#paperback horror

[spacenoirdetective]

Alan Lee, cover art for "The Beaver Book of Horror", 1977

[booklung]

[thefugitivesaint]

Steve Gerber (1947-2008), ''Halloween II'' by Jack Martin (Dennis Etchison), 1981 Source

[brightbeautifulthings]

The Awakening Evil by R.L. Stine

"She glanced through her veil at the crowd. Row after row of unsmiling faces stared back at her. They don't look as if they are here to celebrate a wedding. No, they look as if they are attending . . . a funeral."

Year Read: 2020

Rating: 3/5

About: Everyone knows the story of the Evil that haunted Corky Corcoran and the cheerleading squad at Shadyside High, but The Awakening Evil goes back to the beginning of the story and the Evil's origins a hundred years before Corky. Sarah Fear is navigating her new life as the wife of Thomas Fear. A stranger to Shadyside, she can't help but encounter dark rumors of the Fear family. Then strange accidents begin happening around her, things she can't explain, and Sarah will have to fight an Evil that may come from her very own house. Trigger warnings: death, suicide, drowning, body horror, gore, dismemberment, severe illness, threats.

Thoughts: I wasn't aware of this book until Thomas pointed it out to me (thank you!). While it's not listed as part of the Cheerleaders series, it's Cheerleaders-adjacent, and I'm a completionist at heart. It would be totally possible to read this as a standalone or a prequel, and like most prequels, it's fairly irrelevant unless you're really invested in the Evil's origins. The basics of the story are covered in The Evil Lives!, and if I were going to recommend one or the other, I would go with this one. It goes into more depth on the backstory without the bland framing of a new cheerleading squad.

The Awakening Evil is also a bit more focused on character than that one, and we get a good sense of Sarah's personality and home life here. I was able to sympathize with her situation in moving to a new place to marry a man she's never met. Their marriage is kind of sidelined in order to add to the "mystery" of Thomas Fear, fueled by neighborhood rumors. I think the ending would have been more effective if their relationship had been more developed, but it's a mistake to expect these books to be too deep. It has plenty of spooky occurrences and a rather grim ending, as expected. The New Evil remains my favorite out of the series.

[seelingnight]

[toomuchhorrorfiction]

2.20.17 in horror fiction birthdays: Richard Matheson (1926-2013), legendary author of I AM LEGEND, THE SHRINKING MAN, HELL HOUSE, STIR OF ECHOES, and countless classic short stories including "Born of Man and Woman," "Prey," and "Duel."

[booklung]

[amityvilleplanet]