The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells

(hb; 1896)

From the inside flap:

"[This] is the story of [Edward] Prendick, a common man, who is shipwrecked on a mysterious island populated by Moreau, a scientist and Montgomery, his drunken assistant, a disgraced doctor. Growing suspicious of Moreau's experiments, Prendick discovers Moreau is creating strange, human-like cratures from animals. Wolves, dogs, pumas, oxen and other animals have been transformed by Doctor Moreau's skillful hands and brilliant mind into Beast People, capable of speech and thought.

"Following a shocking sequence of events Prendick is left alone with Moreau's creations, as they revert back to their animal state. . ."



Review:

Wells's fast-paced novel is immediately gripping and timeless, perfectly balancing the action/science fiction aspects of the tale, the emotions of its lead protagonist (Prendick, whose panic suffuses the work) and its horrific men should not play God with nature theme.

True to Frankensteinean form, Doctor Moreau is a curious and barbaric man, often more cruel and perverted than the Beast People he created and brainwashed. And this reader could practically smell Montgomery's desperate, acrid alcoholic sweat, as he, caught in his own fugue-panic, further enables Moreau's escalating (and equally desperate) atrocities.

One of my all-time favorite novels, this: own it, already.

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Seven films have resulted from this novel.

The first, The Island of the Lost, was released in 1921.

This German-language film was directed by Urban Gad, from a screenplay by Hans Berhendt and Bobby E. Lüthge.

Fritz Beckmann played Jim. Hans Berhendt (who also co-scripted the movie) played Pat Quickly. Alf Blutecher played Robert Marston. Tronier Funder played Dr. Ted Fowlen. Ludmilla Hell played Evelyn Wilkinson.

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The second version, Island of Lost Souls, was released stateside in December 1932.

Charles Laughton played Dr. Moreau. Richard Arlen played Edward Parker. Leila Hyams played Ruth Thomas. Bela Lugosi played "Sayer of the Law". Kathleen Burke played "The Panther Woman - Lota". Arthur Hohl played Mr. Montgomery. Tetsu Komai played M'ling. George Irving played "The Consul".

Erle C. Kenton directed the film, from a script by Waldemar Young and Philip Wylie.

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Terror Is A Man was the third cinematic version of Wells's novel, though the novel was never credited as the film's source material. Terror Is A Man was released stateside in November 1959.

Francis Lederer played Dr. Charles Girard. Greta Thyssen played Frances Girard. Richard Derr played Dr. Fitzgerald. Oscar Keesee played Walter Perrera.

Geraldo de Leon directed the film, from a script by Paul Harbor.

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Tim Burton directed, scripted and starred in the 1971 shot-on-Super-8 short The Island of Doctor Agor. It was Burton's first film, and the fourth cinematic adaptation of this Wells novel.

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The Twilight People was released stateside in January 1973. The film did not cite Wells's novel as a source, though this appears to be the case.

John Ashley played Matt Farrell. Pat Woodell played Neva Gordon. Jan Merlin played Steinman. Charles Macauley played Dr. Gordon. Pam Grier played "Ayesa, the Panther Woman". Ken Metcalfe played "Kuzma, the Antelope Man". Kim Ramos played "Primo, the Ape Man".

Eddie Romero, who also co-scripted the film with Jerome Small, directed this fifth film version of Wells's novel.

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The sixth version, The Island of Doctor Moreau, was released stateside on July 13, 1977. Don Taylor directed the film, from a screenplay by Al Ramrus and John Herman Shaner.

Burt Lancaster played Dr. Paul Moreau. Michael York played Andrew Braddock. Nigel Davenport played Montgomery. Barbara Carrera played Maria. Richard Basehart played "Sayer of the Law". Nick Cravat played M'ling.

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The seventh (and latest) cinematic adaptation, The Island of Doctor Moreau, was released stateside on August 23, 1996.

David Thewlis played Edward Douglas. Marlon Brando played Dr. Moreau. Fairuza Balk played Aissa. Val Kilmer played Montgomery. Ron Perlman played "Sayer of the Law". Marco Hoffschneider played M'ling. Temuera Morrison played Azazello. Mark Dascascos played Lo-Mai.

John Frankenheimer, who replaced an uncredited/fired Richard Stanley, directed the film, from a script by Richard Stanley and Ron Hutchinson.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, by David Sedaris

(hb; 2010; illustrations by Ian Falconer)

From the inside flap:

"If animals were more like us,

if mice kept pets and toads could cuss,

if dogs had wives and chipmunks dated,

sheep sat still and meditated,

then in the forest, field and dairy

you might find this bestiary,

read by storks, by rats and kitties,

skimmed by cows with milk-stained titties.

'I found this book to be most droll,'

might quip the bear, the owl, the mole.

Others, though, would be more coarse.

'Bull,' could say the pig and horse.

As to the scribe, they'd quote the hen:

'Trust me, he's no La Fontaine.' "


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Review:

Grim morality-toned book that looks like a kid's book, but isn't.

Falconer's stunning illustrations amplify the effect of Sedaris's short, sharp 'animals with anthromorphized motives' stories, from the bleak "The Crow and the Lamb", "The Vigilant Rabbit" and "The Sick Rat and the Healthy Rat" (with their egregious, manipulative and self-righteous villains) to the comparatively gentle and sublime "The Parenting Storks" and "The Grieving Owl".

This book isn't for the faint of heart, but it should be read by as many people as possible. There's more than a bit of ourselves in these fickle, purblind, judgmental and pernicious animals, more than most of us would probably like to admit.

This is one of my favorite reads of late -- worth owning.

Death Wish by Iceberg Slim

(pb; 1977)

From the back cover:

". . . greedy Don Jimmy Colucci. . . wants nothing less than to rule the 'honored society,' dedicated warrior Jessie Taylor. . . is driven to destroy it. . . Vividly real, these powerful implacable figures and their stubbornly loyal underlings stalk each other through pages teeming with life, love, lust, and death."



Review:

Slim, aka Robert Beck, serves up an inebriating brew of cynical sex, savagery, greed and street-level racism, peppering his explicit slang verbiage with a diverse array of characters, whose often labyrinthine plots drive them (and everyone around them) to extreme, inevitable betrayals and bloodbaths.

Slim also spices up this Chicago-set, ghetto Shakespearean mix with "voudoo" [voodoo], an instance of bizarre bestiality, and briefly-mentioned necrophilia, with many of the characters laying down "psychodramas" [traps, as Taylor's fellow guerilla militants, The Warriors, call them] for those around them.

Stirring this potboiler even further, Slim's occasional bits of awkward-phrase, jagged urban poetry are thrown in for good measure (e.g., "The sex-fiend squealing of city death wagons sodomized infant day. Chicago, the gaudy b**ch, had banged another carnal night away. Now the fake grand lady lay uglied in her neon ball gown. Sleazed in merciless light. Her bleak drawers hung foul with new and ancient death.").

This last trademark element of Slim's writing is a blessing or a curse, depending on which of his books you read. In Death Wish, it's a blessing.

Worth owning, if you like raw, blaxploitative, don't-give-a-f**k writing.

Piracy & Plunder: A Murderous Businesss, by Milton Meltzer

(hb; 2001: children's book. Illustrations by Bruce Waldman)

From the inside flap:

"When people think of pirates, they usually envision swashbuckling, adventurous figures who spend their time searching for buried treasure. This is a distorted, romantic view that has come down to us. In reality, pirates were little more than thieves and murderers, dedicated to robbery, pillage, and enslavement. Their business was a continuous, organized activity -- from which both nations and individuals benefited. People eagerly bought plunder from pirates, and perhaps the most profitable of all were men and women pirates enslaved.

"Milton Meltzer. . . uncovers the true -- and often bloody, always fascinating -- stories of pirates and piracy, both past and present. Here are portraits of Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, and other notorious pirates, including women like Ching Shih and Mary Read. Here are also forms of piracy that still plague us today, such as smuggling and copyright infringement. . ."

Review:

I read this as a research book for a story I'm working on, and was delighted by how well written this was: I'd read this, even if it wasn't for research purposes.

This is an excellent, intriguing, informative read. My only caveat about this book is that it does briefly mention rape and, to a larger extent, slavery (though not in "adult" detail) -- so, if any parents have younger/sensitive children, and wish to avoid potentially awkward conversations, they may want to wait until their children are older - say, about tween age - to let them read this.

Worth owning, this.

I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas, by Lewis Black

(hb; 2010: non-fiction)

From the inside flap:

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas?

"Not on your life.

"Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace on earth and goodwill toward all. But not for Lewis Black.

"He says humbug to the Christmas traditions and trappings that make the holiday memorable. In. . . I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas. . . Lewis lets loose on all things Yule. It's a very personal look at what's wrong with Christmas, seen through [Black's] eyes. . .

"From his own Christmas rituals -- which have absolutely nothing to do with presents or the Christmas tree or Rudolph -- to his own eccentric experiences with the holiday (from a USO Christmas tour to playing Santa Claus in full regalia), I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas is classic Lewis Black: funny, razor-sharp, insightful, and honest.

"You'll never think of Christmas the same way again."

Review:

Black's take on Christmas is less blasphemous than one might expect, given his public persona and other books. Oh sure, there's clever digs and mild sacrilegious statements about "traditional" Christmas beliefs and American society, but Black's trademark outrage is often tempered by thoughtful, humble maturity.

I related strongly to this book, in my own way (for the sake of brevity, let's just say that the bombast, commercialism and hypocrisy of the "holiday season" has made me a non-believer, on so many levels).

Black's closing chapter about his USO comedy tours is a touching, non-sentimental tribute to our troops, currently mired in two money-hemorrhaging wars.

Black Christmas is a pointed, hilarious and relatable book. Worth checking out, this.

Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell

(hb; 1960)

From the inside flap:

"Far off the coast of California looms a harsh rock known as the Island of San Nicholas. Dolphin flash in the blue waters around it, sea otter play in the vast kelp beds, cormorants roost on its crags, and sea elephants loll on the stony beaches.

"Here, in the early 1800's, according to history, an Indian girl spent eighteen years alone, and this. . . is her story. . . Karana had to contend witht he ferocious pack of wild dogs that had killed her younger brother, constantly guard against the Aleutian sea-otter hunters, and maintain a precarious food supply, even when it meant battling an octopus. . ."

Review:

Based-on-true-events story about a young girl who, left behind on her tribe's island, survives despite unfavorable odds. Classic, detailed, burn-through work. Worth owning, if you're into children's books.


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This was released stateside as a film on July 3, 1964.

Celia Kaye played Karana. Larry Domasin played Ramo. Ann Daniel played Tutok. George Kennedy played "Aleut Captain". Carlos Romero played Chowig. Hal John Norman, billed as Hal Jon Norman, played Kimki. Martin Garralaga played The Priest. Alex Montoya played "Spanish Captain".

The film was directed by James B. Clarke, from a script by Jane Klove and Ted Sherdeman.

Handling the Undead, by John Ajvide Lindqvist

(hb; 2005, 2010. Translated into English by Ebba Segerberg.)

From the inside flap:

"Something peculiar is happening. While the city is enduring a heat wave, people are finding out that their electric appliances won't stay switched off. And everyone has a blinding headache. Then the terrible news breaks - in the city morgue, the newly dead are waking.

"David always knew his wife was far too good for him. But he never knew how lost he'd be without her until the night she died. Now she's gone and he's alone. But when he goes to identify her body, she opens her eye. . .

"Across the city, grieving families find themselves able to see their loved ones one last time. But are these creatures really them? How long can this last? And what deadly price will they have to pay for the chance to see their spouses and children just one more time?"

Review:

This is a sublime, dread-intensive, hard-to-set-down work, one of the best horror novels I've read this year.

Handling the Undead adopts a fresh narrative tack in terms of how society and individuals process their shock at the returning dead, who are less Night of the Living Dead than one might expect.

Lindqvist doesn't spoonfeed the novel's whys, hows and whos to readers, and that, for this reader, lent an "anything could happen" feel to Handling. Readers who are looking for action and gore should probably avoid this book -- Handling is not about that: it's about us, as people, collective and individually.

Worth owning, this, even if you're like me (tired of the overripe zombie genre, whose filmmakers and writers too often fail to establish their own unique voices, and who, instead, rest lazily on the storylines/violent tones established by George A. Romero's earlier work).

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The film version is scheduled for a 2013 stateside release. I'll update the (concrete) information on this as soon as I become aware of it.

The Most Dangerous Game and Other Stories of Adventure, by various authors

(pb; 1957, 1967: story anthology)

OVERALL REVIEW:

Solid, action-oriented anthology, with only one stinker in the mix. Worth checking out from the library.


REVIEW, STORY BY STORY:

1.) "The Most Dangerous Game" - Richard Connell: Sanger Rainsford, an American hunter, gets trapped on the island of a homicidal Cossack (General Zaroff), and becomes Zaroff's prey in literal manhunt. Gripping, sharp work, with a zinger end-line.

Numerous film versions have resulted from this story.

The first film version was released stateside on September 16, 1932. It was directed by Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack, from a script by James Ashmore Creelman.

Joel McCrea played Bob. Fay Wray played Eve. Robert Armstrong played Martin. Leslie Banks played Zaroff. Steve Clemente (billed as Steve Clemento) played Tartar. An uncredited Buster Crabbe plays "Sailor who falls off boat".

Other versions include, but are not limited to: A Game of Death (1945), The Most Dangerous Game (1953), Bloodlust! (1961), Surviving The Game (1994, sporting a great cast, among them Rutger Hauer).


2.) "Leiningen Versus the Ants" - Carl Stephenson: A Caucasian gung-ho plantation owner and his native "peons" battle an ant invasion in Brazil. If you can ignore its era-inherent racism, this is a visually wild and thrilling tale.

This story was released stateside as a film on March 3, 1954. Titled The Naked Jungle, it was directed by Byron Haskin, from a script by Ranald MacDougall and Ben Maddow (credited as Philip Yordan).

Charlton Heston played Christopher Leiningen. Eleanor Parker played Joanna Leiningen. Abraham Sofaer played Incacha. William Conrad played "Commissioner". Romo Vincent played "Boat Captain".


3.) "Journalism in Tennessee" - Mark Twain: Witty, raucous take on Southern firebrand newspapermen.


4.) "Alone in Shark Waters" - John Kruse: After a hurricane sinks his ship and leave him afloat in the Indian Ocean, a fisherman (Mike Gardener) fends off dehydration, sharks and other forms of ocean-borne death. Harrowing, intriguing story.


5.) "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" - Rudyard Kipling: This story lost me almost immediately, interest-wise, so I didn't finish reading it - his writing style here is so jangly-noisy, perhaps too vivid.

Two animated films resulted from this story.

The first animated version aired on stateside television on January 9, 1975. Chuck Jones directed and scripted the thirty-minute short.

Orson Welles provided the voices for Narrator, Nag and Chuchundra. June Foray provided the voices for "Nagaina the Cobra, Wife of Nag", Teddy's Mother and Darzee's Wife. Les Tremayne voiced Father. Michael LeClair voiced Teddy. Shepard Menken voiced Rikki-Tikki-Tavi the Mongoose. Lennie Weinrib voiced Darzee the Tailorbird.

A later animated version, made by a different film crew, aired on Hungarian television on November 10, 1983.


6.) "To Build a Fire" - Jack London: In seventy-five-below-zero degree weather, a man wages a spirited struggle for survival against an omnipresent Yukon threat. Infotainment, with a nature-centric, telling finish.

Two film shorts have resulted from this story.

A twenty-minute short resulted from this story in 2003. Directed and scripted by Luca Armenia, Olivier Pagès played The Man.

A second, thirty-minute short was released stateside in October 2008. Mark Dissette co-directed this with Dave Main (who also scripted the short).

Michael Elmendorf played The Man. Eldon Cott played The Old Man of Sulfur Creek. Steven Kramer played Macmorvan. Chad Rowland played Bud. Bill Selig played Jedadiah.


7.) "Locomotive 38, The Ojibway" - William Saroyan: A seemingly crazy Indian (Locomotive 38) and a fourteen year-old boy (Aram, aka "Willie") go on a fishing trip in Locomotive 38's new Packard. Odd, light and charming, this.


8.) "High Air" - Borden Chase: Tunnel miners encounter a potentially fatal emergency. Solid, crises-exciting story.


9.) "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" - James Thurber: A wife- and society-pecked older man (Mitty) imbues his mundane life with unseen but intuited adventures. Fun, brief, to the point.

One film has resulted from this story. A remake of that film is rumored to be on the way.

The first version, released stateside on September 1, 1947, was directed by Norman Z. McLeod, from a script by Ken Englund, Everett Freeman and Philip Rapp.

Danny Kaye played Walter Mitty. Virginia Mayo played Rosalind van Hoorn. Boris Karloff played Dr. Hugo Hollingshead. Fay Bainter played Mrs. Eunice Mitty. Ann Rutherford played Gertrude Griswold.

The second version is scheduled for stateside release in 2012. According to comingsoon.net, Gore Verbinski is set to direct it, from a script by Steve Conrad.

I'll update this remake listing, as more information becomes available.

Hide And Seek, by Jack Ketchum

(pb; 1984, 2007)

From the back cover:

"They were young. They were looking for kicks. They decided to play an innocent game in a strange old house.

"First it turned ugly. Then it turned brutal. Finally it became a nightmare of horror and violence.

"None of them was ever the same again."

Review:

Set in Dead River, Maine (also the locale of Off Season and Offspring), this tautly written, quirky, and ultimately horrific coming-of-age tale is unique, and, in true Ketchum fashion, consistently unsettling. It's also gory and nasty in patches, another Ketchum trademark.

Worth owning, this.

Vampire Stories edited by Richard Dalby

(hb; 1993: vampire story anthology. Forward by Peter Cushing OBE.)

From the inside flap

"Few mythological creatures can have fascinated writers so much as the vampire: dark legends have been passed down from generation to generation of these undead beings, possessed of supernatural powers of metamorphosis and hypnotism, stalking the night for the blood of the living. Ever since Bram Stoker's novel Dracula projected the vampire into the public's consciousness, vampire stories have had an uncanny hold over readers.

"Loathsome, yet charged with decadent glamour, it is small wonder that the vampire has been a popular and recurring theme of horror fiction, and has inspired some of the finest writing in the genre.

"In this volume are gathered tales that may keep the reader awake long after midnight; a multitude of variations and unexpected twists of the theme which make few concessions to those of a squeamish nature. Included are works by such renowned writers as John Wyndham, Anne Rice, Robert Bloch and the undisputed master of the vampire tale, Bram Stoker, plus an introductory word from a man who has, over his acting career, staked numerous Princes of Darkness -- Peter Cushing."


Overall review

Eighteen-tale, solid anthology that's worth checking out. Peter Cushing's literate, warm and wise Foreword adds futher charm to this collection.


Standout stories

1.) "Dracula's Guest" - Bram Stoker: A fool-hardy Englishman with a strange benefactor visits a haunted village on Walpurgis Nacht. Spooky, atmospheric, brisk-paced, this. (This originally was an excised chapter from Stoker's novel, Dracula.)

This story resulted in two films.

The first, Walpurgis Nacht, a seven-minute short directed by David Kruschke, was released in 2004.

Michael Glover Smith (billed as Michael Smith) played Jonathan. Jerry Blackburn played Johann. Charity Grella played "Countess". James Hurwitz played "Innkeeper". Mark Johnson played "The Host" / "The Captain".

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The second film version, Dracula's Guest, was released stateside as a direct-to-DVD film in August 2008.

Wes Ramsey played Bram Stoker. Amy Lyndon played Mrs. Witham. Andrew Bryniarski played Count Dracula. Kelsey McCann played Elizabeth.

Michael Feifer scripted and directed the film, which re-imagined the story in a slow-paced, different way.

2.) "The Lovely Lady" - D.H. Lawrence: Pauline Attenborough, an outwardly youthful, secretly poisonous old woman, preys on the insecurities of her son (Robert) and her niece (Cecilia).

Theme-rich, classic (in a good way), character-centric tale, with a Pauline-true finish.


3.) "The Author's Tale" - L.A. Lewis: A fireside-chat takes a gripping turn when the Author tells a tale about an otherwise gentle man plotting torturous revenge on his crafty, vicious ex-wife.

Spooky, unsettling work that's equal parts Edgar Allan Poe and Bram Stoker.


4.) "Close Behind Him" - John Wyndham: Two men (Spotty and Smudger) pick the wrong house to burgle. Strange, psychologically-taut story.


5.) "Vampires Ltd" - Josef Nesvadba: Tight, satirical and original story about an amazing vehicle and the darker side of the human drive.


6.) "The Master of Rampling Gate" - Anne Rice: Two adult siblings (Julie and Richard) return to their mysterious family estate, one they haven't seen in almost two decades. Romantic, Gothic, this story plays to Rice's popular, passionate strengths.


7.) "Quiet is the Night" - Jessica Palmer: A girl kills her emotionally abusive father, only to discover a darker fate. Sad, suitably Gothic, spooky -- this possesses a fresh authorial voice; I look forward to reading other works by this author.


8.) "The Last Sin" - Ken Cowley: Lord Ruthven, an immoral wealthy man, gets his bloody comeuppance in this lean, script-flipping morality tale (and update of Dr. John Polidori's famous character).


Solid stories

"Phantoms" - Ivan Turgenov; "The Haunted House" - E. Nesbit; "An Episode of Cathedral History" - M.R. James; " 'And No Bird Sings'" - E.F. Benson; "Chastel" - Manly Wade Wellman; "The Apples of Sodom" - David Rowlands; "The Undead" - Robert Bloch; "China Rose" - Ron Weighell; "Saint Sebastian and the Mona Lisa" - A.E. Kidd

Call for the Dead, by John le Carré

(hb; 1961, 1962: first novel in the George Smiley series)

From the inside flap:

"It was after a routine check by security that Fennan of the Foreign Office shot himself. George Smiley, the cleverest and most self-effacing man in Security, uncovers new facts in an exciting and dangerous investigation."

Review:

Call is a political murder mystery.

An unassuming, quietly feisty and clever George Smiley begins to solve the strange, badly-staged "suicide" of a fellow bureaucrat, who'd previously been suspected of low-level espionage.

The whos in this mystery aren't important; the whys and the hows are. Le Carré intentionally frames the slyly subversive Call this way, basing the novel's events and motives on the characters' personal histories.

Le Carré's books, whose tones are often set by Cold War era politics and British/aristocratic attitudes, aren't quick-thrill works: they're steady-but-intriguing ramp-ups that immerse readers - or at least, this reader - in the environs of a long-running spy game whose players change over time, even as the game continues.

Worthwhile read, this.

Followed, in a loosely-connected fashion, by A Murder of Quality.