Nick Cato's Blog, page 16

A so-so collection

THE MOTH SONG AND OTHER STORIES by Elliott Mabeuse (2008 eXcesscia Publishing / 131 pp / eBook)


I'm not a big fan of erotic horror, mainly because I often find the eroticism stamps out the horror and vice versa...although there's times the two can work well together.  Mabeuse's collection features some hit-or-miss offerings, beginning with 'Leaves,' a familiar and forgettable dark fantasy. But I decided to continue as the writing was quite good.


'Life in Deep Rock' is light on the erotica but heavy on the chills as a couple of scientists discover an unusual life form living within rocks; 'The Devil's Lesson' is a nice spin on the Crossroads thing, this time featuring a devil who's tired of souls and wants a pretty young guitair player's body; The title story, like 'Leaves,' seemed a bit too familiar, and 'Incubus' is basically an XXX version of the film 'The Entity.' Pass.


'The Donor' was a so-so vampire tale, as is 'Vampires on a Train.' The next to last tale, 'Hole,' is my favorite; it has great atmosphere and despite the graphic sex keeps the reader interested due to its thought provoking subtext.


I'm guessing fans of the erotic stuff may enjoy this more than I did, but Mabeuse writes well and works better for me when dealing with the less erotic pieces.

Jeff Strand's 2012 BLOG TOUR hits ANTIBACTERIAL POPE!

FOR the first time in the history of this blog, I've allowed another writer to share their thoughts.  When the publisher of Strand's latest novel, A BAD DAY FOR VOODOO, contacted me and asked if the tour could swing by the ANTIBACTERIAL POPE, I was more than happy to oblige.  You see, Jeff Strand helped my press, Novello Publishers, to get off the ground by lending one of his demented stories to our first chapbook release way back in 2005, before he was half the hot shot he is today.  And now that he IS a hot shot, I'm more than happy to help promote his latest book...and wouldn't you know it?  Jeff Strand took this opportunity to pimp both his book AND my new novella!  SO sit back and enjoy this first meeting of the Two Twisted Nuts since 2005!






JEFF STRAND: Hi, Nick! Thanks for talking with me today. My assistant tells me that you have this new book out called THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER. How much did you get paid for it?


NICK CATO: I'll still have to work the day job, but should be able to order a large pie sometime this October.  How did your publisher treat you with your latest release, A BAD DAY FOR VOODOO?


JS: I asked to be paid in the blood of a thousand squirrels. They said “Sure, no problem,” but I have yet to get my barrel of blood. I’ve got it written down on my to-do list to start brainstorming ways to seek vengeance. Anyway, this Peter apocalypse book...if I wanted to know what it’s about, what would you tell me? 


NC: I'd tell you it's about a young seminary student, his senior citizen buddy, and a 4-piece all girl rock group and their adventures at the beginning of the end of the world.  It's told in three parts, with the third being the strangest thing I've written yet.



JS: Wow. That sounds way better than my book. 


NC: Well aren't you just TOO kind.  What's the scoop on A BAD DAY FOR VOODOO, and is this your first shot at reaching a younger audience?


JS: It’s my second. Way back in 2001, I published ELROD McBUGLE ON THE LOOSE, about the wacky, zany, and/or crazy mishaps of a 7th grader. It was written for a younger audience than A BAD DAY FOR VOODOO and there’s no gore, but it’s got a lot of the same self-referential stuff, and there’s a quiz at the end of each chapter. A.B.D.F.V. is at your local bookstore or your local internet right now from Sourcebooks, and it’s about...actually, this answer is running a bit long. Could you ask me what the voodoo book is about again so it doesn’t seem like I’m too long-winded? 


NC:  Sure!  What's the scoop on A BAD DAY FOR VOODOO?


JS: It’s about this one kid, and he’s all like “My teacher’s all like, you get an F on this test!” and his friend is all like “You should get a voodoo doll of him!” and the kid is all like “Nah” and then the book ends. I believe the editors hired some ghostwriters to pad it out a bit, so that he does get a doll and an entire book’s worth of very bad things happen, but I didn’t read it. 


NC: You don't take me for an author who doesn't read his own works...but then again Ed Wood didn't exactly watch his own movies.  Any plans to read this in schools or over-crowded shopping malls?


JS: Yes and no, respectively. So, we’ve known each other since 2004. Maybe it was 2003, but I think it was 2004. In what ways has this friendship increased or decreased the quality of your life? 


NC: Well, on one hand, to this day I can't enter a bookstore without at least one person coming over for an autograph and asking "Hey, aren't you the guy who co-wrote that testicle-themed chapbook with Jeff Strand?", and on the other I can't leave a bookstore without a mob of people waiting outside, trying to kick my ass for co-writing that testicle-themed chapbook with Jeff Strand.  So I guess my life has become much more interesting since co-writing that testicle-themed chapbook with you.



JS: You know that “I say po-TAY-toe, you say po-TAH-toe” thing? Well, I know that “Cato” is pronounced like “po-TAH-toe,” but before I heard you say it out loud I always thought it was like “po-TAY-toe,” and even though I know it’s wrong, I still say “CAY-toe.” I can’t stop myself. You’ll always be Nick CAY-toe to me. I’m so sorry. Do I suck?


NC:  Nah--everyone calls me "po-TAY-toe" anyway so I'm used to it.  As long as they don't call me Shirley I'm fine.  So I hear you're going to be a Guest of Honor at NECon this summer (for those who don't know, NECon is a writer's convention in Rhode Island that's 10% writer's convention and 90% liver-damaging drinking party).  Congrats...and will you be doing anything special for those in attendance?


JS: I’ll be offering creepy lingering hugs to all NECon attendees upon request. And if they bring the materials and a sewing machine, I will make them a hat. (Fine Print: I do not know how to make a hat or use a sewing machine.) So you’re a publisher AND an author, but it seems like you’re more of an author these days. Do you prefer one over the other?


NC: I like both, but lately my writing has been taking off a bit more so I've been spending much more time with it.  My press, NOVELLO PUBLISHERS, is on the verge of expanding and possibly doing 3-5 titles per year beginning in 2013.  We may also be releasing our first full length novel this winter.  There's a lot of work involved with a press but I'm a workaholic so I find it fun.  (BTW: I may be bringing some hate material with me to NECon...)


JS: Hate material? What does that mean? Do I need to be fearful about NECon now? Who hates whom? What kind of terrifying tease is that?!?


NC: DOH!  I meant HAT material!  I don't hate anyone...well, except for the yuppies who've invaded the neighborhood I work in, but otherwise I'm quite the happy fellow.  And speaking of sarcastic anti-yuppies, any plans for a 5th Andrew Mayhem novel, even though you finally shut us all up with the long-awaited 4th installment, LOST HOMICIDAL MANIAC (ANSWERS TO "SHIRLEY")?





JS: I guess we could fix your typo, but then I’d look kind of silly asking whether I need to be fearful about NECon. I’d guess that there will eventually be a fifth Andrew Mayhem novel, though not in the near future. Right now I’m more inclined to bring back George and Lou from WOLF HUNT, but there will be at least three original novels before I do any sequels. 


NC: Well, you can do a 5th Mayhem novel AND keep it original, thus killing two gerbils with one toilet paper roll.  But either way more Strand in any form is always good news.  I've never blog-toured before.  Do you find it as mentally tiring as a regular book tour...and if you haven't had a regular book tour, pretend you have for the sake of this question.


JS: A blog-tour is about .00000000016% as tiring as a regular book tour. I’m sitting here on a comfy recliner writing this, and if nobody shows up to the website to read it, at least I don’t have to sit there feeling awkward and self-conscious. Do you think this interview has gone on long enough, or do you want me to ask you one more question?


NC: Perhaps one more and then we'll both go grab a couple of Yoo-Hoos.


JS: Yoo-Hoos are gross. Why don’t you have a manly beverage, like a Dr. Pepper or something?


NC: OKAY folks I believe this stop on the blog tour has concluded!  Can you tell us the best place to get a copy of A BAD DAY FOR VOODOO?


JS: It should be in the Teen Fiction section of your local bookstore, or you can get it from the online bookseller of your choice. What about THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER?


NC: The usual online booksellers (amazon, B&N) and at cooler horror conventions up and down the east coast this summer and fall!


Well, thanks for stopping by ANTIBACTERIAL POPE, and I wish you success with your new YA venture!



(ABOVE: That's Jeff in his annual stint as host of the Bram Stoker Awards)

2012 NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL and review of VULGARIA

2012 marks the 11th annual NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL, and this was my second time in attendance...although this year I was there on opening night, where a screening of a new comedy from Hong Kong had the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center laughing out loud for it's entire 90 minute running time.
Director Pang Ho Cheung was in attendance to field questions (with the help of a translator) after the screening, and beforehand I met several gents who run the NYAFF as well as a host of excited fans.  The Walter Reade Theatre features a HUGE screen and a large auditorium, which was sold out for VULGARIA's debut American screening (the film only played one other time in Hong Kong...and the director informed us the AMC theater chain has picked it up for limited distribution across the USA).  There was also free Japanese beer handed out after the film (a NYAFF tradition) and plenty of SWAG was to be had.
poster one for VULGARIA
VULGARIA tells the story of Hong Kong movie producer To Wai Cheung (played in hysterical sincerity by Chapman To) who explains to a crowded film class the adventures he went through in order to have some of his films financed.  One of the funniest sequences finds To Wai attempting to get funds from a gangster (known as Brother Tyrannosaur) over a most unusual dinner, ending with To Wai and his buddy Lui forced to make love with two mules (or do they?  Stick around for the end credits to find out!).  The dialogue is rapid and hysterical, as are the facial expressions of everyone at the dinner table.
There's a side-plot dealing with To Wai's ex-wife trying to get full custody of their young daughter, but despite the brief seriousness the film never loses its raunchy and hilarious tone.  Most amazing is just HOW raunchy this film is without once showing nudity; there's a few heavily suggestive sex scenes involving the beautiful Dada Chen (as "Popping Candy") that are so over-the-top outrageous even Kevin Smith would be envious, and there's more profanity than GOODFELLAS, but otherwise the talk alone will make some gringe but others crack-up.
VULGARIA is a hysterical comment on the state of Hong Kong filmmaking, and is one of the funniest films I've seen in years.  Hopefully American audiences will accept the subtitles and enjoy the ride.
Director Pang Hu Cheung (center) answers questions from an enthusiastic crowd
poster two for VULGARIA
If you thought the mule gag in CLERKS 2 was funny, wait till you see this!
The 11th annual NYAFF runs from June 29th-Jully 15th at the Japan Society and Walter Reade Theatre.  If you're in the NYC area check out the schedule RIGHT HERE.  Some other titles that sound interesting include DEAD BITE, DOOMSDAY BOOK (a scifi anthology) and ZOMBIE ASS: TOILET OF THE DEAD.  You've been warned!

This VOODOO Will Leave you in Stitches...

A BAD DAY FOR VOODOO by Jeff Strand (2012 Sourcebooks / 266 pp / tp and eBook)


Tyler and his friend Adam are high school sophomores.  Adam plans a way for them to get even with their strict history teacher, Mr. Click: he buys a voodoo doll, and despite Tyler being skeptical, things go overboard when they stick a pin in the doll's leg (during class) and Mr. Click's leg blows off and turns the classroom into a gruesome blood bath.  Afraid Tyler will rat him out, Adam buys a voodoo doll of Tyler for insurance, but it gets stolen, sending our two buddies and Tyler's cute but tough girlfriend Kelley on a cross-city race to track down the voodoo doll before Tyler looses any body parts...or worse.


A BAD DAY FOR VOODOO is Strand's second YA novel, and is easily one of his all-around funniest.  A cab-chase scene had me in stitches, as did the cab's insane driver, and when our young friends come across a demented family of multi-religious fanatics, you'll have a hard time not laughing out loud regardless of where you might be reading it (this one isn't recommended for doctor office waiting rooms).


Despite being a YA title, there's still plenty of over-the-top comic sarcasm, violence and situations Strand's fans have come to expect, and the author's prose has never been smoother.  A total blast from start to finish regardless of what grade you're in (or out of).

HEY WAITER! There's a fly in my bourbon!

A REQUIEM FOR DEAD FLIES by Peter N. Dudar (2012 Nightscape Press / 280 pp. / tp)


Lester MacAuley decides to take a brief break from his peachy private school teaching position to help his brother Gordon build a distillery at their late grandparents' farm.  Gordon has dreams of brewing his own bourbon for a living, and Lester feels it's his duty to help him...but for more reasons than the physical work involved.  Despite being in their early 20s, the MacAuley brothers are haunted by a deep, dark past, particularly one summer they had spent at the farm as young boys, where their grandmother's dementia nearly cost them both their lives.


Dudar's debut novel is a psychological ghost story with plenty of family drama, revealed in tight layers as Lester recollects his life from a mental institution.  The bond shared bewteen him and Gordon is both loving and tragic, and the more we learn about their grandparents, the more everyone's sanity comes into question.


A REQUIEM FOR DEAD FLIES is a fine look at family secrets, the bond of brotherhood, and is a refreshing take on the classic ghost story.  Just make sure to have some bourbon (and a fly swatter) on hand for maximum effect. 

DON'T Miss This...

THE LAST KIND WORDS by Tom Piccirilli (2012 Bantam Books / 320 pp / hc)


One of the most rewarding things as a reader is to see a writer you admire continue to get better.  With his latest crime noir novel, THE LAST KIND WORDS, Tom Piccirilli proves he has not only mastered the genre, but also made it his own.


After leaving his family in Long Island five years ago to work out west as a ranch hand, Terry Rand is called back home two weeks before his brother, Collie, is scheduled to be executed after being convicted of a brutal killing spree.  While Collie has admited to murdering seven people, he inisists he wasn't responsible for the eighth.  He's not looking for mercy or pity, but  wants to be cleared of the eighth victim for his own reasons.  Terry is relucatantly dragged back into the New York underworld to discover the truth, sending him into a violent and emotionally-charged tale of gangsters, thieves, and the power of family ties.


The scenes between Terry and his 15 year-old sister Dale rank among Piccirilli's finest writing, while his cast of crooked cops, health-in-decline old men, stupid young punks, new-school gangsters and sexy newswomen make the pages fly by at a frantic pace.  The sense anyone can snap at anytime keeps the tension at full throttle, even during the quieter moments.


The Rands are a family of thieves who have survived for generations relying more on their craftiness than their seldom-used weapons, and like Mario Puzo's classic GODFATHER saga, here's a family of undesirables we can't get enough of and often find ourselves cheering for.  Even the family dog (an American Staffordshire terrier, taken during one of Terry's father's heists) has more character than most humans you'll find in popular crime fiction.


I can't recommend THE LAST KIND WORDS enough, and can't wait for its forthcoming sequel.  This is one of Piccirilli's finest novels.

A Geeky-Fun Satire

REDSHIRTS by John Scalzi (2012 TOR / 317 pp / hc)


Like a couple of the author's previous novels, REDSHIRTS begins with a bunch of newbies becoming part of an intergalactic spaceship crew.  Weird stuff starts happening to them, and in the case of the crew of the Intrepid, the newbies seem to be the first (and only) ones to die on away missions.  Ensign Andrew Dahl eventually discovers that his crew--his ship--and his entire life has been written in the 20th century by a hack scifi writer on a bad scifi TV show.


Unlike the author's previous novels, REDSHIRTS is a parody of the scifi genre, and although it brings films like GALAXY QUEST and THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO to mind, it has its own flavor.  The newbie crew of the Intrepid kidnap one of the Intrepid's main officers and time travel back to 2012 where they plan to confront the writer of the show, in hopes they won't die in their all-too real future.  The back-in-time section reminded me of STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME, albeit much funnier.  This is quite entertaining, and is told in three codas, one from the point of view of the screenwriter, one showing the outcome of the screenwriter's ill son, and the final from one of the future character's pretend wives (which ends the novel on a serious but satisfying note).


REDSHIRTS takes a while for the laughs to kick in, but is never slow.  I was expecting it to be funnier considering some of the blurbs on the back cover, but even so still recommend this solid spoof of scifi TV geek culture.

Hard Copies have Arrived!

The HAPPY BOX has arrived!  I'll have some trade editions of my novella, THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER, for sale (at about $3.00 off the list price) with me at NECon (July), Horrorfind (Aug/Sep), and at various author signings/readings this summer.  The title is also available at amazon and at the Damnation Books website in eBook and trade editions.

Classic Art film or Grandaddy of Torture Porn?

In 1983, I managed to obtain a copy of a horror magazine titled DEMONIQUE at a local comic book shop (see cover below).  It only ran for 4 issues, and this last issue featured an article on a 1975 Italian film titled SALO, or THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM.  At the time I was 15 years old and was fascinated by what I was reading: surely a film this demented couldn't exist...could it?




It wasn't until around 1988, during the heyday of the underground VHS-trading craze among many horror film fanzine publishers (of which I was one) when I finally received a copy of Pier Paolo Pasolini's notorious film.  The bootleg transfer was terrible, the English subtitles barely readable.  I also found the film a bit slow (but then again what 20 year old wouldn't?) and despite some of the disgusting sequences, I was actually a bit let down.  Don't get me wrong: SALO features some truly gross images, but after the DEMONIQUE article perhaps I was expecting even more?  Regardless, I still felt the need to shower when the film ended.


FLASH FORWARD to the late 90s, when I rented a professional VHS copy from a local Palmer Video store (which I found in their foreign section).  Being a bit older and not really caring how "sick" the film was, I watched it for a third time and was impressed by everything a younger film-viewer misses the first time around.  SALO is actually beautifully shot and features some great-looking scenes.  Pasolini has said he wanted to create a film that no one who saw would ever forget...and he has done so not only by the graphic images, but by the more subtle ones, too (some early shots of the Italian countryside are quite breath-taking, and the villa where the victims are tortured looks like anything but a glorified concentration camp).


I've recently added the Criterion Edition DVD of SALO to my collection.  It's full of some fantastic extra features and an informative essay booklet, not to mention a nearly flawless transfer of the film.


And on June 11, 2012, something I never thought would happen did.  SALO played in New York City at the IFC Center in a rare, 35mm screening.  You might ask, why would anyone want to see such depravity on a huge screen?  I guess I'm either a glutton for punishment or felt I was somehow completing a strange journey that began back in 1983 with a simple magazine article.  Over the past few years, I've attended many retro-film screenings and have often felt like I was seeing the films for the first time...or in some cases, like seeing a film the way it was MEANT to be seen.


SALO is one such film, very loosely based on a book by the Marquis de Sade.


For those who don't know, the "plot" is simple: It's post-Mussolini Italy, 1944-5.  Eighteen teenagers are kidnapped by Nazis and forced to live in an isolated villa under the rule of four fascist men (and their female counterparts).  They're told that no one knows where they are, and that they now exist soley for their pleasure.  Those who disobey their rule book will be punished harshly, and no pity will be shown or tolerated.  The opening sequence, subtitled "The Antechamber of Hell," is a grim set up for what's to follow.  We then go through a few "circles" of various torture, featuring all kinds of sexual atrocities and fetishes, to physical torture, brandings, and amputations.  Opposite-sex relationships are not tolerated, although the fascists make one traditional couple marry for their own dark purposes.  The prisoners spend their days listening to the four women tell tales of childhood sexual escapades; in turn, the four fascists are turned on and take various victims into a back room to fulfill their own desires.  The stories get more intense (and perverse) and so do the actions of the men...as well as the punishments for those who disobey their commands.


Director Pasolini has stated, "Clearly, the motivation came from the fact that I detest the power in today’s world, which manipulates the body horribly, and rivals Himmler and Hitler in every way. It manipulates the body by transforming it into conscience, establishing new values that are alienating and false. Consumerist values that fulfill what Marx calls a genocide of vital and real earlier cultures. For example, it destroyed Rome. Romans no longer exist.”*


A similar comment was also recently made by director Srdjan Spasojevic about his equally-as-disturbing A SERBIAN FILM (2010).


Was Pasolini (and Spasojevic) serious, or were they simply trying to shock audiences in ways no one else had up to that point?  I guess we'll never truly know, especially since Pasolini--shortly after the Italian premiere of SALO in 1975--was run over (repeatedly) by a car and killed.  Apparently his film struck more chords than he had intended...


SALO, or THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM is an enigma.  It's not an easy film to watch, and at times I still find some of the "story" sequences to be redundant (and--good grief--does the excrement-eating segments go on for WAY too long).  Even as a young man, I didn't find any of the violent scenes "fun" in a way you'd find the violence in a standard horror or action film fun.  And now at 44, I'm still wondering what my attraction to this thing is.  Watching SALO unreel in a sold-out theater at least let me know there are many others out there fascinated with this film, perhaps some of them with similar stories as mine.  I do consider SALO a work of art...a dark, disgusting, depressing, and depraved work of art...and a film unlike any other.  I can't look at it too often, but when I do I'm put into a place few other films can put me in.


And for that, SALO is worth sitting through.  At least once...


One of the 4 fascists barking orders
 NO--that's NOT Gwenyth Paltrow!  But it IS a disobedient victim...
 One of several eye-catching shots that highlight SALO's artistic design
 During one dinner sequence, the captors reveal their disease
 No--that's NOT the Frank Sinatra fan club.  They're just your run-of-the-mill fascist, sexual perverts looking to have a good time at YOUR expense!
For having the "nicest buttocks," one poor teen has his tongue cut out.  Hmmm...shouldn't they have sat his bare ass down on a hot out-of-the-oven pizza pie?




(*From a Pasolini interview on the Criterion Edition DVD supplement material)

Familiar But FUN...

STARVELINGS by S.D. Hintz (2012 Aristotle Books / 58 pp / eBook)


A bestselling horror writer (!) and his family move from the city to an isolated part of the country.  Their dog goes missing and the young son thinks a weird creature he swears he saw in a barn on their property is responsible.  Before long the Paget family is up against two menacing figures who look like white-washed, malnourished skeletons.


STARVELINGS is a standard horror romp with an over-used plot, but Hintz makes it fun and even gets the goosebumps going a few times.  Cool creatures and a fast pace make this a fun and quick--if familiar--read.