Oliver Clarke's Blog: Little Slices of Nasty, page 6

The Gatherings by Jeremy Ray #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: Fun and grotesque body horror is slightly spoiled by an overly present narrator. 3/5

Title: The Gatherings | Author: Jeremy Ray | Publisher: Infinite Ray Publishing | Pages: 74 | Publication date: 7th August 2020 | Source: Author | Content warnings: Yes | Tolerance warning: No

Review

The Gatherings is an end of the world style horror short story that grips and chills at times but doesn’t quite hang together as a whole.

The plot focuses on narrator Emily, a young aspiring writer who gets invited to a “gathering” in a remote orchard by a friend. The gatherings are supposed to bring about world peace but guess what? They don’t.

What follows is some pretty extreme and disgusting body horror, with graphic descriptions of the participants of the morphing into something quite horrific. Flesh mutates and melds and the result has that sickening appeal which categorises the gross out approach to horror. The writing for these sequences is strong and compelling. You want to look away but you can’t.  

It’s the wildly unpleasant parts that kept me reading The Gatherings. The ideasare great and well executed on the page,  well developed and skin crawlingly icky. What works less well is the rest of the book. Emily can be hard to connect with as a narrator, she feels like too much of an observer and not enough of a doer. She’s also overly present, by which I mean that I mean she never lets you forget that she’s there. She talks to the reader on multiple occasions and the book is filled with crossed out words where she has changed her mind mid sentence. That’s a cute and effective narrative technique at first, but soon begins to feel pointless when it is just used to replace one word with another similar word.  Elmore Leonard wrote “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it” and Emily’s voice often sounds far too much like writing.

The Gatherings is, I think, a book in search of an editor. It has enough good parts to be an enjoyable horror read, but could do with some help to trim the fat and tighten the prose. I’m not sure if Jeremy Ray had that kind of support for his later book Petrified Women, which I loved, but that’s the one I’d recommend picking up if you want to try his work.

Synopsis

The Gatherings were supposed to bring world peace. What they brought was the apocalypse.

Celebrities, politicians, and other prominent figures put together The Gatherings, an event to be held worldwide promoting global peace. When a friend invites Emily to one of the gatherings in a secluded apple orchard, she obliges. Sure, she is an introverted writer, but the world is so fractured that The Gatherings are something even she can get behind.

Everything is great until the dancing begins. Then it happens…

In most apocalyptic tales, the end comes by way of viral plague, world war, or robot invasion. Never in a million years could Emily imagine it would be this way. Will Emily survive to see what happens after the end of the world?

Warnings

Content Warning: Body horror

Tolerance Warning: All good

My 100 book challenge!

Like many people who love books, I buy far too many books. I think this is especially a problem for people who have become swept up in the bookish side of social media, where acquisition often seems as important as reading.
Since I started my BookTube channel this has become an even bigger issue for me personally. My ability to find job lots of men’s adventure novels on eBay practically superhuman.
The growing piles of unread paperbacks around the house have convinced me that I need to slow down. I am therefore setting myself a challenge. I’m going to read 100 books I already own before I buy any new ones.
I’m allowing myself 4 caveats:
1) I can receive books as gifts
2) I will continue to subscribe to the Abominable Book Club (cos those guys are great).
3) I will still accept ARCs from publishers and authors.
4) I will get books from the library, but only for my book club.
Any books that I read through one of the caveats above do not count against the target.

I’ll provide updates here and on YouTube.

Seven Out of Hell by George G Gilman #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: Vicious western skilfully juggles two plots and throws in some humour to boot. 4/5

Title: Seven Out of Hell | Author: George G Gilman | Series: Edge #8 | Publisher: New English Library | Pages: 122 | Publication date: 1973 | Source: Self-purchased | Content warnings: Yes | Tolerance warning: Yes

Review

Seven Out of Hell is a brutal pulp western with an utterly ruthless protagonist. Rather confusingly, given the name, it’s the eighth book in the Edge series. Given George G Gilman (aka Terry Harknett)’s rather perverse sense of humour, that may well be deliberate. This book, like the previous few, is littered with terrible puns and dad jokes alongside the horrific violence. It’s an uncomfortable mix at times, but by and large it works.

This one is pretty much a direct sequel to book six, The Blue, the Grey and the Red, in its continuation of Edge’s back story as a Union captain in the American Civil War.It sees Josiah Hedges (as he was then) and his band of compatriots on the run deep behind Confederate lines. Interspersed with that we get a story involving Edge on a train that has been hijacked by Chinese bandits. Edge remains as stoic as ever as they brutally work their way through his fellow passengers, but naturally gets pissed off when they take his money.

Both stories are as vicious as readers will expect, and the flipping between the two plots works really well. They’re filled with the mix of tension and bursts of extreme violence that Gilman is so good at. Interestingly in the war story, Hedges spends much of his time incapacitated by wounds and so dishes out less punishment than he normally does. The other characters more than make up for it though, and the book Is gripping and grimly entertaining throughout.

There’s a simple pleasure to be had from this kind of formulaic men’s adventure novel. One that has been replaced for many by the joys of video gaming and the endless delights of streaming services. Straightforward stories of action told with a wry panache. Reliable entertainment that readers knew would give them an honest return for their money.

Synopsis

Summer of ’63 – back to the Civil War. 

A truly great train robbery. 

Chinese bandits and a village of women. 

Edge betrayed for a fistful of dollars. 

Cross and double-cross. 

And Death – always Death!

Everyone comes together at a small town called Wounded Knee.

Warnings

Content Warning: Racism, sexual violence

Tolerance Warning: Extremely sexist, possibly racist

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This week on the CriminOlly YouTube channel

This week on YouTube – the new Kindle Paperwhite, a reading wrap up, a subscription box unboxing, a head to head comparison of two Hard Case Crime books and a review of The Third Beast by Peter Loughran. Phew!

Outlaw of Gor by John Norman #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: Part fun, colourful pulp fantasy, part deeply objectionable diatribe on male power. 3/5

Title: Outlaw of Gor | Author: John Norman | Series: Gor #2 | Publisher: Del Rey Books | Pages: 254 | Publication date: 1967 | Source: Self-purchased | Content warnings: Yes | Tolerance warning: Yes

Review

The second of John Norman’s Gor novels has all the strengths and weaknesses of the first. It’s a fun, episodic pulp tale with decent fantasy world-building and enough action and adventure to keep anyone happy. On the flip side it’s also a massively problematic fantasy of male domination that’s even more at the forefront of the tale in Outlaw of Gor than it was in Tarnsman. For anyone unfamiliar with the series, it’s about an alternative world where women are completely (and happily) subservient to men.

The book starts really well, with an Earthly colleague of hero Tarl Cabot describing Cabot’s strange behaviour after his recent disappearance (the events of which are covered in the first book – basically he gets whisked away to Gor/Counter Earth where he becomes a master swordsman (in more ways than one)). The action then flips back to Counter Earth, where Cabot is back roaming about the place looking for trouble. He ends up in the city of Tharna which, in a reversal of the Gorman norm, women are in charge and men are their playthings. Cabot is captured and forced to undergo various trials before eventually escaping and, ultimately, being involved in the overthrow of Tharna’s female rulers.

Whilst the pulp adventure side of things is as much fun as ever, Norman’s philosophising about gender politics feels even more heavy handed here than it did before. His constant anti-feminist stance is as laboured as it is objectionable and the fact that he deliberately creates a matriarchy in this book only to destroy it just feels petty,

That will always be the struggle modern readers face with these books. I read many, many things that expose beliefs opposed to my own, so I’ve become somewhat immune to it. But even for me the Gor books are heavy going at times.

Synopsis

In this second volume of the Gorean Series, Tarl Cabot finds himself transported back to Counter-Earth from the sedate life he has known as a history professor on Earth. He is glad to be back in his role as a dominant warrior and back in the arms of his true love. Yet, Tarl finds that his name on Gor has been tainted, his city defiled, and all those he loves have been made into outcasts. He is no longer in the position of a proud warrior, but an outlaw for whom the simplest answers must come at a high price. He wonders why the Priest Kings have called him back to Gor, and whether it is only to render him powerless.

Warnings

Content Warning: Sexual violence

Tolerance Warning: Misogyny

The Specialist by Jasper Smith #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: Sadistic blend of horror and war story that is more interesting than you might expect. 3/5

Title: The Specialist | Author: Jasper Smith | Publisher: Hamlyn | Pages: 127 | Publication date: 1979 | Source: Self-purchased | Content warnings: Yes | Tolerance warning: Yes

Review

The Specialist is a salacious, sadistic horror thriller from the 1970s that was released during the boom for such things in British publishing at that time. It’s sweaty, nasty and revels in violence against women, but it’s also compelling and uses some interesting techniques to tell its story.

Set in Germany during the Second World War, the specialist of the title is a brutal senior member of the Nazi regime who uses extreme and intricate torture techniques to wring secrets out of enemies of the party. The book focuses on his interrogations of two women. One is a young gypsy, and part of a group of nomadic rebels. The other is the highborn aristocratic wife of a German military commander. Over time the two women bond despite their differences and work together to try and escape.

It’s the plight of the women and the reader’s connection with them that makes the book work. They’re convincing characters and their determination to withstand the brutality that is dished out to them is compelling. The reader never really know if they will make it or not, adding to the tension. The fact that the book dwells on scenes of sexual torture is probably inevitable but that doesn’t excuse it. I think a less prurient style might ultimately have served the story better, but probably wouldn’t have sold as many copies.

The action zooms out periodically, with the author throwing in detail about the progress of the war and the macro effects of the actions of the characters. It’s an interesting device and works very well, reminding the reader of the broader canvas that the immediate story is part of.

If you can get past the book’s misogynist obsessions it’s an entertaining and gripping read, even if the ending lacks the impact it might have had. Like many such books and films, it strikes an uneasy balance between its female characters being victims and champions. On the one hand the reader is invited to enjoy their subjugation, on the other to root for them as protagonists. It’s a hard trick to pull off, and perhaps one that shouldn’t be attempted in the first place.

Synopsis

Germany 1944
Though ignorant of their crimes, two women face unspeakable horror and degradation at the hands of the sinister SS Colonel Schmerz.

Warnings

Content Warning: Racism, sexual violence, torture

Tolerance Warning: Misognyny

CriminOlly is now on YouTube!

In case you’d missed it, I’m now on YouTube too, covering the same mix of crime, pulp and horror fiction you’ve grown to know (and hopefully love) on the blog. You can find the channel here.

I’ll post channel highlights each weekend, but in the meantime here are a few recent videos you might enjoy.

Another Time, Another Woman by Walter Kaylin #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: Swinging 60s noir that contains David Lynch worthy levels of weirdness. 4/5

Title: Another Time, Another Woman | Author: Walter Kaylin | Publisher: Fawcett Gold Medal | Pages: 142 | Publication date: 1963 | Source: Self-purchased | Content warnings: Yes | Tolerance warning: Yes

Review

I came to this book through the Men’s Adventure Library, a wonderful series of books that reprints pulpy stories from the men’s adventure magazines of the 50s, 60s and 70s. I was particularly impressed by a Walter Kaylin story and a bit of searching revealed that he’d published a a couple of novels. A bit more searching located a copy of one for a not too horrific sum of money.

Another Time, Another Woman is a hip 60s noir about a musician whose ex wife blackmails him into helping her dispose of a body. It has all the elements you’d expect from that description, smoky jazz bars, a duplicitous femme fatale and an enjoyably twisting plot. If that was all it had, it would be the kind of forgettable boilerplate pulp crime novel that were a dime a dozen back in the 50s and 60s. But it has so much more.

For reasons I can’t begin to imagine, Walter Kaylin weaves a number of other bizarre threads into the book. There’s a subplot about a religious cult that includes an actual crucifixion. There are also two complete short stories included in the text for no obvious reason. One is read by the protagonist, the other told to him by another character. They don’t really add anything to the story, but the first one in particular is really good.

And then there’s the main cop in the story. A man with a small pet monkey called Baked Beans that he takes everywhere with him under his hat. If you need a moment to go away and unpack that I’ll wait. There is no reason for this surreal detail, but it is one that crops up multiple times in the story. In fact the cop and the protagonist have a number of conversations about the health of Baked Beans, his owner being worried that he has a cold.

I still don’t know what to make of any of that, but if you told me that David Lynch read the book as a teenager and it inspired his whole career then I would believe you.

In summary then, Another Time, Another Woman, combines the fairly mundane and the utterly weird into something that’s kind of magical. It’s certainly a unique book and it’s one that’s worth searching for if you have a taste for such things.

Synopsis

It was an accident, what happened to Mildred three years ago, an accident that wrecked our marriage and turned her into a slut.

But I had been to blame, and now she was going to make me pay. After all, I had covered up manslaughter then. Now I had to cover up a murder.

A sharp, swinging, blockbuster of a novel-by Walter Kaylin

Warnings

Content Warning: Racism, sexual violence, torture

Tolerance Warning: Misognyny

War Against the Mafia by Don Pendleton #BookReview

CriminOlly thinks: Predictable but highly entertaining start to the long running series, with more of a hardboiled vibe than I expected. 4/5

Title: War Against the Mafia | Author: Don Pendleton | Series: The Executioner #1 | Publisher: Pinnacle | Pages: 170 | Publication date: 1969 | Source: Self-purchased | Content warnings: Yes | Tolerance warning: Yes

Review

Published in 1969, War Against the Mafia is the first book in arguably the most important and successful Men’s Adventure series, The Executioner. It introduced the character of Mack Bolan and spawned literally hundreds of sequels as well as several spin off series.

If you’re not familiar with Men’s Adventure books, think of them as like Mills & Boone or Harlequin Romances for a stereotypical male audience. They were churned out, often at a rate of one a month, and featured square jawed all American heroes going up against terrorists, drug dealers, gangsters and other nefarious characters.

I first read the Executioner books in the late 80s, when the series had already been going for 2 decades. At that point, reflecting the political obsessions of the day, Bolan was mostly taking down Middle Eastern terrorists. I don’t think I’d ever read the earlier entries and it was interesting to go back and see how it all started.   

Befitting its 1969 publication, the book starts with super sniper Mack Bolan coming back from the Vietnam war where he has earned the nickname The Executioner for his skill at despatching the enemy. He is returning to America to bury his parents and sister, his heavily indebted father having killed his wife and daughter before turning the gun on himself after being pressurised by mafia loan sharks. The dark nature of the deaths surprised me. I knew the Bolan story was all about revenge, but I was expecting a cleaner Batman or Punisher style back story.

The plot progresses in a fairly predictable fashion, with Bolan infiltrating the local mafia before taking them out in suitably violent fashion. There is a tonne of tension and action, a fair amount of sex (more than I expected in fact) and an enjoyably swinging retro vibe at times. It feels much more like a hardboiled crime novel than the kind of 80s action movie on the page that I was expecting and I enjoyed that side of it. The dialogue is snappy and there’s even a romantic sub-plot that feels slightly out of place but is actually kind of sweet. Pendleton also throws in a cop on Bolan’s tail, torn between his need to uphold the law and his desire to see the Mob pay for their crimes.

War Against the Mafia was a better and more balanced read than I was expecting. It’s certainly not deep, but it is a lot of fun. Bolan is an enjoyably determined hero and his mission of violence is gripping even though the outcome is never in doubt.

Synopsis

To avenge his family, a soldier brings home the Vietnam War

In the jungles of Southeast Asia, no sniper was more ruthless than Mack Bolan. After twelve years in-country, with ninety-five confirmed kills, he comes home to the United States only to find that his father has gone berserk, slaughtering his family before taking his own life. But Mack knows his father was no killer. He was under pressure from a gang of Mafia thugs who were after his money and were willing to destroy his life to get it. For the sake of his old man, Bolan declares war on the men who drove him mad.

Five loan sharks are getting into their car when a bullet slams one of them to the ground. Before the others can draw their guns, four more shots ring out, leaving them as the first casualties in the Executioner’s war. From his hometown to every city in America, Mack Bolan will deliver justice from the barrel of a gun.

Warnings

Content Warning: Forced prostitution, sexual violence

Tolerance Warning: Sexism