THE LUCID DREAMING
In this lively 86-page novella the world is destroyed by a plague that causes people to dream while awake; seeing as how this is a horror story, a lot of killing and insanity are sure to ensue.
ICE
This bizarre novel is widely acclaimed as the masterpiece of England’s Anna Kavan (1905-1968).
HATER
Moody’s novel is absorbing, fast moving and authentically disturbing entertainment that pulls off the unprecedented task of making this hackneyed idea seem fresh.
THE GAS
The idea of a man-made drug causing people to lose their sexual inhibitions had been done before THE GAS saw print and after, but no other novel took the concept as far as Platt did.
FREAKS’ AMOUR
A classic of freak lit that predated the better-known GEEK LOVE by nearly a full decade. FREAKS’ AMOUR would appear to have been an influence on the latter novel in its notably perceptive depiction of the day-to-day lives of some severely deformed individuals.
EUROPE AFTER THE RAIN
Here’s something I know will scare off quite a few of my readers: an overtly experimental novel about a post-apocalyptic England.
DOG BLOOD
David Moody’s HATER was one of the 2009’s most vital and arresting genre novels. DOG BLOOD is the long-awaited follow-up, and the middle book of a projected trilogy. As such it bears the problems of most middle books/films, namely that it functions as a bridge between the first and last parts, and so isn’t entirely satisfying as a stand-alone story. Nevertheless, it definitely has its moments.
THE DEVIL’S POPESS
This wild and strange novella was initially published in French back in 1931. According to the 1999 introduction by Alastair Brotchie, the accredited authors “Jehan Sylvius” and “Pierre de Ruysnes” are pseudonymous; its actual authors may or may not be the surrealist scribes Robert Desnos and Ernest de Gengenbach. As Brotchie smartly concludes, “Whoever the authors were, they evidently enjoyed themselves.”
DEATH AND DESIRE IN THE AGE OF WOMEN
In this, his second publication of 2011, Calvillo has created a bold and idiosyncratic fictional riff on the concept of female empowerment. DEATH AND DESIRE very nearly equals its forerunners, and just about any other recent novel, in provocation and manic invention.
THE CITY
A rare foray into graphic novel scripting by novelist James Herbert, and the fourth part of Herbert’s Rats saga (which commenced with the novels THE RATS, LAIR and DOMAIN). In truth this book is pretty slight, coming off as a so-so short story presented as a 64-page comic. Yet I do recommend it. Why? Because the illustrator is the immensely talented Ian Miller, who was quite inspired here.