The Revenge
of Frankenstein
By Shaun
Hutson
Published
by Hammer House of Horror
978-0-099-55623-7
The first is
an actual sequel, picking up after the original story as originally adapted by
the Hammer House of Horror group into a film. This was their sequel to their
film with Dr Frankenstein awaiting execution for his crimes. Somehow he manages
to escape, we he would otherwise there would be no story that’s not really a
spoiler. He then relocates and begins to rebuild his experiments with
terrifying results. This story does not
try to be anything that it’s not, it was made a commercial follow up to a
successful film, and I actually enjoyed it.
Monster (A
Novel of Frankenstein)
By Dave
Zeltserman
Published by
Duckworth Overlook
978-0-715-64509-3
The second
book also takes up the story of Dr Frankenstein but this time attempts to
reconstruct the original story this time from the monster’s point of view. I
admit this book started off for me on the wrong foot, by setting out to
announce that Mary Shelly got it wrong, turning Mary Shelly almost into a
fictional character who narrated her own book. Let’s face it, if Mary Shelly had not written
the book you would not have anything to work with – so don’t be so arrogant to
begin with. It also attempts to accuse the original as depicting the creature
created by Frankenstein as being nothing more than a monster but the original
certainly gave the creature far more character than I expected.
Towards the
middle I started to warm to the book but overall I felt it did not enrich the
mythology for me.
Two more autobiographies
this period, one a well known Doctor Who companion and the other a much loved
actress from Blake’s 7 and a Doctor Who guest star. Both books very revealing.
Fantom Films
Limited
From Byfleet
to the Bush
By Jacqueline
Pearce
978-1-906263-87-4
Jacqueline
Pearce will always be known for playing the Federation’s President in the
popular cult series Blakes’ 7. Servalan had the glamour and the screen presence
but as you read Jac’s own personal account of this period of her life, she
neither enjoyed the recognition she deserved as an actress nor the glamour either.
This is a very personal and very emotional account of somebody who never really
knew who they were because of parental issues so very early in life and never
fully found her feet until more by chance as the title implies, she swaps
everything for a life looking after monkeys in the South African Bush. Here you
will not find funny anecdotes of life on Blake’s 7 but you will find a very
personal life exposed.
Hines Sight
By Frazer
Hines
978-1-84583-997-0
Previously
published as Films, Farms and Fillies by Boxtree in 1997
Frazer was
not only Jamie in Doctor Who, and Joe Sugden in Emmerdale Farm (Yes it was
about a farming community at one time) but he is also a qualified Jockey, and
has quite a claim to fame on the cricket pitch as well. Ok it’s quite well known Mr Hines has an eye
for the ladies, and he does not deny it, but here you get to see the other side
of the story and the lessons he learnt regarding relationships along the way.
Nice one Frazer.
The Best
British Fantasy 2013
Series Editor
Steve Haynes
Published by Salt Publishing
978-1-907773-35-8
A curious
collection of short stories paraded as the best of British fantasy, the
introduction admits to being quite loose with the definition of fantasy but I
feel it was also been quite loose with the definition of British and Best.
I did enjoy
a few of the stories in the collection, but there were several that I found it
very hard to care for at all. Stories like ‘The Last Osama’ have me wondering
what they are doing in this collection as it certainly does not represent the
British aspect of the suggested offering. In other cases I would question dark, being used for 'poor taste'.
The
highlight of this collection for me was ‘The Scariest Place in the World’, a
clever twist on the ghost story and it is probably no surprise why this story
stood out above the rest, having been written by Mark Morris whose Doctor Who
novels and audio dramas have entertained for many years. I would recommend
those who like Mark’s work to track this little gem down outside of this
collection.
Tales of
Mystery & The Supernatural
Dracula's
Guest & Other Stories
By Bram
Stoker
Published by Wordsworth Editions
978-1-84022-627-0
I read Dracula
earlier in the year, this edition was a bumper double book not only containing the
original masterpiece of Bram Stoker but the previously publish separate collection
of short stories. Now I’m turning my attention to the Dracula’s Guest and Other
Stories.
Dracular’s
Guest is presented as a separate short story but one that was lifted out of the
original due to making Dracula too long, and being too much of a distraction to
the original. Some have tried to work out where it would fit into the original
story, but as a separate story it returns anyone who has read Dracula back into
the Count’s dark world with ease.
The other
stories in the collection go on to show an even darker side to Bram Stoker, and
the fact the even then he did not pander to delivering a story necessarily for
moralistic value. The Dualitists is not a supernatural story but certainly
shows Stoker at his more darker side with his protagonists progressing from
wanton destruction of property to vicious coldblooded murder and being praised
and awarded for their deceit, certainly a story that should be read with great
warning still today.
Finally I’m
going to finish this review with another audio book. Having raved previously about
the Mervyn Stone books by Nev Fountain I was delighted when Big Finished
released a new adventure for our reluctant detective.
The Mervyn Stone Mysteries
The Axeman Cometh
By Nev Fountain
Published by Big Finish Productions
The Axeman Cometh takes
Mervyn into the recording studio for an audio re-launch of the drama ‘Vixens from
the Void’. Nothing goes to plan for
Meryn’s new script, and that is only the start of things, as he has been warned
by ‘a friend’ that to prevent a murder he must attend the recording. Let’s just
hope this really isn’t Mervyn’s Last Adventure.
The Mervyn Stone Mysteries
The Axeman Cometh
By Nev Fountain
Published by Big Finish Productions
This drama
comes over as a full cast audio drama, but with the two leads played by John
Banks and Nicola Bryant with other parts played by members of the cast it is
really a two hander that give these two performers a chance to really shine and
prove what they can do. Listen to it; you would not believe that just two
people provide 99% of the voices. The only additional voice comes from Big
Finish production but I’ll leave you to spot that.
More details
and to order visit the Big Finish website http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/addtobasket/the-axeman-cometh-908
