Pages

▼

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Schoolhouse by Lee Duigon (1988): Can't Even Think of a Word That Rhymes

Can't get enough of horror paperbacks adorned with skeletons - who still have all their hair! This one of a creepy skeletal schoolteacher is especially hilarious. I'm doing some Halloween-appropriate reading while getting ready for a big Halloween bash this weekend, so no reviews this week, alas. Enjoy Schoolhouse!
at

11 comments:

  1. William MalmborgOctober 18, 2011 at 11:26 AM

    I put this one down after only getting fifty or so pages into it. Just could not get into it at all. I will probably try again in the near future since it sounded interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Will ErricksonOctober 18, 2011 at 11:33 AM

    I dunno - do you think it's worth trying again? Then again, I thought Duigon's LIFEBLOOD was okay. Nothing great or very good, but okay.

    ReplyDelete
  3. franciscoOctober 18, 2011 at 2:48 PM

    I have some doubts, these books with skeletons on the cover, are good ones? are they parodies? are they serious? apart of zebra books are there more publishers with the skeletons on the cover? In Spain you don't see things like that, here covers (with the excecption of the humble paperbacks of the 70's and 80's) tends to be more modern, artistic and even minimalistic

    ReplyDelete
  4. Will ErricksonOctober 18, 2011 at 3:10 PM

    Mostly they're just bad, not parodies, although I can see why you'd think that. Publishers can and do put terrible covers on their books because they think that will sell. Back in the '80s, skeletons on horror novels were essential. Other publishers did it, not just Zebra, but Zebra was the biggest offender in that regard. However, there are always exceptions; for example, see these two collections:

    http://toomuchhorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-need-your-skulls-two-from-karl-edward.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. William MalmborgOctober 19, 2011 at 10:55 AM

    I think I'll try it again simply because I hate leaving things unfinished. I will wait until I don't have anything new to read, however. If there is one thing I hate, its getting bogged down in a book I don't really care for while a stack of interesting ones waits on the coffee table.

    ReplyDelete
  6. wormfaceOctober 19, 2011 at 6:02 PM

    That skeleton must have a hard time buying shoes.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousOctober 20, 2011 at 3:47 PM

    Been lurking for a little while... I am loving your blog-- these are all the books that fascinated me when I was too young to be brave enough to read them, and now I'm rediscovering them. I'm making a list to keep onhand for reference when garage-saling or thrifting. I also recently discovered that the Oakland (CA) library has a huge "basement" of archived books -- I am betting there will be a ton of these in there! Anyway. Loving the blog.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Will ErricksonOctober 20, 2011 at 5:45 PM

    Thanks nevertravelled! Yours is precisely the reason I do what I do here.

    wormface, I too wondered about that very thing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. leeduigonJuly 8, 2015 at 2:57 PM

    I know it was a long time ago, but I'm tired of being blamed for the chintzy covers Pinnacle/Zebra stuck onto my books. Surely you don't think they consulted the author for one cotton-pickin' minute, do you? My fourth book, "Mind Stealer," they didn't even read before writing the cover blurb. That's New York publishing--and it's not my fault!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownDecember 13, 2015 at 4:13 PM

      The cover is what helped me to relocate this book after over 25 years of searching!! As a child, I would have given this book 10 out 5 stars!!

      Delete
  10. Will ErricksonJuly 15, 2015 at 5:37 PM

    Oh believe me Mr. Duigon, I'm well aware that authors don't get much of a say when it comes to book covers...

    ReplyDelete