Deals with the Devil are made in Frank Dello Stritto's new novel

Review by Doug Gibson

In Frank Dello Stritto's new novel that blends the arts with culture and history, a young man is saved from death during the horrific General Slocum water tragedy 100-plus years ago. His benefactor is a man named Cadwallader, who promises him a life without pain and death for as long as he wants. 

In "Deals with the Devil, Dialogues with Death," (Cult Movies Press, 2025) we are not provided our protagonist's name. He is essentially an "everyman," one without attachments who makes a crucial decision -- in a very rushed manner. He is skeptical of the strange gentleman's offer, but soon learns it is legitimate, and not revocable. (The Amazon link is here.)

This begins a long century of experiences for our man who makes this deal with the devil. He is outwardly a pleasant individual, one capable of earning respect and being kind to others. But he does learn that there is a curse with his endless life. He cannot love conventionally. He can experience long-term relationships. He has to watch -- helplessly -- as people die to the dark futures that beings such as Satan, Lilith (renegade wife of Adam), and Death itself can foresee. And he watches, perhaps with lessening emotion, the fates of souls who have made similar bargains with Old Scratch. His life defines loneliness; with long stretches at sea, dark trips to Europe; a journey on the Hindenburg, and solitary jobs in pawnshops. 

As is customary with these excellently researched and crafted Dello Stritto novels, the plots of movies, television show, books, and historical events serve as settings in our protaganist's life journey.  Films as old as "Haxan" and as new as "Final Destination" are explored. TV show such as "Thriller" serve the plot. If you seek an in-depth discussion on the various going-ons in "Deals with the Devil," Plan9Crunch YouTube interviewed Dello Stritto. 

Ironically, one reason this is a good novel is that the reader is unsure how all will be resolved. Sure, on paper it seems that our protagonist will live until he chooses to die and is presumably dragged to hell. But it's just not that simple. Our character's two significant pals are Satan (of whom we learn has many faces), and Death. (He does have a relationship with Lilith, but she's all bad news). In fact Death, although disappointed in the choices of his companion, seems to care about our protagonist. Even Satan provides unusual deference for him, far more than he shows to other of his followers. 

Dello Stritto's engaging prose -- this book flows well -- makes the reader grapple with various questions: how responsible are we for our actions?; can free will overcome a contract with the devil?; does deity -- good or bad -- select whom will live and die when there's a tragedy; and, of course, is there ever a time when a human's soul is still retrievable? 

I loved reading this novel. It did not leave me with upbeat, or triumphal feelings. Rather, it was a comprehensive, sobering look at a man who could be any of us, who makes a decision that takes him through adventures no one else can match. But they also come with so much regret and the seeming assurance of hell. Can he make it to heaven one day. We will never know.

Harlot and the Beast continues dark horror of Terra Drake saga

 

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In author Dean Patrick’s The Harlot and the Beast, TWB Press, large swaths of people move deliberately to a demonic gathering/concert. It’s a celebration of perversion and evil, presided over by the beautiful Terra Drake, once known as Lilith, Adam of the Bible's other wife.

In Patrick’s Terra Drake novels, this demon is with us in these latter times, and searching for converts. Grotesque images converge toward the crowd. Demons supporting Terra Drake – most with multi personalities and names – pay homage to her empire. Cain, Jack the Ripper, Adrian Kane, Rex Brody, Mr. Boogie, serial killers galore, an emaciated hag that haunts roadside gas ‘n gulps, and many other obscenities, all are there, entertaining the deceived, hyponotized-like masses.

That’s just one of many descriptive, intense scenes Patrick provides in this superbly crafted novel. To Patrick, a recovering alcoholic, Terra Drake’s empire is in league with modern-day depravities and horrors. It’s her goal to draw and suffocate people in these dysfunctions, and lose their souls.

Writer Patrick draws from terrible, dysfunctional episodes in his addiction past to convey to readers the horror of his tales. One of his settings is rural Duncan, Utah, which represents Morgan, Utah.

Terra Drake destroys people, families, communities, and the culture. A horrific mix of sex, peer pressure, addiction and violence fuels her bloody reign. Patrick’s two previous novels in the Terra Drake trilogy, The Lady Mephistoles, and Terra’s Sabbath, charted her path of enslaving humanity. In the first novel, a brave but doomed addict named Steve Paul gave his best effort against Terra.

When he died, his brother Marion Paul, a police officer, takes on the fight. Marion is a stronger man, and he’s full of righteous anger. He can cause wounds to Terra and her crew, but he’s still overmatched in numbers and power. In The Harlot and the Beast, he also has other major stresses. He needs to rescue the woman he loves, and his daughter, both captured by Terra Drake and lost in New Orleans.

Marion Paul is a strong, admirable hero to root for. He reminds me of Gary Sinise’s character in the TV adaptation in The Stand. In Stephen King’s novel, Sinise’s Stu Redman is ultimately the most influential adversary of Satan against those allied against him. So is Marion Paul is Patrick’s trilogy. Despite setback after setback to the “good people” in The Harlot and The Beast – including a memorable, heartbreaking scene outdoors among Paul’s extended family – Marion Paul never gives up fighting evil. His sanity is stretched, but never breaks.

You can purchase The Harlot and the Beast via Amazon here. You can follow Dean Patrick at Amazon here. Also Patrick’s author website is here. TWB Press website is here. A video teaser for The Harlot and the Beast is here. Chats with Dean Patrick are here, here, here, and here.

-          Doug Gibson

Terra's Sabbath, part 2 of a planned trilogy, is a superb dark horror novel

 

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Review by Doug Gibson

I previously reviewed author Dean Patrick's novel, "The Lady Mephistopheles." It introduced Terra Drake, a beautiful demon for the 21st Century. The protagonist -- her prey -- Steve Paul fought a valiant but doomed effort against her, hampered by personal, destructive vices that Terra Drake exploited.

The sequel -- part 2 of a planned trilogy -- has been released, and "Terra's Sabbath", 2023, TWB Press, Centennial, CO,  is a superb dark horror literary work.

Terra's main opponent in this novel is cop/detective Marion Paul, and yes, he's Steve's brother. Marion Paul is a tougher adversary for Terra, but what he encounters in battling demons more than once has him struggling to retain his sanity. The opening passages in the novel provide a bizarre frightening, very descriptive ritual that includes a child sacrifice.  Readers learn more background on Terra Drake, her past, her original name, and exactly why she is in the 21st century gathering followers. She and her allies destroy both souls and contemporary civilization.

Author Patrick has a strong knowledge of metal rock and cultural, social, and religious debates. He weaves contemporary issues, biblical themes, and the misery of addiction to create a demon-fueled rising that possesses ordinary people and leaves them devoid of humanity. I enjoy the settings in the novel, small towns, bustling cities, hospital rooms, a small "gas n'gulp" convenience store, a prison, horrific scenes in ordinary homes; slaughter in a nightclub. There's also a 7-foot tall confederate of Terra's, named Adrian Kane, who can become a werewolf.

Paul's prose has Marion both using face-to-face interviews and researching past horrific crimes, including the recent Idaho college student murders, to better understand his adversaries. Patrick crafts an effective scene in which Marion visits a prison seeks answers from an unrepentant, utterly evil killer.

Protagonists who are not superheroes, but ordinary flawed people trying to be heroic are realistic heroes. That is Marion Paul.

As the novel progresses, Marion's efforts against this evil include protecting a woman he's falling in love with, and protecting his estranged daughter. It seems a very difficult task. Marion is, after all, just human.

I mentioned that author Patrick has the talent to inspire dread and horror in typical situations. At a convenience store, he encounters a human-like “demon” named Bridget Magnus. She physically embodies the deterioration and rot that evil provides. She is one creepy character, and makes other appearances in “Terra’s Sabbath.”

There’s also a homeless, addict war veteran whom Terra snares into her service. He simply has too many problem and too little will to resist. Marion is a clear contrast to this character. He’s in the fight of his life, and soul, against Terra, Adrian, Bridget, and others. But he’s capable of fighting back, although as mentioned it’s an uneven match.

But Marion does have one ally that makes Terra nervous. This ally, who had a cameo in “The Lady Mephistopheles,” steps in late in the novel. His appearance may change the odds. We’ll certainly learn more in Part 3 of the Terra Drake trilogy.

The climax of "Terra's Sabbath" sets up an eagerly anticipated battle for the souls of characters readers will care about, with well-developed antagonists on both sides of good and evil. (Author Dean Patrick's photo is below).

The Lady Mephistopheles is a compelling, well-crafted dark horror tale

I do not review a lot of narrative fiction on this blog but I recently read Dean Patrick's new novel, "The Lady Mephistopheles," (TWBpress.com, Centennial, Co.) The 258-page work (it can be read over a dark and stormy weekend) blew the windows of my brain wide open (apologies to Hanif Kureishi.) It's very dark horror, external and internal. It involves an already deeply flawed and damaged man battling -- as best he can -- stark evil. 

This is Patrick's first novel. I have read and enjoyed his short fiction in various publications, including here and here. Much of my review today stems from my Amazon review. I hope readers of this blog will take a chance on "The Lady Memphistopheles." It's an inexpensive dead-tree buy, and a very inexpensive read on Kindle. (Amazon link is on first mention of title above.) Review starts below:

This is an interesting read about man who encounters a beautiful woman. Not surprisingly, he's attracted to her. But he soon discovers she is leaving a hellish path of destruction where she goes, killing people, possessing others, corrupting both a church and a town. 

The man, an alcoholic, realizes she's dragging him down to destruction, almost effortlessly, using his temptations and addictions as a tool. He only has periodic escapes from the ordeal, granted by her temporary absence. He eventually realizes the "Lady Mephistopheles" is not alone; there's another demon stalking him, trying to destroy the world as he knows it. 

He takes his tired, physically and emotionally ravaged self, and tries to fight back. This a compelling read, with elegant, masterfully descriptive prose. It blends the horrors of the world with supernatural terror. There is another entity, a cowboy of sorts, a plain talking guy. The Lady Mephistopheles fears and loathes him.

To me, Patrick's unique, intense prose reminds of Clive Barker, John Fante and a bit of Nelson Algren. I'll just add that readers who trek into Patrick's vivid imagination may end up thinking twice about buying that expensive, massage/easy chair that looks so inviting in the store showroom. Heh, heh. By the way, Patrick plans a sequel to the novel to be released in the near future.

- Doug Gibson

Dracula Never Dies a passionate, eloquent read, provides unique assessments of Bela Lugosi, Hollywood

Review by Doug Gibson

Picture this passage from author Christopher R. Gauthier's new novel, Dracula Never Dies: The Revenge of Bela Vorlock," (Arcane Shadows Press, 2021): 

Our protagonist, Vorlock, one-time horror film star, reduced to poverty row through two decades of abuse and betrayal by fellow actors, family members and media hacks -- who rival Ayn Rand's "Ellsworth M. Toohey" in evil -- believes he is to receive a peer appreciation award for his decades as "Dracula" and other roles.

It turns out to be an elaborate, cruel joke. At that last minute the award is snatched away and instead given to a well-fed, successful acting rival, one who has abused Vorlock, and his immediate family, personally. With much laughing and sniggering, the Toohey-like MC thrusts a jester's cap on Vorlock's head.

It is an indignity gone too far. But I don't want to give away too much of Gauthier's excellent novel, part one of a planned trilogy). 

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I have a blurb on this edition's back cover, and I have read earlier versions of Chris' draft that total several hundred pages. Dracula Never Dies is nearly 300 pages. An appropriate one-sentence summary of the novel is an elegant primal scream of abuse, survival, more abuse, justice, and revenge. 

There are no chapter breaks once Dracula Never Dies gets going. The narrator describes a life -- with prose -- that moves from passion to emotion to anguish to anger to regret to survival to despair to grief to irony to love to hate to gothic horror to revenge to resignation, and to perhaps 20 other emotions.

In an Amazon review, Robert Cremer, biographer of Bela Lugosi (Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape), notes how Hollywood, its dreams and schemes that can destroy dreams, contributes to the gothic horror of the novel. (Cremer also has a blurb on the back cover.)

Cremer also notes a plus to the novel, that genre fans will recognize many references to characters, and events from the times of Bela Lugosi. 

And, of course Dracula Never Dies' protagonist Bela Vorlock is Bela Lugosi. This is an alternate biography of Bela Lugosi existing in another multiverse, with much of the plot including Lugosi's times and life in our universe.

The plot -- and I wish to reveal very little of particulars, more for the reader to enjoy -- involves Vorlock's youthful escape from patriarchal tyranny, an interlude of happiness and love, a period of success in the entertainment world, and his efforts to endure and survive while suffering personal and professional setbacks/betrayals.

Gauthier's prose is magnificent. Expression is a key strength of his writing. Although their styles are different, Gauthier's word craftmanship reminds me of the satisfaction of reading a good novel from E. Annie Proulx, author of "The Shipping News" and "Brokeback Mountain." 

Dracula Never Dies' text demands to be read carefully. If it is glossed over the reader will get lost. Careful reading will provide a rewarding long, satisfying read. 

After finishing the final two score of pages (in which a character who Ed Wood and Lugosi fans will recognize is included) I am already eager to read the next installment of Gauthier's trilogy. Alas, it may be a while. I'll be patient. Dracula Never dies is priced relatively inexpensively. I hope I can add a Kindle version to the dead tree edition I own.

The Passion of the Mummy: An interview with author Frank Dello Stritto

 

I am holding in my hands a gem of a gem of a book entitled "The Passion of the Mummy," by Frank Dello Stritto, published this year from Cult Movies Press. Frank has written cult/classic horror genre books. This is his third work that examines an iconic figure from vintage film and creates a decades-long history of the personality. He previously did it with Lawrence Talbot, the Wolf Man, and Carl Denham, the man who brought King Kong to New York City.

To write these books (I am honored to have helped proof them) is an amazing work of research and talent. He must watch scores of genre-related films, command a knowledge of literature and lore in the subjects, accurately describe global and national history of the times he writes about, and craft a tale that hooks a reader early and satisfaction that grows through the reading process. 

A short review: I likely will pen a longer one in the future:

The "Passion of the Mummy" (Amazon link) describes a narrator who very early in his life feels a deep connection while viewing the remains of the mummy, Kharis, in a Manhattan museum. As he grows older, well into adulthood, the connection deepens, and grasps the attentions of supernaturally inclined groups and individuals around the world; some willing to help our narrator, others seeking his destruction.

I have yet to meet a film scholar with both the ability to absorb so much legion of information from scores of films, and then take the knowledge accumulated, with the settings, events and characters, and weave a vastly entertaining, suspenseful narrative that flows as smoothly as whatever your favorite novelist writes. Genre fans must read this book (and the others). It's a crime to miss out on them.

--- Doug Gibson

HERE IS OUR PLAN9CRUNCH INTERVIEW WITH FRANK: 

1) Tell me about the research that goes into creating this tale of Kharis. You explain a lot in the Postscript but I'd like to know how many movies and books, and historical lore, is researched and either included or cast aside. I guess I am asking, what kind of plot characters and ideas do you consider and then decide not to use?

I don’t know which comes first: the monsters or the theme. The theme of my first novel, A WEREWOLF REMEMBERS, is an individual’s struggle with a difficult family history. In CARL DENHAM’S GIANT MONSTERS, an elderly man knows his time is limited, but still hopes for one last adventure and for redemption. Behind the tale of Kharis is the quest for immortality. Would you choose to live forever—in this world—if you could? The characters in THE PASSION OF THE MUMMY ask that. Kharis never asked for it, and his immortality is a living hell.

Mummy movies have immortal beings and mortals seeking immortality. Those movies—the five from Universal (The Mummy, The Mummy’s Hand, The Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy’s Ghost and The Mummy’s Curse) and the five from Hammer (The Mummy, Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy’s Shroud, and Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb,  plus She, which is not a mummy movie)—form the core of the story. I brought in other movies, like Pharaoh’s Curse, as they help the narrative.

Except for time frame—I try to stay in the classical period of horror movies—I don’t decide what can’t get into my story. Around the core movies, I tend to cram in all that I can. Readers seem to love it when characters from movies and television shows that have nothing to do with the main plot pop up.

 

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2) I love the use of characters outside The Mummy genre. Explain why Tarneverro of The Black Camel is a great choice for the early mentor of sorts to our narrator. What about Theodora of The Haunting makes her a strong choice to enter the narrative. I love that you even used a character from The Hunger, a more contemporary, mostly forgotten film, and used material from a Twilight Zone episode. That to me spells tremendous research.

My “historical novels” seek to marry two universes: the real world in which we live and the world inside the plots of the movies and television. Imagine that what we watch on the screen is only a window to an alternate world. What we don’t see in that window is the characters’ lives before and after the plots of the movies. Outside of our view, characters from different movies meet and interact. Now, for me, that does not require a great deal of research. As a child I always thought of the world inside my TV shows and movies that way. So, I guess, that leg of the research has been going on my head for my whole life. So, did Kharis and Im-ho-tep know each other—why not?  Ananka and Ankh-es-en-amon were sisters—the movies tell us that both were daughters of Pharaoh Amenophis—so they knew each other. And so on.

As I develop my plots, whenever I need characters, I don’t invent them. I pluck them from somewhere in the movies, and they bring their personalities and personal histories with them.

For THE PASSION OF THE MUMMY, I needed someone who could read minds. Well, Theodora from The Haunting fit that just right. She is a strong, modern woman who could stand up to any man and that’s what I needed

I needed a character to guide the narrator into the strange world of the supernatural. I needed a sage, someone fascinated by the modern world but not really part of it. Bela Lugosi’s screen persona fit that well, and Tarneverro—a mystic, a rather obscure Lugosi portrayal—was what I needed.

The research in the alternate world is studying the movies. There’s a lot of detail in them—place names, dates, incidental data—that is easily overlooked. I note that all and get it into my plots.

For THE PASSION OF THE MUMMY, the hard research was learning about Egypt and Egyptology. All during the two years or so that I wrote the book, I was reading books on those subjects. I think layering that knowledge into the plot gives the book a lot more depth.   

 

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3) Women are far stronger and more viciously evil characters in The Passion of the Mummy saga. Did their contrast with men who were weak, or stoic sufferers, provide interest to you? 

I did not realize how little I knew about horror movies based on ancient Egypt—mummy movies and others—until I started developing the plot for my book. When I collected all the plots together, I saw that the immortal men—living mummies—are tragic and to be pitied. The immortal women are much more dangerous. Pamela Mason in The Twilight Zone episode “Queen of the Nile,” Marian Blaylock in The Hunger, Queen Tera in Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, Simira in Pharaoh’s Curse, Ayesha in She—you don’t want to tangle with them. They are not mummies. They’re living among us and in some cases feeding on us.

Add to the male mummies, the priests of the cults that tend to them. In the Universal movies, these men are dreaming of immortality. In three of the movies, they betray their vows to unsuccessfully attempt it. They all come to bad ends.

So, the priests are grasping at immortality, the mummies—all male—suffer under it, while what I call in the book “the demon women” are laughing at them through the centuries.

And then there are the princesses of the Universal movies, Ankh-es-en-amon and her sister Ananka. We can’t judge from the movies whether they are evil or not, but their spirits are trying to get back into this world. That become an element of the plot.

 

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4) Did you ever consider making Im-ho-tep the central character? Or was the much larger material on Kharis through so many films make him a deeper, more interesting subject?

Kharis appears in four movies, and Im-ho-tep in only one. So, I certainly had a lot more to work with for Kharis. The problem with using Im-ho-tep is that at the end of his sole movie, The Mummy, he is reduced to rubble by the goddess Isis. Most of my story is set in the modern day. So unless I wanted to bring Im-ho-tep back from the hereafter, I could not use him except in flashbacks.

Kharis—when last seen at the end of The Mummy’s Curse—has fallen into a dormant state and is carted off to the Scripps Museum of Manhattan. My book begins with a grammar school class trip to the Scripps, where something odd kicks off the plot.

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5) What are some the films you really enjoyed mixing into the plot of this book? I sense your affection for Abbott & Costello and I personally enjoyed the club scene.

There’s always room for Abbott & Costello in my books. So far, they have appeared in all my novels. They make it easy since they made so many movies with monsters. ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY provided the setting for the finale of my book.

Theodora—Claire Bloom’s character in The Haunting (1963)—proved a particularly good fit. Her character almost wrote itself when I introduced her. Her back-and-forth with Tarneverro was fun to write. They really match each other.

I get a kick out of bringing in characters from The Twilight Zone. There are so many of them that finding ones that fit my needs is easy. Pamela Mason—the undead succubus from the “Queen of the Nile” episode—was exactly the character I needed for my story.

To fill in the narrative and give some dimension to the story, I looked for non-mummy movies set in Egypt. I was glad to get Five Graves to Cairo into the story since it is a favorite film of mine. Think of what we see on movie screens as a window into an alternate world—then Indiana Jones adventure in Egypt to find the lost Ark, and the excavations mentioned in Five Graves to Cairo are happening at the same time.

Actor Eduardo Ciannelli played the aged high priest in The Mummy’s Hand, and I wanted to bring him into the book. Not an easy task since the plot takes place in America in the modern day. But I finagled that a bit by using a Ciannelli character from another movie. Perhaps not the best fit, but I think I pulled it off. No complaints, so far.

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6) Who are some of the characters through these any films you go through that you particularly admire. Were you able to show that admiration in your writing? What did you think of the Bannings, their expedition, Babe? I often thought Babe was the only courageous one in the second Kharis film.

Here’s the problem: to write a decent novel based on mummy movies, I had to learn a lot about Egyptology. Then, it becomes hard to watch most movie Egyptologists without laughing or crying. Steve Banning and Babe are fortune hunters. They use dynamite and pick axes to open the tomb. Then they blithely ship their loot off to New York without a peep from Egyptian authorities. None of that would happen in real life.

I like Steve and Babe better in the second film, when they are far away from Egypt and their blasphemies.

The only movie Egyptologists that I really admire are the ones in 1932’s The Mummy. There are the only ones that come close to what really goes on at actual digs.

I must say that I did develop an odd admiration for Alexander King, Fred Clark’s character in 1964’s Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb. Yes, he’s a showman and out for what he can get. But he does so with charm and honesty and is quite a contrast to the stuffy characters that are often seen in mummy movies. 

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7) Please offer any insights you want readers to know about. And what may be your next subject? Any ideas? Finally, that may be the best cover I have seen on a genre book. Three cheers to the artist.

Some readers have told me that THE PASSION OF THE MUMMY is the most romantic of my novels to date. I certainly didn’t plan it that way. Since Kharis’ curse is linked to his love for Ananka, I guess a romantic element had to bubble through the narrative. I’m glad that I didn’t think too much about it, and just let any romance simply follow from Kharis’ story.

The artist is George Chastain, who has done a lot of excellent work. He had done the dust jackets book cover and end page art for my three “historical novels” based on 1930s and 1940s horror movies. I owe him a lot. Something in George’s dust jacket cover art that I should point out. Two actors played Kharis in the Universal movies, Tom Tyler and Lon Chaney. The cover illustration of Kharis combines their features of their two faces. That was George’s concept and he pulled it off brilliantly.

I have started what may become my fourth novel. It is about zombie movies and will be titled Patron Saints of the Living Dead. This will be a challenge because there are no recurring characters in zombie movies, no multi-film sagas as used in my previous novels. Only a handful of individual films. Most horror movie fans can rattle off the zombie movies of the 1930s through the 1950s. When you bring in “voodoo movies”—that is, movies with voodoo but no zombies, the number almost doubles. And—to my surprise—it turns out that a lot of television series had zombie or voodoo-oriented episodes and I want to bring them in.

The challenge may be bringing in Abbott & Costello, who never met a zombie.

Thanks Frank. We appreciate your insights. Here is a link to Frank Dello Stritto on Plan9Crunch blog.

Chillers an anthology of tales based on vintage horror flicks

Review by Doug Gibson

Over the long holiday weekend I immersed myself in "Chillers," a new anthology, as the cover notes, of "tales inspired by classic horror films." They've been gathered by Brad Braddock of Arcane Shadows Press, which recently released another anthology, "Bela Lugosi: The Monogramthology," which included homage fiction on the poverty-row films Bela Lugosi made for Monogram studio in the 1940s.

Homage fiction, I prefer that term to "fan fiction," is probably a mixed bag to some. I imagine some purists avoid it. (I've had a few debates with Agatha Christie fans over the new "Poirot mysteries" from Sophie Hannah; I appreciate them and devour every one.). I enjoy the genre and am glad Braddock is helping resurrect it. Above-average homage fiction -- kept in its proper apocryphal shelf -- provides a shot of positive endorphins to readers wanting more from the art they love. Even mediocre homage fiction -- and there's been a lot of that from Jane Austen novels -- reinforces our appreciation of the original material.

The short stories in Chillers are of variant qualities, but all are well-crafted, unique efforts by serious authors, who have other accomplishments in the genre. I'll focus this review on a few I particularly enjoyed but reassure readers that there isn't a "clinker" in the collection. (I assume readers know the films that serve as foundations for the tales, and will avoid plot details; the better for readers to enjoy the stories.)

* Gregory William Mank -- who has written several excellent non-fiction genre books -- writes the short but moving "Elizabeth," a story of Dr. Frankenstein's wife at age 70, reflecting on her life with Henry, 25 years after his death, and "the Creature."

* Frank Dello Stritto, another favorite genre writer, manages to capture the spirit of fan convention events, such as Monster Bash, in "Emmy Knows Monsters." It's a tale of a very young monster movies fan who has the magical ability to see the lost, early film cuts of such classic films as "The Mummy," "Freaks," "King Kong," and more. The ending gives me the same pleasant feeling I get from the finish of one of my favorite, gentle spooky movies, "Curse of the Cat People."

* Robert Kokai Jr., also known as monster show host Drac, has an intriguing tale, "Cryptic," which explores how "Imhotep," so well portrayed by Boris Karloff in "The Mummy," manages to rejuvenate himself through his many, many centuries of existence. It's narrated through the eyes, literally, of one of his victims.

* One of my favorite young authors, Christopher R. Gauthier, whets my appetite for his upcoming novel with the short story, "Dracula Never Dies: A Dedication to Bela Lugosi." Written with lyrical, highly descriptive and emotional prose, it relates the once-famous star, now aging, "Bela Vorlock," reduced to performing spook shows before unappreciative teens. The story almost places me right in the audience of those poorly produced spook shows Lugosi endured starring in to pay the bills 70-plus years ago.

* Braddock's "The Vampire Bat Prelude," entertained me enough to re-watch the vintage classic with an all-star cast, "The Vampire Bat." The prequel sheds more light on the manipulation and destruction of loyal servant Emil Borst by the evil Doctor Von Niemann, portrayed by Lionel Atwill in the film. The exploited Herman Gleib, played by Dwight Frye, also is in the tale.

* A pithy and fascinating story from novelist Christine M. Stoltis, "Hasten: A Prelude to Haxan," pays homage to the famous silent documentary on witches by portraying a real female servant of the devil, one who has no fear of being captured and burnt by humans.

* The story, "The Open Window,' by Stefanie Kokai, also known within the genre as Carita Drac, took a page or two for me to get into but ultimately sucked me in. It's a story of a young woman slowly being dominated and turned into a vampiress by a bloodsucker. The contrast of the "count" during their late-night visits, soft words, gentle caresses, and grotesque slurping of blood, is effectively conveyed on print.

* "An Ending for Bowery at Midnight," by Todd Shiba, is, like his story in ... the Monogramthology on "Black Dragons,'" a sly, over-the-top riff satire on how to take movies that already are bizarre and make them even more bizarre. Shiba know his stuff and is always a good read, but his story seems more like something Frank Henenlotter would conceive of rather than Wallace Fox of Monogram. Perhaps that's the point.

I appreciate all those who contributed to the anthology. These are labors of love, far more than money. Hopefully, enough readers will like the efforts enough to provide a stimulus for another collection.

'Carl Denham's Giant Monsters' a superb account of genre 'history'

A couple of years ago, author and scholar Frank Dello Stritto penned the "history" of the ill-fated "wolfman." It was titled "A Werewolf Remembers: The Testament of Lawrence Stewart Talbot." It weaved Talbot's life through half a century of history, connecting him through several scores of films and film characters. It was a unique, scholarly page-turner capable of seducing readers through the darkest hours of the night.

Dello Stritto has written a new, also fascinating and engrossing book along the same structure, taking an iconic character of film and weaving his life throughout the history of his times and the genre films that populated his "life." "Carl Denham's Giant Monsters" (Cult Movies Press, 2019), shares with readers the full "life" that Denham enjoyed and endured, long before his adventures with King Kong and Son of Kong left him an elusive target of bounty hunters and vengeful friends and family of Kong's victims. (Note: I helped edit this book pre-publication).

The book is set in Indonesia, early 1970s, where author Dello Stritto and his wife Linda, live. Frank works there.  On a visit to one of the smaller islands, Kotok, the couple encounter a white, elderly man who lives in a home with faithful servants. It turns out to be the reclusive Carl Denham, whiling away his life, now bereft of visits from former colleagues save one, and eager to relate the adventures of his life to appreciative listeners.

Every couple of weeks or so, Frank and Linda, or Frank by himself, spend hours listening to Denham relate the many adventures of his long life. The book combines, history, film, and a cascade of cinema and historical figures. They all orbit at some time around the man Carl Denham and it's a lot of fun to read the adventures of Denham and his film genre contemporaries.

As he relates to Frank and Linda, Denham was part of Teddy Roosevelt's expeditions to South America. Later he's among the explorers who finally conquer the plateau of the Lost World and later take "Gertie" for an ill-fated trip to London. For a while, Denham becomes a journalist, and covers the Scopes trial. Another adventure: he even gets close enough to Tarzan to witness his decibel-shattering yell.

King Kong is described in vivid detail, from the casting of Ann Darrow, the voyage, Skull Island, the return to New York City and the deadly chaos and tragedy. It sets Denham on a lifetime of exile, trying to stay the adventurer, but now also the hunted, always on the watch to keep his freedom.

So many films provide background and interaction with characters. Just a few are Island of Lost Souls, Son of Kong, Mighty Joe Young, Africa Screams, Return of the Ape Man, Godzilla, Creature From the Black Lagoon. ... Either Denham is involved in the actual explorations or the characters run into him across the world, or visit him on his small island.

Dello Stritto is a well-known scholar/fan of Bela Lugosi and readers will appreciate the respect he provides some of Lugosi's poverty-row outings. Examples include scientists Lorenz Dexter of Return of the Ape Man, and Alexi Zabor, of Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla.

There is a poignancy in the tales Denham relates. He regrets the lust for publicity and money that drove him to take Kong to civilization, and the creature's death. Forty years later, he still assails himself.. He's had a hard life. He spends time in a  Japanese prisoner of war camp on the island for years. He had love, and lost it, with the young lady, Hilda Peterson, whom he took to Skull Island to meet Kong's son.

This book is an essential for genre fans. But more casual fans will enjoy it too, as well as history buffs. Dello Stritto pens a confident, detailed tale. The friendship between the couple and Denham is believable, the passages where they interact on the island well described. The author knows his subjects, films and history.

At the end of the tale, Denham, along with one of his few remaining contemporaries, embarks on a final adventure. I'll leave it to the reader to discover the identity of his companion.

Talking about A Werewolf Remembers with Frank Dello Stritto

UPDATE: YOU CAN NOW PURCHASE A WEREWOLF REMEMBERS AT CULT MOVIES PRESS. Here is the link.

Frank J. Dello Stritto has written some great books, essays and articles on classic horror films. I place him with Gary Rhodes and Arthur Lennig as the finest scholars chronicling the career of Bela Lugosi. Like his peers, Dello Stritto has written essays on many genre subjects, including King Kong, Svengali, The Phantom of the Opera, etc.

He's published a book of essays, "A Quaint and Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore," full of genre articles, many of which were published in Cult Movies Magazine. He, along with the best Bela Lugosi blogger Andi Brooks, broke new research ground with "Vampire Over London: Bela Lugosi in Britain," that detailed Lugosi's last major Dracula tour as well as provide strong overviews of his British films. The first edition was superb; a longer second edition even better.

Several years ago Frank published a memoir, "I Saw What I Saw When I Saw It" that recalled his life as a child, a Monster Boomer, becoming familiar with the films children loved in the "shock theater" TV days. As interesting is his account of how these films, particularly "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," extended their influence into adulthood, prompting him to search for films of that era he missed, leading him into fandom, and eventually scholarship.

Frank's latest book has just been released. It's "A Werewolf Remembers: The Testament of Lawrence Stewart Talbot." It's a fascinating pseudo non-fiction "documentary" account of the "Wolf Man's life," and how it interacts with much of the monster genre of almost two generations of films. "A Werewolf Remembers" also contains the the "journal" of Talbot, detailing the many journeys of his existence. Frank introduced the book at the recent Monster Bash.

This is a work only a scholar could weave together. I plan to review it in a few weeks. I was fortunate enough to help proof a draft of the book six months ago. I'm happy to announce its publication on our blog and interview the author. This is a lengthy interview, but it's well worth your time and will whet your appetite for "A Werewolf Remembers."

Readers will be able to purchase "A Werewolf Remembers" very soon (we'll let you know when). It will be at Amazon, as well as the Cult Movies Press website where his other books are available.

In the meantime, enjoy this interview with Frank Dello Stritto, about "A Werewolf Remembers."

-- Doug Gibson

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Why was Lawrence Talbot the primary individual to focus on? Is it his ubiquity in the films and his relationship to so many aspects of the genre?

DELLO STRITTO: Talbot certainly gets around. He is always searching, and thus crosses paths with a lot of people. In my book, he meets everyone seen in his movies, and he meets a lot more.

When I began the book, I did not plan that Lawrence’s tale would span so many of the horror and monster movies of the 1930s and 1940s, but that’s what happened. When I needed a character to advance the plot, or an adventure for him to have, I found them ready and waiting for me in movies, whether Lawrence appeared in them or not. In his movies, the only werewolf that Lawrence meets is Bela the Gypsy, who infects him. In my book, he encounters many characters from The Undying Monster, Return of the Vampire, Werewolf of London, The Mad Monster, The Cat People, and so on. He even meets Carl Denham. Lawrence is a real wanderer, and having so many characters cross his path was not hard.

I hope readers will enjoy the challenge of identifying the movies from where I plucked each character. Some are easy to spot, some are really hard.

Lawrence befriends the real-life writer Jack London. I could not resist bringing him into Talbot’s tale. The real London took the name of his stepfather. His birth father was (probably) an astrologer named William Chaney. With London’s tie to Talbot (played in his five films by Lon Chaney), and his apparent fixation on wolves (Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea Wolf), I had to bring him in. In my book, Talbot meets a few other real-life figures as well.

I can’t say that I was looking for excuses to bring other movie monsters into Talbot’s story, but when the chance arose, I jumped on it.

Talbot’s travels are not why he is the center of the story. Lawrence is a character whose story begs to be told. We know something about him from his movies, and my book fills in the gaps. From the films, we know that he is the son of a Welsh aristocrat, and that he left home at age 13. We know that young Lawrence went to America where he did a lot of jobs working with his hands. He worked at Mount Wilson Observatory in Southern California. At age 31, he is summoned home. His older brother has died, and Lawrence is now heir to the Talbot estate. The first part of my book fleshes out the life of young Lawrence.

The theme of his life, before and after becoming a werewolf, is resolving his issues with his father. The doctors from whom he seeks help are surrogates for his father. But their real goal is to revive Frankenstein’s Monster, just as Sir John Talbot would bring back his older son if he could.

What kind of research was necessary, in both studies of the films and the first half of the 20th century, to create both parts of the book, the diary and the historical narration? 

DELLO STRITTO: I had to stay consistent with Talbot’s story as told in his five movies. When he meets a character from the real world, like Jack London, or from other movies, like Carl Denham, the narrative has to be consistent with their lives as well. So, I watched the movies a lot, and studied up on the real world figures to be sure that I got their stories straight. And from that I got a lot of ideas for the plot.

The big challenge is that I had to place those stories on a timeline consistent with the real world. Talbot’s last film appearance, in Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, was in 1948. So, I anchored his last (known) day on Earth as February 25, 1948, and worked backed from there. That involved both World Wars, the Great Depression, and basically all of early 20^th Century history. Sir John Talbot was an astronomer, and I involved him to the hunt to prove Einstein’s Relativity Theory. The Talbots live in Wales, so I read up on Welsh history. In The Wolf Man Sir John mentions a distant ancestor, “Red Talbot,” and so I made him the founder of the Talbot line. That was important, because in my book, Lawrence’s family history weighs heavily on him.

As I developed the narrative, I always knew what the Moon was doing. Fortunately, the dates of the Full Moons going back centuries are easy to find online. Also, lunar eclipses figure in Talbot’s tale, and their dates are also pretty easy to find. In my book, when the Moon is full, or when an eclipse occurs, it occurred in real life.

Of course, some things in the movies are really hard to reconcile with reality. In Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, Talbot takes an airplane from London—after Full Moon sets—and arrives in La Mirada, Florida before the Moon rises again. Not easy to do now, and all but impossible in 1948. I managed to explain that in my book, but I can’t blame any readers who say “I don’t think so.”

I'm intrigued by your explanation for the immortality of Talbot, the Frankenstein Monster, and Dracula. It helps to explain the many deaths and resurrections of these characters. Explain your reasons for making Dracula the supreme evil and the monster a more sympathetic character? 

DELLO STRITTO: The Universal monsters—The Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, and—though he’s not in my book, The Mummy—are immortals. Thanks to super science or the supernatural, they are not bound by the same laws of life and death that we are. But they do go to apparent “deaths” for long periods until they return to “life.” For my book, I had to have Talbot go somewhere—which he calls “The Deep Darkness”—and I got a bit creative with that. I hope readers will be intrigued by those segments of the story when Talbot is supposedly “dead.”

It is Talbot who makes Dracula the supreme evil. One of the unexplained elements of Talbot’s tale as told in the movies is his drive to hunt down and destroy Dracula in Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. In my book, I give Talbot a personal motive for hunting Dracula, and the vampire became more and more evil as the story developed. Another unexplained feature of Talbot’s movies is his return to lycanthropy after being cured at the end of House of Dracula. My story ties those loose ends together, but still leaves some mysteries for the reader to ponder.

I don’t think that I made The Monster more sympathetic than he is in the films. Dracula and The Wolf Man hunt for victims, but The Monster rarely acts for any other reason than self-defense. He is a tragic figure, an outcast, a victim of mad doctors who create and revive him with no regard for The Monster himself. Before he meets Talbot, he can be a murderer, particularly in Ghost of Frankenstein, but with Talbot he is quite a sympathetic figure.

Besides Universal, of course, other studios' efforts are included. I particularly enjoy The Cat People references and think it's great that even The Alligator People are included. What was the research process of tying so many films together? Did you need a solid outline to write this book?

DELLO STRITTO: I needed an outline for the first part of Talbot’s life, before the movies pick up his tale with The Wolf Man. And I needed an outline for the gap between the end of House of Dracula and the beginning of Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. The outline between those two segments really came from the plots of The Wolf Man movies, because I had to stay consistent with them.

Once assembled, think of the outline as a Christmas tree, and then you start hanging the ornaments. That’s the fun part. Talbot passes through New York City, on the way home to Wales (which is the start of The Wolf Man). So, I have him meet some characters from The Cat People (which takes place in New York).  Later, Talbot searches for a doctor to cure his lycanthropy. In the movies, he goes straight to Dr. Frankenstein (who dies before Talbot reaches him), but I had him go to a few others first: Lady Jane Ainsley (from Return of the Vampire) and Dr. Yogami (from Werewolf of London).

When I bring in those characters, I have to create lives for them outside of their movies. Since the actress who played Lady Jane (Frieda Inescort) also played the doctor in The Alligator People (which also stars Lon Chaney), I brought some of that movie into my story. I do that throughout the book with a lot of characters and movies.

Personally, who were some of the characters you enjoyed fleshing out beyond their activities in the actual films?

DELLO STRITTO: Almost every character had to be fleshed out quite a bit, particularly Lawrence’s father, Sir John. But the character who almost wrote himself was Vollaz Yogami. I gave him that first name, or maybe he gave it to me. Once I brought in Dr. Yogami, the writing took on a life of its own. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. It was as if I were not writing, but taking dictation. I am not a fast writer, but the chapters with Yogami wrote themselves very quickly.

As a Monster Boomer, do you have satisfaction in creating a narrative that brings the films together and works to solve so many continuity problems?

DELLO STRITTO: Definitely. When I first watched the movies as a child, any inconsistencies in the plots—and there are plenty—nagged at me. So did any plot disconnects between movies, and there are a lot of those, too. Of course, as I developed the plot for my book in detail, I uncovered more (like Talbot’s flight from London to La Mirada). A lot of these had to do with the timeline. Keeping the story consistent with the movies, and with a chronology that made sense was a challenge.

One of the inconsistencies is geography. The Frankenstein and Wolf Man movies confuse the villages of Frankenstein, Vasaria and Visaria. I resolved that, I think.

As a kid, I was always trying to resolve the discrepancies within the movies and between the movies, and it was fun to do it again in my book.

Do you think the book provides more than just a tale of Lawrence Talbot and his many interconnected experiences? Is there an intention to comment on any issue beyond the monster genre?

DELLO STRITTO: At face value, the book is, I hope, an exciting tale and a homage to the horror and monster movies of the 1930s and 1940s. The book’s dedication is “To Second Sons Everywhere, And Their Older Brothers.” Talbot’s relationship with his father, and his older brother is at the core of Talbot’s story, and at the core of my book. I expanded on it when I could, and I tried not to hammer the reader with it. If the book is any more than the tale it tells, it is how our closest blood relations, dead or alive, are never far from us. In the book, those relations are all male because in Talbot’s movies they are all male. I bring plenty of female characters into the story, including Talbot’s mother, but the basic tale is fathers, sons and brothers.  

How will the book be publicized? Do you have another one in mind?

DELLO STRITTO: A Werewolf Remembers is my fourth book. Whenever I finish one, I always think: that’s it, I have no more to say. That’s how I feel now, and have no plans to do another book. Time will tell. Whether or not I write another one may depend on another mode of writing. My first book (Vampire Over London – Bela Lugosi in Britain) is non-fiction history. My second one (A Quaint & Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore – The Mythology & History of Classic Horror Films) is analysis and criticism. My third one (I Saw What I Saw When I Saw It – Growing Up in the 1950s & 1960s with Television Reruns and Old Movies) is a memoir. And A Werewolf Remembers – The Testament of Lawrence Stewart Talbot is fiction.

I did not set out to write on the same topic in different ways, but that’s what happened. I suppose a new mode is what I need to get the creativity. But I really don’t know—we will see.

Publicizing the book: well, I will go to movie conferences where the likely readers congregate. I will be getting my website (cultmoviespress.com) overhauled soon. I will have to become more active and savvy in social media to get the word out. Honestly, I am not looking forward to that.

What's an issue I missed, something that you'd like readers to know about your book?

DELLO STRITTO: I would like to make the premise of the book clear.

Lawrence Talbot was last seen on Feburary 25, 1948 when he went off to confront Count Dracula. A few weeks later a steamer trunk arrived at the apartment house where he had rented a room. The landlord put it in storage room, and there it stayed for 30 years.

That landlord was my Uncle Joe. When he died, the trunk passed to me, and in it I found Lawrence Talbot’s journals. I read them, and thought them the fantasies of a delusional man. Yet, the deeper I looked into his story, the more it squared with any facts that I could uncover.

So, the book is both Lawrence Talbot’s story, and my investigations into his claims. It is a journey for me as well as for him.

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ONE MORE THING: Enjoy this recent chat with Frank at Plan9Crunch that deals with Bela Lugosi's "Poverty Row" films.