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Incubus
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“Galen is an ordinary, peaceful small town. Until horrendous terror strikes … and strikes again and again, each time claiming a female victim in a fashion too hideous to contemplate. Julian Trask, student of the occult, is used to thinking the unthinkable. As he works towards the solution of the soul-searing mystery, Galen trembles in mortal dread. For no woman is safe fro
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Paperback, 250 pages
Published
October 28th 1981
by Dell Publishing Company
(first published 1976)
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Wow! Thanks to the good reviews I couldn't pass up this book when I found it. Now, that I've read it, I consider this book a little treasure that I stumbled upon. It's basically about an incubus who is reining terror on the women of Galen as it only has one thing on its mind....to procreate. So of course you can imagine the horrible death these women have suffered. The men of Galen are running around trying to figure out who it could be. The ending will surprise you as it did me. A lot of great
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Having originally read this many, many years ago, I was recently fortunate enough to acquire a second hand copy for £1. A bargain.
I remembered it as being a truly creepy and horrific read, which is full of sizable monsters (check the title, you'll work it out!). I was not wrong!
Strangely, most of Ray Russell's books now appear to be out of print, which is A:a travesty for horror fans everywhere. and B:a serious error on the part of whichever body retains the copyright.
Some of his work may now se ...more
I remembered it as being a truly creepy and horrific read, which is full of sizable monsters (check the title, you'll work it out!). I was not wrong!
Strangely, most of Ray Russell's books now appear to be out of print, which is A:a travesty for horror fans everywhere. and B:a serious error on the part of whichever body retains the copyright.
Some of his work may now se ...more
This was actually a surprisingly good book, despite its ridiculously cheesy cover. It wasn't all that dated for having been written in 1976 and it held the suspense throughout. Pretty well written, a very quick read and much of it reads like an old fashioned "who done it", I more or less figured out who it was, but I don't think it was because they book made it obvious (it's probably just because I'm such a genius :) ). Fairly raunchy, but Russell keeps it surprisingly classy. Overall, I'd defin
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Galen seems to be typical of small town America, with a population who are familiar to each other and also aware of each other's generational history. However, when a mysterious spate of rapes and murders begins, everyone starts to doubt those they thought they knew.
The brutality of the crimes is staggering, but Julian Trask, who is a former lecturer at Galen University, and also a student of the occult, strongly suspects the perpetrator to be something other than human.
Ray Russell's Incubus is ...more
The brutality of the crimes is staggering, but Julian Trask, who is a former lecturer at Galen University, and also a student of the occult, strongly suspects the perpetrator to be something other than human.
Ray Russell's Incubus is ...more
2014 review - Galen is an ordinary, peaceful small town. Until horrendous terror strikes … and strikes again and again, each time claiming a female victim in a fashion too hideous to contemplate. Julian Trask, student of the occult, is used to thinking the unthinkable. As he works towards the solution of the soul-searing mystery, Galen trembles in mortal dread. For no woman is safe from the lethal lust of THE INCUBUS. This is unashamedly pulp and all the more fun for it. Ray Russell is a genre w
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Wonderful novel. This is the story of an incubus, a creature that basically rapes women to death, and he does a very good job of it too when all's said and done. It all takes place in a small town called Galen, and the whole tale revolves around the search for the rapist who at first is thought to be nothing more than a very well endowed man. It soon becomes clear though that they're dealing with a much more dangerous creature than that, and so the search is on.
The sex, as you'd imagine is quit ...more
The sex, as you'd imagine is quit ...more
One of the few books I've read which truly presented a creepy mood which made me look up from reading and actually think about myself being placed in the story. I realize a lot of people rated this book as "ok" only, but obviously their expectations were different than my own. I don't mind graphic content when it fits the story, and what was written (certainly is no longer "over the top" with the graphic details writers include these days even in simple romance novels)...increased your horror if
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I don't understand why Incubus does not share a bit of fame with the critically acclaimed books in the horror genre. I can set down a lot of good points in the novel, but (as I don't have much time and energy) I'll only mention two of them. Besides, these two good points in Incubus are probably the most important ones, for they both echo of Stephen King. First, the small American town and its interesting inhabitants. Ray Russell took his time introducing the characters in the first few chapters,
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It was a really good thriller until the identity of the murderer was revealed at the end. One of the most ridiculous conclusions I have ever come across. Just one page ruined everything! Even though the story wasn't all that scary, it was suspenseful and kept me guessing all the time. Never thought I would end up giving it just 1 star. Disappointing.
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I was told about this book by my mother when I was around 13 or so. I hadn't thought much of it, then I found a copy online for $0.01. So what's thhe risk...=) I read it and thought that if it was to be "updated" it would be a best seller...in my opinion. It was very surprising to say the least.
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Read this as part of my yearly Halloween reads. It's pretty schlocky and plebeian, but not the worst thing I've ever read. Jadedly, I expected it be a bit more outrageous but it has a nice 70s vibe.
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Death by penis is the name of the game in this 1976 novel from Ray Russell. Galen, a cozy little New England town somehow located in California is beset by a series of violet rapes, committed by an inhuman but clearly male creature with a particularly large and lethal member.
Luckily for Galen, a flashy know-it-all anthropologist called Julian Trask arrives with a grimoire and some arcane knowledge, and soon figures out that the perpetrator is an incubus, a man who involuntarily shapeshifs into a ...more
Luckily for Galen, a flashy know-it-all anthropologist called Julian Trask arrives with a grimoire and some arcane knowledge, and soon figures out that the perpetrator is an incubus, a man who involuntarily shapeshifs into a ...more
I read this book because I remember it from when I was a kid. Someone in our house had a copy, but no one’s fessed up to owning it. In a nutshell, this is the story of a small town terrorized by a sex demon equipped with an extremely large, uh, appendage.
Is it a work of high literary art? Nope. It includes lines like “Her nightgown had crept up around her waist and her curl-crowned cleft returned his stare.” But I wasn’t picking this up for a deep analysis of the human condition. Sometimes, it’s ...more
Is it a work of high literary art? Nope. It includes lines like “Her nightgown had crept up around her waist and her curl-crowned cleft returned his stare.” But I wasn’t picking this up for a deep analysis of the human condition. Sometimes, it’s ...more
Hey, this was pretty good! Readers must, of course, suspend their disbelief.
I've read some other stories by Ray Russell: Sardonicus, and one other (Sagittarius, maybe?). They were done up in high Gothic style. Sardonicus was amazing, and I recommend it without reservation.
This book is different. It take place in a contemporary setting (albeit, mid-1970's when it was written -- so you'll probably get some pleasure from a scene with a functioning telephone booth!).
If goodreads would allow, I'd ...more
I've read some other stories by Ray Russell: Sardonicus, and one other (Sagittarius, maybe?). They were done up in high Gothic style. Sardonicus was amazing, and I recommend it without reservation.
This book is different. It take place in a contemporary setting (albeit, mid-1970's when it was written -- so you'll probably get some pleasure from a scene with a functioning telephone booth!).
If goodreads would allow, I'd ...more
This book was a bit meh. It was basically just about a rapist demon-thing with a horse length of schlong with which it killed women. There was also a ancient grimoire of spells which didn't play a roll really at all in the story other than revealing that magic is real but really didn't need to be there. I came to the book after catching the mess of a movie based on it, the ending of the movie is unsatisfying and disturbingly gruesome however the ending of the book was a typical b-movie type endi
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A curiosity, this. Far from Russell's earlier Victoriana Gothics, this seems to be a purely pulp exercise, a cynical attempt to cash-in on the 'anything goes' horror explosion of the '70s, coupled with King-style setting and character.
Not entirely unsuccessful: Russell's facility with words sets out the opening of the novel marvellously, making the characters and town of Galen rounded and likeable, but then it settles into a Rape Murder/Male Characters Ruminate/Rinse and Repeat cycle in which m ...more
Not entirely unsuccessful: Russell's facility with words sets out the opening of the novel marvellously, making the characters and town of Galen rounded and likeable, but then it settles into a Rape Murder/Male Characters Ruminate/Rinse and Repeat cycle in which m ...more
3.5
It’s every bit as sleazy and disgusting as you’d expect it to be. There are mild Twin Peaks vibes here, what with the foggy small-town west coast setting and the collection of spirited locals. The ending is a cop-out, but otherwise pretty gripping in a sick sort of way. There’s a comically jarring part near the middle where the story stops for about three pages to rattle off a bunch of trivia and quotes from The Maltese Falcon.
It’s every bit as sleazy and disgusting as you’d expect it to be. There are mild Twin Peaks vibes here, what with the foggy small-town west coast setting and the collection of spirited locals. The ending is a cop-out, but otherwise pretty gripping in a sick sort of way. There’s a comically jarring part near the middle where the story stops for about three pages to rattle off a bunch of trivia and quotes from The Maltese Falcon.
I like this author's neo-Victorian stories quite a bit, so I looked forward to this novel. Unfortunately, after I found a copy (it's out of print and copies of it are rather expensive), it turned out to be something of a disappointment. Whereas Russell's earlier works (e.g. "The Case Against Satan") were models of irony and understatement, this novel goes for the opposite approach: Russell seems to revel in the new allowances the 1970s afforded, lingering over descriptions of explicit and largel
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Reading “Paperbacks from Hell” by Grady Hendrix which is full of old forgotten 70’s and 80’s horror. I saw the cover of this in there and remembered that i’d read it! Wasn’t worth keeping so I must not have liked it. I expect I will find more like this in there.
Wow, what a great read! I couldn't put it down. A horror whodunit! A great twist ending that you may or may not see coming. Definitely a quick pleasure read!
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I have a penchant for trashy horror novels and they don’t come much trashier than this. It’s sexually graphic, thoroughly misogynistic, and (of course) very silly. For all that, it’s pretty well told, undemanding, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, tearing through it in just two sittings. Sometimes it feels good to be so easily pleased.
Jul 25, 2020
Mikepottz
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
paperbacks-from-hell,
made-into-a-movie
A small town is terrorised by a large number of women raped by a person with a massive dick. Throw in a book cover made from human skin and an ancient dagger and we have an entertaining book. Did not see the ending coming. Great book.
This was one of my many random reads when I was a pre-teen when I was reading everything my classmates would let me borrow. I don't remember everything (it was more than ten years ago)but it was wickedly graphic and terrifying that I couldn't sleep properly for a month.
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I seriously don't know how this book has not been republished. Really well written, well paced and truly frightening at times. Incubus by Ray Russell is honestly one of the best examples sexual horror done right. Highly recommended.
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predictable, sexist, and trashy
A very well written monster sex novel.
thrilling story-line yet full of suspense..but the ending was predictable,still an awesome book
i read this when i was in high school....very shocking at bits....well it was then.
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Ray Russell (September 4, 1924 – March 15, 1999) was an American editor and writer of short stories, novels, and screenplays. Russell is best known for his horror fiction, although he also wrote mystery and science fiction stories.
His most famous short fiction is "Sardonicus", which appeared in the January 1961 issue of Playboy magazine, and was subsequently adapted by Russell into a screenplay fo ...more
His most famous short fiction is "Sardonicus", which appeared in the January 1961 issue of Playboy magazine, and was subsequently adapted by Russell into a screenplay fo ...more
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