Books

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Book Review: The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson

Published September 25, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

I just took a long hot bath – in dollar store bleach! I still don’t exactly feel clean but, thankfully, the permanent scum encountered by reading Robert Hofler’s The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson (The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson) is definitely a joyous one!

Here, Hofler recounts the history of the moneyed Willson whose many smoothly muscular male clients paved the way for the term “beefcake”. Best known for creating Rock Hudson (Pretty Maids All In A Row, Embryo), Willson also was (at least initially) responsible for the careers of such terror bound clients as Rory Calhoun (Motel Hell), John Saxon (Black Christmas, A Nightmare on Elm Street), Tab Hunter (Grotesque, Cameron’s Closet), Troy Donahue (Blood Nasty, My Blood Runs Cold) and James Darren (Venus in Furs).

Saxon

Portraying Hollywood as a cesspool of sexual manipulation, this sticky tome chronicles how Willson would mold his unrefined upstarts into camera ready studs. Of course, the extremely closeted agent often demanded sexual favors from his flock and Hudson, upon reaching the far heights of his fame, often indulged in Willson’s stable of up-and-comers, as well. In fact, if even half the allegations are true, this tale of seductions and internal homophobia is a mindboggling examination of the lengths that people will go to for fame in the often corrupt environs of Hollywood.

Calhoun

Of course, false or not, Willson’s account of (extremely well hung) cowboy star Calhoun’s affair with (fellow stud) Guy Madison is sure to be a delight filled revelation for lavender horror freaks who grew up relishing tales of Farmer Vincent’s fritters. Granted, Hofler does try to give equal weight to Willson’s kindnesses, however dubious they, ultimately, come off. Many colleagues defend Willson’s devotion to the young men under his influence, claiming that he truly took care of them, emotionally and financially, throughout the entirety of their careers. Hudson while painted as sexually voracious is also given props for his genuine humility. Although, Hudson’s best friend George Nader (Robot Monster) comes out looking the best of the bunch here by seeming to genuinely avoid all of the sordidness at hand.

Hunter

Still, as dazzlingly enjoyable as this tome is for all its sheet stained revelations, this is ultimately a tale of sadness. In reality, Hollywood has changed little since Willson’s days of hush-hush dalliances. Combining this fact with the knowledge that Willson died a pauper and that Hudson’s status as the first truly famous victim of AIDS is perhaps more significant to history than his light footed eloquence in such classics as Pillow Talk marks The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson as both a sobering sociological study and a glitzy expose – a nimble feat for Hofler.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Book Review: Melody Burning

Published July 30, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Just like the kid who wolfs down 5 corn dogs and then gets on the parking lot fair’s Tilt-a-Whirl, you have to let a lot go to buy into Whitley Strieber’s first young adult novel Melody Burning. But suspension of disbelief here, ultimately, results in a fun, quick read with a number of surprises and some fairly shocking charms.

Teen pop star/television actress Melody Mc Grath moves into the elite Beresford apartment building with her controlling manager-mother. Melody soon discovers, Phantom of the Opera style, the Beresford is home to a hunky teen boy who has grown up among its elevator shafts and secret passageways. As the two fall in love, the building’s murderously corrupt owner plots to incinerate it, hence the novel’s wonderfully sparky title.

Strieber (Wolfen, The Hunger) gets down the intense nature of control and rigidity that most younger people are exposed to when nailing down a show business career – making us sympathize greatly with Melody and her fate, both emotionally and physically. He, also, doesn’t candy coat the worlds of syndicate crime or the juvenile court system, most extremely highlighted by a sequence implying the reality of homosexual rape in group lockdown.

All the truthful harshness, though, is definitely leavened by the almost fairy tale nature of the two leads’ courtship and the radical change in thinking of Melody’s guardian by the tale’s explosive end.

You can keep up with Strieber’s adventures (literary and otherwise) at http://www.unknowncountry.com.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Book Review: Combustion by Daniel W Kelly

Published July 1, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Warm hearted, silly and, most importantly, filled with tons of outrageous sex, Daniel W. Kelly’s novel Combustion combines supernatural activity, social commentary and fiery vampire lore with giddy aplomb.

Concerning the efforts of Deck Waxer, a burly PI, who finds himself in plenty of hot and horror-ific action in a burgeoning gay village known as Kremfort Cove, this queer terror entry is fast paced and adventurous. Most importantly, Kelly incorporates plenty of messages of positive self-image, here. Waxer, in particular, is painted as someone without the club boy body type. But he is, also, highly desired and intensely sexual – proving that wherever one falls on the physical spectrum, there is never any reason to doubt your desirability. A gentle giant named Milkman Stan, whose sexual activities are some of the more unusual covered here is, also, one of the book’s more enjoyable, body positive characters, as well.

Of course, with a multitude of interesting characters and several dangling plotlines at this tome’s end, it is no surprise that Kelly has revisited the world he has created here in his second novel, No Place for Little Ones.

You can gather more information about Kelly and his writing at http://www.danielwkelly.com. Kelly is, also, the majestic force behind Boys, Bears and Scares. Check that out at http://www.facebook.com/boysbearsandscares.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Hidden Horror Takes the Cake!

Published February 7, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Yep, Hidden Horror, the book anthology that celebrates over 100 overlooked terror masterpieces, has spread its delicious hideousness out into the world, just like blood specked frosting!

Luckily, I was on hand at this macabre collection’s recent release party to interview a few of the book’s amazing authors.

Indie horror darling Michelle Courvais (Dead Weight, The Landlord) details her love for Brimstone and Treacle, here:

Meanwhile, the glorious Shelley and the fabulous Steve highlight such queer related films as Carnival of Souls and Lemora, as well:

Be sure to pick up Hidden Horror on Amazon:

http://tinyurl.com/m8dzb3y

And if you like, follow its wacky, limb strewn progression at http://www.facebook.com/hiddenhorrorthebook, too.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Book Review: A Warning in Blood

Published January 31, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

I trip. I fall. I land someplace new!

Thankfully, others have a more elegant way of arriving at interesting destinations. Take Dru Lorand, the title character in author Joseph R.G. DeMarco’s new vampire detective series A Warning in Blood. Lorand can manifest into traveling mist or transform into an elegant falcon to get around.

And Lorand does get around here. An investigation into an outbreak of uncontrollable vampire children takes him from the lofts and underground lairs of Philadelphia to a mountainous monastery retreat outside of Prague. In his travels, he eventually discovers that an all consuming, age old presence is fighting to take form and destroy the world’s order. And lots of hot men…he discovers those, too, of course!

Granted, like most homosexual fantasy fiction, DeMarco’s male characters are all marked by exquisite beauty. His skills as a writer, though, allow him to nicely differentiate them, as well. Thus we get a nice feel for everyone from the meek and confused (human puppet) Grant to the willfully destructive, mind altering vampire lieutenant Scylax.

DeMarco, also, sets up a nice mythology and his supporting characters, including a helpful gargoyle name Pyro, are inventive and fun. DeMarco doesn’t shy away from exploding body parts or the vicious nature of the creatures that he has created; giving true horror buffs something to latch onto, as well.

The major complaint with this piece just might be that it is an obvious set-up for a series of books and the cliffhanger ending may come too abruptly for some.

A Warning in Blood is published by Lethe Press – http://www.lethepressbooks.com –and is available for purchase at Amazon – http://tinyurl.com/kjcf8x2 – as well!

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

The Spine Trembling Launch of Hidden Horror!

Published January 3, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Big Gay Horror Fan gives some Hag Horror loving to underrated slasher Night Warning in “Hidden Horror”

This is your official Night Warning!

Hidden Horror, the massively exciting volume celebrating 100’s of underrated terror flicks, is now available for purchase!

From the freaky (Brimstone and Treacle, May) to the excessively exploitive (I Spit on Your Grave) to some golden horrors, this fine tome brings new light to plenty of gothic gems!

To celebrate its publication, there will be a physical book launch party on Sunday, January 19 at Spyner’s Pub in Chicago. (4623 N. Western Ave, SE corner of Western and Eastwood, right across the street from the Western Brown Line stop) The festivities will take place from 3pm to 7pm, with food, drink (cash bar), trivia, games, prizes, and, of course, copies of Hidden Horror available at a discounted rate. (Several of the book’s 101 contributors, including myself, will also be on hand to sign copies.)

If you aren’t Midwest bound, feel free to take a look at this cobwebbed beauty of literary significance at http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Horror-Celebration-Underrated-Overlooked/dp/0991127900!

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: growgirl

Published December 19, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

Sometimes the only way to get through the daily battle between that heinous cackling wizard of fate and that vengeful witch of emotional destruction is to put your head down and just barrel through it.

Actress/author/all-around-adventuress Heather Donahue pretty much does just that as, sharply, described in her illuminating memoir growgirl. Donahue, whose terror stained credits include such fun, cheesy efforts as Manticore and The Morgue, of course, is best known for her incisive work in The Blair Witch Project. Here, though, she describes her efforts to create a life for herself after her career in Hollywood stops holding any fruitful fascination for her.

Gamely facing the terrors of the Manticore!

The answer to her quest is probably a bit less typical than you might imagine. Retiring to a small West Coast community, Donahue begins a career farming medical marijuana. With self deprecation and tart humor, she describes her year-long adventure in a seemingly harmonious community that, ultimately, has as many double standards as any societal unit.

Winningly, Donahue is as tough on herself as any of the people she encounters on her journey. From physical comedy to self aware acknowledgements of her propensity to bang when knocking softly would suffice, she writes with humbling candor. Her on-the-target observations about the community’s inability to escape from basic patriarchal grandstanding are leavened with detailed descriptions of those masculine elders’ honest heartaches and profound commitments, as well.

Best of all, for those who aware of their own uncertain stumbling through life, Donahue’s narration provides plenty of relatability. But, we can only hope that our experiences contain half of the honest, poetic beauty that Donahue describes so potently in growgirl.

PS: For dog lovers, Donahue’s loving descriptions of her bounding pup, Vito, make him one of the most fascinating literary characters in recent years.

You can purchase growgirl at Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/k434ttr and you can keep up-to-date with Donahue at http://www.heatherdonahue.com, as well.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

Hey!! Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan, too.

Review: Red Caps

Published December 18, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

It’s amazing to consider that, one day, gay high school prom kings and queens may be the norm. Standing at the mid-point of history, when our queer baby brothers and sisters are still being bullied yet becoming a more recognized scholastic force, Steve Berman’s collection of new young adult fairy tales, Red Caps, hits at exactly the right moment. His stories contain proud, out college bound sophisticates whom still are fighting off the rigid strains of homophobia and the prescribed doctrines of public acceptance – all with a fantastical twist, of course.

With a release date of February 14th, 2014, many of Berman’s sweetly magical tales concern love. Love thwarted, love longed for and love, in its delicate first moments of adventure. You get the still relevant tales of youths fighting to free their significant others from the dangers of the closet (Only Lost Boys Are Found) and those fighting for breath within the sticky strings of monogamy (Bittersweet). Berman, also, perfectly nails the tentative nature of all emotional entanglements. No one ever quite escapes the nervous energy associated with a new crush or an unrequited obsession, making stories such as Most Likely and The Harvestbuck relatable to all.

Berman mixes all these common day realities with a sense of the punk (Red Caps is an indie band mentioned in several of the stories) fantastic, though. All Smiles power-blends the conventions of sexy hitchhiking bad-asses, back breaking reform school programs and mysterious clans of demon hunters into a bloody, hypnotic literature smoothie. Three on a Match suggests that tragedies like teen suicide and the strains of life-at-large can find a bit of relief in the imaginary and supposed magic.

Berman excels in smaller moments, as well. He writes of familial relations, particularly the interactions between siblings, with tart truth. Indeed, a late-point revelation about the lead character’s sister in Only Lost Boys Are Found is one of the most simple, yet poignant moments in the collection as a whole.

Funny, honest and mystically misty, Berman proves here, without a doubt, that the mysterious and the wonderful do exist in our everyday lives, making Red Caps an appropriate gift for funky kids of every age.

Further information on Berman and Red Caps can be gathered at http://www.lethepressbooks.com and http://www.steveberman.com.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan, as well.

Book Review: Out in the Dark

Published December 14, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

The lesbian prostitute nuns who raised me were far more concerned about my love of all things gory as opposed to my sexuality. Well, they were lesbian prostitute nuns. Thankfully, writer-director-sassy bon vivant Sean Abley handles the whole queer horror loving vibe much better with his essential new book Out in the Dark: Interviews with Gay Horror Filmmakers, Actors and Authors.

As the force behind Fangoria’s late, lamented Gay of the Dead, Abley got to pepper us with stories from the most important bent figures in the terror scene. Here, he compiles (and updates) those pieces while adding some new ones into the mix, as well.

Importantly, while Abley interviews the actors involved with gay familiar fare like The Lair, he also spends plenty of time diving, deeply, into the works of such important independent filmmaking voices as Alan Rowe Kelly (The Blood Shed), Bart Mastronardi (Vindication), Jason Paul Collum (October Moon, Screaming in High Heels), JT Seaton (George: A Zombie Intervention) and Armando Nunez (They Have No Shame). Big timers like Dan Mancini (Child’s Play) and Jeffrey Reddick (Final Destination) stop by, as well.

Ryan Metzger in Eulogy for a Vampire.

Interesting factoids abound everywhere. Former TV heartthrob Wesley Eure (Land of the Lost, The Toolbox Murders) talks about how Hollywood homophobia and the AIDS crisis made significant impacts on his career. VHS enthusiasts may be surprised to discover that Tim Kincaid, the director of Mutant Hunt and other low budget goodies, is actually famed porn maker Joe Gage. Actors like Ryan Metzger and David Moretti, also, reveal that it is not only writers and directors who love terror (on a personal level) – Moretti talks of sneaking looks at Fangoria as a kid while Metzger maintains that a good death scene can seal the deal on a proposed project for him.

Above all, the passion and strength of all these creative individuals shines through, a testament to their own inner drive and Abley’s fun, incisive questions.

Out in the Dark is published by Lethe Press. It can be purchased from their site at http://www.lethepressbooks.com or from Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/mch3dsl.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan, as well!

The Glorious Wonders of Dance Macabre Online!

Published December 13, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

DM’s issue 75 cover.

If holiday spending has left your pockets corpse cold, then you’ve got to hand it to editor Adam Henry Carrière. His dark and delicious online publication Danse Macabre is totally free!

The current issue (#76) has a quirkily festive theme with an amazing re-examination of (a convertible driving) Red Riding Hood (created with puck and sass by the distinguished Peter Wortsman) and the brilliantly comical LiteralVille (imagined with sharply humorous overtones by Ed Coonce), thrown in for good measure.

You can check out all the limb flowing goodness at:

http://www.dansemacabreonline.com

Issue #77 of Danse Macabre will be available in January 2014. In the meantime, you can purchase tons of colorful back issues (many with queer friendly themes) for the low rate of $2.99 each!

Meanwhile, acclaimed New Zealand based poet Mercedes WebbPullman, a frequent contributor to the awesomeness that is Danse Macabre, has a truly entertaining entry in another online publication with a sweetly grisly moniker, Bone Orchard Poetry.

Be sure to enjoy that at the link, below, as well:

http://boneorchardpoetry.blogspot.com/2012/02/mercedes-webb-pullman.html

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan