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Post by andydecker on May 1, 2020 10:12:47 GMT
Ray Garton – Live Girls (Futura, 1987, Original Pocket Books, 1987, 311 p.) On the hard-core street that never sleeps, Davey Owen is lured into the nightmare of the damned … He's lost his girl, blown his job, and he's looking for consolation in the seedy precincts of New York's Time Square. The flickering neon sign promising 'Live Girls' beckons Davey through its doors … into a world of strange ecstasy and the pale irresistible arms of a woman who offers him the kiss of demons in exchange for eternal life. A woman so ravishing, so insatiable, that he can no longer say no. He has given her the vital essence of his body. Now she will devour his soul …
Nowadays available as an Ebook (a Gateway publication of all places, the Gollancz SF+Fantasy reprint line), this book was hard to get for a while. This novel, Garton's fourth, has quite a reputation, which may be more for its setting than its actual content. It surely has become quite a interesting snapshot of New York's Time Square and its sex-industry back then, something done just recently again in the tv-series The Deuce. Of course without vampires. For a while Garton published quite a lot, under the name Joseph Locke he did YA horror, did TV tie-ins like Buffy and a few movie novelizations of interest, like Invaders from Mars, Nightmare on Elm Street 4+5 and (the underrated movie) Warlock. Also wrote a ton of short-stories. |
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Post by dem bones on May 1, 2020 12:20:24 GMT
Ray Garton - Live Girls (Leisure, 2006: originally Pocket, 1987) Blurb: The garish neon lights of New York City's Times Square can be very seductive. And so can the promises of dark pleasures on the seedier side streets. To Davey Owen, the lure of a glowing sign advertising "Live Girls" was too hard to resist. He was looking for a little entertainment. He found instead a nightmare in the form of a beautiful but strangely pale woman. A woman who offers him passion, ecstasy — and eternal life — but takes in exchange his lifeblood and his very soul.Read this one, Crucifax, and a number of the Hot Blood shorts pretty much when they were published, I guess. Seem to recall he was very cross with the Moral Majority or whatever the Christian Right were calling themselves at the time. Actually, I seem to recall he was very cross with Christians of any and every stripe.
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Post by dem bones on May 1, 2020 18:29:33 GMT
Ray Garton - Crucifax (Futura 1989)  Ron Lesser (?) Blurb: It's the end of summer in the San Fernando Valley. The hottest, most humid summer in recent memory. On sidewalks outside theatres and nightclubs, Reverend Bainbridge and his Calvary Youth proclaim Christ's imminent return in their recruitment drive for young converts.
Mace is gathering followers too. Golden-eyed, mysterious, charismatic Mace, who wanders around the shopping malls chatting to teenagers, who knows things about people without asking. Like Jeff Carr's forbidden dreams of his sister Mallory. What are Mace's other followers - tusked, rat-like creatures which run in the sewers beneath the streets, which do his bidding?
Mace has plans for his chosen ones. He gives them each a crucifax to wear, a smooth, hard, dark red cross, its edges razor-sharp. Soon, Mace promises, they'll all be going to a place where everyone is equal and there are no lies. But the place can only be reached with the CRUCIFAX
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Post by goathunter on Apr 22, 2024 14:57:54 GMT
I wasn't sure where to post this.... Ray Garton died yesterday morning. He'd been sick with various ailments for years, but was only diagnosed earlier this month with Stage 4 lung cancer. Ray first burst onto the horror scene with the publication of Live Girls, and became one of the biggest names in horror fiction in the '80s and '90s. Ray Garton OnlineThis photo was published in the October 1988 issue of Twilight Zone. The caption should read: Craig Spector, Joe Lansdale, Richard Christian Matheson, David J. Schow, Ray Garton, Robert McCammon, and John Skipp. Photo by Beth Gwinn, 1986/7.  |
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Post by andydecker on Apr 22, 2024 15:45:11 GMT
I wasn't sure where to post this.... Ray Garton died yesterday morning. He'd been sick with various ailments for years, but was only diagnosed earlier this month with Stage 4 lung cancer. Ray first burst onto the horror scene with the publication of Live Girls, and became one of the biggest names in horror fiction in the '80s and '90s. Ray Garton OnlineThis photo was published in the October 1988 issue of Twilight Zone. The caption should read: Craig Spector, Joe Lansdale, Richard Christian Matheson, David J. Schow, Ray Garton, Robert McCammon, and John Skipp. Photo by Beth Gwinn, 1986/7. This is sad. My condolences to the family.
What a nice picture. 7 young guys, ready to conquer the world.
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Post by jamesdoig on Apr 22, 2024 22:05:26 GMT
Ray Garton died yesterday morning. He'd been sick with various ailments for years, but was only diagnosed earlier this month with Stage 4 lung cancer. That's sad news. He's the only one of that group that I've never read - I'll have to give him a go. |
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Post by dem bones on Apr 23, 2024 11:52:06 GMT
Ray Garton died yesterday morning. He'd been sick with various ailments for years, but was only diagnosed earlier this month with Stage 4 lung cancer. That's sad news. He's the only one of that group that I've never read - I'll have to give him a go. in David J. Schow's Silver Scream wouldn't be the worst place to start. Most (all?) of the above 'splat pack' have stories in that beauty. RIP |
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Post by goathunter on Apr 24, 2024 4:43:38 GMT
Sinema in David J. Schow's Silver Scream wouldn't be the worst place to start. Most (all?) of the above 'splat pack' have stories in that beauty. I'll second that! Silver Scream is still my favorite anthology. Every story is a winner. Hunter |
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Post by dem bones on Apr 24, 2024 11:12:24 GMT
Think my favourite piece by Ray Garton was his reminiscence on ghost-writing for Ed and Lorraine Warren in Stephen Jones' Dancing With The Dark. |
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Post by helrunar on Apr 24, 2024 20:39:13 GMT
I might have get hold of that volume with Garton's memoir, having developed something of a morbid fascination with the Warrens. I have a friend who goes to see all those tacky Conjuring movies.
Apparently the Warrens were an odd mix of shyster poseurs exploiting the fears and frailties of their clients, and devout Catholics; it's no doubt a salient feature of my own bias that I don't find that all that unlikely a mix.
I'm sorry to hear of Mr. Garton's passing. That was a lovely photo of him and his colleagues back in the day.
cheers, Hel.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 25, 2024 6:48:57 GMT
I might have get hold of that volume with Garton's memoir, having developed something of a morbid fascination with the Warrens. I have a friend who goes to see all those tacky Conjuring movies. Apparently the Warrens were an odd mix of shyster poseurs exploiting the fears and frailties of their clients, and devout Catholics; it's no doubt a salient feature of my own bias that I don't find that all that unlikely a mix. I'm sorry to hear of Mr. Garton's passing. That was a lovely photo of him and his colleagues back in the day. cheers, Hel. Of all Stephen Jones' anthologies Dancing With The Dark may well be the one I've had the most enjoyment from — the horror author's very own I've seen a Ghost. |
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