recent read; DARKER THAN YOU THINK

DARKER THAN YOU THINK by Jack Williamson

Will Barbee, an alcoholic small college town reporter, is pulled into a noir-ish nightmare of witchcraft and  lyncanthropy. The deeper he goes, he discovers horrifying secrets about the history of mankind and about himself.

Or, is it all in his head? Has the beautiful, red-headed April Belle bewitched him into devilish deeds, or is his unconscious mind simply playing out his jealous desires?

Written in 1948, by now most of the surprises in the story were predictable. But Williamson works with the suspense of Barbee not understanding what is happening, while the reader does. And that works, too. When will Barbee figure it out? What choices will he make?

Williamson, being a science fiction writer, injects the lycanthropy with pseudo-physics and it suspended my disbelief well enough. It's tricky to try to justify any trope with real world rules.

Near the end, there are reveals. Some worked. One in particular I didn't feel had been setup at all, though.

I don't know if certain writers were influenced or even had read DARKER THAN YOU THINK but there are threads seen later in THE OMEN and ROSEMARY'S BABY, to name a few.

I enjoyed DARKER THAN YOU THINK for its craft and darkness. It deserves its status as one of the great horror and/or werewolf novels.

DARKER THAN YOU THINK is also available via Audible.

recent read; Vampires Overhead

Vampires Overhead by Alan Hyder

In 1983, Karl Edward Wagner created three lists of what he considered to be the best horror novels. The lists - Supernatural Horror, SciFi Horror, and Non-supernatural Horror - appeared in Twilight Zone magazine.

Vampires Overhead is an apocalyptic scifi horror novel. Set in post-World-War-I London and the English countryside, it relates the story of "Garry" Garrington. Garrington and his wartime soldier pal, Bingen, are spared the initial horrors after they pass out in the safety of a tunnel under a brewery. They awaken to find a world burning, stalked by strange vampiric alien creatures.

They fight and flee from the vampires through London, and find only one other survivor - a young woman named Janet. The trio then set off for the countryside in search of supplies, a safe base, and other survivors.

As with many apocalypse stories, as the vampires dwindle, the monstrous nature of mankind comes to the surface.

Written in 1935, some of the descriptions of London ablaze eerily foreshadow the incendiary bombs of the Blitz only five years later. I don't know how widely known the novel was in later years. But I bet in had an influence on any number of British apocalypse tales. The Doctor Who serial, "The Dalek Invasion of Earth," came to my mind more than once while listening.

Vampires Overhead is a cracking tale; tense and fast-moving. If you've not read it, put it on your shortlist.

A note on the audio book;

I listened to the audiobook from Radio Archives. It was a serviceable reading and I would give it higher regards except - the reader is American. The novel is British. It would not be much of an issue except the point-of-view is first person. Again, not an issue if it were read straight through. But, the American narrator slips into British accents for the dialog. The in-&-out accenting is a distraction - especially when he holds over some British pronunciations in the narration, or when he occasionally slips accent into Irish or Australian accents.