ANARCHY AND ALCHEMY: THE FILMS OF ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY
A long-overdue volume, and in my view an essential one, a thorough study of the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky, arguably the premiere wild man of the cinema.
VIDEODROME
Yes, this is a movie novelization, and yes, it does suffer from quite a few of the pratfalls afflicting most such books
DR. BLACK AND THE GUERRILLIA
This wildly satiric and surreal novella is one of several Connell tales centered on the character of Dr. Black, “polymath and great phytographist, foremost of amateur nephologists.”
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 BY DREAMING
An interesting entry in the dream craze of the eighties, when it seemed every other horror-themed book and movie involved dreams
THE DEADLY PERCHERON
Much of the THE DEADLY PERCHERON’s critical attention has tended to focus on the opening chapter, but I believe the focus should instead be on the novel’s middle section, which is as mind-bending in its audacious twisting of reality as anything written by Philip K. Dick.
DARKSIDE
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.
DAGON
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).
CRASH
There’s never been another novel like this one, and that includes those of its author, the brilliant James Graham Ballard. CRASH was adapted from a short piece that initially appeared in Ballard’s ATROCITY EXHIBITION (1969).
COLD HOUSE
Another bizarre, fascinating, deeply enigmatic novel by T.M. Wright, one of the horror genre’s most singular talents. COLD HOUSE is even more enigmatic than normal for Wright, as it forsakes most of the genre trappings of his previous books (which include essentials like STRANGE SEED, THE WAITING ROOM and THE ISLAND) in its dreamlike account of star-crossed lovers Michael and Elizabeth, each trapped in a strange alternate reality.