New books to read

Roger Corman: Metaphysics on a Shoestring by Alain Silver and James Ursini (Silman-James Press) is a welcome, b/w illustrated, survey of the movie career of genre maven Corman "one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of motion pictures." (Although the back cover blurb makes that claim tenatively, it's a statement that many film buffs would doubtless agree with.) I'm suprised, anew, while flipping though this book's impressive coverage sci-fi/horror schlock, cheapo westerns, adventure-thrillers and obscure fantasy stuff, how many of Corman's often cultworthy productions I still haven't seen yet. Jeez, I bought The Trip (1967) on DVD over a year ago, and it's still on the shelf! (Must get that watched, soon.) So... this very smart looking book has served its purpose for me, already, reviving interest in the prolific Corman's work.

Shane Ryan Staley's Corrosion, a chapbook of assorted writings from Delirium Books, began life as an on-going website - Project Corrosion, a mix of horror and humour in the popular online-viral mode of fiction-blogs. "Freeing minds... one nun at a time" says the blurb, but I doubt any church would invite this acerbic, darkly absurdist, frequently-challenging writer to visit, let alone give him five minutes of pulpit time! This book is only volume one (in a projected series), so the "literary mayhem" looks set to continue...

British magazine Whispers Of Wickedness #12 (D-Press, Spring 2006) offers a batch of short stories and nonfiction material from contributors to the Ookami website. It's apparently edited by Peter Tennant - a strong supporter of the UK small press, and WOW is available on subscription (online via Paypal), from the site.

Read By Dawn Volume 1 (Bloody Books, a new genre imprint of Beautiful Books) is a horror anthology 'hosted' (so presumably edited?) by Ramsey Campbell, who's rightly championed as "Britain's foremost horror author" in the publicity blurb. The book's somewhat vague connection to Scotland's international horror film festival Dead By Dawn is peculiar, but it's not unheard of for movie fans to read the occasional book!