Friday Links: The Horror Before Christmas

We're coming up on the last weekend before Christmas, and in-between last-minute shopping and family arguments, try to find the time to click these links:

• Jeff at Terrorphoria had some exciting news about his future writing plans: "Ben and I have had lots of conversations about the kind of work/writing/art we both want to do and it's important to both of us to not just hang our hats on talking about other people's stuff, but create some art of our own."
• At HorrorNews.Net, Corey reviewed the film Asylum: "When all was said and done, After Dark realized they had made a HUGE mistake and the film they were given was garbage. In a desperate attempt to try and salvage their investment, they bring back Chris Mancini. He was given a small chunk of change to come in and try to assemble something watchable. So what did he do exactly? Did he succeed? The answer to these burning questions lies below, so sit back and read on."
• Jim at Ginger Nuts of Horror got an interview with horror legend Graham Masterton: "Readers like to be surprised.  They enjoy being challenged and I think sometimes they even like to be annoyed by what they are reading.  All I try to do is keep them entertained and make sure (at least for the course of the book)  their disbelief is suspended."
• Sean Eaton's always-excellent R'lyeh Tribune took us on an outer space voyage to Edmond Hamilton's imagination: "There is a Supreme Council of the League of Planets—only eight were known at the time—that seems unencumbered by a congress or a supreme court.  It is composed largely of scientists, engineers and rocket pilots who rule presumably on the basis of their technical expertise.  The future human race is interesting linguistically; like the hero Jan Tor, everyone has monosyllabic first and last names.  Extraterrestrial biology is somewhat preposterous—the globe men resemble enormous, multi-legged M&Ms, (plain, not peanut).  Nevertheless, the head alien works at a desk, and sketches designs for battle cruisers on good old paper."
• At The Horror Club, you can take a look at the eyes of horror...if you dare.
• Wag the Fox interviewed horror author Kelli Owen: "I grew up in northern Wisconsin. We didn’t have a whole lot of folklore there, just, you know, serial killers and cannibals. In second grade I used to make up stories, trying to create folklore I guess (like turning the creepy house on the block into a witch’s hiding place) to scare the other children. Eventually I found like-minded twisted little brats who also told stories, and by fifth grade we had a little circle of demented children scaring each other."
• Here, I reviewed the movie Mercy.

Also, Obsidian Point has dropped the price of The Blessed Man and the Witch to $2.99!  It's the perfect gift for anyone who enjoys religious-themed horror thrillers about the end of the world.

Book Review: Graham Masterton's Ghost Music

I've been a huge fan of Graham Masterton since the early 1990's.  Two of his novels, Night Warriors and Flesh and Blood, occupy prized spots on my dresser, so I can see them every day.  Like most writers who've had long, successful careers, some of his books have been great, some good, and some not so good.

Unfortunately, Ghost Music wasn't so good.  This is why I didn't enjoy it:

• Graham's American Problem: There's a persistent problem with the novels Masterton sets in the U.S.: they're self-evidently written by someone unfamiliar with American idiom, customs, and culture.  He's typically got very snappy, witty dialogue, which is great, but occasionally English expressions like "Who's X when he's at home?" pop in when Americans speak to each other, and it takes you out of the story and reminds you who's writing it.  His attempts to immerse the reader in American culture simply fail most of the time, because when he's not trying too hard, he's not trying enough.  I just wish he'd stop it.  American horror fans will buy books set in Poland and the U.K. if he writes them.  This problem was very much evident in Ghost Music.
• Stupid Protagonist: Another major criticism of the novel is that the protagonist was an absolute idiot from start to finish.  While I understand that authors who work through traditional publishers often don't get to choose the titles of their novels, it makes for a frustrating reading experience to read about a man who's obviously seeing ghosts everywhere but has no idea that he's seeing ghosts.  He's even screwing one who has the uncanny ability to shatter glass with her screams of delight at climax.  It's only near the end that he figures out that the people who appear and disappear, are dead one day and alive the next, are actually...wait for it...ghosts.  The protagonist also makes a number of very strange decisions, all of which make no sense but are vital to move the plot forward.  This is sloppy writing.  It shows a lack of respect for the reader.
• Bad Bad Guys: There was needless brutality in the way certain people met their end: a boy has his eyes glued shut as part of the torture he endures before dying, and a young girl is literally sewed to a mattress that is later sunk into the sea (we'll ignore how the latter can possibly be done for the purposes of storytelling).  The impetus for this brutality involves a hastily thrown-together denouement with illegal organ harvesting in the Third World and a mafia-like antagonist.

Across the board not one of his best, but I did finish it.  Two stars.

Final note: When he's on his game, Graham Masterton is extraordinary.  I'll take him over Stephen King any day. Don't take this one review as indicative of his entire oeuvre.