MIDWINTERBLOOD
It’s really too bad about this book, a young adult novel with a complexity and ambition you don’t usually find in such fare, but which ultimately fails to reach its full potential.
MEMORIA
A provocative updating of the mad scientist subgenre of yore (see DONOVAN’S BRAIN, PROFESSOR DOWELL’S HEAD, etc.), the independently published MEMORIA encapsulates both the pros and cons of “underground” horror.
A MAZE OF DEATH
If any of the late Philip K. Dick’s novels can be classified as horror-related, A MAZE OF DEATH can. It’s not one of his better works but is worth a look, as virtually anything by PKD is superior to most everything else on the bookshelves.
INFERNO
INFERNO is something else entirely: a sprightly, surreal and totally captivating fantasy with a daring take on the inferno as imagined by Dante Alighieri.
ICE
This bizarre novel is widely acclaimed as the masterpiece of England’s Anna Kavan (1905-1968).
THE HUNTERS
A mildly diverting alien invasion horror story involving extraterrestrial tourists on a hunting expedition in a small Montana community.
THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND
One of the true classics of the supernatural, this bizarre novel can almost be viewed as avant-garde sci-fi.
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.
The Gray Zone
The concept of time travel is given a fascinating workout in this novella, a powerfully ominous tale that dimly recalls other such accounts (such as Alain Resnais’ classic film JE T’AIME, JE T’AIME) but is for the most part quite unique.
GOLEM100
It’s packaged as science fiction but is actually a hallucinatory horror fest with futuristic trappings. Some readers feel it’s a postmodern masterpiece, others a self-indulgent mess; I’ll have to side with the latter view, although there are mitigating elements.