Your Body Will Never Be Found

A master of blending horror with razor-sharp humor, Jeff Strand has carved out a unique niche in the genre with stories that are as unsettling as they are laugh-out-loud funny. With dozens of novels under his belt, ranging from splatterpunk chaos to darkly comedic thrillers, he’s earned a cult following among horror fans who like their scares served with a side of satire. His 2025 release, Your Body Will Never Be Found, is a fine entry-point to his “body” of work.

The 222-page paperback begins with a family of four lost in the deep woods of rural Georgia with their car’s GPS in constant recalculation mode and the fuel gauge approaching empty. They are Arden (Dad), Laurie (Mom), Nick (15) and Misty (6).

When the car finally konks out with a blown out tire and lack of gasoline, the family is at the foot of a long driveway snaking into the forbidding woods. At the base of the driveway is a sign reading, “If you’re here, you’re clearly lost. What you do next will determine if you stay that way.”

Of course the house’s resident is Finch, a giant scary redneck with a shotgun. But is he dangerous or just worried about coyotes? Would he allow little Misty to use the restroom inside his shack while they await roadside assistance? What could go wrong?

The author does a great job of ratcheting up the tension gradually playing with the tug-o-war between normal human manners and the gut feeling that something isn’t right. When violence finally breaks out, we have a nonstop, extreme horror bloodbath.

Nick and Misty will go to any length to keep their kids safe, and they have a secret history of their own that does not make them the soft targets you’d imagine. Meanwhile, the occupants of the home also have a creepy backstory that adds to the sense of danger and foreboding.

To be sure, Your Body Will Never Be Found is an extremely violent and visceral novel with some truly vile and disgusting scenes. Be warned. Strand also writes some of the best violent fight scenes in horror fiction — as evidenced throughout the novel’s second half.

Overall, this was not a masterpiece of horror fiction, but it’s probably a fine entry-point if you want to dip your toe into the extreme horror pool of blood. He’s a solid writer and the novel’s perspective changes had a cinematic, Tarantino quality. By now, you should know if this is your thing. If so, consider this a recommendation.

Get the book HERE.

Paperback Warrior - Episode 124

This podcast episode features William R. Cox, a prolific author of over 1,000 pulp stories known for his crime-fiction, sports, and western novels. It also includes a review of a 1967 vintage suspense-thriller by John Farris. Listen today! Stream below or on YouTube HERE. Download the episode HERE.

Listen to "Episode 124: William R. Cox" on Spreaker.

The Lurking Fear

H.P. Lovecraft's serial “The Lurking Fear” was originally published between January and April 1923 in Home Brew. The stories appeared with interior illustrations by Clark Ashton Smith. The serial was reprinted as a novelette in the June 1928 issue of Weird Tales. Since that date, the story has appeared in numerous magazines and horror anthologies by publishers like Avon, Panther, Arkham House, and Del Rey. Now in the public domain, one can find numerous audio presentations of the book from free narrators like HorrorBabble, Gates of Imagination, and Voice Voyage. The story was also adapted into several film adaptations including Bleeders (1997), Dark Heritage (1989), Lurking Fear (1994), and The Lurking Fear (2023).

“The Lurking Fear” is a stand-alone story that doesn't fit Lovecraft's vast Cthulhu mythos. It begins with an unnamed narrator exploring Tempest Mountain, a supposedly cursed region in New York's Catskills. This narrator, a monster-hunter of sorts, and his two male companions, are responding to reports of creatures attacking people in the nearby area. Central to the narrator's investigation is a derelict mansion void of any residents. It is here that the trio take refuge to wait out the night. But, in the deep recesses of the dark, the narrator is awakened to see a large shadow on the chimney wall and the disappearance of his two companions. 

The narrator leaves the mansion and, after several days, returns to the mansion again with a journalist named Munroe. This time, the duo take shelter from a rainstorm in a nearby shack near the mansion's grounds. It  is here that Munroe is killed by a terrible mauling and the narrator searches for answers in a discarded diary the two had previously located.

In the story's second half, the narrator reveals the history of the mansion and a reclusive family known as the Martenses that turned to inbreeding in their rural isolation. Thinking he has found the answers to the creatures, and their mysterious attacks, the narrator returns to the property again and begins to dig up the grave of Jan Martense. Under the casket he locates a labyrinth of underground tunnels used by the creatures. But, like any good horror story, the clash between man and beast brings resolution.

“The Lurking Fear” has a disjointed presentation which Lovecraft himself was disappointed with. The  reason may have been the serial nature of the story and the need to expand it into several issues. Regardless, I enjoyed the aura of isolation, the unbridled tragedy affecting this early American family, and the narrator's gusto to confront the monstrosities despite the prior casualties that closely affected him. There's an atmosphere of foreboding that permeates the abandoned mansion and grounds. There's also this idea that death itself can reveal answers, apparent in the very physical need to look beneath the casket for answers. 

In terms of legacy, I can see shades of this story in film franchises like Hills Have Eyes and Wrong Turn, the classic 1981 film Hell Night, as well as stories by Stephen King like “Graveyard Shift”. Lovecraft, who remained an “unknown” in his lifetime, touched so many generations of horror fans. His influence on the genre is seemingly endless.

The Phantom Coach

Amelia Edwards (1831-1892) was a British writer and artist that was deemed the “Godmother of Egyptology”. Her fascination with Egyptian culture led to a successful travelogue titled A Thousand Miles up the Nile. Her most famous novel is Barbara's History, published in 1864. However, she appears in several horror anthologies and digests with her frightening tale “The Phantom Coach”. The story first appeared in All the Year Round in 1864 as “Another Past Lodger Relates His Own Ghost Story” with the author unnamed. My version of the story is in The Phantom Coach: Thirteen Journeys into the Unknown edited by Peter C. Smith and published by William Kimber in 1979. 

The story's narrator is a young attorney named Murray. He is relaying an event that happened to him twenty years ago, an event he has never disclosed until now. Murray, newly married, is vacationing in the English countryside. He goes hunting (against his new bride's wishes) in the rural moors and forests during a snowstorm. After a few hours, he realizes he has become lost as the snowfall increases. Thankfully, Murray flags down an older gentleman in the wild. This stranger isn't helpful, and advises Murray that the nearest town is twenty miles away. Murray, desperate to live, sort of forces his will upon this old man, Jacob, and accompanies him back to the cottage where Jacob's master lives.

The master of the manor isn't thrilled to find Jacob has returned with an unwanted guest. After a bit of a verbal tussle, Murray sits with Jacob's master to have some dinner. It is during this conversation that the master advises Murray that he has been away from society and his colleagues in the scientific and technological industry. He wants to learn more about Murray's worldly experiences and, in doing so, he reveals to Murray that he has a fascination with the supernatural.  

Eventually the master encourages Murray to leave that very night to meet the mailman's coach that will be within five miles of the cottage. The mailman can then return Murray back to his wife at the Inn. But, this requires five miles through the dark snowfall on an abandoned coach road. On the journey, Jacob explains to Murray that a horrible accident happened on the old coach road nine years prior. He then leaves Murray with instructions on how to find the mailman's coach at a type of crossroads between the old road and the new one. To reveal any other details would ruin the thrill of this Victorian ghost story.

Amelia Edwards writes with a heavy handed descriptive approach that steers clear of an archaic prose. This is a smooth atmospheric tale that uses the dark moors, forest, and isolation to present a ghost story. Edwards has the ability to reveal very little about Jacob and the master, yet still somehow marries the two characters to the reader flawlessly. Every word they speak in this story hinges on some soon-to-be revelation that will affect the unfortunate protagonist. There's a great deal of mystery on just what awaits Murray on this old coach road. Once the terror reveals itself, Murray and readers are plucked from this out-of-the-way seclusion into a stuffy and cramped space saturated in doom and death. It's a wonderful scene switch that sets the story's finale. 

The Phantom Coach should be easily accessible as a free read. It is worth the effort to hunt it down. Recommended!

Buy an ebook version of the story plus others HERE.

School Mistress of the Mad

Bruno Fisher often used the name Russell Gray or Harrison Storm to write graphic horror stories in the early to mid 20th century. Many of these stories were published in pulp magazines like Terror Tales, Dime Mystery Magazine, Sinister Stories, and Spicy Horror Stories. I've read a number of these including "School Mistress of the Mad". It was originally published in the January-February 1939 issue of Terror Tales. 

Doom is the name of a town nestled in the mountains populated by an inferior race of idiots looked down upon by the good people of nearby Amton. Chet is on sabbatical from his city job chilling out in sleepy Amton when he meets a beautiful woman named Linda driving through town headed into Doom. Stopping to ask directions, she discloses that she’s been hired as the new schoolteacher for the Town of Doom. As she drives deeper into the mountains, Chet can’t get her off his mind.

Chet learns that Doom was settled during the American Revolutionary War by a family named Gring who have reproduced and lived there ever since with no contact from the outside world. Generations of inbreeding have made the Gring clan into beast-like idiots.

The idea of the Grings hiring a beautiful schoolteacher in an illiterate town without a school defies logic. Meanwhile, several young women from the town of Amton have become missing lately. Could the Grings be taking some illegal measures to increase Doom’s genetic diversity? Chet sets off to Doom to investigate and maybe save Linda from the hillbillies fifteen miles away.

The author does a great job of building the dread and suspense for the reader who’s left wondering how bad it could be in Doom. I’m happy to report that the Grings clan is worse than you could imagine. This story is chilling and frightening if you enjoy crazed hillbilly stories in the vein of Deliverance or The Hills Have Eyes. It’s hard to believe that the story 82 years-old and still packs such a visceral punch.

You can read this story and other Fischer horror tales in the collection Hostess in Hell and Other Stories. Get it HERE.

Dig Me No Grave

The February 1937 issue of Weird Tales featured Robert E. Howard's horror story “Dig Me No Grave”. The iconic Texas author was paid $100 for the story shortly before he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1936. The story was later published in The Dark Man and Others by Arkham House in 1963, Fawcett's Eight Strange Tales in 1972, and Zebra's Pigeons from Hell in 1976. My version is from the Baen 1996 paperback Beyond the Borders.

The story begins when John Kirowan is awakened from his sleep at midnight by his good friend John Conrad. Conrad is in a panic state as he explains that a man named John Grimlan has just died (what is it with all the “Johns”?). A conversation ensues between Kirowan and Conrad over Grimlan's bizarre life living in a world of mysticism and the occult.

Grimlan had lived abroad for many years and rumors circulated that his physical appearance seemingly never aged. Conrad explains that a Count had once stated that Grimlan is a very old man, yet his appearance is youthful. Years ago, Grimlan had asked Conrad to look after his body upon his death. He provided a sealed envelope containing specific instructions. Now, Conrad wants Kirowan's assistance in returning to Grimlan's house and following the instructions laid out. It's here that Grimlan's corpse lies undisturbed just hours since his death.

“Dig Me No Grave” possesses a vivid atmosphere and mood that is draped in this wickedly dark tapestry. Howard, this late in his writing career, had perfected the horror story and he puts his talent to work describing Grimlan's dark house on the hill, the bleak midnight hour, and offers a delightful buffet of descriptions about the evil forces at work within Grimlan's life. The central portion of the story's narrative is the bizarre instructions left behind by Grimlan, orders that the contents of his estate be left to...the Devil! Interesting enough, Howard includes Lovecraft's Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu references as well as his own Shuma-Gorath entity (first mentioned in Howard's “The Curse of the Golden Skull”) and Kathulos of Atlantis (found in the author's 1929 novella Skull-Face).

These two characters, Kirowan and Conrad, have been featured in other Howard stories, shorts like “The Children of the Night”, “The Haunter of the Ring”, and “The Thing on the Roof”. All of these have Cthulhu references.

“Dig Me No Grave” was adapted into comic form by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane in Marvel's Journey Into Mystery in 1972.

The Colour Out of Space

The September 1927 edition of Amazing Stories (illustrations by J.M. De Aragon) featured H.P. Lovecraft's short story “The Colour Out of Space”. The author had finished writing his short novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward earlier that year and immediately began this cosmic horror tale which would become one of his most popular works. The story has been adapted to film in 1965's Die, Monster, Die!, 1987's The Curse, and the 2019 film Color Out of Space.  

Like many stories of this era, particularly Lovecraft, the narrator is unnamed. He's a curious surveyor from Boston assigned to the frightful area of Arkham, the fictional Massachusetts city that appears in numerous Lovecraft works. It is in this rural stretch of American countryside that the narrator becomes obsessed with bizarre events that plagued the region over 50 years ago. 

According to a local named Ammi Pierce, a shunned resident deemed crazy by the townspeople, a meteorite crashed onto a farming tract owned by Nahum Gardner. This meteorite possessed strange property values – weird color (or colorless), substance, texture, and the perplexing ability to simply vanish into nothingness. Awestruck scientists can't derive any type of theory on the structural makeup 

Over the following months the Gardners themselves experience a dark metamorphosis. Ammi describes these events in horrifying detail. Beginning with the crops themselves, this isolated farming family experiences a type of blight that affects their supply and animals. The well water becomes contaminated, which seems to affect Nahum's son Zenas, a youngster that seemingly disappears into the well. Nahum's wife transforms into a monstrosity and is kept locked in the family attic. The same thing happens with Nahum's son Thaddeus. After Ammi meets with the family (and presumably mercy-kills Nahum's wife) he is met with a stark warning from Nahum describing the affects of the meteorite and the color being responsible for draining the life of the farm and surrounding community. The story concludes with Ammi and other men returning to the farm to learn of the Gardners' fate.  

No one can tell a more vividly haunting story than Lovecraft. His ability to inject so much sorrow and dismal illustration into his prose is simply remarkable. The attic scenes in particular, culminating in Nahum's broken and fragmented cadence, are permeated with a unique atmosphere that's equally chilling and delightful. It is this final evidence that showcases the ultimate fate for this unfortunate farming family. Without warning, unfairly, their little rural retreat is shattered by an alien invasion that defies explanation or description. It is the lack of color, the colorless attribute, that I feel is the most chilling element to the story. 

The concept of innocence corrupted by an unknown invasion is elementary, yet speaks volumes on the American spirit. Whether it is rain, fire, tornado, hurricane, economic weakness, or in this case a space invader, the vulnerability of the working class farmer is clearly evident. I think Lovecraft, in his own way, speaks to the heart and soul of the farmer and how the balance beam between profit and utter failure is a difficult act. 

The critical praise of this story, “The Colour Out of Space”, isn't just simple hyperbole - Lovecraft was on top of his game and this darkly delicious tale is a testament to his writing prowess. Highly recommended reading. 

The Stranger from Kurdistan

E. Hoffman Price (1898-1988) was a fictioneer of the pulps, a staple of the Weird Tales pioneers alongside Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft. He contributed to genres like science-fiction, horror, crime-fiction, and fantasy. His story “The Stranger from Kurdistan” was an early Weird Tales entry that found publication in the magazine's July 1925 issue.

Deep in Europe sits the Tower of Semaxii, a structure that is described as having a height that could caress the very stars. Yet, as towering as the monolith is, there's an equally robust underground chamber that hosts a devilishly routine ceremony. It is here that the narrator watches from afar, advising readers that within this tower of darkness is a gathering of 77 fools that are paying tribute to their lord and master. 

Within a few paragraphs, this shadowy narrator, cloaked in a cape, approaches the base of the tower and quickly passes through the gatekeeper using a blunt command. Inside, the narrator descends seemingly thousands of steps to arrive at his destination, a black mass celebration complete with blasphemous rites. It is here that the narrator asks about the ceremony and shockingly learns that a priest is leading the proceedings. Equally stunning is the display of Jesus Christ and a cross with the assumption that a type of communion will take place.

Shortly, as the communion takes place, 77 men begin to squirm on the ground while howling and moaning with a demonic frenzy. This is when the narrator steps forth and is quickly interrogated by the Devil worshipers. He declares he is equally Ahriman, Melek Taus, Lucifer, and Satan. He then points to the cross and the caricature of Christ and declares him a worthy adversary. Yet, the men deny Satan's claims. He then creates elemental fire, a red blinding flame that enshrouds his appearance. He cries out that he disowns and denies all of them.

Later, Satan is alone at the ruins of the Tower of Semaxii, a monolith he has destroyed off page. Here he says:

“Nazarene, on that day wherein I challenged you to meet me with weapons and on ground of your own choosing to do battle for the empery of the world, I was foolish and knew not whereof I spoke. You they crucified; me they would have torn in pieces, their lord and master; both of us they have denied. I wonder whose  folly is the greater, yours in seeking to redeem mankind or mine in striving to make it my own.”

Price's story is rather basic – the Devil himself meeting his admirers and failing to achieve their trust. As a short story, it maintains a plot-centric flow that doesn't require any character development. In fact, there are  really no characters other than the narrator who proves to be the Prince of Hell. However, it offers a unique dialogue and perspective from the Devil. 

He admits that Jesus is a challenge with his underhanded eulogy. But the most surprising is the Devil's acceptance that humanity would have him torn asunder. He admits that both the son of God and one as free falling as himself have both been denied. The story has the Devil humbled and emotionally subdued. He's less of the mythological two-horned pitch-fork variety and more of a philosopher pondering acceptance and value. 

Price's story preaches a type of sentiment that even Lovecraft  himself was moved by. He was quoted as describing Price's story as “powerful”. As one can imagine, many readers found the work to be blasphemous. With this type of commentary on religion and its worshipers...the audience take will vary. 

You can read this story outside of Weird Tales in the DAW anthology Devil Worshipers (1990), 100 Wild Little Weird Tales (1994), The Devils & Demons Megapack (2015), and E. Hoffman Price's Fables of Ismeddin Megapack (2016).

Savages

Like many of Greg F. Gifune's books, Savages originally began publication life with a small publisher, Sinister Grin Press, in 2016. Beginning in 2022, Savages was reprinted in both physical and digital editions by Cemetery Dance Publications. 

There's something to be said about islands in horror fiction. Richard Laymon played with the idea in his 1995 slasher bloodbath Island. Brian Keene did it twice – once in 2009 with Castaways and again in 2023 with the aptly titled Island of the Dead. The idea certainly isn't a new one, not even for those guys. H.G. Wells created the ultimate island literary luau with his terrifying classic The Island of Dr. Moreau. So, it was just a matter of time before a horror mastermind like Greg F. Gifune (Judas Goat, Oasis of the Damned) took his shot at this little subgenre of horror.

A man named Dallas awakens on a sandy beach. With blurred memories, he recalls that he and his wife Quinn, along with several friends, chartered a yacht to take them out into the Pacific ocean. The captain unfortunately ran aground on some reefs and the ship sunk. Eight people were able to get away on a raft and they drifted at sea, in and out of consciousness, for three days and nights. They saw no signs of land, no planes, and no rescue ships. Dallas, thinking he had died, is astounded that he has somehow washed ashore on a beach....somewhere.

Dallas is able to reunite with his wife and a few of their surviving friends. One of their pals is a guy named Gino, one of those survivor-type prepper dudes that shops at REI every weekend. He explores their tiny island initially and determines it's a few square miles with nothing but thick jungles and a small lagoon. He also positively believes this island isn't on any major maps and that help will never arrive. Mr. Positive. 

The book begins with the typical survivor stuff – gathering supplies, finding water, creating little factions. As if things couldn't possibly become worse, the group stumbles on a severed arm that may have been attached to one of their friends from the boat. Also, it appears from a blood trail in the trampled foliage that a body was dragged. Soon the group discover an old Japanese military base. Gifune's description of this dilapidated base with three or four crumbling buildings is just so atmospheric. He sets the tone and mood by describing the jungle seemingly eating up these abandoned buildings. Inside, the survivors find hospital beds and medical supplies along with some really bizarre evidence that something supernatural occurred here. Then the killings begin. And the slaughter. And deadly things that live in an underground tunnel system on the island. 

Savages is like a popcorn horror flick with disposable characters being mauled by a supernatural killer. The author's smooth prose and propulsive action sequences drive the narrative into a frenzied kill-or-be-killed story saturated in blood and guts. Gifune may be one of my favorite horror storytellers in terms of combining quick character development, a suffocating atmosphere (usually with weather-related phenomenon) and a supercharged panic that seemingly lives and breathes in the character's behavior and dialogue. The exotic locale, brutal killings, and macabre infrastructure of this horrifying research facility elevate the book into an extremely entertaining read. Like Gifune's Oasis of the Damned, Savages is survival horror at its finest. Highest recommendation. Get it HERE.

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 119

In this podcast episode, Eric explores the infamous Amityville murders and their impact on pop culture through a deep dive into The Amityville Horror and its many paperback sequels and spinoffs that shaped haunted house fiction in the '80s and '90s. He also reviews Grady Hendrix’s novel How to Sell a Haunted House. Stream below, watch on YouTube HERE or download HERE.

Listen to "Episode 119: Amityville Paperbacks from Hell" on Spreaker.

Winterkill

Kathryn Johnson is a bestselling author of over 40 published novels. She was nominated for the Agatha Award and earned the Heart of Excellence and Bookseller's Best Awards. Her most well known work is The Gentlemen Poet, a novel that has Shakespeare escape to the New World. What drew me to her writing was the young-adult novels she wrote in the 1990s using the pseudonym Nicole Davidson. These were published by Avon under their young-adult imprint Avon Flare. I wanted to read her first novel, Winterkill. It was published in 1991.

Winterkill was written for young adults, however, after reading it, I can honestly say this is no different than any mystery from the early to mid 20th century. The narrative would also please horror readers - which is probably the young audience the cover catered to. I would imagine if you enjoy the childhood perspectives in books by the likes of John Saul, Dan Simmons, or even Stephen King, then that element is strongly used by Johnson - a vulnerable teen placed into extreme situations. 

The book stars Karen, a high school student that is forced to move with her parents to a small town in Vermont. This little town, which features a ski resort, is far different than Karen's New York City roots. There's a fish-out-of-water scenario with Karen initially becoming shy, self-sheltered, and protective in terms of negotiating her emotions at a new school with new people. Thankfully, Karen loosens up and befriends a fellow student named Matt and his popular friends. Matt and Karen begin dating.

Karen also befriends a less popular girl and develops a little rivalry with a local girl named Jerrie. One night at a party Matt tells Karen he has to leave for just a little bit but he will return. Karen gets worried and follows Matt only to see him run over in a hit and run. She can't make out the car through the snow and fog. Later, she discovers that her own car was used in the hit and run. But who would want to kill Matt? Why use her car to do it? Karen then sets out to solve the mystery by eliminating her fellow students as suspects. The finale of the book takes place on the ski slopes as Karen tries to outfox the killer. 

This book was a lot of fun and contained an absorbing mystery. In terms of young-adult novels, this one has some profanity, talk about sex, and of course at least one murder. Again, in comparison to early 20th century mystery fiction, there isn't anything too far out of bounds from just a straight up traditional mystery novel. There is a hint of the supernatural, but it is subjective. Karen's necklace was handed down to her from her grandmother. The necklace has opals that change color depending on how much danger Karen is in. Now, it could just be the lighting or some type of scientific explanation of the weather affecting the stones. There's no clear answer on this, so it is up to the reader to determine if there was something supernatural involved. Personally, I don't think so.

Winterkill was a lot of fun and I have a few other books by this same author I'm willing to read now. If they are as good as this then I'd be very pleased. Recommended. Get the book HERE.

Worm on a Hook

Although I don't know Vern's real name he is an online film critic that boasts a solid and dedicated following since 1999.  His blog Vern's Reviews is updated almost daily with new film reviews or tidbits of social commentary. He has authored articles and columns for The Ain't It Cool News, Thrillist, and CliNT Magazine. In 2004 he began writing non-fiction books about film and his book Seagalogy: A Study of the Ass-Kicking Films of Steven Seagal was published by Titan Books in 2008. In 2014 his first work of fiction appeared, Niketown, that blends social satire with crime-fiction. 

My first experience with Vern is his 2020 novel Worm on a Hook. A PW fan reached out and advised me that the book should appeal to my outrageous literary taste. He was kind enough to gift me this 366-page trade paperback and I read it in about two days. 

The book is presented in a non-linear timeline with events jumping back and forth in time. As the book begins, construction workers disturb an underground tunnel system that is used by a legendary hook-handed slasher named Stoneback. With his newfound unearthing the good citizens of rural Iskum Island, a fictional retreat off the coast of Washington, are in for a slaughter. The reader's interest lies within a handful of characters that have arrived on the island for a beer festival. 

Worm on a Hook is an obvious homage to the blood-soaked slasher cinema that haunted Kodak 5247 film stock in the 1970s and 80s. But, I actually found the book to be more like a Marvel mash-up of Black Widow fighting Deadpool. There's more action than horror with the book's unique approach to character development presented as various life events for both the main character, the ultimate final girl Florence, and the legendary killer himself, Stoneback. Their personal histories and various collisions made for an entertaining reading experience that propelled the central narrative at a brisk pace. 

If you enjoy an over-the-top beat 'em up or the mystique of a hook-handed mauler then Worm on a Hook should wiggle its way into your heart. It is nostalgic, action-packed, and a refreshing take on a horror formula. Recommended! Get it HERE.

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 116

It's another brand new episode of the Paperback Warrior Podcast! On this episode Eric recaps the recent gifs he received from fans and readers and looks at all of the happenings on the podcast and YouTube channel this month. In addition, a feature is presented on Pat Frank, a mid-20th century writer that is considered one of the first post-apocalyptic fiction authors to emerge after WW2. Also, a feature is presented on Armed Services Editions paperbacks and the history behind this patriotic and monumental printing mission in the 1940s. Listen on any streaming platform, play below, download HERE, or view directly on YouTube HERE.

Listen to "Episode 116: Pat Frank and the Birth of Doomsday Fiction" on Spreaker.

Paperback Warrior Hits Music City, USA

Is there more than just country music in Music City? Nashville, TN will never be the same when Eric hits an antique mall, Half Price Books, and Landmark Booksellers in search of rare paperbacks. There's book covers, authors, novel history, world famous hot chicken, the iconic Grand 'Ole Opry, and the fake Parthenon in this must-see shopping spree! View below or directly on the YouTube channel HERE.

The Final Gate

Encyclopocalypse Publications offers a tantalizing assortment of cult cinema novelizations or film tie-in books. But, the publisher also sports a robust catalog of original novels featuring horror, action, and science-fiction themes. I stumbled upon their 2021 horror publication The Final Gate in the Kindle store. The book is authored by Wesley Southard (Cruel Summer, Try Again) and Lucas Mangum (Saint Sadist, Gods of the Dark Web) and remains in both ebook and paperback editions. 

The book opens with an introduction, “Seas of Darkness, Gates of Hell”, written by Ryan Harding (The Night Stockers, Sixty-Five Stirrup Iron Road) explaining that The Final Gate is a type of homage or continuation of Lucio Fulci's iconic 1970s and 80s Italian cinematic horror. He cites influences like Zombi 2, City of the Living Dead, and The Beyond as catalysts for both authors to achieve cinematic horror on the written page. This introduction serves as a hellish welcome to what awaits readers in The Final Gate. 

This 136-page novel mostly takes place in an eerie orphanage called St. Lukes. The facility, in need of serious funding, sits above a fiery chasm that serves as one of a handful of global doorways to hell. One of the facility's managers (no spoilers!) is sacrificing children in an effort to unleash an apocalypse of the undead. As bodies are ripped and torn they become eyeless lifeless killing machines that vomit black bile while feasting on human flesh. There's even some references to the George Romero/Dario Argento co-production Dawn of the Dead as if those events actually occurred. 

The main character is a girl named Jillian who ends up at the orphanage searching for her boyfriend. He went missing while searching for the whereabouts of his younger brother. The search leads to a conspiracy regarding the orphanage leaders, human trafficking, and the obligatory sacrifices to the flame-broiled behemoth slithering in the bowels of Earth. It isn't overly complicated, cosmic, or labor intensive in storytelling. See zombies? Run. Shoot. Fight. Survive.

If you enjoy the retroactive horror scene – the authors and books that pay tribute to 70s, 80s, and even 90s horror and fantasy cinema – then The Final Gate is another solid entry. I enjoyed the fast pace, the assortment of characters, and the lack of any real plot entanglements. This is popcorn fun that never pretends to be anything else. Recommended. Get it HERE.

The Gauntlet

After reading several of Bryan Smith's blood-soaked horror novels the jury is still out for me. I disliked his collaboration with Brian Keene on Suburban Gothic. I liked his novel The Freakshow a little more. My favorite of the author's work is Deathbringer, although I read it before Paperback Warrior's creation. I keep seeing his books on Amazon and the descriptions just keep getting me to click, “Yes, I would like more terror and torture, take my money.” I don't know why or how his books consistently end up in my shopping basket. But here we are again with another Bryan Smith book, The Gauntlet, published in 2023 by Grindhouse Press. 

An average guy named Nick gets into an argument with a crazed neighbor. After the verbal confrontation, the crazed neighbor goes back inside and this suburban squabble is put to rest. However, Nick receives an online message from the crazy neighbor's wife Krista. She thanks Nick for standing up to her husband. As weeks pass both Nick and Krista end up in an online relationship. As The Gauntlet begins, Krista has ran out on her husband and married life, taking up with Nick on the road. Together the two head into the Pocono Mountains for an irresponsible quick vacation and to plan what awaits them when they return to reality in a few days. 

Running low on gas, with the next city in two hours, the two stop in rural Beleth Station. Pulling into this nowhere town the two notice that the streets are void of people. When they pull into a gas station Nick is attacked by a person wearing a mask and carrying a machete. After his blood hits the pavement Krista takes off running down the abandoned streets searching for help. What she discovers is a town that is opposed to outsiders. No one leaves, no one enters. When they do, they are forced to run a macabre late-night game called...you guessed it...The Gauntlet.

Bryan Smith's novel works like a combination of The Running Man, Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and any of those violent Saw movies. The game is that Nick and Krista are forced into running through the town's snowfall barefooted to complete objectives – like getting to a phone booth that contains a pair of shoes. Or, to a warm car to rest for 15 minutes. But, the two are separated and must complete different challenges. There's a side-story about a guy named Sean hoping to join a rebellious group of citizens to overthrow this crazed small town government and their Dystopian leadership. 

The Gauntlet isn't a bad survival horror novel. If you are familiar with Bryan Smith's writing then you should already know he writes on the trashy side. There's offensive language, graphic sex, hideous torture, and gross-out violence. I hesitate to even deem this type of stuff “horror” because it is more action-adventure with depravity as the core. If that's your jam then you will certainly enjoy running The Gauntlet. Get it HERE.

Ranking January Reads

The year's first book ranking video is now out! In this video, Eric ranks his top ten reads of January 2025. This is the widest span of reading in the show's history - the 1800s all the way to 2024! All ten books are presented here with capsule reviews, loads of amazing artwork, and tidbits about authors. Stream below or on the YT channel HERE.

Dead White

The back cover of Alan Ryan's horror novel Dead White contains blurbs from fine authors like Peter Straub, Stephen King, and Whitley Strieber applauding the book. Here's news for you – they never read this book! It's not even remotely plausible that these talented wordsmiths read a single word of this lousy unedited poorly constructed excuse for a horror novel. If they read one chapter of this book they would have unanimously panned it as amateur nonsense. Somehow, Alan Ryan was able to get this novel through Tor's editing department, which clearly had no input as to the novel's structure, basic plot outline, or any pedestrian passerby say in what the cover should be. This book is absolutely horrible and somehow Tor allowed these 356 pages to escape a destiny of pulverized packing materials.

The book (using the term sparingly) is set in a rural upstate New York town called The Kill. Ironically, this is the same town featured in Ryan's first novel, the equally deadpan Hall of Shame-winner cleverly titled The Kill. A blizzard of epic proportions is hitting the town and most of the residents decide to seek shelter in the Centennial Hotel. The Kill haven't had a train in town for decades and the railroad station and tracks are abandoned now. But, a train of carnival clowns has just rolled up to create mayhem for The Kill. 

Anyone with any sense of storytelling talent can easily make this book work. It seems so simple. The town is sheltered in the Centennial Hotel. The carnival clowns show up and hunt the residents in the hotel's hallways and rooms. It would have been a wonderful survival horror novel with a handful of characters fighting the clowns while trapped in a blizzard. Would have. Could have. Should have. But, Alan Ryan doesn't do any of that. No, he completely circumvents this entire plot device to focus on day to day activities of the residents. Each chapter is the time of the day. For example, the chapter is 8:42 A.M. and a character that has no impact on the book's resolution or plot is making coffee and eating breakfast. That's it! Then the next time, a few minutes later, will be another character walking to the mailbox or tying their shoe. Nothing happens in the book until the last couple of pages – as senseless as they are.

I could make a half-hour video on how bad this book really is. I'm close to a comparison with Roadblaster, Swampmaster, or TNT as the epitome of negativity when it comes to vintage paperback fiction. Dead White is darn close to being one of the worst published books ever written. But, I'm propping it a few notches above the above-mentioned titles simply because the book would have worked in the hands of an actual author and an editor that didn't call in sick the week this pile of wood shavings somehow assembled into this disasterpiece of fiction. Alan Ryan – fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on you again. Damnit. Hall of Shame. Absolutely. If you want to purchase this drivel do it HERE so I can at least make a few cents off this hackjob. 

The Island of Doctor Moreau

H.G. Wells (1866-1946) is widely considered the father of science-fiction. He authored over fifty novels, some of which are still being adapted today into mixed media formats. Sci-fi, fantasy, and even horror writers often cite Wells as an influence on their work. His most popular novels include The Time Machine (1895), The Invisible Man (1897), War of the Worlds (1898), and the subject of this review, The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896). 

In the novel's beginning, Edward Prendick and two other passengers board a lifeboat as their passenger ship sinks into the southern Pacific Ocean. Eventually Prendick, a dehydrated starving husk, is the only survivor. A ship spots Prendick and rescues him, but in a wild turn of events Prendick is forced from the vessel and placed in a dinghy where he must face the very real possibility that his terrifying ordeal is recycling. Thankfully, a passenger on the ship named Montgomery takes pity on Prendick and allows him a stay on a very strange island. 

Prendick, who possesses a scientific education, learns that this eight-mile island is a type of laboratory owned by Dr. Moreau. Prendick remembers that he had read about Moreau's macabre experiments in vivisection and his subsequent banishment from England. Here on the island Moreau continues his work with the assistance of Montgomery and a surgically altered manservant named M'ling. 

Wells' narrative submerges Prendick into the Hellish world of a mad scientist with delusions of Godhood. Prendick learns that Moreau is surgically combining humans and animals. Disgusted and frightened he escapes Moreau's compound only to discover that the island hosts Moreau's terrifying lab result – beast folk. These beasts include humans merged with bears, dogs, sloths, hyenas, wolves, and ape. These beast folk have a bestial lust for Moreau which plays havoc on Prendick's escape.

The Island of Doctor Moreau is a horror novel like no other. Wells ignites a sense of terror as Prendick slowly pulls the curtains from Moreau's freakish lab and discovers the nightmarish prison that he has now joined. There's panic and then a heightened frenzy as Prendick attempts to disable Moreau and Montgomery while also becoming a new “god” for the Beast Folk. Wells easily transforms the mood from moments of somber solitude into grueling action and gun play. The finale is a type of role reversal that was fitting for the nature of the story. 

In a time when humans are now receiving animal organs to survive (ex. Towana Looney), The Island of Doctor Moreau is a grotesque vision of the future. Wells was ahead of his time in predicting favorable medical revolutions through painful trial and error. Gene edits and lab-created organs were a thing of the future but Wells was mired in the wonder. The author presents some trigger-points on Darwin's evolution, animal cruelty, and mankind's pursuit of an animal-state of freedom and survival – no gods, no masters. 

The Island of Doctor Moreau is a classic for a reason. Get your copy HERE.

Hacking Mall

Shortly after Brian G. Berry authored the Chopping Mall novelization, the publisher, Encyclopocalypse Publications, pulled the book from store shelves and severed ties. Berry's first response? Write another horror/science-fiction hybrid set in a shopping mall in the 1980s. The end result is Hacking Mall, independently published in 2024. 

Berry places readers in a Dystopian-styled 20th century where the stock market has crashed, society has devolved, and most inner cities now bristle with jacked up criminals possessing military grade materials. Their higher-than-usual toughness warrants a special type of police force – Defender 2000.

Chapter 11 is a nightmarish flashback of how the book's main character, Alex Murphy, was badged and sent out into the world after four grueling months of police academy. He's partnered with Jackson and the two are investigating gunshots stemming from blocks upon blocks of ghetto tenements. The probe leads to a massive firefight in a meth lab. Alex barely survives the lab's explosion while his partner is seemingly incinerated within. 

In the book's present, Murphy, along with two other officers, have been selected to wear Defender armor. These “sleeves” envelop the men in bullet-proof steel, complete with internal advanced optics programmed to locate criminals. Integrated into the armor is an advanced weapons system including automatic guns, a laser sword, and the ability to release a toxin that creates horrific delusions and a lust for murder. 

As the narrative guns its way through neighborhoods overwrought with crime, Murphy and the other Defenders begin to lose control of their sleeves. The automatons abandon their predetermined set of coded instructions and force their users to kill both criminals and innocents. The machine-over-man scenarios appears periodically and disorients the officers. 

Arden Plaza Mall is a local shopping center that now houses a criminal empire ran by Kane, a lunatic with an aggressive penchant for rape and murder. When the Defenders are ordered to penetrate the mall, Kane and his army fight back using their own sophisticated weapons. Caught in the crossfire are innocent prisoners hoping the battle will provide a small window to attempt escape or for an uprising. The mall has its share of bad guys, but none compare to a behemoth cannibal nicknamed The Butcher. He performs exceptionally well as the ultimate final boss. 

Berry describes himself as a mood writer that loves 1980s B-movies. Hacking Mall pays homage to the low-budget trash films like Warrior of the Lost World (1983) and 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982), but the most obvious influence is a more mainstream offering in Robocop. Berry's protagonist even shares the same name with the cybernetically enhanced Detroit police officer. There's also a character named Zed that just happens to be the name of a villain in the Full Moon riffraff titled Slave Girls from Beyond (1987) and the hero's name in Zardoz (1974)  . But, it wouldn't be a 1980s-styled action-adventure paperback without the CAR-15 automatic rifles, a mainstay in something like Stephen Mertz's long-running M.I.A. Hunter series of shoot 'em ups. 

Hacking Mall is an installment in Berry's series of stand-alone books titled VHS Trash. However, the waves and waves of baddies being obliterated by the heroes is like a side-scrolling arcade shooter (call it a NeoGeo Novel). It's excessive, exaggerated, and ridiculous – but that's the central appeal. To quote 1980s pro-wrestling personality Jim Cornette: “For the kind of people who like this type of thing, that's the kind of thing that those people like.” I'm one of those people. Hacking Mall is a nostalgic highly recommended romp. Get it HERE.