The Sucking Pit By Guy N. Smith

 

The Sucking Pit
By Guy N. Smith
1989 Grafton
Paperback, 158 pages

                Another brisk, non-deadly-animal adventure from the master. When Guy N. Smith said he’d written more books than he read, you’ve just got to believe him. This one, first published in 1975 by New English Library, must have been written after thinking up a suitably exploitable title. And true to form, it’s a pretty satisfying read.

                On a visit to his secluded cabin in the woods, sweet Jenny find her uncle dying. Before his passing, she gets his gypsy black book into her hands and curiously peruses its contents. She tries a potion. Thus ends Jenny’s sweetness, replacing it with an animalistic sexual appetite and murderous intentions. She and the gypsies that live in the woods make life a living hell for the landowner and for the area in general. The sucking pit? It is a quagmire in the woods, an ancient gypsy burial site and a convenient place to dispose of bodies.

                The book is too short to be anything but an exciting page turner. Smith, as always, leaves out any fluff and gets right to the good stuff. To the detriment of the book’s brevity, there is a romance between two people trying to figure out what is going on at the cabin in the woods that blossoms into true love in just a couple of pages, but that can be forgiven. Who has time for building a budding romance in a book called The Sucking Pit?

                This title, Smith’s second horror novel, has had many different releases over the years with a few different covers. The 1989 edition by Grafton, reviewed here, sports a nice Luis Rey cover painting.

                This book sucks. In a good way. Guy N. Smith is a treasure.

 Midnight Magazine

Snow Shark By Brian G. Berry

Snow Shark
By Brian G. Berry
2022 Self-published
Paperback, 199 pages

 

                Peter Cushing was a great actor. No matter what the role, he always took it very seriously. Blood Beast Terror? Silly hokum, but he played it straight.  I bequeath the Peter Cushing Award to Brian G. Berry. Snow Shark could have been played for laughs, but it isn’t. Not that aren’t some intentionally funny parts, but Berry keeps a straight face and the book reads much better for it.

                A secret military project, a mutant, invulnerable shark that thrives on land, in the snow, accidentally drops from its transport near a ski resort. This spells trouble for the packed lodge, including the young family there to celebrate a child’s birthday. A military crew is on hand to try to stop the unstoppable but between the shark and its protective creator, who is part of the crew, it’s not going to be easy. Or possible.

                Berry is known as an “extreme” horror author, and he sure lays the gore on thick. He doesn’t, however, dwell in the nihilism and mean spiritedness that I tend to associate with “extreme” horror. He is having fun and it’s catchy. I was enjoying all of the ways he was describing the pulped human mess that was the aftermath of a shark attack. The snow truly runs red and after a bolt of lightning sets the lodge on fire, there is some wonderful drama… to stay in and fry or take a chance with the shark.

Being self-published, it could have used another run through of editing but nothing was bothersome to me. In the afterword in the book, it is said that this is the first in a series called VHS Trash, stories that would be great 80s movies that went directly to tape. It is exactly that, with a heavy dose of SyFy Channel CGI monster madness. I’m eager to read more in the series as well as Berry’s other work. His storytelling is right in my wheelhouse.

                This book sports a very nice cover by Jorge Iracheta.

Midnight Magazine

The Slob By Aron Beauregard

The Slob
By Aron Beauregard
2019 Maggot Press
Paperback, 128 pages

 

                This book gets a lot of mentions on the Horror Books and Splatterpunks Facebook pages and naturally, that caught my attention. I like to indulge in the extreme stuff and this one was supposed to be way out there. Imagine my delight when I was walking through a local Horror Con and unbeknownst to me, Aron Beauregard was there! I bought a few books from him (and Daniel Volpe), ready to bust my AB cherry. He seemed like such a nice young man.

 

                Having grown up in a squalid setting, Vera became a neat freak, always cleaning to overcome the filth of her childhood. Life hadn’t been easy, but she eventually persevered, married her (disabled) husband and was pregnant with their first child. For extra cash, she became a door-to-door vacuum salesperson and business was booming. In her second trimester, she knew she’d have to give up the job. But just one more day… one more sale…

 

                Then, she rang The Slob’s doorbell. And her life went to hell.

 

                Beauregard is a hell of a good writer, and this book is much more than an extreme horror gross-out. Vera is a fully developed character, flawed (as we all are) and very relatable and I really became attached to her. That is why, halfway through the book, I got the biggest sucker punch in the gut since I read Let’s Go Play at the Adams’. From the point she gets to The Slob’s house till the end of the book, it is pure nightmare.

 

                The Slob is full of horrific violence, various bodily fluids, rape, dismemberment, humiliation, and every sordid action you can (and could never) imagine. Then why do I heartily recommend it? Because it is compelling, very well written and, well yeah… gross as fuck. Not many books make me wake up in the night feeling nervous and lousy, thinking of the protagonist. This one did.

 

                This edition has a lovely cover and interior art by Anton Rosovsky.

 

                And he seemed like a nice young man.

Midnight Magazine