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Post by kooshmeister on Apr 9, 2012 15:38:53 GMT
So far the only Dr. Who novel I own is The Seeds of Doom by Philip Hinchcliffe. Although City of Death was the first Tom Baker serial I sat through and enjoyed, it was Seeds of Doom which cemented my love of classic Who and the first serial I bought on DVD. Loving it as much as I did, I, of course, sought out the novelization of it. I found it to be a bit on the lean side, and it read like what we call a "junior novelization" here in the US; that is, a simplified and toned-down book aimed at adolescents and children. Still, it was a fun read and it did answer some questions I had about Harrison Chase, specifically why he always wore gloves (my theory that he simply hated touching people was proven correct), and what, specifically, the Krynoid did to him when he encounters it. As envisioned by Hinchcliffe it seems as though the thing basically molests Chase!
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Post by kooshmeister on Apr 8, 2012 2:20:34 GMT
A rather odd, meandering novel in the "killer plants" genre by a guy named Murray Leinster, a.k.a. William Jenkins. The basis for an even more meandering 1966 Michael Hoey film with the silly title of The Navy vs. the Night Monsters, Monster from Earth's End concerns a small US Navy radar outpost on Gow Island, an island off the coast of South America. In Antarctica, some scientists have discovered specimens of prehistoric trees in the hot lakes region, and are flying them back to Washington, D.C., intending to stop off at Gow en route to refuel. Commanding officer Drake (no first name or rank is ever given; he is simply "Drake") is fairly uninterested in this, as he has his sights set on secretary Nora, who he is having an affair with. Since fraternizing is frowned upon in the Navy, the two have to keep their relationship secret, especially from supply officer Spaulding who it is suggested also has a bit of a thing for Nora. Love triangle ahoy! Spaulding is also slowly going stir crazy from too long of a stay on Gow, and Drake is intent on getting the poor bastard off of the island on the incoming plane. Then something goes wrong, as they are wont to do in novels of this sort. The cargo plane begins flying erratically. The pilots won't answer Gow's hails, and dump their cargo before making an impromptu landing without lowering their gear, thoroughly crippling the plane and blocking the runway. Rescue crews rush out to the airfield but of the ten people aboard, only one of the pilots, named Brown, is found alive and he promptly shoots himself with his service revolver. Drake and co. can find no sign of the other pilot, crew members and the scientist passengers, and all but one of the tree specimens got dumped. Everything from the plane, including Brown's corpse, is moved to a warehouse for safekeeping whilst the engineering crews begin attempting to move the plane off the runway. Drake's report to Washington is scoffed at; none of the top brass wants to believe that nine people can simply disappear off of a plane midflight (amazingly, that they fell out when the cargo got dumped never seems to occur to these idiots). All of Gow's personnel are instructed to write their own individual accounts of what they witnessed. Unsure what this is supposed to accomplish. Half of the reports will be some variation of "the plane flew wildly and then crashlanded." Drake and Nora's tepid romance continues uninterrupted. Spaulding becomes increasingly unhinged, suggesting wild theories like aliens or even giant birds (!) as the culprits. Drake mostly just humors him. The tree specimens are discovered to be still alive. Head biologist Beechum has them planted near the island's hot springs to keep them viable until their trip to Washington after the runway is cleared. That night, though, mysterious things begin happening. First the dead body of Brown disappears! And something slaughters some dogs and destroys the nesting site of Gow's native seagull population! Drake, proving to be pretty quick on the uptake, begins suspecting something nasty got brought back from the Antarctic aboard the plane, which killed the people on the plane and is now loose on the island. But can he and his men along with Beechum solve the mystery before living human begins begin disappearing? And can Drake's romance with Nora get any blander? You bet! This was a rather tedious read. A fun idea but it drags way too much and spends too much time on the love story between Drake (whose name was changed to "Charles Brown" for the movie!) and Nora. Spaulding is at least entertaining with his kooky theories about giant invisible alien birds, and when the critters do show up, it does get pretty fun, but it's too little too late by that point.
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Post by kooshmeister on Apr 6, 2012 12:39:03 GMT
Paul and Mark find a room filled with video equipment and discover various tapes (ah, the 80's) pertaining to something called the Phoenix Project. No time to look at them now, though, because here comes scientist Dr. Carol Soames with more dire warnings about Charlie and the Phoenix Project. She gives the two men much the same spiel Shelley had - that Charlie is "under control" - before needing to vamoose because "Charlie is coming." Even more than Dr. Soames' sudden departure, Paul is confused because "Carol Soames" was the name on an ID badge clipped to one of the discarded lab coats the group found...
Meanwhile, Alex is doing his damnedest to prove that a genetically engineered mutant isn't the only monster loose on the rig. Mark's heroin withdrawal symptoms are getting worse and worse, and Chris begs Alex to give her ailing boyfriend some of his stash. Alex agrees, but only if she'll give him a blowjob. Cue sleazy sex scene. A disgusted Rochelle heads off and finds the lab with the big aquarium in it... except this time it isn't empty. This time, the body of Dr. Soames is floating in it! And she isn't quite dead, because some sort of blackish, slimelike tentacles are coming out of her mouth...
Once Alex and Chris', er, "transaction" as been completed, Alex wanders off and encounters Dr. Soames, last seen at the bottom of the aquarium (no sign of Rochelle). Having a one-track mind, the American immediately begins putting the moves on the good Doctor despite her insistence he keep away from her.
Never having heard that "no means no," Alex tries to rip off Soames' clothes... and is rewarded with the horrifying sight that some of her skin comes off with them, as though clothing and skin are fused. In reflex, he stabs "Soames" in the breast and runs off to alert the others. Everyone (except Rochelle!) comes running but of course the stabbed woman is gone. Alex insists he killed her but they don't know where the body went. Oddly, the fact Alex, as far as he knew, essentially murdered an innocent scientist isn't gone into much.
In fact, if I have one criticism of this novel, it is the Alex character. It isn't the fact he's an American (I am an American and don't care that the lone American character is portrayed badly). It's more the fact the other characters allow him to be such a creep with impunity.
From the very first chapter, he is questioning Paul's decisions, insulting him and Mark, making passes at the girls and making veiled threats - and a few not-so-veiled ones - and the most Paul can seem to do is tell him to cut it out. Beyond this, the other characters just let him do whatever the hell he wants. He has a knife, yes, but come on, people! There's five of you and one of him! I'm ordinarily a pretty pacifistic guy who can find it in my heart to show mercy to even the nastiest people... but when they're so dedicated to sowing dissent and strife amongst the group they'd make Dr. Smith shake his head in disgust, well, toss his ass overboard!
Sorry, it just bugs me that the other members of the group, by and large, just let Alex get away with being so rude, disgusting and violent. Yeah, he eventually gets his, but this doesn't explain why our supposed hero Paul is so tolerant of such a blatant and dangerous threat to his leadership and his life.
Anyway, they encounter more people, each one explaining a little bit about what happened before having to suddenly run off because "Charlie is coming." Things become even weirder when a third survivor the group meets, security guard Ed Buckley, turns into Charlie, a huge, sharklike monster with tentacled hands lined with shark teeth, attacking the group before being driven away. After this, Paul and Mark consult those tapes and discover that the Phoenix Project turned an ordinary great white shark (the original inhabitant of that big aquarium) nicknamed Charlie by the scientists into a genetic freak which can shapeshift, turning itself into slime and absorbing the minds and bodies of its victims and also occasionally taking their form to trick more victims.
The consumed people are still conscious inside of Charlie's brain, but mostly entirely helpless; only the most strong willed (such as Dr. Shelley) can exert themselves as the dominant personality long enough to use Charlie's shapeshifting abilities to turn its body into theirs, so they can try and warn the others... but Charlie always regains control.
Elsewhere, Alex returns to the room he's been using to find the heretofore missing Rochelle in his bed, buck naked and seemingly quite horny for him. She gives him a French kiss to end all French kisses, her long, black, slimy tongue emerging from her mouth to promptly force itself into his mouth and down his throat...
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Post by kooshmeister on Apr 5, 2012 13:13:10 GMT
I believe the critter in Slimer is a great white shark. So fish?
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Post by kooshmeister on Apr 5, 2012 13:03:52 GMT
John Brosnan a.k.a. "Harry Adam Knight" impressed me immensely with Carnosaur. I liked that novel so much I curse Roger Corman for deviating as much as he did for his 1993 movie, essentially jettisoning the entire plot. But that's a rant for another day. Anyway, I became somewhat interested in other Brosnan novels written under the Knight pseudonym. My first target was The Fungus, which I got based solely on the cover, and, in fact, took great pains to get a copy of that version specifically (the Star version). Alas, I found it slightly wanting. Not terrible, really, but a bit dull. After rampaging dinosaurs, killer fungi just seemed kind of passe. I knew of Slimer. But for some reason, out of what I called the "Knight-Star three," it was not one I wanted initially. However my ex, who read it, recommended it. Since he hadn't been wrong about Slime (whose synopsis I still have to finish), I decided to give it a try. After a few snafus involving being accidentally mailed The Shrine by Robert Faulcon for some reason, I finally acquired a copy. And I have to say it just sidelined Carnosaur into my second favorite Brosnan novel. Something roams the white halls. Whatever it is, it accuses "them" of preventing it from feeding. And it's none too happy about it... Meanwhile, six people are marooned in a life raft after their yacht sinks in the ocean. Our characters consist of protagonist Paul Latham, his girlfriend Linda Walker, Alex Rinaldo, the lone American in the group, Paul's best friend and the yacht's owner Mark, Mark's girlfriend Chris and Alex's girlfriend Rochelle. Yeah, three couples. They're screwed for the time being because the boat sank while they were running dope and heroin and nobody called for help because they were too scared about going to jail and now they're stranded in the ocean. Idiots. Well, you'll all pay for your stupidity, all of you! Mwahahaha! Right off the bat, Alex is the most unlikable and antagonistic character. He treats Rochelle like crap and makes passes at Linda right in front of Paul, and withholds his heroin stash from junkie Mark, even whilst Mark is going through painful withdrawal symptoms, and forces Chris to suck him off in exchange for her boyfriend's fix. What a douche. If you don't want Alex to die horribly the minute he appears and starts giving Paul shit for no discernible reason, then the novel goes out of its way to make you. And speaking of Mark's heroin problem, Paul is unaware of it. Somehow Mark hides it from him. Paul apparently draws the line at actually using the drugs they were smuggling. Beyond this seeming hypocrisy, Paul is the sole likable character in the novel. As I've said, Alex is a jerk of the highest order, Linda and Chris are whiny, useless clods, Mark is a junkie who shows signs of intelligence and likability early on but grows more and more dickish as the story progresses (mostly due to his heroin addiction admittedly) and Rochelle, while not as bad as her boyfriend, is still basically just a female version of Alex. Only Paul seems completely resourceful, likable and at all intelligent. But I know what you're thinking. Where's the slime in a novel called Slimer? Well, eventually, the six idiots stumble across an oil rig belonging to a company called Brinkstone, which none of them have ever heard of. There's no way to climb up so they shout for help. In response, a crane lowers down and lifts them up but once aboard the rig, they see no one around. There isn't even anyone in the operator cab for the crane, and upon investigating, Mark finds some odd blackish slime and empty clothes, but nobody believes him, apparently not finding the question of where the crane's operator suddenly went to at all relevant. They discover the rig is actually a front for a top secret research laboratory but again can find no one around. Just more empty clothes. Now they begin wondering where the clothes' owners went. Took you jerks long enough. In addition to all the empty clothing they also find a giant, empty aquarium and some discarded and mysteriously unfired M16s, which they appropriate; Alex is the first to grab one, and wary Paul gets one for himself just so he's on even footing with the American, who he doesn't trust. That night, as they sleep in different rooms, each couple to a bedroom, something big and nasty tries to smash its way into Paul and Linda's room. Paul unloads his M16 into it and drives it off, and then they chase after it, intent on finishing it off, whatever it is. They find no blood despite the fact Paul is positive he shot the thing thirteen times. Here, they suddenly bump into an apparent survivor, Dr. Gordon Shelley, who warns them to leave the rig as soon as they can. Of the creature, he says its name is "Charlie" and that it is "under control" now. He promises to explain more in the morning and everyone goes to bed, but in the morning, Shelley is missing and although the gang attempts to take his advice and leave, they find the rig's compliment of speedboats have been sabotaged, and so has the radio...
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Post by kooshmeister on Apr 5, 2012 12:47:28 GMT
Received a bunch of books in the mail from my ex who I am still on relatively good terms with and who has been a chief encourager of me reading these types of books:
Slimer by Harry Adam Knight The Worms by Al Sarrantonio Snakes by Guy N. Smith Abomination by Guy N. Smith Alligators by Guy N. Smith and Cannibals by Guy N. Smith
Also, nabbed these two Murray Leinster paperbacks off of eBay:
The Monster from Earth's End and Checkpoint Lambda
Checkpoint Lambda seems more sci-fi than horror unlike Monster from Earth's End, which fits more into the "creature" genre and was the basis for the incredibly inept film The Navy vs the Night Monsters.
Also, had a rather odd mixup with a UK book seller. I ordered Slimer from them and was sent, instead, something called The Shrine by Robert Faulcon. Near as I can tell, based on the cover art, it involves a demonic horse. Complaining to the seller, I was told they didn't have Slimer in stock (!) and so my money was refunded and I was told I could keep The Shrine. Whatever. Fortunately, my ex came through, offering to send me his copy of Slimer which he said he didn't need since he'd acquired a PDF of it. The other books by Guy N. Smith and Al Sarrantonio were sent essentially as bonuses, it seems.
And last but not least, The Incredible Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson. Intended for reading on a train trip I ended up never taking.
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Post by kooshmeister on Nov 29, 2011 18:36:42 GMT
Wow, did I ever fall behind on this. I'll need to find some time to read the rest of this sucker to complete the summary.
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Post by kooshmeister on Jul 8, 2011 0:11:42 GMT
The book is less violent than the movie, actually. The German general and the SS colonel have a more humorous fate than in the movie, at least I think so. I shan't spoil everything though.
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Post by kooshmeister on Jul 7, 2011 15:38:25 GMT
Got Bugged! by Donald F. Glut on the way, courtesy of Amazon. My copy is apparently signed, too, if the seller is to be believed.
Edit: Speak of the devil, it just arrived in the mail! Alas, despite what the seller seemed to imply, it is not signed by Glut. Oh well. I'll give it a read after I'm done with Where Eagles Dare (which isn't horror, but still a damn fine book so far).
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Post by kooshmeister on Jun 17, 2011 13:44:42 GMT
Got my copy of this in the mail from the UK. What a lovely, gruesome cover. So far despite the promises of the cover art, it's been relatively tame, as though Jarvis figured the maggots in and of themselves were enough to be gross; he doesn't really describe the death scenes overmuch. Even the shower scene was a bit of a letdown for me. Oh, well. At least Mr. Willard the science teacher is awesome. We shall see what the future holds.
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Post by kooshmeister on Jun 16, 2011 2:15:27 GMT
The junk shop has been kind to me recently. Got these today for a buck each - Return of Living Dead has a different cover from the one I remember. Which one is that? Is that the Night of the Living Dead sequel, or the novelization of the comedy-horror movie?
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Post by kooshmeister on Jun 10, 2011 13:34:50 GMT
Indeed, I myself had to resort to Amazon to get a very beat-up copy, as the usually reliable eBay (where I finally snagged Maggots) had failed me. The cover art always amused me and tonally made me mistake it for an R.L. Stine-level Goosebumps cash-in when I first saw a scan of it. The somewhat goofy title coupled with the doe-eyed kid being consumed screamed "young adult horror novel" to me.
However the cover is deceptive (and not just tonally; no little boy ever appears). The book is quite thick and quite adult in tone, although the descriptions of the actual deaths are surprisingly coy. Essex's manner of describing people getting dissolved by the slime calls to mind the detached clinical descriptions found in The Clone.
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After finishing with the Hartlines, Sheriff Fritz Sawyer investigates the crash at Mike Roberts' place. He can't find Mike's body inside the collapsed barn, but does find Mike's empty clothes. His next stop is the Maiden farm. He can find nothing. Charlie and his cattle have vanished! Hilariously, due to only Charlie's clothes remaining, Jodean Maiden thinks her husband has gone insane and is running around the county completely buckassed naked.
After Sawyer leaves, he confers with Tim Walker. Tim's initial theory is that the Maidens and Robertses are conspiring to defraud the bank somehow. However that doesn't add up, as Elmer Hartline doesn't do business there, but his animals are missing, too. Why would he be in on the scam?
Both Jodean Maiden and Mary Roberts go the way of their husbands not much later. First up is Mary. Whilst awaiting news on Mike, has her sister Thelma Rainer over to assist her on the farm. Both women get eaten by the slime despite a valiant attempt to make it back inside the house after encountering it in the Roberts' pigpen and getting some on them. Jodean bites it when she tries to rescue some calves from being consumed by the slime on its way back into the forest coming back through the Maiden farm. The biggest breasts in town make a lovely meal for the amorphous glob.
Later that night, truck driver Danny Bradshaw is arriving in town when he suddenly finds the slime crossing the road in front of his truck. He stops to investigate it, and, like Charlie Maiden before him, pokes it. One partially-consumed arm later, Danny is back in his truck and driving crazily into town to try and get medical attention for himself. He's eaten alive behind the wheel and the truck crashes headlong into a train at a railroad crossing.
A bit of realism here. I was initially annoyed when Sheriff Sawyer was introduced as the local lawman. It's a common mistake but there actually is no such thing as a "town sheriff" in the US. Instead, sheriffs are in charge of counties. So whenever a sheriff is presented as being the local authority in one of these stories I groan. Imagine my pleasant surprise when Police Chief Wally Simpson is introduced here at the scene of the truck wreck!
The bit of slime that ate Danny is now human-sized and exits the wreck unseen. It moves into the town proper and mostly contents itself with eating pets and other small animals including Bullets, the puppy belonging to Nadine Benedict's daughter Prissy. Prissy, who didn't witness Bullets' demise, sees the shiny green substance and is enamored with it. She almost touches it but her mother calls her away at the last second, and barely pays attention to Prissy's insistent talking about the "pretty green stuff."
During this time, the slime also consumes Carole Cluteler and her lover Rick Kelly. Carole is cheating on her pervy Chevrolet salesman husband Artie Cluteler, who once forced her to have sex with his friend Jack from his high school days. Now, while Artie is at work, Carole has invited Rick over for some fun. The two are in the middle of doing the horizontal mambo when the slime creeps up on them. Heedless of the two humans' romantic activities, it gobbles them up mid-coitus without letting them finish. Poor Artie comes home later and finding Carole gone, assumes she's finally left him.
The main body of the slime, meanwhile, successfully crossed the highway and ate the herd of cattle belonging to the richest man in town, J.T. Silence, who is immediately on Sheriff Sawyer and Chief Simpson's asses to solve the problem. The two decide to call in some scientific help, and Robbie MacFerguson and Betsy Rockton from the EPA are flown in by helicopter...
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Post by kooshmeister on Jun 7, 2011 20:39:18 GMT
Ordered this off of Amazon at an ex's recommendation. So far it's quite interesting. Truck driver Jake Seggit and his passengers Cricket Mallory and Dave Lassiter, a couple of doofballs working for the Upper Mississippi River Valley Chemical Corp. (wow that's a mouthful!), drive across the state line into Iowa. Their mission, to illegally dump some barrels of rejected PCB intended originally for transformers. The company is paying a local farmer named Greg Tusken to put the barrels into a sinkhole on his land. As they unload the barrels, the trio notice one of the barrels is leaking. They unanimously decide it's meaningless and toss it in and drive off. Flash-forward five years. A cute, innocent squirrel is minding his own business when he notices some greenish slimelike substance coming up out of the ground. It doesn't smell like anything, and, confused, the squirrel approaches it and promptly gets some of the stuff on his nose, which pulls him into the main mass. In a couple seconds flat the little rodent is melted alive by the acidic properties of the goop. Proving to be quite alive, the mammoth green puddle begins oozing through the forest and we see it just takes a little bit on you to doom you when a few specks get on the face of a doe, and she is eaten alive by just those little droplets. Elsewhere, Elmer Hartline is a local farmer who has fallen on hard times, mostly thanks to his idiotic wife Hilda. Every time he tries some new business venture, she considers it too expensive and makes him quit just before he hits it big. At the moment, his latest harebrained scheme is to raise buffalo (!). When he goes out into the pasture to check on the herd, he can't find them anywhere! Furious and suspecting thieves, he goes to phone Sheriff Sawyer, not noticing the true culprit - the titular slime! - lurking in the tall grass. The slime next targets Elmer's neighbor Charlie Maiden's farm. In contrast to Elmer, Charlie has it good. His loving wife Jodean has the biggest breasts in town, something both she and Charlie are quite proud of. Charlie's other pride and joy is his herd of cows, which, when he goes to check on the same as Elmer had his buffaloes. However Charlie gets there a mite early and witnesses his beloved bovines getting melted alive and consumed by the greenish gunk in their pasture. He falls to his knees in despair! The slime comes over towards him and startles him by starting to get on him, but it backs off after touching his overalls. Deciding this means the slime won't harm him (in reality it's just the fabric of the overalls), Charlie dips a finger into the puddle, and, needless to say, he quickly joins his cows as a balanced part of the slime's diet. By the time Jodean Maiden realizes her husband is taking too long checking on the cows and comes to see if he's all right, the slime has gone. She finds the cows gone and Charlie's empty clothes. She sees a Jeep Cherokee go by and tries to flag it down. The Cherokee contains Tim Walker and Nadine Benedict. Tim is the son of Alexander Walker, the owner of the local bank, and he works for his father as the loan officer. Nadine is his fiancee. Seeing Jodean, they think she is just waving and continue driving, blissfully unaware. Meanwhile, the slime is continuing to expand across the farms and woodlands, eventually coming to another luckless son of a bitch's land. Mike Roberts is riding his tractor and minding his own business when he accidentally runs some of the stuff over. It splashes him in the face and begins dissolving it. Frantic, he tries and fails to get it off, and falls off the back of the tractor and narrowly avoids being ground up by his own combine. A small consolation, as the slime particles make short work of him, spreading and growing with the more of Mike's flesh it absorbs. His tractor continues driving without him and smashes into the barn, causing it to collapse. Hearing the commotion, his wife Mary comes outside to investigate. Fearing Mike has been crushed in the rubble of the barn, she tries to phone the police only to be told that Sheriff Sawyer is already out at Elmer Hartline's place looking into his missing cattle...
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Post by kooshmeister on Jun 6, 2011 15:41:50 GMT
Here's something strange I noticed. Reptilicus, which my copy says was published in June of 1960, lists Dean Owen as "Author of Konga and The Brides of Dracula." One problem. The Konga novelization has a publishing date of two months later: August 1960! How is it Owen is being trumpeted as the author of a book that wasn't even out yet?!
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Post by kooshmeister on Jun 6, 2011 8:29:08 GMT
Does Theodore L. Thomas and Kate Wilhelm - The Clone (Berkeley Medallion, 1965) count for the slime list? It's pretty blobbish and slimy.
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