Pocket Horror 1980-95
Suzy McKee Charnas - The Vampire Tapestry (Nov. 1981)
Leigh Nichols The Eyes of Darkness (1981)
Leigh Nichols (Dean R. Koontz) - The House Of Thunder (1982)
Judy Miller - Save The Last Dance For Me (1982)
Whitley Strieber - The Hunger (1982)
John Russo - The Awakening (1983)
Julian Gloag - Lost And Found (1983)
Leigh Nichols (Dean R. Koontz) - Twilight (1984)
Charles L. Grant - The Nestling (1984)
Charles L. Grant - Night Songs (1984)
Ramsey Campbell -
The Nameless (1984)
Ramsey Campbell (ed.) -
New Terrors I (1984)
Ramsey Campbell (ed.) -
New Terrors 2 (1984)
V. C. Andrews - Seeds Of Yesterday (1984)
Thomas F. Monteleone - Night Train (1984)
George R. R. Martin -
The Armageddon Rag (1985)
Charles L. Grant - The Tea Party (1985)
1986
Peter Straub -
If You Could See Me NowAndrew Neiderman - Night Howl
John Russo -
InhumanV. C. Andrews - Dark Angel
1987
Ray Garton -
Live GirlsJeff Rovin - Re-Animator
Chet Day - Halo
Leslie Horvitz - Blood Moon
Thomas Tessier - Finishing Touches
Robert R. McCammon - Swan Song
Robert Masello - The Spirit Wood
V. C. Andrews - Flowers In The Attic
Gregg Almquist - Beast Rising
J. M. Dillard - Star Trek #37: Bloodthirst
1988
Clive Barker - In The Flesh
Robert R. McCammon - Stinger
Ray Garton - Crucifax
Patrick Whalen - Monastery
Adrian Savage - Unholy Communion
Devin O'Branagan - Spirit Warriors
Robert R. McCammon - Baal
Robert R. McCammon - Bethany’s Sin
Robert R. McCammon - They Thirst
Robert R. McCammon -
The Night BoatDan Barton - Banshee
1989
Robert R. McCammon - The Wolf's Hour
Steven L. Stein - Hex
Joanne Fluke - Video Kill
Chet Day - The Hacker
Jeff Gelb & Lon Friend -
Hot Blood: Tales of Provocative HorrorMargaret Wasser - The Priory
Warner Lee - Into The Pit
V. C. Andrews - Gates Of Paradise
Douglas Clegg - Goat Dance
Prudence Foster - Blood Legacy
Brent Monahan - Satan’s Serenade
Sean Costello - Eden’s Eyes
George M. O'Har - Psychic Fair
1990
Adrian Savage - Blake House
Andrew Neiderman - The Devil’s Advocate
Sean Costello - The Cartoonist
Robert R. McCammon -
Blue WorldDouglas Clegg - Breeder
Warner Lee - It's Loose
Patrick Whalen - Out Of The Night
Christopher Pike - See You Later
Christopher Pike - Remember Me
William Peter Blatty - The Exorcist III: Legion
Devin O'Branagan - Witch Hunt
Katina Alexis - Witch
Gregg Almquist - Wolf Kill
1991
Jeff Gelb & Michael Garrett (eds.) -
Hotter Blood: More Tales of Provocative HorrorRobert R. McCammon (ed.) -
Under The FangSean Costello - Captain Quad
Chris Curry & L. Dean James - Winter Scream
Douglas Clegg - Never Land
Patrick Whalen - Night Thirst
Robert R. McCammon -
MineT. Chris Martindale - Demon Dance
Dan Barton - Relife
V. C. Andrews - Secrets of the Morning
D. A. Fowler - What’s Wrong with Valerie?
Lisa Tuttle (ed.) - Skin Of The Soul
Rosemary Ellen Guiley - Vampires Among Us (non-fiction: contemporary blood-fetishists and other 'real' vampires)
Robert Weinberg - The Black Lodge
1992
Jeff Gelb (ed.) -
Shock RockF. Paul Wilson (ed.) -
Freak ShowLt. Ray Biondi & Walt Hecox - The Dracula Killer (non fiction: Richard Chase, "The Vampire Killer")
Adrian Savage - Symphony
Warner Lee - Night Sounds
Katina Alexis - Souls
Chris Curry & Lisa Dean -Trickster
D. A. Fowler - What’s Wrong with Tamara?
D. A. Fowler - The Devil's End
Brent Monahan - The Uprising
J. M. Morgan - Between the Devil and the Deep
Robert Weinberg - The Dead Man’s Kiss
Richie Tankersley Cusick -
Buffy The Vampire SlayerPatrick Whalen - Deathwalker
Robert R. McCammon - Usher's Passing
Rex Miller - Chaingang
Richie Tankersley Cusick - Blood Roots
1993
Jeff Gelb & Michael Garrett (eds.) -
Hottest BloodRamsey Campbell (ed.) -
DeathportBrian Stableford - Young Blood
T. Chris Martindale - The Voice In The Basement
D. A. Fowler - Flesh and Blood
D. A. Fowler - The Book of the Damned
Megan Marklin - The Summoned
Jessica Palmer - Cradlesong
Ron Dee - Blood
Shawn Ryan - Brethren
Todd Strasser - Addams Family Values
1994
Jeff Gelb (ed.) - Shock Rock II
Jeff Gelb & Michael Garrett (eds.) - Deadly After Dark (Hot Blood 4)
Martin Greenberg, Wendy Webb, Richard Gilliam, Edward Kramer (eds.) - Phobias
Ron Dee - Succumb
V. C. Andrews - Ruby 1994
Michael Greeen - The JimJams
Chris Curry - Panic
Douglas Clegg - Dark Of The Eye
Nancy Kilpatrick - Near Death
Rex Miller - Butcher
1995
Shawn Ryan - Nocturnax
Michael Greeen - Dry Skull Dreams
Martin H. Greenberg, Wendy Webb, Richard Gilliam, Edward E. Kramer (eds.) - More Phobias
Chris Curry - Thunder Road
There may well have been more early 'eighties horrors, but it's the 1987-1992 period that most interests me as that's when, along with Zebra and Leisure, Pocket Books fell victim to the vampire epidemic.
In the summer of 1989, Margaret L. Carter launched a fiction fanzine,
The Vampire's Crypt, at least partially to build on the sterling work begun in
The Vampire In Literature. Margaret recruited the excellent Catherine B. Krusberg to handle reviews. In the debut, Catherine's
Vampires In Print column ran to a modest four sides, but a year later she introduced the ten-page second installment with a breathless ""A flood! That's the only thing to call it, a flood of vampire fiction!" Much of it came and went without much fuss, and it's likely plenty of 'good' stuff got flushed away with the 'bad' once everyone decided they'd had quite enough fang-faced bastards to last 'em a lifetime.
Pocket's contribution to the madness looks a whole lot more interesting (to me) now than it did at the time. Patrick Whalen's vastly underrated
Monastery we really must get around to. In
Live Girls, Ray Garton waged war on the Religious Right and niceness by letting his vampire hookers loose on New York. Brian Stableford's
Young Blood introduced the concept of reviving a teenage coma victim by playing her the Sisters Of Mercy's
Vision Thing on a loop. J. M. Dillard's
Star Trek adventure makes the cut as his
Bloodthirst unleashes a Dracula-Ripper hybrid aboard the Starship Enterprise (from memory, everyone thinks the perpetrator is Scotty!). Rosemary Guiley's
Vampire's Among Us was a relatively sober investigation into Goth-vampire culture. Of the anthologies, i particularly like
Shock Rock, the first two
Hot Blood's and
Under The Fang (
Freak Show maybe got a little carried away with itself). Lisa Tuttles all-female selection gave the world Suzy McKee Charnas's werewolf story
Boobs which i far prefer over her famous vampire-on-the-psychiatrist's couch novel.