What’s my favorite horror novel of all time? Tough question, but the one that always first comes to mind is the sophomore effort, Ghoul, by the amalgamation of Canadian lawyers known as Michael Slade.

Don’t be fooled by the tittle. This is not a book about monsters or the paranormal. Ghoul is a psycho-thriller featuring the hunt for a deranged psychopath by hard-nosed detective Zinc Chandler, a member of the elite Canadian serial killer task-force known as Special X. That’s right, it’s about Mounties. All of you Canada haters out there shouldn’t worry, though, most of the novel takes place in and under the streets of London, along with various parts of the United States – most notably, Rhode Island.

First published in 1987, during the great boom of serial killer novels ushered in by Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon, Ghoul differentiates itself by having been written by die-hard horror fans who just happen to work in the Canadian criminal system – specializing in criminal insanity cases, no less. Slade’s passion for horror, and understanding of the inner workings of the insane, brings a unique formula to the proceedings that tickles the horror geek in me like few other writers are capable.

The novel has elements of both police procedural and murder mystery, and is chock-full of horror movie references and ever escalating terrors. From the opening chapter, in which a teenage boy is buried alive as part of his initiation into a horror club, to the kidnapping of conjoined twins as part of a ritual intended to open the gates for the return of the Old Ones, this book has everything a horror fan could ask for. Did I say, Old Ones? That’s right, but as I said, there is nothing paranormal in the novel, only the broken and torn mind of a psychopath. As a mater of fact, Ghoul can be read as a primer for H.P. Lovecraft, as the detectives investigating the case must familiarize themselves with Ech Pi El and his writing in order to track down the killer.

With depictions of exsanguination, acid baths, decapitations and skinning, in order to bind a homemade Necronomicon, Ghoul is an abattoir of horrors. Slade is not afraid to describe the most vile and stomach-churning depictions of human cruelty. While this might be off-putting to those with a squeamish disposition, the writing never feels exploitative or excessive in its execution.

Oozing with blood and gore, the novel is counterbalanced with interesting discussions on history, Lovecraft, horror films and psychological insights into the insane. Slade manages to make these passages, some several pages long, interesting and exciting; never once slowing down or impeding the narrative. With this ability to inform and educate, while maintaining the excitement and action, I often think of Slade as the Michael Crichton of horror.

Slade’s prose is vivid and fast paced, while also taking time to build the story and characters enough that you fear for their lives (Slade is known for killing-off major characters in his novels, so you never know who is safe). Ghoul is a horror novel turned all the way up to thirteen and reads like one of the greatest horror film never made. It is an adrenaline rush that races to an exciting and satisfactory conclusion that will satiate even the most jaded of horror fan.

Currently, Slade has written thirteen novels set in the violent and horrific world of the investigators of Special X, and one outside that world, Crucified. While the make-up of Slade has changed over the years, with the current incarnation consisting of Jay Clark (the original driving force behind Slade) and his daughter Rebecca, I highly recommend all of his work.

While trawling the iTunes store for new horror podcast fodder, I came across an audiobook named Dead Hunt, by Kenn Crawford. I’ve listened to the first few chapters on my way to and from work today, and am already really intrigued to hear the rest.

More info can be found on the book’s web site, http://deadhunt.kenncrawford.com/, where the print version of the book can also be purchased, and donations can be made to support the free audio version. Alternatively, search for “Dead Hunt” in the iTunes store. I’d certainly recommend investing the 15 minutes to listen to the prologue: http://deadhunt.kenncrawford.com/?p=99

This Monday April 26th the new Horror Anthology DARK will be hitting for purchase. Fourteen authors come together to bring you their vision of horror in Dark: A Horror Anthology. Many of the iconic creatures of horror’s history resurface in fresh and innovative ways-zombies, werewolves, and chupacabras abound. There are plenty of new things to fear as well, a broken world, a myth of the murky depths, and a knife that cuts twice. Whatever your favorite flavor may be there is an author in these pages that serves it up. Authors include: Matt R. Jones, Bryan Wolford, Casey Criswell, J.P. Moore, Keith Latch, Sal Cipriano, Desmond Reddick, Sean Keller, Dezi Sienty, Cassandra Thomas, Blake M. Petit, Corey Graham, Derek M. Koch, and Steve Wands.

It’s Monty Python meets Nazi exploitation in a surreal nightmare as can only be imagined by Bizarro author Cameron Pierce.

In a land where black snow falls in the shape of swastikas, there exists a nightmarish prison camp known as Auschwitz. It is run by a fascist, flatulent race of aliens called the Ass Goblins, who travel in apple-shaped spaceships to abduct children from the neighboring world of Kidland. Prisoners 999 and 1001 are conjoined twin brothers forced to endure the sadistic tortures of these ass-shaped monsters. To survive, they must eat kid skin and work all day constructing bicycles and sex dolls out of dead children.

While the Ass Goblins become drunk on cider made from fermented children, the twins plot their escape. But it won’t be easy. They must overcome toilet toads, cockrats, ass dolls, and the surgical experiments that are slowly mutating them into goblin-child hybrids.

Forget everything you know about Auschwitz…you’re about to be Shit Slaughtered.

Praise for The Ass Goblins of Auschwitz:

“Who needs Ass Goblins when you have Jon Voight?”
- Jeremy Robert Johnson, Pushcart-nominated author of Angel Dust Apocalypse

“Truly disgusting! A fascinating mix of William Burroughs, David Cronenberg, and Lenny Bruce if you were to take all three and drop them into a blender. Cameron Pierce is a writer with a truly warped imagination.”
– Keith J. Crocker, director of Blitzkrieg: Escape From Stalag 69 and The Bloody Ape

“A must read.”
- The Horror Fiction Review

Available at Amazon.com

About the Author: Cameron Pierce is the author of Shark Hunting in Paradise Garden (Eraserhead Press, 2008) and the creator of Meat Magick, a squid-smashing performance series. Visit him online at meatmagick.wordpress.com.

Over fifty years ago, with the release of The Curse of Frankenstein and Christopher Lee in Dracula, Hammer ushered in a whole new era of blood and barely restrained cleavage in glorious colour, mixing sex and horror with a style and panache that made the small British company world famous.

Bursting at the seams with rare and previously unpublished photographs from Hammer’s archive and private collections worldwide, and featuring many new interviews, Hammer Glamour is a lavish, full colour celebration of Hammer’s female stars, including Ingrid Pitt, Martine Beswick, Caroline Munro, Barbara Shelley, Joanna Lumley, Nastassja Kinski, and of course Raquel Welch (who can forget her fur bikini in One Million Years B. C.?)

We take a look at the work of writer Richard Matheson and review the 1999 Kevin Bacon vehicle, Stir of Echoes, based on a Matheson novel.

The Internet? Don’t get him started. “The Internet is a big distraction,” Mr. Bradbury barked from his perch in his house in Los Angeles, which is jammed with enormous stuffed animals, videos, DVDs, wooden toys, photographs and books, with things like the National Medal of Arts sort of tossed on a table.

“Yahoo called me eight weeks ago,” he said, voice rising. “They wanted to put a book of mine on Yahoo! You know what I told them? ‘To hell with you. To hell with you and to hell with the Internet.’

“It’s distracting,” he continued. “It’s meaningless; it’s not real. It’s in the air somewhere.”

A Yahoo spokeswoman said it was impossible to verify Mr. Bradbury’s account without more details.

Mr. Bradbury has long been known for his clear memory of some of life’s events, and that remains the case, he said. “I have total recall,” he said. “I remember being born. I remember being in the womb, I remember being inside. Coming out was great.”

I finally finished reading Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves today. I’d been hearing about this book for years. I picked it up a while ago but only cracked it open recently. It took me a long time to get through. I’ve never been able to sit down and tear through a book in one sitting, much less something like this that ties your eyeballs up in knots.

But, anyway… Wow, this book is incredible. I cannot recommend it highly enough. I’d read a couple chapters and then be – it sounds silly – but I’d be scared to walk down the hallways of my own house in the dark. The premise is unlike anything I’ve ever read, and it’s just so damned creepy.

From critic Ted Gioia,

For someone like me, who doesn’t skim or speed read fiction, the only thing scarier than reading House of Leaves is the idea of re-reading it. Yet I am tempted to do so, if only to consider some of the alternative angles to this text. You could read this book as a savage commentary on literary and artistic criticism. You could read it as a verbal equivalent of a labyrinth, or as some sort of a Borgesian nightmare brought to life. You might look at the genre-oriented aspects of the story, and classify it as a horror tale or a romance or a Philip-K-Dick-sian exploration of a universe gone crazy. There are many doors into House of Leaves, although I am still unsure about the exits. Put simply, in an age that has a fetish over deconstructing the text, this is one text that will keep you busy for a long, long time.

Connoisseurs of “serious fiction” have mostly given this book the cold shoulder, but I think they might just be afraid. Who can blame them? House of Leaves runs counter to almost everything praised or promoted in the current literary environment, where even the most daring writers seem happy to follow the rules, stick to the established norms of narrative fiction. Danielewski has brought a unicorn to the dog show, and all the other pet owners are scowling.

From the wiki page,

Danielewski expands on this point in an interview: “I had one woman come up to me in a bookstore and say, ‘You know, everyone told me it was a horror book, but when I finished it, I realized that it was a love story.’ And she’s absolutely right. In some ways, genre is a marketing tool.”

Mat was challenging us on notions of “genre” in a conversation the other day. You want to see a real genre-bender? Try House of Leaves. It’s in a league of its own.