A HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN PRAYER
An extremely literate and well written novel that must nonetheless be classified as a disappointment.
HALLOWEENLAND
While I don’t feel HALLOWEENLAND is fully successful, I was impressed with the lean, confident, almost Richard Laymon-esque prose, and will definitely be reading more Sarrantonio publications.
THE HALLOWEEN TREE
This kid book trifle isn’t Ray Bradbury’s best work, but is nonetheless an extremely readable and erudite display of imagination and phantasmagoric imagery.
HALLOWEEN (Edited by Paula Guran)
A selection of new and old stories make up this anthology about, as the title portends, Halloween.
HALLOWEEN (Novel by Curtis Richards)
One of the most revered and widely sought-after movie novelizations, Curtis Richards’ HALLOWEEN went through multiple printings (and covers) throughout 1979.
HALLOWEEN (Novel by Ben Greer)
This novel has nothing to with the John Carpenter directed HALLOWEEN, nor the Curtis Richards novelization of same. Both in any event are preferable to this tedious attempt at horrific suspense, set, as the title portends, on Halloween.
THE GUNS OF SANTA SANGRE
Of THE GUNS OF SANTA SANGRE, a horrific western, I’ll say this: it reads very much like an Eric Red movie with its fast moving narrative that mixes breakneck action and gory horror in a manner Red practically invented, albeit without the budgetary and censorship issues that tend to mar so many of his films.
GUNPOWDER
This novella proves that Joe Hill, of 20th CENTURY GHOSTS and HEART-SHAPED BOX fame, is at his best writing short pieces about children. The science fictionish GUNPOWDER, spanning a brisk 81 pages and focusing on a band of “gifted” kids, fulfills both requirements, so it’s no surprise that it’s a deeply affecting work.
GRIZZLY
The surprise, then, is how well-written this novel is, with admirably clutter-free descriptions, a semi-successful attempt at three-dimensional characterizations, and convincing descriptions of the psyche of the title character, a mutant grizzly bear.
THE GRIN OF THE DARK
I was doubly startled by THE GRIN OF THE DARK, easily Campbell’s finest book in years.