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.
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.
CHILDGRAVE
The third novel by the woefully underrated Ken Greenhall, who as usual delivered a strikingly unique and intelligent tale. The subject is one that preoccupied Greenhall’s fiction: love, which is viewed not as a pleasant diversion nor an all-conquering panacea, but as a complex and oft-destructive entity whose effects are far-reaching.
THE CASTLE OF ARGOL
This French novel is perhaps the most famous work of gothic surrealism.
BLUE PAGODA
This 1946 novel, one of two A. Merritt novels “completed” by Hannes Bok, has intrigued me for some time
THE BLIND OWL (Book)
“There are sores which slowly erode the mind in solitude like a kind of canker.” That’s the opening sentence of THE BLIND OWL, and it adequately sets the tone for what follows.
THE BLIND GOD IS WATCHING
A good example of the type of freakishness that occasionally emerges from the pen of an otherwise mild-mannered author. The author in question is the prolific fantasy and children’s book scribe Nancy Springer, who here spins an unexpectedly bleak and disquieting account of freaks, mutilation and madness that occupies the same territory as FREAKS and GEEK LOVE.