Graham Masterton bounces back

One of my five favorite living horror/dark thriller writers (Ligotti, Campbell, Piccirilli and Hutson being the others), and also a craftsman whose 1970's books taught me a lot of what I know--is finally experiencing a revival, apparently.

After the horror bubble burst in the late eighties the father of splatterpunk continued writing and writing and writing for a tinier and tinier audience--but he didn't break like Robert McCammon, for example--and now a coherent reissue and rebranding strategy appears to be suddenly paying off. They slapped modern atmospheric covers on his detective-centered fiction and suddenly he's soaring at the top of the UK Amazon.

I'm very happy for the man, finally some justice. And who knows, perhaps it's the paranormal urban fantasy erotica boom that made the pathways for old-school bloody sexy horror to return. In that case--a tip of the hat for all the toilers in the field

Check out the difference in review number and sales rank--really illustrates the chasm between UK and UK tastes.

Check out also the reviews by poor devils who thought they were embarking on some atmospheric Celtic crime adventure by a new bestselling guy, and then by chapter 8 their anuses clenched, their hair went white, and they haven't had a good night's sleep since...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AQKGJ04/?tag=absowrit-21
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AQKGJ04/?tag=absowrit-20

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C0K6NUY/?tag=absowrit-21
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C0K6NUY/?tag=absowrit-20

Here's hoping Ramsey Campbell and Shaun Hutson and Thomas Ligotti and Tom Piccirilli also experience a boom in sales at some point soon. After all, if people who are actual writers don't get appreciated, then what's the point? Might as well stick to video games and movies...

King God Kong Zilla said:

I really like the sound of this. Going to download one of his books on my kindle tonight and start reading.

Any recommendations?

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Ah
From the vintage stuff--The Manitou (sci-fi/supernatural adventure--made a cool film of it); Plague (sci-fi end of world); The Wells of Hell (sci-fi/supernatural adventure); The Pariah (supernatural), Mirror (supernatural); Night Warriors (Nightmare on Elm Street meets Michael Moorcock); Death Dream (continuation of Night Warriors).
From the new stuff--Innocent Blood, The Doorkeepers, and I just begun Broken Angels--the detective fiction in question--starts really well.

Personally, the Wells of Hell, Night Warriors, and Death Dream taught me how to write any scene of any scope and complexity convincingly yet minimalistically. He's the opposite of King, Koontz, and Barker that way.

*Example* the start of Night Warriors:

CHAPTER ONE
The three of them approached the body on the beach as if their meeting had been preordained. Henry was the first to reach it, and he hunkered down beside it, but wouldn't touch it, while Gil and Susan walked cautiously closer, and then stood silently watching, with their bare toes half buried in the sand.

'No doubt that she's dead,' said Henry, in his clear lecture-room voice. He brushed back his white windblown hair with his hand.

'I thought it was a dog, at first,' said Gil. 'You know, an Afghan or something.'

Henry stood up. 'I guess we'd better call the police. There's nothing that we can do.'

Susan kept her arms folded close across her tee-shirt, and shivered.

Henry said, 'Would you and this young man like to go call the police? I'll stay here and make sure that nobody disturbs it.' He hesitated, and looked down at the body, and then corrected himself by saying, 'Her.'

Susan nodded, and the two of them jogged away across the beach. Henry remained where he was, his hands clasped behind his back, tall and stooped in the silvery mist of the early morning.

Almost unseen, the grey Pacific disobediently roared as the moon tugged it inch by inch away from the shore, and seagulls shrieked like anxious women as they swooped for fish.

Helix said:

I'm guessing you mean UK and US. (Or US and UK!)

Click to expand...

Haha. Yes.

Hey, Helix,
and didn't realize there was any misinterpretation going on in the first place. Whatever, and cheers