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Post by dem bones on Jan 17, 2012 11:34:58 GMT
M. E. Knerr - Sasquatch (Nel, Dec. 1978) Out there in the snowy silence of the woods a monster was on the prowl, a massive, hairy creature nearly ten feet tall, with terrible hooked claws and eyes like burning coals. Sasquatch, Big Foot - their names meant the same thing.
The first body they found had no head, and the others were even more horribly mutilated. Finally, a loner named Russ McChord loaded his rifle and went after the Sasquatch.
It was man against monster in a fight to the finish The warning mankind would do well to heed is - don't point your rifle at a Sasquatch! Russ McChord did, mistaking one for a bear when it was prowling around his shack one night, and although he'd not aimed to hit it, he got it in the head and set the pain-crazed Bigfoot on a campaign versus 'the pale people' and their pointy sticks! Lodgepole County, Norther California. The decapitated body of an old trapper is found in Willow Creek and within days another two men are attacked and killed. Sheriff Murphey tears his eyes away from secretary Elaine's legs to investigate. His official line is that the killer is a psychopath, but back at the Pine Tree Inn, local saucerhead and conspiracy theorist Fred Plankenhorn is convinced it's Bigfoot. The Sasquatch are suspected to be timid creatures who shun humankind but every once in a while one of them will go crazy. The surly, self-contained Russ McChord tends to agree with Fred but refuses to get involved because he hates everything, finally relenting when he realises that its all his own fault if he has nothing else to look forward to. Sasquatch is closer to a sex-free Men's Adventure novel than a horror story pitting the misanthropic anti-hero against the elements and an eight foot tall, pissed off hairy creature, reeking of skunk. The killings aren't lingered upon as they would be if Hutson or GNS had written it and the Sasquatch doesn't get much time stage-centre. That said, it's good fun and the characters are well drawn, especially the complex McChord, a cowboy about a century too late, an expert tracker whose skills are fast becoming obsolete. He's a Viet-vet who's turned his back on society and his only real friend is 90-year-old injun Moses Elkhorn, a wise old piss artist who gets all the best dialogue and makes uncannily accurate predictions. And this time, he reckons, McChord will meet his death. Sasquatch also scores by including one of those 'Trash Pulp 101's we overlooked, the author's warning that, although its a work of fiction, IT COULD ALL COME HORRIBLY TRUE. This book is designed to show what COULD conceivably happen in the Pacific Northwest through carelessness. Searches are presently being conducted into the country to attempt to solve the enigma of the Bigfoot, or Sasquash, which apparently does exist. My intention is not to throw stones, but to portray a chain of events that could create a monster out of a normally timid and gentle giant.*Thanks to Jerrylad*
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