Home » Posts tagged "1980s horror"

Book Review: The Rack II: More Stories Inspired by Vintage Horror Paperbacks, edited by Tom Deady

The Rack II: More Stories Inspired by Vintage Horror Paperbacks

The Rack II: More Stories Inspired by Vintage Horror Paperbacks, edited by Tom Deady, introduction by Sadie Hartmann

Greymore Publishing, 2025

ISBN: 9788998958915

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com | Bookshop.org

 

 

With 23 stories packed into 450 pages, The Rack II certainly delivers enough quantity for the dollar. But what about quality, you say? This installment in the series is actually better than the last one. As with the previous volume, the stories are of mixed quality,  The difference is, the good stories are better than last time, and there are more of them, while before, most were just ok. This time, the majority are good, so it’s easier to justify the purchase.

 

First off, note that the book says “stories INSPIRED by vintage horror paperbacks,” not “stories written in the style of vintage horror paperbacks.” These stories bear very little resemblance to any of the “thrash-n-trash” style pulp thrillers that ruled the 1980’s. That certainly doesn’t make the stories bad, but don’t buy this and expect reruns of Guy N. Smith or Graham Masterton. The authors of the short stories in this volume may have been inspired by that time period, but they certainly don’t write in that style. That’s perfectly fine, but readers should know what they are getting with a purchase of the book.

 

As for the stories…again, the overall quality level is better this time, with most of the stories grading in at about a solid B, and a lot of stylistic variety. A number of the middle-of-the-road stories are ones you could even go back and read again. We’ll look at the real bangers.

 

“Beepbeepbeep”: a tale of virtual pets, with a path into reality. This story makes good use of kids’ obsession with electronics, and does a great job of twisting it into real-world consequences with human life. Great fun!

 

“We Have (Never) Been Here Before”: even if this wasn’t entertaining as hell, it would get mentioned for the excellent writing. It’s just someone watching a horror film and calling out the standard tropes, but eventually it crosses over, and you don’t know what is film and what is real in the story. I felt this must have been a difficult one to write, but Jonathan Lees does an outstanding job on this one.

 

“Midnight Rider”: no, this isn’t about the Allman Brothers Band, but it sure has some of the melancholy they built into the lyrics of that song. It involves a Ferris Wheel and a grieving husband whose wife passed away too soon, and his attempts to see her again. It’s actually a pretty sad and dramatic story. I would not call it a horror story at all, but it is a damn good story. It was enough to (almost) give me a case of the sniffles. If author Mike Deady chose to write a drama novel, I would definitely read it.

 

“The Comeback Kid”: this is as close to a vintage 1980’s blast as you will get in the book, and it’s a disgusting mess of fun. It takes the idea of excellence in gymnastics at any cost to a whole new level, with plenty of body parts involved. Gross, and impossible not to enjoy.

 

“The Cartographer”: a thrilling tale of revenge, with four kids managing to track down a serial killer, and deciding to take justice into their own hands. The problem is, how to do it when you are kids, and don’t have access to guns? Credit to the kids for their solution: it’s a clever one. The story does take a bend into the realm of the otherworldly at one point, which adds a new dimension to the story. It might be the longest story in the book, but it sure holds its own against the quicker thrillers.

 

Bottom line is:  this is better than the original, and you can’t say that about sequels very often. Recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on May 11, 2026 by , Reply

Book Review: Shredder Orpheus by David Irons (based on the screenplay by Robert McGinley)

Shredder Orpheus by David Irons, based on a screenplay by Robert McGinley

 

Shredder Orpheus (Encyclocalyspe Movie Tie-In Series), by David Irons, (based on the screenplay by Robert McGinley)

Encyclopocalypse Publications, 2025

ISBN: 9781966037200

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:  Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com

 

One advantage to the multitude of small publishing houses that have sprung up: they can take on projects that large publishers would never touch, but will be loved by a small but devoted audience. Such is the case with Shredder Orpheus, a novelization of the 1980s cult skaterock/dystopia film. I haven’t seen the film so I can’t say how it compares, but the book is a fun read all on its own.

 

As far as plots go, it’s probably one of the more ridiculous, even for the 80s, when such plots were all the rage. And that’s what makes it fun. In the dismal urban landscape of the Gray Zone, where people live in shipping containers, life revolves around survival, thrashing (riding skateboards) and rock n’ roll. Orpheus is kind of a local hero, since he can shred with the best of them, be it on his board or a guitar. He’s one of the few bright spots in an area that never seems to see the sun. Tragedy strikes when his beloved Eurydice is killed by Video Vampires on their wedding night, and she is taken to Hell to resign with Hades. Hades also happens to run the EBN TV network, which broadcasts brain-deadening shows on all the TVs, which allows him to steal souls. The lovelorn Orpheus decides to travel to Hell to confront Hades and try to get Eurydice back, armed with his guitar-lyre (a powerful instrument conceived by Jimi Hendrix) and his gift-from-the-abyss apocalyptic skateboard. It’s up to Orpheus and his buddies Scratch, Axel, and Razoreus to thrash and shred their way through Hell, and Hades’ TV studio, to rescue the darling Eurydice.

 

Still with me? Ok, good. All of the above is ludicrous, but it’s entertaining, and that’s what matters. The author writes in a fast and loose fashion, and the story clips along, moving from underground rock clubs, to the EBN studios, to a secret garage entrance that leads to Hell. The story moves quickly, and there is just enough there to make you interested in the characters. Their lives are really bleak– one way of getting food consists of raiding dumpsters for thrown-away pizzas, the pizzas being thrown away because the protagonists called them in as bogus orders, then waited by the dumpster for them to be discarded. This takes dumpster diving to an art form. Orpheus gets most of the book’s time: the other three are fairly minor characters, but they are entertaining when they do show up. There’s enough in the book that the romance and devotion of Orpheus and Eurydice feels relatively real, and not just like a plot device used as an excuse to have him skate through the underworld. Orpheus’ sojourn through the realms of Hades is a blast, as he encounters lost souls, a lot of paper shredding, the strange video vampires, some chainsaw decapitation, and he gets to shred his board across fire and lava pools. Totally rad! This is completely deranged silliness, and completely thrilling for those who remember the days when Powell Peralta, Bones Brigade, and VISION were words in every kid’s lexicon. The only minor change I would liked to have seen was a bit more focus on the skating itself. Where it’s a skate-rock adventure, more added rail slides, wheel grinds, truck slides, and 720s would have seemed appropriate. Then again, I don’t know how much was actually in the film itself, so maybe it makes sense.

 

Bottom line is, it’s a crazy story about crazy times, and should be able to find an audience outside of just the film fans. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

Posted on August 25, 2025 by , 1 comment

Book Review: Tick Town by Christopher A. Micklos

Cover art for Tick Town by Christopher A Micklos

Tick Town by Christopher A. Micklos

Castle Bridge Media, 2025

ISBN: 9798991785549

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

 

Do you miss the good old days of 80s pulp fiction? The times of old, when books like Guy N. Smith’s Crabs series, James Herbert’s The Rats and Graham Masterton’s The Wells of Hell terrorized bookshelves everywhere? Fear not, for Christopher Micklos’s Tick Town is here, and he’s clearly learned from the best of the genre masters. This is a true homage to those days, a smashmouth, blood-spewing classic, right down to its purposefully cheeseball cover art. Readers will devour this faster than the giant ticks in the books devour humans, for Tick Town is a true “rage on the page” that will stomp all over you.

 

As for the plot, the story begins with…oh, never mind. Why bother? Based on the type of book this is, do you really need plot details? This is pulp fiction, which is just about one thing: pure, fast-paced entertainment. The basics are: giant mutant ticks, small midwestern town, good guy reporters and cops, slimy town officials and EEEVIL corporations. Any new, little used literary devices or elaborate character expositions? Perhaps some social commentary on the travails of the oppressed lower class? Hell, no! And that, my friends, is a good thing. Micklos wisely doesn’t waste time trying to write some kind of horror literary masterpiece. Instead, he sticks to the three engraved rules of pulp fiction:

  1. Hit the reader hard.
  2. Hit the reader fast.
  3. Get the heck out and end the story.

It’s also a good idea to throw in a good mess of blood and guts, and a minor touch of sleaze never hurts, and the author checks all the boxes. Tick Town races out of the gate in the first chapter, featuring two dumb teenagers fooling around in a tent in the woods. They hear something and go investigate, and you know what happens next. The throttle is now open, and it’s WFO. right to the end of the book’s 197 pages. There’s no slowdown: this is heart-pounding to the end. One thing to note: most people are probably not that familiar with how ticks kill their prey, this isn’t just teeth and claws. The author cleverly finds a way to work in a lesson on that for the readers, using a video call with a biologist to explain all the details. It helps with comprehending the ticks’ slaughter as the book progresses. Who says you can’t write pulp and be smart with it?

 

Based on this book, pulp-style horror thrillers are not only still alive and well, but the genre just may have found a new torch-bearer. The fact that this is a debut novel makes it all the more impressive. This is a must-read for horror fans and one of my favorites of 2025 so far, this book will occupy a spot of honor on the shelf next to my yellowed paperbacks of Grizzly, Piranha, and Croc. Beyond highly recommended, and that is certainly the bottom line!

 

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

Posted on July 28, 2025 by , Reply