I’m still keeping a good pace. I’m optimistic I’ll complete this. So let’s get to the books.
17. I Died in a Bed of Roses by Kevin Strange
Brian Sully is a cult film horror film who was forced out of the business by a sex scandal. His producer convinces him to come out of isolation for a 20th anniversary screening of his first movie. In town for the screening, he meets the girl of his dreams. This part romance, part horror story was a very fun read. Strange’s sense of humor is great and the story builds to an exciting climax. The relationship between Brian Sully and Maggie, the girl he falls for, is goofy as hell yet endearing. The ending did rely on a “power of love” twist that felt a bit hackneyed. Despite that, if you want a read that’s fun, erotic, and a little bit sad, I Died in a Bed of Roses is perfect.
18. Cannibal Island by Michael Faun
A tribute to cannibal films set in the 1920’s. The story follows an expedition of five British explorers to an uninhabited island in Zanzibar to find a crashed meteorite. On the island they encounter a tribe of cannibals. While this was an entertaining story, I found it the weakest of Faun’s that I’ve read so far. The story doesn’t proceed in anyway that isn’t predictable. Faun builds up the meteorite as if it will play an important part, yet it doesn’t. There are hints that the meteorite is the reason for the cannibal tribe’s violence, but it’s never explored. If you’re already of Faun’s B-movie in prose form style, this is worth getting. Otherwise, start with one of his other works.
19. Angel Dust Apocalypse by Jeremy Robert Johnson
This is the kind of book that reminds me why I love the short story form. Angel Dust Apocalypse is a collection of weird, dark, and often sad tales. Some of the stand out stories are “Precedents,” a revenge story told in reverse, “The Sharp Dressed Man at the End of the Line,” about a man who survives a nuclear holocaust by creating a suit made of cockroaches, and “Saturn’s Game,” which follows a profoundly disturbed young man who gets a sudden urge to bite off his best friend’s nose. Johnson moves between and melds horror, science fiction, and literary fiction like a master craftsman of prose. I’d call this an absolute must read, but it’s unfortunately out of print. Thankfully, many of the stories can be found in Johnson’s latest collection, Entropy in Bloom.
20. Hell House by Richard Matheson
In a setup ripped straight from Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, four characters enter a haunted house to determine the nature of the supposed haunting. Very much unlike Jackson’s novel, they find that it really is haunted by a powerful force. Edward Lee would later use this same setup in his haunted house novel, Flesh Gothic. While many of the tropes were familiar to me, Matheson’s novel still stands on its own as an exciting ghost story. There’s a science fiction element to it which was fascinating, though was sometimes a little overbearing because of the technobabble by the scientist character. If you want a good old fashioned, fun to read haunted house story, Hell House is well worth your time.
21. Under the Shanghai Tunnels and Other Weird Tales by Lee Widener
A recently released short story collection by the author of Rock’n’roll Headcase. This is getting its own review, so stay tuned.
22. Red by Jack Ketchum
Avery Ludlow is a widower whose children are grown and away. All he has is his faithful dog Red. One day during a fishing trip, a boy from a wealthy family shoots his dog out of spite. Ludlow tries to go to the boy’s father, to the law, and to the media but none of them are of any help. He takes matters into his own hands to avenge the death of his dog. This book isn’t as unpleasant as Off Season or The Girl Next Door, but it’s just as engaging. Ketchum makes it believable how a man as mild-mannered as Ludlow would snap and take extreme measures. The antagonists in this book could have used some more development, but it remains a satisfying revenge story. If Ketchum’s other books are proving too heavy for you, pick this one up first.
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