|
|
|
|
to Horror Reviews
of Horror Reviews
Books for Review should be sent to: Don D'Ammassa, 323 Dodge Street, East Providence, RI 02914
Last Update 7/26/26
This’ll Make Things a Little Easier by Attila Veres, Valancourt, 2025
A second collection of unusual horror stories from Hungary. The longest is a very unsettling novelette about people being used as incubators for a kind of psychedelic drug, and its sequel, in which we learn it is being marketed in alternate realities. A writer loses touch with reality after having a translated version of a story he wrote translated back into Hungarian. A tabletop game changes the real world. Lovecraftian sea people invade the land. As with the author's first collection, the stories are varied in plot and theme. The main similarity is that they are all unusual. 7/26/26The Black Maybe by Attila Veres, Valancourt, 2022
A collection of weird stories from a popular Hungarian writer, whose work is quite different. One story is about a remote town where the dead return from the grave, have to be dismembered and turned into fertilizer, and foster a crop of bizarre fruits that resemble living creatures. One is about a guided tour most of whose participants know that they will not survive. Still another portrays a woman’s obsession with death and decay. There is a compulsive dog biter and a phantom rock band. The stories are almost all quite out of the ordinary and they are all quite good. 7/25/26
Nine Ghosts by R.H. Malden, 1943
Undistinguished although well written stories of the supernatural. A painting hides the secret of an occult club. An elderly vicar practices odd rites during the darkness. A ruined chapel conceals a dark secret. An evil priest lives again. The commander of a rescue boat is coerced by dark forces into killing his crew. A witch lays a curse on a family after her son is unfairly executed for a crime he did not commit. Blank pages in a church registry lead to the excavation of a dead man’s hand. Malden’s prose style is effective and polished. Too bad he didn't write more. 7/19/26
The Shadow and Other Stories by Jeffery Farnol, 1929
This is sometimes listed as Farnol’s supernatural collection, but only a few of the stories are actually fantastic. Most of his fiction was similar to Georgette Heyer’s romances. These deal with things like mysterious highwaymen, a difficult romantic affair, and a contested legacy. One story is the traditional mummy with a curse, and the mummy does in fact walk and kill its victim. Another one is ambiguous but a villain is killed by what might be a vengeful ghost. None of the stories, supernatural or otherwise, are memorable and a couple of them were actively boring.
Mystic Voices by Roger Pater, 1923
This is a collection of very minor stories about an elderly priest who has psychic powers – telepathy, clairvoyance, etc. They are low key, vary very little in plot, and are uniformly boring. They usually involve incidents where the priest, or another character known to him, acquires information through voices, visions, or sounds, that are all invisible and inaudible to everyone else. The situations are rarely melodramatic and this is probably more fantasy than horror. Pater did not write anything else fantastic. 7/17/26
The Doom that Came to Dunwich by Richard A. Lupoff, Venture, 2017
A collection of stories inspired by the work of H.P. Lovecraft. The title story ends with the destruction of Dunwich by a cosmic horror. Another story is set in an alternate world where the Confederacy won the Civil War. An expedition in North Africa uncovers a buried city with a monstrous living inhabitant. A computer is affected by a nearby ruined tower. Sherlock Holmes destroys a cult. The hidden planet of Yuggoth turns out to be made of antimatter. A remote village conceals an evil secret. A couple of the stories bored me. A couple were quite good. The rest were okay. 7/15/26
The Stoneground Ghost Tales by E.G. Swain, 1912
This slender book contains the complete supernatural stories of a British clergyman. They are invariably dull and non-horrific. The new vicar – who appears in all of the stories - examines a picture taken of the church and surroundings and notices anomalies – a face appears that was not there before and there is a peculiar distortion in the distance. Subsequent stories generally involve uncompleted business. Bones left unburied in a well or a garden, the angry spirit of a dead murderer, a ring never delivered in life is delivered in death, an old debt is paid with valuable coins, and so on. Vaguely entertaining but unmemorable. 7/15/26
A Ghost of Christmas Past by Anthony M. Strong, West Street, 2022
John Decker, a kind of modern and more violent psychic detective, has been stranded in the past – London in 1911. For the Christmas holidays he is invited to a lengthy party at an old house that is reputedly haunted. The hauntings have been non-threatening, but the host brings in a medium to make contact with the undead, and her actions stir things up. Decker has to figure out the truth about a crime that has been forgotten in order to put a disturbed and very angry ghost to rest. This is a novella and feels as though it runs parallel rather than is part of the ongoing series. 7/13/26
The Hive by Ronald Malfi, Titan, 2026
This very long novel consumed just over two days of my reading time. It follows several characters in a small, somewhat remote community who begin to act strangely. Some of them can share thoughts. A young boy can move physical objects with his mind. Three people are obsessed with creating an elaborate weblike effect by enclosing a water tower with pieces of wire fencing. One man becomes obsessed with a door he finds near the beach, and discovers that it can sometimes create a gateway to another universe. Almost everyone in town is having disturbing dreams that involve serpents or spiders. Children who venture into an empty house turn up later in the locked basement. Another man begins chalking and then painting symbols all over town, and others consider them a kind of code of instruction. The reader has a general idea of what is going on so there are not a lot of surprises as the plot comes to a conclusion, but the weirdness is entertaining in itself. 7/8/26
A River Red with Blood by John Connolly, Emily Bestler, 2026
The latest Charlie Parker novel brings together a number of separate plots that are all actually linked. A teenaged woman goes missing in Maine, near a quasi-reform school where one boy recently escaped and drowned in a nearby river. A psychic sees the ghost of an elderly woman with part of her head missing. A very strange but very rich man takes out a contract on Parker’s friend Louis, insisting that an angel told him to do it. An old enemy believed dead may not be all the way dead. Three men form a murder and rape club and travel around the country periodically to conduct their crimes. Several ghosts seem to have congealed into a single mass. Parker is hired to look into the death of the escapee, in which case there are some minor but troubling contradictions. For a change, he’s not directly involved in the violence that follows. About average for this very good series. 6/17/26
King Sorrow by Joe Hill, Scribner, 2026
This massive new novel took two days to read. A group of friends have been experimenting with psychic and occult phenomena. One of their members is being blackmailed by a gang, so they summon a demon that looks like a dragon and make a pact. The demon disposes of the bad guys, but he has tricked the friends into agreeing to provide the name of a new victim every year or lose their own lives. The story follows them from youth to middle age and shows how they are affected by their dilemma. Most are shocked but comply. One of them uses the system to redress personal grievances. Ultimately, however, they have to battle the demon again in order to free themselves from the curse, and they do so by outsmarting rather than outfighting it. I thought the opening chapters were a bit slow but it picked up quickly. 5/19/26
The Headless Leper by Frederick Cowles, Monte, 2025
This very large collection of stories includes two of the three collections of this author’s short horror fiction. The author died young in 1948. The plots are very familiar – phantom houses, ghosts, vampires, curses, second sight, and so on. Cowles was considered rather grisly when his work was first appearing, but the stories are very tame by contemporary standards. None of the stories are particularly memorable as they are large variations of plots that have been done by various other writers, and usually with more skill. Most of the stories are related by one character to another, and the vast majority are written in first person. Cowles is largely forgotten, and not surprisingly given the mediocrity of most of these stories. 5/12/26
The Moaning Words by Alan Dean Foster, Hippocampus, 2024
Three people find fragments of excerpts from the Necronomicon but the fourth part is missing. They travel to the Mideast in an effort to track it down, growing aware of the fact that they face a threat that could devastate the entire world. This is a fairly standard Lovecraftian pastiche with some entertaining adventure sequences. It draws upon HPL but is more interested in describing physical action than in developing an atmosphere of horror or suspense. It was certainly entertaining, but Foster has always seemed more comfortable with science fiction than with fantasy or horror. 4/23/26
Seven Tickets to Hell by Robert Moore Williams, Popular Library, 1973
This minor novel was part of the short lived Frankenstein Horror series, which wasn't a series and didn't involve Frankenstein. The narration goes back and forth between present tense and past tense narration, probably not purposefully but simply because Williams forgot he was trying to write in present tense. It also occasionally switches to second person narration, which is even more bewildering. The story involves a narcotics agent who stumbles into an occult mystery which encompasses ancient gods, the living dead, and giant worms tunneling through the Earth. The plot makes no sense, the writing is dreadful, and this is easily his worst book. 4/4/26
Last Resort by Anthony M. Strong, West Street, 2023
A century ago, a bride disappeared on a Caribbean island during a storm. She reappears in the present, disoriented, in the midst of the wedding of John Decker, the hero of this, his ninth adventure. Although he usually battles monsters from legends and the supernatural, this time he is faced with time travel. He and several companions are caught in a storm that is connected to the time anomalies and all find themselves in the past, where they have to battle mysterious creatures on the island. The book ends with a cliffhanger - Decker is stranded in the past, presumably to find his way back in the next book in the series.3/31/26
Cryptid Quest by Anthony M. Strong, West Street, 2022
A film crew is attacked by creatures out of Greek legend when they find a hidden structure in South America. John Decker and a team are sent to rescue the survivors, while dodging a team of assassins who make several attempts to kill Decker. They uncover the secrets of the temple, which was actually an Egyptian/Greek hybrid designed to exploit the creatures, but which ultimately failed. Their problems are exacerbated by a saboteur within their ranks. Pretty good story, pretty well told other than a few minor awkward bits. 3/29/26
Holy Terror by Cherie Priest, Subterranean, 2022
Priest is an infrequent short story writer and admits that she finds the form difficult. I’d say this was a pretty mixed batch, ranging from very good stories to okay but forgettable ones. “The Wreck of the Mary Bird” is a novella and one of the high points in the collection. I am particularly fond of it because I like steamboat stories. The other novella is “Clementine,” set in her steampunk series and featuring an airship. There is no question in my mind that Priest is better at longer lengths, even though several of her shorter pieces are quite readable. Some authors just need to have room to breathe in their writing. 3/24/26
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman, Nightfire, 2026, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-250-43920-8
I am not usually fond of historical horror novels, but I've liked this author's work before so I wanted to give this one a try. I'm glad I did. In the middle of the 14th Century, the time of the Black Death, a knight who has been shamed for his past conduct encounters an orphan whose family was taken by the disease. She tells him that the Plague was actually a kind of side battle to a new war between angels and demons in Heaven. She has a mission from God and must travel to a distant part of France in order to fulfill her role in conquering the evil on Earth, and the knight realizes that he can redeem himself if he helps her to get to her destination. But what he believes about the situation is not necessarily true. Together they encounter and overcome a series of monstrous opponents. This also works as dark fantasy - it is a quest story wrapped up in a battle between good and evil. It has very well drawn characters, some exciting and well constructed action sequences, and an excellent conclusion which naturally I won't reveal. Exceptional throughout. Originally published by Ace in 2012. 3/21/26
Return to Silent Hill by John Passarella, Titan, 2026
I have never played Silent Hill, nor had I seen any of the movies when I read this, although I had ordered the dvds and waited for them to post alongside this review. The novel is definitely strange and the author has created a very creepy atmosphere. I had some minor problems with the plot background, but in a novelization, that’s not really the author’s problem. The protagonist returns to a town where he once stayed and fell in love, after received a mysterious note from her. He runs into mutant cockroaches and rats, armless humanoid figures that spit corrosive substances, and other horrors. Now having seen the movie, I can see that the author added a lot of detail about the characters that gives them more depth, and smooths some of the awkward bits that aren’t really justified in the movie. The protagonist, alas, is pretty much an asshole in both despite efforts to give him some conscience in the book. 3/16/26
Secret Agent X vs Dr. Death by Will Murray, Altus, 2026, $24.95, ISBN 9798248246953
Will Murray has built a very successful career largely by providing new adventures of various pulp heroes. His latest has the largest cast of old favorites to come together in one adventure, including a couple that I had not heard of. His enemy this time is Dr. Death, who appeared in only three novels and a handful of stories, but who is one of the very few villains who could call upon supernatural forces. He has an army of zombies and minions of various kinds including harpies and superbats. He was only defeated because of a coalition of heroes, but the belief that he has died proves to be premature. And he's after his old adversaries. Secret Agent X - the master of impersonation - cannot bring him down without assistance, so he recruits a new group, including new faces, and since some of them are meant to be surprises, I won't reveal their names here. Fast paced action, a genuine affection for the original pulp characters, a reasonably complex and very effective plot, all combine to make this one of Murray's strongest efforts. And it's also a lot of fun. 3/1/26
Ghost Canyon by Anthony M. Strong, West End, 2021
The 7th John Decker novel features a kind of Native American variation of the golem. A survey of an abandoned mine in a long dead town frees a creature assembled from the bones of a dishonored warrior. It can fly, has a hypnotic gaze, is impervious to bullets, and eats human flesh. No real surprises in this one, but the story is reasonably well told and I was entertained. People do not get "phased" by an event, although that might be "fazed." I have a weakness for supernatural detective series and I have liked six of the first seven in this one. 2/5/26
Night Ride and Other Stories by Charles Beaumont, Bantam, 1960
Short stories. A man falls in love with a car, literally. Another man is determined to have sex with every woman who falls into his parameters and he uses a computer to identify them all. A man goes back in time to kill his own father. The title is an effective but non fantastic story about a brilliant but troubled jazz musician. New residents discover that their neighbors have formed a murderous cult. A man manipulates people so that they will kill themselves. Several of the stories are not fantastic at all. 2/1/26
A Touch of the Creature by Charles Beaumont, Valancourt, 2015.
Originally published in 2000. Beaumont had been working on putting this collection together at the time of his death. It appeared posthumously in 2000. This new edition adds three more stories. Like the others, they are a mix of fantastic and non-fantastic tales, with the latter more common than in the past. There is an amusing deal with the devil variation and some vignettes that are mostly jokes. A movie director demands real battle scenes with high death counts. An imaginary person comes to life, sort of. There is also a longish story about a mad scientist which was probably intended as satire. 2/1/26
The Wilding by Ian McDonald, Gollancz, 2024
I’d call this book dark fantasy, verging on actual horror. The premise is that there is a nature preserve in Eire that allows accompanied tours but which is trying to re-establish the natural world of the past. Unfortunately, they succeed all too well. Something is prowling the woods, something that dismembers cattle and kills humans, something does not always take the same shape but is always inimical to intruders. A woman guides a party of children into the woods just as the attacks become noticeable and they are the targets. Very suspenseful, very atmospheric. This reminds me of the author’s King of Morning, Queen of Day, which I thought should have won the Hugo. 1/30/26
The Hunger and Other Stories by Charles Beaumont, Bantam, 1958
A nice collection of shorts, including “Black Country,” one of his jazz oriented tales, ambiguously fantastic. “Free Dirt” is a classic story about a miser who steals cemetery dirt. In a dystopian future, heterosexual relationships are illegal. “The Vanishing American” is probably Beaumont’s best story. The protagonist slowly becomes invisible in a society where the individual is no longer important. A boy agrees to commit murder in order to join a gang. A woman encounters Pan in a forest. A woman falls in love with her bus driver. A woman hallucinates a younger version of her evil son. A murderer has unexpected visitors at an awkward moment. Death becomes a salesman. Murder is committed in order to obtain a recipe. An insane woman brutalizes her young son. 1/30/26
The Regicide Report by Charles Stross, Tor, 2026, $32.99, ISBN 978-1-250-37386-1
This is the fourteenth and apparently the final book in the Laundry Files series. I'm putting it in horror, but it could be construed as either SF or fantasy with equal justification. Stross established a unique blend of James Bond secret agent action with Lovecraftian horror, all set in the UK, and has explored and developed his world ever since. A few books back, the bad guys won, sort of, although the battle has not quite ended. The final book attempts to tie up all the story lines and there have been a lot of them, and a good many characters, and at times the novel seems a bit crowded and unfocused. But there was a lot to resolve. There’s an elder god acting as prime minister, an ageing Queen Elizabeth II still the symbol of resistance, and it looks like she is about to be overcome. Enter our necromantic heroes who are determined that the darkness may have fallen but that the light will not be extinguished. Stross also manages a few amusing sequences amidst the strife and horror. Some fans will undoubtedly lament the end of an era, but this sums things up better than I would have expected in a single book. 1/28/26
Yonder by Charles Beaumont, Bantam, 1958
A very good collection. “The Beautiful People” remains one of the best satires on conformity ever written. At age nineteen, all humans are required to have an operation to make them beautiful. A boy finds a strange creature in the water than begins killing the family pets. Vampires are doomed because of the extinction of humanity. There’s a clever deal with the devil story. The African jungle reacts violently to the creation of a new city. A man collects the sounds of death. Our reality turns out to be an alien’s dream. A murderer is exiled to an asteroid populated with intelligent spiders. The stories are not always fantastic.
