I was disappointed by this collection as I feel it's not Matheson's strongest material. Even he admits in the afterword of some stories that they're wI was disappointed by this collection as I feel it's not Matheson's strongest material. Even he admits in the afterword of some stories that they're weak. That being said, "weak" Matheson stories are still better than most authors' efforts. But I only enjoyed two or three of these....more
As a sci-fi medical thriller, it's ok. As an X-Files book, it's lacking in characterization. Mulder and Scully could have been replaced with any generAs a sci-fi medical thriller, it's ok. As an X-Files book, it's lacking in characterization. Mulder and Scully could have been replaced with any generic agents/investigators and the story would barely have changed. Skip this one....more
**spoiler alert** What...the #$%@&...was the last 1/3 of this book?! Did the author suddenly drop acid and write it from some psychedelic astral plane**spoiler alert** What...the #$%@&...was the last 1/3 of this book?! Did the author suddenly drop acid and write it from some psychedelic astral plane?
The first 2/3 were okay. Some parts were tedious, some were entertaining. It followed the trope of a mysterious Institute doing psychic/genetic experiments on children. One day two mysterious men show up to retrieve 11-year-old Button from her home; they kill/kidnap her parents; she runs away and, in a storyline that could only happen prior to the 1990's, gets on a bus to New York City and hides out to live with a random adult man (a psychologist named Phil) and his two lesbian artist friends (Janice and Susan) who take her in. These adults avoid calling the police and decide they're going to take a road trip (apparently they have no actual jobs or responsibilities) to go find the Institute that Button recollected living at when they hypnotized her back to her two-year-old self. At the end of Part 2, Button sees her mother in a diner. The mother screams, calls her a bitch and demands that someone grab her. Three men jump out of nowhere, and suddenly we're in Part 3 of the book.
Then it gets weird.
It's two years later, Button is living with Janice on the other side of the country under an assumed name, and literally nothing is explained about what happened at the end of Part 2. We never see or hear from the mother again or find out the reason for her reaction. There's a cult whose leader is a white man who assumes a fake Indian name, and who mind-controls women into having sex with him. He's also trying to mind-control a US Senator and presidential candidate (presumably for power, not sex.) He calls himself the Eternal Master. There's a portal to another plane of existence where blind men can see, or something. Susan, who was last seen in the diner in Part 2, is now a sex slave to the cult leader. It is literally never explained how or why. Phil has had his mind taken over (??) and is living under a different name in some random small town in Nebraska, working as a gas station attendant and appearing as an "idiot savant". Again, there is no explanation for this.
Then a random woman dressed in tons of silver jewelry shows up to kill Button because she believes Button has been murdering people. But Button can make duplicate images of herself (what, I don't even??), and this scares the woman so much she decides not to kill her. Then a psychic blind man who's ALSO been pursuing Button shows up with his guide dog, along with the person who used to be Phil. It turns out the silver-clad woman is Button's "sister" from the institute where they were genetically experimented on. Her special ability is teleporting pure silver objects. And the Eternal Master cult leader is their half-brother. Yeah, I'm not making this up. The blind man explains about a race of beings from another dimension who want to extinguish humanity but can't because a barrier is in place. Somehow these interdimensional aliens were behind the genetic manipulation project and are controlling the Eternal Master to open the portal...I think. At this point, on every page I was literally saying "What. The Hell?" out loud as I was reading.
Then it gets even MORE bizarre, and not in a fun or entertaining way. None of it makes sense, and you should probably just throw the book away. ...more
Good novelization of one of my favorite SF movies, written in tandem with filming. I'm still confused by the first-person omniscient narrator though.Good novelization of one of my favorite SF movies, written in tandem with filming. I'm still confused by the first-person omniscient narrator though....more
The most awful thing I've attempted to read in a while. Horrifically sexist, misogynistic, racist, homophobic, and just completely BAD. When I got to The most awful thing I've attempted to read in a while. Horrifically sexist, misogynistic, racist, homophobic, and just completely BAD. When I got to the gratuitous gang-rape scene in the middle of the book I threw it across the room. Another reviewer noted that every adult female character in this book is "a pair of boobs with legs" and while I expect 1970's pulp novels written by men to not have aged well, I can't imagine the crap in this book even being acceptable back then.
It's a shame because it had a lot of potential as a good disaster novel that was published a year before The Stand.
I've often seen Graham Masterton praised as a horror writer. This is the first book I've read by him, and although this is sci-fi disaster/thriller, I won't be seeking out his horror books if this much sexism and racism pervades his writing. I just looked him up on Wikipedia and learned he was the editor of the British version of Penthouse. Well, that tracks. Wish I'd known that before picking up this book.
He is also clearly a British author who not only despises American culture but didn't bother to do his research at all....more
I never would have thought a novel from Playboy Paperbacks about espionage, Druids, psychic powers, and the Loch Monster could be boring, but my god tI never would have thought a novel from Playboy Paperbacks about espionage, Druids, psychic powers, and the Loch Monster could be boring, but my god this thing was a slog to get through. Even the sex scenes are uninspired and dull. It probably didn't help that the book is advertised on the cover as being a creature-feature horror novel involving a "key to hell". Nothing could be farther from the actual story. The ending left me slack-jawed and not in a good way. I kept repeating "What. The. Eff. did I just read?"...more
This is one of the most WTF movie adaptations I've ever read. Initially I thought to myself "It's been a long time since I saw the movie but I don't rThis is one of the most WTF movie adaptations I've ever read. Initially I thought to myself "It's been a long time since I saw the movie but I don't remember the mother being this awful." Mom seemingly has no control over her kids or her life; she seems to even despise and resent her children. She spends every scene fretting about her looks and wishing she had a man, she has an eating disorder, is convinced there's sex perverts lurking around every corner, and thinks all her kids are on drugs, even 5-year-old Gertie. In the famous scene where Gertie sees E.T. for the first time and screams, the mom hears her from downstairs and casually wonders if Elliot and Michael are molesting her. Her only concern is how much a therapist will cost.
What the ACTUAL f---?
E.T. also has a romantic/sexual attraction to the mom. No, I'm not making that up. He admires her body, spies on her and even contemplates getting into the shower with her. He's cock-blocked by the dog. (The dog, by the way, is given his own monologue and apparently is supposed to be comic relief because all he thinks about is chewing things and eating treats, and he can also communicate telepathically with E.T.)
Like most movie adaptations, the book fills in some details that the movie didn't specify - namely, that E.T. is 10 million years old and is a botanist. That part's interesting. But E.T.'s ability to telepathically communicate with plants is not as weird as the tomatoes explaining to him what a pizza delivery is. When your story features talking vegetables I have to wonder if it's best enjoyed under the influence of LSD.
There is so much mention of drug use in this book that I have to wonder if the author was on anything when he wrote it. In a scene that's not in the movie, after a telepathically-drunk Elliot causes mayhem in biology class, he's sent to the principal's office. During the principal's lecture, Elliot starts floating to the ceiling while still under the spell of E.T. After Elliot floats back into his chair and is released, the principal reaches into a drawer in his desk labeled "Confiscated Drugs" and swallows some Quaaludes. Because...that's a thing that school principals did in the 80's, I guess?
There's also an annoying character named Lance who isn't in the movie; Lance is a "nerd" but in an obnoxious way, not in the way the term's used today. He's ALSO telepathically linked with E.T., but doesn't wind up sick like Elliot does.
Another small difference is that E.T. talks a lot more in this novelization than he does in the movie.
This whole thing was a mess and a terrible disappointment....more
The trick to writing a ridiculous creature-feature that breaks all laws of science and physics is that the story needs to be campy and fun. UnfortunatThe trick to writing a ridiculous creature-feature that breaks all laws of science and physics is that the story needs to be campy and fun. Unfortunately, this book isn't fun. I was extremely disappointed....more
A cheesy 80's nano-tech retelling of Frankenstein with the main character literally being named Dr. Victor Frank. (Come on. My 8th grade English teachA cheesy 80's nano-tech retelling of Frankenstein with the main character literally being named Dr. Victor Frank. (Come on. My 8th grade English teacher would have taken points off for being so obvious.) There's an evil bio-engineered child, a secret genetics lab, and some Colombian drug lords too because why the hell not? This isn't meant to be fine literature, it's the kind of book that you start and finish in a couple hours on a long plane trip.
Three stars because the writing isn't bad, but it's odd that the university-level medical jargon is juxtaposed with the type of heavy-handed cliches and action scenes that would entertain a middle schooler....more
Wow, this book is BAD. And not in a fun way. Fully half of it is gratuitous sex scenes between the scientists and doctors, who are all having affairs Wow, this book is BAD. And not in a fun way. Fully half of it is gratuitous sex scenes between the scientists and doctors, who are all having affairs with each other. Horny bisexual mad scientists make a great midnight movie, but a surprisingly dull book in the hands of David Osborn.
The entire premise (keeping disembodied heads alive for research) obviously relies on suspension of disbelief in order for the story to work. Unfortunately the science presented in the novel is so bad and implausible that I can't even roll with it and pretend the idea is possible. For one, it relies on the myth that we only use 10% of our brains. The book was written in 1985 but the myth had been debunked long before then. And Osborn does not do a good job of making the life-support mechanisms seem plausible.
Bad science can be overlooked if the story is fun, but this one isn't. A researcher discovers her presumed-dead boyfriend has been turned into one of the heads, but despite her breaking the rules to access this secret government operation, it never feels like her life is actually in danger. The scientists and doctors spend more time in the book sailing their boats, skinny dipping, and daydreaming about lesbian romance than they do working on their medical research. Then there's a plot twist at the end that is so damn stupid it just proves these scientists are completely incompetent and presumably blinded by their horniness. I actually felt insulted as a reader. There's some casual sexism and racism sprinkled throughout too.
I bought this from a used bookstore and I want my $3.95 back. ...more
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