Nick Cato's Blog, page 51

Jeff's on a Roll and a Half...

DWELLER by Jeff Strand (2010 Leisure Books / 320 pages / mmp)

Who among us horror fans--during our childhood--didn't daydream about being friends with Kong, Godzilla, Freddy, Jason, or some kind of monster who'd be our friend and watch our backs? You didn't? Liar! I have many, many times.
In Strand's second "serious" novel, a young boy named Toby wanders into the woods, led away by his active imagination. He runs out with everything he has after an encounter with a bigfoot-type creature and...

The Prophet in the Woods

THE IRON GOSPELS by William Hache (2009 Night Box Publications / 232 pp. / tp)
David wakes up one day to strange surroundings. He has no idea where he is or even who he is. A group of people have been caring for him, and he slowly begins to regain some memory. The group soon names him their new leader and begin to uphold him as their Prophet...as a divine.
Jerry eventually comes to David's new home and attempts to tell him that they've both been stranded here due to a crash during a...

BUTCHER KNIVES update

The list of contributors for the forthcoming Dark Scribe Press book, 'Butcher Knives & Body Counts: Essays on the Formula, Frights, and Fun of the Slasher Film,' continues to grow (I think they're up to 75 now!). The book contains essays on all kinds of slasher films---of course I chose to pick one of the more obscure: Romano Scavolini's 1981 NIGHTMARE (a.k.a. NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN), which is my all-time favorite slasher outing. Other contributors include Gregory Lamberson, Jeff Stran...

Keene goes BLACK to the future...

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN by Brian Keene (2010 Leisure Books / 294 pp. / mmp)
Despite a strong similarity to King's THE MIST (and even UNDER THE DOME), Keene's latest venture into apocalyptic-territory won't take the average reader forever to finish; in fact I bet most (especially genre fans) will whiz through this in a sitting or two (and not just due to its length).
Rob Higgins is woken by his girlfriend one morning in the small town of Walden, Virginia. It's after 7:00 a.m. and the sun...

A true GEM from the70s

I haven't seen the 1974 Ed Gein-inspired film DERANGED since a lone-viewing on a really bad bootleg VHS tape back in the early 80s, but recently watched a digitally remastered DVD and was quite surprised that this hidden gem holds up much better than I had remembered.
If you've ever read one of the non-fiction books dealing with the infamous case of Wisconsin necrophile/serial killer Ed Gein, you'd agree this twisted piece of grindhouse cinema comes extremely close to their documented true...

GREAT debut...

SPELLBENT by Lucy A. Snyder (2009 Del Rey / 360 pp. / mmp)

Snyder (author of the great short story collections SPARKS AND SHADOWS and CHIMERIC MACHINES) delivers her first novel. SPELLBENT is another entry in the urban fantasy/sexy occult genre, yet where others lean more on the sex and romance, Snyder's world is more centered around the magic its characters practice as well as the bizarre creatures and situations they face.

Jessie Shimmer is new to the Craft and lives with her mentor/lover, Co...

#3's the Charm...

THE ETERNAL PRISON by Jeff Somers (2009 Orbit / 387 pp. / tp)
After destroying The Electric Church and surviving The Digital Plague, Anti-hero Avery Cates returns in his third adventure to face The Eternal Prison. From an underground super-prison in the middle of the desert, to a cannibal-infested Russia, to the criminal-infested underworld of New York City and then back to the slammer again, Somers' latest Cates installment is a non-stop barrage of head-crushin', gun-shootin'...

For a Few Squid More

FISTFUL OF FEET by Jordan Krall (2009 Eraserhead Press / 210pp. / tp)
A lone cowboy (known only as Calamaro) wanders into a small Nevada town and immediately gets on the nerves of some card players; but a couple of people befriend him when he sticks up for Stacklee (a black bartender at a local brothel) and Betty, the brothel's owner. Despite the screams of Indians in the surrounding desert and a slightly high-strung sheriff, Calamaro decides to take a break from his journey (from New Jersey) ...

WOAH...what a tale to end 2009 with...

YACCUB'S CURSE by Wrath James White (2009 Necro Publications / 291 pp / tp)

Malik ("Snap" to his friends) is a street hustler who, along with his 2 best friends, eventually becomes one of the most feared gangstas in the ghetto. He's eventually hired by the most notorious pimp in the hood, Scratch, and his rep grows even more. All hell begins to break loose when Malik, under orders from Scratch, refuses to kill one of two targets . . . one the baby of a crack whore that Malik comes to understan...

My Top Ten HORROR Novels of 2009

Here's some excerpts from reviews I did for THE HORROR FICTION REVIEW dealing with my top 10 novels of 2009, this time attempting to stick strictly to HORROR:


1) BLUE CANOE by T.M. Wright. Wright's ability to create characters who may or may not be real, who may or may not be ghosts, and STILL have the reader believe in them is an amazing accomplishment on its own. But placed in a story this deep and challenging, its pure genius. I read this in two sittings and didn't want it to end. Highly re...