The most famous novel by the legendary pulp fiction maestro Charles Williams (1909-75), a horrific suspense thriller par excellence. Few authors could match Williams when he was at his most inspired, and DEAD CALM was such an occasion. Many deem it his finest work.
The first novel by Dennis Etchison that wasn’t a movie novelization, DARKSIDE is a triumph of serious, deeply felt horror fiction. However, it’s still very much a first novel, and so not without some glaring flaws.
The inaugural volume of an e-book anthology series edited by Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar, who run the popular horror magazine Cemetery Dance. That explains the caliber of talent they assembled for this five story volume, which is impressive, and quite eclectic.
A bio-novel about the 15th Century child murderer Gilles de Rais–read THE DARK PAGEANT instead
Certainly the only serial killer novel to combine mass murder, quantum physics and a heartfelt dissertation on the ethics of science.
The set-up of this so-so late-sixties quickie is strikingly similar to that of the Swedish film THE SINFUL DWARF
A decent but unremarkable publication from the late Oregon-based Axolotl Press
Among my absolute favorite horror novels, Fred Chappell’s DAGON looms large — a beautifully written, profoundly disturbing evocation of madness, obsession and transformation unlike anything else I’d read before (or since).
Grayson Perry is a renowned British artist and notorious cross dresser with a penchant for the gross and pornographic. I’m assuming this humorous and frankly obscene graphic novel is at least partially autobiographical.
This Stephen King “novel” is actually a graphic album whose illustrator Berni Wrightson deserves equal credit. CYCLE OF THE WEREWOLF was conceived as a calendar for the year 1984, with a story by King and copious illustrations by Wrightson to fill out each month. It initially appeared as a limited edition hardcover in late 1983, followed by a trade paperback incarnation in ‘85.