What's Wrong With Valerie? by D.A. Fowler

Valerie has had a tough time of it.  She’s recently buried her grandmother after taking care of her during her final three years and now she is living alone on the modest inheritance, with no income and trying to become a writer.  She also sees monsters.  Little yellow-eyed monsters that come out at night, oozing underneath the bottom of doors in her house. Oh, and they feed on human flesh.  So believes Valerie.  To appease them, Valerie must provide them with fresh human meat.  The easiest way seems to be renting out a room in her house, find unique ways to kill the renters, and stash the bodies for easy access.  If a renter isn’t available, others who make the fatal mistake of visiting Valerie will do just as well.

Sounds like a rather simplistic horror novel that might be churned out by a hack writer in the 1940s for a half cent per word.  But it’s not like that at all. This book was originally published in 1991 and is an odd combination of dark horror and comedic horror.  It’s fair to say that I was never always sure when I should be chuckling at the latest horrific scene, or disgusted. Much of the activity that Valerie engages in is utterly horrible. Not just the murders to supply the monsters with fresh meat, but also scenes of Valerie heaping mental abuse on two vulnerable young girls.

But all that is balanced with Valerie’s own perspective which is one of dogged determination to keep feeding the monsters while trying to keep one step ahead of suspicion. She even communicates with those she has killed via her word processor to get advice on how to handle whatever crisis has just developed.  She’s an engaging character and I found myself simultaneously rooting for her in her next “project” while also feeling sorry for her and hoping she gets caught and confined to an institution. In fact, throughout the novel we readers must wonder if she truly is bonkers or if, perhaps, this is all real.  

This is an easy-to-read novel, a page-turner if you will.  It’s not meant to be realistic per se, as is obvious in the way Valerie gets away with everything for so long. The one investigating cop isn’t all that competent for most of the novel, content to believe what is easiest.  Friends, family and neighbors tend to ignore the obvious as well. But that all lends itself to the plot and Valerie’s outlook.  The end could have gone so many different ways but turned out to be something other than what I was expecting.

Assignment Suicide (Sam Durell series) by Edward S. Aarons

I've been told that it does not matter in what order these books are read.  They are all stand-alone stories and so I took a risk and skipped number 2 (I don't have a copy of that one) and went right to number 3.  It seems fine to do so.  Even book number one didn't seem like the first in a series.

In this one, CIA operative Sam Durell parachutes into Russia to help prevent a rogue member of the Politburo, known as "Comrade Z", from launching one of Russia's first ICBMs toward the US.  Sam Durell has a mere handful of days to stop this event which will happen on May Day.  The book was first published in 1958 and it is interesting to see the perspectives between the US and Russia at that time.  Also of interest is the similarities to Ian Fleming's Bond books which first began appearing in 1952.

This novel was much as I expected.  Lots of spy action without much spy craft.  There is the usual good guys and bad guys and the occasional misconstrued identity.  And, of course, there is the obligatory Bond, er Durell girl.  The mystery part surrounds the identity of just who is Comrade Z.  There is a nice climax at the end to wrap up the story.

I enjoyed the first two Sam Durell books I've read so will keep on with them.  They are quick reads so serve well as a break between weightier material.

Silver Wings and Leather Jackets by C.T. Westcott

Eagleheart is a trilogy of books, written by C.T. Westcott but framed as the autobiography of Colonel Will Bicko, the only person to win three Congressional Medals of Honor and the most highly decorated fighting man in the history of the United States Federal Air Command (USFAC). This first book in the trilogy was published in 1989 and depicts “future” events after a Limited Nuclear Exchange that takes place in 2006. The US has combined all its armed forces into the single USFAC, the better to face foreign enemies, roving post nuclear war bandit gangs, and the new race of gross radioactive mutants that have evolved.

That description sounds like some kind of action movie-of-the-week starring Tom Cruise or Michael Fassbender but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Will Bicko is an anti-hero of the first order. A rogue, a scoundrel and very often a self-centered prick. He’s also hilariously witty, mostly with dark abrasive humor and even has a certain nobleness about him. His outlook on the post-nuclear war environment rings true and serves well to pull the reader onto his side. In many ways, this is a brilliant parody of the men’s action adventure genre.

This novel covers Will’s life from seventeen years of age up through his early twenties. When his ace pilot father dies in the line of duty Will is left with his inheritance: a secret (and stolen) harrier jet. However, the will stipulates that he won’t get it until after he has graduated from the USFAC Academy at Quantico. Such a disciplined environment doesn’t play to Will’s strengths so it is not surprising that his mouth gets him in serious trouble with upperclassmen and he soon gets tossed out. He chooses to seek out an old friend of his father, learns to fly, and takes his snotty attitude with him in a nice revenge mission against a major bandit gang and his father’s traitorous wingman.

Readers will find themselves reading this novel closely, absorbing the author’s adept use of clever prose and dialog. Even scenes of brutal carnage or graphic torture are lessened through Will’s humorous response. Supporting characters are also fun and unpredictable. The novel culminates in an exciting climax and will absolutely entice readers into the rest of the trilogy.

Flashing Swords! 2 (Lin Carter - editor)

From the 1960’s on into the 1980’s, a group of fantasy authors participated in a somewhat loosely organized association they called “Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America” or SAGA. It was an informal group begun by Lin Carter and meant to promote the appreciation of the sword and sorcery sub-genre of fantasy fiction. This book collects four long stories by the group’s members, all of which depict their own on-going series characters:

1) “The Rug and the Bull” by L. Sprague de Camp features a Pusadian tale

2) “The Jade Man’s Eyes” by Michael Moorcock features his anti-hero, Elric

3) “Toads of Grimmerdale” by Andre Norton, a Witch World story

4) “Ghoul’s Garden” by John Jakes, a Brak the Barbarian entry

All four stories were good ones even though I hadn’t read any of the larger works by several of these authors. I suppose if I had read some Witch World before, for example, I might have appreciated the characters, the settings, the lore, etc. even more. But as it was they all worked sufficiently for those readers who have no prior anchor points. My favorite of them all was the Brak story, perhaps because I have read those. These are iconic series and characters and I enjoyed the chance to sample those that were new to me.