Saturday, November 5, 2022

Book Review: Psi High and Others

Book Review: 'Psi High and Others' by Alan E. Nourse
2 / 5 Stars

'Psi High and Others' (157 pp.) was published by Ace Books in 1967. The cover art is by Don Ivan Punchatz.

Alan E. Nourse (1928-1992) is perhaps best known for his 1974 novel The Bladerunner, and his 1963 anthology The Counterfeit Man and Others, a perennial selection of the Scholastic Book Club during the Baby Boomer years. 

'Psi High' consists of three novellas. All are set in the 22nd century, and are framed using the plot device of benevolent aliens watching over human affairs from afar, forbidden to interfere. At the same time, however, the aliens are inclined to see that mankind rises from his self-inflicted handicaps and achieves emancipation among the other intelligent races of the galaxy. 

In 'The Martyr', a complicated medical procedure known as Rejuvenation can restore youthful vigor, and lengthen the lifespan, of the privileged few allowed to receive it. Given that the politically powerful and well-connected control access to Rejuvenation, such access has become a tool for coercion and control. Senator Dan Fowler, a genuine Man of the People, is using all of his considerable conviction and statecraft to try and make Rejuvenation available to the masses. But what if Rejuvenation isn't the remarkable gift it would seem to be ?

In 'Psi High' a malevolent alien, disguised as a Terran, roams the Earth on a mission of mayhem. Only telepaths, those with 'high' psi capabilities, can detect the alien. But of course, those with psi capabilities are hated and feared by some of their fellow humans. Can those gifted with psi powers nobly act to save their fellow humans - however bigoted these might be - from the alien threat ?

In 'Mirror, Mirror', hostile aliens have secreted their ship in the clouds covering the surface of Saturn. From a nearby space station, the story's protagonists try to find and destroy the aliens by mentally piloting attack drones down into the murk. But the aliens have thwarted these efforts by responding with devastating psychic attacks. Can Dorie Kendall from the psi academy discover a way to defeat the aliens, or is the Earth doomed to fall under an extraterrestrial invasion ?

I finished 'Psi High and Others' underwhelmed. While Nourse is certainly a more gifted prose stylist than those of his contemporaries who were writing sci-fi in the 1960s, the fact is that these three novellas are dull and unexciting. The narratives in these novellas are reliant on protracted dialogue passages, in which the characters indulge in melodramatic exchanges. The denouements of 'Psi High' and 'Mirror Mirror' rely on gimmicky contrivances that fail to live up to the overheated nature of the emotional and psychological confrontations that underpin the narratives.

These stories do promote a note of confidence and optimism in the human potential. But by 1967, when these stories were published, the burgeoning New Wave movement was expressing a more skeptical, and more nuanced, attitude towards humanism, and the meliorism of Nourse's stories already was becoming passe.

Thursday, November 3, 2022

Return to Normals

Back to Normals
It was a mild Autumn day, warm, with hazy sunshine, and it had been 4 1/2 years since my last visit, so I risked the badly damaged, potholed, decaying streets of Baltimore to travel to Normals Books and Records on East 31st Street.

Not much has changed with the store or with the neighborhood (still sketchy and Inconclusively Gentrifying) since I first started going to Normals in the early 1990s. 

They always have some interesting things on display in their window............stopping to examine the displayed items always confers some instant Hipster Credit.
I came away with a modest collection of sci-fi titles and a 1985 copy of the book of the Friedman brothers' comics from Heavy Metal and National Lampoon, Any Similarity to Persons Living Or Dead Is Purely Coincidental
I'll have a post up about the Friedmans' book pretty soon. 

Always nice to be at Normals, on a nice Fall day..........

Monday, October 31, 2022

Book Review: Last Rites

Book Review: 'Last Rites' by Jorge Saralegui
1 / 5 Stars

'Last Rites' (279 pp.) was published by Charter / Berkley Books in November, 1985. The cover artist is uncredited.

The prologue of 'Rites' depicts, in a splatter-punkish way, a satanic ceremony, held in a San Francisco church in 1882 and overseen by an alluring woman named Lourdes. 

The narrative then moves to San Francisco of the mid-1980s. Lead character Nick Van Lo, who has been booted out of a faculty position at an esteemed Bay-area university for sleeping with his female students, has moved to the Tenderloin district. Low on money, and steeped in no small amount of self-pity, Nick takes a room at an old hotel, called the La Casa de Dolores, now converted to a flophouse. Nick hopes to restore his reputation and his self-respect by teaching tenth-graders at the estimable John Swett School.

One of Van Lo's students is the angelic Amanda Westerhays, who, along with her affluent affluent parents Jessica and Tod, enjoys a comfortable lifestyle at their home in a suburb outside the city. Amanda thinks very highly of her new teacher, and Nick reciprocates the sentiment. So when Amanda begins to display aggressive behavior, it raises concerns with Nick.

Nick also can't help noticing that there is something disturbing going on at La Casa de Dolores. The mortality rate for its population of transients, alcoholics, and derelicts rapidly is rising. 'The Doctor', an amiable transient who mans the front desk, is drinking more heavily than usual. The carcasses of dead rats, drained of blood, are scattered around the premises. The eccentric Father Angustia, an 'urban missionary' who ministers to the tenants, hints that there are dark and dangerous forces at work in the building. And Dolores, the decrepit elderly woman who owns the hotel, declares that she knows a great deal about these disturbances........and the malevolent acts that sullied the city in 1882.

Even as Nick struggles to understand the strange things going on at the hotel, he meets a striking young woman named Judith Harper. Judith, with her long dark hair, white teeth, and fabulous figure, is like Vampirella come to life. And she only visits him at night................

'Last Rites' has an interesting premise: vampires on the loose in modern-day San Francisco, preying on the vagrants and the demimonde of the Tenderloin District, delivering erotic thrills in exchange for sucking the blood of their one-night stands.

Unfortunately, after the first 50 pages the narrative starts to lose cohesion, taking on the form of a series of vignettes that are tossed at the reader in a haphazard manner. The author adopts a prose approach common to many Paperbacks from Hell, introducing spooky incidents that may, or may not, be hallucinations and nightmares. These incidents tend to give the plot a nebulous quality, as the reader labors to elucidate if the evil is 'real', or merely a phantasm.

It doesn't help matters that the author's prose is stilted, and overly reliant on melodramatic passages that contravene the 'show, don't tell' mantra of fiction writing. Such passages are particularly pronounced in the novel's final fifty pages, which suffer from considerable padding en route to detailing the final confrontation between the vampires and the heroes. 

The verdict ? 'Last Rites' is one of the more underwhelming Paperbacks from Hell. You're better off going with some of the other vampire novels that are plentiful in that category.

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Paperback art of John Holmes

The Paperback Art of John Holmes 
at 'The Paperback Palette'


A very nice pictorial at the website of 'The Paperback Palette' on the art of the UK's John Holmes (1935 - 2011). 

If you grew up during the 1970s then you probably remember the striking cover art Holmes provided for the Ballantine paperback editions of the works of H. P. Lovecraft.

The pictorial at The Paperback Palette showcases many other memorable covers Holmes did for publishers in the US and the UK during the 1970s and 1980s. Unfortunately, Holmes's art began to appear less frequently in the late 1980s, and he doesn't appear to have been active in the art field in the 1990s and after. His current obscurity is undeserved............

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Book Review: Golden Eyes

Book Review: 'Golden Eyes' by John Gideon
3 / 5 Stars

'Golden Eyes' is a rarity among Paperbacks from Hell in that it was published both in hardcover and mass-market paperback editions in 1994. Both versions were issued by Berkley Books. According to the Too Much Horror Fiction blog, the font used in the title is BTC Benguiat.

John Gideon is the pseudonym of Lonn Hoklin (b. 1946) who authored several novels in the suspense and horror genres in the 1980s and 1990s. Greeley's Cove (1991) and Kindred (1996; variant title Red Ball) qualify as Paperbacks from Hell (I note that the Too Much Horror Fiction blog was not overly impressed with Greeley's Cove). The Hourglass Crisis (1987) involves Nazis and time travel.

'Golden Eyes' is set in the summer of 1988. The novel's protagonist, a history professor named Mark Lansen, is a cuck. At the architectural firm where she works, his sleek and shapely wife is having sex with her boss, but Lansen avoids denouncing her for fear of triggering divorce proceedings. He and his son refer to each other as 'Dad-Bear' and 'Tad Bear', the kind of cringey appellations that had me rooting for the monsters from early on in the novel (and echoes the conversations between Todd Bowden and his mom Monica, from Stephen King's 1982 novella Apt Pupil).

The setup for 'Golden Eyes' constitutes something of a homage to King's classic vampire novel 'Salem's Lot

Lansen decides to spend the summer in his boyhood home of Oldenberg, Oregon, which is a West Coast version of Jerusalem's Lot. Instead of the Marsten House, in Oldenberg, we get Gestern Hall, looming over the village from wooded heights. Instead of Susan Norton as the local girl / love interest, we get Tressa Downey, a woman with a Troubled Past. Instead of a man named Kurt Barlow as the villain, we get the dissimulating Mark Gestern, lord of Gestern Hall. 

Upon arrival in Oldenberg, Lansen becomes aware that beneath the quotidian cycle of village life, an aura of tension and unease has established itself among the residents. Many are fearful of going out at night, for reasons they cannot define. And the suicides and mysterious deaths of some residents have only deepened the feeling that the town is beset by EVIL !!!!!!

As the summer weeks pass, a horrified Mark Lansen will discover that Oldenberg is assailed by an ancient malevolence, one that preys on the unwitting townspeople, drawing their blood as sustenance. This malevolence even is capable of resurrecting the dead to act as its agents. Can Lansen, along with a gun-toting bounty hunter, a crone who makes enigmatic remarks, and mysterious French priest, mount a defense against the vampiric forces conspiring to turn Oldenberg into a charnel house ?

At 457 pages in length, 'Golden Eyes', like many Paperbacks from Hell, has plenty of space to devote to its narrative, and there is abundant exposition in the novel's opening 300 pages. The unhurried pacing occaisionally receives some propulsive jolts in the form of brief episodes of explicit sex and violence. As the final third of the novel unfolds, the splatterpunk content rises to such an extent that it lends a sly note of facetiousness to 'Golden Eyes', telling the reader that author Gideon is not taking things too seriously.  

The denouement is protracted, taking nearly 90 pages to accomplish, by which time my patience was diminishing. I won't disclose any spoilers, save to say that the confrontation between our heroes and the vampires of Oldenberg has both a comic-book quality, and a some revelations that seemed more than a little contrived. 

The verdict ? 'Golden Eyes', with its unusual vampires and nods to 'Salem's Lot, is a solid three-star novel. If you have the willingness to stick with its slow pacing, you may find it to be one of the more rewarding Paperbacks from Hell. But those looking for a memorable and novel treatment of the vampire theme likely will be disappointed.

Saturday, October 22, 2022

Kiss Psycho Circus issue 3

Kiss: Psycho Circus
Issue 3, October 1997
Let's go back in time to October, 1997, and issue three of the new Kiss: Psycho Circus comic book series, a series that ultimately would go for 31 issues, until June 2000.

Image founder Todd McFarlane was adamant that the series avoid the Kiss-as-superheroes motif of the Marvel comics featuring the band. Instead, Gene Simmons and McFarlane agreed to adopt a darker and more adult sensibility (the comic was devoid of a Comics Code rating). Writer Brian Holguin understood what McFarlane and Simmons wanted, and focused on plots that depicted the band's alter egos as mysterious figures with ambiguous motives and morals. 
What really made the series stand out was the artwork by the U.S. artist Angel Medina. Medina used the 'house style' of Image Comics in the 1990s: highly detailed, with lots of skritches and skratches and spidery, Todd McFarlane-inspired lines. But Medina gave his pencils an eccentric quality that fitted well with the outre nature of Psycho Circus. And Image's inkers, colorists, and letterers were excellent, as always.

I've scanned the entirety of issue three, a one-shot issue titled 'The Nature of the Beast', at 300 dpi per page. It may in turn take some time to load............but I think that at 300 dpi the artwork really shines. And......it's a great tale for Halloween !

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

My top 22 horror stories

My Top 22 Horror Short Stories

I've been reading horror stories since 1970, when I was 9 years old and I saw a copy of Alfred Hitchcock's Monster Museum (Random House, 1965) on the shelf of my grammar school library. 

While most of the stories in the book were rather tame - it was aimed at an audience of juvenile Baby Boomers, after all - Joseph Payne Brennan's story 'Slime' immediately gripped my attention, and from then on, my interest in the genre began, and has lasted since.

After some contemplation, I've decided to stand forth with a list of 22 short stories that in my humble opinion are the better ones I've encountered in 50 years of reading all manner of horror fiction. Since it's the interval covered by this blog, I've concentrated on stories that first saw print from the 1960s into the mid-1990s. 

I've posted a brief, one-sentence synopsis for each story, to jog memories or to give the reader a sense of what to expect.

One problem with focusing on such stories is that in many instances the books where they first appeared long are out of print, and copies in good condition have steep asking prices. Accordingly, where available, I've tried to provide alternate sources for obtaining these stories.

My Top 22, in chronological order:

The First Days of May, by Claude Veillot, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1961; Tales of Terror from Outer Space, 1975

‘Alien invasion’ theme, well done.
***
One of the Dead, by William Wood, The Saturday Evening Post, October 31, 1964; Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Scream Along with Me; A Walk with the Beast, 1969; Great American Ghost Stories, 1991

Although a bit over-written, this is a well-crafted melding of the haunted house theme with the anomie of mid-1960s life in suburban Los Angeles.  

***
The Road to Mictlantecutli, by Adobe James, Adam Bedside Reader, 1965; The Sixth Pan Book of Horror Stories,1965; The Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural, 1981

Morgan, a ruthless criminal, is travelling on a mysterious road in Mexico. The strange sights and passions he encounters will lead him to change his life........for good, or for ill.

'Adobe James' was the pseudonym of American writer James Moss Cardwell (1926 – 1990), who had his short stories published in a variety of magazines and anthologies during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. 
***

Longtooth, by Edgar Pangborn, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 1970; The Best of Modern Horror, 1989

A resident of rural Maine discovers something disturbing in the deep, dark woods.

***
Goat, by David Campton, New Writings in Horror and the Supernatural #1, 1971; Whispers: An Anthology of Fantasy and Horror, 1977

Creepy goings-on in an English village.

***
Satanesque, by Alan Weiss, The Literary Magazine of Fantasy and Terror, #6, 1974; The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series III, 1975

Starts off on a thoroughly conventional note, then unexpectedly transitions into something entirely imaginative and offbeat.

***

The Shortest Way, by David Drake, Whispers #3, March 1974; From the Heart of Darkness, 1983; Vettius and His Friends, 1989;  Night & Demons, 2012

A 'Vettius' story set in the days of the Roman empire. Our hero elects to travel on a road that the locals take care to avoid. An atmospheric, memorable tale.

***
The Taste of Your Love, by Eddy C. Bertin, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series III, 1975; The Whispering Horror, 2013

One of the better Serial Killer tales I’ve read.

***
The Changer of Names, by Ramsey Campbell, Swords Against Darkness II, 1977; The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories: 4, 1978; Far Away and Never, 2021.

I've never been a fan of Campbell’s horror stories and novels, but his sword-and-sorcery stories featuring the ‘Ryre’ character are entertaining exercises in creepiness. There are metaphors and similes abounding in the Ryre tales, to be sure, but as compared to Campbell's horror stories the purple prose is reduced in scope, and plotting receives due consideration. 

While the Swords Against Darkness paperbacks have exorbitant asking prices, a new (October 2021) reprint of Far Away and Never from DMR Press collects all four of the Ryre stories, along with other fantasy tales from Campbell's early career.  

***
Long Hollow Swamp, by Joseph Payne Brennan, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, January 1976; The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series V, 1977

Another great 'monsters-on-the-loose' tale from Brennan.

***
Sing A last Song of Valdese, by Karl Edward Wagner, Chacal #1, Winter 1976; The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series V, 1977; Night Winds, 1978, 1983

One of two entries by Wagner, who wrote a lot of duds, but when he was On, he was On. In a remote forest, a lone traveler comes upon an inn filled with sinister characters.

***
Window, by Bob Leman, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1980; The 1981 Annual World’s Best SF, 1981; The Best of Modern Horror, 1989

A neat mix of sci-fi and horror, revolving around a portal to another dimension.

***
Where the Summer Ends, by Karl Edward Wagner, Dark Forces, August 1980; In A Lonely Place, 1983; The American Fantasy Tradition, 2002
 
A second entry from Wagner. It’s hot, humid, and dangerous in 1970s Knoxville. Stay away from the kudzu !

***
The New Rays, by M. John Harrison, Interzone #1, Spring 1982, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series XI, 1983; The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories, 2012

A disturbing tale with proto-steampunk leanings. 

***

After-Images, by Malcolm John Edwards, Interzone #4, Spring 1983, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series XII, 1984; Interzone: The First Anthology, 1986

Another fine melding of sci-fi and horror, this time set in an English suburb. It’s too bad that Edwards, a playwright and editor, didn’t write more short stories.

***
The Man with Legs, by Al Sarrantonio, Shadows No. 6, October 1983, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series XII, 1984

Two kids learn some disturbing secrets about their family history.

***

High Tide, by Leanne Frahm, Fears, 1983

Frahm, an Australian writer, sets this novelette in the vicinity of the Newry Islands in coastal Queensland. A family camping trip to Mud Island discovers something strange is going on amidst the mangrove swamps: Eco-horror at its creepiest !  

***
Mengele, by Lucius Shepard, Universe 15, 1985, The Jaguar Hunter, 1988

Troubling things are going on at an estate located in a remote region of Paraguay.

***

Red Christmas, by David Garnett, The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XIV, 1986

What seems like a conventional Mad Slasher story has a neat little twist at the end.

***

The Picknickers, by Brian Lumley, Final Shadows, 1991, The Year's Best Horror Stories: XX, 1992.

Unsettling events are happening in the graveyard of a Welsh coal-mining village.

***

The Bacchae, by Elizabeth Hand, The Year's Best Horror Stories: XX, 1992.

In a decaying near-future America, women have gained mysterious, and deadly, powers. This story has the amorphous quality of Weird Fiction, but laces it with splatterpunk imagery.

***
Shining On, by Billie Sue Mosiman, Future Net, 1996

A mutant suffering from severe handicaps finds a friend online. But you know what they say about online friends: just who are they in person ?