Lay your
les yeux upon the covers of these French paperbacks, translations of well-known horror novels by some of our favorite writers. Part of a series called
Presses Pocket—Terreur, which started these editions in the late 1980s. I could find out nothing about the artist,
Marc Demoulin, but really, what would you need to know? In most cases it seems he read or at least was familiar with each book's content; I appreciate the little piece of setting featured at the top coupled with surreal horrific imagery.
Bon travail!
First up are some
Graham Mastertons,
Picture of Evil,
Wells of Hell, and the first two
Manitou titles. Check out American editions
here. I love our
petit homme!
Next up,
mon cheries, are the titles that comprise
Anne Rice's monumental original trilogy known as
The Vampire Chronicles. I haven't read these
three novels in almost 30 years, but man did I dig them back then.
A couple
James Herberts,
The Survivor and
The Fog, the latter of which is one of my favorite covers here; that sickly yellowish haze is
c’est parfait.
Ooh, how about
Thomas Tryon's two early '70s
powerhouses?
J'adore the skeleton poking out of that scarecrow's pants...
was an early bestseller from
Martin Cruz-Smith, an author more known for his espionage thrillers and such than horror fiction.
Two of
Ray Garton's perhaps most (in)famous novels,
one which was
comme ci comme ça, while the
other was
magnifique!
And
le finale: Peter Straub's first supernatural horror novel
Julia, and his towering
Ghost Story: the latter mingles sex and death perfectly and,
mon ami, let me tell you, I am
ici for it.
2 of those are swipes from Frazetta paintings:
ReplyDeletea) the Manitou one is from 'The Swamp Demon'
https://www.google.com/search?q=The+Swamp+Demon+by+Frank+Frazetta&client=firefox-b-d&channel=crow&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj018iFmJDjAhVsHLkGHclyALUQ_AUIECgB&biw=1064&bih=910
b)The 'La vengeance du manitou' is a swipe from 'Conan the Avenger'
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&channel=crow&biw=1064&bih=910&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=QyIYXcz8FJfA5OUP4-mu6AM&q=Frank+Frazetta+Conan+the+Avenger&oq=Frank+Frazetta+Conan+the+Avenger&gs_l=img.3...140810.140810..141883...0.0..0.171.171.0j1......0....2j1..gws-wiz-img.paAPWuzaiNQ
Really diggin on the cover for Tryon's, The Other! Also Straub's, Ghost Story. The colors are just so queasy and garish!
ReplyDeleteHi, there's a lot of info on this blog, it's great, but I have one question about identifying a horror novel, maybe you can help: I remember reading the synopsis of it out of interest when I was at school in the mid nineties, and it was a paperback, the cover mostly black, with the front cover illustration of an evil or feral-looking naked woman lying on grass, glaring angrily up at the us, the viewer. She was on her side in a semi-foetal position, so no NSFW frontal nudity is visible, her head is totally bald, her skin seemed to be overly veiny or tautly muscled (to emphasise she isn't meant to be attractive or alluring) and she may have been cluthing a kind of laurel wreath to herself. The synopsis described a little boy discovered alone with his entire town/village community vanished, and when questioned about it he can only furiously draw a naked bald woman on the ground, like the one on the cover. I can't remember if he is the main character grown up, or the main character is separate. The book also had a one-word title, I thought it was either Ritual or Rite or maybe Wraith, but after searching can't find anything like this by those titles. The title was bold in scary jagged lettering on the frontcover. Does this book description ring any bells with you?
ReplyDeleteLuke--someone informed me that the book is FIENDS by John Farris. You describe the UK cover art, which is completely different from the US edition (which I own). I haven't read it yet but I do enjoy Farris!
ReplyDeleteAh, FIENDS!! Yes i recognize that plot point now...Will, please make a note to read FIENDS asap. It is possibly my favorite of Farris' novels -granted, that's a hard choice to make. It is one of his best and scariest though!
ReplyDelete