Blood Farm: An Iowa Gothic

Utah native Sam Siciliano earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa. His writing career includes nine Sherlock Holmes books as part of Titan's Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. His influences are genre fiction and Victorian writers, two loves that led to his three stand-alone vampire novels. I decided to read one of them – Blood Farm: An Iowa Gothic. It was published in 1988 by Pageant Books with an incredible cover by artist Hector Garrido.

In reading the book I began seeing comparisons to Bram Stoker's Dracula. After a shallow dive online I found that Siciliano used Dracula as the template for a modern retelling of the story, relocating the tale from the Carpathian Mountains to Iowa. 

The book begins with Angela, a college student, standing by the highway in a snowstorm. She wants to get to Iowa City and spends the worst possible night begging for a ride. Roy, a Vietnam War veteran, pulls over and picks her up in a long black hearse. He's on his way to retrieve a body in a small town called Udolph. Angela agrees to go along with him in exchange for the ride to Iowa City. Fair enough.

As they pull off the highway and head to the small town they find a strung out guy collapsed by a road sign. They pick him up and together the trio arrive at a derelict old farmhouse. Inside, they are greeted by a man named Blut who appears deathly white and his weirdo girlfriend. He shows them to the body which is really just a locked coffin. He offers to host the trio of travelers overnight so they can transport the body the next morning when the snow lifts. But, things go absolutely batshit crazy. Quickly.

The chaos begins when Roy and Angela have sex (graphically explained in detail by the author). Roy goes to the bathroom down the hall to freshen up and is then raped by the albino's girlfriend. She's clearly a vampire. Roy fights his way free but it is too late. The albino guy is a master vampire and he has attacked and raped Angela. Roy escapes with his life and heads to Iowa City to retrieve a horror mythology expert, a priest, and Angela's friend. They then head back to the farmhouse to do battle with vampires.

First, this book is sort of fun in a campy sort of way. It is all preposterous and the writing isn't fabulous by any means. But, it has a nostalgic charm that reminded me of the 80s classics like Fright Night and Vamp. My biggest issue with the book is that these horny vampires rape their prey. They run around groping for a good lay which erased any scare factor the author could conjure up. I just couldn't take the evil vampire leader seriously when the image is Bela Lugosi but the dialogue is Andrew Dice Clay. It was just weird for me. 

Blood Farm: An Iowa Gothic may be entertaining to vampire buffs. But, as a horror novel with an impressive cover it just doesn't work. Very mild recommendation if you can get it on the cheap. Try HERE.

The Tomb of Dracula #01

In 1971, the Comics Code Authority eased its rules and regulations on horror comics publications. A lot of editors started testing the waters with different heroes and supernatural villains. Marvel Comics decided this would be the perfect chance to explore a more traditional vampire character. Discovering Bram Stoker's Dracula property in the public domain, the publisher developed The Tomb of Dracula. This series lasted from April 1972 until August 1979. I decided to check out the series debut. It was written by Roy Thomas and Stan Lee and penciled by Gene Colan.

Frank Drake inherited $1 million of his late father's money. He explains to readers that it took him a mere three years to blow all of it. Drake's lover is Jeanie, a beautiful woman who doesn't care about his lost fortune. When Drake talks about an old castle with his best friend Cliff, all three characters end up in a real estate quest. 

Drake explains to Cliff that he's actually related to the original Count Dracula. The lineage of his family can be traced back to the original Dracula family. When his ancestors moved out of Romania, they changed their name to Drake. What's left behind is an old diary and a monolithic castle in Transylvania. Drake's father failed in his attempts to sell the "cursed" property. Cliff suggests that this is a golden opportunity for Drake to cash in on his iconic Dracula heritage and open the castle as a tourist destination.

When the book begins, these three people struggle through the rain trying to locate the castle. When they stop in an old inn, they discover that none of the bar's customers are willing to discuss the castle. After failing to find a sufficient means of transport, an old man agrees to bring them by horse and carriage to the property. But, just outside of the castle, he becomes skittish and drops them on the road.

The narrative increases its pace with a heightened sense of dread. As the three investigate the ancient, abandoned castle, the tension and intrigue becomes a thick veil. In the castle's cellar, Cliff discovers an old skeleton with a wooden stake piercing its dry, brittle bones. Is this one of Drake's ancestors? When Cliff disturbs the skeletal remains, he awakens a fiendish vampire. Is this the Hellhound known as Count Dracula?

While this issue doesn't capture the true essence of a Hammer Horror film, the colors and the atmosphere certainly pay homage to the traditional vampire tale. As a story of origin, Lee and Thomas excel in creating a captivating story that is not as horrific as the legend of vampires itself. I understand that subsequent issues invoke a Hammer Horror feel, but for the most part this issue is a dramatic pairing of adventure and romance. By today's "scary" horror standards, The Tomb of Dracula pales in comparison. However, as a nostalgic return to a more innocent age, I loved it.

Get the complete collection as an ebook HERE

Traveler #05 - Road War

John Shirley is a dynamic author who is mostly known for his science-fiction, fantasy and media tie-in novels. His 1999 horror collection, “Black Butterflies”, won coveted Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild awards. As John Cutter, Shirley wrote the 11-volume vigilante series 'The Specialist' and eight volumes of the post-apocalyptic series 'Traveler'. Book five, “Road War”, was released in 1985 by Dell and could be the best that the 'Traveler' series' has to offer.

At the end of the fourth book, “To Kill a Shadow”, the series mythos of Traveler fighting Vallone/Black Rider reached its conclusion (for now). The novel's climax had Traveler meet another road warrior named Link and the two formed an uneasy alliance. The opening pages of “Road War” features the two survivors racing across the Nevada desert in the Meat Wagon (a fortified van). When they hit the dusty town of Dirt, the premise of this installment is unveiled.

In a wild and wooly bar aptly called The Fallout Shelter, an old deranged miner hops up on the bar and starts throwing out maps. The reason? He's growing senile, hates all of the bikers and gangs and wants to see all of them kill each other. The maps spark a treasure hunt for the old man's loot. With that much gold, Traveler and Link know they can buy a lot of supplies for their roaming. 

In what would be a visual feast on the big screen, Traveler and Link race across the desert fighting warring factions of Road Wasps (female biker psychos), Road Rats (male biker psychos), Glory Boys (fake military) and mutant cannibals. Our Travelers use the Meat Wagon (with The Stooges on full blast) as a battering ram, consistently running and gunning through waves of hostile forces on a quest to arrive at “X Marks the Spot”. From fighting off man eating villagers to a showdown in an old mining town, the book's locations are just as big as the characters. 

While a thrill-ride, easily pleasing fans of post-apocalyptic novels, “Road War” is reminiscent of the similar series 'The Last Ranger'. The first four Traveler novels lacked the characters, action and romance of 'The Last Ranger', but by book five it seems like Shirley has righted the ship. Gone is the metaphysical aspects that drowned the last book, replaced by high-powered barbarian road carnage that one would expect from the book's title. This is one of the better books of the post-apocalyptic genre. 

Buy a copy of the book HERE

Killer Delivery

According to his online biography at Blossoms Spring Publishing, Calum France was born in Stirling, Scotland and began writing at a young age. He holds a BA in English Literature and has authored two full-length novels and a novella in the horror genre. I acquired an ARC of the novella, Killer Delivery, published by Sapphire Creed Ink and published in 2024 as a one-dollar ebook. 

The opening chapter, “Cold Night”, places readers in a secluded mansion in the small town of Aberlea on a snowy Halloween evening. It is here that Jonathan Harker (obvious homage to Bram Stoker), successful wealthy novelist, performs the ordinary task of ordering food to be delivered to his home. But, a deranged super-fan named Karlee Monroe has been waiting outside of Harker's home for just this occasion. She savagely executes a gore-gash-to-the-door-dash and then takes on the disguise and carries the food into her literary idol's home. 

But, Killer Delivery offers readers two more surprises. Three burglars decide that this Halloween night is the perfect opportunity to break into Harker's home. Conveniently, as Karlee is inside Harker's home, the three bungling burglars tie Harker to a chair and begin the gun-wielding threats to cough over money. However, all of these intruders are shocked when they realize that Harker doesn't write his murder thrillers as fiction.

This novella slightly resembled Thurlow's Christmas Story, a short story that was authored by John Kendrick Bangs and published in Harper's Weekly in 1894. In that plot design, an author's fan surprisingly appears on his doorstep and then weird things happen. But, in a more modern sense, the novella is like a cross between Dexter and The People Under the Stairs in its clever home-invasion concept plopped neatly upon a stainless steel operating table under the gloom of a professional serial killer.  

At 100-pages, give or take a font size, the novella is presented in a smooth prose with plenty of imagery and compelling storytelling. While it is hard to create an innovative home-invasion plot with today's overuse of the plot design, France works his magic to propel this narrative into a riveting read laced with energy, violence, and a sense of lonely atmosphere that drapes the writing in a snowbound chill. Killer Delivery delivers the goods. Get it HERE.

The Last Night to Kill Nazis

David Agranoff is a San Diego author, screenwriter, blogger, podcast host, and quite possibly the strongest advocate for Philip K. Dick's literary work than any other. His debut novel, The Vegan Revolution...with Zombies, was published in 2010. Since then he has authored nine novels including The Last Night to Kill Zombies. The novel was published in 2023 by Clash Books with vivid cover art by Joel Amat Guell.

In this military-fiction and horror hybrid, Agranoff utilizes a real event from World War Two as a foundation to craft this unusual tale. Heinrich Himmler, one of the most notorious figures of the war, was a powerful Nazi politician, Reich Commissioner, and Commander. He is primarily considered the organizer of the horrific Holocaust and second only to Hitler in terms of absolute evil personified. Shortly after Hitler's suicide, and hours before Russia's Red Army stormed his underground bunker, Himmler was able to escape with several other leaders into the countryside where they remained on the run for several days before being captured by British intelligence. While in detainment Himmler was able to fatally swallow his hidden cyanide pill.

Agranoff begins his novel as the Red Army is within striking distance. Himmler is able to escape with as SS Officer named Heinrich and a few other Nazi personnel. In the countryside, the group travel by truck to a mountaintop fortress to meet nearly 100 German officers that await a plane that will transport them to safety in Manchuria. It's in this seemingly impenetrable fortress where the book's second half takes place.

Hunting Himmler is a small counter-intelligence force lead by Noah, a Jewish fighter and ex-Army Ranger now serving the OSS (early CIA). His team hopes to penetrate and climb to the mountain fortress to kill every Nazi in the fortress. But, with over 100 Nazis occupying this defiant stronghold, what chance does his quartet have in facing these overwhelming numbers?

The answer is Count Reiter. 

In a thrilling enhancement to the breathtaking traditionalism of a World War Two adventure novel, Agranoff introduces a Dracula-like character named Reiter. His castle in the Carpathian Mountains was ransacked by the Nazis, who not only disturbed his domicile but also his centuries of sleep. Reiter wants vengeance and will stop at nothing to kill Nazis. But, in this book Reiter is being kept as a prisoner by the Allies. In a desperate bid to hunt and kill Himmler the Allies agree to a deal with Reiter – help them orchestrate a massacre on the last official night to kill Nazis in exchange for freedom. 

The Last Night to Kill Nazis is nothing short of remarkable. The book's first hundred pages is a type of dangerous road trip introducing Heinrich and his pregnant lover Alice, who both are equal main characters to Noah's opposition. The author masterfully utilizes short chapters, each time stamped, to tell individual stories and angles presenting Alice's experiences as well as Noah, Reiter, and Heinrich's. These punchy chapters help keep the book's 250-pages turning at lightning pace. Once these characters collide atop the mountain the narrative increases speed to match the staccato gunfire, pounding footsteps, and infernal screams as Nazis meet the Hellish Prince of Darkness. 

If Bram Stoker, Alistair MacLean, and Quentin Tarrantino collaborated on a project they surely would deliver this masterpiece. The Last Night to Kill Nazis is epic entertainment and comes with my highest recommendation. Get it HERE.

The Last Snow

Nine years before his retirement, Jon Messmann (Revenger, Nick Carter: Killmaster) authored a stand-alone western titled The Last Snow. The book was published as a paperback in 1989 by Random House using Messmann's real name. It's odd that Messmann, a lifelong New Yorker, wrote the novel, considering he was ultra-productive in the 1980s with his tremendously successful adult-western series The Trailsman. By 1989, Messmann, writing as Jon Sharpe, had completed 84 installments of that series for his publisher Signet. In true pulp fashion, these novels were published nearly every month on a firm schedule. Additionally, Messmann was also writing the Canyon 'O Grady series, again as Jon Sharpe. The Last Snow is one of only two stand-alone novels that Messmann wrote in the 1980s, the other being Jogger's Moon (aka To Kill a Jogger) in 1980 for Penguin.

The Last Snow is presented in an epistolary style with 19 journal entries ranging from October 1846 through April 1847. The opening pages of the novel advise readers that these documents were found among the family possessions of Daniel Culver by his granddaughter. It's an old-school storytelling approach that has been used by the likes of Bram Stoker, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Stephen King. 

Culver is a thirty-something mountain man who makes a living as a trail guide, but has been known to gamble, gunfight, and perform as a type of mercenary. He's the proverbial “everyman”, yet Messmann rarely places Culver in action scenes. Instead, Culver is more of a messenger or consultant. When he arrives in the frontier town of Stoddard, he discovers families brutally massacred in their cabins. Citing the work of the Cheyenne, Culver enters the city to warn the settlers of a coming invasion. His cries fall on deaf ears.

In Stoddard, the U.S. Calvary has a small encampment of 200 soldiers led by a half-dozen officers. The town feels safe and immortal despite Culver's pleas. As the snow begins to fall, Culver realizes the town will be cut off with no way to cross Snowshoe Pass, the only passage through the harsh mountainside. As Culver jockeys as a mouthpiece for the town, he also rediscovers an old relationship he once had with a widow and her son. Further, Culver begins a romance with the daughter of one of the officers.

As the snowfall begins, Culver risks staying with the town in an effort to fortify it from attack. Unfortunately, the military doesn't take his efforts seriously until it is too late. As Cheyenne and other factions begin the invasion, Messmann cranks up the action with gritty violence, savage acts of murder, and the familiar bloodshed of battle. 

The Last Snow is an unusual western, brimming with non-formulaic traits from the protagonist. Culver is a sensible, no-nonsense adventurer, but realizes his efforts to fight the Cheyenne are pointless. The town is ripe for slaughter, the military's strategy is lacking, and the town's chief politicians are clueless. In many ways, Messmann exercises a liberal political fusion of words versus action as this tiny frontier town collapses from internal and external pressures.  

Thankfully, Cutting Edge Books has made The Last Snow available in a new paperback and digital edition. The book is also included in the publisher's western omnibus The Big Bold West #12, featuring novels by James Warner Bellah, Michael Carder, and Riley Ryan. If you enjoy Messmann's writing, Cutting Edge has also made available the author's Logan series, originally written as Alan Joseph, and his gothic-romance novels, originally written as Claudette Nicole. 

Get The Last Snow HERE.