tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8253516617485940232024-03-19T01:48:52.537-07:00Too Much Horror FictionWill Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.comBlogger852125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-34292442809691480722024-02-14T12:21:00.000-08:002024-02-14T18:01:29.525-08:00Wet Work by Philip Nutman (1993): Too Tough to DieIn 1993, in my early 20s, I was working in a giant chain bookstore known as BookStar in Cary, NC. It wasn't a bad place to work, basically a Barnes and Noble (who eventually bought and then closed down the store), although the guys had to wear ties and dress pants, like it was fucking church. Several of my coworkers were horror fiction fans, both of the modern and classic variety, and we wasted Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-75767290155131492342024-01-28T13:47:00.000-08:002024-01-28T13:56:57.525-08:00Latest Titles in Valancourt Books' Paperbacks from Hell Line: Two by Jere CunninghamAround Spring 2024, Grady Hendrix, Valancourt Books, and I will be unleashing two devilishly good horror titles in our series of Paperbacks from Hell reprints: Jere Cunningham's The Legacy (1977) and The Abyss (1981). While the author, who died in 2018, only wrote a few horror novels, we think he deserves to be better known. The latter book, with Grady's intro, is available for pre-order; the Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-66142565377783315312024-01-24T18:49:00.000-08:002024-01-28T13:48:51.646-08:00Fine Frights: Stories That Scared Me, ed. by Ramsey Campbell (1988): A Feast of FiendsDespite it coming out at the height of the Eighties horror boom and published by genre giant Tor Books, I have no recollection at all of Fine Frights: Stories That Scare Me. An anthology of short stories compiled by the great and prolific Ramsey Campbell, the subtitle is the seller here: a story that can frighten one of horror's premier authors will surely reduce regular readers to a slab of Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-28316667433706535262023-12-05T12:02:00.000-08:002023-12-05T15:44:17.429-08:00Bats Out of Hell by Guy N. Smith (1978): Wings of Pain Reach Out for YouCan you believe it's been over a decade since I read a Guy N. Smith novel?! Despite his having written a near countless number of books, none ever made it to the top of my to-read list. In my paperback collection I have maybe eight or so of his titles, some part of his infamous Crabs series, and others just random I've bought over the years. The itch was coming upon me to revisit the infamous Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-75959067317555191242023-11-27T10:21:00.000-08:002023-11-27T10:22:22.531-08:00The Revenant by Hugh Zachary (1988): The Night They Drove Old Dixie DownWell, this was an unexpected treat. Long on my to-read list after the author's 1974 eco-horror Gwen, in Green become a personal favorite, Hugh Zachary's umpteenth novel The Revenant (Onyx, Aug 1988) is a respectable addition to the haunted house pantheon. The esteemed illustrator Richard Newton provides the stunning skull cover art, which perfectly illustrates the terrors within (while he is not Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-82559189394572636442023-08-17T11:10:00.004-07:002023-08-17T14:46:41.433-07:00The Pyx by John Buell (1959): She's Like Heroin to MeWith the finely-detailed image of a nude willowy blonde, tresses flowing, nipples bared, stomach taut, slim legs, and arched feet in full Playboy-model effect, the cover art for The Pyx promises a helluva lot! Especially for the Sixties when it was originally published by Popular Library (no specific pub date given, nor is artist identified). This little guy was on my want-list for a few years Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-45410470893417512722023-03-22T10:53:00.001-07:002023-03-22T10:53:05.882-07:00Latest Titles in Valancourt Books' Paperbacks from Hell Series: Two by Thomas TessierValancourt Books has announced the 2023 release of two more titles in their long-running series of paperback horror featured in my and Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell. This time it's two 1980s novels by the esteemed Thomas Tessier: we've got Finishing Touches (1986) and Rapture (1987), major works of psychosexual horror. Tessier is no pulpy schlockmeister: his style is chilling, literate, Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-14259343661952155122023-03-09T11:37:00.002-08:002023-03-09T11:57:42.201-08:00Hide and Seek by Jack Ketchum (1984): Linger on Your Pale Blue EyesA brief, stark coming-of-age tale of terror, Hide and Seek was the second novel from the late Jack Ketchum—famous pseudonym of author Dallas Mayr, who died of cancer in 2018 at age 71. Published as a paperback original by Ballantine Books in June 1984, this slim little book reads like a James M. Cain or a Jim Thompson crime
novel, with a no-account narrator meeting an enticing woman far outsideWill Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-74838897386744830332023-02-27T19:02:00.029-08:002023-02-28T08:37:06.557-08:00Tricycle by Russell Rhodes (1983): Crimin' SimonChristopher Hennick, a young English literature professor and former star athlete, is blinded in a terrible accident but is now returning to Talbot Academy, the New England boys' school he'd taught at and attended previously. His relationship with his girlfriend, Susanne, is strained due to his reluctance to come to terms with his new disability. And while he is welcomed back to teach by Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-64484767844831374402023-02-21T10:22:00.004-08:002023-08-14T15:15:34.661-07:00The Cats by Nick Sharman (1977): Apocalypse MeowScott Grønmark was his name and writing pulp horror paperbacks under the pseudonym "Nick Sharman" was his game. Born in Oslo, Norway, in 1952, he was working in the PR department of New English Library (which is why of course he had to use a pseudonym) when he began his published career with The Cats. It was originally published by NEL in 1977 (below), and then by Signet in America in May 1979. Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-75617116991445869462023-02-07T15:49:00.010-08:002024-03-11T16:06:48.761-07:00The Damnation Game by Clive Barker (1985): Gambling's for FoolsAnother reread of a famous Eighties horror novel, in which I ask the time-honored question: does it hold up lo these many decades later?If you've followed Too Much Horror Fiction at any time over the past 13 (!!!) years, you'll know Clive Barker is one of my lodestars of genre fiction, up there in my own personal pantheon with H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, and Harlan Ellison. It's not just Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-12605694477940629642023-02-01T13:01:00.004-08:002023-02-02T09:11:06.635-08:00IT by Stephen King (1986): I Don't Want to Grow Up "Oh Christ," Bill groaned to himself, "if this is the stuff grownups have to think about I never want to grow up.""I am the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries," Stephen King
famously said back in the Eighties, as a comment on, and perhaps a
defense of, his rising popularity, which was heading right into the
stratosphere. It's a cute, self-deprecating line that defends against
the Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-47621393636927210282022-11-08T11:41:00.004-08:002022-11-08T17:15:55.189-08:00Gila! by Les Simons (1981): Big Lizard in My Backyard Boasting one of the purest examples of vintage horror paperback cover art, Gila! is a title burned into my brain from discovering it when it first appeared in the spinner rack of my local library. I was 10 years old when it was published by Signet Books in October 1981, and mesmerized by the carnival barker-like tagline, as well as its back cover copy that luridly mixed sex and death into one Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-9931989224470616812022-09-08T11:32:00.002-07:002022-09-08T11:32:27.887-07:00Lucifer Society: The Paperback Cover Art of Don PunchatzNew Jersey-born illustrator Don Ivan Punchatz was born on this date in 1936. His surreal, otherworldly, even whimsical imagery adorned paperback covers in the horror, science fiction, and fantasy genres from all the top publishers: Avon, Signet, Dell, Berkley Medallion, and Warner, as well as for top authors like Asimov and Vonnegut. Especially prolific throughout the late Sixties and Seventies, Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-28234224371739039072022-09-06T13:41:00.002-07:002023-02-14T17:55:51.808-08:00RIP Peter Straub (1943 - 2022)Sad news today: Locus magazine has reported that Peter Straub has died at age 79 after a long illness. A giant of modern horror since the late Seventies, with major bestselling works like Ghost Story, Floating Dragon, Koko, and, with Stephen King, The Talisman, to his credit, Straub was a writer of uncommon power and literary skill. In novels, short stories, and novellas alike, he was able Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-55183831068253631842022-08-24T11:27:00.004-07:002022-09-11T12:31:48.260-07:00The Wells of Hell by Graham Masterton (1979): Rock Lobster!Whenever I find myself picking up and then tossing aside paperback horror novel after paperback horror novel, dismayed and distressed at the author's inability to hook me to the narrative even in the first few pages; whenever it pains my soul that it's been months since I've read a good book; whenever I begin to despair of the genre I love and almost desire to leave it all behind—I know it is Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-21990347122188796962022-06-08T11:09:00.007-07:002022-06-30T11:41:20.987-07:00The Case Against Satan by Ray Russell (1962): Hell is for Children There was a rattling, gagging sound from the girl, and they turned to watch in pity and loathing as she retched violently, her body curling in spasms, her fingers and toes clenched, her gaping mouth spewing jet after jet of reeking substance that covered her and splattered the wall and ran sluggishly in long viscous tendrils down to the floor. A young teenage girl in unbearable torment of Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-42367283079351491612022-05-30T17:31:00.006-07:002022-05-31T11:58:44.355-07:00The Bridge by John Skipp & Craig Spector (1991): The Ultimate SinThe horror genre isn't generally thought of as being socially conscious, and historically was often seen as just the opposite. This has changed most notably in the last few years, but back in the Eighties and into the Nineties, horror entertainment was more a place to indulge in anti-social behaviors than in healthy ones. Famed splatterpunk duo John Skipp and Craig Spector, those "bad boys" of Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-70436508069109842252022-04-02T13:04:00.002-07:002022-04-02T13:05:03.686-07:00Where Nightmares Are: Peter Haining Born This Date, 1940 Anthologist and horror historian Peter Haining was born on April 2, 1940, in Middlesex, England. His books number into the hundreds, and his anthologies boast some of the most bizarre art of the late Sixties and Seventies, often by recognizable genre artists such as Bruce Pennington and John Holmes. Favoring "the subtle and the classic over the shocking and the graphic," he collected tales Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-83805001699578136292022-04-01T17:32:00.001-07:002022-04-01T17:33:53.009-07:00Harry Adam Knight's Carnosaur Coming from Valancourt Books!Hey gang, look what's coming soon from Valancourt Books! It's the 1984 prehistoric animal-attack classick Carnosaur, by prolific pulp purveyor Harry Adam Knight (John Brosnan when he's at home). Highly sought-after in its original Star UK and Bart Books US paperback incarnations, you now will not have to pay an astronomical sum to own a copy. I've contributed a new introduction for this edition, Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-65012986147468057062022-03-25T10:25:00.001-07:002022-03-25T10:25:29.858-07:00Some Say Love It is a Razor In the early and mid Eighties Zebra cranked out a handful of paperbacks that featured photos of knives slicing through various fruit, and in one case, a rose—not too obvious now! You'll recognize a few names: Joe Lansdale's first novel, Act of Love; two from hack supreme William W. Johnstone; and two from "Philip Straker," an pseudonym of Edward Lee, who would become a prolific extreme horror Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-5583710380663427662022-03-07T17:55:00.005-08:002022-03-08T13:05:41.952-08:00Kiki by John Gill (1979): Plastic Fantastic LoverWhen I first saw a copy of the gloriously-covered Kiki (Fawcett Popular Library, Oct 1980, no cover art credit) on a fellow paperback horror fan's Instagram, I bought a copy immediately, $5 on Abebooks. Mannequin horror, it looked like, promising illicit erotic thrills, you know I had to have it. How had this book passed me by? I'd never come across it before, and the author's name, John Gill, Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-56352182568490905412022-01-27T14:04:00.002-08:002022-03-08T19:12:00.469-08:00Horror Fiction Help XXVITime once again in which I seek identification of these forgotten horrors for fellow blog readers. Thanks in advance!1. In the late 1990s or 2000 I read a paperback about a married couple who move into a new house. The wife somehow disappears in a room or door in the attic that leads to another world or dimension. 2. A horror/supernatural/ghost anthology published 1985-1993. One story was Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-42183278902858071852022-01-21T15:54:00.000-08:002022-01-21T15:54:45.058-08:00Latest Title in Valancourt's Paperbacks from Hell Series: Progeny of the Adder! Coming this summer, the 15th title in the Paperbacks from Hell reprint series published by Valancourt Books! Progeny of the Adder is a 1965 horror-thriller by Leslie H. Whitten (1928 - 2017), a Florida-born journalist who also wrote several genre novels. I first read this title over 10 years ago and reviewed it here, and mentioned it in my recommended reading afterward for PfH. I'm looking Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-825351661748594023.post-51356897170511745372021-12-31T16:32:00.005-08:002021-12-31T18:28:51.050-08:002021: The Year in ReviewAlas: 2021 was another year in which I've had more luck buying horror paperbacks than I have had in reading them. You've probably noticed the dearth of reviews on the blog. This year I started to read so many but gave up on them in a flash, realizing I'm having the same reaction to them as editors/critics like Karl Edward Wagner, Dennis Etchison, and Charles L. Grant had back in the day: the Will Erricksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com18