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Post by dem on Jun 9, 2008 18:30:10 GMT
Pierce Nace - Eat Them Alive (Nel, 1977) A New Peak In HorrorDyke Mellis hated the world with a passion; he was just waiting for a chance to strike back at the people who had ripped away his manhood and crippled his body. And then, that fateful day when Malpelo Island split open and the creatures emerged, his chance came - a bloodier and more terrible chance than he had ever dreamed of.
But as his dreadful plan began to work and his monstrous legion of bloodthirsty giants wreaked their terror he was faced with a new horror ... would they destroy him before they reached his enemies ?Leave your fulsome tributes here! From Vault Mk. 1 just to get us in the mood .... Steve"Now I've got something to live for, because I LOVE watching a man being eaten by a monster! Maybe it's a substitute for my lost virility, I don't know" 'Eat Them Alive!' is truly appalling - incidentally, there's no truth in the rumour that Pierce Nace is a pseudonym for Nick 'The Cats', 'Childmare' Sharman (Scott Gronmark). "Pete... was the really mean one... His best leisure activity was chopping small animals to bits or maiming children..." It may sound like a good bet in bite-sized chunks but when you're faced with a hundred and fifty-odd pages of it, it's just... really, really bad. "Remember me now, Pete? Or shall I take off my pants and let my castration jog your memory?" Bad book. Bad book...
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Post by bushwick on Jun 9, 2008 22:20:24 GMT
I raced through this and loved every minute of it. Audacious isn't the word. The fact that some (unknown) person actually wrote this, and then a major publisher actually published it, and it was available in WH Smiths and shit...the mind boggles. Someone HAS TO go public and admit to writing this, or it's a very sad day for literature. I want to know who 'Pierce Nace' is as much as I want to know who Alex White is. If this was a film, it would have been re-released on DVD probably. As is, this will just fade into the mists of time unless people like us keep the dream alive! I will write something to rival this one day, I promise...'The Violent Champions' is the closest I've got so far, but that's ineffectual pish compared to this novel. This is the ink-and-paper equivalent of GG Allin's worst excesses.
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Post by killercrab on Jun 10, 2008 8:54:01 GMT
It's most likely an American author - Manor books first published it according to the preface. I too doub't it was Scott Gronmark but we'd need an expert in Manor's publications to see if anyone wrote in a similar style - if EAT THEM ALIVE! has a style! There was a American author called Evelyn Pierce Nace who wrote true life detective stories and pulp stuff - but she was productive in the 1940's/50's ( maybe later too) and seems unlikely considering the subject and frankly I think a man is responsible! I managed one chapter at my last attempt. Pathetic really .  ade |
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Post by dem on Jun 10, 2008 9:26:29 GMT
Stick with it, ade! I'm up to Chapter III, and it isn't difficult to see what all the fuss is about. Truly, mesmerising in it's splendid awfulness! So far, the earthquake on Malpelo has killed everyone but Dyke and he's had a crafty drool over the ghastly fate of his only friend, old Kello Wanni, eaten alive by the giant mantis mob. Snaring one of the monsters and fleeing to a nearby island, he's trying to win its friendship by feeding it meat while trying to think up some way of making himself inedible.
"If he could eventually put together such a concoction, something so foul that this beast would not eat him when the stuff was smeared over his body and clothes, then he would be safe to return to Malpelo and live among the mantises there, to start training a few of them to wreak his vengeance when he decreed that the time had come."
What a great plan!
While he works on the formula, he reminisces over the old days when he and his hippy criminal mates had fun committing robberies and slowly slicing old people to death. And then the bastards turned on him and gave him a taste of torture-mutilation! Watch out Kane, Ryan, Zeb and Peter (Good God! they're all Vault members, aren't they?), Dyke is coming for you with his flesh eating out-sized insect army!
Don't you think the Peter character is very impressive in a prototype Gangsta rapper type of way?
Thanks so much for this, ade! It's like Dracula And The Virgins Of The Undead except it's not boring!
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Post by bushwick on Jun 10, 2008 9:49:13 GMT
Most violent book I've read, I think, although Apache Death comes close. Stupid and nihilstic, with no artistic redeeming features. I like the way the mantises obviously tear women's breasts off with their claws, loving described by 'Nace'. There's no way a woman wrote this. (What is it about breast mutilation in pulp novels? Features in a lot of the Westerns too. Psychologists would have a bloody field day).
I've not got my copy to hand, but I seem to remember the final slaughter of the guy and his entire family being particularly OTT. And I also like the way ABSOLUTELY NO EXPLANATION is given as to why the outsized mantises are coming up through cracks in the earth. It doesn't matter, does it - cut to the chase. If this was GNS we would at least have some half-assed 'undersea Soviet nuclear testing' angle to explain it.
(Off topic for a mo', but the board's been really kicking off lately, hasn't it? It's good. Was a bit quiet a few months back)
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Post by killercrab on Jun 10, 2008 14:07:21 GMT
Stick with it, ade! I'm up to Chapter III >>
Go Dem !! I gotta finish up THE SON OF THE WEREWOLF first before I contemplate my next read. It might be Pierce's piece or another Nelmeister concotion - sure to get a halfarsed review at any rate - LOL!
Bush - you are absolutely right - Guy Smith would of provided some explanation for the giant mantids - which certainly let's him off the hook ( blame ) for the book. Great enthusiasm there mate for mantis madness - wonder what your take on James Darke's Witches series would be?I'm with you on APACHE DEATH - what a choice for my first Edge! Picked up HERNE #9 yesterday - crud cover mind.
KC
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Post by bushwick on Jun 10, 2008 18:45:53 GMT
Easy KC! I read the first 6 Witches books during a restful weekend at my Dad's in Cumbria last year. I imagined I was the hearty John Ferris, as I wandered across the fells. Very inspiring. Really enjoyed them, and I got the phrase "the reek of masculinity" from one of them, which I typed into my phone I liked it so much. Everything you need is there - wooden characters, nasty sex, torture, a black guy scaring some gypsies as they think he's a devil because they've never seen a black person before. They even eat a dog, at one point. Remarkable stuff. Still need to get the last two though. Did you enjoy them?
As for Herne - have you read any of the Breed series? I've read 3 and they're all excellent. Very grisly stuff, throughout the whole series I'm led to believe (some of the Hernes are a bit tame on the gore). Azul the half-breed...he's a good lad, but if you cross him he will sadistically, slowly kill you in a horrible way (the Apache way apparently). Edge or Herne would just pop a cap in your ass.
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Post by killercrab on Jun 11, 2008 1:30:57 GMT
Still need to get the last two though. Did you enjoy them? >>
Found my first copy only a week back - #5 - it's on the to read pile , I'm enjoying my GNS marathon right now - been awhile since I immersed myself in his world. I love his style!
As for Herne - have you read any of the Breed series? >>
Not yet , only got the first book. I tend to stockpile books as I find them - with the faint hope of actually reading 'em all at some juncture. Not sure what I'll tackle next - BAMBOO DEMONS , CARACAL , CAT , EAT THEM ALIVE - I'll see where the mood takes me. I'm a big Hamlyn Horror fan - so Nick Sharman's THE SCOURGE *looks* promising as a change of pace.
KC
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Post by killercrab on Jun 11, 2008 1:35:53 GMT
It's like Dracula And The Virgins Of The Undead except it's not boring! >>
Ha ha - another Nel-tastic book I need. Ever read THE ORGY OF BUBASTIS? Well weird Nel about a reincarnated sorceress who carries a penis. Set in France and very trippy. Got a dwarf too.
KC
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Post by dem on Jun 11, 2008 18:46:07 GMT
Nah, Orgy Of Bubastis has evaded me so far, curse it. Gawd! Now I know how you felt with The Wood! I keep thinking 'I'm sure I've read this page before' and I most likely have - ever so slightly reworded - in a previous chapter. Talk about repetition - Mark E. Smith doesn't even know he's born! Apart from several paragraphs devoted to Dyke's sadistic revenge fantasies and Slayer the Mantis gorging on a house-breaker and sundry wild animals, a further two chapters on and not much new has happened. Dyke has been out on a quick explore of the jungle and learned that, in the aftermath of the earthquake, there's a brand new island sitting alongside his own, but he's no nearer to developing his serum than he was when he first thought of it half a millenium ago. Anyway, here, snagged from Pandora, the cover of the Manor 1977 edition to keep us going until the action hots up. (Off topic for a mo', but the board's been really kicking off lately, hasn't it? It's good. Was a bit quiet a few months back) Glad you feel that way, Bush. I'm certainly enjoying it again now that we've gone back to our pulp roots. The sunshine crabs have risen from the grave! |
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Post by carolinec on Jun 11, 2008 19:27:44 GMT
Nah, Orgy Of Bubastis has evaded me so far, curse it. Good grief, that name rings a bell from somewhere! I don't know who it was written by but I'm sure I picked up a book with a name something like that in Woolworths (of all places!) many, many years ago (would have been in the late 60s/early 70s I suspect?). I'm going to have to dig around the place and see if I can find it now. Who's it by? Does it have a kind of bat-like image on the front cover as that rings a bell too? |
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Post by killercrab on Jun 11, 2008 19:47:06 GMT
Who's it by? Does it have a kind of bat-like image on the front cover as that rings a bell too? >>
You got it Caroline! It's written by Derek Hyde-Chambers - came out in '74 . Funny stuffed cat on the cover that looks like a bat. Chambers worked as a story editor for ATV on shows like DEPARTMENT S ( I recall).Don't know of any other books he wrote - if I can dig out my copy I'll post a scan. Great that somebody else recognizes this one!
KC
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Post by dem on Jun 11, 2008 19:47:57 GMT
here you go, Caroline. Meanwhile, back on Malpelo .... "White man see big bugs?"
"Certainly I see them ... Don't be afraid, Keko. We'll have a fine day on the island. I think you'll have such a good time that you'll never go back to the mainland."
Keko smiled his trust in Dyke and ran to tell the others that no danger awaited them.Oh dear ..... |
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Post by killercrab on Jun 11, 2008 19:50:52 GMT
Gawd! Now I know how you felt with The Wood! >>
Might I bask for a moment ...
Okay that's long enough. You're doing sterling and important work here - ( lesser men have tried , like me) and the Manor cover too ( scores points!) , ain't a bad cover- but *ours* beats it I think. One nil to the Brit publishers...
KC ( who read 3 pages a day of the Wood for sixteen years)
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Post by killercrab on Jun 11, 2008 19:54:36 GMT
Oh dear ..... >> Don't you wish you were reading the stuffed cat almanack?  KC |
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