Book Review: The End of the Line edited by Jonathan Oliver

Book Review: 'The End of the Line' edited by Jonathan Oliver

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

I don't usually review sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books published after the early 1990s, mainly because there are websites and blogs that do this and do it well.

 

However, several years ago, after claiming I violated their 'community standards,' amazon removed 13 years worth of my reviews. So I figured I might relocate some of those eliminated reviews here at the Por Por Books Blog, rather letting them dissolve into the nothingness of the Aether.......... 

Nowadays I find that most Americans aren't very familiar with the artist George Tooker (1920 - 2011), but back in the post World War Two era he was one of the most prominent artists in the USA. 

 

Perhaps the most famous of his works was The Subway (1950), which shows commuters gripped by existential dread while negotiating the dehumanizing corridors of a subway system: 

The Subway by George Tooker (1950)

Likely taking inspiration from Tooker's sensibility, ‘The End of the Line’ (Solaris, 2010, 358 pp., cover by Luke Preece) features 19 stories all centered on the theme of modern underground transportation as the setting for supernatural encounters. All stories originally were written for this anthology, and, as most of the contributors are from the UK, there is an emphasis on the subway and rail systems of that country.

My thoughts on the entries:

The best story in the collection is Nicholas Royle’s ‘The Lure’ which is not a horror story per se, but rather, a Hitchcockian tale about a young British man who, during a year abroad in Paris, encounters a mysterious and alluring older woman. The story is carefully crafted to deliver a subtle, but powerful, ending. 

Also earning high marks is Simon Bestwick’s ‘The Sons of the City’, a clever updating of the 1973 film Death Line (aka Raw Meat). Al Ewing’s ‘The Roses that Bloom Underground’ is a neat effort at placing a Lovecraftian netherworld within the confines of the subway system.

‘In the Colosseum’, by Stephen Volk, brings graphic sex and violence to a tale of the London CCTV system and decadent voyeurs. It’s splatterpunk stylings give it genuinely disturbing character, that is otherwise absent among the other entries in ‘End of the Line.’

More restrained, but also effective, are James Lovegrove’s ‘Siding 13,’ about the physical horrors of a too-packed subway car, and Mark Morris’s ‘Fallen Boys,' which eschews the subway system altogether and instead places its action within a creepy old mining tunnel. 

Paul Meloy’s ‘Bullroarer’ brings satirical humor  to the story of a downtrodden subway rider who gets a unique chance to rebuff his tormentors.

Natasha Rhodes also injects sardonic humor into ‘Crazy Train’, about an LA rocker who finds himself traveling the city’s subway system in the company of a spooky Goth Chick.

 

Otherwise, the bulk of the stories in ‘End’ settle for Tooker-esque themes in which riders find themselves transported to unsettling stations or stops that lie outside the boundaries of the ‘real’ Underground. There is a emphasis on alienation and unease, rather than frank horror. These entries by John Probert, Rebecca Levine, Jasper Bark, Conrad Williams, Pat Cadigan, Adam Nevill, Michael Marshall Smith, and Christopher Fowler all are competently written, but not particularly memorable. 

Inevitably, Ramsey Campbell makes an appearance; here, it’s ‘The Rounds’, about a man who believes he is witnessing suspicious behavior in the Underground. While Campbell has in some respects curtailed the florid nature of his prose style, his story’s oblique ending gives it a flaccid character, and suffers in comparison to the more assured denouements provided by his fellow authors. 

Another contribution, Joel Lane’s ‘All Dead Years’, tries to emulate the descriptive prose approach used by ’vintage’ Campbell and writers like Dennis Etchison and Charles L. Grant. But while ‘All Dead Years’ starts off promisingly, it loses momentum and sputters into an unsatisfying ending.

 

Gary McMahon’s ‘Diving Deep’ with its Antarctic locale, represents one of the more imaginative entries in the anthology; unfortunately it, too, suffers from too vague a denouement.

In summary, like most horror fiction anthologies, ‘End of the Line’ has a few real gems mixed in with some 'average' entries. I'm comfortable with giving it a 3 of 5 Stars Rating.

Terror ! A history of horror illustrations from the pulp magazines Edited by Peter Haining

Terror ! A history of horror illustrations from the pulp magazines

Edited by Peter Haining

 

I've carried a worn copy of this trade paperback around for nearly 50 years now.....I can't remember where and exactly when I got it. But it was one of a number of books on horror and the supernatural published by the indefatigable Peter Haining during the 1970s, in the US and the UK. In those long-ago days, well before the advent of the internet and amazon, books like this one were treasured by genre fans.

 

Issued by publisher A and W Visual Library, in its 176 pages 'Terror !' does a good job of presenting a potpourri of cover artworks, and interior images, from pulp magazines and other periodicals printed from the early 19th century, to the postwar era of the 20th century. 

Accompanying these black-and-white illustrations, in tiny font text editor Haining provides captions, along with some observations on the literary and sociocultural contexts of horror media as it was in those long-ago days. 

 

 

 

I had to take care in scanning pages of 'Terror !' as the binding of my copy is in a fragile condition, but I believe what I was able to scan provides a good sense of the variety and reproductive qualities of the profiled illustrations. The resolution of the images in 'Terror !' isn't superlative, but it is workmanlike, which is about all one can expect from a lower-budget trade paperback issued fifty years ago.........

 

 

'Terror !' has a smattering of pages rendered in full color, these serving as a reminder of the eye-catching qualities of the covers of the pulp magazines in their heyday.

Who will want a copy of 'Terror' ? Well, since its publication it has been supplanted by Stephen Jones's two volumes for Applause Books: 'The Art of Horror: An Illustrated History' (2015) and 'The Art of Pulp Horror' (2020). But I'd like to think that 'Terror' yet retains value in terms of being a source book for information about vintage stories of horror and the supernatural that remain off the radar for genre aficionados. With copies in 'acceptable' and 'good' condition still available for under $20, it might be worth picking up.

 

For what it's worth, in 1985 a UK edition of 'Terror !', retitled 'A Pictorial History of Horror Stories,' was issued by Sphere Books. A pdf of this edition is available at the Internet Archive and thus requires no financial outlay.

Three beat-up Paperbacks from Hell

Three Beat-Up Paperbacks from Hell

So, I stopped in at Goodwill to see if anything interesting was on the used books shelving and I wound up getting these three (rather beat-up) Paperbacks from Hell for $6 total. I'm not expecting great things from these three titles, but as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.........

National Lampoon October 1985

National Lampoon

October, 1985

October, 1985, and sitting at number one on the Top 40 is the Norwegian band A-Ha, with 'Take on Me.'
 

The latest issue of the National Lampoon is on the stands, with the theme of an 'All-Star Music Issue.' The magazine is in something of a transition period; as founder Matty Simmons states in his book 'If You Don't Buy this Book, We'll Kill this Dog: Life, Laughs, Love and Death at the National Lampoon,' he had fired a portion of the editorial staff, replacing these with his sons Michael and Andy Simmons, in an effort to boost circulation and advertising. This strategy had improved the Lampoon's fortunes somewhat, but the magazine's glory days of the 1970s clearly had passed. 

 

The comics are the best thing about this October issue. We get full color with 'Trots and Bonnie,' as our heroine discovers the reality of forming a band: clashes over creative directions can be challenging to manage.

'First Gig,' by Andy Simmons, Peter Kleinman, and Rob Orzechowski, presents the adventures of Nice Jewish Boy Irwin Nadler, and his rise to musical glory with the Rolling Stones.

 

 

 

Speaking of Nice Jewish Boys, Drew and Josh Alan Friedman take acidic aim at the hapless Frank Sinatra, Jr.

 

In '85, Yuppies were a major target of pop culture scrutiny and the Lampoon provides a centerfold featuring yuppies in quintessential 'preppy' garb.........

A parody of Rolling Stone, Rollin' Home, takes aim at the entrenched worship of elderly, black bluesmen by white, urban hipsters. The faux-interview with bluesman 'Interstate Brickman' is a spot-on mockery of Jan Wenner's editorial attitudes.........
 

 

 

 

In that October of '85 the 'Foto Funnies' still were lively.......

Let's close out our survey of the Lampoon with a cartoon..........

And that's how it was, in the pages of the Lampoon, 41 years ago.........

Mark Petrie is Awakened

Mark Petrie is awakened

from ''Salem's Lot,' by Stephen King, 1975

 

Chapter Ten

The Lot (III)

Something had awakened him.

He lay still in the ticking dark, looking at the ceiling.

A noise. Some noise. But the house was silent.

There it was again. Scratching.

Mark Petrie turned over in bed and looked through the window and Danny Glick was staring in at him through the glass, his skin grave-pale, his eyes reddish and feral. Some dark substance was smeared around his lips and chin , and when he saw Mark looking at him, he smiled and showed teeth grown hideously long and sharp.

“Let me in,” the voice whispered, and Mark was not sure if the words had crossed dark air or were only in his mind.

Book Review: Cthulhu's Reign edited by Darrell Schweitzer

Book Review: 'Cthulhu's Reign' edited by Darrell Schweitzer

3 / 5 Stars

'Cthulhu's Reign' (309 pp.) was published by DAW Books (No. 1507) in April, 2010. The cover artist is uncredited.

 

In his Introduction, editor Schweitzer establishes the premise for this anthology: Cthulhu and the Old Ones have emerged triumphant, in control not just of Earth, but perhaps the entire cosmos. Who will survive, and what will be left of them ?

 

My capsule summaries of the contents (all of which were written exclusively for this anthology):

 

The Walker in the Cemetery, by Ian Watson: a group of tourists wandering in the sprawling Staglieno cemetery in Genoa witness the coming of the Old Ones. Life quickly becomes very hazardous. A creepy tale from author Watson, who passed away on April 13 of this year.

 

Sanctuary, by Don Webb: in the little Texas town of Doublesign, people try to cope with the Reign by gathering and praying in the church. Maybe invoking eldritch, pagan rituals will appease the powers that be ? 

 

Her Acres of Pastoral Playground, by Mike Allen: Delmar's command of Eldritch Knowledge means that his rural parcel is shielded from the horrors of Cthulhu's Reign. Until, that is, a tentacle sprouts from his wife's cheek......

 

Spherical Trigonometry, by Ken Asamatsu: when the Old Ones seize control of Japan, a wealthy genius makes for the Womb, a refuge that is impenetrable to cosmic horrors. Asamatsu, whose first language is Nihongo, offers one of the better stories in the anthology. 

 

What Brings the Void, by Will Murray: pulp author Murray passed away on August 25. This story is about a federal agent who investigates an ominous 'processing center' set up amid the chaotic landscape of the return of the Old Ones. Murray's prose is deliberately (?) clumsy: 

 

I tried to switch to the left to invoke the clairaudient function.

 

I heard a single clairaudient word. A mere whisper bubbling up from my unconscious mind: containers.

 

The New Pauline Corpus, by Matt Cardin: this is the second-worst story in the anthology. The author makes the case that the Reign of Cthulhu is the fulfillment of religious prophecy, in the manner of the Old Testament. The prose is clotted and at times, incoherent. I'm not sure why editor Schweitzer didn't just send this manuscript back with a polite note.......

 

Ghost Dancing, by Darrell Schweitzer: Robert Tillinghast has a plan to endure in a world overtaken by the Old Ones. It may involve some Abominable Acts. Are you willing to join him, if it saves your life ?!

 

This Is How the World Ends, by John R. Fultz: the first-person narrator is an Iraqi war veteran, and handy with a .45 Desert Eagle handgun. Will that be enough to survive in a world overrun with Eldritch Horrors ?!

 

The Shallows, by John Langan: a man named Ransom struggles to survive in the nightmarish landscape of a world under Cthulhu's Reign. He spends much of his time reminiscing about how his late wife, who was dying of cancer, adopted a stray dog named Bruce. This story is very, very dull.

 

Such Bright and Risen Madness in Our Names, by Jay Lake: survivors of the advent of the Old Ones plot to undermine the power of those humans serving as priests to such Abominations.

 

The Seals of New R'lyeh, by Gregory Frost: two thieves find that having a criminal mindset is a great asset to have, in the Reign of Cthulhu.........

 

The Holocaust of Ecstasy, by Brian Stableford: Richard Tremeloe, of Arkham, Massachusetts, finds himself converted into a kind of humanized fruit, in the aftermath of Cthulhu's Reign. He has lengthy conversations with a 'un-man' from Pnakotus. For no particular reason Stableford deploys the noun (?) 'fructicarnivore.' It's plain that he phoned in this contribution.

 

Vastation, by Laird Barron: an omnipotent entity, who may be the Devil, resists the advent of the Old Ones. This story is a self-conscious effort at a 'metafiction,' and badly overplays the rushed, hipster diction of an early Neal Stephenson ('Zodiac,' 1988). Barron uses the term 'conculated,' to show just how hip the story is. It's the worst story in the anthology..........

 

Nothing Personal, by Richard A. Lupoff: a groovy sci-fi sensibility permeates this tale of the advent of the Old Ones, and the response of the interplanetary Terran space force.

 

Remnants, by Fred Chappell: in the aftermath of Cthulhu's Reign, Vern, his mom, and his autistic sister Echo struggle to survive in their wilderness refuge. When Echo begins channeling some sort of ethereal signals, should Vern embark on a dangerous journey to a place of aid ? This novella takes an unexpected turn at its halfway point, and in so doing ends with an offbeat, entertaining quality.

 

The verdict ? There are enough good stories to give 'Reign' a Three Star Rating. Those other than Mythos aficionados, probably can pass on it.