THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU
H.G. Wells
1996
Dover Publications
Reviewed by Brian James Lewis

This week’s Throwback Thursday Thriller is The Island of Dr. Moreau. First published in 1896 by notable forward thinker, H.G. Wells, this novella is a tale of science gone wrong that resounds just as strongly today as it did over 100 years ago. What an amazing Sci-Fi and Horror pioneer! Wells was writing books about genetic engineering and its consequences during a time in which people were still using a horse and buggy.

Our narrator, Edward Prendick, is picked up by a strange boat and rescued after the passenger ship that he was originally on meets misfortune and he and a few crew members managed to escape on one of the lifeboats. However, only Prendick survives. His condition is so rough that he refers to his hand as “a dirty skin purse full of loose bones.”  His savior Montgomery brings Prendick back from the edge of death mostly to entertain himself than anything else.

The small freighter that they’re on is crammed with supplies as well as a crude menagerie of animals secured on deck or wherever possible. When Prendick asks Montgomery about it, he pretends to be merely an observer himself. But that soon dissolves when the drunken captain of the freighter and his crew’s harassment of Montgomery’s manservant goes too far and he has to step in before major damage is done. Prendick is freaked out by the black hairy man because there are things about him that just look odd like his huge teeth and animal eyes.

Eventually the ship arrives at the island that Montgomery calls home and it is unloaded. Prendick is also unloaded against his will and put back into his lifeboat to drift. The owner of the island, Dr. Moreau finally relents and lets Prendick ashore. This at first makes Prendick grateful, but once he’s on the island for a short time, that turns into terror as he discovers a bunch of people who’ve been horribly disfigured by Dr. Moreau. He then makes a big point of threatening the doctor and Montgomery. This confuses the Beast People who think that he is one of them and is the beginning of a bad downhill slide for everyone involved.

When he learns the truth, that Moreau turns animals into men and women using vivisection, Prendick is even less delighted. He should be, since his behavior has shown the other “men” that they too can retaliate against the House of Pain and fight against the artificial God that Moreau has made himself into. There are quite a few episodes of the Beast People surging forward against Moreau, Montgomery, and Prendick, and then being driven back. But when Moreau “He who rules the House of Pain” is killed in a fight with the Puma, everything in the unstable social structure comes crashing down and doesn’t stop until the bitter end.

Montgomery, who is a righteous alcoholic, goes on a bender. While wasted he decides that it would be a great plan to share his booze with the Beast People. They end up drunk and Montgomery turns them against Prendick, who has locked himself inside the fenced in compound for safety. Everyone is running crazy, the boats that Prendick and Montgomery planned to use as a means to escape the island are smashed and burned.  As most fights fueled by drink do, Montgomery’s fight against Prendick takes a sickening turn when he runs out of alcohol and the Beast People demand more. When he doesn’t produce more, they beat him to death in rage.

Prendick seeing this, rushes out to his rescuer’s aid only to accidentally knock over an oil lamp inside the supply room. It explodes and burns down the entire compound leaving Prendick with no safe refuge to hide in. For a while, he lives among the Beast People until they regress back into their animal identities. They shun their clothing, stop speaking English, and most importantly, return to their animal ways such as being carnivorous and hunting. Prendick is just another thing to hunt and has to move to the beach with the ocean at his back with his faithful companion, the Dog Man.

However, once the Dog Man is killed in the night, Prendick knows he has to get off the island or die soon. He builds a raft and is amazingly enough rescued once again in wretched condition and is returned to dear old London. Once he gets there an odd thing happens. He finds that he can’t stand being around people because in every human he can see parts of his former beast people companions and it is too scary and close for comfort.

The Island of Dr. Moreau is not only a superb story but one with a lot of messages for us. Currently we are capable of doing what Wells depicted over a hundred years ago. We have extreme cosmetic surgery, genetic engineering, etc. Man is not meant to be God. However in our highly educated conceited opinions we think we might be better than a higher power at running the show. In truth humans usually mess things up really bad when given enough rope.

SHADOWLAND
Peter Straub
Berkley Publishing Corporation
Released in 1980
reviewed by Brian James Lewis

WELCOME to the second installment of my Throwback Thursday Thrifty Thriller book review series! Today our subject is a battered paperback of the very dark and complex SHADOWLAND by horror writer extraordinaire, Peter Straub.

The book is broken up into three parts. In part one, our mysterious narrator speaks with Tom Flanagan about a book he wants to write about the summer that Tom spent with his friend Del Nightingale. It was not just any old summer vacation because they were staying with master magician Coleman Collins at his secluded mansion. The entire experience turned out to be a lot more than either boy expected. Especially Tom, who thinks that they are just there to learn some magic. After the introduction, we go to a creepy boys’ prep school and that is where our heroes meet. Del and Tom become good friends while suffering through a freaky series of events that include such weirdos as Skeleton Ridpath and the school’s new headmaster, Laker Broome.

Luckily Tom and Del find that they share a love of magic, and soon they are spending a lot of time together. Del is incredibly rich and treats the world with the indifference caused by such a condition. This sometimes puts he and Tom at odds with each other. That, and the fact that Del’s natural parents are dead, sets him apart from Tom, whose parents are more of the working class type. When Tom’s father starts dying from cancer, Del cannot relate. A person who connects very well with Tom, is Bud, the butler at Del’s house. Unlike the other rich white people, who think it to be below them, Tom shakes Bud’s dark skinned hand and treats him with the respect the quiet, mysterious man deserves. Both of them realize that although Del’s uncle is teaching him magic when he visits his home in Vermont, that being alone with Coleman Collins is not safe for him.

On what turns out to be Del’s final visit to his uncle’s estate, Tom accompanies him. It seems like everyone wants him to keep an eye on little Del and he feels it himself, that something is not right. However, Coleman Collins is a serious force to be reckoned with and seems to be omniscient, and if for some reason he’s not watching the boys, he has some bad-ass hired hands who are more than happy to rough them up. There’s also a strange device called, “The Collector” which Collins introduces as a sort of plaything, but it is far from that. The Collector collects peoples’ souls, their life essence, and there they stay unless Collins sees fit to release them. Coleman Collins doesn’t really give two shits about pulling a quarter from behind your ear. No, what Collins has tapped into is so evil that it makes the Devil look kind of wimpy.

Here come the boys who just want to levitate and learn the secrets of entertainment style magic. Tom wants to protect his little pal Del. Del wants to hook up with a female spirit named Rose that lives in the lake on Collins’ property and can’t see anything else. Coleman Collins wants the entire showcase. He wants to have enough power to run the entire world as he sees fit. The person who unknowingly has that power is Tom Flanagan. Collins aims to strip him of that power, kill his pesky little nephew, and for a good long while, live trouble free. Just when it looks like the show is over, Bud shows up and saves the day by telling Tom what his role in the magic world is supposed to be. Tom takes that ball and runs with it, but he can’t save everybody or fix everything. He’s just a kid, after all! SHADOWLAND has a LOT of stuff going on in it. There are multiple layers of stories, time travel, triumphs, defeats, and instead of really ending, the book perches uncertainly. The narrator goes to take a peek at the wreck that was once Coleman Collins kingdom and finds that the property has all been purchased by a Mr. Flanagan. Every square inch is fenced off, but…as the narrator looks on, he swears he hears voices speaking and something bubbling in the lake…

This is one hell of a great book from a writer who writes in many styles. If you liked Peter Straub’s collaborations with Stephen King, you are going to love this book. Grab it on Amazon while it’s back in print, or a used copy like I did. You won’t regret it!

Well Hi! I’m so proud of these skull canisters. Y’see, I made ’em myself. Now who thinks that these fine art pieces would make great gifts? You always need to keep your nuts and bolts together in your lab…Er, garage! Maybe I should have labelled them something else, such as BRAINS? I sure could use some extra ones! Let us know what you think of these fine items. “Operators are standing by!”

Yep! There’s just no other way to put that. As writers and creative people who make art for the world, we live in a place that most ordinary folks just don’t understand. Which would be fine, I guess. Except…It works both ways. So that as we are, especially as I am, the world often just does NOT make much sense.

Today, like many of you are doing, I tried to stretch the boundaries and figure out how I could be more out there and a part of the world. For awhile, I felt pretty fucking groovy…Yeah, I was getting there! Then I hit a wall and another…And I was reduced to feeling like a child in the technological world all over again. Damn IT!

It doesn’t matter how rich or famous we are (or are not in my case). Whether you’re having fajitas, turkey, or a vegetarian meal, the important thing is the friends and family we share the day with and give thanks for. If you don’t have anybody, hang in there, and know our prayers are with you!

LIMBO by Jan Lara September 1, 1988 Warner Books-Popular Library Edition Reviewed by Brian James Lewis Hey Gang! This is my first review in my new Thursday Throwback Thrift Store Thrillers s…

Source: HEY! It’s the first Thursday Throwback Thifty Thriller!

All the way from Texas to Upstate New York! I opened the PMMP box and was wowed by these lovelies! Have already started reading issue #2. Hot damn! Feel like I won the lottery! Usually Monday sucks…But not this one!

via This REALLY Scares Me — The Sanguine Woods: Where the Heart Can Bleed More Freely…