Welcome to the week one discussion of my 31 horror book challenge, wherein I attempt to read 31 books before the end of October. For this week, I read a number of shorter books to try to get an early lead. So, let’s get right into the books.
1. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
This is Henry James’ classic ghost story in which a young governess comes to believe that ghosts are stalking her two young charges. With the help of the maid, she attempts to rescue the children. The story is very straightforward and very vague at the same time. Much like Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, it’s very ambiguous as to whether the ghosts really exist or not. Many reviews I’ve come across label this as a frustrating read, and it’s easy to see why. It answers no questions. Myself, I don’t view that as a bad thing at all.
2. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
This vampire story predates even Bram Stroker’s Dracula and established many of the modern tropes. A lonely young girl named Laura and her family take in a young girl named Carmilla after she’s involved in a carriage accident. Soon after she shows up, women in their village start mysteriously dying. By modern standards, this story reads as somewhat cliché, but that’s mostly because it established many of those cliches. It’s an essential read if you like vampire stories
3. Skull Fuck Abattoir by Philip LoPresti
LoPresti is an incredibly talented poet. After reading his first book of horror poetry, Haunted Fucking, I knew I had to include his other works in this challenge. His themes of death, blasphemy, abjection, and decay are all here. While I still loved this collection, it’s also probably my least favorite of the three collections of his I read. His knack for both disturbing and ugly images is there, but it didn’t hit me in the way his other collections did.
4. I Am Suicide by Philip LoPresti
In contrast to Skull Fuck Abattoir, this is probably my favorite collection of LoPresti’s poetry. Reading this collection straight through was a mindfuck. The anger and self-hatred on display here can be hard to take at times. Some of my favorite pieces in the collection were prose poems that were like paintings of hell in words. If you read any of LoPresti’s poetry, read this collection.
5. The Traveling Dildo Salesman by Kevin L. Donihe
This collection from the bizarro horror author contains the titular novelette and five short stories. The Traveling Dildo Salesman is a surreal dark comedy in which Ralph is forced to go door to door selling dildos until he sells his entire inventory. Some of the standouts of the five stories includes the disgusting “The Helen Mower,” wherein a man stretches out pieces of his dead lover over a lawnmower, and the hilarious “Living Room Zombies,” wherein two slackers entertain a horde of benign zombies in their home. All of the stories here are worth reading, even if all of them technically don’t fit into the horror genre. I’m still counting this though.
6. Ass Goblins of Auschwitz by Cameron Pierce
This short novel is one of the most infamous Bizarro horror books, partially because of the title and partially because it was endorsed by Troma Entertainment founder Lloyd Kaufman. And yes, this novel is just as fucked up and weird as the title suggests. The story takes place in Auschwitz. Not the historical Auschwitz, but a fictional camp run by a group of aliens that resemble giant asses. They keep children prisoners and force them to make toys and sex dolls from other children’s bodies. The story follows prisoners numbers 999 and 1001, a pair of conjoined twins. I won’t go anymore into the plot. I’ll just say if you want a gross and gruesome read, you absolutely need to pick this up.
7. Terminal by Brian Keene
Tommy O’Brien is a perpetually unlucky man. He’s been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only a month or so to live. To top it off, he gets laid off from his dead end job at the foundry. Knowing he has nothing lose and wanting his wife and son to be able to live well after he’s gone, he plots a bank robbery with his friends. The robbery goes very wrong. Like Keene’s other work, this was gripping read from beginning to end. While the premise is very crime oriented, the story takes both a psychological and supernatural turn which doesn’t feel hackneyed at all. My only complaint is there are places where dialogue was very stilted and expository. Though that doesn’t stop this from being suspenseful and depressing book.
That’s all for this time. See you next week!
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