A great second hand book store find. A merciless alien bounty hunter -- a combination of centipede and scorpion -- pursues an escaped water elemental to an on-its-last-legs Texas town, utter pandemonium ensuing over a twenty-four-hour span. This is as much Horror as it is Sci-Fi, aliens inhabiting human hosts and using the locals as nightmarish cannon fodder as the town has to set aside its racial enmity in the face of a new and greater overarching foe. I really wish that this could've been optioned as a feature film and adapted to the screen back when Hollywood made cool mid-budget monster movies like "Tremors," Leviathan," and "The Relic," Lance Henriksen immediately cast in my mind as the military hero who has to unite the populace. Cover art by the late, great Rowena Morrill, the embossed title glittering like the nominal monster's scaly hide, nice touch.
I'm trying to trim down my tbr list(s) and I'm asking for your help! Descriptions and more info under the cut. Please reblog and add your thoughts!
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An Alabama boy’s innocence is shaken by murder and madness in the 1960s South in this novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of Swan Song.
It’s 1964 in idyllic Zephyr, Alabama. People either work for the paper mill up the Tecumseh River, or for the local dairy. It’s a simple life, but it stirs the impressionable imagination of twelve-year-old aspiring writer Cory Mackenson. He’s certain he’s sensed spirits whispering in the churchyard. He’s heard of the weird bootleggers who lurk in the dark outside of town. He’s seen a flood leave Main Street crawling with snakes. Cory thrills to all of it as only a young boy can.
Then one morning, while accompanying his father on his milk route, he sees a car careen off the road and slowly sink into fathomless Saxon’s Lake. His father dives into the icy water to rescue the driver, and finds a beaten corpse, naked and handcuffed to the steering wheel—a copper wire tightened around the stranger’s neck. In time, the townsfolk seem to forget all about the unsolved murder. But Cory and his father can’t.
Their search for the truth is a journey into a world where innocence and evil collide. What lies before them is the stuff of fear and awe, magic and madness, fantasy and reality. As Cory wades into the deep end of Zephyr and all its mysteries, he’ll discover that while the pleasures of childish things fade away, growing up can be a strange and beautiful ride.
“Strongly echoing the childhood-elegies of King and Bradbury, and every bit their equal,” Boy’s Life, a winner of both the Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Awards, represents a brilliant blend of mystery and rich atmosphere, the finest work of one of today’s most accomplished writers (Kirkus Reviews).
Date added: 2018
Goodreads: 4.40
Storygraph: 4.33
PRO:
strange, magical things in a small town!
good ratings?
available from the library in my preferred format (audiobook)
CON:
literally no idea where I got this one from, it must have been a general recommendation from somewhere?
the comp to Stephen King and the horror tag on Storygraph are really making me hesitate, they're definitely outside of my usual preferences. (But sometimes it's good to stretch).
Michael Whelan “I Travel by Night” by Robert McCammon featuring Trevor Lawson (2013) Source (Whelan’s Bluesky)
“Very loose line sketch for I TRAVEL BY NIGHT working out the view of main street.”
“Rough color study for I TRAVEL BY NIGHT”
“Work in progress shot of I TRAVEL BY NIGHT with the perspective of the street sketched out, the glow of street lights, and Lawson in the foreground holding revolvers with hands crossed.”
“A view down the main street of a western town at night. A man in fancy suit and cowboy hat stands with head down and revolvers crossed in front of him. His thumb cocks the hammer of one gun as he's ready on the triggers of both. His long jacket is confederate gray but the vest underneath is patterned in red. His lapels are notched with the top half dark and the bottom only bordered in black. Light glows warmly from the windows of hastily constructed storefronts casting streaks across on the glistening pebbled street. In the distance behind, a man in top hat steps out onto the cross-bricked sidewalk giving pause as he glances toward Lawson in the foreground. A trio of bats glide about the sharp crescent of moon in the sky above.”
