Horror Aficionados discussion

S&S were all the "splatterpunk" rage back in the day. I just started their last novel together, ANIMALS, and recently have reread some of their late '80s novels like THE LIGHT AT THE END and THE SCREAM. Wondering if anybody has read this stuff lately--a lot of it I think is dated and immature, that sort of glib, snarky attitude dealing with violence. Still, the books can be enjoyable in a way; lots of energy and intensity. ANIMALS however is filled with lazy writing and an overly obvious metaphor (werewolves for man's darker nature). At this point I'm just skimming it...

I've read Jake's Wake (with Cody Longfellow) and The Long Last Call but haven't gotten to Skipp's older books yet. I did cringe a little at some of the ultra violence going on and the oversexualization of women got on my nerves at points but I still managed to like both of them despite that.

Jake's Wake sort of came off as a book that might have been better published in the 80s when televangelists ( the main character's profession of choice) were a major point of discussion and few of the characters in the book had any redeeming value.

The Long Last Call also had that sort of retro 80s feel and featured a strip club where everyone's baser nature caused them no end of trouble.

Both of these books seemed to imply we're all overrun by our baser natures and no one is immune to their effects. Skipp simply doesn't seem to believe there is a better nature so much as people that lie to themselves. I see that as a rather glib way to look at the world but like a particularly nasty splatter film sometimes it works.

Glib! Yes, you've nailed it. I can't even believe he's still making fun of televangelism.

Will wrote: "Glib! Yes, you've nailed it. I can't even believe he's still making fun of televangelism."

I thought that was a bit of an old topic too( I think the last time I heard or read anything on the topic was when I was around 8 or 9 and I'm turning 30 soon). It dates his work sort of like David J Schow's The Kill Riff ( for me in any case. I did read it in 2005 though and I think it actually was published back in the day vs Skipp's more recent books) whose short fiction I really love.

I'm planning on checking into Skipp's older stuff since the local library catalogue has a good chunk of them in the system. Anything in particular stand out from those?

LIGHT AT THE END and THE SCREAM, although both are seriously dated, and the latter novel does feature a--you guessed it!--televangelist. But since it's from '88, I guess that's okay.

Great selections, Will...but Amanda, if you can find a copy of ANIMALS, that is a fantastic werewolf novel! And ranks in my top 10 best horror novels....and I think it is S&S's best. THE BRIDGE was recently reissued by Leisure and that was the last horror novel they wrote and published together...and a good one.

Speaking of whatever happened to....anyone remember Brian Hodge? I love his stuff, especially Nightlife. He hasn't done much over the past several years. Great short story writer, too.

WEIRD, Chris--I just got a used copy of Nightlife in the mail this week and am rereading it NOW. I definitely loved it when it came out--it was the second Dell/Abyss title--but not as much now. Oh well, that'll happen. I read a handful of his books/stories back then and liked them; think he's been writing crime novels recently.

Too funny, man! Yeah, I bought a fair number of the Dell/Abyss titles and my first Hodge novel was NIGHTLIFE, which somehow I lost years ago and need to do the same thing you just did. I loved the sequel, DARKER SAINTS, but was bummed out when I wrote to Brian--the old-fashioned way, via snail-mail way back when--and he sent me a letter back saying he didn't plan on continuing that story, that the worst probably happened to Justin and April. I really liked Brian's WILD HORSES novel, which was his crime-noir thriller. And his short story collections are amazing. I'd love to get my hands on a copy of MAD DOGS someday....