRLS by Ray Garton?
My first thought was indeed LIVE GIRLS, but apparently the book was *not* featured in Paperbacks from Hell, which LIVE GIRLS most definitely was. (This was actually an email that Grady received!)
The timeline is wrong, but could 3 possibly be Some of Your Blood by Theodore Sturgeon? I really want to read that magical competition one now!
Theodre Sturgeon's Some of Your Blood.maybe?
1 sounds like a combination of Shadowland and The Legacy. 3 sounds like Crucifax Autumn, but it was a full on abortion performed by the Pied Piper character and his long, sharp tongue.
It's not a perfect match, but #1 sounds a little like Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons.
3 sounds a lot like Poppy Z. Brite, maybe Lost Souls.
I'm the person who emailed about #1, and while Shadowland (a personal favorite), The Legacy, and Carrion Comfort all make sense as guesses, it isn't any of them. But I appreciate folks trying!
I think that number 3 is by Thomas Tessier. Cannot think of the name.
Just to note, #4 is a short story, not a full novel. Sounds like Asimov or Bradbury.
#1 sounds very much like Sorcerer by Mark Manley. Had a similar plot of duelling sorcerers and fights between shapeshifters.
THAT’S IT! As soon as I saw the cover, I remembered it! I’ve been trying to find that dang book for over 20 years, you’re my hero!
#3 might be 'Vampire Junction', an Anne Rice knock-off with a 'child' vampire turned rockstar. In the book, there was a scene where he fed off a woman's menstrual blood.
Could #3 be Blood Lust by Ron Dee?
For #3, maybe a stretch but Robert Devereaux published a short story about a vampire that drinks a whole lot of blood from vaginas. It's actually weirder (worse) than that, as he can also drink blood using his lower appendage (reminiscent of John Shirley's Dracula In Love). Even better (worse), female vampires can drink blood from THEIR nether regions, and also their nipples, because why not.
It's called "A Slow Red Whisper of Sand" and was originally published in 1994 but later appeared in his collection Caliban and Other Tales.
I thought #2 might be The Visitors by Nathaniel Benchely. But that's an adult novel with no illustrations in the book. I'm guessing it's a kids' book. And I'll be of no help with that.
#4 sounds like the work of an extremely naive writer. Demons have never been studied? Really? I can name you several real life anthropologists who made it the focus of their work.
No 4. sounds like a short story by Joe Haldeman called "I of Newton" (1970). A mathematician accidentally summons a demon while working on a new math theorem. The demon and mathematician engage in a battle of wits. It was actually adapted into a episode for the 1980's version of "The Twilight Zone" (December 13, 1985) starring Sherman Hemsley ("The Jeffersons") and Ron Glass ("Barney Miller" and "Firefly") as the Demon. Both the story and the adaption are great fun and the closest thing I can find to your synopsis.
I agree with samarshall: #3 does sound a lot like "Vampire Junction" by S.P. Somtow.
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