1) `Salem's Lot by Stephen King: Ah, yes, the vampire novel to end all vampire novels. And a really nice updated edition with some extra added related short stories. Of course, I'd read this back when it came out, but decided to read it again after reading the 'Gunslinger' series and finding the character Father Callahan as a character in some of the novels of the series. Well, everybody needs redemption. Glad I read it again, perhaps it is one of King's better straight horror novels. Read it again, or read it once...just read it!
2) Scream Queen by Edo Van Belkom: Better than you might think, but not really great. Jacy gets a spot on the Gowan brothers' new reality show, taking place at a 'haunted house'. But wait, it's really haunted, and the haunts aren't real friendly. But I won't give the rest of it away, but you can guess the ending...or maybe you can't.
3) 01-01-00 by R.J.Piniero: Cashing in on the Millennium scare, the author ties it into computer viruses & the Mayans. Susan Garnett, ex-computer hacker and now an F.B.I. employee, may be all that stands between us and the end of the world as we know it. (Is that necessarily a bad thing...?) Find out the real secret of the Mayans & why their civilization was so advanced in some aspects,eg:calendars & astronomy.
4) Appleby Talks Again by Michael Innes: Actually interesting, this is one of those 1940s/50s books (this one published 1954) of mystery stories that are solved by the main character, sometimes before the actual story takes place. At least in this one the main character is actually a Scotland Yard official (Sir John Appleby), and many of the stories do actually contain a mystery worth solving. The cover story, don't remember the name, but well illustrated by the cover. Better than many of these type books.
5) The Best Of Shadows by Charles L Grant,ed: Drawn from the book series of the same name, the editor's pick of 'the best'. Mostly dark fantasy, moody (not slasher) horror, stories by Stephen King, Tanith Lee, Steve Rasnic Tem, & the ubiquitous St Germain story by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Bought it cheap, so I guess it was worth the money, but most of the stories no my cup of tea. I like my horror scarier than most of these were, atmospheric horror just isn't horrific.
6) Boy's Life by Robert McCammon: By the author of Usher's Passing, They Thirst, & Swan Song, all of which I read back in the day, came this book published in 1991 - whick for some reason I didn't. It may have had something to do with the cover; the boy riding the bike over the lake just rubbed me wrong for some reason. Anyway, I found this book in Mt Dora, where a BXer had left it on a bench. Well, being a BXer myself, that was pretty exciting, so I picked it up and read it. It starts out as a book about growing up in the early 60s, and ends up being a murder mystery with slight fantasy overtones. Actually enjoyable, certainly better than I expected when I passed it up way back when.
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