Book Review: Primal Screamer by Nick Blinko

You may not have ever heard of Nick Blinko, but he is well nown and
popular in certain circles. He was the guitarist of Rudimentary Peni,
a popular crust punk band. (crust punk is a subgenre of a subgenre,
anarcho-political punk) besides their fellow British standard Crass -
Rudimentary Peni is one the most popular bands of the genre 30 years
after they started.

Since the band recorded a tribute to HP Lovecraft I think the idea
that the novel was a twisting of Crust punk with Lovecraft vibe was a
little over sold on the back of the book. Besides a single reference
to the Necronomicon, and standard Gothic feel this thin but powerful
novel didn't feel Lovecraftian to me, and the horror aspect is a bit oversold.

The more you know about this pioneering band, the more likely you
are to enjoy this novel, which is a paper thin autobiography. The
novel follows the event of Blinko and the band's life with only a few
names changed and a few horrific visions added. the rumor is that
Blinko himself has been committed, but I don't know if that is just
legend. It's true that the band's bass player died of cancer.

One very bold choice was to tell the story through the eyes of Nat
(although it's clear he represents the author)'s psychotherapist. As
he gets to know Nat he feels his dreams slipping into insanity, this
and the method of regressive therapy which takes you back under
hypnosis to feeling of being in the womb. This is a great analogy
considering the name of the band the characters and the author were
in. In Maximum RocknRoll, issue #237 (February 2003), the bass player
Matthews explained how he came up with the name of the band: "When I
was at school studying biology, we were told that in the fetal stage
the clitoris is a rudimentary penis."

Over all I personally enjoyed the novel, but I didn't exactly think it
was a masterpiece. As a history of the band and a dark artist knowing
so much of this experience is true makes for a compelling read. At the
same time as a horror novel I don't think it would work for anyone who
was not already a fan of or interested in Blinko's music. The
therapists descendent into madness to me feels short and rush at the
end, happening most clearly in the last five pages of the novel.
Events of the story while interesting and gothic were not strong
enough to carry it as a horror novel.

Book Review: The Complete Strain Trilogy

The Complete Strain Trilogy

In Hollywood terms writing and directing an Oscar nominated film gives you the weight to throw around and get the projects made that you have been dying to make. Guillermo Del Toro was one of my favorite directors long before Pans Labyrith. I think he is one of the most exciting directors working in genre today. Since his huge surprise Spanish language hit Del Toro has failed several times to get projects off the ground, some were to grand in scope (At the Mountains of Madness) or to delayed in production (The Hobbit). He has still been up to some exciting things including producing films(Don't be afraid of the Dark) and co-writing a trilogy of vampire novels called the Strain.

The project that began as a TV series pitch by Del Toro (who pointed to HBO's The Wire as influence) with the structure of the novels following three possible seasons of the show. It is really to bad that idea never became reality, but Del Toro was not prepared to put this idea to death. Del Toro is a talented writer and storyteller who knew he needed help with some of procedural details that were important to the first book. So he teamed up with noted crime fiction author Chuck Hogan, known for his bestselling novel Prince of Thieves (made into the film The Town).

Depending on who is commenting on the novels, you'll see comments suggesting that “it is clear that” Del Toro or Hogan did more of the writing. Both authors went at length to suggest that neither did heavier lifting during the writing process. The only thing we know for sure is that elements of both authors show up and the duo made for a great story telling team.

The first book in the trilogy starts as a slow burn, focused on the mystery of a plane that lands in NYC with a load of dead bodies. It is a great set-up for a medical mystery thriller, similar to Andromeda Strain or an early Robin Cook novels. During this first act Hogan's skills for unfolding a mystery, and GDT's monster and mythology skills are perfectly balanced to give the book a very strong atmosphere. A lot of this first book is setting the rules, mythology and characters.

I have seen a few reviews that said the characters were lacking and that was not the case for me. The novel is told through several very notable and likable characters. The hero of the story or focus is a recently divorced father and CDC investigator Eph Goodweather, but other characters included an old world vampire hunter Setrakian , a Mexican wrestler, a rat exterminator Fet and several Mexican gangsters trying to survive the end of the world. Not to mention the vampires which included the only half breed naturally born vampire referred to by the vampire master as “The Born.”

I enjoyed the characters and thought they were developed with such a slick touch that (screenwriters have to rely on) most readers might not have noticed. Some authors writing epics will spend a hundred pages building characters that can be established in less than page. This is the case here.

All of this sets up the story of The Fall, which lends itself to kicking ass. The first book filled with world building and information dumps, but it's a lot of stuff as a novelist you have to do. How do the Vampires work? Who are the characters? What are the rules. So for book two we have all those things established and we are ready to rock. Even though I knew it was an end of the world story involving vampires I found the process still included a deeply shocking ending.


I knew I would dig this book, I love a great end of the world apocalypse novel, McCammon’s Swan Song is perhaps my favorite and while it’s not as sprawling as Swan Song or as intimate as I Am Legend, The Fall strikes perfect balance. Not too long, not a lot of wasted fat, the story cooks along at a great pace. Del Toro's cinematic editing and pacing skills became clear towards the end of this second book which worked very well with Hogan's skills for writing action. At the end I was left stunned and dying to read the third book.

Building an epic is easier than ending one. Ask most fans of Stephen King's the Stand or IT which are crazy long well told stories that left most readers unhappy. They still love the books, but something about the end has not sat well with most readers. From a lot of the fan reaction to the Night Eternal it is clear that a few fans felt let down.

I think the second part is the best of the Trilogy, but the Night Eternal to me was a satisfying entry into the series. I think there were a lot of interesting ideas and creative issues that the authors touched on that could have been expanded, but for the most part the story is told with a tight focus. I was impressed with the tiny moments from the first two books that payed off here, IE the international space station.

My only problem with this entry in the trilogy was a misguided attempt to connect the story to judeo Christian myths, to me this undid some of the power of the first two books and almost contradicted the story. In the end I am was happy the trilogy and think it is a major accomplishment that should be enjoyed by all horror fans. My hope is that Hogan and GDT will work together again and if not that we have not read the last Del Toro novel.

Book Review: The Devil Next Door by Tim Curran

The Devil Next Door by Tim Curran
333 pages
Severed Press

In 2005 John Hillcoat directed a Australian western named The Proposition. I went to see this movie in the theater, it's one of those movies that has to be seen on the big screen to work. It is by far the dirtiest movie I have ever seen,and by that I mean dirt - dirt. Flies buzzed on the screen, you could almost feel the sweat and grime. After the movie I felt like I needed a shower. Name any gore movie you like I still consider it to be the most visceral movie I have ever seen.

Now this novel had the same effect on me, don't even consider this book if your mind cannot handle thinking about bucket after bucket of blood,sweat,poop and general slime. There are two kinds of gruesome horror novels ones that use the viscera to season a strong story like Poppy Brite's Exquisite Corpse,Early Clive Barker or John Shirley's Cellars to name a few. The other kind of gore novel just strings together demented acts with a paper thin connection and fails to tell a story or build characters. I am glad to say Devil Next Door is more than just exploitation, well it's still exploitation, but it also tells a story and still has somewhat of moral center.

That is a tough balance to strike when you have a book filled with Murder, rape, cannibalism as Civilization crashes down into wild insanity. It's the story of a man named Louis who is one of only a handful of people in a small fictional Indiana town named Greenlawn. over a long day the people in the town begin to lose their minds, one violent act after another builds until the whole town, and every where beyond turns towards wide spread brutality.

The story is not that original I mean my first thought was Romero's The Crazies, I have heard comparisons to Simon Clark's Blood Crazy(which I have not read yet) but really I enjoyed the story telling enough that I just rode with it. Curran does an excellent job building characters, even the secondary ones pop to life quickly. The thing that creates this madness is interesting and creates a subtle environmental message. Once things starting to hell it gets super,duper bad.

At that point the madness is on, every base lust, desire, or emotion gets free reign. To me the finest and most creepy moment in the novel came when the main characters called 9/11 to get help. Someone answers, but all they hear at first is breathing. It was such a great moment of expressing the terror at losing something we consider a safety net of society. Just Brilliant.

Was it a perfect novel? No, but I now am sold on the author and want to read more of his stuff. There were minor plot holes(nothing I couldn't over look) and I am pretty sure human's stripped of civilization might not act that awful. Then again the true horror of this novel trying to survive in a world where Civilization is torn from us. If it happened like that insanity is just the beginning. Can't miss for fans of end of the world novels or extreme horror.

My Top ten reads of 2011

I read 73 novels, short story collections or fiction anthologies during this year. As a sometimes reviewer for the website Monster librarian I get free copies of new books. Not all of them are great, but as a perfect reviewing the book I have to finish it. As a writer that is not such a bad thing, you can learn a lot from a book that totally fails. I am also exposed to a lot of books by genre authors as many of them are my friends. That being said I am brutally honest and would not put a book this list if I didn't think it deserved to be there.

I read a lot of books that were new books this year but I decided to rate my favorite reads this year despite when they released instead of last year when I only did books released during the the year. So if the title has a * by it then it means it is a older book.

10.Through Darkest America* By Neal Barrett Jr. (Issac Asimov Presents)
259 pages (Out of Print)



This might be one of the most important works of speculative fiction I have ever read and it's only dumbluck that I read it. The story works as a coming-of-age story, it works as a post apocalyptic epic and most of all it is a gritty tale of the wild west. More than anything it is a slap in the face that explores many issues.

This novel takes place after a devastating war, and in this future a class of humans are bred to be “stock” as food. You see Stock are not human – they are just stock something less than human. It explores issues of speciesm better than any PETA leaflet I have read in a long time.

9.The Five by Robert McCammon Subterranean Press $26.95

The Five is the story of a struggling rock band who the novel is named after. The Five is a thriller, and road novel about rock and roll but it's subtext comes to the surface about 375 pages into the book. At that point the message becomes a little heavy handed, but that doesn't matter one bit. McCammon is so skilled at pacing and characters that you are so invested in the story that you'll realize the subtext was peppered through out.

There is a moment when the message is pushed to the surface. But I liked it. The Five is a novel about the tapestry of Rock and roll, the universe of live music, what it all means. The Five works on many, many levels. It's a masterpiece written by a man who has a few of those.

8.The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro And Chuck Hogan

The second in a Trilogy of Vampire novels finds the vampires wiiining and ending the world as we know it. I knew I would dig this book, I love a great end of the world apocalypse novel, McCammon’s Swan Song is perhaps my favorite and while it’s not as sprawling as Swan Song or as intimate as I am Legend the strikes perfect balance. Not too long, not a lot of wasted fat, the story cooks along at a great pace. The film editing and writing influence GDT brings to the table works really well in this novel.

7. Jim and the Flims By Rudy Rucker 247 pages $24.99
Nightshade books

While Rucker is not thought of as a bizarro author or apart of the bizarro lit scene this is to me me the best bizarro novel I read during the year. This novel is weird, funny and above all smart creative Science Fiction. The story of a surfer slacker scientist who travels to the afterlife to try and find his wife may not sound that original but once Jim gets there it gets super weird.

What we end up with is a novel that is kind of like Matheson's What Dreams May Come' meets Slacker. I can hardly do the novel justice in this review. In Flimsy water flows across the sky, flying intelligent beets, and blue baboons run amok. The characters travel across the land on a cruiser couch that Jim makes with his mind out of a material called Kenessce which all flimsy is made out of. Along the way the book also has has one of the most bizarre sex scenes between Jim and a woman also discovering her astral body. Loved this book.


6. In Extremis: The Most Extreme Short Stories of John Shirley 320 pages
Underland Press

It's no secret John Shirley is my favorite author. The extreme nature is found the unflinching peek into the dark realms of the human condition. Opening this book is like staring through one of the worst peepholes you can imagine. There is no author working in the horror genre today that does a better job of shining light of the horrendous human condition while maintaining a moral center.

5. We Live Inside You By Jeremy Robert Johnson 188 pages
Swallowdown press

We Live Inside You is the long awaited followed to Johnson's amazing first collection Angel Dust Apoclayse. It is dark bizarro horror literature at it's sharpest point, sharpened enough to enter through the temple and worm deep into your brain. JRJ comes from the same scene but doesn't rely on dildo jokes or B-movie tropes like a lot of bizarro writers do. The insane ideas are still there, but it's like crème filling in a fancy donut. At the same time it's hard for me to advise anyone to take a bite of a book written by a guy who keeps a list of parasites above his desk, but this book is a must for lovers of all literiture that is weird and dark.



4. Fathers and Sons: Blackguard (Book one) By Edward R. Morris 242 pages
The Borgo Press

Morris wears his influences on his sleeves like patches sewn on on punk rock leather jacket. What we end up with is an edgy novel that is not quite cyberpunk, military sci-fi, First Contact story or distopia. It is all those things and more. This is the first in a series that blurs the many sub-genres of speculative fiction in to a potent cocktail. A work of high literature that explores characters forced into the chaos of an all to possible future. Like a Portlandia dystopia sci-fi readers here in rip city will enjoy seeing the dark but possible future for our city.

3. Ex-heroes * Permuted Press 274 pages

It would be easy to describe this novel as Watchmen with Zombies but that sounds cheap, it's not. To me Ex-heroes is the best serious zombie novel I have read since the explosion of zombie trendy madness. The suspense beats work and there are true moments of terror in the novel, not an easy thing to pull off when most of your characters are super humans. Clines also manged to disturb me in a scene where a zombie mother drags her living dead infant down a street with a rope tied to her waist. He left that to our imagination, and for me I shuddered at the thought of the dying mother not wanting be separated from her child even in death. Brutal. Excited to read the sequel.

2.Should Have Killed The Kid by R. Frederick Hamilton 300 pages $12.95
Legume Man Books



This book is filled to the brim with very unpleasant situations, but if your a fan of good creepy unsettling horror fiction then that is what you are looking for. Should have killed the Kid is a supernatural Apocalypse thriller which has both Lovecraftian vibe (without direct connection to the mythos) and an extreme horror feel. At first I thought of it as Stephen King's The Mist with A Quentin Tarantino structure, but after the first 100 pages the structure smoothes out into a linear fashion. I always say that great suspense novels feel like climbing a very tall unstable ladder. And that is what I felt like I was doing when I read this novel.

Is it the second best book I read of the year, probably not but I only enjoyed reading one book more this year...

1.Old Man's War* by John Scalzi

Last year while writing my novel Goddamn Killing Machines I swore off reading novels that were in the same military-action Sci-fi Drama. After I finished it author Nick Cato mentioned this novel to me. So I picked up a used copy and started reading it on a flight home to Indiana. I could not put the book down, reading half of it in the air.

The most perfect and solid piece of Military Science Fiction since Handleman's Forever War. This novel is Star ship Troopers meets the Twilight Zone's Kick the can episode. Old Man's War seems to be taking a stab at American exceptionalism.

Once at War the novel goes crazy with fantastic science fiction concepts and ideas. I was pleased the universe was not populated by humanoid standard fill in the blanket human like aliens there is a great gee-whiz factor to this novel but it all works and Scalzi has created a world I am excited about revisiting in the next three books that continue the story. Infact I liked it so much I am saving the sequel for the right time. Sure sign that I loved it.

NFL week 17 picks

For this week's picture I decided upon a pic of the chargers coaching staff after the Nightmare before Christmas in Detriot.

David 152-84
Larry 160-78

Det @ GB: Lions
Ten @ Hou: Texans
Ind @ Jac: Jags
NYJ @ Mia: Phins
Chi@ Min: Vikings
Buf @ NE: Pats (Brady does not pass Brees)
Car @ NO: Saints
Was @ phi: Eagles
SF @ STL: 49ers
SEA @ AZI: Seahawks
TB @ATL: Falcons
BAL @ CIN: Ravens
Pit @ CLe: Steelers
KC @ DEN: Chiefs
SD @ OAK: Chargers 31-17
DAL @ NYG: Giants

Favorite films of 2011

I didn't see as many movies in 2011 I have have in most years. I also went to see alot of old kungfu movies playing through Grindhouse film fest screenings at the Hollywood theater here in Portland. It's amazing thing to have here and thankfully the dude who runs grind house is bringing lots of movies. I tried to come up with the ten I thought were amazing or had a ton of fun watching my list is here with some trailers and reasons.

1. I Saw the Devil:



So a couple years back Korea unleashed one of the greatest revenge movies of all time by way of Director Park Chan Wook called Oldboy. Funny, brutal and heartbreaking I didn't think Korea would ever top Oldboy. Leave it to director Jee Woon kim (A Tale of Two sisters) to say I can out do that. With the help of the star of Oldboy this film is dark, unrelenting, hard to watch and filled with plot twists that actually work. I have been watching extreme horror and gore drenched films my whole life and this movie made me squirm. It honestly made Oldboy seem like a PG-13 movie. I know it was released in 2010 in Korea, but 2011 here.

Stars: 5 /5
Saw it with:Vince and Magik at the Hollywood theater.

2. Detective Dee and the mystery of the phantom flame



Another made in 2010 released in America in 2011. So Tusi Hark directed or produced probably more than 100 classic Hong Kong films. Since his 2000 action masterpiece Time and Tide has not had good luck with films. Zu warriors was pretty mess, and Black Mask 2 was MSTK worthy. While I enjoyed his film Seven Swords it wasn't until this film that audiences and critics agreed Hark was back. Based on a book in a wildly popular series of chinese detective novels( think Hong Kong's answer to Sherlock Holmes) Andy Lau is fastastic as the title character.But this is Hark making a goth looking cool as hell Wuxia mystery. Right up my alley. I think I might watch this again today, I have the novel it's based on as well. Looking forward to it.

Stars: 5/5
Saw it with: Ordered the DVD import from china, then Fox Tower on the big screen

3. Midnight in Paris



Yeah I know the director is a creep but every five movies or so he makes a gem. The last two I liked were Match Point (maybe his best in 20 years), and the Sweet and Lowdown. Midnight in Paris is a cute movie with a clever time travel theme. Is it Science fiction no, not really but it creates a great atmosphere. Thankfully Owen Wilson didn't go overboard trying to be Woody Allen. Why was it my number three movie. Because it did what movies do best transport you to a different time and place.

Stars: 4/5
Saw it with: Cari at Cinemagic.

4. 13 Assassins



Takashi Miike Is known for making some of the weirdest and most brutal films to ever come from Japan. That is really saying something, I am personally hit or miss with the guy. This remake of a 50 samurai classic is long time coming for Miike who has mad elots of gangster and horror movies but never made a true samurai movie. If you watch this on video you might be tempted to quit after 45 minutes of slow carefully crafted character development. that would be a shame because it builds nicely into what might be the best cinematic battle of all time. That may sound like hyperbole but I stand by it.

Stars: 4/5
Saw it with: Crazy Shawn and Vince at Cinema 21

5. Shame:



I never heard of this movie before we saw it. We went to see Melancholia, but because of a mistake on the Portland movie times website Shame was playing for the first time. It was a long bus ride and the movie sounded interesting so we stayed. What we got a was a powerfully written, directed and acted film. Shame is to sex addiction what Requiem for a Dream was to drugs. If Michel Fassbender doesn't get an oscar nod I'll be shocked.

Stars: 5/5
Saw it with: Cari at Cinema 21

6. Captain America

I don't think I need to post the trailer. I know it makes me a bad radical to love a movie called Captain America but it was awesome. A great near perfect comic book movie that captured the comic and as a near perfect action movie. George Lucas did you see this? Let Joe Johnston make the Bobba Fett movie he has been dying to make.

Stars: 4/5
Saw it with: Opening day at the Loyd Center, who suppsed to go with Magik he couldn't make so I was big enough nerd not to wait and go by myself.

7. True Legend:



Yuen Woo Ping directs more than just the action for the first time in 15 years. I was super excited for this one. It was a shame it didn't get released in 3D here, it looks like it would have been amazing in 3D. The lack of 3D and the weird extra 20 minutes at the end really hurt this movie in my opinion. It was a perfect and over the top amazing Wuxia epic until they tacked on the 20 unneeded minutes at the end. I can only give it 3 out of 5 stars but I still loved seeing it on the big screen.

stars: 3/5
Saw it with: Vince at Fox Tower downtown.


8. Ip Man 2:



Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung fighting on screen is always a good thing, fighting each other even better. Great period kungfu epic about the man who trained Bruce Lee. Donnie Yen just rules what else can you say.

Stars: 4/5
Saw it with Vince and Magik Hollywood theater

9. Bridesmaids:

I don't think I need to post the trailer. I love Kristin Wiig, she is funny, smart and doesn't eat animals. So of course I totally love her. I don't understand people who didn't laugh at this movie. maybe I'm biased.

Stars: 3/5
Saw it with Cari at Cinemagic.

10. Legend of the Fist:The return of Chen Zhen



The character made famous by Bruce Lee, Jet Li and already Donnie Yen. thsi film creates great action pieces. It was super fun and worth seeing if your a kungfu, action or Donnie Yen Fan. I had a great time. I saw it for free because Vince and I won Tickets at a Dark Horse comics party by filming a "kungfu move" that involved me beating Vince with my backpack. Even though the movie was free Vince didn't stay for the movie because he missed the first two minutes. He has a a thing about that.

stars: 3/5
Saw with: myself at the Hollywood theater (See above)

The best time I had at the theater this year was the Hunting The Moon Tribe release party at the Hollywood theater. Captain Hyperole AKA the author of Gigantic Death Worm AKA Vince Krammer Superfan created a two horror kungfu and horror movie Trailer part that started with a Sammy Terry introduction! It was the greatest thing ever. Here was the promo we made for the event:

Book Review: Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess

Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess
280 pages
ECW press

I discovered this novel from watching the film based loosely on the novel. The film Pontypool was released a few years back and quickly gained a rep for being a well written and composed low budget zombie film. When I saw it I thought it was a creative spin on the tired genre, most interesting at it's core was a original concept of the the zombie virus being transferred not by blood or bites but trhough human language. I was interested in novel because it was written by Burgess who also wrote the screen, and during the commentary track he said the novel had a larger scope.

Probably due to it's thin budget the movie takes place at a small radio station in Ontario, and focuses on the main character an aging former shock jock named Grant Mazzy. Mazzy keeping his career alive by doing weather reports on backwater radio. The film gets a lot of of it's rich tones by Stephen McHattie's performance as Mazzy. Since the setting is confined mostly to the station the actors have to carry a lot of the story. It's a character driven horror film, that manages to transcend it's budget like a lot of great low budget horror films.

So I was excited by the idea of reading the book. This is a rare case where I think the movie is a lot better than the source material. They are very, very different stories and while they share Grant Mazzy as a main character and plot device the novel lacks the vivid strength of character which drove the film.

Burgess is an excellent word smith, I can honestly say it's some of the smoothest and interesting prose I have read in a long time. That being said writing pretty paragraphs and telling a good story are two totally different things. I spent a lot of my time reading this novel confused, and according to some of the online reviews I was wasn't alone.

I don't mind being confused if the story is exciting and it's important that the confusion is paid off with answers. There are some intense and powerful moments in this book that's why I kept reading even though I was often frustrated and confused by the lack of clear narrative. Since the zombie outbreak is transferred through the language there are some very well composed moments of suspense that happen inside the mind of the infected. I also enjoyed the moments where some characters tried hard not speak at all.

This novel is clever, perhaps a bit to clever for it's own good. Could the novel itself spiral into maddess of disrupted language like the victims in the story. Maybe, but I didn't really see that either. It's an interesting experiment, one I don't think worked. I'll admit many I didn't get it, but I am a pretty savy reader, who has personally played with experimental narratives, so if I don't get it then it is a good chance most readers will be lost.

So here is the hard part for me, I respect the well written inventive prose but can't make much sense of the story. This made the book a slog, and I can't say I enjoyed much of it. The movie expressed the idea in a more clearly, and succeeded as a story.