Horror Books

I remember when I was a 10 year old and would go with friends to the local theater to see Count Dracula, played by Bela Lagosi, suck the blood out of his victims. When the movie was over, I had to walk three blocks alone (after I got off the bus) to my home on an unlit street. My run quickly turned into a fast jaunt because I just knew the Vampire was going to get me. When I read Hunters of the Shadows, even though I know longer have a fear of Vampires, the old childhood memories surfaced.

The descriptive by the author is so real that at every little sound in your home may cause you to look over your shoulder. Darius Creed is the Vampire hunter, who with his Love Selena hunts down and kills vampires. I really do not want to say more, because words alone cannot give you the impact that reading this book will.

For those that love fantasy with a mixture of horror, then this is your kind of book. The Gypsies, witches and vampires are intermingled with each other so well that you can hardly wait to turn to the next page. The use of the cat was unique. I loved it.

This book proves once again that good overcomes evil - or does it? I am not a fantasy or horror fan, but this book by Mr. Haeuser grabbed me and held me to the exciting climax. If you want a book that will leave you in a cold sweat, then be sure to get your copy of 'Hunters of the Shadows.'

What a movie this would make. Bravo!

Reviewed by award-winning author, Bobby Ruble, author of Have No Mercy and co-author with wife, Kam, of Black Rosebud: Have No Mercy II.

I am a huge vampire fan, the biggest. I am also a Bram Stoker fan and loved the way he was in the story. Mark brings out a vision in this book, a vision to be seen up on the big screen, I think it would make a wonderful horror flick. The story kept me on the edge of my seat all night, I read it in two nights. i just could not put it down! i could visualize all the characters, especially Darius himself. a wonderful book for any vampire and horror fan. Very much recommended!!

For as long as there have been men, there have been creatures who prey on them, vampires, werewolves and others of that ilk.

Darius Creed is a Hunter, a special breed of human charged with the protection of all humans from the darkness lurking everywhere. He is long-lived and comes from a long line of Gypsy Royalty.

In modern times, most humans have forgotten the old lore, how to protect themselves against the darkness, all those except the Gypsy people who follow the old ways. Hunters in modern times are hard to come by, but they are needed, for a great battle is about to commence and only the Hunters can stop the powers of Darkness from attempting the Dolmage - Armageddon...

This book had a bit of everything, romance, adventure, mystery, horror, action, it was a difficult book to put down. As I was about half way through, I was thinking to myself, "I wish Selena (Creed's lover) was more involved in the story," and shortly thereafter, my wish was granted, although not in the way I expected! Selena is pivotal to the plot, even though she is not involved so much in the action.

My one niggle, and it is a niggle, although the story more than makes up for it, is that the layout of the book was a little odd. There were no spaces or indents between paragraphs. I'm not sure if that's the way the author meant it to be, or if it was a mistake at the printers.

Even with that, it's a good book and an interesting read if you like vampire stories with a bit of magic and romance thrown in.

I am a big fan of Anita Blake the Vampire Slayer. And this book by Mark Haeuser is right up there.The first page is exciting and it only gets better.I couldn't put the book down. I am hoping this is the beginning of a series of books with these great characters.

Hunters of the Shadows is a definite read book! It is well written, has lots of action, interesting characters (like a cat who talks), and keeps you hanging on to the end of the book. Having read an earlier book of Mark's I was not sure what this one would provide. I was wonderfully surprised! I loved it and you will too! I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for his next book!

INTO THE MIRROR BLACK IS OVER THE TOP, I GIVE FRANK'S BOOK FIVE STARS AND NOT JUST STARS THEY ARE FIVE STARS THAT SHINE SO BRIGHT, I AM LEFT FEELING VERY IMAGINATIVE AS IF I AM IN MYSTIC, INTO THE MIRROR BLACK PUTS THE CAPITOL C IN CLASSIC HORROR CHARMING YOU WITH TURN OF THE CENTURY DELIGHTS, TO ALL YOU BOOK LOVERS OUT THERE GET GOOSEBUMPS WITH FRANK E BITTINGER NOVELS, I AM GETTING GOOSEBUMPS JUST THINKING OF NOVEL TWO "ANGELS OF THE SEVENTH DAWN" WHICH I WILL START READING TOMORROW, UNTIL THEN NIGHTY NIGHTY SLEEP TIGHT DON'T LET THE BED BUGS BITE!

Into the Mirror Black was one of the best gothic novels I have ever read. I cared about the main character immediately. I loved the home his relative leaves for him. I really loved the idea of a graveyard on the premises. That is my idea of a dream home!
The alliteration to Rosemary's Baby was FANTASTIC!!! I half expected the old lady to offer Storm a blue drink and say, "Go on, it's good for you."
haha. This is a must read!

As a native Western Marylander I was both skeptical and curious about how well Bittinger would work the area into the book. I must say he did a wonderful job. His character descriptions and humor will leave you wanting more. I look forward to reading more of his work.

Into The Mirror Black

This story roped me right in, from the first page of the prologue. The description of the time-frame of 1900, transported me there immediately. I could close my eyes and see the dwelling in which the Ritual was taking place and then gracelessly interupted.
Soon I was traveling back to present day in the first chapter. I saw things in each character I could identify with. The main character in the story is (other than the Mirror) Storm. Poor man seems almost lonely, except for his co-workers and his assistant, Nannette. The exchanges between Storm and Nannette, made me laugh out loud! I believed that Storm's existance was work, and commute, home and sleep. No socializing, he didn't seem to have time. I could feel his depression seeping thru the pages. The shock of finding out about Lila's passing, and then learning of all she left him, pushes Storm to delve into his family's history and secrets in a small Western MD town, where he meets some people that become very important in his life. Vanessa Archer is one of these such people, the kind of person we all would like to have as a friend. The more he learned, the more questions arose. Who are these ghosts, what do they want?
I had to make myself put the book down, so I could function in my daily life, or to sleep. The closer to finishing the book I got, the harder it was to put down.
I am so very ready for the next book, and June 2007 can't get here fast enough!

"Into the Mirror Black" will draw you in with a blend of witty characters and macabre intrigue. The smooth flow of events was compelling to read, but I was even more impressed at how the supernatural aspects of the story were kept within a fully realistic setting. Frank lets the daily lives of his characters interact with his plot in such a way that his exposition isn't as obvious as other writers.

I quickly felt familiar with the characters, and I enjoyed how the clues and mysteries of the plot were peculiar enough to leave me wondering. By the end, I only thought that I'd had it figured out...

Nevertheless, as the first book that I've been able to finish reading in over five years vs. novels written by Dean Koontz and Clive Barker; I'd reccommend "Into the Mirror Black" to reading enthusiasts, but to those of us who aren't as avid as we might have once been.

I'm looking forward to the next piece by this author!

A haunting and unforgettable collage of voices, Harold Jaffe's Jesus Coyote combines fiction and documentary in order to examine the complexities and continued relevance of the Manson "family" murders.

Harold Jaffe is one of the few writers I trust to never disappoint. Readers familiar with his numerous collections (namely his trademark DocuFictions) will be pleased to find all his dark-and-smart tricks in one book (my personal favorite is his question-and-answer un-situated dialogues) as well as a few fresh narrative swirls (telephone transcriptions, formal letters, and the like). And for those not accustomed to his work, you're in for a treat, the darkest of chocolates... and then after there's plenty more where that came from in 15 Serial Killers (recently translated in French!) and Sex For The Millennium.

The multiple voicings, the clean prose, the ongoing play of ambiguities and transparencies all add up to make Harold Jaffe's Jesus Coyote a very smooth book. We expect it to be disturbing of course. No surprise there. What catches us off-guard is how engaging it all is, how easily it goes down. I recently watched a Manson documentary, and was surprised at how trite and dull the behavior of Mansion and his women seems now, almost 40 years later. Jaffe has taken what at this point looks like played out subject matter and made it work as literature. No mean feat.

Jaffe's provocative tour de force pastiche of one of the best-known episodes in popular culture history analyzes and undermines the Manson myth.

As with 15 Serial Killers and other texts in his ouvre, Jaffe neither celebrates nor turns away from the violence or the perpetrators of it but looks beyond the easy responses, the media knee-jerk sanctimony, and cable network fetishization of Manson, intimately re-imagining and making new what miles of newsprint and videotape and collective historical amnesia have turned stale.

And beyond all that, it's an enjoyable read.

Harold Jaffe has emerged as the most critically important writer of our time. In the midst of a publishing world full of commercial texts littered with clichéd romance and crime drama; a literary world infected with mass-produced, politically correct "workshop" fiction; and a journalistic world plagued by false "non-fiction" accounts sold by charlatans and purchased by acquiescent conglomerates, Harold Jaffe' work--fiction and "docu-fiction"--offers acute societal insights in the context of innovative, highly energized fictive and literary structures, epistemological investigations, and compelling character portraits.

These are the characteristics which define Jaffe's latest work, JESUS COYOTE, an incisive investigation and portrait of events, characters, social dynamics, and motivations surrounding Charles Manson and his followers. Notably, JESUS COYOTE, refers to actual individuals only obliquely, by action and tangential reference, renaming those individuals involved. Additionally, in the text timelines are inverted and/or conflated to emphasize societal connections. However, it is clear that the motivations for these literary choices have nothing to do with concerns of legalistic accuracy or limitations of artistic license regarding public figures, but rather these literary choices function tropologically to expand the presentation of characters and events such that they can be examined within their larger social contexts, in addition to being viewed individually. This scrupulous literary process enables a macroscopic overview and provides an organic unity to the ostensibly nonsensical acts of Manson and his followers, and presents their subculture as an outgrowth of the facades and failures of dominant society, as opposed to an individualized societal or psychological aberration.

JESUS COYOTE has a bifurcated form. The initial sections of the text provide a series of communications, via telephone, media, office memoranda, and personal conversations, among various characters which, taken together, comprise an outline of a myriad of social forces. The next sections of the text provide personal statements of various characters, forming intimate psychoanalytical portraits which exist both autonomously and in relation to the social dynamics set forth in the first sections of the text. This combination offers an examination of "reality" in its completed form: an ever-fluctuating relationship between reality proffered by social, institutional, and political forces as a societal exoskeleton-- juxtaposed and conjoined with individuated perceptions. In a larger sense, this combination is in fact a representation of the tension between collective consciousness and self-perception.

The result of this polarized representation is to generate systematic social investigations, particularly as they concern institutional and commercial dysfunctions. The prison system, both juvenile and adult, is delineated as the primary producer of Jesus Coyote, and the de-facto creator of his power as both a misfit and master of society at large. Throughout this society at large, potent capitalist strains lead to the commodification of all aspects of human behavior: police "operatives" sell their information, psychics provide no guidance and betray their patrons for material gain, media sources forsake the Jeffersonian "need to know" for titillating headlines at the expense of accuracy--fully aware that in a repressed and commodified society, consumers are hungry for grisly and lusty details to enable vicarious experiences.

Such media sales dynamics are inexorably linked with the ever-present, quasi-Puritanical desire of institutions and government to control sexuality and utilize the inherent repression of that control to fuel consumerism and materialism. As Coyote acolyte "Hedda" explains from prison, merging broad socialist orientations with a 60's free-love agenda: "In America..., the body is seen as private property, another kind of capital. With us, the body was communal property..." As if to provide an excuse for readers' lurid fascination with sex and violence, the dominant society depicted in JESUS COYOTE engages in a never-ending attempt to blame all aspects of counter-culture behavior on drugs as a shield to cover any inherent dissatisfaction with that dominant culture itself.

Jaffe's literary form in JESUS COYOTE allows the expansion of subject matter beyond the original Manson-related events and personalities, without minimizing the importance and intrigue of individual personalities. Broad concepts such as ecology and free will are explored in statements by Coyote-followers Hedda and LuAnn during an illegal interrogation:

Hedda: How much will does a leopard in a cage have?
LuAnn: How much will does a homeless person have? ...
Hedda: How much will does a polluted birch tree have? More than you can imagine.

And as America-centered as JESUS COYOTE is, transcontinental social commentary is evident nonetheless, as in veiled criticism of a European filmmaker's careerism and egocentricity, even in the face of his young wife and child's brutal murders. Yet French and American preferences in media stimuli are differentiated, as are artistic and bourgeois perceptions of events. Reporting the murders, American headlines immediately highlight drug-use as the cause of events, while French media emphasize orgying and sexual mutilation. And while bourgeois American readers avidly consume specific details of the crimes, self-proclaimed European artistic-geniuses and cognoscenti eschew the banality of those same details. Upon close inspection, it is clear that these very assertions of banality are in fact attempts at self-inflation and self-congratulation.

The character investigations in JESUS COYOTE are both generalized and specific. The precise nature of Coyote's manipulative power and imagination is exposed, including the content of his linguistic guises, which simultaneously invert stereotypes and merge polarities--Jesus as Satan, Beauty in Death, etc. And always, death itself exists simultaneously as threat and premonition. Coyote harnesses the power of sexuality by preaching a "free love" which is by no means free, but has its own tithes, purveyances, and instantiated rituals. Yet Coyote's power is seen to be more than merely psychological and manipulative. He embodies a certain spiritual connection and enables a form of peace and belonging which his young followers find irresistible, and irresistibly satisfying. Moreover, the connection with the natural world that Coyote professes seems, in part, to be actual and documented. At the point in the text when Coyote, sleeping outside with his young lover, is apprehended, the police report: "The peculiar thing is that [their] sleeping bag was surrounded by a pack of coyotes that growled at us but then fled." The implcation is that Coyote had in fact summoned his animal brethren for protection.

In JESUS COYOTE, Harold Jaffe has once again created a text which is both extremely significant from a literary point of view, and intensely incisive from a sociological standpoint. The text is simultaneously informative and provocative, entertaining and cautionary. It is this multi-leveled nexus of forces, conscious and unconscious, which the genius of JESUS COYOTE conveys.

I first decided to read this book after reading J.R. Salamanca's masterpiece 'Southern Light' - which is one of the best books that I ever read.
The writing and grammar in 'Lilith' is almost too good; I'm that most English Teachers would agree that it is well written; however, the plot left me yawning. I lost interested half way through the book. I thought at least that it would give me an insight into a similar tale ('I Never Promised You A Rose Garden' true life story of Joanne Greenberg) or slowly take me down the path of mysterious madness a la H.P. Lovecraft, but alas, I lost patience with it. But, I guess it might be a bit unfair to compare 'Lilith' to 'Southern Light' after all, they were written almost thirty years apart.

I have one minor complaint with this novel, and it centers around the somewhat misleading cover of the book, which describes the story as "one woman's electrifying obsession." There certainly is an obsession in this book, but that belongs to the narrator, Vincent Bruce, not to Lilith, as the cover would have you believe. After finishing the novel, I blacked out the "wo" which just left "man's obsession," which seemed to me to be a more accurate description of the story within.

Vincent, the main character, uses the telling of his story as a way to absolve and purge himself of his experiences with Lilith, a patient he cares for at the mental center where he works. He not only falls in love, but becomes "obsessed" with her. The second half of this novel mostly centers on his attraction to her, and how he compromises his duties as Lilith's caretaker with his feelings of love for her, a woman she herself describes as "mad."

I don't want to give away too much of the story, but the prose in which it is told is both excellent and sensitive. I can't tell you how this book got under my skin! This novel succeeds in disturbing the reader, such is the brilliance of the text. It is seldom that a book really affects me as this one did. Salamanca portrays the story as if it really happened, as if it is a work of truth rather than fiction.

It's a sad story, but one conveyed through beautiful language. Indeed, there were many passages where I felt like crying while reading them. As much as a reader can, you care for Vincent, and you care about what happens to him, and worry (as he does) about his ultimate destiny. He's a directionless figure, who just wants to succeed at something, and make a good life for himself filled with meaning, as his absent mother wished him to do.

I urge you to read this book. And I ask, as another reviewer here does, "Why is this book neglected?" Perhaps you will read it and ask yourself the same question.

If Goethe had written *Faust* in prose in the 20th century, it might have been something like Salamanca's *Lilith*. You don't want to carelessly compare an author with Goethe any more than you want to carelessly compare a physicist with Einstein, but Salamanca's *Lilith* makes you feel that you are reading a 381 page poem on the search for knowledge, the longing for love, and the relief of despair. Waiting for my copy of the book to arrive, I thought the reviewer who owned five copies had maybe gone a bit far, but now that I have read the book and am waiting for my second copy to arrive, I am wondering whether two copies are enough. :-) The only authors who have possibly touched me more are Goethe and Bertrand Russell, but I cannot understand why this author was ever out of print, or by what strange fare it was that he never got the nod for the Nobel Prize for literature.

"Lilith"

Simply put, this is one of the finest novels I have ever read and I have wondered, as have others before me, why this book is not recognized as superlative, right up there with any other novel (by any novelist) that one cares to name.

I first read it is a teenager in the 1960's. It has stayed with me ever since and from time to time I come back to it. As an artist I've drawn much inspiration from this work. It is at once disheartening and yet uplifting, full of dark underpinnings and at the same time it is full of light, exhausting and inspirational. It also stands as functional poetry.

I once had a chance to see the movie but declined. I could see no point to trying to capture such perfection of prose and such insight to emotion via the medium of film. The book is one of those rare works where, indeed, the words are worth more than pictures.

It was out of print for a while and during that time I scrounged around used book stores and at garage sales, and periodically I would find a copy. These I presented to several friends over the years. I have been thanked repeatedly ever since by those who received the book and, to the very person, each claims it to be indispensable.

Spread the word. Then or now, this work deserves far more recognition than it receives.

My (lengthy) title says it all. Yes, I love this book. Yes, I think everyone should read this book. Yes, I think many people will love this book. Everything the other reviewers have said about it (to date, at least) is true.

But. (You knew a but was coming.) But *Lilith* is Salamanca's second novel. It was originally published in 1961. It partakes of a tradition which Anne Williams, in her really excellent study *Art of Darkness*, has called Male Gothic. The woman, Lilith, is beautiful, desirable, clever, all in a rather unearthly way, and the author clearly loves her; but the *narrator*, who's rather a different being, is destroyed by her. That is, like her namesake, she's sublime in proportion to the degree to which she is also diabolical. Masculine principle destroyed by contact with diabolical femininity, which is associated with landscape, language, beauty: that's Male Gothic, and that's also the pattern of this book. Those evil/desirable women do in those hapless men again.

Let me hasten to remind you that a) I still love the book, in part because the AUTHOR is kinder to Lilith than the NARRATOR can be, and b) that this book was published 30 years ago. Do I blame the author for following a pattern which isn't very kind to the idea of womanhood? No, positively not. And one very good reason not to, if you need one, is because, yes, he got better. In his later works, the women become more earthly, less diabolical, more human, less like muses. In a way that only good authors do, Salamanca has deconstructed his own patterns and called them into question.

Critics, by and large, loved *Lilith* where they scourged *Southern Light* and the recent *That Summer's Trance.* Admittedly *Lilith* is easier reading, and perhaps a better book for those who don't know Salamanca's work to begin on. (Among other qualities, *Lilith* is much shorter.) But I wonder too whether those critics weren't more comfortable with demonized women than with more complicated ones, and whether the devastation that ended *Lilith* didn't strike them as a more suitable punishment for abandon than the very different situation which ended *Southern Light.* In *Southern Light* the author declines to destroy those who have worked horrors; he even allows them (dare we say it) to be redeemed. In *That Summer's Trance*, devastation once again ends the book, but not as punishment for abandon, but for (sorry) abandoning abandon, for selling out. Now let's take a wild guess here: why, do you suppose, might readers in a consumer society prefer to be told that abandon, rapture and passion end in destruction than to be told that selling out ends in destruction? Any thoughts?

I'm sure you all know the answer to that as well as I do. So that's my final word: by all means buy *Lilith*, read *Lilith*, love Lilith. But if you do love it, be brave: have a try at the newer, longer, scarier books too, the ones whose message, despite the changed medium, is really much more radical.

Tis book was really great. Of course I like all Nancy Drew's by Crolyn Keene. I enjoyed this book a lot so I am giving it a four and a half stars.I wish it was longer.

Nancy Drew
The Message in the Haunted Mansion
By: Carolyn Keene

This review was written by Marilyn (age 9) of Stockbridge Central School
Imagine this: A fire happened while you are gone; a window crashed almost on top of you and a lot of other accidents happened
in the same house as you are staying in. Well that's exactly what happened to Nancy Drew in an old mansion in San Francisco on California Street. Nancy and her friends Bess and George are trying to solve the mystery. I liked this book because it is a mystery. There are accidents they can't explain. I also liked this book because it is a ghost story. They think there is a ghost in the mansion! One other thing that happens is they think there is gold in the mansion. I loved this book! I recommend it to kids (and adults!) who like mysteries and suspense.

Nancy Drew is a thrilling suspenseful series. The author in this book gives you a full line of suspects to choose from with mysterious secret passages . Creepy appearances, strange visitors, lying suspects and much more. If you are a mystery lover like myself this book is for you!!!

Nancy Drew discovers another mystery when she, with friends Bess, George, and her housekeeper Hannah, help Rose Green and her niece Abby renovate an old Victorian mansion so they can turn it into a Bed and Breakfast. This book takes place in San Francisco, in current times. As the renovating begins, "accidents" that don't seem to be accidental, begin.

There's a legend about the house that it was once the hotel of the famous actress, Lizzie Applegate, who married the famous bandit El Diablo. She wrote a play called "The Bandit's Treasure". When Nancy, Bess, and George are fixing the house, they find some old documents proving that it was Lizzie's hotel, and she was the wife of El Diablo. A song in the play "The Bandit's Treasure" also suggests that maybe the bandit's real treasure is hidden inside the house.

Meanwhile, the renovations aren't going well. Someone is trying to stop them from succeeding, and wants them to abandon the project. The "ghost" of Lizzie Applegate keeps appearing. A window breaks with no reason. The chandelier chain is cut, and it falls and shatters. A fire is started inside the house. Nancy falls through the roof trying to fix something, and Nancy, Bess, and George receive a message saying "Leave the mansion at once!" A bathroom floods and ruins the downstairs wallpaper. Food from the kitchen keeps disappearing. A car tries to run over Nancy and George while out on a jog.

The house contains all kinds of surprises including two-way mirrors. Bess finds an old key hidden in a bedpost. Nancy, Bess, and George find various hidden rooms throughout the old hotel. One room contains a trunk that has to be opened with the key they found. It holds Lizzie's will, her diary, and the once-hotel house plans.

But who could be causing all this to happen? There are many suspects. Abby, Rose's niece, might be behind it all. Or what about Charlie, who is helping around the house, but also drives the same kind of car that tried to hit George and Nancy? Louis is helping also, but seems to be hiding something. Cassandra, Charlie's daughter, is being mysterious, and what about the blond teenager who keeps hanging around the mansion?

They find the blond teenager, named Tim, who's been taking food from the kitchen and living inside a secret room because he has no other home. Tim helps them look for more strange happenings.

The song in "The Bandit's Treasure" leads Nancy to the treasure under the floorboards where the fireplace used to stand. But Charlie and Louis try to stop them from taking the gold. They have been causing the "accidents" all along. With the help of Tim and the police, they land Charlie and Louis in jail and save the mansion.

I would recommend this book to any readers interested in mystery fiction. If you enjoy being a detective and solving mysteries, this is the book for you.

Nancy goes with her friends,Bess and George,and her house keeper Hannah to help renovate an old Victorian mansion waiting to become a bed and breakfast in Los Angeles, California.Nancy goes not suspecting to embark upon such a whirlwind of a case with someone,or something, behind accidents in the mansion that cannot be explained.If Nancy doesn't solve this mystery, who knows how dangerous the next act may be.The only way to find out, is to buy this book and find out for yourself.I give this one two thumbs way,way up for the suspense that keeps you asking for more.

I don't know what else I can possibly say...Everyone else's reviews seem to nail it in the head. The thing I agree with most is how the characters in each story are so vivid - it really sucks you right into the book as if you were really there. I'm so glad these were short stories because I tend to have trouble putting down a really good book(as is the case here)...so I'd be up all night long trying to finish it!! These are just the right length to read a story a night (or if you're like me, several a night!!). I'm definitely looking forward to his next book!!

If you want a good read that will pull you into the story itself as if you were right there, than you have got to read Midnight Tableau. I have never been so into another book, especially to the point where I felt that I was right there, where I felt as though I was the character. It was very hard for me to put this book down because you wanted to know how the story ended or how, in some cases, didn't end, just left for suspense. It was awesome and I would definately reccommend it any one who loves to read and I have already.

What a book! What writing style! No predictable endings and the stories are short enough to enjoy in one go! I predict that Michael McCrann will go a far way and can't wait for his first novel. Others who have read the book agree. Its different and refreshing. Carry on writing MC - you have a couple of new fans here in SA and we can't wait for the novel!

I LOVED IT! I would and have recommended this book to anyone and everyone that enjoy's reading. I found the stories scary and compelling at the same time. Begging me to turn the next page. I am going to read it again and again! I am even sending a copy of it to my brother who is in iraq serving our country. Its THAT GOOD!!! You gotta buy this!

This was an excellent book. The stories were fantastic. Mr. McCrann does a fine job of taking ordinary people and situations and turning them into something extraordinary. I look forward to reading him for years to come.

This story had me from page one. An extremely well-written book that pulls you in and doesn't let you go. I actually sat on the edge of my seat as I read the last 50 pages. I usually pass my books on to others when I finish them. One copy of this, however, will go into my permanent library.
Thank you Brian Matthews!

This was a fantastic book. I couldn't put it down, especially the last few chapters. The characters are well-rounded, and you just keep wanting to know more about them, even when you don't particularly like them. I will definitely read anything written by Brian S. Matthews!

I have written a comprehensive review at Glynn's Book Reviews blogsite (http://wwwglynnsbooks.blogspot.com.) Read it there or link to it at www.glynnsbooks.com.

I found New Wilderness to be an easy read. The author leads your imagination with true character development along an unique story line. The twists and turns leave you anxious to turn the next page and a little bit sad when you've turned the last. I'm already watching for more novels from this new author.

I found the book to be an easy read. I found myself being pulled into the book and identifing with the characters. All of the characters are likable and interesting. I also found myself wanting to get to know the people in the book on a more personal level. I could not put the book down. I am looking forward to the following books from this author.

i really enjoyed this book, i'm not even finished with it yet but some of the quality of the book was taken away by the poor editing! some of the chapters were missing entire words at the end! some of the sentences were gramatically incorrect and i kept reading them over and over saying...that's not right...we don't laid down, we lie down! stuff like that really took away from the book because it was a fantastic story. i really enjoyed the element of faith and how there are good vampires and bad vampires etc. it was realistic, like...if there WERE vampires, this is how it would be. either way, i would definitely advise this story being read, just please have an updated version!

This is a great read.

Great, because it has a common sense idea that is missing from most stories of this genre.

The genre, "supernatural horror," ultimately goes to a war between good and evil (yep, heaven and hell), because these would be the source of power in the story. So the ultimate source of power is on another level--not the level the story is about (our everyday homes and neighborhoods). But hey, the vampires, zombies, and other things have been around for a long time. And we are still here, too. Something we don't usually see in these stories must be equalizing the landscape, or else ordinary humans would have been gone a long time ago. What equalizes a vampire? They have supernatural powers, so regular folks are out-gunned. In any war, if the sides are not matched, the war does not last long. In the literature vampires, zombies, et al., have been around a long time. So what holds them in check? Doesn't have to be a "good" version of the evil creature--just something with power and method of its own that it can use to engage the enemy. That's war. Even a supernatural one would have to have this equivalence of power.

There are popular movies about renegades that have reason to hate the supernatural villains, but vampires alone would have over-run the world before most of these popular characters started. Besides, these stories are usually more about special-effects or martial arts or something--not really horror stories but more like action-adventure-martial arts-horror. Whatever. There's only one movie I've seen recently that is an exception to this, "Constantine." But since this isn't a plug for movies, let's move on... ;)

"Night Biters" revitalizes the role of the church in this type of story! Instead of the lame "Exorcist" angle in which the demons have power that is clearly uncontrollable, here the war could have lasted this long. God is on our side through supernatural beings at this level. That's what I was referring to before, when I said that ordinary humans would otherwise be gone. In run-of-the-mill horror stories a recurring theme is that the heroes are so outmatched they have to sacrifice themselves--and leave this plane of existence--in order to win. So in time they'd all have moved on, leaving us here. There must be something more powerful that fights here and wins often enough to balance the war against evil. This story touches on this with style; it's a story told intelligently in a way that makes sense.

So is it scary? Yeah, because the writer tells the tale in a way that evokes vivid images of what the characters are going through as all of these peculiar things happen. It's not a predictable story. I found myself liking some, and wondering if they'd make it...but it's war. Casualties are inevitable. How does it end?

Check it out! It's a great read!

Adrian Harper's Night Biters offers some fresh ideas to the fantasy genre. The magical compact disc is as effective a talisman as a ring or trinket in other period work of fiction. It also solidifies the effectiveness of hip hop in a way the reader will find appealing. Graffiti spray painting is also featured, skateboarding is taken to new heights and I will never see using a Super Soaker the same way.

The writer skillfully depicts the story's teens as youth who regret some of the poor choices they have made and the impact those decisions have on their families while ably avoiding stereotypes. He also offers some interesting views on vampirism viewing it more to an addiction than a spiritual damnation reminding the reader that there is always hope. Filled with clever twist and surprises, Night Biters is a delight.

This is no R L Stien! This book has a diverse group of hip hop characters from the Bay Area that are actully intelligent and not based on stereotypes. The book has teens in the Bay dealing with regular teenage issues, as well as vampires gang violence. The characters are cool, there's African American's, Vietnamese, Latino's, Filippino's, Jews, Goths, ravers, taggers and possibly dirty cops and a guy who eats a rat. If you LOVE hip hop, or you're from the Bay Area you need to read this book. I love Night Biters because it's real hip hop, it's not derogatory or dogmatic, it's just real and entertaining.

The book is written in the style of how Traffic and Crash were made as movies. A ton of individual stories, all intertwined into one explosive plot. Read this book, you won't be disappointed. The story is based on actual events in 1999 leading up to the change of the century in the backdrop of the worlds most integrated group of cities. Two teens come here to spend the summer and find that some of thier friends have become vampires and are dealing with personal issues like abusive stepfathers, drugs, gangs and police (damn taggers!). Doooooood read it!!!

Night Biters is my favorite book, I visited the Bay Area and have saw the old Montgomery Ward building. It was too scary a building for me to enter but not a vampire. I also like that us Pinoy's finally got some recognition and respect in a book. Dragonbrush is my dog I liked the way he and Tioni looked out for one another and how he showed that he really appreciated her. Jamilah is cool but too stuck up for my taste, I wouldn't want my sister taking all my favorite clothes just because she wants them. But in the end they all looked out for one another.

During the Depression, a young brother and sister must flee from a murderous preacher who has infiltrated their home in search of a small fortune in stolen money. This novel deserves to be better remembered than it has been, for I have read few books that are better at evoking the psychology of children in a realistic way. But Davis Grubb doesn't stop there: the sociopathic preacher with his flexible interpretation of scripture, the lonely single mother whose yearning to experience love and make a secure home for her children makes her vulnerable, the lonely drunk whose personal weaknesses undermine his good intentions, the self-sufficient matriarch with an unshakable sense of duty--these and many other characters are vividly rendered. Grubb also skillfully evokes the lonely rural settings where his drama plays out. Such careful attention to character and setting makes for a scary and heartbreaking novel because we can imagine these things happening to real people in a real place. Highly recommended.

The Night of the Hunter is an old story and movie, but is a page turner as of today. Very exciting and intriguing.

Hemingway, Steinbeck, Tolstoy et al, will always have a place in the pantheon of literature. In this reader's opinion, this novel warrants a little niche in that pantheon for Davis Grubb, whose lean, muscular and evocative prose propels this thrilling story, driving it toward the inevitable conclusion.

Charles Laughton's movie based on this book was an interesting effort and well done, but if one hasn't read the unsentimental, un-varnished novel, then somewhere a potential reader is missing the juice. Like Laughton's screen effort the novel is indeed pregnant, but not at all unwieldly; rather, the book, slender as it is, is bursting with some of the best writing put to paper in any genre and is as good as anything ever written by the more prolific Masters.

Grubb's unpretentious style looms up from the pages like the reek of the bottom waters at river's edge. Subtle by turns, the terrifying game of hide-and-seek between light and shadow jumps at the most unexpected moments, just like the novel's villain with his knife.

Filled with archetypes and certainly many levels of meaning for interpretation by the reader, this is one novel one won't forget soon. It stalks memory and, personally, I find myself still returning to the book from time to time to savor a magnificently rendered mood, and a time, place and story that is as fresh and exciting now as it was almost half a century ago.

Writing true and honest profiles of such diverse characters, let alone children, is no easy thing, and Grubb's work is peopled with wholly believable characters who truly cast shadows, live and breathe, even in the periphery. This is part of the novel's triumph.

I cannot recommend Night of the Hunter too highly. It's simply a "must read" for anyone who loves good literature, fine writing --and isn't predjudiced against genre. In this beautiful, sinister work, Davis Grubb breaks the mold.

Night of the Hunter has always been one of my favorite films: eerie, atmospheric, gripping are just a few words that come to mind for this masterpiece, the only film made by silent film star Charles Laughton. It gets better with each viewing. I only got around lately to reading Davis Grubb's source material and it's just as amazing and mesmerizing as the movie. If you like a book that gives you genuine chills, yet still creates really sympathetic characters, give this one a try. Of course, if you're like me and loved the movie, you owe it to yourself to see why they wanted to make it into a movie.

With the publication of a new edition Amazon seems to have deleted the earlier reviews. They were unanimous in their praise for Night of the Hunter,

I bought the book in Italy to read on the trains. There wasn't much of a selection. I expected a routine crime thriller.

We have cheapened superlatives to the point where they really don't resonate. If I tell you it's the best book I have ever read, I may be setting your expectations so high that it can never meet them.

It did change my life.

Grubb provides one of the best "bad guys" in literature: the Reverend Harry Powell. A bad guy needs a hero. Powell is so bad that it takes two heroes to offset him.

The first is John Harper, the older brother. If you happen to have two children -- an older brother and a younger sister -- the story of their relationship has immense power.

The second is Rachel Cooper. She is my favorite character in my reading life.

She is immensely strong, with a forgiving nature. It was her ability to forgive that helped me to forgive someone -- to change my life.

Of course Robert Mitchum is well known for having played Reverend Powell in the movie -- for good reason. Lillian Gish played Rachel Cooper. She was wonderful.

The movie continues to grow in stature, while the novel seems to be forgotten. (There is a musical version of Night of the Hunter out there somewhere.) This is an unfortunate, as Grubb deserves to be recognized as a great writer.

I've been reading my way through all his works -- that I can find. Fools Parade is the most accessible -- terrific, and Shadow of My Brother is a very powerful story of racism that, unfortunately, is still highly relevant.

Grubb wrote with strong emotional content. The emotional power of Voices of Glory is so high that I haven't had the composure to read it yet. I'm trying to understand how he did that, to be able to write like that myself.

There was a point in the mid to late 1990s when author Mark C. Sumner was just hellishly prolific. Even though he'd written two fabulous adult fantasy westerns in Devil's Tower and Devil's Engine, he made his bones crafting some terrific, atmospheric teen novels. There's THE DARK and DEADLY STRANGER and his excellent vampire trilogy THE PRINCIPAL, THE SUBSTITUTE and THE COACH. And then there's EXTREME ZONE, Sumner's paranoid, rapid-fire sci-fi series.

It begins with NIGHT TERRORS.

Noah Templer was once a star athlete and student. But, of late, unrelenting dreams of having been abducted by aliens and a feeling of being watched have made a mess of his life. He's been kicked off the basketball team and, scholarly, he's been slipping. He's broken up with his girlfriend, who laughed in his face when he confided in her. Now Noah spends much of his time obsessing on UFOs. He thinks he might be going insane.

Kathleen "Harley" Davisidaro has just moved to the unassuming East Coast town of Stone Harbor, with her dad, a contract worker for the military, having just been reassigned to the nearby military base, the Tulley Hill Research Facility. From the start, Harley's had a disquieting feeling about that place, which is jointly ran by the military and a covert intelligence agency called Unit 17. What's more, as she begins attending Stone Harbor High School, Harley runs into a strange boy named Noah, who has a tendency to wig out and go into unsettling trances.

But when Harley's dad mysteriously vanishes, Noah might turn out to be the best person to help her, if she can only get over the sensation that Noah just may be crazy. Too, Harley and Noah must stave off the frightening assaults on their lives. One thing's for sure, there is some seriously eerie stuff going on.

At a brisk 202 pages, NIGHT TERRORS is a quick and riveting read, and will keep you guessing. I appreciate the fact that the book doesn't tame itself down to cater to some kind of young adult sensibility. Indeed, NIGHT TERRORS packs quite a wallop and is fraught with moody tension. I guess it's not too out of line to describe this series as a teen version of the X-Files. Certainly, NIGHT TERRORS unveils its share of sinister conspiracies and shadowy organizations, such as Unit 17 and Legion. The weirdness factor and the science-fiction aspects are there, as well, from weird lights in the sky to the enigmatic man in black to several residents of Stone Harbor who seem to flaunt otherworldy traits. The chapters are alternately narrated from Noah and Harley's respective viewpoints, and Sumner does a very good job of developing their characters and building a connection with the reader.

The pace begins slowly but ominously as Sumner ably sets the stage and establishes the mood. The reader is made quickly aware that something is not quite right with the Tulley Hill Research Facility and with the reclusive, tiny town of Stone Harbor. As the plot thickens and the stakes are escalated, the pace builds to a frenetic clip, until the explosive finale, which takes place in the top secret recesses of Tulley Hill.

However, NIGHT TERRORS is only the first of the Extreme Zone series, which is comprised of eight novels (that I know of). So, it shouldn't be a surprise that the answers sought by Noah and Harley come few and far between. NIGHT TERRORS was first published in 1997, with, I believe, the rest of the novels coming out in '97 and '98. I haven't yet managed to check out the sequels (although, believe me, they're on order!), but if Mark C. Sumner was able to maintain the tension-wracked quality of NIGHT TERRORS in the successive entries, then the EXTREME ZONE series is gonna be one hell of a ride.

By the way, I'm still not quite sure what the term "Extreme Zone" refers to.

Here's a list of the existing, hard-to-find Extreme Zone novels:
- NIGHT TERRORS (EXTREME ZONE 1)
- Dark Lies the Extreme Zone 2
- UNSEEN POWERS EXTREME ZONE 3 (Extreme Zone)
- Deadly Secrets the Extreme Zone 4
- COMMON ENEMY EXTREME ZONE 5 (Extreme Zone)
- INHUMAN FURY EXTREME ZONE 6 (Extreme Zone)
- LOST SOUL EXTREME ZONE 7 (Extreme Zone)
- Dead End Extreme Zone 8

I was at our local Wal-mart when I came across this book. Picking it up and reading the back, I was intrigued by what the book was about so I decided to get it. Boy, am I glad that I did. This series is awesome. M.C. Sumner is a brilliant writer. These books are among my most favorites of all time. If you like your stories with plenty of plot, this is the series for you. I highly recommend 'The Extreme Zone' to all.

I'm generally not into books, but I picked up this one and couldn't put it down. The plot is unpredictable. Most stories are so predictable, the butler did it right? WRONG! You can never make an acurate guess. I guessed what the story would be like a million times, and none of them even came close.

So buy it and read it, and be ready to read for a long time.

(best to have a good stash of fritos and coca-cola)

Awesome book. I read it first when I was about 10. I just picked it up today and I still love it, at age 16.

In the first book of the Extreme Zone, two ordinary teenagers, Kathleen "Harley" Davisidaro and Noah Templer start a journey into the unknown, as they discover physcic powers, strange creatures, and rival secret organizations out to get the two of them. This was a cool novel that teenagers who like science fiction would probably enjoy.