Nightblood by T. Chris Martindale Horror was doing big business in the bookstores in the 1960s. This was largely thanks to gothic literature which promised gentle tales of haunted manors and melancholy spirits on their covers. Things took a more devilish turn towards the end of the decade with the release of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ in 1967, followed by William Peter Blatty’s ‘The Exorcist’ and Thomas Tryon’s ‘The Other in 1971, but the real fun began in 1974 with the release of two books that would open the floodgate for pulp horror. Jaws (Peter Benchley) and The Rats (James Herbert) proved that there was an appetite out there for books that weren’t ashamed to be all-out horror. The publishing industry took note and throughout the 1970s and 1980s, companies such as Zebra, Tor and Pinnacle published a seemingly endless supply of books promising unspeakable terrors and sporting covers that had to be seen to be believed. Sometimes the content was great, other times… not so much, but one thing that you could always be guaranteed was a fun and entertaining read. By the mid-90s, horror paperbacks were seemingly out, and thrillers were in. Gone were the lurid covers of skeletons, evil dolls, creepy kids and flesh hungry critters. The horror was still there, it just wasn’t marketed as such, treated like a shameful secret. As titles fell quickly out of print, many of the horror authors and their work became increasingly forgotten by all but the most avid fans and collectors. Enter Will Errickson, Grady Hendrix and ‘Paperbacks From Hell’. In 2017 Hendrix and Errickson released their seminal love letter to the horror paperbacks of a bygone era, shining a light on some long-forgotten classics and renewing interest in the mass market horror paperbacks of the 1970s and 80s. Not content to simply share their passion for these oft maligned but much missed books, thanks to their partnership with Valancourt Books, we are being treated to new reprints of the best of these decades-old, forgotten gems. To date, thirteen reprints have been published (with a fourteenth on the way), retaining the original cover art and boasting brand new and insightful introductions from Hendrix and Errickson. In this series I’ll be reading each and every one and posting articles at Ginger Nuts of Horror looking back at the best books two decades of horror has to offer. ‘Nightblood’ is one of those books whose appeal can be succinctly summarised by a comparison to two other well known properties. ‘Nightblood’ is ‘Salem’s Lot meets Rambo’ and if that appeals (and how can it not) then that’s all you really need to know going in. The first of four novels written by T. Chris Martindale, ‘Nightblood’ was released in 1989. Nominated at the time for a Bram Stoker award for Best First Novel, it seemed the author was set for a long and notable career as a horror writer. Sadly, the downturn in the horror paperback market of the early 1990s, coupled with lacklustre marketing on his final two books meant that 1993’s haunted house novel, ‘The Voice in the Basement’ proved to be the last book Martindale would write. It’s a shame because ‘Nightblood’ is an immensely fun read. Telling the story of Chris Stiles, a decorated Vietnam veteran who has returned home to fight an altogether different war. His brother is viciously killed in Central Park, the victim of some unknown monster and returns to Chris as a ghost. Chris and his brother embark on a quest to find the creature that killed him, vanquishing any evil they find along the way. Their journey takes them to the small town of Isherwood, Indiana, where a malevolent force has rested undisturbed for decades. ‘Nightblood’ is a crazy mash-up of the uber-violent action films and bloody, over the top horror films of the 1980s. It’s a melding of two disparate genres that works incredibly well on the page and ensures there is never a dull moment. Barely a page goes by without some kind of body count (the town has a population of 800 and it’s no spoiler to say that number is significantly lower by the end) and the vampire hunters forgo the traditional stakes and garlic for assault rifles and explosives. A wise choice, and certainly the more entertaining way to go. The book wears its influences on its sleeves and, on many occasions, overtly references them. I caught mentions of seminal 80s vampire movie, Fright Night, and nods to Anne Rice and Stephen King, but there are probably a ton that I’m forgetting. I mention this as there is a world of difference between pale imitation and loving homage and ‘Nightblood’ is firmly the latter. It reads like a book written by a voracious consumer of movies and comic books, throwing everything into the pot to see what works and, inexplicably, the whole thing does. The action is fast-paced and suitably excessive, the horror is very suspenseful when the need arises and there is an overall sense of fun that pervades proceedings. The comparison that looms largest is Stephen King’s Salems Lot. The similarities are too numerous to ignore, whether that be the general premise of a small-town invasion of an ageless vampire, a stranger coming to town to save the day (and picking up a love interest along the way). Even the two horror-loving young boys bear more than a passing resemblance to King’s Mark Petrie character. This leads me to two major confessions that will, most likely, lose me whatever sliver of horror cred I have earned from these articles so far… 1. I don’t particularly like Salem’s Lot 2. I think ‘Nightblood’ did it better If anyone needs to stop reading now out of fanboy rage, I completely understand, and I’m grateful that you stuck around this long. I appreciate I’ll be in the minority here, but hear me out. Where Salem’s Lot is a slow burn, ‘Nightblood’ is action-packed from start to finish. Where King’s vampire leader Mr Straker remains largely absent for most of the book, Danner is a very physical, hands-on presence, always in the thick of the action and while Ben Mears feels largely in over his head in King’s book, an everyman dealing with overwhelming odds, ‘Nightblood’ gives us a very capable protagonist, one who we know will put up a good fight, even if the actual outcome may not be in his favour. The ending is so gleefully cinematic that you can practically hear the gunfire and feel the heat of the explosions (and there are a LOT of explosions). The 80s action movie vibe is palpable and the grand finale is suitably violent and completely bonkers. Unlike the 80s action movies that it seeks to imitate, however, Chris Stiles is not an infallible one-man army, and the cost to both him and the town of Isherwood is high, and keenly felt. It gives the book (if you’ll forgive the word choice here) stakes, making you both care about the fate of the characters, and feel like the triumph of good over evil is necessarily a foregone conclusion. Seven books into my readthrough of Valencourt’s Paperbacks From Hell line and I’ve been surprised to find that most of the offerings to date haven’t been the cheesy pulp fests I went in expecting, but ‘Nightblood’ is pulpy enough to pick up the slack, and then some. Imagine a world where, instead of Tobe Hooper producing an adaptation of ‘Salem’s Lot’, it was picked up by Cannon Films instead, and repurposed as a Sylvester Stallone vehicle. It’s sadly not a world we live in, but ‘Nightblood’ is the next best thing. Join me next time when I’ll be sharing my thoughts on A Nest of Nightmares by Lisa Tuttle. If you’d like to read along with this series and want to pick up copies of the books, or learn more about Valancourts’ Paperbacks From Hell line, visit their site at www.valancourtbooks.com/paperbacksfromhell Nightblood (Paperbacks from Hell) |
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