Written by James Herbert
Year of Publication: 1974
This book was the debut novel of one of Britain's most popular authors, James Herbert, who was an art director at an advertising agency before he turned his hand to writing. By the time of his death in March 2013, Herbert had written twenty four novels and two books of non-fiction.
The Rats tells the story of a new breed of rat appearing in London. These new rats are much larger, stronger, more intelligent, more vicious and bolder than normal, and one of their preferred foods is human flesh. To make matters worse, they carry a new type of disease, and a single bite from one of the rats causes death within 24 hours.
It's very much a pulp B-movie style plot with the handsome tough but caring teacher hero, Harris, bravely battling the evil mutant rats, and indifferent or ineffectual authority figures. It's very much a product of it's time and many of the attitudes and some of the language in the book are not exactly politically correct. The female characters are rarely anything more than victims or girlfriends. There is also a lot of clunky dialogue. However this doesn't really detract from the force of Herbert's writing. The action scenes and the film's plentiful explicit gore scenes are handled with real skill and power, and there is also a very strong level of social commentary. Also in the scenes of the rat attacks, the secondary characters who are soon to be brutally slaughtered are depicted with skill and compassion.
The book was an immediate bestseller on it's first publication and helped introduce a new wave of more visceral, socially aware contemporary-set horror writing. It was also very controversial due to it's frequent graphic descriptions of death and mutilation. Herbert wrote two sequels to The Rats: Lair (1979) and Domain (1984). The novel was also adapted into a video game in 1985 for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, and it was adapted into a movie called Deadly Eyes (1982).
Monday, 11 November 2013
Sunday, 3 November 2013
House of Small Shadows
Written by Adam Nevill
Year of Publication: 2013
This is Adam Nevill's fifth excursion into supernatural horror. The story revolves around 38 year old Catherine Howard, a woman with a deeply troubled past, who works for an antique dealer. She is offered the career opportunity of a lifetime when she is asked to visit the lonely country house, Red House, and value the estate of master puppeteer and taxidermist M.H. Mason. When Catherine arrives she is met with suspicion and outright hostility by the house's two residents: Mason's elderly wheelchair-bound niece Edith, who is his sole surviving heir and executor, and her formidable, mute housekeeper, Maude.
Catherine finds the house full of grotesque puppets and dolls and hideous tableaux made up of stuffed animals: such as amazingly detailed World War I battlefields populated by dead rats.
At night however the house comes alive with strange sounds and shadows. As Catherine delves deeper into the mysteries of the house and it's occupants she becomes convinced that she is the victim of a monstrous game.
The book is hugely atmospheric, with a twisty plot. It's very heavy on backstory and takes some time for the action to kick in, but it all leads to a genuinely shocking conclusion. The characters are well drawn and the sense of time and place is well done.
It's main flaw is that sometimes the pacing flags, but that is a minor quibble. This is a must-read for horror fans.
Year of Publication: 2013
This is Adam Nevill's fifth excursion into supernatural horror. The story revolves around 38 year old Catherine Howard, a woman with a deeply troubled past, who works for an antique dealer. She is offered the career opportunity of a lifetime when she is asked to visit the lonely country house, Red House, and value the estate of master puppeteer and taxidermist M.H. Mason. When Catherine arrives she is met with suspicion and outright hostility by the house's two residents: Mason's elderly wheelchair-bound niece Edith, who is his sole surviving heir and executor, and her formidable, mute housekeeper, Maude.
Catherine finds the house full of grotesque puppets and dolls and hideous tableaux made up of stuffed animals: such as amazingly detailed World War I battlefields populated by dead rats.
At night however the house comes alive with strange sounds and shadows. As Catherine delves deeper into the mysteries of the house and it's occupants she becomes convinced that she is the victim of a monstrous game.
The book is hugely atmospheric, with a twisty plot. It's very heavy on backstory and takes some time for the action to kick in, but it all leads to a genuinely shocking conclusion. The characters are well drawn and the sense of time and place is well done.
It's main flaw is that sometimes the pacing flags, but that is a minor quibble. This is a must-read for horror fans.
Friday, 11 October 2013
Doctor Sleep
Written by Stephen King
Year of Publication: 2013
This book is the sequel to Stephen King's popular 1977 novel The Shining. It takes up the story of Dan Torrance, who was a five year old boy in the original novel, thirty five years later. Dan has spent much of the intervening time trying to repress the nightmarish memories of what happened to him in the Overlook Hotel and also to dampen the powerful psychic ability which he calls "the shining" with drugs and alcohol. However, he has now settled down into a quiet life in a small New Hampshire town, attending Alcoholics Anonymous and staying clean and sober. He also has a job at the local nursing home, where he uses his shining ability to comfort the dying, earning the nickname "Doctor Sleep". However, Dan makes contact with an eight year old girl named Abra Stone, who lives in a nearby town and whose own shining ability is far more powerful than Dan's ever was. Abra is targeted by a group called the "True Knot", seemingly normal middle-aged people travelling around in RVs and Winnebagos but who in reality are powerful psychic vampires who feed off the essence or "steam" given off when children who have the shining are tortured and killed.
This is a hugely entertaining novel and one of the best that Stephen King has published in recent years. It really is back to what he does best. The characters are likeable and engaging and the book moves along at a good pace. Although it is very different in tone and plot to The Shining, the earlier book is constantly referenced throughout this (and it is worth remembering that this is a sequel to the book and not the Stanley Kubrick film adaptation, which King famously disliked). One of King's talents as a writer is his ability to place the fantastic events in a very realistic seeming world, full of pop-culture and other real-world references. This novel includes a few references to NOS4R2, a novel by King's son, Joe Hill.
Year of Publication: 2013
This book is the sequel to Stephen King's popular 1977 novel The Shining. It takes up the story of Dan Torrance, who was a five year old boy in the original novel, thirty five years later. Dan has spent much of the intervening time trying to repress the nightmarish memories of what happened to him in the Overlook Hotel and also to dampen the powerful psychic ability which he calls "the shining" with drugs and alcohol. However, he has now settled down into a quiet life in a small New Hampshire town, attending Alcoholics Anonymous and staying clean and sober. He also has a job at the local nursing home, where he uses his shining ability to comfort the dying, earning the nickname "Doctor Sleep". However, Dan makes contact with an eight year old girl named Abra Stone, who lives in a nearby town and whose own shining ability is far more powerful than Dan's ever was. Abra is targeted by a group called the "True Knot", seemingly normal middle-aged people travelling around in RVs and Winnebagos but who in reality are powerful psychic vampires who feed off the essence or "steam" given off when children who have the shining are tortured and killed.
This is a hugely entertaining novel and one of the best that Stephen King has published in recent years. It really is back to what he does best. The characters are likeable and engaging and the book moves along at a good pace. Although it is very different in tone and plot to The Shining, the earlier book is constantly referenced throughout this (and it is worth remembering that this is a sequel to the book and not the Stanley Kubrick film adaptation, which King famously disliked). One of King's talents as a writer is his ability to place the fantastic events in a very realistic seeming world, full of pop-culture and other real-world references. This novel includes a few references to NOS4R2, a novel by King's son, Joe Hill.
Saturday, 7 September 2013
The Hellbound Heart
Written by Clive Barker
Date of Publication: 1986
Frank is a sensualist and pleasure-seeker of the highest order who cares about nothing and no-one except himself and gratifying his own desires. However he has become bored with what this world has to offer him, and obtains a mysterious puzzle box called the Lemarchand Configuration. If he solves the puzzle and opens the box then otherworldly creatures called the Cenobites will appear and take him to their own world of ultimate pleasure and ecstasy beyond anything to be experienced on Earth. However, when he does solve the box the Cenobites turned out to be hideously mutilated monsters, and the pleasure that they offer is the ultimate in pain.
Shortly afterwards, Frank's brother Rory moves into the house with his bored wife Julia. However Julia, who was once briefly but passionately involved with Frank, soon discover that he is still there, trying to escape from the realm of the Cenobites. The only thing that can help him escape and make him whole again is blood. Lots of blood.
This book is really too short to be called an official novel. It's really a novella, and was first published in an anthology called Night Visions 3 edited by George R. R. Martin which also contained stories by Ramsey Campbell and Lisa Tuttle. It belongs really to the "early, scary ones" part of Clive Barker's career where he was specializing in gruesome horror stories, such as the Books of Blood series. The story is well-written with Barker's usual evocative and seductive prose. It is probably most famous as the inspiration for the cult horror movie Hellraiser which was written and directed by Barker. As you might expect the film follows the book very closely, although there are several differences. Barker had had some very unpleasant experiences with previous films of his work (Underworld and Rawhead Rex) and wanted to write The Hellbound Heart as something that he could adapt and direct himself.
While not Barker's best work, it is still a gripping and sometimes shocking horror tale and well worth checking out.
Date of Publication: 1986
Frank is a sensualist and pleasure-seeker of the highest order who cares about nothing and no-one except himself and gratifying his own desires. However he has become bored with what this world has to offer him, and obtains a mysterious puzzle box called the Lemarchand Configuration. If he solves the puzzle and opens the box then otherworldly creatures called the Cenobites will appear and take him to their own world of ultimate pleasure and ecstasy beyond anything to be experienced on Earth. However, when he does solve the box the Cenobites turned out to be hideously mutilated monsters, and the pleasure that they offer is the ultimate in pain.
Shortly afterwards, Frank's brother Rory moves into the house with his bored wife Julia. However Julia, who was once briefly but passionately involved with Frank, soon discover that he is still there, trying to escape from the realm of the Cenobites. The only thing that can help him escape and make him whole again is blood. Lots of blood.
This book is really too short to be called an official novel. It's really a novella, and was first published in an anthology called Night Visions 3 edited by George R. R. Martin which also contained stories by Ramsey Campbell and Lisa Tuttle. It belongs really to the "early, scary ones" part of Clive Barker's career where he was specializing in gruesome horror stories, such as the Books of Blood series. The story is well-written with Barker's usual evocative and seductive prose. It is probably most famous as the inspiration for the cult horror movie Hellraiser which was written and directed by Barker. As you might expect the film follows the book very closely, although there are several differences. Barker had had some very unpleasant experiences with previous films of his work (Underworld and Rawhead Rex) and wanted to write The Hellbound Heart as something that he could adapt and direct himself.
While not Barker's best work, it is still a gripping and sometimes shocking horror tale and well worth checking out.
Saga: Volume One
Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Fiona Staples
Year of Publication: 2013
Publisher: Image Comics
The planet Landfall has been at war with it's moon, Wreath, for countless years, and has spread to many other worlds, such as the planet Cleave. On Cleave, reluctant Wreath soldier and prisoner of war, Marko, falls in love with his prison guard, Alana. When Alana falls pregnant, the couple escape. She gives birth to baby Hazel, who has her father's horns and her mother's wings. Soon both sides are after the couple, as well as violent mercenaries known as "Freelancers". However as the couple make their escape from their pursuers, they also have to deal with the nameless "Horrors" of Cleave.
This book collects the first six issues of the critically acclaimed Image Comics series which blends science-fiction, fantasy and romance. While the main premise of the story is not hugely original, the strength of the series lies in it's startling world-building. It depicts a universe that is surreal, funny, disturbing and beautiful, with organic spacecraft, giant cats that act as lie detectors, teenage ghosts, royal robots with television sets for heads and magic. The script by Brian K. Vaughan is witty and intelligent and features strong and memorable characters. The artwork by Fiona Staples is beautiful with lush, colourful paintings and some of the most bizarre and hilarious creatures seen in science-fiction or fantasy.
It is worth pointing out that Saga is definitely aimed at an adult audience. It is very violent and often quite sexually explicit. However it is a fun, exciting, sexy and at times powerful slice of science-fiction / fantasy that is very well worth checking out.
Art by Fiona Staples
Year of Publication: 2013
Publisher: Image Comics
The planet Landfall has been at war with it's moon, Wreath, for countless years, and has spread to many other worlds, such as the planet Cleave. On Cleave, reluctant Wreath soldier and prisoner of war, Marko, falls in love with his prison guard, Alana. When Alana falls pregnant, the couple escape. She gives birth to baby Hazel, who has her father's horns and her mother's wings. Soon both sides are after the couple, as well as violent mercenaries known as "Freelancers". However as the couple make their escape from their pursuers, they also have to deal with the nameless "Horrors" of Cleave.
This book collects the first six issues of the critically acclaimed Image Comics series which blends science-fiction, fantasy and romance. While the main premise of the story is not hugely original, the strength of the series lies in it's startling world-building. It depicts a universe that is surreal, funny, disturbing and beautiful, with organic spacecraft, giant cats that act as lie detectors, teenage ghosts, royal robots with television sets for heads and magic. The script by Brian K. Vaughan is witty and intelligent and features strong and memorable characters. The artwork by Fiona Staples is beautiful with lush, colourful paintings and some of the most bizarre and hilarious creatures seen in science-fiction or fantasy.
It is worth pointing out that Saga is definitely aimed at an adult audience. It is very violent and often quite sexually explicit. However it is a fun, exciting, sexy and at times powerful slice of science-fiction / fantasy that is very well worth checking out.
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