"I've never seen either of the movies based on The Phantom of the Opera by French writer, Gaston Leroux. Well, in fact, I guess I've seen one, a very loose remake starring Paul Williams, The Phantom of the Paradise, but I don't know if that counts. I've once seen the musical and enjoyed it immensely.
Having said all that, I was interested in finally trying to read the book. I had found an interesting edition published in 1985 by the Dorset Press and decided to buy it.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the story when I started it. It was a bit of a slow burn at first, with a mite of difficulty getting into the flow of the translation. But once I got going and more in depth into the story, I found the story increasingly interesting. The last half moved along at breakneck pace and there was considerable tension and excitement.
The narrator of the story is researching the stories of the 'Opera Ghost' who had haunted the Paris Opera House. He persuaded the managers to maintain Box 5 for him, demanded a payment of 20,000 francs a month for his use. (why would a ghost need money, you ask? Good question). Deaths are attributed to him, a soprano in the opera loses her voice during a show and is replaced by Christine Daae, who the 'ghost' fancies. The owners sell the opera to two new managers and ensure they are aware of the conditions of keeping the 'ghost' happy. Of course, they don't believe the stories, with consequences.
Christine has another admirer, Viscount de Changy, who tries to save her from the ghost, Erik. Along with the Persian, an old acquaintance of Erik, the two must make a mad race through the cellars of the Opera in a last ditch attempt to save Christine from the ghost / Phantom of the opera. I enjoyed the story more and more as it moved along and as we discovered more about Erik and where he came from. All in all, after a bit of a slow start, it was a most enjoyable story. (4 stars)"
"I had previously only read The Fog by James Herbert before I started Nobody True. The basic premise is that the narrator of Nobody True, one James True is a successful ad executive, a husband and father and is also able to perform OBE's (out of body experiences). While on an OBE one night, he returns to his body to find that he has been brutally murdered (this is quite graphically described).
My first thoughts on starting the story was, 'heck, this is a long 'un'. It takes a little while to get to the crux of the story. (It is told in the first person, if you are interested). We learn about True's childhood, his poor relationship with his mother, a bicycle accident in which he suffers a head injury and finds himself observing his body from the outside. This starts his exploration of OBE's (there are neat little footnotes throughout the story that elaborates on things that James discovers over the course of his life, about these experiences). True becomes a successful graphic designer and forms a small, successful advertising agency with two friends. Later in his life, one of his partners wants to sell their business to a bigger agency, there is an argument and at this point True, alone in their hotel room, has an OBE and as mentioned previously, returns to find his body desecrated.
True's partner is suspected as well as a serial killer who has been committing similar murders, with some key differences. True now without a body, finds himself wandering around London, visiting his wife and daughter, his mother, the police and also finds himself drawn to a basement apartment where he meets the person who might actually be the serial killer. From this point the story takes off. It's gruesome at times, as True describes the killer's actions, but at the same time also fascinating. True meets with other spirits at a seance and is told he must stop the killer. I had ideas about this, but will let you form your own as you delve into this story.
There are neat twists and turns that are unexpected (to me anyway) and also some very emotional moments that caught me up as well. I wasn't expecting much from this story and it too me awhile to get through it (I partially blame it on the fact that I have a few books on the go at once), but I'm glad that I stuck with it and spent a couple of hours this morning finishing it off. Excellent, well-paced, well-written and totally entertaining. (4.5 stars)"
"At one time I was a voracious consumer of anything written by horror author, Stephen King. When Rose Madder, Dolores Claiborne and some others came out I kind of lost interest in his books for awhile. I still read and enjoyed The Green Mile and The Gunslinger series. Lately I've tried a few, Under the Dome was ok. When I saw Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales, I thought I'd give it a try as I've tended to enjoy King's short story / novella writing. He has a knack for getting you right into the story and grabbing your attention.
Everything's Eventual was excellent. There wasn't a story that I didn't enjoy. Some grabbed me more than others but they were all excellent. Some stood out for me. The Little Sisters of Eluria featured Roland, the Gunslinger on his quest. In it he meets up with a dangerous group of nuns. The story drew me right back into Roland's world and introduced a wonderful character, Jenna. The title story, Everything's Eventual introduced a fascinating hit man and reminded me of Firestarter, The Dead Zone with their characters who used the powers of their minds. 1408 was probably the scariest story, featuring a haunted hotel room.. Excellent and downright scary. Riding the Bullet was also excellent, dealing with the devil; creepy and tense.
King's way with words and story crafting are well on display in this collection. It brought me right back to my earliest enjoyment of his works. I'll have to start searching through his books more now.. (4.5 stars)"
"John Wyndham was one of the authors who got me started on my enjoyment of Sci-Fi. I think the 1st I ever read by him was The Day of the Triffids, loved it. And then The Chrysalids, also loved it. Over the years, besides rereading the first two, I enjoyed his others as well. He had a very understated way with telling his stories, but still created tension, interest, even fear. More recently, I've discovered he wrote other books, some early works published under pen names and two later books that were discovered and published by his estate. Web was published in 1979, 10 years after his death.
I'd have to say this falls more under the horror genre than Sci-Fi. A wealthy philanthropist wants t create a perfect society and buys an island in the Pacific where he wants to set up a colony. A group of men, women and children are selected and head to the island where they will establish a colony and see what they can create. The island originally was inhabited by a tribe of cannibals. Over the years, they were attacked by German troops trying to establish a Navy base during the War; taken over by the British commonwealth but left relatively on their own. In the '60s, there were nuclear tests nearby and due to risk of radioactive fallout, the island was purchased by the British government and the islanders moved to a new island for their safety. The medicine man lays a curse on the island.
Moving ahead, many years later, the radioactivity has been reduced to acceptable levels and the island is purchased by Lord Foxfield for his colony. The first half of the story deals with a brief history of the island and the voyage to it. The last half deals with the events that take place on the island and the discovery that the colonists are not alone. You can maybe guess who else lives there from the title??? Yes you're quite right, a group of cannibalistic web designers.. No, you're wrong.
I won't go into the story any more than that, but suffice it to say that it was definitely creepy and made my skin crawl as I got into it. That has something to do with my fear of..... well, read it. The story focuses on two main characters; the narrator Arnold Delgrange, a man who had lost his family in a car accident and wants to try something to wake up his life, and Camilla Cogent, a biologist. She was my favorite character, down-to-earth, smart, imperturbable, such a strong character. The story moves along nicely, in an under-stated way, and holds your attention. Some excellent discussions between Arnold and Camilla, about 'balance of nature', the role of man, etc. And a creepy, scary story. (4 stars)"
"House of Leaves by American author Mark Z. Danielewski is difficult to describe. It's definitely a unique, strange, fascinating story; extremely stylized. Basically (can you say 'basically' when referring to this story), you've got a documentary movie about a 'haunted' house, an author's review of the film and the events and another person's efforts to put together the notes from the middle person, when that person dies and leaves his apartment a clutter of trash. Oh wait, you've also got a running commentary by the latter about his own life and the impact of the book on it. (Simple?)
Documentarian Navidson moves with his wife and two young children to a house on Ash Tree Lane somewhere in Virginia. One day they discover that when they open a closet door in the front hallway, that there is a dark hallway that wasn't there before. This is the basis for this story. It begins a series of films by Navidson, aided by friends and family as they explore the house, and discover that the interior is ever changing, in size and shape. It's freaky and spooky. The interior of the house doesn't match the exterior. The group begin to explore this dark, new interior, hiring an explorer and his companions to help. The movies that are made are obviously turned into a cult documentary that is shown in theaters (made me think of the video in The Ring). The whole interior of the house made me think of Lovecraft's weird worlds under houses and in caves and such.
The story follows the various investigations, explorations, tragedies that result. All of this has been the subject of a book, put together by a blind author, Zampano. Zampano dies in his apartment, which is cluttered with his notes, drawings. This brings Johnny Truant into the picture. He takes over the apartment and begins to collate Zampano's notes and as he puts it all together, provides footnotes and also his own insights into his life and also the effect that living in the apartment has on his own well-being. You can see his descent into insanity through the course of the novel.
It's a fascinating, at times spooky story. What is also fascinating is how the layout of the book often mirrors the various journeys into the depths of this creepy house. As hallways narrow, the writing on the pages narrows, as the ceilings disappear, the writing crowds the top of pages, etc. At times I think the story is more form over content but the story never stops being unique. If you don't mind a bit of trek through this expansive tome, you'll find a story worth trying out. Give it a try. (4 stars)"
"In 1957, Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay for The Incredible Shrinking Man, a favorite Sci-Fi movie of mine. In 1969, it came out in book form and is every bit as entertaining, scary and surprisingly, thoughtful as the movie.
The story starts with Scott Carey, out on a boat with his brother. His brother is sleeping below deck and Scott experiences a tingly fog. Move to Chapter 2 and Scott is racing across his basement floor being chased by a black widow spider. *shudder* We move to Scott's past to a segment entitled "68" and we realize that Scott is informing his wife Louise that he seems to be shrinking.
The story moves back and forth between Scott's present, with him trying to survive in his basement, being the size of a spider and then into his past as he remembers events that bring him to his current position as resident of Louise's basement.
It's a fascinating story and Matheson portrays Scott's emotional turmoil excellently; his anger at his situation, his frustration at doctor's not being able to help him, his desire to be with his wife but the realization that his increasingly shrinking size makes that impossible. There is also well-crated terror as Scott tries to find water and crumbs of food in the basement, at the same time avoiding the spider which hunts him. (There are also other situations that are so well presented throughout the story).
Scott's emotions are so well described, even his sexual frustration, his finding comfort and companionship with a 'little person' one night. It's a surprisingly rich story, the concept fascinating and the depth of the story so well crafted and described. Well worth reading. Try the movie as well as it is quite excellent. (4.5 stars)"
"Floating Staircase is my first exposure to the novels of Ronald Malfi. I chose it as one of my Oct challenges, that being Horror month. It doesn't really qualify as pure terrifying horror, but it was definitely a ghostly, creepy thriller. It will make me further explore Malfi's stories.
Travis Glasgow is a horror author with a number of books to his credit. They seem to follow or at least be related to a tragic event in his childhood, in an accident that resulted in the death of Kyle. This impacted Travis's life drastically, affecting his relationship with older brother Adam and also those with his father and mother. Travis and wife Jodie have been living in London as he tries to get his life back in order. As the story starts, they are moving to Westlake, Maryland, renting a house near his brother's, trying to re-establish a relationship with Adam and his family. (Adam is a local police officer in Westlake)
They soon discover that a tragedy also took place in their new home, that being the death (disappearance?) of a young boy the previous year. The accident, if it was one because no body was ever found, seems very similar to that of Travis's younger brother. The house seems to be 'haunted' by the presence of Elijah and Travis begins a long downward spiral as he tries to find out what actually happened in the house.
The story is a slow burn but once it gets going, it's a tense ride. There is lots of repressed anger within Travis and it begins to affect his writing, his relationships with Jodie and Adam, and his overall health. It's all presented intelligently and frustratingly (I found myself angry with Travis for not getting on with his life, but that's how effective it was written). The main focus of course is Travis, but his relationship with Adam and Jody are also well-developed (especially that with Adam) and the introduction of elderly local reporter Earl is a nice addition.
All in all it was an intense, entertaining story, with the ghostly presence in the house a spooky, creepy addition. I ended up enjoying the story very much. The ending was confusing, let's say and left me wondering what it exactly meant. But that was no bad thing, necessarily. If you've never tried anything by Malfi, give this a check. (4.0 stars)"
"MaMa by American horror author, Ruby Jean Jensen was my first exposure to her work. Over her life, she wrote 20+ novels. Now when you look at her picture, you don't necessarily see a horror author, maybe the neighbour lady who works in her garden cutting her roses? Well, I'll tell you...
Mama was originally published in 1989. The story follows Elsea, newly widowed with three children: Stephanie, the oldest, Tommy, the middle child and Dorrie, the youngest. The family, due to financial difficulties, is forced to move back home, to live rent-free in Elsea's grandmother's old house. It is already furnished and is a grand old house, with an attic filled with all sorts of wonders, even including old dolls and toys.
All is going well. They meet author Corrie who lives just up the road and helps them adjust to their new surroundings. The older children begin school. Elsea, trying to find a way to earn money, begins to write a romance novel. And Dorrie spends her time in the attic, quietly playing with these dollies and other toys, especially one decrepit, one-eyed celluloid doll. It seems that Dorrie has a certain power. Her breath is bringing the toys back to life. (and they aren't necessarily very nice toys).
Tommy becomes aware of what is happening and begins to panic about the safety of the family and what he can possibly do to protect them. That is the premise of this creepy story. It's a slow burn, but gradually the tension mounts as Tommy becomes more terrified and embroiled in his battle to protect Dorrie from these 'soul-sucking'? toys. Emma Jean Jensen presents a well-written family, trying to adjust to a new life and adjust to new circumstances. The horror building in their home adds to the pressures on all of them. It's a neat story, lots of tension, breath holding moments (especially as we get to the climax) and a suitably satisfying ending. (4.0 stars)"
"Linghun is a novella, along with a couple of short stories and one essay, by Canadian author, Ai Jiang. I was pleasantly surprised by it, such great writing.
In Linghun, Wenki and her mother and father move to the town of Home. Normally when a home is vacant in this town (or more just a street I guess), there is an auction so the Lingerers (more on them later, if I remember) can try to buy one. In Wenki's case, they bought the house from cousins who moved out.
So the reason people move to Home is to try to make contact with the spirits of dead family members. In Wenki's case, it is her older brother who died when Wenki was just a youngster. Wenki's mother is desperate to find Tianqi and basically ignores Wenki and her sympathetic husband. Wenki must try to live a normalish life by going to school, which basically lives in the past and the last class of the day is a round table where the children tell of the success or lack thereof in seeing their dead kin.
The story is told between three characters, Wenki of course. There is Liam, a fellow student, a Lingerer. So, Lingerers are families who move to Home but can't afford a home and basically live in the yards of those who have homes, hoping to acquire a home through the auction. (Think of The Lottery, but darker, when you think of the auction process) The third character is Mrs., an older mysterious woman who lives across the street from Wenki.
It's a strange story as these varied people try to find ways to see their dead kin, some successfully, some not. Wenki and Liam basically want to leave, try to get back to a normal existence. Will they be able to? The discussion of death, coping / or not, living for the present or the past and making it such a fascinating story, a page turner, impressed me deeply. Ai Jiang elaborates on her thoughts on this matter in a follow-on essay and then also provides to short stories; Yongshi and Teeter - Totter just for additional enjoyment. Beautiful writing, dark setting, super story / stories. (4.5 stars)"
There you go. Some more reading ideas for you if you plan to try some horror for October. Enjoy!
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