Dark Shadows #03 - Strangers at Collins House

Paperback Library published the Dark Shadows paperback novels that tied to the television show. The series was authored by goth king William Ross beginning with the 1966 eponymous debut Dark Shadows. I've been torn on the series thus far, enjoying the second novel Victoria Winters more than the plodding starter. I decided to keep the porch light on and continued with the third installment, Strangers at Collins House, published in 1967.

The through story thus far concerns young Victoria Winters, a governess working at an enormous seaside mansion in Maine titled Collins House. Her employers are Elizabeth and Roger Collins, siblings that occupy the house and share an empire of wealth created by the fishing and canning business – although in this novel it is suggested that the Collins family made their fortune from the 19th century slave trade business. Victoria grew up an orphan and is desperate to learn who her real parents were. 

The “strangers” of Collins House in this novel is a reclusive man named Henry Collins, Elizabeth's elderly uncle. He brings along a suspicious caregiver named Benjamin and Benjamin's son, the chauffer named Jack. Before their arrival Elizabeth reveals to Victoria that Henry actually has his own room at Collins House but it is a secret quarters hidden behind a closet. Inside the room Victoria sees that it is decorated as if it is a New York apartment from the early 1900s.

When Henry arrives the chaos begins for Victoria. She begins seeing a female apparition that calls her name from afar. Additionally, Henry behaves in a strange manner and pines for a lover he once had – a lover that was found dead in a parking lot during the height of her singing career on Broadway. Soon the murder attempts begin as always. Victoria stumbles in the dark wine cellar, is nearly killed by a runaway motorist, and is intimidated and threatened by a sinister nighttime roadblock. Par for the course. 

Strangers at Collins House was an okay mystery that delves into Victoria's possible relationship with Henry and her unlikely connection to the dead singer. Admittedly, I was holding out hope that by the book's end Victoria's self discovery would be fulfilled. Maybe it was? In the meantime the book has enough atmosphere and shady characters to keep the pages flying. I enjoyed the book and now it's two books to one that Dark Shadows is an entertaining series. Get the book HERE.

The Sun Eater #01 - Empire of Silence

Christopher Ruocchio of Raleigh, North Carolina authors giant space opera fantasy novels that his fans and critics cherish. He wrote a six-book (thus far) epic series and related in-universe works under the series name, The Sun Eater with the first volume being the 763-paged Empire of Silence (2018).

Our hero is Hadrian Marlowe who lives in a future long after Earth was evacuated by humans who then colonized the universe. We are told that Hadrian was a hero in a battle against an alien force called the Cielcin that harvested humans for meat as they destroyed entire planets. It was Hadrian that won the war and beat back the aliens by exploding their home star with an impossible ship, cementing his lore as The Sun Eater.

But this act of heroic genocide was in the past. When we join Hadrian, he is living far away from anyone as a recluse. The inhabitants of the Sollan empire assume he is dead, which is the official story. All of this is fronted in Chapter One, and then Hadrian goes back to tell the reader how he got here.

As our narrator, Hadrian takes the reader through his life story, including the childhood lessons from a sword master and the obligatory rivalry with his own brother. He is the son of a wealthy and cold industrialist in the uranium mining business - not glamorous nobility - but a harsh man of business ruling his planet of workers, a place called Delos.

During Hadrian’s young adulthood, the Cielcin were already laying waste to entire planets far from Hadrian’s home. Like distant wars in our own world, Hadrian was able to disassociate atrocities from galaxies far away. As telegraphed in the opening chapter (why do that?) Hadrian’s extended coming of age story and rise to greatness is a windy road to his saving of humanity and destruction of the enemy race.

As a science-fiction space operas and thick fantasy epics go, this one is readable and compelling. The buyer’s market for this genre seems to demand 800-page epics, but Empire of Silence would have been stronger and faster-moving at half the size. Regardless, Ruocchio is a fine author who embraces the “rise to greatness” trope and executes it quite well. Dune and Star Wars and countless other media have told variations of the same plot, but genre fiction relies on these familiar story arcs as comfort food — no penalties assessed.

The downside to Empire of Silence is that it could have been titled, "Hadrian: The Early Years". The novel ends with Hadrian setting off on another adventure for which we may be another six books away from resolving. As good as this first novel was, I may not have the stamina for another 4,000 pages to reach a resolution. We’ll see. 

Get the book HERE.

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 114

In this very special episode of the Paperback Warrior Podcast, Eric celebrates Black History Month with an exciting and education feature on Black Detectives in vintage fiction. In addition, Eric reviews the brand new issue of Men's Adventure Quarterly, specifically the UFO pop-culture in vintage magazines, comics, and film. Also, a look at one of Eric's favorite podcast channels and much more. Stream below or on any platform. You can also view on YouTube HERE or download HERE. 

Listen to "Episode 114: Black Detectives" on Spreaker.

Dollanganger #01 - Flowers in the Attic

Cleo Virginia Andrews (1923-1986), known as V.C. Andrews, was a commercial artist, illustrator, and portrait painter. In 1979 she struck literary gold when her first published novel, Flowers in the Attic, soared to the top of the bestseller lists just two weeks after its release. The book was adapted into a film by New World in 1987 and then again in 2014 by Lifetime. The novel spawned four sequels and spurred the author to write similar titles.

Corrine and her husband Christopher are living a tranquil suburban life in Pennsylvania in 1957. They have four children, Chris (14), Cathy (12), and twins Carrie and Cory (5). In the opening chapter of the book Christopher dies in a car wreck. Left penniless and struggling to pay the bills, Corrine makes a difficult choice to move her family back to her childhood home in Charlottesville, Virginia. But, it's a trip laced with danger, deceit, and deep scars. 

In later chapters readers learn that Corrine experienced a terrible childhood. Her father is a multi-millionaire and a Bible thumper. Corrine's mother is a physically abusive woman that instills rigorous discipline. Corrine was ousted from the family when she fell in love with Christopher. Returning to her childhood home means a reunion with her evil mother. The plan is for Corrine to establish a relationship with her father again so she can get back into the family's graces and, more importantly, the will. 

Corrine has never told her parents she has children. In an off-the-page meeting, Corrine and her mother agree to scurry the kids into the family's enormous mansion through a backdoor where they will secretly be tucked away into a bedroom that connects to the home's large attic. The idea is for this stay to be temporary with Corrine suggesting it could only be a night or two. Instead, the temporary stay evolves into a hellish three-year ordeal ripe with punishment, physical pain, and psychological torment.

Flowers in the Attic is told in first-person perspective from Cathy. She explains the day to day lifestyle the kids must endure as well as the changes that happen to each of them. Chris matures into a young man, Cathy reaches puberty, and the twins devolve into unhealthy children void of sunlight, proper diet, and vitamins. It's a road to ruin left to the reader to navigate through nearly 400 pages. The motivation to keep turning the pages is the idea that these kids may escape this horrible habitat. Additionally, the mystery involving what is actually happening with Corrine and her parents is just so compelling. I found myself consistently wondering just what is happening outside of the children's smothering residence while simultaneously finding the incest elements of the book truly disturbing.

The author tackles a number of domestic and social issues through the lives of these characters. The element of greed is presented in a way that it affects generations of people. This family tree has become so rotten despite possessing tremendous wealth and opportunity. The inclusion of incest is important as it demonstrates this ugly invasion into the sanctity of the innocent. The incest is symbolic for the greed affecting the family members – twisting and corrupting what should be wholesome. The idea of classes is expanded on here as well with the lower class scrounging for leftovers and morsels while surrounded by financial flourishes. Religion is presented in a negative way through “the grandmother” (name never given) and her insistence on quoting the Bible. The children, who initially are faithful, lose their faith through the dismissal of hope. 

Andrews was certainly a powerful storyteller and delivered a mesmerizing narrative with Flowers in the Attic. Despite terrible reviews at the time of publication the novel has inched its way into the upper echelons of all-time popular fiction. I enjoyed this very much and look forward to reading the sequel, Petals on the Wind. 

Get Flowers in the Attic HERE

Forgive the Executioner

I wasn't able to determine anything about author Andrew Lane. There is another writer named Andrew Lane with titles like Young Sherlock Holmes, Crusoe, and The Six Directions Sequence, but based on his date of birth in 1963 it would make him just a high school student in 1978, the year that Forgive the Executioner was published. 

This 225-page New English Library paperback introduces readers to Alan Paine, a married man with a young son and daughter. Living in West of England, Paine's father was British and his mother American. Serving the British military, Paine became an expert marksman and explosives specialist. After serving in the Vietnam War, Paine retired to a paper-pushing clerk working for the county on the nine-to-five grind. 

As the book begins, Paine's daughter is walking through the forest on the way home. She's attacked by three men, raped, and then shot. When Paine's wife and son go searching for her they stumble on the same three men and are rewarded with fatal shots to the head. 

In the following chapters readers learn that nearly two years has passed and Paine is now working under the alias Max Case as an explosives expert and assassin for the Irish Republican Army (IRA). By working within the IRA ranks he secretly creates “accidents” that kill his fellow soldiers. However, Paine's vengeance isn't strictly reserved for the IRA. He also uses his deadly role as a way to kill the opposing Protestants that vow to keep northern Ireland within British reign.  Paine doesn't care who he murders because he feels that the whole bloody war led to his family's death. 

Other than Paine, the other main character in the book is a woman named Siobahn. She's working for the Protestants as a double agent in the IRA. Her leadership leads to many IRA soldiers perishing under “mistakes”. Paine meets Siobahn and the two develop a romantic involvement. The book's finale involves Paine being ordered to break out the three IRA men that killed his family.

Forgive the Executioner is an unusual novel. At times it works like an effectively tight counter-terrorism novel with Paine planning and performing hits on an assortment of mid-tier terrorists. These scenes are presented well and deliver just enough violence to satisfy any vigilante-fiction reader. However, the book becomes so silly in parts that I often contemplated if Lane was writing satire. 

Several times in the book Case changes his look by simply cutting and dying his hair blonde and shaving. This miracle makeover gives him the ability to weave in and out of close compatriots as a different person. Often he fools people he has closely worked with in the past, including Siobahn, who he fools into believing he's two different people. It is this sort of nonsense that makes it unbearable to even suspend disbelief for enjoyment's sake. I get the 'ole face switcharoo bit from the pulp era, but this is 1978. 

My other issue is the over-the-top graphic sex. This book reads like a porn novel with Case plowing through pus...women...on nearly every other page. I get the hyperbolic sex scenes, but the women he's with nearly gasp themselves to death when he whips the manhood. 

My guess is if you enjoy workaday action-adventure paperbacks then Forgive the Executioner shouldn't be a far cry from plain 'ole titles like The Butcher and Nick Carter: Killmaster. Tepid recommendation, but good luck finding a copy. 

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.

Paperback Warrior Guest Appearance on Zak Skiver

I teamed up with Zak Skiver for a discussion on vintage fiction! Topics covered included a deep dive into the disturbing suspense thriller Flowers in the Attic, an overview of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, the differences in Conan in Robert E. Howard stories compared to the comic form, and Zak's newest novel New Town. Watch it HERE or stream below: