SO....what's a PorPor Book ? 'PorPor' is a derogatory term my brother used, to refer to the SF and Fantasy paperbacks and comic books I eagerly read from the late 60s to the late 80s. This blog is devoted to those paperbacks and comics you can find on the shelves of second-hand bookstores...from the New Wave era and 'Dangerous Visions', to the advent of the cyberpunks and 'Neuromancer'.
Sunday, October 31, 2021
Book Review: The Year's Best Horror Stories: XX
Friday, October 29, 2021
Halloween Special 1976
October 29, 1976
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Book Review: Softly Walks the Beast
Saturday, October 23, 2021
Dracula: Vlad the Impaler
Summing up, I can't recommend this black-and-white printing of 'Dracula: Vlad the Impaler' as a must-have, like Maroto's 'Prison Ship' and 'Lovecraft' volumes. Given that the original comic book series can be found for a reasonable price, these better represent this franchise. Diehard fans of the artist, or those dedicated to early 90s comics, may be sufficiently motivated to acquire the IDW version of 'Dracula', but others can pass without penalty.
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
My Top 17 Horror Stories
Sunday, October 17, 2021
Book Review: The Best Horror from Fantasy Tales
Thursday, October 14, 2021
Rodney Matthews, Michael Moorcock, and Fantasy Illustration in the 1970s
Rodney Matthews, Michael Moorcock, and Fantasy Illustration in the 1970s
The UK artist Rodney Matthews (b. 1945) emerged as a prominent commercial artist in the early 1970s when the Big O poster company began issuing posters based on his fantasy paintings.
At his blog, Matthews has an entertaining series of posts about how, in 1975, he initiated a collaboration with author Michael Moorcock about providing illustrations for the 'Elric' franchise. The collaboration is still going strong - as prints and NFTS - as of 2021. Matthews's posts also provide some interesting insights into the financial realities of being a commercial artist in the UK in the 70s and 80s.
Monday, October 11, 2021
Book Review: The Fog
I won't offer a full synopsis of The Fog, mainly because there are plenty of in-depth reviews available online.
I will say the plot is relatively straightforward: a freak earthquake takes place near a small village located close to the Salisbury Plain in southern Britain. A strange gas escapes from the newly opened fissure in the ground, and begins to spread over the countryside. All people and animals exposed to the Fog undergo a rapid loss of their inhibitions, and revert into a crazed fugue state, one that sees them overly prone to carry out violent acts with no hesitation or remorse.
John Holman, a square-jawed, no-nonsense Department of the Environment employee, has survived a firsthand encounter with the Fog, and quickly becomes the lead actor in the government's efforts to locate, and counter, the phenomenon.
But for Holman and the UK, time is running out. For the Fog is heading for London....... !
The main plot thread centers on the adventures of John Holman and his mission to defeat the Fog.
This is interspersed with vignettes gleefully depicting the various acts of mayhem and gory atrocities that the Fog-crazed denizens of the British countryside and city are wont to indulge in. Throughout his novel, Herbert relies on a detached prose style that lends itself well to recounting the increasingly gruesome toll taken by the psychotic victims of the Fog.
And, Herbert avoids the obvious cop-out in making the Fog an occult or supernatural menace; there is a sf subtext to the plot that, in my opinion, gives the book an edge over his related work, The Dark (1980). In this regard, The Fog acquires the sort of quasi-documentary style that is typified by Michael Crichton novels.
Summing up..........if you haven't read The Fog (or for that matter, The Rats) then it should be on your reading list.
It's by no means a triumph of 'literary achievement' (as such things might be counted), but it's a seminal novel in the birth of 'modern' horror.
Saturday, October 9, 2021
At the Library Sale October 2021
October 2021
Wednesday, October 6, 2021
Graveyard Ghosts by Gilbert Shelton
by Gilbert Shelton
from Zap Comix No. 13, 1994